Month: May 2016

Weekly Therapy: 49 weeks left in my 30s

- Mel

the week:
Friday’s Weekly Therapy was disrupted by OUR FIRST IOWA VISITORS!

weekend:
The boyfriend’s parents spent the holiday weekend with us, and we explored some fun things in Des Moines — the Downtown Farmers Market on Saturday and Iowa Cubs game on Sunday were big highlights. We definitely crossed a few items off of our Iowa Bucket List!

Mel with Iowa Cubby Bear Des Moines

I get an extra (unpaid, unfortunately) day off today, and we’ll be spending our free afternoon on the golf course with some friends. I’M DRIVING! 😉

It looks like the rain is holding off until tomorrow, too — yay!

seven things, seven days:
1. This article spoke right to my soul: Why some people find crowded cities relaxing — and others don’t. I’m definitely in that latter category! Constant horn honking is decidedly UN-relaxing to me. {via City Lab}
2. I ordered fried chicken tenders in a restaurant this weekend AND THEY WERE GLUTEN FREE. Imagine that, a food place that uses gluten-free breading for all its fry stuff. OMG, going here forever.
3. 7 ways to re-motivate yourself at work {via Entrepreneur}
4. UGH. The foul reign of the biological clock {via The Guardian}
5. I know that I’ve always hated the reference to derby “girls” but this goes much deeper by way of books What does it mean when we call women “girls” {via LitHub}
6. I don’t consider myself a Millennial, but if you’re in your early 30s, you may: The anxiety of the Millennials {via Huffington Post}
7. A good run is always amazing: Neurologists explain the mind-clearing magic of running {via Science of Us}

Sunday Lately for this 30-Something:: Week 73

- Mel

Blogger Tribe_Sunday Lately It’s the freakin’ weekend, and the Blogger Tribe is collectively sharing their Sunday Lately posts. Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (lead by Angelica, Meghan, Nicole, and Katy). The prompts for May 22 (Week 73) :: Creating, Finding, Switching, Forgetting, Craving.

Catch up and read all of my past Sunday Lately posts and camp out with the Tribe on Facebook!

Creating:: This weekend, the boyfriend and I went to our local garden center and purchased a LOT of plants and flowers to put in pots in various places around our house. It’s supposed to be in the 80s today and for a few days this week. And creating all the individual groupings was actually a lot of fun! Even if I can’t participate in any of the actual planting because I’m basically allergic to everything.

Finding:: Seriously, when did I become allergic to the outdoors? I cannot be around plants without getting hives or sit outside without my eyes getting watery and itchy. Even just sitting inside the kitchen with the windows open, I’m a sneezy mess. I need to find something to get me through this all-things-pollen season.

Switching:: Since starting my new job, I have adopted a really bad habit of having more coffee in the afternoon for a pick-me-up-from-my-post-lunch-coma (hey, the coffee is free!). I finally remembered to put some tea bags in my work bag, so I can switch to something non-caffeinated (if it’s the warm beverage that I’m actually craving).

Forgetting:: I’m not shitting you — when I originally wrote this post, I forgot listing out this prompt. I had it above all together with the other week’s topics, but literally skipped right over it. HILARIOUS.

Craving:: I don’t know how I never thought of this, but PEANUT BUTTER IN OATMEAL, you guys! Someone at work makes this almost every morning, and I copied the same habit. I feel so much more full than eating oatmeal on its own and, well, peanut butter is my everything. I basically crave it every day (and I may or may not go through a jar a week).

Weekly Therapy: 51 weeks left in my 30s

- Mel

the week:
I had two full days of training at work, so my week just FLEW by!

And, YAY! I got a new bike — 600+ miles of Iowa trails, here we come! We also signed up for our first group trail fun ride in June — the BACooN Ride (where BACON meets the Raccoon River Trail) — so I am fully outfitted and ready to explore.

weekend:
We live in a front license plate state, so I need to take my car in this morning to get my front plate mounted. The dealership is also charging us an OUTRAGEOUS amount of money to update the maps on my GPS (like, holy shit, they’re sticking in an SD card WHY CAN’T A SATELLITE DO THIS). All I’m saying is that it sure as shit better locate my house when it’s uploaded.

ANYWAYS.

Otherwise, we have a pretty laid back weekend. Last night we got to hang out with our neighbors for a bit because it was SUCH a beautiful night. I’m pretty jazzed about the weather report in general this weekend, and we’ll probably go for a bike ride.

seven things, seven days:
1. My workplace has a corporate library, which we can reserve from a great selection of business-themed and popular book titles. And they deliver it right to my desk!
2. Everything is SO GREEN right now, including the farm crops around us. Daily, I just feel so happy with where I live.
3. I finished Leah Remini’s Troublemaker — it was a really engaging story, with all the gossipy celebrity juice you’d expect from someone who attended Tom Cruise’s wedding. I’m obsessed with the Scientology survival stories, and it’s a pretty incredible read from someone who went into the church so young.
4. Man, I just had another awful online shopping experience with a furniture company that I love and have shopped with for over a decade (AND have their dumb store credit card). Needless to say, I have to now find another living room side table somewhere else. #grumpy
5. Oh, HEY! Roller derby article in Shape magazine: How Roller Derby Helped Me Finally See Myself As An Athlete
6. The unhealthy truth behind “wellness” and “clean eating” {via Vice}
7. Spinning: You’re doing it wrong {via Indoor Cycling Association}

Sunday Lately for this 30-Something:: Week 72

- Mel 2 Comments

Blogger Tribe_Sunday Lately It’s Sunday morning and the Blogger Tribe is collectively sharing their Sunday Lately posts. Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (lead by Angelica, Meghan, Nicole, and Katy). The prompts for May 15 (Week 72) :: Doing, Appreciating, Designing, Humming, Expecting.

Catch up and read all of my past Sunday Lately posts and join camp with the Tribe on Facebook!

Doing:: All weekend, I was volunteering at the derby tournament (hence, this post being late). So, for the rest of Sunday afternoon, I basically did NOTHING. Well, I definitely made a sandwich first… then, nothing.

Appreciating:: I’m still feeling all the warm fuzzies from friends who reached out with birthday wishes. For anyone who has moved to a new city, it can feel incredibly sad to miss out on celebrating with friends (who have likely celebrated with you for past birthdays).

Designing:: a new playlist! Man, I don’t think that I’ve updated my running songs since I ran the marathon. It’s no wonder I’m unmotivated to workout (a big HA! there because we all know the real reasons — my friends Lazy Tendencies and Procrastination). 😉

Have any new, good dance, electronica or remix recommendations that I should download?

Humming:: the jingle for one of my favorite podcasts, We Know Nothing (as sung by Anya Marina, an artist that opened up one of my FAVORITE live show memories back in my Cleveland days — she was on the bill with Greg Laswell and Jay Nash).

At work, I’m allowed to wear headphones/earbuds, so I’ve been plugging back into my growing list of unplayed podcasts. I’ve also been catching up on Nicole Antoinette’s past seasons of Real Talk Radio on my commutes, and have gained much-needed insight into some life decisions that I’ve been struggling to make. I’m pretty sure she’s about to release another new season, so I want to be caught up!

Expecting:: We’re expecting our first guests (boyfriend’s parents) at the end of the month and OMG it’s already halfway through May! I need to start putting stuff up on the walls and figure out my living room arrangement already.

Weekly Therapy: A fine wine, I’m 39.

- Mel

the week:
YOU GUYS. MY PINK CHAIRS WERE DELIVERED. The ones that I just ordered on Monday from Wayfair. On top of all my birthday surprises from the boyfriend (and my furbabies), this was seriously the BEST WEEK.

grumpy cat bday older

But if we’re being super serious, despite some of the shitty and sad stuff, this has really been a good year. And I’m happy that you are here to celebrate all these memories of my 30s with me.

weekend:
Hey, I’m volunteering at the 80/35 Invitational this weekend — a tournament hosted by Team United in Des Moines. You should come out and watch some roller derby!

Birthday week is coming to a close, but here’s the run-down of my week of surprises, aka:
seven things, seven days:
1. My boyfriend special-ordered a gluten-free carrot cake from Sweet Rewards (and even got some candles, so that I could make a wish).
2. An emerald necklace (from the cats, ahem)
3. A gift card to LifeSpa (boy, do I need a massage!)
4. WINE CLUB MEMBERSHIP to Plonk (ALL THE CABS!)
5. This hilarious t-shirt from Raygun
6. This hilarious t-shirt from Raygun (from the cats)
7. And this hilarious t-shirt from Raygun (he’s so silly that he individually gave me one each day, for the last 3 days. I love punny localized t-shirts!)

Bonus: My mom sent me flowers that arrived on my birthday.

Birthday Flashback: Ages 30-39

- Mel 1 Comment

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

MAN. This post was harder than I thought to write! And not because of any weird emotions or awful memories, but because my brain legit sucks. I cannot remember my own birthdays. That’s some bullshit. And this is exactly why I asked for a 5-year diary for Christmas, which I have YET to use!

So it took some detective work (like, glossing over social media accounts and waybacking old blog posts and texting my sister).

And finding hilarious pictures like this:

Birthday-sunglasses_34 throwback

I guess it’s better than passing out in a handicapped bathroom stall on your 29th birthday, eh?

But here’s the lot of what I got from ages 30-39:

30 I remember being SO excited about turning 30 and getting the hell out of my 20s (#bye). I honestly had to message my sister to help me remember how we celebrated because it was completely lost in my memory (I even second-guessed her because that’s how terrible my memory of the event is. Isn’t that awful?!) I can’t even find any pictures from my bash. I do, however, have a 30th birthday CD that was made for me.

Very limited story, because forgetfulness, but we went to Velvet Tango Room and had a HUGE party (apparently the guy I was dating at the time helped me plan the thing — though neither my sister or I even remember who that was). All of my friends were there though. And two of my sisters came in for it. And I remember having either dinner or brunch (widely different memories, no?) with my mom and got a new luggage set — which I still have and LOVE because Nine West is amazing. And maybe the color purple is strongly tied to memory?

31 I had a Cinco de Mel get-together with friends at our favorite Mexican restaurant. I was probably heavily intoxicated on Cadillac margaritas and Malley’s chocolates. I’m hoping that Facebook memories or Timehop will help me recover some of those lost events from a weekend or some-such — or maybe I just kept it really low key that year? I have a picture of me in the salon in Ohio with a fresh cut, so I must have spent the afternoon with my sister (which probably, definitely included some shopping at Gabriel Brothers).

32 The birthday that I went to Vegas… but basically spent it alone. I really wanted to celebrate with friends and after that kind of went bust up (I ended up having an entire hotel room all to myself, unable to get any friends to come out with me; the other friends who I knew were going, stayed at another hotel), I wished that I’d invited my boyfriend to join me. Though I had some fun, it was enough to make me not want to go to Vegas ever again.

Afterward, the boyfriend gifted me a WONDERFUL weekend of camping and biking near Fallingwater (we did a tour of the house and grounds, too). And we kayaked down river and made friends who rafted with Yuengling.

33 With my current boyfriend, again, we got a limo and took some friends over to watch some roller derby; then we invited everyone back to our downtown apartment in Cleveland to drink some Ice Tea Vodka (OMGoodness, I haven’t had that in so long!).

34 Shortly after my 34th birthday, I started this blog! I found myself in a weird space at the end of an odd age bracket and growing out of my “other” blog. Here’s a snippet of my weekend from a post on my other site though:

Friday, I rushed through my morning work schedule, so that I could walk around downtown — it was a gorgeous sunny day. I hit Franktuary for lunch, then wandered over to the Pittsburgh Public Market (for marshmallows and beer). After the boyfriend left work, I met him for a Happy Hour drink at NOLA in Market Square — totally hoping for some outdoor seating (sadly, no room on the patio) — while we discussed our night plans. Which was our first trip out to the Waterfront in Homestead, for comedy at the IMPROV (Jim Jefferies, FTW!). Then, we had WAY too much fun (think: Extreme “More Than Words”) at Sing Sing, Pittsburgh’s dueling piano bar.

Saturday: early rising to join 1,000+ “friends” for the Pedal Pale Ale Keg Ride. Of course, RAIN for the 6+ mile ride from downtown to the starting line at East End Brewing Company (and oh, holy hell, Penn Avenue I hate your elevation). The ride finished off at Penn Brew on the North Side (mmmm, love that warm German Potato Salad!), with thankfully no significant rain during that trip. Afterward, I definitely needed a Disco Nap, if I was going to survive the Dirty Ball. Which was SO MUCH FUN, Pittsburgh. And not an ankle was broken in my 6-inch heels! But there was dancing… LOTS of dancing. The sequins definitely made for an impression.

Sunday was fit for a grump, as I had to wake up early AGAIN (early, at least for how much vodka I had the night before) for a sunny afternoon game with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Oh, lookie there: The Buccos won for my birthday.

AND THEN I DID (something like) 18 LOADS OF LAUNDRY.

#todaywasagoodday

35 I had an MRI because of, what would be, ligament damage in my wrist. (Thanks, derby.) I remember (however, vaguely) having drinks and snacks at the bar at ELEVEN in Pittsburgh with my boyfriend. We did that, like, three years in a row. It was an awesome tradition and their desserts are BOMB.

36 I was dealing with the reality of a skin cancer diagnosis and having something of an identity crisis. 2013 was a really rough year overall for me.

37 I started off my day with a Bird of Prey experience at the National Aviary, and then enjoyed a wonderful hot stone massage. Based on my blog post about that day, it seemed that I was finally feeling less anxiety over my birthdays and my 30s in general.

38 Well, the week of my 38th birthday, I ran my first half marathon! For my weekend of celebration, we partied at Howl at the Moon and WOO-BOY, did we party! And then my dad came out to visit. It was such a fun weekend, even if I was a little stressed out pulling it all together.

39 Here we are, the LAST time that I will celebrate a year in my 30s. Look at how far we’ve come in ten years! This year’s a little different, of course, given that we’re in a new state. And we’ve explored a little more of our new home: On Saturday, we went to the Food Truck Throw Down in the city, hosted by Des Moines Social Club. And on Sunday, we went to Pella to look at the tulips — followed by lunch at Exile Brewing Company.

More on this year’s fun in a later post. But seriously: Would you be able to remember a decade’s worth of birthdays?

Sunday Lately for this (still) 30-Something:: Week 71 (and birthday week!)

- Mel 1 Comment

Blogger Tribe_Sunday Lately It’s Sunday morning and the Blogger Tribe is collectively sharing their Sunday Lately posts. Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (lead by Angelica, Meghan, Nicole, and Katy). The prompts for May 08 (Week 71) :: Planning, Loving, Reading, Wishing, Feeling.

Catch up and read all of my past Sunday Lately posts and join camp with the Tribe on Facebook!

39th birthday cake 30something therapy

Planning:: BIRTHDAY WEEK! And then, I guess, planning the 52 weeks remaining in my 30s. But today, planning a drive up to Pella to check out all of these tulips! I know that we missed the Tulip Time festival, but maybe we can catch that celebration next year.

Loving:: I am way over-in-love with a pair of blush pink accent chairs that I found online, which have been delayed since MARCH. When I logged on this morning to see if they were, in fact, shipping this week (finally) as their customer service agent told me in April, imagine my anger when I see that they were delayed once again — and back-ordered to June. This particular site was even charging us for shipping, which was around $160. SO MAD.

Imagine my delight, however, when I get an email that the EXACT same chairs were in stock on Wayfair and shipping around May 19 with FREE SHIPPING (the actual product was a few bucks cheaper, too, which is saving us almost $180 overall). Man, I LOVE these chairs, and while I understand that I’m in no rush to get them… well, I kind of am because I can’t find any other blush chair and I want to finish my living room dot tumblr dot com.

Reading:: “On the Verge” by Cara Bradley (my bedside book) and “Troublemaker” by Leah Remini (my treadmill book)

Wishing:: The boyfriend surprised me yesterday with a HUGE gluten-free carrot cake from Sweet Rewards in Waukee (above picture), which he also put candles on, so that I could make my birthday wish. It’s SO GOOD.

Feeling:: Really loved. And content — not the least bit mad or sad or old about adding on another year.

The home furnishings shopping adventure: Iowa edition!

- Mel 3 Comments

Last weekend, the boyfriend and I planned a shopping adventure, to fill in some missing decor around the house and buy things that we know we definitely needed (like, new guest towels). Here are the places that were included in the fun:

30something shopping Iowa house
Shopping haul!

at home – we had one of these stores in Pittsburgh, but it felt like it was always either Christmas decorations or crap that dropped off a truck. Our store here is AMAZING. Like HomeGoods amazing. We found an outdoor rug for the deck and a bunch of little vases for various spaces in the house. And placemats that match the kitchen for 50% off! It definitely takes some time to look through everything but it was worth it.

World Market – we shop here pretty often because of the amazing deals on wine (no shame; we’re used to paying so much more for alcohol in Pennsylvania), and I’ve missed this store since living near one in Ohio. PS: They do FREE wine tastings on Saturday afternoons, so I need to reorganize my shopping habits. I intended to purchase a pink chair for my office, but they didn’t it have in stock. I did find two little adorable boxed fake succulents and a bottle of Reisling that’s shaped like a cat though! 🙂

Spoiler alert: I found an actual office chair — not just a tufted dining chair — that I liked even better later in the day.

Bed, Bath & Beyond – we received a 20% off ENTIRE ORDER coupon in a welcome letter from our local store manager (hooray, moving discounts!), so we filled the cart with a bunch of stuff we needed. I threw some shade at the price of bathroom garbage cans ($40??? Seriously?!); however, I found my matching flatware set from Oneida, which I’ve been trying to match online (not knowing the name) unsuccessfully since two Thanksgivings ago. BIG SHOPPING WIN!

Homemakers – we found this place totally by accident, and decided that after a much-needed lunch of Mexican food, we’d circle back around to check it out. Right upon entry, we were greeted by a giant Adirondack chair that I just HAD to climb in for a photo.

homemakers beach chair iowa

This was definitely my favorite stop of the day!

Since this place was more for furniture than decor (though they do have much of both!), we were looking at some shelves/entertainment center options opposite our TV. I think we finally came to an agreement of how to decorate that wall in the basement and purchased two tall shelves to anchor the TV — and I need to measure the remaining distance to see if a credenza that we liked there will also fit. This is also where I found my aforementioned sweet upholstered (!!!) office chair.

Best of all though, we had a SUPER friendly salesperson and he loves Cleveland more than Pittsburgh, so we gave him all our money (kidding, kinda). Seriously though, he gave us a few ideas of day trips that were totally in line with our interests and I LOVE THIS PLACE SO DANG MUCH. He even told us about the warehouse history — it used to be a Parker Brothers factory!

Normally we would have also stopped at Pier1, but I’ve already been there twice in the last few weeks. 😉

PS: my blush accent chairs for the living room are STILL back-ordered from Home Decorators. GRRRRR.

Weekly Therapy: The light at the end of the tunnel is not an illusion. The tunnel is.

- Mel

Oh man, the statement in the title of this post from my yoga instructor hit me right where I needed it at practice this week.

the week:
This week, I discovered that May Day is a thing. Did you celebrate May Day when you were a kid? My coworkers were telling me all about the “random and anonymous acts of kindness” associated with this holiday when they were kids in Iowa, and it sounds very nice! (We got free candy at work because of it.)

weekend:
Since my birthday is on a Monday (boo!), we’ll be out getting the b-day shenanigans on over the weekend. Boyfriend tells me that I have a WEEKS WORTH of surprises that start on Saturday. In all honesty, I really don’t like surprises, but in this case: GIVE IT TO ME.

This weekend, the weekly Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market opens; Des Moines Social Club is hosting a Food Truck Throw Down; and it’s also Tulip Time in Pella!

Wow, what great Iowan folks to schedule three wonderful events around my birthday celebrations! 😉

seven things, seven days:
1. We got a Roomba, and the reception of it on behalf of the cats is mixed (I don’t think there are any youtube videos in our future). Though *I* am thoroughly impressed by this thing.
2. My bottom front teeth were SUPER sensitive last week, and I never listen to my body cues when I know it’s getting sick (spoiler alert: I’m getting sick). But I’m completely serious about the teeth sensitivity thing; happens every single time.
3. I seriously worked for 40 minutes straightening a drawstring in a pair of my casual pants BECAUSE IT’S THE ABSOLUTE WORST. And when I got *almost* to the end, I realized that it’s sewn in twisted, and I can’t fix it! Gah.
4. A follow-up Trunk Club shipment came, and I have a new stylist (already), and it was worse than the first one.
5. I spent a few hours reading my old, dead blog. I feel like I used to be a much better writer (and a helluva lot funnier), and I wish I could harness some of that again.
6. Putting work in its place — don’t fall for the anecdotal fallacies! Also, it’s OK to not have a “calling” or to be passionate about work and it’s OK to choose the paycheck, k? WE ALL WORK FOR MONEY. {a great piece via The Manual}
7. May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month, so PLEASE make sure to read up on warning signs and symptoms, and schedule your annual screening! This is very near-and-dear to me, considering that I had skin cancer in my 30s (and my future odds at being cancer-free are not good) and one of my closest friends just passed away in March at age 40 from melanoma.

Sunday Lately for this 30-Something:: Week 70

- Mel 6 Comments

Blogger Tribe_Sunday Lately It’s Sunday morning and the Blogger Tribe is collectively sharing their Sunday Lately posts. Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (lead by Angelica, Meghan, Nicole, and Katy). The prompts for May 01 (Week 70):: Completing, Visiting, Repeating, Writing, Scheduling.

Catch up and read all of my past Sunday Lately posts and join camp with the Tribe on Facebook!

Completing:: Even though we have bi-weekly cleaning appointments (and they were just here this past Thursday), I just completed mopping all the floors on the 1st floor because they all smelled like wet dog. WTH!? It’s like they cleaned a house before hours with dogs and used the same mop water. After two days, it didn’t dissipate, and I couldn’t take it anymmore.

Visiting:: Today, we’ll be visiting ALL THE HOME STORES. Ha! Now that we’re mostly settled in, we’ve figured out a few needs for our living spaces. Plus, we’ll be hosting our first out-of-town visitors this month!

Repeating:: Despite how bummed I am about not returning to Pittsburgh to run the marathon with friends this weekend, I need to repeat how I felt immediately upon running the PGH Half last year: I don’t EVER want to run that again. It’s difficult in this current moment because I was so excited to take on the full; but last year, I was miserable (I only signed up this year because I had won a free entry and wanted to join a few friends running their first marathon). But… I was really overwhelmed by the crowds. UGH THE CROWDS. And the weather is always totally unpredictable. It’s a conflict that I thought would be resolved with not training appropriately and moving away and separating myself from the city. Instead, it’s bubbled up emotions that I wasn’t really ready prepared for.

Writing:: I’m currently writing down some lists for a possible 30-day challenge project to take me through the next year. Because…

Scheduling:: It’s BIRTHDAY MONTH!!! Besides making plans for the BIGGEST DAY/LAST YEAR of my 30s, my scheduled Birthday Fix arrived a week early — and it’s seriously one of my favorite Stitch Fix boxes [affiliate link] that I’ve ever received (seriously!!!). I really feel like they curated it specially for me and my style (I asked for a Fix specific for my birthday celebrations, to include some new shoes and a pink dress and THEY DELIVERED).

Stich Fix Birthday Box WIN!
Stich Fix Birthday Box WIN!

The CUTEST Adrianna Papell floral dress, the Pixley green tropical print blazer that I asked for (over a white lace-up top that’s not really my style but ended up looking super cute on), and the Franco Sarto heels that I had pinned! I also received a pair of distressed Kut from the Kloth denim, which are my second pair from the brand — I really like how they fit me!