Things I'm Loving: April 2014
Whoa, life has been crazy! This past month has been a whirlwind of wedding preparations, planning my honeymoon, fabric shopping for my wedding dress, planning my bestie's bachelorette party, holiday time with family, and trying to stay sane in the midst of it all. For Easter with my family I made this monster of a cake (again), because ... duh, it's the best cake. It was just as phenomenal as the first time. The other day I went to NYC with my two Maids of Honor to pick out some fabric for my wedding dress. My one maid of honor is designing it for me, which is so amazing. (If you're in need of a wedding dress and want one that is one-of-a-kind, you should definitely check her out.) So we had a great time looking at expensive fabrics, walking up and down Fashion Avenue, having a Fancy Lady Lunch and getting delightfully tipsy just before boarding the bus back to Philly. All in all, a perfect day with friends. Robert and I have also mostly finalized our honeymoon plans! We will be heading to Paris and then to St. Malo (in the Brittany region of France), so if you have any suggestions for me about what we should eat/see/do, please let me know. Here are a few things that have kept me sane this month:
DOING
Daily Burn - In the midst of all of the craziness that seems to be my life these days, I have been trying very hard not to let my workout be the thing that gets sacrificed from my daily routine. I know from experience that regularly working out helps to keep my stress level in check, so I've been trying to make it a top priority. Plus, I do have a wedding coming up and I would like to feel my best when that day rolls around. Daily Burn is what I would call a "workout version of Hulu." You pay a monthly fee ($10) to have access to all the videos, which are updated every so often. You can choose a specific plan for yourself based on your goals, or you can do what I do and just do whatever workout you might be in the mood for on a particular day. They have a lot of high intensity interval training workouts, as well as yoga, core workouts, dance classes and more. I've found a lot of them to be a challenge for me (the way I want them to be), and there are even great 15-minute workouts for the days when you can barely squeeze in a workout. Also, for many of them you don't need anything other than your body and a yoga mat (or carpet). I absolutely love it, and I feel like I'm becoming the most toned I've felt since high school (when I played three sports). You can use this link for a one month free trial.
LISTENING
The Lively Show - Thursdays are my new favorite day of the week because that's when this podcast comes out. Jess Lively had not crossed my radar before her podcast, so she is relatively new to me. In each podcast she interviews someone (usually with a focus on entrepreneurs and/or bloggers), and the topics so far have ranged from food and health to being a working mom to fashion to minimalism to budgeting (and so much more). That may sound a little all over the place, but the podcast is designed to "add a little extra intention to your everyday." While it certainly is geared towards creative, entrepreneurial types, I feel like anyone could benefit from listening to this show. I find it to be extremely inspiring, and it helps me to think about my goals in life and how to achieve them more effectively. Fellow foodies and food bloggers might enjoy her interviews with Dana of Minimalist Baker and Jessica Murnane of One Part Plant.
OBSESSING OVER
Zoey and Jasper - We already know that I love cute babies with cute puppies being cute together, and now I have a new dog/baby duo to obsess over. Zoey and Jasper get photographed by their mom, commercial photographer Grace Chon, wearing matching outfits and being utterly adorable. As if I wouldn't love this anyway, what makes it even better is that the dog, Zoey, reminds me of our Gilmour (if his ears were pulled back.)
Prints of my illustrations (and other products with my work on them) are available in my Society6 shop.
