Hey there and happy Friday! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful week and are looking forward to the weekend ahead. My week? Well, it’s been really nice, with a good balance of work and relaxation. That said, I’m certainly ready for a weekend full of family time and we celebrating my mom’s and grandpa’s birthdays. Let’s start the weekend off right by reflecting on some little lovely things from the past week.
- Fresh (cheap!) summer berries
Blackberries and strawberries are just $1 at the grocery store by my house this week – and they’re delicious. It seems like it’s pretty much prime berry season, and I love it.
- This quote
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I wish I had something resembling a life plan, but it’s truly mostly living one day at a time and trying to be okay with it.This is a reminder I need a little too often. But it’s true and it’s a good one.
- Journaling (with pretty pens)
At the end of the day, it’s really nice to run through the things that happened in a day and get them out of my head. It’s also a great way to remember what happened and when. Days start to run together as you live them, ya know? It can take as few as 10 minutes, but just spilling out anything that comes to mind on paper in pretty colors is satisfying and I love it.
- Watching too much Food Network
Honestly, watching is a little bit strong. Sure, sometimes I get pretty engrossed in an episode of Chopped or Beat Bobby Flay, but mostly I like having Food Network on in the background as I cook, clean, blog, or attempt to nap. Still, the talent of the contestants is impressive and 98% of the food looks perfect. Can I please be a judge on one of those shows?
- Cinnamon-sugar toast
My grandma used to make this for me pretty regularly and it’s been ages since I last had it. But last night it popped into my head and we happened to have a couple slices of bread left in a loaf, so I took advantage. If you’ve never had it, I highly recommend trying the simple combination. Just toast some bread, spread it with butter, and sprinkle it with sugar and cinnamon.
And that’s all for me today! Have a fabulous weekend!
Do you journal?
Are there any shows you’re loving lately?
Any other favorites I should know about?
I used to eat cinnamon sugar toast all the time growing up! I don’t journal, but I think I might start. I have the worst memory so journaling would let me be able to go back and read what happened. Hope you have a great weekend!
It’s really cool to go back and see what you were thinking and feeling – highly recommend it! Thanks, Kaitie! Hope you have a lovely weekend, too 🙂
I’m loving all the summer berries too! Especially how cheap they are. That quote always hits home for me. There are stereotypical standards of what we “should” be doing at certain times in our lives, and when my life doesn’t match, I think I’m doing something wrong. Nope, not the case. Just living life my way 🙂 Have a great weekend!
“Just living life my way” <-- YES. And everyone's way is different - and that is more than okay. Thanks, Emily! Have a great time in Rhode Island this weekend!
Send me your cheap berries! They are still not very cheap here :'(
I used to be Food Network obsessed growing up! But now I just never have the TV on except when I workout….which is 4-6am and I have the Hallmark channel on with Cheers, I Love Lucy, and Golden Girls, hahahhaha!
Haha not sure how well they’d handle the travel 😉 Lol well at least there’s something on then 😀
I miss the Food Network! I don’t get the channel at my current place, which makes me sad – I used to have it on all the time when I was blogging, cooking, cleaning, whatever.
And yes to cinnamon toast! Confession: it was my ‘sick food’ when I was a kid (my mom would make it for me whenever I had a stomachache) and once I became a legal adult…it became my hangover food :-p
Haha I’ll have to keep it in mind as hangover food in the future 😉
I used to watch a lot of Food Network when we had cable, and even still when they had a lot of episodes on Prime. But in the last few years, the Food Network’s been going over to mostly competition shows and I don’t like those as well (especially the mean ones!). When it was on, my all-time favorite show used to be “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” (though I also liked “Good Eats”).
My sister got me onto journaling daily some 4-5 years ago…I used to do it when I was little, and I so enjoyed going back and reading old entries that I wanted to get back into it, but somehow I could never find the time. It took seeing my sister do it every day to help me finally make the move. I’ve kind of been scaling back a bit recently though, and trying to write more what I want/feel like, not simply keeping a log (which can be interesting for a time, but also can get boring).
Things I’m loving…
1) Wildwood Emerald Valley Kitchen Organic Medium Salsa…I know, very specific, but seriously, this stuff is The Bomb Dot Com!! I’m not one to be obsessed with salsa, but every time I have this stuff, I rave over it and try to figure out more ways to have it (which reminds me…those TJ’s tortilla chips…they’re terrific! I think I just found another way to have this salsa, lol! 😛 ). The mild was pretty good, too, but the flavor was tons better in their medium, IMO, if you don’t mind spicy.
2) Movie soundtracks. I love putting them on and letting it play away while I’m trying to write something tough. Music really helps me focus, and soundtracks are especially good for that. Lately, I’ve been listening to the “Thor” soundtrack after my dad and brother shared the movie with us a couple of weeks ago and I surprised myself by really enjoying it!
3) “Bread and Wine”, by Shauna Niequiest. After I first heard of this book recommended by Lindsay from Pinch of Yum, I kept running into it on other blogs, and even though I wasn’t sure if it was my style of book, I checked it out from the library. Halfway into the introduction, it was on my Amazon wishlist. 😛
4) A normal, average week. The last several have been so crazy and abnormal, so this week it was really nice to have only regular weekly appointments/responsibilities, without worrying about fitting in any extras. 🙂
5) Feeling awake and alive. This one’s more particular to today, because of the sharp contrast with Thursday morning, where I felt draggy and zombie-like for half the day (probably the Benadryl I took the night before for my mosquito bites affected my energy drain… 😛 ). But today, I felt spunky and full of pep and life! <- always awesome! 😉
Hope you have a lot of fun this coming week/weekend, Ellen! Happy birthday to your mom and grandpa!
I definitely recommend only writing what you feel like! Don’t make something that’s supposed to be relaxing feel like a chore 🙂 And if you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it!
1.) I love spicy! And salsa. With chips, sure, or on tacos or quesadillas or burritos or ANYTHING – including spoons. 😀 Thanks for the recommendation!
2.) It’s awesome when movies have a great score! It adds to the movie and listening to them later is just a bonus.
3.) I’ll have to check that out.
4.) Sometimes routine is exactly what you need.
5.) Yay! So glad you had a good day.
Thanks! Hope you have a great weekend 🙂
Cinnamon toast <333 There is ALWAYS tv playing the background at our house. USUALLY it's Food Network, but it's also a good amount of random Netflix and Disney Junior..
Haha we’re a TV-in-the-background bunch as well 🙂 Food Network and TBS are our fallbacks around here. Have a wonderful weekend, Morgan!
Yes!!! When I go to the gym, that’s all I watch. Food Network is so fun, and it gives me inspiration when I do my ‘cheffing’ in the kitchen. 😀
Same! I’m always itching to cook something amazing afterward 😀
That quote resonates with me right now! I am stuck in this place where I have no idea how life will turn out, but at the same time, I am putting gym trust in the process and hoping it will all workout. I know it will.
That’s exactly where I am right now! Like you, I have faith that it will all work out… but I have no clue how. 🙂