MIMM – Page 5

Warmer temps, Yoga and American Girl: MIMM#93

October 31, 2016 by Alicia 2 Comments

Hey there. Happy Halloween!! I can’t believe it’s already the last day of October. We had some warmer temps this weekend which made it a great weekend to get outside and forget about the fact that winter is around the corner, except that my apartment complex set out the salt buckets for our doorsteps. I don’t want to think about it. I had a great weekend getting things done around the apartment, working out and some relaxing time as well. Linking up with Katie for MIMM.

Friday night was chilly, but after work and eating some dinner quickly, my friend came over and we enjoyed drinking tea on my patio and just chatting about life. Then to warm up, we walked twice around the apartment complex before calling it a night. We are hoping to get together soon for a board game night.

Saturday the temperatures were about 10 degrees warmer and the sun was shining. I started my morning with running errands and then headed to the gym for a swim. My arms were pretty sore from weight lifting so I just did 1.5 miles in the pool as I didn’t want to push it too much.

I came home to eat and then enjoyed doing yoga outside. I could not get over how beautiful it was (funny as I write this, the rain and lightning just started…). I try to enjoy all the sunny days I can by going outside for a little bit.

I then spent some time writing up posts for the blog. In case you don’t know, each Friday I post a yoga pose, how to do it, variations/modifications and benefits of the pose.

I ate dinner early, around 5, as the food happened to be ready then. I made Monique’s slow cooker thai peanut chicken. I was pleased that I could fit the recipe in my small crockpot as I don’t have a regular sized one. I did have to leave out half of the red pepper, but I am just going to slice it to go on the side as I prefer them raw. Instead of purple rice (I don’t know where to find that), I made my cilantro lime cauliflower rice to keep the carbs down.

I started watching TV in the evening and then I decided that I needed to do something more productive so I finally finished reading You are a Badass. The book is amazing if you haven’t read it. The end talking about money totally resonated with me.

While we are on the topic of books, I just preordered Scrappy Little Nobody and Talking as Fast as I can (Gilmores on the mind!). Looking forward to some new books to read.

Sunday I cooked a lot of food for the week, so many veggies!! Friday I was reading through comments on Erin’s blog and came across Thyme and Toast and learned about Delicata Squash. I am not really a squash person, but I have slowly been getting into the fall flavors and roasting veggies is my new favorite way to eat veggies, so I had to pick up a delicata squash and try it this weekend. I have to say it was pretty tasty. I enjoyed it with my side salad for dinner on Sunday.

2016-10-30-16-51-15 — ran out of room for all the veggies, so only 1 piece of broccoli lol

Backing up to earlier in the day, I taught yoga and then was in the mood to work on organizing and cleaning up. I am working on downsizing my American Girl collection and have been listing a few items on ebay that I believe will sell. However, I definitely have some items I can part with and will not do well on ebay. Everything in great condition though. I thought I would just mention on here with some pictures of my things in case anyone is interested. Comment or email me [email protected] . First come, first serve. Looking for best offer and will ship.

I have to share my Halloween graveyard that I am bringing into work today. Brownies with oreo “dirt”, Milano pumpkin spice tombstones and some frosting for “grass”.

Alright I think that is all for me today. Hope everyone has a great week.

More Apples and Pumpkins plus Vintage Toys: MIMM#92

October 17, 2016 by Alicia 1 Comment

Hello everyone!! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. I had a fun and productive weekend. Little by little sorting through the boxes of stuff my parents packed up for me 2 years ago…I am finally able to let go of more and not so attached to every little thing which is nice. I know that is in part to how much I have grown up in the last 2 years and just learning that I can live without a lot of stuff. When you have boxes sitting in your closet that you don’t look in for 2 years, probably time to part with some of the stuff huh?

Getting back to the fun things of the weekend. Thanks Katie for the MIMM link up.

Saturday I headed apple picking with a friend. There was more of a variety available this time and I probably picked too many apples for just me. I guess I will have to eat at least an apple a day.

I did make these delicious apple oatmeal cookies on Saturday evening. It was seriously so hard to stop eating them after I had 3…

I also made some chili which will be dinner for a few nights. I took some pictures but they honestly don’t look that great so I’ll just tell you it was delicious.

Sunday morning I finally slept in a bit. I got up and made some waffles and bacon with a side of strawberries.

Then it was time to do my usual meal prep and worked on some blog stuff before I was off to teach yoga.

When I got back home, I decided to whip up these delicious chocolate muffins and paint my pumpkin.

I spent the rest of the day reliving my childhood as I sorted through boxes and was finally able to reduce some things down.

Marbles, floppy discs, polly pockets, old school IDs and more. Likely these polly pockets are going on Ebay soon. Did you know these are known as Vintage polly pockets? Apparently I am VERY old. Then again, babies now don’t know what floppy discs were. Instead of bringing your own USB, you had to bring a floppy disc to save your school stuff on. Oh…the 1990s…

OK time to get back to the present. Make sure you come back tomorrow, because I have a very special post.

What was your favorite toy growing up?

Weekend Highlights and Anniversary: MIMM#90

October 3, 2016 by Alicia 2 Comments

Happy Monday!! Today is a special day because it is my 7 year anniversary with this guy.

Of course he is off working but I was happy we got to see each other this weekend and get our engagement pictures done. I can’t wait to see them!! He was a good sport since he hates pictures. I know his family will love them.

Alright so back to the weekend, I started off Thursday night with a spa manicure and getting my hair washed and straightened at the salon.

I have to say that hour and a half was heaven at the salon after all the work hours I have put in recently. I was finally more relaxed at the end. It’s nice to treat yourself every once in a while.

Friday I had the day off but I did work for an hour and a half in the morning before getting on the road. I headed to Binghamton and as soon as I arrived we went to Sonic for burgers because I was craving one. I was so hungry I inhaled a double burger.

Then it was time to get ready for engagement photos. We went to a park in Ithaca, NY and for the first hour of the pictures the rain had stopped. It started up in the last half hour but overall wasn’t too bad and our photographer said sometimes overcast weather is easier to take pictures in since we aren’t squinting and more even light. Hopefully they turned out nice. I was pretty in the moment and didn’t take any photos with my phone or anything so you will just have to wait to see them.

We then headed out for dinner, I was nearly starved again haha. We went to a restaurant called Antlers in Ithaca and we got the pesto bruschetta flatbread along with a salad for me and soup for Brian. Then I got the fish plate (omg I ordered fish, I like never eat it, but the waitress described it and it just sounded good) and Brian got some crab cakes and something else. I was stuffed by the end of the meal and it was delicious!

In the evening we headed to our friend’s place as they just got a kitten. I played with their 4 year old daughter and then played with the kitten when she went to bed. Of course, you can’t forget the dog too, she doesn’t like that the kitten gets all the attention now.

Saturday morning it was nice to have some time to lay in bed a little longer. Brian and I got some brunch around 10am and I left for home at 11. It is so much faster to drive when it is not raining. I made it to Wegmans for my weekly groceries and then headed home to unpack, eat some leftovers and make pumpkin cookies.

I also got the best snack from Wegmans. Yay for Gingerbread season coming up too.

Saturday was also the first day of October so I wrapped up my gratitude calendar for September.

Sunday morning I got up and made some protein pancakes.

Then it was time to meal prep, clean, yoga and tackle my to do list.

side crow yoga — practicing my side crow again, challenged my class with it Sunday

After all the traveling I did in September, I finally feel like I made progress with my to do list at home on Sunday, so now I can go into Monday feeling better and hopefully continue to be productive.

Thanks Katie for the link up MIMM.

What is one thing you did this weekend?

Long Swim and Sick Weekend: MIMM#89

September 26, 2016 by Alicia 2 Comments

I love Marvelous in my Monday even when my weekends are not so good as it encourages me to look at the positives. This weekend was rough, working until 9pm Friday at the office, hardly sleeping Friday night thinking about all my to dos and then having a cold come on full force Saturday evening so my sleep Saturday night was even worse.

There were a few highlights though so let’s try to focus on the positive.

Saturday morning I made some pancakes for breakfast filled with protein and then I was fueled for a swim. I wasn’t totally in the mood for swimming and knew I had a lot to do, but I also know it is important for me to make time to workout and de stress.

As I started to swim, it was difficult just to get my head into it. While it normally takes me 30 laps or so to get in the groove, Saturday was more like a mile, 70 laps. I was happy that I stuck through it and managed to swim just over 2 miles, which I think is my longest in a month or two.

After that, I was hungry and made some food for an early lunch. For a couple hours I was out and about running errands. I had to stop at the mall to find a new pair of black work pants since mine ripped last Monday. It is so hard to find work pants that aren’t slim or skinny fit and actually fit over my thighs and also have front pockets and are machine washable. I know I am so picky! Thankfully after almost giving up (can you tell I don’t shop?), I found a pair at Express that happened to be 50% off. I also think they make my butt look pretty good.

In the afternoon I was home, cooking, cleaning, checking off things on my to do list which felt good. I even was able to have my patio door open and enjoy my Fall candles.

However, the thing I was procrastinating on was doing work for my job. Luckily the tedious task didn’t take as long as I thought it was going to but it was most of my evening. As I was working, my throat was feeling worse and I couldn’t breathe through my nose either. I sipped on tea through the evening, but nothing was really helping and I realized most of my medicines were expired as I don’t get sick often. I made it to bed but at 1:30am I moved to the couch and stayed there the rest of the night. Having my head slightly propped helped, but it was a rough night. I really can’t remember the last time I slept so badly.

Sunday morning I was craving a simple bowl of oatmeal to ease my throat. Even though I haven’t had much of an appetite, I tend to snack on cereal and crackers a lot with a sore throat because it eases the soreness to have food to munch on. I headed to CVS at 8am and picked up a few things to get me through the day. I still had a few things to get done such as meal prep, laundry, writing, etc. Life doesn’t stop when you get sick, you just find a way to push through.

I worked on meal prepping. That actually kept my mind off the sickness even though I lacked an appetite. I relaxed a bit on the couch and then decided to head outside for a few yoga photos. It has definitely felt more like Fall this weekend and was chilly in the shade, but the sun was out and felt amazing. I love getting a little bit of sun time especially in these cooler months ahead. The sun was like a warm hug. I went through a few yoga poses and I am starting to put more weight on my toes again, working on downdog and I can kinda hold plank again, though I still feel my left foot is holding more weight.

It is marvelous to be able to do downdog again and just have less of an ache in my foot.

I have also been using my diffuser more and just added a few more oils to my collection. It may be a little late to prevent my sickness but I am hoping this On Guard is still helping me get over the sickness faster. I have also been rubbing Breathe on my chest.

At noon I was off to teach, which I wasn’t looking forward to with my burning throat, but I made it through with extra water and was happy to teach. Though it seemed everyone was putting on their shoes before shavasana, maybe rushing to get home for football?

I was happy to just be home for the afternoon and evening after all the running around Saturday. I watched a few tv shows online, worked on some blog posts and did more meal prep (kitchen time is my favorite!).

Hopefully your weekend was smoother than mine. Have a great day!!

Do you use essential oils? If so, what are your favorites?

Have you watched the new show, The Good Place? I’m watching it as I write. My co worker described it to me and seems weird, but I’m curious.

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