packing light, and bali fashion.

When traveling, I wouldn't call myself an over-packer, but I wouldn't call myself a light packer either.  For the Bali adventure, I knew that I didn't want to travel with any checked bags because the fam who I was traveling with needed the space far more (they had some of their checked bags in my name, if that makes sense) .  So, carry-on bag it was and I made it!  I'm considering myself a light packer now!

A week before I left I started asking around for a bag and I was loaned a HUGE bag which fit carry-on specifications that was going to be perfect.  Then, Thursday evening I was offered a slightly smaller bag which I fortunately grabbed as well, as this tale continues on.  The Friday night I was packing I had everything in the (bigger) bag when my "supervisor" said the bag was too big (And yes, supervisor.  Knowing thyself, whenever a trip or event is coming I know I become the most productive person ever in all arenas except packing, so I was proactive in asking for help.  All my friend did was just sit in the same room as me I pulled stuff together, but it was more than enough to keep me on task).  Even though this particular bag had travelled as a carry on multiple times I got thrown off, freaked out, and decided to repack in a smaller bag.

Here I am packed, before 10 p.m. and everything.  

I was so proud of myself.

I used a cutthroat packing strategy.  I pulled out everything I thought I'd want to wear, making sure I could mix and match a lot.  Then I pulled a few items out.  I re-mixed outfits, assessed, and then pulled out something else.  I covered my bases, and then did one more cull.  While in Bali I did not miss anything, and I used everything except for the dress I brought with me to travel home in (I wore a different one) and my running clothes (Julie and I optimistically thought we'd go for a run).   

My standard Bali uniform was shorts, tank, and sports bra.  The top combination was crucial because the littles of the trip had the tendency to pull on me, and I came home with some pretty stretched out tanks.  As I was getting ready to come back I put on a tiny bit of makeup and came out of the bathroom wearing the travel dress, one of the littles went, "wow, are you going to work?"  Haha.  Being a tropical island the weather was a delightful swelter all of the time.  It.  was.  glorious.

While harping about the lighter and fluffier parts of this adventure, I'll share this wee-story.  We stayed in the city, which was pretty touristy/metropolitan.  I went on this trip as a nanny so I was occupied almost all of the time, but at one point we (grownups) were done with errands and I ended up having about an hour to myself.  I went walking down a main-ish road, and there were tons of spas/massage salons/etc.  That sounds sketchy, I promise they were not.  Anyways, while walking along taking in everything I passed in front of one of the salons and the kind Balinese lady started talking to me and the next thing I know I found myself in a chair getting a 30 minute neck and shoulder massage.  For $3.50 usd.  I.  KNOW!  Ridiculous.  

Also ridiculous--this spa treatment where you put your feet in a tank full of little fishies, and the fish eat the dead skin off of your feet.  I'm serious.  I'm also serious that I didn't do that treatment.  And I kinda just gagged remembering it.

there, and back again.

There,


And back again.


Since I never like to write about travel plans pre-departure, I'm home now and can begin to share--my travel adventure was to Bali, Indonesia!  I am still pinching myself, not really believing that I was on the other side of the globe, in a different hemisphere, just days ago.  Days...I think.  I have a grasp on what time it is there, what time it is here, but please don't ask about Tuesday-Thursday of this week.  I think I lived a couple of those dates twice, and maybe missed one?  IDK.  It was an AMAZING trip, and homecoming was only made easier by knowing what good people I had to come home to.

I have loads to share, but let's talk about the most pressing issue at the moment.  Jet lag.  I feel bright eyed and alert and have convinced myself that I'm not dealing with it, but let's talk about how I'm bright eyed and alert at 4:37 a.m., have been awake since 2 something, after falling asleep at 11 p.m.

Wikipedia says this about jet lag, The symptoms of jet lag can be quite varied, depending on the amount of time zone alteration, time of day and the susceptibility of individual differences. Sleep disturbance occurs, with poor sleep upon arrival, sleep disruption including trouble falling asleep (if flying east), early awakening (if flying west) and interrupted sleep with multiple awakenings and trouble remaining asleep. Cognitive effects include poorer performance on mental tasks and concentration, increased fatigue, headaches, and irritability...

Sleep disturbances...well, yes.
Cognitive effects...thinking was a bit difficult yesterday after a point.
Irritability...there was a reason why I knew in advance to not make plans for last night, or tonight.  When thinking takes that much effort, it's just not fun!

Is the above worth it, for what I got to experience?  Yes, and then some.  Pinching myself again; I'm so, so thankful.

Leaving you with a teaser,

hashtags.

cooking adventures
I made these cupcakes for a friend's birthday.

I only had 1/2 of one, and gave the other 23 away.  #winforselfcontrol

I follow chobani on instagram (#nerd), and was so excited to find this at Target!


So excited I bought 6.  #failforselfcontrol

easter recap
I houses-sat for some of my favorite pups,


my church had a beautiful service at The Pond,

communion with the altman's

Z!

and I brunched with dear-dear friends afterwards.  #ptl #thankful #whynopicturesfrombrunch

intervals
I've been running 40 minutes of intervals at least 3 times a week.  And then I gained 2 pounds.  #notpleased #wrongdirection #muscleweightblahblah


maintenance
I bought the Naked palette and I'm in love.   I watched a number of tutorials on Pinterest, feel that I can adequately identify on my face the terminology used, and am having a blast in the mornings.  #addon3minutestomorningroutine  And, I purchased my first teasing comb.  I feel truly southern now.  #higherthehairclosertoGod

simplicity
I read on a blog earlier today (and this is really abbreviated) how a lady made a list of the things that, if she does them, she just feels better.  I'm really running hard this week, so that struck a cord with me.  I know I feel like a better human being if daily I spend time with the Lord, run, have at least one conversation or email with at least one friend, and actually use my eye makeup remover (#small thing).  So that's my #goal this week.


SMH
I learned last week what SMH means--shake my head.  It cracks me up, and I am trying to use smh as much as possible.  #sorryfriends #lateinthegame #smh #hahaha

vaccinations
I was at my physical last week and I mentioned that I was going to be traveling soon, and I ended up leaving with 2 shots more than I planned (I was planning for 0).  One of the vaccines was tetanus, which you're warned does hurt.  It hurt the day I got it and the next, and then it stopped.  Then, 8 days later (yesterday) it started hurting worse than it did before!  #whattheheck?  Has that ever happened to you?  Something similar happened with my wisdom teeth--was on the upswing when all of a sudden I felt like crap again.  #idk

HF4F | 3/15

High Five 4 Friday!
Sorry for the lack of photos!  Not on my computer right now.

1.  This is THE month for birthdays of those near and dear to me.  I love celebrating!

2.  I never thought a television show would make it into my top five, but sheesh.  Duck Dynasty this week.  Hil-freaking-larious.  Then this morning I found clips of the guys sharing the Gospel, testimonies, and how they live out their life for Christ.  Then I started tearing up.

3.  New winning lunch combination--broccoli, apple(s), and best bread. 

4.  I spent time with my friend Susan, and we went to Commerce.  I found a dress that was touted as a "travel dress."  I'm thrilled with it.  Actually, I'm more thrilled with how skinny I'm told I look in it.

5.  I went looking for a travel dress because I have an INCREDIBLE travel adventure ahead of me next month! 

thursday morning thoughts

I have nothing of huge significance to contribute to the blogging world this morning.  Thursday mornings are my guaranteed off mornings from exercise (prepping for 3 hard days in a row), and thus it is the time I lounge in bed for two hours, catching up on everything I feel I'm behind on and then get up and clean before rushing to work.

• Other than be social, I haven't done much this week.  Each night I've had dinner with someone (yeah!), and because I'm an old lady, I've been falling asleep promptly after getting home.  
• I've been hobbling around this week.  I did this "alpine skier" workout on Sunday afternoon, and I didn't even finish it but when I was done I was shaking and nauseous.  Today is the first day I haven't had to groan at moving.  
• This weekend I found a ballet workout on Amazon for cheap that I purchased and worked on one night this week...I remembered to be nice to myself and to not expect perfection from the first moment.  It's intense!
• I also started following the instructor on Instagram.  Her pictures of food and her ballet life are beautiful!
• I tried almond milk this week for the first time.  And hopefully last time.
• I read this article about "running on empty" last week, and it shook me up.  Hence why the life changing bread made its way into my life.
• Much like everyone else, I've been rejoicing in the coming of spring!  I'm almost through with wearing my 4 or 5 strictly winter pieces (aka, wool), and am ready to take them to the cleaners to be retired for the spring.  
• I wore my sparkly wool skirt this week with a chambray shirt this week, then the next day a very similar outfit was posted on Glitter Guide.  I was pumped!  Then, while I was checking that out I saw what I was wearing at the time (black pants, gray knit).  Then I deflated.

That's all I got.

keeping it clean | laundry

Recently I was talking to my roommate about cleaning (a passion of mine, haha!), and was sharing some of the little cleaning tips and such that I have learned through blogging and those that I've picked up on my own through (much) trial and error.  I commented to her how I'd like to make my own list(s), so here we go!  Note, these are not revolutionary or ground breaking, they are mostly just common sense things that took me (too long) to pick up on.

Backstory on making that image...I work at a job with some awesome graphics programs.  I haven't invested in my own Adobe Creative Suite yet, and I didn't make this at work, so I made it at home.  On power point.  I can feel some work ladies indignation from here, and hear others laughter.  Carrying on now.

the laundry room & laundry

• I wear skirts and dresses a lot, which means I wear tights at least 3/5 days a week if not more.  More often than not I have really damaged my tights because of tossing them in with the wash, instead of tossing them in the wash inside one of those delicate's mesh bags.  Solution?  I keep a mesh bag with my dirty clothes, so when I'm tossing the day's outfit into the hamper, the tights can go right into the bag and not get lost.  
• Those mesh bags are a laundry budget saver saver.  I wear a lot of dresses that say "dry clean only."  Unless it has some beading on it (none do), I put them in the bag (I use a double lined large sized one for dresses and cardigans, etc.), run them through the machine, and then dry them on the drying rack.  I haven't had anything mess up yet.  
• I also keep the stain spray/wipe things where I put my worn clothes.  I'm far more likely to actually use it when the stain is fresh if I don't have to go hunting for it.
• I don't like washing kitchen linens (napkins, towels, wash cloths, and table-wear) with my clothes or with my sheets & bath towels (no rhyme or reason, I just don't).  My solution?  I keep a spare, small laundry basket on top of the dryer, put dirty/used kitchen linens in it, and when the basket is full, I have a full load read to go.  
• Folding the laundry immediately when the dryer finishes is one of the most satisfying feelings on the planet to me.  It also feels like one of the most time consuming activities on the planet.  I've timed it before.  Surprise, surprise, it's not.  When I just get-it-done, it's worth the entire 4-7 minutes it took to fold it.  Every time.
• My favorite detergent--my own!

I hopped on the DIY laundry train after my friend Mary gave me some of hers that she had made.  It smelled SO good and wasn't full of weird chemicals.  A couple weekends ago Julie and I hung out to make our own batch.  It took 5 minutes.

step 1, assemble ingredients:  washing powder, baking soda, borax, oxi clean, and soap.  These were all bought to the tune of $20 from Publix.

step 2, grate the soap.  Or as the children called it, the cheese.  You can do this with a box grater, or do as Julie did and bust out the food processor.  Box grating the soap would have added some time...this took about a minute.  Julie is brilliant, BTW.  And Si is the button-worker in this process.

step 3, dump all of the ingredients in a large, clean receptacle (we washed this one).  We got wise, and added them in layers so it'd be easier to mix them all together.

step 4, add and mix, mix and add.  Try not to breathe in the clean dust cloud.

step 5, continue mixing.  Try not to cuss like a sailor when the washing power gets into cuts on your hand.

step 6, smile at your finished product, and transfer into smaller, air-tight containers.  This makes a lot!

step 7, use 1 tbsp. ish per load.

so long, long hair.

I've been whining complaining discussing for quite a while how unfortunately long my hair was.  My bestie upon seeing me last week said, "you gotta cut that ASAP."  Well, Thursday at work I decided it was time, called my salon, and scheduled my appointment for this morning.  My normal stylist wasn't available and I was a little doubtful about going to someone different, but I was ready to get on with it.  Then, this morning when I was getting ready they called me and said the person who was going to do my hair wasn't able to come in, and would I be okay with someone else?  ...sure.

Y'all.  I hope that the person who couldn't come in is okay, because oh.  my.  goodness.  If you live in Athens, go have your hair cut by Ricky at City Salon.  I was BLOWN away (no hair pun intended).  He listened so well, was extremely kind, and did an AWESOME job.  Ask Nutan.  I don't think I've ever had a haircut that didn't end me with me calling her ticked off or disappointed.

All she heard today was a happy text, and a few pics:

Now, I'm ready to see how short it gets curly.