currently.

/ ronni

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eating.

Jimmy Dean sausage and cheese croissants. I eat one just about every night. They’re soooo good.

reading.

I’ve fallen in love with Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Boys series, and Jaime Reed’s Cambion Chronicles series. So even though I have a bunch of library books to read, I keep rereading those over and over.

listening to.

My currently obsessed. playlist on Spotify:

wearing.

a yoga top and ankle jeans rolled up so they’re like capri pants. 🙂

watching.

I was watching The 100, but the season finale was last night. So now I’m back to watching nothing.

thinking about.

Money. Writing. Yoga. Working at VSA next week.

looking forward to.

All the packages that should be arriving in the mail next two weeks.

2 Comments

summertime.

/ aidan, friends, living in chicago, pictures, summer

Summer

Summer summer summertime….
Time to kick back and unwind….

So far for me, this has not been the time to kick back and unwind!

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks. Friends visiting from out of town, stints at VSA, us going out of town, events… I wonder if my summer is shaping up to be a busy one? I feel like, now that it’s warmer out, everyone wants to do ALL THE THINGS.

More Friends
me with jen · me with kelly
me with mia · me with kristie

I want to show off my cute new outfit. Well, it was new a couple of weeks ago anyway.

Cute Outfit
sunglasses: Juicy Couture · headphones: Bose
crochet top, necklace, headband: Buckle · cami: Forever 21
jacket: Kohl’s · shorts: American Eagle · boots: Steve Madden

It’s been a few weeks and the temps seem like they’ve stabilized… somewhat. There are still some 50F nights in the near future, which I don’t like but I’ll take them over single digits and teens any day. Especially if I don’t have to go out in them. In fact, I managed to burn myself pretty good over the weekend. I don’t think I’ve been this sunburned since I was in college! I woke up Saturday morning looking like Rudolph. Thank GOD for my Shisiedo BB cream. It would have helped if I’d used it BEFORE I went out Friday, seeing as it has SPF in it, but I didn’t anticipate being out so long.

But before then, I had a week of socializing. My friend Kristie, who I’ve known forever on the internet, came to Chicago to celebrate her 30th birthday. Luckily, I was free to hang out, so we had sushi and got to spend some time together. I knew she was pretty but I was not prepared when I saw her in person. Girlfriend is stunning. And sweet as can be. I really enjoyed hanging out with her.

Me & Kristie

I had to work a couple of days that week, then Angelo was in town for Memorial Day weekend. We hung out Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (and can you believe I didn’t get one photo of us? I guess I was too busy living in the moment). My friend Hillary came over Saturday night as well. I ate myself sushi-stupid that weekend. Regrets? NOPE.

Tuesday, Adam and I headed to Columbus, Ohio because my baby was having a promotion ceremony! He’s done with elementary school and will be starting middle school in the fall. My friend Jen told me to just shut the hell up right now because there was no way, right?

But it’s for real! Aidan’s truly growing up.

Promotion Ceremony

The ceremony was nice. School gyms are not air-conditioned so it was warm in there, even for me. I felt bad for all the normal people with regulated body temperatures. It was awesome seeing Aidan, hearing the kids’ speeches, and seeing my friend Kelly, who I hadn’t seen since 2008.

The next day, we dropped Aidan off at school (I was confused too, but they still had two days left!) and drove up to Cleveland to visit my mom! We ate delicious dinner at Corky & Lenny’s, and I got to see Janae and Terri and Geneva. Thursday, we had Bob Evans and then drove back to Chicago. I was exhausted, but managed to get some decent sleep. Friday, I got up and headed to Milwaukee Ave. to see my friends Reshma, Genevieve, and Amy. I hadn’t seen them since November and it was nice to catch up.

Yoga

Saturday, Jen and I headed to Grant Park to experience Wanderlust in the City, a free yoga festival. Another day out in the hot sun, but this time I was smart enough to use SPF. (OK, some friends on twitter advised me to use it because apparently sunburn on top of sunburn is NOT GOOD.)

I did two yoga classes, drank a TON of water, and Jen and I posed for a lovely photo.

Yoga in the City!! #wanderlust #wlchicago @wanderlust ??#yoga
l- jen, r- me

Then we came back to my place and went out for… take a wild guess. Here’s a hint: it rhymes with ooo-shee. Then we went out to delicious Brown Cow and had ice cream. It was as yummy as I remembered.

Hell yeah. @yumbrowncow #yummy

THEN I found a planner group on Facebook. And more planner groups. I don’t know if you remember me lamenting the loss of my Life Planner a couple of months ago. I bought a Bloom planner but it wasn’t the same. There’s something about the Life Planner that just works for me. So I ended up ordering a new one on the very last day they had the 2014 ones in stock. Then I waited on pins and needles for it to arrive. I felt so relieved when it was finally here. Now I felt right again.

Apparently, there are people who decorate the crap out of their planners. See, I use some stickers and draw a few pictures and use lots of pens. But these people go all out. It’s fun to see them. The best part is that there are people out there who are planner/pen crazy like I am and it’s fun to chat with them. I don’t feel so alone/weird now! 🙂

planner
my week

I spent a lot of time hibernating in the winter. I’ve made up for it the past two weeks, and Aidan’s arriving on Saturday! I plan to do a lot more activities with him, instead of us sitting at our computers all day. I’d like to go to the Planetarium, Legoland Discovery Center, the beach, the zoo, and more. I’m determined to make loads of memories this summer.

OK, that’s all for now. Till next time….

4 Comments

retreat.

/ pictures, spring, vacation

Sitting in the captains chair enjoying the day. #chillin #nofilter

Last weekend, I drove out to Stonehouse Farm to have a relaxing weekend away from the city. I knew the weather would be beautiful even with some cool nights, but I was staying in a yurt (with electricity) so I knew I would be OK.

The drive out was fantastic. No traffic, and once I got out of the city, the roads were clear. My favorite kind of driving. Empty country roads and my music. It was perfect.

I got to Stonehouse about 115pm last Friday, and helped out a bit there. I cleaned the general store and then I watched the gardeners plant flowers. (I tend to avoid planting things. I am not so good with plants.) It was so pretty out there. The weather was mild, the sun was out, and the sky was bright blue. My favorite kind of day. There were wildflowers and dandelions everywhere. I think they’re pretty, but I know most people don’t care for them.

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I got a chance to see honey bees being transported to their new home! I even wore a bee suit. That’s something I never thought I’d get to do. It’s not even something that even crossed my radar. But it was really cool.

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Honey right off the comb is the purest, sweetest thing imaginable.

Later, we all went out to dinner, and that night, I turned in to the sounds of nature at night and stars twinkling in the sky.

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Saturday was a lot of relaxing, reading, writing, napping, sunning myself, and enjoying nature, peace, and calm.

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We didn’t go out to dinner this time, instead preferring to raid the fridge in the general store and share leftovers from the night before. The night was milder, so it wasn’t as much of a hardship when the middle of the night bladder call woke me up!

Sunday morning, I did a yoga practice, ate some breakfast (preserves and Nutella on toast, and fresh pineapple), and headed back to the city. I felt refreshed and rejuvenated and grateful.

I had a wonderful mini-retreat weekend and cannot wait to head back to Stonehouse Farm this summer.

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Comments Off on retreat.

spring cleaning.

/ pictures, ronni, spring

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Well, I finally did something I’d been meaning to do for months, if not years. And that was to DECLUTTER MY CLOTHING. You do not want to see the condition my bedroom was in by the time Thursday morning rolled around. Luckily for you, I didn’t bother to take photos. Believe me, this is better for all of us.

Surprisingly enough, it didn’t take all that long. First, it was all about separating the dirty clothing from the clean clothing, and that was easy. The dirty stuff was all on the floor. Then, it was all about getting rid of the stuff I didn’t want to wear anymore, that didn’t fit, or that I never plan to fit into again because it was all way too big for me now. I was so amazed at how different an XS from 2014 is from an XS from 2004. From the same store!

I managed to fill up four large bags with sweaters, pants, shirts, and more to donate. My next project is to sort out the summer clothing. I know there are a lot of embarrassingly ugly shorts and tops hiding in those two bins I have, and I just need to let them go.

LIKE THIS ONE:

Up!

WHAT MADE ME THINK THAT WAS CUTE?
Seriously?

Me to my past self: Oh, honey. No.

Basically, most of that trip, as fun as it was, was a fashion FAIL (for me, anyway. at least aidan looked cute).

I’m not just getting rid of the ugly stuff. There is plenty of cute stuff in those bags. They just don’t look right on me anymore, or they no longer fit. Some of the sweaters were hard to let go of.

The cool part was that in the midst of cleaning and clearing, I found a jacket, a sweater, and a top that I’d been wondering about for a long time. (Unfortunately, I did not find my Life Planner. I think it’s really gone. *sad face*) There’s a weight off my chest because I’ve accomplished something I’d wanted to for a long time. I’ll be really glad once I have the summer clothes done as well. And I will TRY to control myself with buying new stuff. Especially when I wear the same things over and over anyway.

Spring is always sort of an awakening for me. In winter, I wanted to lie around and sleep all the time. Not so much these days. Adam’s been surprised at how “early” I’ve been getting up. (Which, to be honest, isn’t all that early for normal people, but for ME, it is!) I went out for a short walk Saturday so I could take pictures of the blossoming trees down the street (and pick up the new menu from the newly relocated and expanded sushi restaurant that I always get my sushi from). I bought a bunch of books from Half Price Books and between that, the library, and ebooks, I’ve been reading like a madwoman. Oh wait, I guess that part is not new.

I’ve started taking vitamins again–calcium and vitamin D, and biotin (so my hair can grow even longer). As the days grow warmer and longer I plan to spend more time outside. And I have GOT to get back to a regular yoga practice. I haven’t neglected my practice this long since I worked at Schawk. And I remembered how unhappy with how I looked and felt back then. No bueno, Ronni. I don’t want to go back to that place.

And so I won’t.

That’s all for now. I’ve also started taking melatonin to help me sleep at night, and I think it’s starting to kick in. So… good night.

11 Comments