Thoughts on Marriage - Ira Glass

“I think actually one of the things that’s a comfort in marriage is that there isn’t a door at seven years, and so if something is messed up, in the short term, there’s a comfort of knowing, ‘well we made this commitment, so we’re just going to work this out. And even if tonight we’re not getting along, or there’s something between us that doesn’t feel right, you have the comfort of knowing, we’ve got time, we’re going to figure this out.’ And that makes it so much easier. Because you do go through times where you hate each other’s guts, and the no escape clause, weirdly, is a bigger comfort to being married than I ever would have thought before I got married.”

- Ira Glass

Happy Valentine's Day

Day 14: Heart

I carved our heart into a bench in Nashville. What? Everybody else was doing it?

#FebPhotoADay

Green Monster Smoothie Review

I took my Green Monster Smoothie recipe from SkinnyTaste.

Here's how I did it:

• 2 cups spinach (make sure you wash)
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 3/4 cup 1% milk
• 1/4 plain Greek yogurt
• 1 banana
• 3 tsp milled flax
• small handful blueberries
• 4 ice cubes

Blend it all together and voila!

The bananas were a little ripe and that's what the smoothie tastes like. It filled an entire Pizza Express cup and I'm still trying to finish it at 10am (but I'm a baby about this stuff).

Our blender also died after the first smoothie so we craftely made the second one in the food processor sans ice.

All in all I would do it again. Anyone have a blender I can borrow?

Monday Check-in

Working on: My attitude and not eating everything in site just because I can.

Reading: The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Watching: Tried really hard to watch the Grammy's last night. Fell asleep around 9:15, right in time for the Beach Boys performance I wanted to see. Bummer.

Loving: Love. Valentine's Day is tomorrow and I know most people are all like "Just tell people you love them everyday." Well I do that too but I kind of failed at someone's 25th (!!) birthday and Christmas so I feel the need to revive myself and Valentine's Day (our 7th anniversary) seems like the perfect time to do it.

Drinking: Not enough water! My water bottle is getting kind of funky so I ordered a new Nalgene today to replace mine that cracked.

Eating: Chicken Enchilada soup and Pork Loin this week. Also attempting to make this for Valentine's Day.

Excited: For some Body Pump tonight. I ate and drank like a garbage disposal this weekend.

Obsessed with: trying this new Green Monster Smoothie. We're trying the Virgin Green Monster for breakfast this week with a few alterations. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Happy Galentines Day!!

Day 13: Blue

#FebPhotoADay

This is a blue collar on my first cat Baloo.

Day 11: Makes You Happy

Family outtings now that we are all old enough to have fun and not hit each other make me very happy!

#FebPhotoADay

Day 10: Self Portrait

#FebPhotoADay

San Francisco

Dusty and I went to Northern California on our honeymoon in 2010 and Dusty fell in love with San Francisco. I wasn't too sure because we were sucked into Fisherman's Warf and never got out to explore the rest of the city.

So we planned to go back and explore. And explore we did!

We went to the Full House house

rode the cable car a dozen times

went to Oakland to help a friend move a couch (yep)

went to the Mission District

Cole Valley

stayed in Inner Sunset

explored Golden Gate Park

looked at records in Ameba Records

rode bikes along the coast

spent days exploring with cousins

caught up with friends

What a city!

You can see more of Dusty's pictures here.

You are what you eat

Or...you are what you practice.

‘If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.’ ~Dalai Lama

What are you practicing today? Yesterday? Tomorrow?
We have an opportunity to improve everyday so we might as well take advantage of it.

Again from the blog Zenhabits.com I've pulled some of the practices I need to work on:

• Do I want to practice leaving clothes strewn about, or papers lying on the counter, or can I take a few seconds to put them where they belong?
• Do I want to practice complaining and self-pity, or can I practice gratitude?
• Do I want to practice surfing time-wasting sites, or can I practice clearing away distractions and creating?

Day 8: Sun(set)

This sun was seen from Grand View Park outside our apartment and directly uphill in San Francisco while we were visiting.

#FebPhotoADay

Fun Facts

• I kill the spiders in our house.
• Sometimes (5 out of 7) day a week I will hide from Gus and then jump out and scare him and run around.
• I don't like it when Dusty sweeps the floor.
• I also don't like it when people call vacuuming sweeping.
• If I lay down on the couch anytime after 8 I will fall asleep with in 30 minutes.
• Sometimes I like to imagine my life is a musical so I sing everything I am saying.
• I like cooking and baking but I don't like the "wife-duty" stereotype that goes along with it.
• I believe in equality but I also believe it taking care of each other.
• There is an exception to every rule.
• The more passionate I get, the louder I get. Accept it or don't invite me along.
• Sometimes I am intimidated in professional settings even though I know I am a contender.
• I finally hacked into our Netflix account and I'm totally going to be watching some awful RomComs.
• I accidentally bought 5 boxes of Girl Scout cookies.
• I own 2 cat pictures and 2 cat figurines and 1 cat.
• I've been married for 17 months and we've been together for 7 years on Valentine's Day.

Day 7: Buttons

Buttons are a funny subject. I've multiple fall off clothes because they get caught in our dryer. I've also lost these (below) off of my cheap but cute Forever 21 coat. Mom!!! Will you see these back for me?!?

#FebPhotoADay

Day 6: Dinner

Lasagna with meat and spinach! Also, a little short on cheese.

I premade this meal yesterday so when Dusty arrived home from work he could stick it in the oven and it would be ready when I got home. ...and no I don't usually plan that well with meals.

#FebPhotoADay