Listing…

Everyone seems to be in the mood for lists right now. A handful of bloggers that I adore have published list posts lately: The Life & Lessons of Rachel Wilkerson’s What I’ve Been Eating, What I’ve Been Reading, What I’ve Been Writing, What I’ve Been Wearing, Holly Would If She Could’s 16 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me, and SnackFace’s This Week’s Sounds, Scents, Sips, Snacks & Sights…

And with my hectic schedule lately, both at work and personally, I’ve been living and dying by my daily To Do lists. First thing in the morning I make a list of all the things that need to get done that day and before I leave the office for the day I take the list of tasks and put them in chronological order. Don’t worry, I’m not going to share my daily To Do lists with you. I thought I’d take a cue from my blogging idols though and share some of the details of what’s going on in my life these days.

What I’ve Been Eating:

I didn’t do a great job following a healthy diet in April or May, as I confessed, so I’ve been doing my best to rectify that over the last few weeks. Tons of fruits and veggies, and smoothies galore. Green smoothies, berry-based smoothies, and even peanut butter smoothies. Yum!

What I’ve Been Reading:

My boyfriend’s mother insisted that I read The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato, and I ended up reading all 544 pages over the course of a weekend because I couldn’t put it down. Botticelli’s Primavera has been my favorite painting of his since I saw it in Florence when I was 21 so I was especially drawn to the storyline. I’ve also just finished Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink and was stunned by how much I related to each and every study that he discussed. Definitely keep an eye out for a Book Report on this! I’ve also just started Add More -Ing to Your Life: A Hip Guide to Happiness by Gabrielle Bernstein, which isn’t a self-help book – I swear – it’s a self-transformation book. 🙂 I’m looking forward to seeing how it impacts my daily approach to life as part of my #1 2012 goal to Be Positive.

Oh, and I have a serious fashion magazine problem. Like a – I need a 12 step program type of problem.

What I’ve Been Writing:

One of my goals for 2012 is to publish a piece of my writing and while this has been a personal goal for years, this is the first time I’ve officially written it down. Not to make excuses, but as a result of my spinal injury and my laptop dying earlier this year, I haven’t worked on this goal much so far in 2012. Hopefully this post will serve as motivation for me to start editing my first novel, I started writing it when I was 20 and wrote a large chunk of it while I was traveling around Europe by myself when I was 21.

What I’ve Been Wearing:

During May I submitted a handful of looks to a fashion challenge run by Definitely RA, you can  so you can check out some of those looks – Mission: Put Together 2012 – Part I and Mission: Put Together 2012 – Part II. The challenge was great and I wish I’d had time to participate more, but even putting together a few looks was fun. And as part of my goals for June I wanted to make an effort to wear less black, especially on sunny weekends, so that’s been a major factor in choosing my daily looks. Definitely an adjustment not to automatically reach for the black pieces!

Some Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me:

1. I don’t actively follow astrology but I’ve always believed that I embody many of the traits of my Scorpio sign – Determined, loyal, suspicious, discreet, introverted, dramatic, passionate, possessive…
2. I originally hurt my back springboard diving in college when I was 18
3. If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life it would be sweet potatoes. There’s an endless number of ways to cook them… Chips, fries, baked, mashed, in pudding. They can be sweet or savory. Hmmm… Now I kind of want to spend a weekend eating only sweet potatoes and blog about all the recipes I come up with! 🙂
4. Sometimes I forget that I don’t really “know” bloggers. I begin to feel like I’m friends with people whose lives I read about every day. Does that happen to anyone else?
5. I have three tattoos.

And so that we can continue to get to know each other, I’m going to re-start my short-lived Les Confessions series, where I post some “confessions” about myself and my life on a regular basis.

Sounds:

I’ve been listening to 70’s and 80’s music non-stop. From vintage Bon Jovi, Kenny Loggins, and Twisted Sister to fabulous 80’s movie soundtracks – Footloose, Pretty In Pink, Breakfast Club. The upside is that it’s really upbeat music that wakes me up and makes me smile every morning, the downside is that I dance at my desk. A lot.

Scents:

I’m a peppermint junkie! Candles, air fresheners, essential oils… Whatever I can find. I’ve also been baking up a storm and I love the scent of raw cacao and carob powders as their heating up.

Sips:

Peppermint tea – duh – and I have to confess that my guilty pleasure these days is Cherry Coke Zero or Cherry Diet Dr. Pepper. My boyfriend is horrified by the red color from the syrup but I treat myself to one a week! I’ve also rediscovered the Synergy Kombucha drinks, and I laugh every time I get carded buying them!

Snacks:

I seem to have almost forgotten about hummus when the weather was cooler but now that it’s warming up I’m craving hummus daily. Carrots, celery, sugar snap peas, and radishes dipped in spicy hummus is favorite after-work snack. I’ve also been eating my bodyweight in fruit on virtually a daily basis – pounds of grapes, cherries, apples, and bananas. Just can’t get enough!

Sights:

This Spring was amazing with weekends in Sonoma, San Diego, and Sea Ranch, but June has been a gorgeous month in San Francisco and I’ve been really enjoying spending time in my favorite city. Walking everywhere, trips to the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market, lazy days spent shopping and wandering around the sun-drenched streets… Amazing!

So tell me, what have you been up to? Do you like to make lists to ensure that you get everything done that needs to be done each day?

June 27, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food | Tags: 10 Day Style Challenge, 70's music, 80's movies, 80's music, Add More Ing to Your Life: A Hip Guide to Happiness, Apples, Astrology, Bananas, bangles, Be Positive, Berkeley, Bohemian, boho, Bon Jovi, Braids, Breakfast Club, brights, calendar, Cherries, Cherry Coke Zero, Cherry Diet Dr. Pepper, Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie, Confessions of a Fashion Blogger, Definitely RA, ethnic prints, Fashion Challenge, fashion magazines, Ferry Building Farmer's Market, Floor-length dress, Footloose, Freckles In April, fresh produce, fruit, Gabrielle Bernstein, gold jewelry, Grapes, Green monster, Hippie, Holly Woodcock, Holly Would If She Could, How to make lists, June goals, Kailey, Kenny Loggins, Kombucha, ladylike handbag, Laguna Beach tattoo parlor, Les Confessiones, List Making, Lists, Low-Intensity Fasted Cardio, Madden Girl, MaddenGirl, Marina Fiorato, Maxi, Maxi dress, maxi skirt, Mission: Put Together 2012, Navy handbag, Neutral sandals, Nude heels, organizing your life, Patterns, Peanut Butter Smoothies, peppermint tea, planner, Positivity, Pretty In Pink, printed maxi, prints, Rachel Wilkerson, REO Speedwagon, Resolutions, Retro, San Francisco, Scorpio, Smoothies, SnackFace, stacking bangles, stacking bracelets, stacking jewelry, Steve Madden, Structured Handbag, Summer clothes, Summer fashion, Summer jams, Summer Lists, summer produce, Summer style, summer trends, summer updos, Sun Warrior Protein Powder, Synergy, Tattoos, The Botticelli Secret, The Life & Lessons of Rachel Wilkerson, To Do Lists, Twisted Sister, updos, vacation maxi, Vegan diet, Vegetarian diet, Victoria's Secret, vintage, walking, walking as exercise, warm weather clothess, wearing less black, What I'm Eating, What I'm listening to, Zara, Zara Basics | 4 Comments