At The Moment

This is a photo of us from last month. We haven't been riding our bikes as much this month because of my new work schedule. It's been kinda of a bummer, but at the same time nice to take a break from the long rides. I rode 220 miles on my bike last month and only 85 miles this month. Honestly, I'm just tired. hahaha


I took this funny picture with my friend Scott when he visited in June. (This proves how light my bike is.)

This is how Chloe plays cards. Apparently she thinks standing on the table is part of the game.

Groceries for our vacation. Yes, a vacation. A much needed one I must add. Cody and I are heading out to California. I will be absent (even more) from the blog next week. When I get back though I will have many things to share! I am excited to have things I WANT to blog about when I return. :)

Earlier this year I thought these were weeds. I'm so glad I didn't pull them!

This has to be my favorite picture I've taken so far this month.
Simon always looks so pretty in all the photos I take of him.
Thanks to all of you who are still dropping in and saying hello. It means a lot to me considering that I feel like I've fallen out of the blogosphere. I'm behind on emails, posting and especially reading other blogs. My bloglovin app hasn't been working on my phone either. I miss blogging sometimes but it just doesn't fit into my life as well as it used to. Again, thanks. I look forward to sharing my vacation photos and adventures with you!

At The Moment

I've been enjoying lots of tea. My newest tea obsession is Sweet Coconut Thai (It's decaf by the way).
I'm doing pretty good with my caffeine/coffee addiction.
Down to only one cup in the morning and sometimes an extra on the weekend as a treat.

Glad to be wearing flip flops and hanging out on my deck.

The cats love watching me outside. They are so curious, but too scared to venture outside on their own.

Flowers are in full bloom in my backyard.

Getting some longer bike rides in with Cody. My absence from the internet is due to my love for my bicycle.
So far we are only doing 30 mile rides, which on average takes around 3 hours to do.
I hope to at least be able to do 50 miles in one day by the end of the month.
Not sure if we will have time to pull this off, but I can be hopefully. :)

Since I have been using my new clip in pedals I have crashed every ride.
I always have a little blood and a lot of grease on me. hahaha

One of our parks has a little box full of books for people to read and share.
Isn't that cool? I may have to donate a few. They are trying to encourage people to grab a book and read at the park.

There has been lots of cuddling happening with my fur babies. :)
Overall things have been good. I have been enjoying my new found freedom since blogging less. I think during the colder months when I am pinned up instead blogging is better for me. I'm also super busy painting our kitchen cabinets still! (BOO!) Hopefully they will be done by the end of the month and I can share some photos. How is your summer going? (I guess Fall for some of my readers?)

At the Moment

This post is going to be a little different then my last few "At the Moment" posts.
Today I just wanted to share my thoughts and views on blogging currently.
It's been a few weeks since I was visiting my family and friends in Ohio. I have to say it was a bittersweet experience. You never feel like any amount of time you spend with your loved ones is enough. The above photo is of my dad. He doesn't even know that I took it. The picture was taken while my dad and I were shopping at one of my favorite thrift stores. It was really nice to spend the time with him. Moments like that are worth the 1,200 mile drive. The only things we bought were some old books and a vintage purse that my dad put on Ebay to sell.

Something shifted in me when I was in Ohio. Actually, it started before my trip do to a falling out with a friend. However, when I have something bad happen to me I try to immediately find good in the situation, learn from it and move on. That's exactly what I did. I realized a few months ago that I have such amazing friends back in Ohio. I learned to appreciate them more and hold on to them tight. Let them know that I am thinking of them often. Make a better effort to keep in touch. My trip to Ohio made me realize that I'm not alone. Even though I feel that way often living in a city that I hate, my friends and family are still there, just miles away.

Needless to say the goodbye is always so hard when the visit is over. The distance is really hard on my parents and I miss them a lot already. I'm tearing up just writing this. You might wonder what the heck does any of this have to do with blogging or why am I sharing this with you? Well my trip caused me to get behind on my posts and my reading of other blogs. The feeling was overwhelming. It hasn't left yet either. Some days I feel like a slave to my computer and my blog. I have started to ask myself, "Why am I doing this?" I know we all go threw this at some point. You don't even have to be a blogger to feel this way. It can just be the amount of time you spend on the internet.

There are so many things that I want to do. Learn to knit, exercise daily, clean my house, get organized, draw, talk to my friends, hang out with Cody, ride my bike, go to the park with my dogs, plant flowers, decorate, remodel my house and the list goes on. My schedule and typical daily routine does not allow time for most of these things. I find myself stuck in a rut. (Sorry for the cheesy rhyme.) I am on the blog too much. Designing and editing photos which takes hours sometimes. Even though I love it and it's fun, it's too often. Time and life is so valuable! Why am I devoting so much of it to my blog?

So that leaves me craving change in my life. I laid awake the other night thinking about how much simpler my life would be if I didn't blog. How much time I would have for new hobbies and just life in general. This is NOT me saying goodbye or that I am quitting my blog. This is me just stating what a lot of us go throw and feel from time to time. I have met some amazing people threw my blog and I hope I meet some of you someday in real life. It's really cool to be able to connect with people from all over the world and build friendships with my readers.

I put way too much pressure on myself to get 5 posts up weekly. I do however LOVE all my posts and that's why I do them. I write out all my post ideas ahead of time and always feel excited about all of them. My pictures aren't always perfect, my topics might not always be for everyone, my grammar is horrible and I'm not a great writer, but they are ME. I have been blogging for 6 years and I am always changing the direction of my blog. With that said I am going to attempt to force myself to blog less. It may only be one less post a week, I'm not really sure yet. I will still blog often of course, I'm not disappearing.

I started to realize that all my favorite blogs that I read don't usually post daily. Do I judge them for this? NO! (Good for them.) Will I still always follow them and read their blog? YES! I even talked about this in my last VLOG. I talked about how we all need to stop putting pressure on ourselves. So I am taking some of my own advise and making more time for real life. Because we all know that time passes us by way too fast not to! As I think about why I blog, I want to remember it's always going to be for me. A way for me to look back on my life and old posts. I do like to inspire others with my blog, but it's just not a popularity contest for me. It's become so hard to stand out in a world flooded with blogger's. I'm just going to be me and hope that some of you like me enough to stick around. :)

I never knew that a trip to Ohio would awaken so much emotion in me.
Change is good and so is "feeling".
Thank you always for stopping by, leaving comments and your on going support!

At The Moment

LOVING // All the positive things I have been feeling. Life has been blah and a bit complicated lately. However I find myself dealing with things so much better. My compassion for people and myself has grown a lot in the few months. I am able to let things bounce off better. Which I have never been good at in the past. I'm not letting stress keep me up at night and I am able to calm myself down in stressful situations.

HATING // That some people just love to create drama. That even though I am in my thirties, drama still finds me. Adults that act like high school children annoy the heck out of me. Life is too short to fight with each other. Just move on if you don't like something or someone. Simple solution.

REALIZED // I can officially no longer drink alcohol of any kind. After only two glasses of wine last week, I spent my night in the bathroom. You can use your imagination to fill in the blanks. Drinking for me is a rare thing. Last year I also experienced the same problem after only 2 shots of rum. My body totally rejects it now. Which honestly I am totally okay with. I won't miss it a bit.

LOOKING FORWARD 2 // Spring of course. Long bike rides. Green grass. Beautiful flowers. Planting things in the dirt. Meeting some new people through cycling. A lot to look forward to this Spring and Summer.

LISTENING // I am digging Green Day's newest album. I started listening to them back in 1994. I was in the 8th grade! I've been a fan ever since. I remember how a lot of kids back then hated them and teased me for liking them so much. HA! Look at them now, they are still playing and making music that I love.

WATCHING // We just finished watching the entire first season of House of Cards on Netflix. It's a political drama that basically just sucked us in. Kevin Spacey plays the main character in the show. It really hits the nail on the head with how corrupt our government can be. I loved it and hope they don't take too long to make Season 2! We watched like 6 hours worth of episodes one day. (Don't judge me. lol)

The image is from a flower show I went to last year in Ohio. Link HERE.
What have you been up to??

At The Moment

I just wanted to take a deep breath from life and post something simple. I spent my three day weekend decorating my office, doing housework and spending hours organizing all my photos on my computer. You know it's time to get images off your computer when it's telling you that you are almost out of space!!! It's not a fun task but a necessary one. I vow to organize them from now on throughout the year! So here are some other things happening at the moment.....

PLANNING // Two vacations. One to visit family and friends back in Ohio. The other a road trip to California. Our vacation in California will include lots of relaxing on the beach, whale watching and cycling. Pretty perfect I think.

FEELING // Like I'm living in the movie Groundhog Dog, where I wake up and it's the same thing over and over. I try to keep things in perceptive but some change would probably be good for me. Just not sure what that change is yet. Aslo cabin fever is getting bad for Cody and I both. I can't wait to be able to get outside again.

LISTENING // I have been using Spotify on my computer to listen to all kinds of "new to me" music. My favorites so far... FUN., Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and the new Soundgarden album.

WATCHING // A lot of older Disney movies on Netflix. I had never seen Pocahontas or The Fox and The Hound. Of course Sundays are The Walking Dead. If you watch it and saw last Sundays episode, could you even believe it?? I was so stressed out watching it. Cody's hands were broke out in a cold sweat. LOL

HATING // Our neighbors dog. Actually it's not the dogs fault, it's the owners. The dog goes outside whenever it wants and BARKS sometimes for 2 hours straight. The houses are so close to each other that it feels like the dog is barking in our house. Sometimes we have to turn our music up VERY loud just so we don't have to listen to the barking. It's become a huge problem. Saturday night the dog was barking at 2am and woke me up out a sound sleep. :( We are nice people and don't want enemies but it's making us a nervous wreck.

LOVING // My friends, family and Cody. That probably sounds too "expected". Lately though I have grabbed on tighter to the ones I love. Actually on my 32 Things Before 32 list being closer to my parents in on there. I have already been talking to them a lot more. (Plus I am visiting soon.) I just don't ever want to take time or people for granted! Life passes you by too quickly for that.

The image is one I took while driving in California back in 2011.