Goals Update: January

Where did January go?

Not that I can say I'm not a little bit happy.  January was a big post-holidays bummer of a month for me.  I couldn't get my act in gear for my goals and it just generally sucked.



1. Complete at least 2 items from my 101 IN 1,001 LIST each month - I cheated a bit with this.  I actually posted things that I had previously done, HERE, HERE and HERE.  Since this is really the only goal that I actually processed on this month, I'm going to take it.

2. GET IN SHAPE - Not. a. chance.  And I don't really have any excuse for it.  I was just lazy.  I'm going to start this week doing my Jillian Michael's workouts and then my running training starts.  I. have. to. do. this.

3. EAT BETTER -  Sort of.  I don't think I really eat bad in the first place.  My goal was to try to plan out more meals in advance instead of relying on the easy go-to favorites.  This prompted making my own pizzas (which is now a nice alternative - though is more carbs than I usually eat).  I'm trying to be better about portions as well, since that is a big part of my problem.  I give this one a half effort for the month.

Interruption

I interrupt my regularly scheduled outfit posts, whining about match, and general crabbiness to share some photos of Samson.

Why?

Because he's just so darn cute!!

 *lying on my lap because of the storm

 *following me EVERYWHERE and sitting next to my while I make dinner... because of the storm

 *Loving the snowy cold

<3

Take what you get

This morning at 5:30am, it was already 60 degrees out.

My legs are so happy to have a break from pants and/or tights.  Going to take advantage of it before it goes back down to the teens tomorrow.

*shirt - Express, skirt- Limited, shoes - Steve Madden

The weirdest January weather ever

Today I'm taking full advantage of the almost 50 degree weather (even though its rainy) to wear tights without feeling like my skin is going to freeze off.

It's supposed to be almost 60 tomorrow and then back down to 14 on Thursday.

It's amazing what a little bout of warmer weather will do to my effort in the morning.  Man, I'm so lazy sometimes.

*shoes - Steve Madden, tights - target, skirt - Nordstrom, belt - Express, sweater - Jcrew, jewelry - Stella & Dot

Need a vacation

It's official.  I need a vacation.

I'm feeling overwhelmed, discouraged and just tired.

Hopefully a quick trip up to Milwaukee for a little change of pace this weekend will be nice and helpful.

Either that, or I'm going to have to take a blogging hiatus.

Happy Friday.

#88 - Start a Holiday Tradition

I know I wrote about my holiday Cookies & Champagne party, which was an absolute blast.

I was thinking about it over the last few weeks and I my goal is to make this a regular tradition.  I like baking cookies and I like hosting, so why not.

So it's totally happening.  My holiday tradition of the cookies & champagne party.  I can see it growing each year.

#58 - Make a Homemade Pizza

Chances of me making me own pizza dough are slim to none.  Who has time for that stuff???  It will be a miracle if I get around to making my own bread (which is also part of this list).

So I have made my own pizza twice in the last three weeks.  And each time was DELICIOUS.

The first attempt was tomato, basil, mushrooms and parmesan cheese.  It had no sauce so it was a little dry.

My second attempt was pesto sauce, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and a little bit of parm cheese.  DELICIOUS.

#32 - Create a Unique Piece of Art

Sometimes, I completely forget about my 101 list.  Which pretty much guarantees that I am not going to complete everything before March 2014.

So sometimes it's really good for me to take a look through and see if there is anything I have done, that I didn't realize.  Typically, I can catch one or two things.

This one - #32 - I completed a few months ago (October actually).  YAY!

You can read the final post about the art here.  I'm sure there will be plenty more art where that came from.

Proportions

I took this picture today simply because it's amazing what a cut and style of pants will do to leg proportions.

The pants I am wearing today are a trouser cut.  Obviously longer in the inseam since I can't wear them with flats.

*pants - R&R, sweater - JCrew, scarf - GAP Mens (2013 - called the mandana - keep an eye out for them)

Yesterday, I wore ankle length pants with the same color shoes.  That who "same color" thing is supposed to make the legs look longer.  I don't really think it worked.  The length of the top makes a difference too.

Anyways... no real point to today's post.  I just thought it was funny, looking back at the pictures on my phone.

ZERO

This morning when my alarm went off, I checked the temperature on my phone (as usual) before I get dressed to walk Samson.  This morning, my phone said it was 0... with a high of 9 later this afternoon.

That is too cold.

So today I dressed for warmth and comfort.  I am wearing these booties solely because I wanted to be able to wear socks today.

*booties - Sole Society, pants - Macys (old), sweater & shirt - Express (old)

Weekend Wrap Up

The Brian Regan show and dinner at Shaw's was awesome.  He was just as hilarious as I knew he would be.  He had me in tears from the first few jokes.  I think we all enjoyed that evening out.

Then, on Saturday, I headed up to my parents to go to Kayla's 2nd birthday party.  It was nice to hang out with the family and see Lauren, Kevin and Liam.

Kayla got a lot of nice things from all of the people who love her and I think she had a good time (even though she didn't eat any cake).

Yesterday, I had plans to do NOTHING.  Clean a little bit and then watch stuff on my DVR and nap.  Well, I started off on the right track with the cleaning and the TV watching.  Then Brooke called.  She got a new car so we went for a little drive and then ended up getting ice cream at Oberweis.

I came back home and managed to watch a little more TV and take a nap before I got another text from Brooke that I should come out and meet her and Ryan.  So after walking Samson, I headed down to the bar for a bit.  I intended to be back by 8pm so I could watch Downton Abbey and ended up not getting home until 10.  So I'm a bit tired today.

I'm supposed to have a date this Friday with another guy from Match.  We'll see.

Brian Regan

Thank God it's Friday!

It's been a rough/long last two weeks.  I'm looking forward to going to see Brian Regan tonight with Melissa, Justin and Brooke.  This will be my third time seeing him perform and I'm still super pumped.  We are sitting in like the 4th row, so I anticipate mass craziness.  His nonverbal and facial expressions are a big part of what makes him funny.

Here's a few of my favorites:




I CAN.NOT WAIT!!

From the back on my closet

Typically, I am pretty good with clearing out my closet regularly and being strict about what stays and what goes.

If I haven't worn something in the last 6 months, it usually goes.  Only on rare occasions, so things that I haven't worn make the cut for that round.  If they do and the time comes again and I STILL haven't worn it.... bye bye!

I can't remember how long ago I inherited this coat from my mom... years.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually worn it.  I have a like/dislike relationship with it.  Sometimes I LOVE the brocade print and sometimes I really don't like it at all.  Every time I do the clean out, I fight the urge to donate the coat because I don't really have a ton of coats and it's nice to have options.

Lucky for me, brocade was really popular on the runways for 2013.  So maybe this coat will stick around a bit longer.

Come on 2013

So far 2013 has been fairly frustrating for me.

I haven't done anything towards my goals for the month and the month is practically half over.

I'm lacking serious motivation (and energy) to work out, but I am (internally) complaining about how bad I feel.  So I should just suck it up and do it.

I have also been feeling really crappy lately.  Just overall.  About a year and a half ago, I explored transitioning my eating habits to a more raw food oriented style.  Don't get me wrong, I love food.  And I could never change my habits to a super strict diet.  But I feel like making some changes so that I feel better overall wouldn't be such a bad idea.

It also means that maybe I stop going to bed at 8pm so I can spend some time in the evenings preparing food for the next day.

I'm going to pull this book out of storage (recommended to me by a friend) and give it another read through. And I'm going to plan out what I eat during the week better.

I'm hoping this will help this ho-hum feeling I've had for the last couple of weeks.

Award Season

For those of you who don't want Downton Abbey, you should!

Here is gorgeous Lady Mary (aka Michelle Dockery) at the Golden Globes... looking amazing!  I love the dress... and the hair.

The hair is making me wish I had really thick hair so I could cut it short and look that good.

Freezing

This morning it was bitterly cold out.  After feeling like summer on Friday and Saturday (in the 50s), it seemed even colder this morning.

If I could've gotten away with wearing my double layers sweatpants to work, I would've considered it.

*sweater- GAP mens, shirt - JCrew factory, pants - Macys (old), shoes - Sole Society

I'm still trying to decide if I can even do this pants with booties thing.  It feels weird, but I'm giving it a chance.

Also, I'm so proud to admit that my hair today is all my own. :)  I used this technique I got though one of my 100s of emails I get each day.

*Ah, no nailpolish!  

I didn't wash it this morning so it still had all the product in from yesterday (I wore it curly), so I added some dry shampoo to the roots and then teased a tiny bit per the instructions.  I'm kindof proud of my semi-big bun. :)

Everyone loves some new shoes

The other day I saw on facebook that Sole Society (one of those membership places) was having a buy one pair of shoes, get the second one free deals.

So I thought I would browse and take a look.  Usually by the time I see these sales all the cute shoes in my size are sold out.  I must've gotten to them right at the beginning because I was able to get two cute pairs of booties.

I can't wait to wear them.

Sorry for the bad quality photos.  My camera was acting funny with the bad lighting in my room.

  these are super cute in person - the back of them is actually black glitter (its so hard to see in the picture)

grey suede cut outs

I'm going bowling today for our director's meeting at work, so sorry for the quick post.

The Online Dating Experiment

**I'm schmoozing with the Chicago foreign dignitaries today for work, so I wrote this last night.

It's been a little over 4 months of trying out match.com.  I've been on two dates and had a dozen email conversations with guys.

I have to be honest though, after date #2 and the spamming of completely uninteresting guys, I'm over it.

A blogging friend from the past posted an article (from NYMagazine) about online dating, found here, and I gotta tell you.... most of it is completely true.

"... online dating pools are increasingly contaminated by those so undesirable or socially awkward their meet-ups invariably fail to yield lasting connections."

Um, yeah.

I wanted to make 2013 the year I focused on putting myself out there.  I want to date.  I'm open to meeting people.  I just don't think online dating is the way I am going to do it.

So while my match membership doesn't expire until the middle of February, that will be the end of it.  I debated trying eharmony.  I think I'm going to wait.

Maybe 2013 shouldn't be the year I really focus on dating, but the year I just focus on me and let whatever happens, happens.  Doesn't everybody say, "It happens when you least expect it."?  (Honestly, that one ranks right up there with all the people that told me my breakup was "better now than later".  I get the sentiment, but not helpful.)

I digress.  I'm not sure what to do now.  It's so frustrating and exhausting.

Work Shmurk

Getting back into the work groove after the holidays has been hard.  In particular because it's been pretty stressful.

I have a few too many balls in the air right now with work.  An employee that might leave/or will be let go.  A new group that is difficult to wrangle and the pressure to pick up a new client ASAP to cover the cost we lost with the client we let go late last year.

Anyone else need a vacation already?

Arm Candy

Thanks Leslie - for the new addiction to Stella & Dot jewelry!

Bracelet, bracelet, trusty pandora charm bracelet

Menswear

Fashion people are always talking about men's wear.  How women can really work a pantsuit, or even a tuxedo inspired suit on the red carpet.  They talk about women wearing tweed.

Literally, today - I am wearing men's wear.  One of my good friends works for Gap designing for the men's department and gifted me with a few goodies that will run in the 2013 fall line.

Today I wanted to be warm and comfortable - so why not go cashmere?

*sweater - Gap (not out yet but I'm sure they sell something similar), jeans - Express, boots - Old Navy (old)

Yay, Friday!

Yay!  So thankful today is Friday.  Also, I realized that we are now 4 days into 2013 and I haven't paid any attention to my goals.

Good way to start off the year, Megan.

This weekend, I am going to spend time focusing on my goals and getting started - especially with the meal planning bit.

Anyways, in other news - I finally received my Stella & Dot purchases from my credits for my party.  I haven't been feeling very good until today, so now I am finally wearing them.

 necklace

bracelet, bracelet

It's nice to have some gold jewelry now.  There was a long period of time when I refused to wear gold.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013 everyone!

I had a nice time celebrating, but am now paying the price for it.  I don't think I was fully recovered from my sickness because it has come back with a vengeance.

I have a feeling today is going to be a short work day for me.

Anyways, I managed to snag a couple photos on NYE when I had some people over.  Mostly old volleyball teammates, so it was fun to hang out.

Here's what I wore - Minus the fascinator.  Unfortunately, it didn't last until people actually showed up.  Maybe another time.

Here are a couple photos of the ladies.  The first was all the girls there (minus the two poor guys that got stick taking the photos).

And here is most of our starting 6. :)

Then, yesterday we all ralleyed and headed up to a local NIU bar to watch the Huskies in the Orange Bowl. We rolled in VIP style with reserved seats right at the bar.

Unfortunately, they lost but we love our Huskies!