shoes

Weekly Therapy: deine Katzen sind wilkommen

- Mel

the week:
My sister had major surgery this week to remove a tumor (the size of a football o_O). Thankfully, it wasn’t cancer, but she still has 4-6 weeks of recovery (she had one ovary and tube removed because of this). Please send good healing (virtual) wishes her way!

duolingo german iphone app

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer (and I guess I can get rid of those white shoes and bottoms that I never wore this season). It’s a little surreal to think that my favorite season is around the corner (fall-flavored beers and pumpkin lattes and Halloween candy). It’s also a super-slow time at work, which… boring.

Because I donated my well-loved tennis shoes to the Tough Mudder’s foundation, I am on the hunt for a new pair. I’m no marathoner, but I can DEFINITELY get behind stomping around in the woods and mud again for fun, so trail running shoes specifically. I hope this will not be a tortuous process (but if so, THERE ARE MACAROONS TO BE HAD). See also: where did all my bandanas go, and why can’t I find the old school 100% cotton ones anywhere?

weekend:
My boyfriend is away for the weekend on a bachelor party somewhere on a farm in Pennsyltucky-nowhere. I don’t know. I heard there would be skeet shooting. His (our) friends are weird.

For me, a ladies-only neighborhood happy hour Friday night, an extra Saturday afternoon practice and work Sunday.

seven things, seven days:
1. You know I lost my driver’s license TWICE last weekend at Tough Mudder? Seriously, found it in the grass the first time I realized it was dropped from my hands (thankfully I found it!); and somehow my boyfriend ended up with it the second time.
2. Skating outdoors is fun!
3. Remember that guy who came to seal up the chimney? Yeah, it’s basically raining into our living room now when it’s raining outside. And of course he hasn’t returned our calls to fix it. FML.
4. Am I crazy to sign up for a 6am Crossfit class? Probably. But it’s about the only time I can fit it in.
5. I started brushing up on my German again via Duolingo. It’s really fun to see what I can remember and laugh at some of the verbs that I still misinterpret.
6. With all this talk about road trips, here is Seventeenth & Irving’s Road Trip Essentials
7. Now I’m obsessed with this Weekender bag from Everlane.

Got any road trips planned for this last weekend of summer?

30 Days, 30 Posts Challenge: COMPLETE!

- Mel

And here is December! Whew. I did it! I published 30 posts in 30 days. Even with a vacation and a road trip under my belt for November! Yes, I subsequently took a couple days soon after the 11/30 deadline.

What I hoped to achieve:
Find this blog’s direction and purpose. Find other bloggers (especially other therapists or counselors, or wannabes, in their 30s) in my niche. Find if the topics I wrote about — or were interested in — would resonate with 30-something Readers.

What I learned:
I was devoted. I was determined to finish. I even made some new online friends. When put to task and under stress and the all-too-ubiquitous “I’m busy,” I had something to prove — to you or to me?! Isn’t that kind of statement always some kind of unnecessary pressure to ourselves to complete goals?

Well, because of all that, I have a new passion: to share my personal experiences and lifestyle as a 30-something woman to evoke a reaction, a response — heck, a follow-ship! And thank you for reading along.

Going forward:
More guest posts like this. More pictures. Regularly-scheduled themed posts like this. And this. MORE 30-something awesomeness. Definitely more shoes.

Did you participate in either Nanowrimo or the 30 Days of Posts challenges? Leave your blog link in the comments!

Weekly Therapy: How to Walk in High Heels

- Mel

A good challenge for ALL of us to live by!

birchbox:

Photo via Neiman Marcus.

Women tend to fall on two sides of the shoe spectrum: there’s Carrie Bradshaw with her closet full of Manolos on one end, and then there’s me with my collection of orthopedic clogs. As a lifelong klutz, I need my footwear to be as accident-proof as possible, which is why I favor the same shoes prized by emergency room nurses and the Dutch. The few pairs of heels I own have rarely seen pavement. But the ladies at Birchbox are a mighty tall and stylish bunch, and at 5’1” I wanted to measure up. So last week, I gave myself a shoe challenge: to find a comfortable way to wear high heels from morning to night. No limping, blisters, or tears allowed.   

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