6 Visually Inspiring Pins / Lush

clockwise (ish) from top left: beach / lettering / colombia / cacti / shorts / limes

1 // I'm really not a huge beach person. I hate being hot and sandy and sweaty. But nevertheless, this looks like heaven.

2 // An important reminder during family vacation week...

3 // While I'm not particularly attracted to beaches, I'm in love with the lush tropics While the first picture is H's dream vacation, this one is mine! I'd love to visit Colombia + other parts of South America someday.

4 // I think cacti are just gorgeous. Not to mention I think it's so cool how their stomata (pores) regulate themselves so they don't lose too much water in hot weather. Just a little bit of science ;)

5 // I've been looking for a good pair of flowy printed shorts but it seems that I can only find (other than on pinterest) them weird patterns or in super expensive boutiques. Neither of which, incidentally, I'm into.

6 // Everything about summer makes me crave everything lime. I've always loved key lime pie or lime popsicles but this recipe for coconut-stuffed limes takes the prizes for both intrigue + yum factor.

What are you pinning these days? Leave me your links! Also: would you rather go to the beach (1) or Colombia (3)?

Weekly Wishes #5

Hey all. Once again, I'm linking up with The Nectar Collective for Weekly Wishes. The Weekly Wishes is where we all can share our posts about goals, challenges, and wishes for the week! Last week, my goal was to watch a TEDTalk every night! Some nights I watched a couple talks but other nights I didn't watch any so it kind of evened out. But it's definitely a habit I'd like to keep up with. Tomorrow I'll post a list of my favorite talks and I can't wait to share some with you!


Now, for this week's wish:


I had been doing pretty well on preparing for my half-marathon but unfortunately I skipped like a week and a half when I started nannying and my mornings were crazy busy. On this past Saturday, my town hosted a fun run and I participated in that on the spur of the moment and that's inspired me to pick back up where I left off. This week, my runs are three, four, three and six miles and that last one will be a doozy. But I'm publicly committing to doing the whole six mile run, even if I have to walk a little. Guys, make me do it!

Now head on over to The Nectar Collective and join the Weekly Wish link up.

Weekly Wishes #2

 

Hey all.Once again, I'm linking up with The Nectar Collective for Weekly Wishes. The Weekly Wishes is where we all can share our posts about goals, challenges, and wishes for the week! Last week, my goal was to read for an hour every day! Some days I was great! Some days...not so much.

Monday: Day 1: In the morning, I read about thirty minutes and finished my AP European History book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization. Woo hoo! So happy to be done... In the afternoon, I had a long wait at Costco while my tires were being rotated and I read about a 75 minutes of Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. One hour and 45 minutes.

Tuesday: Big day! Between the boy's softball game & making cheesecake all day, I forgot to read. When I got in bed I read Catching Fire before falling asleep. One hour.

Wednesday: Finished Catching Fire! It's a reread so I got through it quickly. One hour and thirty minutes.

Thursday: My last day in Charlotte so I was busy! I started a new dystopian book called Wool early in the morning and read some before going out to lunch with a friend and dinner with the boy. Thirty minutes.

Friday: In the car on the way to Michigan! Read Me Talk Pretty One Day. Two hours.

Saturday:  Finished Me Talk Pretty One Day! Thirty minutes.

Sunday: none.

So I didn't do so hot there at the end on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, but I felt good about the time I spent reading this week. It felt really good to spend my vacation intentionally, reading instead of noodling around on the internet all the time. I highly recommend setting a reading goal, even if it's only half an hour a week.

Now, for this week's wish:


In the summer, I am soo bad about this. If I don't have something specific to get up for, I'll get up around 8 or 9 and not be productive for awhile. This week, I plan to get up at 8:30 and run (if it's a running day) and condition (if it's a conditioning day) and work on something right off the bat, even if it's something simple like reading or blogging. We'll see how I do!

Now head on over to The Nectar Collective and join the Weekly Wish link up.

A Packing Playlist

Let me tell you. Packing for two months is SO hard. I've filled a huge hamper and a duffel and I hardly feel like I've started. I keep thinking I'm almost done and then realizing I've  forgotten something huge, like pants. Seriously, I would be the person to forget to pack pants. Anyways, here's what I've been listening to:

[spotify id="spotify:user:allieff:playlist:5R225o1GPjjWxTxiE7NFEz" width="300" height="380" /]

Love, A.

A Song for Sunday.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf8Xra_DOZA]

Hey all! I'm back from Durham! Hope you all have been having a splendid weekend so far. Now that I'm home and just unpacked from the weekend, it's time for me to start packing for Michigan on Friday! My family and I are driving up, which is pretty much the most painful two days of the summer, but once we get there it'll be just great. Anyways, as I'm packing, I'm listening to lots of new music! Watch for a new playlist in the next few days.

Have a good one!

Love, A.

June Book Challenge

In June, (and I realize I'm already five days behind) I am going to read ten books! At least that's my goal. I'm not sure how many book I usually read a month but it's probably close to this in the summer. Then, in July, I'd like to increase that goal. Here are a couple books that I can't wait to read!



 

1. Wild: Lost and Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Jane Austen's witty comedy of manners--one of the most popular novels of all time--features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues.

3. The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore by Benjamin Hale. Precocious, self-conscious and preternaturally gifted, young Bruno, born and raised in a habitat at the local zoo, falls under the care of a university primatologist named Lydia Littlemore. The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore goes beyond satire by showing us not what it means, but what it feels like be human -- to love and lose, learn, aspire, grasp, and, in the end, to fail.

4. Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman. In this sumptuous offering, one of our premier storytellers provides a feast for fiction aficionados, traveling around the world and examining the lives and nuances of locales.

5. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris. A guy walks into a bar car and...From here the story could take many turns. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humor and intelligence and leave you deeply moved.

6. The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell. Rose Baker seals men’s fates. With a few strokes of the keys that sit before her, she can send a person away for life in prison. A typist in a New York City Police Department precinct, Rose is like a high priestess. Confessions are her job.

[summaries excerpted from GoodReads.com]