It’s been a heck of a long time since I posted anything that wasn’t about food or crafting. You may not care about items not in those two categories and if so, I would encourage you to stop reading now.
Just trying to help.
I thought it would be fun to share some of the OTHER things I do with my life besides obssess over shopping for, cooking and consuming food…and the odd craft here and there.
I know, you thought all I did was cook and eat.
Sorry, not accurate friends.
Thus, thought I’d bring back some Top 5 action, sharing things I’m currently spending lots of time doing and perhaps one of them will spark some motivation or interest in one of you.
1) Triathlon Training. “Um, what?! Haha. You?” YES! Most of my good friends when I told them I was training for a triathlon gave me that little schpeel. Can’t hardly blame them, I’m not a neurotic workout fiend or really into fitness. Don’t get me wrong, I love working out. But until now, it wasn’t a huge part of my life. At all. Since high school two-a-day swim practices. Now, I spend 5-6 days a week training – 1 short and 1 long session devoted to each of the three activities of the tri – swimming, biking and running. I grew up around this crazy event, watching my mama compete in and then direct her own. Thus, I knew what I was getting into when a group of my coworkers and I all got persuaded to do the HyVee triathlon down in Des Moines, IA over Labor Day weekend. I’m 5 weeks into the training for it and I’m REALLY loving it. Who knew I’d end up being one of those weirdos that craves a workout everyday? If there’s some fitness event or goal out there for you, I highly encourage you to give it a go. The only thing holding you back is you. Do it.
2) Blog-Reading. This may be less of a surprise than the share above, but this is one of my favorite ways to stimulate creativity and get a little motivation. I’ve found some fantastic blogs out there – each dedicated to a slightly different cause. I’ve found ones devoted to fitness, ones devoted to cake decorating, ones devoted to fashion and ones devoted to nothing. You can find just about everything out there. My favorites are the ones where bloggers are exceptionally candid. Love that. I TRY to write that way for you all as that’s how I tend to talk in person. So when I read another blog where they too write like I’d imagine them speaking, I like it that much more. Here are a few current favorites of mine that I REALLy encourage you to take a peek at:
- Spoon Fork Bacon (Delicious food and even better photography. Impossible to not drool reading this blog.)
- How Sweet It Is (This blog is absolutely hilarious. She has fantastic recipes but is also hysterical with the way she documents her life for her readers.)
- Rabbit Food for my Bunny Teeth (This is a new find for me, but I love her dedication to healthy eating and her DIY section is great. I’ve already made a few items from her blog…still need to blog about those for you all. Oops.)
- From My Grey Desk (This blog is written by the sister of The Small Things Blog, one I’ve talked about on here before. Lauren has so many great posts, but my favorites are her posts/pictures of decorating. The girl’s got style.)
There’s no excuse to not be inspired by SOMETHING everyday. In my opinion. Whatever it is that inspires you, do that more. Do it often.
3) Spotify. Yes, I’m behind the curve with this one. I know, I know. But what an ingenious idea?!? For those unfamiliar, Spotify is a mix between your personal music library and Facebook. You download this application to your computer and you can then create playlists and listen to music, including ANY song you can think of. It’s like having access to a radio where you can pick every song. It’s a great way to discover new music. This application also shows you what your friends are listening to and different playlists they’ve created. It makes the process of listening to music a social one and one where you are constantly seeing and listening to new music. I am a country music lover (currently can’t get enough of Gloriana and Luke Bryan), so those friends of mine who have exceptional country music playlists are the ones that I usually look for. If you love to discover new music, I really recommend checking this out. Music sets my mood, more than anything else I do in a day. If there’s a simple and free way to find more music, why the heck not check it out?!
4) Instagram. So long story short, I recently had an epic wedding weekend which resulted in a lost purse and no voice. Totally worth it, but unfortunately the purse contained my phone along with other necessary life items (my driver’s license, debit card, watch and new lipstick). After the initial freakout that I’d lost ALL of that, I set about replacing all items ASAP. First up was the phone. Thankfully an upgrade was due on our family’s account and my mama let me have it (she gets to use my upgrade in August) and an iPhone it was! I’m completely in love with it – pictures are better, it works faster, it’s actually intuitive to use and there are much better applications. One would be Instagram. I started to use this on my old phone – a Droid – but the app and the pictures look SO much better on the iPhone. It’s fun to follow people on Instagram too (it’s similar to Twitter in that regard). I follow a variety of friends and bloggers. Oh and Shawn Johnson. 🙂 This is a FREE app, so you have no excuse to not add it to your phone. It’s a different way to interact with people, solely over pictures. There are also lots of great ways to edit pictures for those of us lacking photography skill. All in all, it’s like getting a new, better, free camera.
5) H20 – Hmm…H20 is not an activity. Yes, yes I know. BUT everyday I struggle with trying to drink as much water as possible. I’m finally mastering how to do this and thought I’d share a few things that make drinking the recommended 6-8 glasses a day more possible for you too.
- Get a great waterbottle and don’t lose it. The latter is the hard part, but I believe in you. Cart this baby with you everywhere.
- Find new ways to flavor your water. I LOVE Crystal Light, so I usually use that. The Raspberry Ice flavor is theeee best. Other great options that work well – throwing in lemon or lime wedges, using cucumber or using Mio (Blueberry Lemonade is a pretty fantastic flavor).
- Cut out the pop. Make that anything that’s going to fill you up with liquid but not help to hydrate you. For me, I can’t function without coffee. So, I drink coffee in the morning and then switch to water for the rest of the day. Compromise.
You may have found this whole post useless (sad, I sure hope not) but perhaps you got an idea or were motivated to try something new. Even if it’s just drinking more water.
I’ll be back with more posts this weekend, ones not dedicated to my rambling ideas and more focused on food.
Happy Saturday!
Spatulas & Buttons 
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