If you're happy and you know it...

I read a few blogs regularly (clearly much more regularly than I actually write in this blog).  While I visit some fashion blogs and obsess over some food blogs, I especially love lifestyle blogs that are a little of everything.  I don't know if I'm just really nosy or creepy or something, but I love reading about people's lives.  I love when they crack themselves open and write about something more personal.  There's something nice about reading a blog that feels real.  For example, I like seeing someone who's not a professional fashionista post about her budget-friendly take on a look she loves, or someone who's not a chef post her own healthy home-made version of a meal she loves.  I guess my main point is that I like reading blogs that are relatable?  If I even have a point?  Who knows?

Blogs are the main way I find out about new trends that I totally keep up with because I am super stylish that pretty much fall into three categories for me:  love, will never wear, wish I had the balls to wear.  Here are some examples...

Love:  Pink lipstick, party nails, and all things high-waisted.  High-waisted skirts are heaven sent.  While I also love the look of high waisted shorts/pants, for now those are still filed under "wish I had the balls to wear".

Will never wear:  Spiky bracelets and shoes.  I see myself a) poking my own eye out, b) poking another person's eye out, or c) getting a run in my tights.  They just scare me!

Wish I had the balls to wear:  Rompers and Croptops.  Maybe someday. 


Anyways, this has been a lot of really unnecessary build up for me to just rant about one of my blog pet peeves.  (What's that?  I never update my blog so I have no right to an opinion?  Fair enough.)  My biggest bloggy pet peeve is that I feel like it's no longer cool to smile in pictures.  At the risk of sounding like a 7 year old writing a letter to her future self that goes viral on the internet, THERE IS SO MUCH TO SMILE ABOUT!  It drives me nuts when people try to do a Tyra smize or, even worse, some pained half smile.  Come on guys!  You're posing in your new favorite Spring outfit, but your eyes are saying "Help me, I am being held at gunpoint to take these pictures for my blog!"  You're instagramming some amazing latte art you were just #blessed with, but you're gazing blankly in the opposite direction.  WHY.

Listen, I am mature enough to admit that maybe I am just being a curmudgeon and missing the point of artsy instagrams, but SO BE IT.  I love reading your blogs, and if you aren't making a weird or funny face on purpose, then I want to see those pearly whites.  Let's stop taking ourselves so seriously!

love and big smiles (okay I'm just rubbing it in now),
AB

seasonal mix-up

I just want to take a moment to personally apologize for the unseasonable chill today.  Yesterday I went a little crazy and pinned approximately 30 pumpkin and apple related recipes.  I then looked at my pinboard, sighed, and thought to myself "I can't wait for Fall."  Then, I sat straight up in my chair and tried to take it back, but I think the damage was already done. 

When I woke up this morning and saw that it was 63 degrees outside, I knew it was my fault.  I hope this is a one day fluke and that we can still have a nice warm August, with at least a few more days at the pool.  Then, and only then, I will welcome Fall weather and all things pumpkin with open arms.

Love and August weather,
AB

Buttermilk Biscuit Babies

I always think that I enjoy cooking, until I’m actually in the kitchen managing three pans of food while trying to scroll through the recipes on my phone.  Somewhere in that chaos, I remember that I hate cooking.  It stresses me out!  I can’t handle the pressure of cooking.  I can sou-chef it all day, just tell me what to chop and give me one thing to watch.  I’m a great assistant.  

What I genuinely do enjoy in the kitchen is BAKING!  Baking is relaxing to me.  I guess maybe the biggest difference is that I only have to focus on one thing, so maybe what I’m saying here is that I have ADD am more dedicated to one thing at a time.  

The biggest reasons that I don’t bake more often are

1. I don’t trust myself around large quantities of baked goods.
2. Our kitchen is relatively small.
3. I don’t have any fancy baking gear, so I’m easily intimidated when recipes use phrases like “set mixer to high” or “cut in butter”.... Although I am a former ice cream scooper, my forearms are just not what they used to be.

But, when the favor from my friend’s bridal shower was homemade strawberry jam, I knew that I had to try this jam with some homemade biscuits my boyfriend threatened to leave if I didn't make homemade biscuits.  So I went to my favorite food blog, Pursuit of Sweetness, written by one of my favorite people. We've traveled what feels like half the world together, and you just won't find a more reliable, quirky, and hilarious friend. Although I was briefly sidetracked by her homemade s'mores (Seriously? I want this to be my desktop background), I eventually found the BEST recipe for buttermilk biscuits!

Here's the recipe from her blog: Better Buttermilk Biscuits ...you should just read her post about it so you can read all of her tips and advice. Like I said in Reason 3, I get really intimidated by the phrase "cut in butter" but she had this amazing tip to just grate the butter with a cheese grater right into the flour. It was so easy and worked perfectly! I halved her recipe, because as you already know from Reason 1, I don't trust myself around large quantities of baked goods.

Here are my beautiful baby biskeez! And the delicious homemade jam!

love and self-rising flour,

AB

hot hot hot

It's iced coffee season people!  It's restaurant patio season!  It's ice cream season finally not weird to eat an ice cream cone everyday!  It was a long winter, and a LOTR extended edition too-cold spring, but summer is finally here!  No more checking the weather to see how many fleeces to pile on, no more hibernating in my apartment because I'm constantly frozen!  Wait, will I miss hibernating in my apartment?  Oh well.

Here's to the best season!  And here's to hoping I still feel this way come mid July when I can't walk two blocks without needing more deodorant!

love and summer sun,
AB

need this baby

My kitchen and my heart both really really need this sweet owl cookie jar from Anthropologie.  I'll even start buying cookies to keep in it - twist my arm.  Name ideas: Hootie, Hedwig, Young Errol.

hoo & hoo*,
AB


*owl for love & cookies

How I did it, Step 1: Get Real

 I want to start by saying that I cannot express how awkward I feel writing this.  I know that having a blog would lead you to believe that I can't wait to share my opinions and insight, but I actually get nervous about a more personal or prescriptive post.  But in the past few months, and especially the past few weeks, I've had a few people ask me how I lost the weight.  I normally just say (a little uncomfortably) "Diet and exercise! It sucks!" just to avoid diving into the really thrilling topic of calorie counting and body image.  I was a little nervous to blog about this because I don't want to come across as all holier-than-thou skinnybetch, but I figured my blog was a good place to really map it out, if anyone is interested, and share my story of how I lost 35 pounds. 

So, how did I do it?

I wish this was a quick answer, but it's really dozens of small changes that got me here. I am DEFINITELY not an expert in nutrition, fitness, or anything related.  I just made small adjustments over the course of the year until I had completely different habits, and a whole new approach to my health.  This is definitely not a to-do list for anyone looking to lose weight, more like some loose guidelines to help get you on the right track.  I'm going to blog in pieces about the changes I made, and hopefully you can adjust them to fit your daily life and start seeing the change you're looking for.

Before I get into step one, I also want to say that "How I did it" might be misleading.  This is an ongoing process for sure.  These changes are lifestyle changes, and I'm still growing and adapting.  I'm not still trying to lose weight, but I am trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  So maybe this whole series should be called "How I did it and am still doing it every day" but that's kind of a mouthful and I like to keep things catchy around here.

Step 1: Get Real
The first, and probably the most important step, of my weight loss journey (that phrase seriously cracks me up - I can barely take this seriously anymore), was a reality check.  In my mind I had been trying to lose the extra 40ish pounds I put on in college for two years.  In reality, I had just been worrying about my extra weight while doing absolutely nothing about it.  I wanted to lose weight, but I refused to change.  I was not ready to put in the effort, so I made excuses.

And then one day I looked in the mirror, and I had to realtalk it with myself.  I was detagging half of my facebook pictures because of how I looked.  I was too embarrassed to work out at a gym because I could barely run a mile without walking.  I was unhappy, and I had finally had enough.  I wish I could tell you what came over me, or what changed in me, but all of a sudden, I was ready.  I wanted to feel better and I was ready to work for it.  I got online, calculated my BMI, cried, and set my goals. 

What I want anyone reading this to take away from Step 1, is that this has to come from you.  You have want this.  Any attempts you make will be halfhearted until you are ready to change.  Get real with yourself.  Set goals.  And know that you will accomplish them. 

I'll blog with Step 2 soon!  If I tried to cram this all into one post it would be insanely long.  This Step 1 post alone was really long.  If you read this whole thing you MUST be serious about losing weight....or just like insanely bored.

love and realtalk,
AB

for all the new years resolution haters

Last year, my New Years resolution was to lose weight.  I broke it down into smaller, more manageable goals, and for the first time in my life actually stuck with a resolution and saw amazing results.  So nothing irritates me more than being in the locker room this time of year and hearing all these gym regulars complain about how crowded the gym is with New Years resolution go-ers.  All I hear is "UGH, where were these people a month ago?" and (my favorite) "Don't worry, they'll be gone in February."

To the locker room betches who think they are god's gift to fitness:  You probably were not always in great shape.  Maybe you were, and that's awesome for you.  But there was probably a time when you walked into the gym, unable to do more than jog a mile and lay on the ground pretending to do crunches (wait, was that just me?).  So if there's someone new at your gym, and all they can do right now is walk on a treadmill, you should admire them for being brave enough to come out and do that while impatient people like you tap their feet in the background.  I'm assuming that you are also the person who posts obnoxious articles on Facebook about obesity in America and whatever weird fad diets you're trying, so let me remind you that if you are so concerned with our nation's health, you should probably be celebrating this many new people at the gym instead of hoping they'll be gone in February.  Michelle Obama is disappointed in you.

To the New Years Resolution-ers:  You can do it.  It's difficult, and it really will take all year, if not longer, but you can and will do it.  If all you can do at first is walk on the treadmill, then walk an extra five minutes just to make those betches wait.  Eventually you'll be running, biking, whatever you want to do, and you'll be great at it.  You'll be in shape, and you will surprise even yourself with what you can do.  You might even wish you could work out on days you can't, because eventually working out will feel GOOD.  You will feel like a different person. 

And this time next year, you'll be in the locker room noticing all the New Years Resolution-ers, and you'll be telling them that they can do it, too.

love and haterade,
AB