Training for Anything

For many reasons, my life in March has been great.

Planning adventures, reading a book, play time, sunshine time, rainy time, self-time, friend time, cook time and sweaty time. It was all wonderful, but today's focus is on the sweaty time because today is my first time showing up to Training for Tuesday,

Before I jump into Training for Tuesday I need to tell you first that this link-up is how I met the two awesome blog ladies who host it: Alyssa and Tracy.

Alyssa and Tracy are both a breath of fresh air when it comes to fitness blogging. They don't claim to know it all, they don't boast that they're the best, they make certain you know that they started from the bottom and now they're here. They both run, they both yoga, they both live a life outside of fitness. 

They both understand that balance, goals, commitment and fun are the special magic ingredients to making yourself the person you've always dreamed to become and how to believe in yourself along the way. They both care about their health and care about your health too. Health for everyone, which is why this link-up is so organically wonderful in its own right. 

Simply, they rock.

So what is it that I'm training for? I'm sometimes talking fitness, I'm sometimes showing sweaty selfies, I used to have a separate blog dedicated to fitness - but double blogging was way out of my league - and now I'm all excited over this concept of ClassPass. Oh and you probably know that I used to be a crazy-dedicated runner and ran 100 miles a month (no excuses) for 4 years!

Running didn't bore me, but it took too much time away from the things that were supposed to be important to me at the age of 26. Running was one of my great loves, like many of you talk about your love for books, that was my love for the open road. It gave me confidence, it cured me of an eating disorder (and some may argue just sent me on a different compulsive path) and it gave me something that defined me in my fitness world after retiring my softball career post-college. It got me over and above what I believed I was, which gave me tools to take my fitness to other places.

Once my world was no longer dedicated to running 100 miles a month, my attention and passion turned to weight lifting, booty sculpting, bicep growing and sweat flaunting. I rode that train for a long time until I received my trophies (my biceps) and decided that I wanted to have a little more to show for my fitness than just a flex - and what a flex, yeah?!

So, I jumped onto the fun of ClassPass and opened my horizons to new things.

New things meaning new to me. Yoga, pilates, ballet, barre, pound! (with drumsticks!), the Megaformer, cycling, Crossfit, TRX, stretching + myofascial release, intense foam rolling, paddleboarding and whatever other crazy there is out there. Like the aerial yoga class I'm dying to try!

I opened my eyes to the world of fitness as other people see it and I'm enjoying everything I'm seeing and learning about myself.

The most pride I have in the last month with fitness is that I held a headstand for 30 seconds thanks to some virtual coaching from dear host Alyssa. Once I get to a place where I don't need a wall for support anymore I'll be sure to show you guys on instagram. Follow along for that and some of the other fun I'm bound to have in my further fitness adventures in the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon.

Since I know this link up is now a thing, expect some more goal setting and structure to my next Training for Tuesday. That will include my Paleo side too if you're interested since nutrition is just as important as exercise!

If you want to get sweaty, be inspired, find peace, share goals, discover passions, live a little better and love yourself a little harder, go find Alyssa and Tracy. They'll show you the way!

#501

I didn't know it at the time, but Friday was the 500th post published to JumpingJE.

Reason 147 why I'm a bad, boring, no-good uninvested Lifestyle Blogger.

Maybe this photo that showcases my ability to hold-something-pretty-in-front-of-me can bring me back into good graces with you guys, but probably not because I clearly didn't use any of your nail tips before Friday when I picked these tulips from my yard. 

To be honest, sometimes I'm not sure why I'm here lifestyle blogging or what those 500 posts have even been "about". I'm sure you feel the same way when you visit JumpingJE. Do I have a genre? Do bloggers come to read because I read their pages and we're all just being nice, or are bloggers even my main audience?

Sometimes I play this game called "Forget to Social Media" and neglect to add my blog link on my Facebook page. It's honestly just a miss on all the boxes to check when I publish, but gives me some insight to my readers. Many of you aren't bloggers! So why do you come back every day if I don't even know what I'm writing about most of the time?

This blank page I stare at each and every day is intimidating. 

My original and ongoing vision of this space has always been to share what I'm passionate about. To allow my passionate attitude to guide my content so that you can be inspired too. Isn't this my corner of the internet that I should be proud of? Not just a blogger.com address that takes up five minutes of your day to cure boredom or whatever purpose I serve in your world. That's what Buzzfeed is for. 

This blank page should be filled with more wonderful things I love. Fitness, clean eating, loving myself, teaching you how to love yourself, how to show confidence, adventuring, travel, Portland, music, family.

Those are the things I'm passionate about. My blog should reflect that. 

What do you want to see me write more of? Why do you keep coming back to read? What do you think my last 500 posts have been "about".

Oh, and how was your weekend?

Last Favorites of March

Well.

I'm not quite sure how it happened but this week I was a Monday - Wednesday - Friday blogger.

The easy stuff only. Weekend recap, some kind of confession (about nails and personal struggles) and my favorite things from the week. I might be a bad blogger to say it, but the 3x a week thing is one of my favorites worth mentioning, but I'm going to tuck it into this paragraph so only those of you actually reading will know what a bad blogger I am!

This weekend should be a great one and I'm planning to soak up my time at home since I'll be out of town the next 3/4 weekends after that in April. Home, ClassPass and maybe some hiking if I get really lucky with the weather. What are you up to this weekend?

Favorite Animal Video

This dog wasted some perfectly amazing food and did it adorably. Fritz, you're cute, but damn you are awful at catching. This video is worth a watch! 

Favorite Read

I think it's worth mentioning that I'm about to finish a..... don't be shocked.... a book! I am still about 100 pages away but I am ecstatically anticipating book club wine night with Plucky, MacKensie, Melissa and whoever else of you lovely ladies has been reading along with us all month! 

Now if only I could find this Eleanor Wine and drink it in a park Sunday night, all would be perfect with the world. 

Favorite Find

What, have you heard about this company Priv? They are in NYC, LA and London and it's a beauty and wellness company that offers contracted services to you wherever and whenever you want. Haircut at home, makeup for a night out, manicure for your interview, yoga in your sunroom, eyebrows over coffee? It's all accessible to you right where you need it through this company. Talk about awesome (and a really easy way to reduce overhead costs for the professionals providing their services)! Maybe I won't need to learn how to do a self-manicure after all.  Come to Portland next?

Favorite Night

Thursday was the greatest night of them all. Sunny sunroof-open drive, Bad Yogi Stretchy session for commuters, 75-minute massage, tasty paleo dinner and a great night's rest with ambitious goals for my Friday.

Try this yoga session for those of us who bus, drive, bike, sit, etc after work (should be most of you!)

Are you ladies linking up with Amanda for this week's Friday Favorites?

Confessing: Can't Nail It

There's a boat that I missed when I was younger that makes me feel like I missed an essential part of learning how to be a woman. 

Through sports and studying and tomboy behaviors, I never cared to paint my nails, or care for my nails, or worry about my nails. My only concern was not feeling the dirt from the softball field caked up underneath them. And that was really only 30% of the time.

Since becoming and adult and trying to at least appear more feminine, I do conscious things like wear my hair down every day, don't wear athletic apparel to work even though I work for an athletic company, do my makeup before leaving the house and shave my legs more than most females probably do. 

One feminine thing I haven't yet adopted for myself is Nailing It. 

And by nailing it I mean the art of the self-manicure. 

It's spring and you ladies keep talking about your favorite polish colors. You give these amazing tutorials about how easy it is, what tools you need, what colors are so hot right now and all the reasons why doing your nails makes you feel relaxed, confident, even accomplished! 

Like this, look at how pretty and whimsical MacKensie made nails. 

Essie this, Essie that. Here's how, look it's so damn easy and you're a talentless shaky-handed nub if you can't do something this simple/petite/pretty. 

It's awesome and beautiful, but I suck at it. 

I've followed your tips and I've done all the tricks and I have all the pretty colors, but when if gets down to the application I'm the worst! Buff, file, base coat, two coats, top coat. I do it all and somewhere in between coat #1, coat #2 and the final everything-is-finally-dry stage I screw something up. I smudge, I over-apply, I get polish on my skin, I try to fix it and in the process I mess up another nail. 

Is life really this hard or am I just beyond help?

One last question, are you confessing anything with Melissa today?

Oh, Weekend.

The first weekend of Spring didn't bring all the sunshine that it was supposed to, but my tank is full on a Monday morning and that's really all that I can ask. 

That's right, it rained again in Portland. No surprise to me, but as a fair-weather instagrammable-only hiker it made for another low-adventure high-homebody weekend. I was still productive, but not nearly as noteworthy as last weekend. 

Meal-prep happened, but the revised version. Reading happened, but only half the pages as last weekend. Workouts happened, but not the magical Friday night workout I bragged about last week. Headstands happened, but I'm not ready to share video with the world yet. 

The only thing better about this weekend than last weekend was the coffee and lunch date with mom on Saturday. Oh, and maybe scheduling another weekend of upcoming travel for April to see my dearest friend get married!

I have no travel plans for Spring Break, so I am looking forward to the great things that usually means for the work-week.

:: less morning traffic = morning almond milk latte's

:: less people at work = less distractions

:: you're on vacation = i get to see photos of you on vacation

:: less evening traffic = earlier workout classes

:: earlier workout classes = earlier dinner

:: earlier dinner = reading time to finish eleanor & park

:: reading time = relaxing time

:: relaxing time = sleepy time

Don't forget I have that massage scheduled for Thursday night! I'll be finding a terrible workout tonight and/or Tuesday so that I have plenty of sore muscles to stretch and press out.

What's up with you? Anything crazy planned this week?

First Day of Spring Favorites

Here we are, friends! 

It's Friday and I want to share some of my favorite things from this week while I link up with Amanda and all of the wonderful blogging ladies who join us. I'm a little late to the game today because I fell asleep unannounced last night with contacts in and never actually wrote this post ahead of time like I normally do. At least I showered after my workout last night and can halfway pretend like I have my life together!

:: It's the first day of Spring today and I was so ecstatic to leave my Pound! workout class at 7:50pm and there was still an ounce of daylight remaining.

:: I finally booked my travel itinerary to visit MacKensie! It may be lackluster to her because my visit is the weekend following her likely-Coachella plans, but I am beyond excited.

:: My weekend closet-purge did wonders for my ability to decide on what I should wear each day this week. It's also made me aware of the things I want and need when I do end up shopping for my new Spring pieces.

:: I took 7 classes with ClassPass since Sunday. It's amazing to have so many options from workouts I love, workouts I've never tried before and workouts that calm me down and help me take care of my body.

:: This article has 11 scientific reasons why I should go get a puppy today. I know that'd be a really irresponsible thing to do but a good-for-my-heart furry therapist doesn't sound so bad!

:: Buffer has made me so much better at twitter, allowing me to pre-schedule tweets and let them soar into the universe throughout the day. Talk about my favorite fish, efficiency!

:: Favorite weekend plans include coffee with mom and hopefully more stretchy yoga classes! 

Happy Weekend!

Who else is linking up with Amanda's Friday Favorites?

Inspired Confessions

I could have come to you today with the boring and #basic confessions like "agh! I already bought two bags of Easter jelly beans!" or "I didn't even want to go out last night for St. Patrick's day, and also because I don't have friends".

Those are fun confessions, but predictable. 

Rather, all of my confessions today are inspired by articles I saw on Thought Catalog yesterday. I am not this clever or creative myself, but can at least link you back to the article that inspired the confession. Are we okay with that? Cool!

Make sure you're linking up with Melissa when you join the party!

:: Last week I confessed that I joined and dropped a dating website/app that just wasn't for me. I can confess that is wasn't MissTravel, which is apparently a website that allows the "Generous" and the "Attractive" to find each other and travel together. One has the money and means to do it, but nobody to travel with. One has great looks and I'm assuming no job? (article here)

:: Never have I ever cleaned a makeup brush. I've cleaned paint brushes and hair brushes, but never makeup. That's possibly because I buy from Target's Elf collection and if they get gross or broken or tired, I go buy another for $2.99 and spend another $50 on things I desperately don't need. Shame me, please. (article here)

:: My real-life dating disasters have included a former wrestler who just wanted to put me in wrestling holds without wanting anything else, a guy that perspired the entire time during our dinner date... yet never ordered food and another guy who got a second date but decided that we were "getting too serious" because we held hands in a theater and I texted to make sure he got home safely? Sure there's more but that was enough for today. (article here)

:: My favorite holiday of all isn't actually a "holiday". It's April Fools! The meanest thing I have ever done was to stage a fake breakup with a former boyfriend, getting upset over something I was actually upset over, but taking it way overboard. I took what I could from his house, swore that I would come back and get the rest 'another day' and while I was out I went to a coffee shop for a few hours to read the Hunger Games in peace. That's how long ago this was. I've realized more recently that games like this aren't appropriate 'April Fools' territory. However, some of these are fun. (article here)

Okay, that was fun. Also oddly very "dating" related.

What are you confessing today??

Photo-an-Hour

This is a post I've wanted to do for the longest time. 

So long, it even became the name for one of my eight daily wake-me-up alarms that continues to get snoozed and forgotten. In the graveyard with all of my "Wake up!", "Work out", "Today you need to wash your hair", "Okay now you need to blame traffic for your lateness" alarms. 

That got old, so one morning I got the I-Will Power to take the photo an hour. 

The day I chose was Wednesday, March 4th - it's now March 17th - since it was one of my very important work meeting days at the start of the month. 

5:30 - My view when I wake up, the Christmas lights that have been up for two years.

6:30 - Dress for success and #selfieoritneverhappened

7:30 - My weekday savior during Lent. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Mr. Coffee. 

8:30 - Yes, my new she-crush Alyssa announced that she joined Snapchat.

Derp, I missed a few hours in the midst of my super-busy important work day. Thank goodness I was doing photo-an-hour because that's where the terrifying or amazing bird photo came from. You can thank me for cutting photos out such as the office printer and a close-up of the Red Vines tub in my office.

11:30 - A gorgeous day and a terrifying symbol that Spring has sprung.
12:30 - Drink. Drink. Drink. My 64oz work water growler.
2:30 - These weren't consumed on this day, but they were consumed once and now they're office art.

My work presentation and craziness went well, so the rest of the afternoon was spent wrapping things up, answering any follow-up questions and of course scheduling a fun yoga class to celebrate.

3:30 - "Yes We Can" with the Road Runner is my desktop background. It's supposed to be funny.
4:30 - In the car selfie! Off work, kicked butt on my hard day and my hair is still doing it!
5:30 - "Get excited!" says ClassPass. Yoga class with scary-advanced handstand practice!

Disclaimer: Two of these photos were not taken March 4th, I just failed at this prompt and had to show something. Didn't I?

7:30pm - Trader Joe's Crunchy Salted PB with Flax & Chia Seeds. Yes.

Not actually 3/4 #1 - Thanks, mailman. Nothing to see here. Just my year's supply of contact lenses.

Not actually 3/4 #2 - Brand new lovely mural outside of my adorable coffee shop. 

Come on ladies, I know you can do better than me at this prompt. Show us what you've got. Yes I know your lives are more exciting than mine!

That Time it Rained All Weekend

Remember this: All great weekends start with a Friday night workout. 

No, I don't have any crazy mountain-tops or blue sky photos to impress you with today. Portland saw nothing but rain this weekend and as a fair-weather hiker, this girl stayed inside. That doesn't mean I was a lazy panda though, it actually means that aside from the work-work I had to do I actually had a crazy productive weekend.  

Here's some of the wonderful I got myself into.

Workouts

+ Heated Yoga at Yoga Pod Pearl (my most challenging yoga class yet)

+ Headstand Practice: 15 seconds in the air, personal best!

+ Twerk Practice: 1 Hour, still never enough time

+ Barre Class at The Bar Method

+ Restorative Yoga Class at Yoga Pod Pearl

Home

+ Laundry, fresh sheets, dishes, cleaned fridge & freezer, grocery shopping.

+ Removed everything I don't wear ever. <-- this is refreshing!

+ Meal prep: Chicken, Ground Beef, Kale, Carrots, Broccoli, Cauliflower Rice, Sweet Potatoes

So Much Lazy

+ Four hours cozied up in my favorite coffee shop

+ 150 Pages of Eleanor and Park for Plucky's Book Club

+ Entire Netflix Season 1 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt thanks to Melissa

+ 2 Hour Sunday Nap

Things I Love

+ Google Hangout with Melissa!!

+ Scheduled a 75 Minute massage for next week

+ Scheduled my week of ClassPass workouts

Weekends like these make me happy. Doesn't this all sound wonderful?

To add on to the first sentence of this post, I also obviously believe a mid-weekend sweat and a Sunday night sweat are essential to keeping balance, but the Friday one is the most important of them all. 

Friday the 13th Favorites

By a show of hands, who is crazy obsessed with the fact that we've reclaimed our evening daylight hours? 

Drivers seem happier, more people are out running or cycling, there's less stress in the commute even if the difference in actual time it takes to drive home is marginal. It's a shift in frame of mind. 

To drive home in daylight inspires me to do something when I get home rather than the usual retire-to-my-bedroom move I've adapted to throughout the winter.

Spring!

I may be speaking too soon since there's only rain in the forecast this weekend, but look at this delightful photo I took when leaving work at 5pm yesterday. Spring has sprung!  I know that "spring" comes with rain, especially in the Pacific Northwest, but while we have these amazing days I'm probably going to brag about it! 

Sisters!

Go here to see these silly photos of my golden sisters opening up the treats they got from Chewy.com. 

Here's a sample:

Pound Workout!

Have you guys ever heard of this? It's a 45-minute class of drumming while doing other athletic moves (squats, lunges, pilates-style ab movements) to some awesome music. Here's the example of what it is, but imagine it with a crazy-cool playlist,  a high-energy instructor and a dance club environment at PulsePDX where I take my class. You forget that you are working out.

What are you guys up to this weekend? What are some of your favorites that you can share with us?

I hope you're linking up with Amanda!

No Burn, No Booty

Read Here

By now it's no secret that I'm in love with ClassPass. 

Last week they showed me some love in return and published this blog I wrote for them. Enjoy!

Oh Hey, Let's Confess!

Good morning and welcome back to me who has been absent from social media land for 5 days. 

By now you should know that I can be pretty good at disconnecting from the internet when I want to. As much of a WiFi, instagram, blogging etc etc etc junkie I come across as being, I'm my happiest when I'm disconnected from the iPhone and general internet noise.

Yes, I could have continued on with my quiet vibes for another few days but I didn't want to miss the fun of Wednesday Confessions with my dearest friend Melissa. Are you playing along?

Confessions!

:: My FitBit says I took 198 steps last week. This isn't a confession of non-activity,  but more of an admission that I wore my FitBit band without the FitBit sensor inside of it. So, all fashion - no function looks like a lazy Jessi. 

:: I joined a dating website (or app, whatever) during a girl's night a week back and it's terrifying. Nope, still not for me. In hindsight, it wasn't as bad as the last time I tried the same path. Maybe I'll tell you that story sometime. 

:: I am booking travel plans all over the place. You don't need to know where just yet, but the next few weekends look pretty wonderfully packed with girl-time, Easter and a Wedding. Crazy-great feels all around!!

:: Part of "disconnecting" included completing Season 3 of House of Cards. This season was much different than the last two and now I'm holding out on TV binges until Game of Thrones come back on. The next two weeks will be focused on this read.

:: I am long overdue for a hair appointment. My two-times-per-year cut and color falls around the same timing of Daylight Saving Time but this Spring I haven't even scheduled. What's that word we say here, woof?

:: I've also lost the care to add a photo today. I'm sorry, kind of?

Hope you guys are having a great week!

4 - 3 - 2 - 1 Favorites

Happy Friday to you and you and you! 

We're supposed to have some crazy wonderful weather in the high 60's this weekend and I can't wait to see what's in store! You can bet I'll be spending time out in nature!

This week long and full of focus. It's crazy to say, but I'm feeling balanced with this wild concept of blogging five days a week, meal prepping, reading, going to workout classes and of course still having me-time. 

Want something done right? Give it to a busy person! 

Today we are counting down to Favorites just like we've counted down to Friday all week.

4, 3, 2, 1 - go! 

Four Favorite Fitness Reads

People are fitnessing all over the place and I'm getting back into reading all of the wonderful that's out there in the internet world about fitness, fitness philosophy and how being into sweating moves into many other parts of your life and not just your workout. Enjoy these four reads as much as I did.

Beginning A Yoga Home Practice - AlyssaGoesBang
Fitness Jesus Comes in Many Forms - Real Talk With KB
Inevitable vs Optional - Tracy Tris
Get that A$$ into Shape and Keep it There - Deadspin

Three Favorite Selfless Blogging Hacks

These three posts are selflessly devoted to helping you be a better blogger. From fresh topics to blogging tips for newbies and pro's alike all the way to how you can be better at the twitter machine. Even if you don't want to up your blogging game (or you're not a blogger) these are still great reads to expand your creativity.

30 Unique Post Ideas - Champagne Laced
10 Tips to Succeed at Blogging (not just for beginners!) - Meet at the Barre
9 Tips to Build Your Blog through Twitter - Hello Rigby!

Two Favorite Photos

One beautiful, one terrifying. Let's play "Match the description to the photo"!

One Favorite New Song

Yeah, this. NSFW. Yes, Safe for dancing.

Happy Friday!

Please link up with Amanda and share all your favorites this week!

So Much Random

I don't have any clear thoughts today that I really could put much energy behind, so forgive me for the random.

Topic 1: 

Guys, I joined a book club. Not just any book club, Plucky's book club!

I was invited to it this month after hearing about the amazing time the current members had last month when they got onto a Google Hangout, drank wine (before, during and after the call), chatted about the book and obviously other non-book things that blogger chicks love to talk about. The choice is Eleanor & Park and Amazon will be ever-so-kindly delivering it to me today. It's definitely a "young-adult / teen" book and probably the equivalent of a chick-flick in book form which will make it even easier to read. Win!

Topic 2:

Can anyone explain how I was nominated for the 2015 Best of Blogging Awards? 

If you didn't see it, this single post apparently has all of the bloggers that you're not currently following but you should be following in one special location on the internet. Go check it out and get inspired. 

I was placed in a category called "The Healthiest Honey" and have some pretty strong competition against ladies who have published books, ladies who make Instagram fitness their jobs and ladies who have won actual awards for the way their bodies look. 

I guess I bring a fitness-enthusiast-realism flavor to the blog land with my "I'll try anything once" attitude. I guess I encourage ladies to love themselves and take care of themselves. But to be in the mix with those others, I giggle. Thanks for the ab workout whoever nominated me! Maybe I'm best suited in "The Savvy Single" but then I'm alongside MacKensie and yeah, no.

Topic 3:

As a career-hungry 20-something, I beyond loved everything that this article was about. The basic concept that networking can be done away from the office and while you're sweating is brilliant. The idea that you show so much of your personality by showing commitment to your fitness, that you create an experience through a workout rather than traditional conversation over coffee. If this sounds interesting I suggest you check it out.

Plus, my new favorite word was born. Sweatworking (like networking in case you missed it)

This is all I'll put you through today, thanks for playing friends!

My Single Girl Behaviors

I've always loved the idea of this post.

I wavered on whether I'd give it a better title like, "This is Why I'm Single" or "Forever Alone", but at the end of the day I thought I could confess some of my single girl behaviors with my main squeeze Melissa.

Do you guys want to play along with confessions? Link up every Wednesday and don't be shy!

What are Single Girl Behaviors?

Well, you don't exactly have to be single to have them. These are the things we do as women when we're alone that we don't really want anyone else to know about. They're things that we wouldn't dare do in the first few months of dating a dude and definitely not parts of us we'd "show off" until the second year of marriage...ha!

Maybe our families know about these weird quirks of ours but somehow they only come up in conversation when we're getting together with family members we only see once every two years. Then we fear that that's the only thing Aunt Mildred took away from seeing us is that ONE TIME we forgot to close the blinds before doing naked yoga in the living room and the terrifying image that she and those poor neighbors were left with.

Okay, so I don't have an Aunt Mildred and I much prefer naked twister, but that's neither here nor there. These are a few of my Single Girl Behaviors.

:: When I walk into the house after work, shoes off + pants off = love.
:: I enjoy using tiny utensils for everyday eats.
:: I drink straight out of the vanilla almond milk carton.
:: The dishwasher is only relevant when I've run out of skillets or tiny utensils.
:: Hallway twerk parties happen daily. You know the hallway, it's where I take all the selfies.

:: The only photos of me are selfies because I have no friends.
:: I play Clash of Clans. I think I've even tweeted about it. Read line above.
:: Laundry, unless my favorite workout clothes, can be "in the laundry" for weeks.

And now for some numbers because I'm a data nerd if you forgot. 

:: 92% - time spent in my bedroom while at home.
:: Average pairs of shoes scattered around the house: 5
:: Grocery store trips per week: 3 - 5
:: Times Mailbox is checked per week: 1 - 3
:: Peanut Butter Jar opened per week: 4 - 6
:: Alarms set per day: 8
:: Alarms snoozed per day: 8
:: Self-manicures per year: 5 (but Amanda gave this tutorial so expect more!)

What about you, do you have Single Girl Behaviors?

You don't have to be "single" to share, but you would be missing out if you're not confessing with Melissa - it's for your health, darling!

Believe in Your Goals

I feel so inspired after reading everyone's March goals yesterday. 

I saw some incredible things floating around blog-world that were more than the usual Monday weekend recap and round-up. 

I saw ladies focused on fitness. I saw ladies focused on reading. I saw ladies focused on organizing their homes, offices and lives. I read about women who wanted to save, to be more present, to live more, to drink more water, to drink ALL of the water until there's none left.  Most importantly these beautiful, honest and vulnerable words were centered around you ladies loving yourselves more. 

And what I loved most from what I read? These ladies believed it. 

You reading, you believed it too. 

You wrote it and you read it and you said "yes!" the same way I did. 

You shared in comments how you felt the same way as the blogger you were visiting and how you wanted to do these same goals, be partners in crime, encourage each other to reach, leap and bound beyond your wildest dreams. 

That's pretty dang cool. 

The amount of support we get from our internet world should be the same support we expect in our real life world. It's the same support we should ask for of our friends and families. It's the support and love we should give to others. It's the same kind of confidence, support, cheerleading and motivation we should be giving ourselves. 

Giving ourselves this love every day, not just the first Monday of March. 

Every day. Not just January 1st and not just when we feel like "spring cleaning". 

We have the opportunity every single day to make these goals and to check in with ourselves. To check in with each other. To love and share and constructively craft the lives and the habits that we crave. To be the people we've always wanted to be but have found ways to put up barriers that ultimately separate us from our current state and our craziest dreams. 

If this post felt like a brain dump, it was. It was a fly-by no-edit rough draft of honest feels about the wonderful I witnessed yesterday and the kind of wonderful that fills my heart. The kind of good I seek daily and the kind of good I expect of myself. 

Thanks for reading. Thanks for writing. Thanks for sharing. 

My View From the Top

This weekend I made the ultimate sacrifice to avoid Netflix as much as possible so that you guys could enjoy Season 3 of House of Cards. We didn't break it after all and for that I give a hearty cheers!

So okay, I'll admit that I watched a few episodes. I was itching to see what Frank and Claire were up to, but I also did work, food prep, laundry, dishes, cleaning and sleeping in. 

Then there were those few hours that I escaped from reality to go see this beauty. 

Heart-eyed kitty emoji x 3...

There's nothing better than making my way up a mountain with a clear head and a calm heart. 

We had an unusually beautiful weekend for February in the Northwest so my spirit was was screaming at me to get out of the house and seek adventure. I know that I'm always doing this trail and always posting some version of this photo while there are hundreds of other trails I could be wandering. This weekend and this first hike of the year I was craving a familiar trail that allowed me to shut off my brain and see the beauty all around me. 

The air at the peak was a little chilly and the trails were a little crowded - but still was an exceptional mental escape to prepare for the busy week ahead. 

And what, it's March? How!

Did you guys do anything exciting this weekend?