Guest Room Makeover: An Update

You faithful readers might remember that about a month ago I started work on transforming this once almost empty room into a guest room, and I'm happy to report that as you're reading this it will finally be housing some guests! 

I don't consider this room done by any means, but it's got all the basic necessities to be considered a pretty comfortable setup. We've got a bed, actual bedding (minus a bed skirt), real life pillows, a lamp plus a light bulb (such luxury), plants, a giant TV and Xbox (boys will be boys and whatnot), a chair that you can't actually sit in yet (I really need to buy clamps and wood glue), and a semi-styled shelf! 

The miraculous part of all of this is that the only things I bought were the duvet and cover, the two throw pillows and blanket and the lamp. The rest I already had! No bad for conjuring a room out of nowhere if you ask me. I've definitely done up this room on a budget so it's not exactly how I would have styled things if I were starting from scratch (I'm looking at you, rug) and we've still got very bare walls and windows going on over here, but it works and will hopefully be a very comfy room for a long weekend (so long as you don't try to sit on the chair).

I'm calling that mission accomplished-well-enough-for-now on operation Guest Room Makeover. Until next time, have a great week!

A Little Earring Haul

A few weeks ago I went shopping with my sister and boy did I need a good shop. There's just something about getting out of the house, hanging out with your favorite people and getting to nose around shops and see what's new and beautiful this season. I was on a mission for wedding related items at the time, but of course sometimes life happens and you end up with more earrings than you previously even owned. You know how it goes. So without further ado, let's take a look at my little earring haul and laugh together as I try to describe them!

Oh and please note, most of these are from H&M aka the fastest of fashion so 1) please don't judge me too hard for shopping there and 2) I did my best to find links for these but even though I bought them only a couple weeks ago, they're no longer online. I tried to find similar items where possible.

I think my obsession with everything tortoiseshell began spring of last year, especially with this post, and it hasn't slowed down since. These earrings are just another manifestation of that fixation, but they're perfect. Lightweight, not too flashy, and they kind of blend in with my hair so I could easily wear these at my very casual workplace and not feel overdressed.
Similar H&M $14.99
Similar H&M $12.99
Similar H&M $5.99

To be quite honest, I really liked these when I was in the store, and since coming home I like them less. I still think they're fun, but I'm struggling to come up with outfits I'd wear with them. Everything else I have is pretty organic feeling, and these are so very structured. At least they'll be fun to experiment with!
H&M $6.99

I think of these as little blobs of gold. If you find a better way to describe them, please let me know. They're super lightweight which my ears appreciate, but still pretty dressy so I'll likely be saving these for nights out. As you can see in the picture they're already a little scratched so I'll have to be pretty gentle with these, especially given how reflective they are.
Similar H&M $14.99

I think these will be the most wearable of all the earrings I picked up. They open from the middle and just snap close, so there's no stupid tiny back to wrestle with. The post is a bit thicker than most earrings I think so that was a little uncomfortable at first but my ears quickly got used to that. Much better than the time they put an earring into my rook piercing 2 sizes bigger than they had before, but that's a story for another time... Anyway, these are fun to wear, pretty easily dressed down for work and up for play and I love the chunky look.
Target $7.99

I am in love with these, but ironically I still haven't worn them yet. In my eyes they're the most dressy of the earrings I bought, so I'm waiting either for an actually dressy occasion or for it to warm up enough that I can dress up a white t-shirt, high rise blue jeans and casual shoes with these gorgeous things. Just look at the shape of those "pearls." And the "gold" posts that remind me of tree bark. I die.
Similar H&M $14.99
Similar H&M $12.99

I definitely have my work cut out for me getting wear out of all of these, especially when I've been religiously wearing my Mejuri mini hoops and some studs John got my for Christmas throughout this winter. Now that it's spring though maybe I'll actually go outside every so often and have an excuse to dress up a little. What a concept. Until next time, have a good week!

My Week in Workouts

Guys. There's sunlight and warmth outside. It's a miracle! Spring is finally here, which is fantastic because my poor winter boots need a break from being worn every single day, but it also means that we're on the home stretch before our wedding. For the last few weeks we've been focusing on keeping a really consistent gym schedule so we can feel great for our wedding and honeymoon. Neither of us want to change a lot -- no major weight loss or gain goals, no bulking up or shredding, just good old fashioned maintenance and basic strength. I thought I'd take you guys along for the week to show you what we've been doing lately and talk a bit about what our gym plans are up until the big day!

Sunday
Weekends have been active rest days for us for as long as I can remember. Some people like having the leisure of more time on the weekends to hit the gym, but I'd rather squeeze it in during the weekdays and then use my weekend time for delightful tasks like cooking, cleaning and running errands. Such fun. This Sunday we spent our morning batch cooking all our meals for the week.  (Batch cooking has seriously changed our weeks. More on that some other day perhaps.) That's about 3 hours of chopping, standing by the stove and over the sink doing dishes. Nothing to break a sweat, but it keeps you on your feet. The rest of our afternoon before dinner was running all kinds of errands -- wedding band shopping, a quick Target and Home Goods run and a trip to Trader Joes. All in all we were probably on our feet for 6 hours of the day. Not bad for active rest!

Today's workout:
None!

Monday
Up at 5:50am today to head to the gym. This is only our second week of trying out morning workouts. We realized we'd only have to wake up 10 minutes earlier than we had been anyway in order for us to get to the gym, workout, shower off and get ready there instead, and then we'd be able to go home straight after work instead of losing an hour of our evening free time. All we have to do is make sure we prep our gym bags and lunches the night before, which is totally doable! I will say, waking up at 5:50am this week was harder than last week thanks to daylight savings time, but we made it work.

Today's workout:

Kayla Itsines' Bikini Body Guide (BBG) Week 2 - Legs and Cardio

Circuit 1
10 burpees
20 jump lunges
24 knee ups
15 sumo squats

Circuit 2
100 jump rope skips (I don't use a jump rope, I just hop)
24 weighted walking lunges
30 reverse lunges + knee lift
15 jump squats

Tuesday
Two days a week we tend to do some low impact steady state (LISS) cardio. When the weather's nice we are planning on walking to work and back, which is about 2 miles each way, but alas, winter appears to never be going away so we hit the gym instead. I opted for the recumbent bike and 35 minutes of scrolling through Instagram and Facebook. Perhaps not the best use of my time, but sometimes that's all you can take at 6am. One thing I'm still trying to figure out is how to go from a sweaty betty to work appropriate within an hour. My face always gets really red, and even though we have showers to rinse off and cool down in, when I attempt to put on concealer it's almost comical how much it stands out from my beet red face. Today I had to wait and do my makeup in my work bathroom. The cleaning people that I ran into in the bathroom probably thought it was a morning after situation 😂

Today's workout:
10 miles (35 minutes) on the recumbent bike, medium resistance.

Wednesday
So just like Monday's workout, today is another workout from Kayla Itsines' Bikini Body Guide. I've done both her first and second guides (her second one is no longer sold) several times through before and I always go back to them when I just want something quick, hard and all planned out for me. There are basically three workouts a week, with some recommended LISS or HIIT workouts on a few other days of the week. Each workout is 28 minutes plus some rest time and they're comprised of 2 circuits of 4 exercises each. You set a timer for 7 minutes and do the exercises from one circuit as many times through as you can. Then you rest for a minute or two and move onto the second circuit for another 7 minutes. Repeat both circuits again and then you're done! It's all exercises you can do with only some basic equipment so it's easy to do in any gym or even at home. Honestly, I torrented the guides back in 2015, but if I knew then how much I would use them and still be using them in 2019, I would have paid. They're definitely effective!

Today's workout:

BBG Week 2 - Arms & Abs

Circuit 1
15 dumbbell squat and press
15 tricep dips
24 commands
20 straight leg jackknifes

Circuit 2
20 situps
15 mountain climber (4) + pushup (1)
15 straight leg raises
15 lay down push ups

Thursday
Another LISS day in the gym this morning. Even though I'd rather have been walking outside, at least I got in some extra reading time today. Currently reading The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan and it's starting to become a page turner so I'm grateful for the opportunity to really settle in with it. (I've got Goodreads if you want to be friends)

Today's workout:
9 miles (30 minutes) on the bike, medium resistance.

Friday
Today was tough. Five days of pre 6am wakeup calls is no joke, especially when the night before was spent going to dinner, grabbing a drink and dessert and then seeing Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra afterwards. I was not feeling motivated to do burpees. We still went to the gym, and we still did our planned workout, but perhaps it wasn't my best effort ever. I still left the gym as bright red as ever though! After work we spent the evening doing all our grocery shopping so we were up on our feet again for about 2 hours while in pursuit of the best bulk deals.

Today's workout:

BBG Week 2 - Full Body

Circuit 1
10 burpees
30 jump lunges
15 lay down pushups
15 sumo squats

Circuit 2
15 mountain climber (4) + pushup (1)
15 straight leg jackknifes
100 skips
24 commandos

Saturday
Another active rest day today. And we can sleep in! What luxury! We were still up and at 'em at 8am so we could start another morning of wedding-related appointments and errands. (Seriously, planning a wedding sucks) The afternoon I spent deep cleaning the house. Last week was madness due to car troubles with BOTH CARS and honeymoon planning, so the house reaaaaally needs it this week. I was zipping around the house for a couple hours, but then I balanced it out with dinner at Chipotle with the future in-laws and binge watching the newest season of Queer Eye at night. Perfection.

Today's workout:
None!

For the time being, we're still planning to carry on with these absurdly early workouts and I hope to finish another round of Kayla Itsines' 12 week guide before the wedding. Having a limited timeline is helping me stick with it and not give into the snooze button, but maybe we'll go back to evening workouts if we're feeling particularly tired some week. I'm just glad to be back on a workout routine! I'll be sure to keep you all posted. Until next time, have a great week!

Book Review: A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles

After I posted a few weeks ago about how long I've been wanting to read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, I finally managed to get my hands on a copy at the library. The fact that every copy has been checked out or on hold each time I've looked over the last year or so should have clued me in as to how fantastic this book is, and now that I've read it I can only confirm that indeed it is completely worth the wait.

A Gentleman in Moscow starts in 1922 as Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov is sentenced to permanent house arrest in the Metropol hotel for the crime of writing a poem. He must move from the grand suite had had been staying in to a small attic room, taking with him what few possessions he can. As the years go by we follow as the Count befriends Nina, a young girl also living in the hotel, learns all the back hallways and hotel secrets from her, watches as she grows up, starts school and falls in love. The Count also begins work as a waiter at the hotel restaurant and develops deep friendships with the maitre d', Andrey, the head chef, Emile, as well as other hotel staff like the seamstress, Mariana and Vasily the concierge. With other colorful characters popping in and out of the hotel over the years, like a beautiful movie star, an American ambassador, a high ranking government official and an old school friend, the Count builds himself a rich life all without setting foot outside. But when Nina returns and leaves her daughter to the Count's care, he must take on one challenge he's never faced -- parenting.

The story spans over 32 years and like we do in our own lives, we move from one little drama to the next, seemingly without a single overarching plot line until we can reach the very end, look back and pick out the themes and major turning points. Along the way I kept expecting something bad to happen, especially considering the political backdrop of the novel, but nothing really ever did. Instead Towles did a fantastic job adding little details throughout the story that while seemingly unimportant at the time do end up tying together in the end for a very satisfying conclusion. I was left feeling contented, proud of all the characters, and hopeful for their futures, but I wanted their stories to keep going. After following them for so long it's hard to leave them before it's all truly over.

The plot of this book is engaging, charming and heartwarming, but to me the best part of this book is the writing itself. I found myself lingering over sentences, marveling at the turn of phrase. The prose is a delight to read, slowly absorb, step back and admire and then re-read simply to go through it all again. It gives such a grandiose sense of the hotel, the Count himself and keeps the atmosphere of the novel as a whole floating in this charmed, almost artificially-preserved space full of old-world charm and manners while the world outside -- both of the hotel and the reader's world -- endures the pain and banality of everyday life. Even within this rose-tinted world, Towles is able to hit on little universal truths that are still relevant today and do so in a way that's at once beautiful to read, relatable and humorous. Here are a few quotes I loved:

"Surely, the span of time between the placing of an order and the arrival of appetizers is one of the most perilous in all human interaction. What young lovers have not found themselves at this juncture in a silence so sudden, so seemingly insurmountable that it threatens to cast doubt upon their chemistry as a couple What husband and wife have not found themselves suddenly unnerved by the fear that they might not ever have something urgent, impassioned, or surprising to say to each other again? So it is with good reason that most of us meet this dangerous interstice with a sense of foreboding."

"Furrowing his brow, the Count reviewed all of the conversations that he had ever had with his daughter in chronological order and could find no evidence of having told her the tale before."

"Like in a reel in which the dancers form two rows, so that one of their number can come skipping brightly down the aisle, a concern of the Count's would present itself for his consideration, bow with a flourish, and then take its place at the end of the line so that the next concern could come dancing to the fore."

By this point it should go without saying that I loved this book and would highly recommend it to anyone. Next time however I'll be sure to brush up on my Russian 20th century politics a bit before reading so I can have an even greater context to the story. Having now loved two Amor Towles novels, I eagerly await his next book and will definitely be purchasing this book myself so I can reread it!

5/5

February Highlights

I have officially reached my limit with winter. I am glad to be writing this post simply because it means February is over and maybe we can start inching toward spring. Knowing Nebraska though, we've probably got another dumping of snow or two before we'll be allowed to live in peace and maybe even feel the warmth of the sun. Regardless of all the horrible weather, February still managed to be a good and especially productive month!

We didn't do a lot of activities this month that involved having to leave the house, but we did manage to sneak one talk in at the Sheldon Art Museum. Just as a snow storm was blowing in, we were heading to "A Diverse Menu: Race, Class, Gender and the Things We Eat" with Ijeoma Oluo, author of So You Want To Talk About Race, and Soleil Ho, restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and producer of the podcast “Racist Sandwich.” The panel discussed how food can be a jumping off point, whether that be in reference to people's access to it, what dishes they're making, who's making it, etc, to explore the way those different social constructs affect people's experiences. It was a fantastic, thought-provoking panel which has caused me to think even more about the choices I make every time I sit down to a meal, and to really think about what white American food really entails, culturally. If you live in a town with an art museum, be sure to check out their events for high quality, often free, and very interesting learning opportunities to spice up an otherwise ordinary week night!



My other activities this month were on the complete other side of the cultural spectrum. We started the month with a Super Bowl watch party at my parents' house with my family. We tend to get together for this every year not because any of us are particularly into the game, but because it's a nice excuse to see each other and my parents have cable. This year was unique though because John and I made all the food so everything was vegan! We had the chili recipe I always make, buffalo cauliflower and peanut butter brownies, both from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook and it was all fantastic.

Later in the month I got to go on several shopping trips with my sister. The first trip was supposed to be for bridal shoes, but instead we ended up with way too many earrings from H&M, face mask sets, and a couple pairs of shoes between us, none of which were bridal related at all. The next trip was to get jeans for my sister, which we actually accomplished this time, but since we're overachievers we ended up with guest room decor, sunglasses, hats, sweatpants -- you know, a typical Target run. The things we bought were fun, but what I enjoyed most, cheesy at it sounds, was spending so much time with my sister. We live close to each other and we see each other fairly frequently, but that's usually with the rest of our family. This was just us two, laughing at our stupid jokes, spending way too much time in the candle aisle of TJ Maxx and catching up about work and friends and life. I always forget how much fun it is to spend time with her!

One load waiting to be donated

Other than those couple adventures, the rest of the month has been spent doing all kinds of (indoor) life admin. The wedding prep is really starting to come together -- we've ordered invites, had the first few alterations appointments, bought wedding shoes, ordered menswear, finalized shower details, started booking a honeymoon and began a registry. There's still a bit left yet to organize, but we're really starting to make progress. I've also spent a good portion of this month getting our house ready for guests, which I talked a bit about last week. We finally got around to donating all the stuff left after the great KonMari clear-out of 2017-2018 so we have our office back, plus we've cleared out 3 closets, turned our old yoga room into a guest room and rearranged our admittedly oversized book collection so that all our books squeeze onto our existing bookshelves with only a handful relegated to a temporary shelf. A lot is going on in our second floor and it's still a bit of disaster area, but we're making more progress than we have in years. Thanks for the kick up the butt future guests -- I'm really relishing my sudden penchant for making decisions, taking initiative and finally getting some shit done!

Our stray cat friend hanging out on our garage and chatting with Finn

Finn really wanted attention when I was working from home