Life Lately {vol. 58}

J and I spent New Years Eve with some "new" friends and it couldn't have been more perfect.

The only phone picture I got that night, naturally. 😂

I love salads from Trader Joe's, and one of my favorite ones is their Asian chicken salad! It's mostly slaw and rice noodles, but the vinaigrette is sooo good!

I finally took down our Christmas tree and the area looked so bare in comparison.

One of my cookbooks had this recipe for roasted garlic with brie on a baguette, and boy was it amazing! I added jam for a morning treat.

I bought these eucalyptus leaves from Trader Joe's and I love how it made the space feel so put-together! 

The evening of New Years Day, I suddenly got these terrible chills. I ended up going to bed early and sleeping it off.

The next day, I felt right as rain and bought groceries to make homemade salsa and nachos.

My nachos were incredible! J made his own, so I can't comment on how his were... but I can make a mean nacho. 😉

On January 3, my family's perfect, sweet puppy, Kichon, was put to sleep. She was thirteen years old and loved desperately for every minute of those thirteen years.

I've been working out 4-5 days a week since the new year started and I've been feeling so good, physically! This past December, I was running around a mile at a time - I'm now up to three miles!

I hadn't gotten my hair cut since J and I got married, so it was definitely time! I looove my new hair cut (and my new stylist). 

Living that running life!

Sometimes all we need is a change of perspective. 💕

There is little more satisfying than a clean apartment and a good book.

I had some free time, so I sewed a large hole in one of J's shirts! I love having useful skills, haha.

I'm usually terrible at doing my nails (as in, I'm bad at it and I never paint them), but I made an effort the other night and loved the result!

I moved to a new, temporary desk at work and decided to put up my awards (though, only with tape. Frames are so expensive and we're going to move again in a week or so anyway).

I finally decided on my goals for 2017!

J got me one of the Forest Feast cookbooks for Christmas, so I got myself another one for an early birthday present! No shame.

I totally wasn't feeling a workout and a trip to the gym... and then our building's fire alarms went off 6:45AM. I could smell smoke in the hallway and didn't want to leave J alone to deal with the cats if we had to evacuate or something, so I decided to stay home and do a workout here. I only had 2-pound weights, but I managed to give myself a hell of an upper body workout, regardless!

We finally bought the cats a new cat tree after selling our old one in New Hampshire... and we ended up buying the exact same one here, haha! It was a great price, we already knew the cats loved it, and we knew it would be solid and stable. They've been so happy with it, since!

I got my new Stitch Fix box early and tried on everything as soon as possible! My sister-in-law actually works for them now, and this was my first Fix requesting her as my stylist. She killed it! I ended up buying everything! 😍

I took a trip to Trader Joe's this weekend to get groceries and more leaves and flowers. I was bummed they didn't have more eucalyptus leaves (the same kind I got last time), but I ended up with a really pretty bouquet!

I played a little bit on the ukulele this weekend too - trying to make time to sing and play more!

I ran again yesterday morning. It's funny, because running a mile now is really no problem for me; I can zone out and "relax" since I'm focusing on distance right now over speed... But the moment I hit mile 2, I'm wiped, haha. Mile 2 is always the hardest mile for me for some reason!

I found this protein bar at Trader Joe's the other day and thought I might as well try it out. I usually don't like protein bars very well - they all seem to be chalky and cloyingly sweet, and as someone who won't eat chocolate under 70%, "cloyingly sweet" is really not a plus for me, haha. Anyway, I love KitKat bars, so I thought I'd give this one a try! IT'S AMAZING. OMG. So yummy, and that wafer crunch totally makes me feel like I'm eating a giant KitKat instead of a protein bar! I got the vanilla one too, which I'm going to eat after my next workout (tonight?).

We didn't have any clients coming in yesterday, so I could wear jeans to the office! I tried to dress them up a little bit with these heels and this striped shirt, and I think I did okay. The shirt and the jeans are both from my latest Stitch Fix box!

Maybe it's just that I'm usually really behind "Life Lately," but this one seemed especially short to me... It's not like I didn't have more pictures from the last three weeks, but they were mostly of me working out and I'm pretty sure you don't need to see twenty pictures of my sweaty face. I mean, unless you're into that, and in that case, please stop reading my blog. 

I think part of it is just that J and I have gotten in a pretty good routine, finally. We've had the same jobs now for a few months, we drop each other off and pick each other up from work regularly, we generally have the same days off each week, and (important in my world) we've finally figured out a system that keeps the apartment clean. It's called, I-Give-J-A-Honey-Do-List-Every-Day and also we have a Roomba. 😉 

I'm sure I've mentioned it here before, but I actually got inspired from talking to my parents. My mom had given my dad a list of things she wanted fixed around the house, and then... he did them! I realized I was internalizing a lot of frustration from being "the one" to always notice the cleanliness (or, lack thereof) around the apartment, so I started giving J a list of things to clean while I was gone. He was happy to have the list because he didn't have to read my mind (OMG!) and could make me happy, all in one, fell swoop! I was happy because I didn't feel like I was the one cleaning everything! J does insist on calling the list his "Honey Dude" list, which I feel is a small price to pay. 😂 

Also, J's mom got us a Roomba for Christmas and I could not recommend it enough, at least for those of you (like me) who like a clean house but do not like cleaning. Which I assume is most of you, because you're probably not a freak who actually likes to clean. Just kidding if you're one of those people (but maybe share your secret to enjoying cleaning). Two cats along with a healthy amount of mess for two people meant that sweeping once a week just wasn't cutting it, which my mom pointed out over Thanksgiving. I was mortified. It's fine. 

For two people who did not really feel like sweeping every day, the Roomba was a godsend. We turn it on probably every other day and the apartment has never been cleaner, at least as far as the floors are concerned. Plus, the cats are notably less terrified of it than they first were. James just stays out of its way, but Leif (who is scared of everything) would sprint from room to room just to get away from it. Now, he'll approach it until his courage gives out and then he'll sprint to a new room. Progress! Also, I swear this is not a sponsored post for Roomba; I'm just a girl who hates cleaning and will praise anything who helps make this godforsaken task any easier.

How are you doing with your 2017 goals? How do you cope with the loss of a beloved pet? How do you manage to keep your living space clean or are you just naturally good at that (ya weirdo)?

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