Sunday, May 3, 2020

Happy Things

So.....things are pretty nuts right now, no? As a person with constant anxiety, I don't feel TOO different then normal, but I've been doing a semi-good job of not allowing myself to get too wrapped up in the whole awfulness of politics and Covid 19 and everything. I did get way too upset about a dumb social media interaction this week and the fact that our mailman is refusing to deliver our packages and lying about it, but ya' know...I'm doing okay.

One of the things I'm trying to do right now is focus on positive things more...not rocket science, but it helps. First, since I'm now unemployed (again), I take time in the morning after I wake up to sit in bed with my dogs and read while I drink my coffee. I open up the blinds so I can see our new bird feeder and the sun and it's been really great for my mental health rather than spending the morning reading Reddit and feeding my anxiety. Some great books I've read lately are:

Chase Darkness With Me

Twenty-one Truths About Love

The Glass Hotel

The Fifth Season

Mike and I have been going on daily walks which really helps and I feel so so lucky that our weather has been so gorgeous. If it was snowing this whole time, Mike would have lost it a month ago. Since we do nothing but hang out with each other, we kiiinda ran out of things to talk about, so we listen to the Fake Doctors Real Friends podcast and it makes us laugh out loud and distracts us from all the nonsense.

Another positive distraction I'm newly obsessed with is photographer Jamie Beck's Instagram (jamiebeck.co). She's been posting a new photograph every day and they are absolutely gorgeous and she shows in her stories exactly how she got the shot. It's inspiring and brings a little beauty into every day. You can also buy posters of her art here. These are a few of my favorites:

Another little bit of joy in my days is our new bird feeder and wild animal food for our local squirrels. This has become such a cliche in the time of isolation, but I'm okay with it! We got two bird feeders at Home Depot and special food for the squirrels because they kept eating the bird food. It's super entertaining and I've of course named the squirrels (Ralph and Minny). Ralph is getting a little too brave and now comes onto the patio and gets realllly close to me when I feed him so we may need to talk about boundaries, but it makes my day when the animals come by.

Minny relaxing in our tree

Last, but not least, something that brings us a lot of joy is that we set up a little game area in the common grass part of our apartment. We put out our white trash tennis set (the ladder game whose name we can't remember) and cornhole. We go out and play sometimes and we've seen other people using it. Every time someone else uses it, we get SO excited. It's nice to give people who can't leave the property something fun to do!

What are some things keeping you positive during this shitshow of a year?

Friday, May 1, 2020

Pinspiration - Emma Watson at Wimbledon

Hello! I am in a foul mood today so I decided to do something that is distracting and makes me happy. Hence, a new pinspiration post!

Emma Watson wore this super cute outfit to Wimbledon in 2018 and it spawned a series of photos of her taking her seat in front of Tom Holland and his dad who are 100% trying to look like they aren't freaking the deak out, which makes me love it even more:

{via}

Here is a better photo of said super cute outfit:

{via}

Here is my recreation with pieces you can purchase now!

Emma Watson at Wimbledon Pinspiration

by Val2201

I went a little more casual with my recreation, mostly because I cannot stand white heels, but also because this look felt perfect for a little more casual of a day. I would wear it as a tourist somewhere warm or for a day walking (and drinking) around San Diego. Oh man, I can't wait until we can leave this house...

I went faux leather on all the accessories, but there are TONS of options for both pieces if you're not set on shopping vegan. You could even go full Meghan Markle and get these sandals that are dreamy, but super pricey. I also would love to wear some colorful shoes with this look to add a little personality, but the book clutch does a pretty great job of that.

Would you guys wear this? If so, where?

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Hawaii!

Earlier this year, Mike and I met my sister and her husband in Maui for our big yearly trip. Mike had never been to Hawaii and I had only been to Kona with my sister for her bachelorette party. I was excited to introduce him to the delicious food and views. I was a little nervous about him getting bored, but we planned plenty of activities to go with the lazy beach relaxing. We had a great time even though it's not 100% our type of vacation...a little too much driving and not enough power walking to cheese plates, if you ask me. Mike said it's something he could see himself doing about every five years to relax and eat our body weight in fish.

Here are some photos!

First, we landed, went grocery shopping, and got settled in our Airbnb. We stayed here, which I highly recommend (aside from the god awful pillows). For dinner that night, we ate here and it was fine, but not anything THAT exciting. I dunno, if you put cheese on your fish tacos, I'm not buying it. BUT the service was really good and they were very accommodating with my sister's dairy free and her husband's gluten free diets.

The next day, we started early with snorkeling with The Pacific Whale Foundation. I'm so glad we chose them to snorkel with because they are a nonprofit who are awesome and also educate about conservation. Mike had never been snorkeling, but I knew he would love it and he took to it...like a fish to water...sorry not sorry. It was really fun and we got to see a turtle! They told us to alert each other if you saw a turtle and I was lucky enough to see it and screamed TURTLE to everyone like an insane person. You're welcome, everyone else in the water.

Snorkel time! I loved my suit bought here and am proud I didn't get sunburnt!

I 100% don't remember what we did the rest of that day, but I think Mike, Brian, and I went walking around an indoor/outdoor market, had some shaved ice, and had cocktails here.

To end the night, we drove to a beautiful cove not far from our Airbnb to watch the sunset and Mike and I had dinner here which was amazeballs. We ordered from several food trucks, trying ahi sliders, fish tacos, and more. You sit outside surrounded by tables, food trucks, and twinkly lights, and try not to be scared of the wandering chickens because they are cute, but also...are they going to peck my toes?!

SERIOUSLY this sunset?!

The next morning, Mike and I had breakfast here, a place we ended up going to multiple times because it was SO GOOD. Look at these dishes! Kimchi bloody mary!

NOT the world's most flattering picture...

Then, Mike and I went for a hike here and it was freakin' gorgeous and also a damn hard hike. We took a ton of photos, it was just too pretty...

If this photo doesn't make you think of Lost, I just don't know...

THERE WERE COWS!

Nope, nope, nope.

Later that night, we went here because everyone and their mom said we had to try their mai tais and they were not wrong.

After drinks, we had dinner here and it was so good, I got genuinely emotional about it. This was our view, which of course only made the meal better:

The next day, we went to Lahaina to walk around, shop, and eat. We had lunch here that was really good, even though I dipped my sleeve in something and looked stupid the rest of the day...

Here is Mike getting a pineapple at the Maui Pineapple Store because what the eff else do you get there?

That night, Mike and I, in true Mike and I fashion, walked the couple miles to Maui Brewing Company to have some beers and feel like we were back in Colorado. Then we walked back and had dinner at Nalus again because we couldn't help it.

I'm pretttty sure the next day we went whale watching? Let's say we did! We did it through Pacific Whale Foundation again which was great, but we did the sail boat which was more expensive and honestly not really worth it? It was fun though!

This paparazzi, I swear...

That night, we went to dinner here, which I was SO excited about. Mike and I fell in love with the chef/owner Sheldon on Top Chef and couldn't wait to try his food. It for sure did not disappoint.

The next day was our last day, so I think we drove around to see some sights? I have no short term memory guys, sorry.

We had some snacks and cocktails here where Laura and Brian had had dinner earlier in the week and went here for some drinks and lunch? I think?

After dropping off Laura and Brian at the airport, Mike and I had time to kill so we did something that we should have spent a whole previous day doing - resort hopping. We had drinks and dinner at a few of the resorts and walked the gorgeous beachside sidewalk to each one. It was such a perfect ending to our trip.

Then we flew home!

One of those days we also had a beach day and I forget which one? This is a great blog. Oh but at the beach, I ventured out into the ocean because Laura convinced me and then,while alone, saw another turtle and lost my shit and ran/swam back to the beach because I thought I was going to hurt it or it was going to bite me? Either way, it was graceful AF.