{Cleansing the soul}

You know, I think of something every single day to write about on here.

Something happens and I think, "Ohh, that'd be good for the blog."

Do I ever write about it?

It's the thought that counts, right?

Do you ever just look around your home, or your life, and think you need to just throw shit out?

Really, that's what it all is: shit.

I was sick for the entire month of January and it's really got me wanting to do a cleanse of the home.

I'm also moving at the end of July and that may be part of the reason I want to get rid of so much stuff.

How do we accumulate all this shit?

Yesterday I went through my closet again.

I've gone through my closet before.

I rarely throw out a lot of that shit because I think, "I may need that one day" or "I'll wear it again when I lose weight".

I was talking to a friend at work about those thoughts.

She's read a book about something very similar (that I'll be reading too as well) and we had a great conversation about it.

Yesterday, when I went through my closet again, I decided no more excuses.

I began with the shoes first since I knew that would be the hardest part for me.

Why?

It's stupid.

I have shoes I've never even worn before.

I have shoes I haven't worn in years.

I decided if my feet have never touched a pair of shoes, other than trying them on, they needed to go.

If I know I haven't worn a pair of shoes in years, they needed to go.

If I know I'll never wear those shoes again, they needed to go.

It was hard.

I have a pair of DSW boots I bought right before I sprained/fractures my ankle back in 2009. 

September 1, 2009 specifically is when the injury happened.

I never got to wear the boots before the injury.

I wore attempted to wear them twice.

I thought I was going to die because of the heal on my ankle just killed it.

Are they not beautiful?

I've had these for almost 3 1/2 years and only worn them twice.

I couldn't get rid of them each time I "cleaned" out my closet.

I finally did it though.

Even those beauties went in the "donate" pile.

Sure, I could try and sell them, maybe on eBay or Craigslist.

No.

That means they'll stay around longer and they may end up back in the closet, where they'll continue to make dust bunny babies.

The shoe pile.

It's a lot of shoes.

Too many shoes.

Boots I kept since I wear them all the time.
The white snow boots I don't wear as often but they're snow boots and I live in Colorado.
They get enough use to keep them around.

Everyday wear that made the cut.
There ARE two pairs of dressy shoes I decided to keep around despite not having worn them in years.

Seriously, it was heartbreaking.

I didn't think it would be as hard as it was to get rid of this stuff.

Stuff I never wear but have some inane attachment to anyway.

After the shoes, I went through my clothes as well.

Mostly, I got rid of clothes I have not worn and knew I never would wear.

For the rest of the stuff I wasn't sure about, I turned the hanger around.

If at the end of the season for those pieces, if I haven't worn them (because the hanger will still be turned around) then I'll get rid of those clothes as well.

At some point I'll do the same to my jeans and the clothes in my dresser.

My jeans get folded and placed at the top of the closet so I didn't go through those yesterday since I have to try them all on. 

Trying on clothes is a pain but that's another story I suppose.

The clothes in my dresser?

Well, that's mostly t-shirts I want to go through.

Do you go keep every significant t-shirt as well?

I do.

It's stupid.

I don't even wear half of those t-shirts yet I keep them for emotional attachments.

I'll never wear those shirts again and I get nothing from them by hiding them in a dresser drawer.

The only t-shirts I'm interested in keeping right now are the ones I got from all my 5k races last year.

That's about 13 shirts.

Surely, it's enough.

Especially since I use those shirts as workout shirts.

So, there's my cleansing the soul rant.

Sorry, I'm not sorry, it's so long.

I felt so much better yesterday after doing the closet cleanse.

On two small side notes (if you've even made it this far):

new guy is amazing and I decided to keep him

and

this happened:

Big smiles here.

{Being sick sucks}

Can you believe it?

I got sick again.

Which means my mom is on her way of getting sick again also.

I can honestly say it's been at least 10 years since I've been as sick as this.

I had the flu then.

I also got better and haven't had much more than a small cold or sinus infection since then.

I've been sick this entire month.

The first time with the flu-like symptoms and what felt like bronchitis.

This last time with a cold.

I hate it.

Today's the first day in a month I've woken up feeling like a normal human being.

It's entirely possible the new guy got me sick this second time since his roommates were sick also.

I don't know and it doesn't matter. I got sick again and it sucked.

My mom will be banned to her room all weekend while I disinfect it thoroughly.

While I haven't lost any weight since I last wrote about it, I also haven't gained any.

I weighed myself yesterday and I'm at 150 even.

I have been trying to eat mostly healthy since I've not been able to go to the gym.

Today's the first day I've even wanted to go to the gym.

Hopefully, there's not much snow out there.

Maybe I'll let my cleaning marathon today be my workout.

In fact, I think I'll wear my HRM while cleaning just to see. :)

{I like green things}

I apparently like things in the color green.

Yesterday I made this green smoothie...

I just have a regular blender and not one of the fancy, smancy awesome-sauce ones so it's not as liquidy as it could be.  I got the recipe from Mind Over Munch Instagram account. 

 INGREDIENTS 1/2 cup almond milk 1 cup spinach 1/4 avocado 1/4 granny smith apple, peeled 1 tsp lime juice 1 tsp stevia (optional) 4 ice cubes PROCEDURE Combine all ingredients in a blender. Devour! NUTRITION per serving (1 smoothie, yields 1): 103 calories, 10g carbs, 7g fat, 2g protein

I I I don't have almond milk right now so used my 1%.

I also added 1/2 a scoop of my chocolate protein powder.

I thought it was quite yummy!

I've also recently bought new bedding for the new bed my mom and dad got me for Christmas.

The bed is super cute and I can't wait until I can put it together and actually use it.

We got it at Ikea for super cheap at $90!

The unfortunately aspect of Ikea is they apparently sell the beds in pieces.

The headboard/footboard $60

Mid-beam $20

Side boards $10

Luck would have it that they had everything but the side-boards!!

We bought the rest anyway since the Ikea worker told is they would be in the following week.

Were they?

Of course not.

Ikea responded to my email inquiry and said they may be in at the end of the month.

Great.

So, I'd also bought new bedding for the new bed and I absolutely love it.

It's so warm and cozy that I just don't want to get out of bed in the mornings!

My old bedding was a green quilt and it still matches really well with the new bedding.

Here are the product pictures of the new bed from Ikea...

One last thing...

Today I have a coffee date!

{New Title}

I've been wanting to use a new title for the longest time but could not come up with anything I liked.

Finally.

My brain decided to work and I came up with this...

I'm positive it's obvious I made it myself.

I'm okay with that.

I am not a professional and it's all 100% me.

The photo is from my tattoo.

It's not the best crop job, but I like it.

{Word vomit}

Have you ever started a conversations with good intentions only to get partly through it all and realize you were just word vomiting all over the other person?

No? It's just me?

Seriously, I can't seem to help myself with certain people.

During the word vomit you realize they don't care and then you feel stupid so you just keep on talking.

Ah well.

Nothing I can really do about it.

Damage is already done.

Hopefully, it does not get taken out on other people.

{Still Recovering}

My word.

I've forgotten how terrible getting sick is.

Mostly I've felt better.

Last night my throat began hurting again and the cough just is not getting better.

I decided at 5:30 this morning to take some Delsyum P.M. cough medicine.

Yuck. Now I just feel groggy and tired.

With all that, I have not been back to the gym.

I am still eating better though.

Woot! 

Last night was my transition night to working nights.

I decided to meet the guys I work with at a local pub to watch the BCS game.

What a great game!

Talk about nail biting on both sides.

I was definitely rooting for Auburn since they are SEC.

Just to be clear though, I'll never root for Alabama.

I'm an LSU girl through and through. :)

*sigh*

Until next season, y'all!

{Food Prep}

For work today I made Dirty Shrimp and Beer last night.

This was posted by Shredding_Meals on Instagram.

My word. This was good.

I did change it up though just a tad.

Here's the original recipe:

DIRTY SHRIMP AND BEER. . - 2 lbs. shelled & deveined shrimp - 4 Tbsp. coconut oil - 2 Tsp. minced garlic - 1 Tsp. dried oregano - 1 Tsp. dried basil - 1 Tsp. dried thyme - 1 Tsp. cayenne pepper - 1/2 Tsp. crushed red pepper - 1/2 Tsp. sea salt - 1/2 Tsp. ground black pepper - 1/2 c. Beer DIRECTIONS - Sauté garlic and herbs in coconut oil until garlic is slightly browned. Add shrimp stirring constantly until shrimp are pink and done. Pour in beer, simmer 1-2 minutes. Serve and Enjoy !!

The only thing I changed was using Grapeseed Oil instead of coconut oil.

I don't have coconut oil and Grapeseed Oil has a good flavor to it also.

That's the only change I made.

I should've had enough shrimp for 2 work meals but my mom thought I was cooking dinner and not my lunch.  Who says no to Mom when she's been sick and took good care of me when I was sick?

I also made this amaze-balls Guacamole Quinoa with Mango side dish.

Talk about heaven in your mouth.

It's bursting with flavor and I loved it.

Another dish I made I got from online too but didn't save the link!!

Agh!! I hate doing this buuuuuuuuuuuuut, (and if it's yours please know I'd totally give you credit) it's a cup of yogurt and the original recipe calls for Nutella.  I don't remember how much exactly. Two tablespoons? 1/2 a cup? F*ck. I don't know because I didn't save the link.

Anyway, I hate hazelnut so did NOT buy Nutella.  Instead I bought a chocolate spread by Hershey's (in the same section as Nutella).  There is less sugar content in the chocolate spread than in Nutella. I checked.  I didn't check the rest but... Meh.

So, I used a cup of plain greek yogurt and whisked in a 1/2 cup of the chocolate spread.

It looks and tastes like a light and fluffy mousse. 

I plan on eating that with apple slices for a snack today.

I plan on going to the gym tomorrow after work for a light workout as well.

I've been feeling better, tired but better.

I still have a stupid cough.

Yuck.

Here's what I'm eating today: