whatever you got on, girl, stay in it.

Happy Friday lovelies. I am in a great mood today and I am excited for this epic weekend that we have planned around these parts, so here are 5 good things to cruise into the weekend with:

1. This weekend is our famed Heart Cake shoot – we are making lots of crafts and getting lots of our friends involved (pretty much our MO for all things that seem overwhelming) and it’s one of the labor of loves that I really, really enjoy doing (especially surrounded by so many lovely friends!)

heartcakecollage-1200x800Here are some outtake photos from last year’s shoot – all the fun!

2. Guys, I have pretty much blown this up all over the Internet, but I am a headstand doing fool. I have been popping headstands all over the damn place, because I can. I am so excited to be getting stronger and doing more inversions, and it’s giving my confidence all over the place in things related nothing to yoga. Up next – forearm headstand, and of course I am working up to a pull up because killer arms, hello.

headstand

3. I am now in love with Sam Hunt, so I will be exclusive with him for a bit musically speaking. I had dabbled in him earlier, but he’s everything I love in tunes: singer/songwriter, a little R&B, a little rap, hilarious lyric, and he’s even a little country. Plus, that hair? I’m in.

4. Mat Kearney’s album comes out soon, and after my torrid love affair with Sam I will slide back over to Mat in February and then get to see him in March with a slew of great friends. Talk about lucky. This year is going to kill musically.

5. This baby and animal combo post makes me happy and smiley. Enjoy it as much as I did.

Happy weekend, y’all. I hope you have the best one yet, whatever you’re doing.

Through the cradle of the civil war…

Well friends, tomorrow is the day we head off for the other side of the country. I’m sorry I’ve been out — plague struck the HAP house, and I’ve been sick. And preparing for a move at work. And preparing for the road trip.

I’ll be posting travel updates on the cooking blog, so check out my progress there. Tomorrow’s goal is Flagstaff, AZ. I’ve never been to Arizona, and I am excited for the trip and all the states I’ll be able to add to my travel log.

When I get back I’ll also be in a new office, which is exciting, albeit a lot of change to happen at once, but I’m excited to be moving – Spring has sprung, change is in the air, and it’s all necessary and great.

I’ll leave you with 5gts:

1. Road trips with Paul Simon and best friends.

2. Training, although delayed, will be resumed next week when my cough is subsided, and I’ll be stronger than ever (I know it.)

3. New sneakers for my race.

4. New Brett Dennen.

5. Blue nail polish. Everyone should have blue nail polish at some point. Yesterday, Eddie, the check out man at TJ’s, sad, “Let me see your nails?” And proceeded to tell me that his daughter likes to paint her nails “crazy colors” too.

See you soon, chickadees. Love you each and every one.

5gts: Thursday before a LONG WEEK edition

I have six events at my job next week, so I am trying to cram all the goodness of two weeks into one. 5gts, you ask?

1. I swam 18 laps in 24:47 this morning. Faster than yesterday. I didn’t stop between any of the first ten laps. I think this resulted in slower swimming overall, but more endurance, and that’s what I am aiming for. There’s no bottom in a lake/ocean (in case I follow in my sister’s footsteps…) I rewarded myself with two laps of otter swimming (thanks Auntie Rose and Nikki for suggesting!)

2. Tonight is PW Challenge: Chicken-fried steak. Thank goodness I swam this morning! Also on the agenda is twice-baked potatoes and gossiping with CC, since I haven’t seen her in a hot second.

3. Glee was phenomenal this week. I watched it last night as part of date night (thanks Jeff!) and it really just blew my mind. It was way better than doing laundry 😉

4. Girl’s Night tomorrow night! And PW appetizers. What could be better?

5. The weather has finally cooled off, which sparked a cleaning frenzy in me when I realized I had drawers upon drawers full of unreasonable clothes. Pared down, got rid of a garbage bag full last night, and realized I have two pin-striped dress pants and a handful of patterned work-shirts. And six events in the next week or so. Problematic? Yes. We may have to go shopping on Saturday! On the gts side, I have an organized closet, summer clothes are away (for now) and drawers are looking fresh and clean!

Monday morning: 5 Good Things

1. Soccer began again this weekend. Translation: hanging out with 4-10 year olds, Saturday morning, learning the basics of soccer. Referring, coaching, learning, stretching, loving.

2. Guys, Sam Summer is back in action, and here to stay until August.

3. Pizza night last night. Pictures to come. Including: Jennie lays  her own dough, and slides pizza into and out of oven. Success.

4. New planner. New space for planning. Planning for new things.

5. Farmer’s market: basil and rosemary plants. I cannot wait for May.

Bonus: 3 more PW recipes made. More to come.

Friday: Five Good Things.

1. That picture. And Kirsten being a new mom, and soon!

2. It is Friday, and tomorrow I am going for a day hike with lovely ladies who are just as excited as I am to frolic in the desert.

3. The sun is shining, Sunday holds the promise of a brunch in a garden, and I feel fine.

4. May Real Simple is here. I plan to spend some time reading it cover to cover in the very near future.

5. No-eating-out-challenge. I self-imposed a Jeff/Jennie challenge of No Eating Out (at the very least for dinner) for 2 weeks. It is day 3. We’ll see how that goes. The idea behind it is this: Jeff and I tend to eat out, and eating out costs a lot of money. It’s weird that in a restaurant, you’ll spend $8 or $12 on a salad, but in the grocery store, I have Catholic guilt if I spend $3 on berries. On BERRIES, people. Why is it that I will spend on whatever when it’s probably LESS healthy for me, but I can’t splurge on those things that make me feel better? I aim to find out just how much I will gain from not eating out. (Or maybe, how much I will lose.) This will also help us with our “Low-sodium” diet, which has been brought on by Jeff’s potential for high blood pressure.

Who’s with us? Can you do the 2-week challenge?