Sweets & Treats Gallery

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

happy fall & bucket list update...

As I type this, I am watching Hocus Pocus, the world's greatest Halloween movie!

Did you know today is Autumn Eve!?! Yes, tomorrow is August 1st!  And you know what that means!  I start celebrating fall NOW... well, at the stroke of midnight! ;)

I have a few Fall Bucket List updates!!

SwEeT bEaN's FaLL BuCkEt LiSt: 
  • Attend my town’s annual harvest festival where giant pumpkins are weighed
  • Go pumpkin shopping with Momma; buy a big one with a funky long stem and a few little ones too
  • Enjoy pumpkin treats like a pumpkin scone and a pumpkin latte… and pumpkin ice cream too
  •  Exchange Great Pumpkin gifts with Momma
  • Order & enjoy the yummiest apple spice syrup in a fun cocktail DONE!
Pretty packaging makes my smile! So do fun syrups!
Morris Kitchen syrups came with three recipes!
Lookie what else I found!!!
  • Order & enjoy homemade pumpkin pie body wash… nothing like starting the day with pumpkin pie! DONE!
  • Watch the best ever Halloweenie movie Hocus Pocus DONE!
  • Read my favorite Halloween books including: Twisted Sistahs, Scarecrow Pete, Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies, The Very Best Pumpkin & other Autumn related children’s books (do you notice a theme in the books I linked? All by the same author and illustrator! And their Christmas books are even better!)
  • Make or eat a caramel apple
  • Buy a cozy sweater
  • Decorate for fall, which I always do on August 1st or 2nd
  • Fill a basket for trick or treaters (and not eat it all before Halloween!)
  • Bake something pumpkin flavored
  • Host a Halloween party
  • Make a Halloweenie craft
  • Buy & burn a yummy fall flavored candle (bought caramel apple, bought wouldn't mind having this!!!) DONE!
  • Send Great Pumpkin gifts to my nephew, mister Mason and my Goddaughter, miss Ella Jean (but don’t tell them that I’m the great pumpkin, it’s a secret!)
  • Dress Penny in her pumpkin costume, just for fun
  • Carve a pumpkin with Hubster & Pen
Got homemade pumpkin pie, and granny's apple pie too!
A caramel apple treat. The lady at CVS said they were killer!
For Halloween day! My students will get a kick outta this!
  • Dress up for Halloween & wear my costume to school (found a new, festive headband!)
  • Drive around an look at the leaves changing
  • Take a evening walk to enjoy that crisp Autumn air
  • Request a few fall inspired items from the library DONE!
With continued anticipation,
Lindsay Bean

Thursday, July 25, 2013

my fall bucket list...

Me With My Pumpkin Pick Last Fall

Pumpkin Penny Last Halloween
I spend every day of spring and summer dreaming about my favorite season: Fall!


There is something about the shift in the sun's light. It happens in the late summer, even before the temperature has alerted anyone that fall is on its way. It's an opulent, warm, golden glow that begs to be bathed in, played in and lived in

In celebration of her arrival, I am sharing my big plans with you, because, in my timeline, Fall starts on August 1st… which is only next week! Can you believe it!?! I can hardly stand it... like a kid on Christmas!


SwEeT bEaN's FaLL BuCkEt LiSt: 
  • Attend my town’s annual harvest festival where giant pumpkins are weighed
  • Go pumpkin shopping with Momma; buy a big one with a funky long stem and a few little ones too
  • Enjoy pumpkin treats like a pumpkin scone and a pumpkin latte… and pumpkin ice cream too
  •  Exchange Great Pumpkin gifts with Momma
  • Order & enjoy the yummiest apple spice syrup in a fun cocktail
  • Order & enjoy homemade pumpkin pie body wash… nothing like starting the day with pumpkin pie!
  • Watch the best ever Halloweenie movie Hocus Pocus
  • Read my favorite Halloween books including: Twisted Sistahs, Scarecrow Pete, Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies, The Very Best Pumpkin & other Autumn related children’s books (do you notice a theme in the books I linked? All by the same author and illustrator! And their Christmas books are even better!)
  • Make or eat a caramel apple
  • Buy a cozy sweater
  • Decorate for fall, which I always do on August 1st or 2nd
  • Fill a basket for trick or treaters (and not eat it all before Halloween!)
  • Bake something pumpkin flavored
  • Host a Halloween party
  • Make a Halloweenie craft
  • Buy & burn a yummy fall flavored candle
  • Send Great Pumpkin gifts to my nephew, mister Mason and my Goddaughter, miss Ella Jean (but don’t tell them that I’m the great pumpkin, it’s a secret!)
  • Dress Penny in her pumpkin costume, just for fun
  • Carve a pumpkin with Hubster & Pen
  • Dress up for Halloween & wear my costume to school
  • Drive around an look at the leaves changing
  • Take a evening walk to enjoy that crisp Autumn air
  • Request a few fall inspired items from the library
Any big plans for you this Fall?

All Warm & Glowy,
Lindsay Bean


Saturday, July 20, 2013

a full day in the kitchen...

I took a week's vacation over the week of 4th of July, and on the 2nd of July I went a little crazy in the kitchen (and on a Lifetime movie marathon, but that's another story!).  Just wanted to show off some pix of my adventure:
 



I dream about owning a bakery... but just one day in the kitchen and on my feet all day wiped me out! Not to mention allll those dishes!!

Happy kitchen adventures to you!

Sweetly,
Lindsay

Thursday, July 18, 2013

breaking in new shoes...

I wear an 11W shoe. Yep, ELEVEN WIDE!  I know, I know. Huge feet! Like my tall body, I think my feet had to be big because I have lots to do in life and I need adequately sized feet to get me there. That's my optimistic self.

Now, realistic self has to tell you how unbelievably difficult it is to find freaking shoes that fit, and fit comfortably. Hence a post about breaking in shoes.

I got new, pretty, mint flats that have been sitting in the box because I just loathe the breaking in process. So when I got home today, I thought, "Today is the day, mint flats!"  Here are my easy three tips for breaking in shoes:

1 Well, blisters suck. So, I try to avoid them at all costs, especially because I walk alot in my job. So initially I wear them in short spurts.  I'm talking 2-3 minutes.  Just like exercise, I increase the wear time little by little.  And because I can't really buy shoes in the store (see my opening statements about my giant Yeti feet), I am often taking a risk on an shoe from an online store. That initial wear can be so deceiving because most shoes don't hurt at first. Hence, little by little, aquatint yourself to those puppies!

2 When the rare occasion of new shoes happens in my life, I always wear them around the house for those short spurts mentioned in tip one. Recently I wore a shinny, new pair of nude snake skin pumps to fold and put away laundry.  Hubster was curious because I was also rockin' a t-shirt and gym shorts... so I looked super classy! Ha! But wearing them around the house in little spurts can really help your shoes loosen up, and your feet get use to the new shoes... and when/if they start hurting, just trade them out for your slippers! 

3 I always wear socks with my new shoes, if they'll fit.  Flats can be tough, because usually they fit a little tighter.  But with pumps, I always wear socks as I implement steps one and two. It gives an added layer of protection from blisters, and helps stretch shoesies just enough to more comfy!

I think these tips are pretty easy, and they've really saved my feet!

Happy Thursday!

Warmly,
Lindsay

Monday, July 15, 2013

in search of proof of amazing...

"It isn't what you have, or who you are,
or where you are, or what you are doing
that makes you happy or unahppy. 
It is what you think about."
-Dale Carnegie

I have lost significant weight in my life, only to gain it back (and then some!).  For the last four years I’ve been hauling some major weight… but to be even more honest, I survived some depression, and gained weight through that too, which coincided with our engagement and wedding, buying a house and moving two apartments into said house, becoming doggy parents, and processing the loss of two friendships that were once a major part of my life. So, yea, that was a super weird and stressful time in my life… both the happiest and darkest. What do you even do with that!?

Since then, my brain has become well, or better, I guess.  I don’t struggle like I did. Our life stressors are less. Both Hubster & I have improved career circumstances. We are more settled. And we’ve smoothed out some of those newlywed wrinkles (we don’t fight over the same things, as often or as chaotically, which is an improvement!). We’re good. And we’re committed to continued goodness (and at least growing through any other hurdles). So, I’ve felt ready to work on my health. And still, I have anxieties about making public goals or commitments about “weight loss” or “regular” exercise, because what if I fail? Could I survive another spurt of weight gain and low self-worth?

Then I met a lady who was self-loathing after gaining back the 75 pounds she had previously lost. I instantly related to her feelings of regret, guilt, disappointment and shame.  As usual, I was able to see her problem in a much more simplified way then I could ever see my own almost identical situation. She really resonated with me.  I found myself thinking about her, those crocodile tears and flushes cheeks as she confessed her most private feelings… And then the release she felt after saying it. What about her and that moment kept coming back to my mind? The conclusion I came to was simple. The bottom line is: your journey is your journey. You are where you are because you are supposed to be.

And even more profound, if you’ve done it before, you can do it again. So this lady and me, we know we can lose weight because we’ve done it before. Rather than focusing on the regret, the shame and the disappointment of gaining it all back, let’s flip that sitch. WE CAN DO IT AGAIN and our proof is that we’ve done it before.  Truth is, like lots of other people who struggle with their weight, there are deeper issues there for me.  Intellectually, I know how to lose weight: make better food choices, cut calories, drink water and move more! But the application is a struggle. And the illusion of thinness dissolving internal/emotional deficits really is a social construct that has thousands of women on a hamster wheel, chasing a lie. Being skinny will not change your life. It changes your body. That’s it. There, I said it. For me, I have to work on my heart, my mental health, my overall wellness first. It is the most important because when you are truly well, your habits and your body will follow. Where we must cut back calories to be thin, we must fuel and feed our soul to be whole and well as a person (P.S. I know so crazy mixed up skinny people and I would not trade places with them for a million dollars!).

I’ve given all of this weight stuff and whole mind-body balance/wellness stuff more thought than I ever thought was humanly possible. I’m a very emotionally available person, which makes me empathetic and sensitive and vulnerable and honest. And I’m proud of that. I care about people, and I care to keep the right people around me (most of which have listened at length to this kind of processing from me!). 

In short, what I really want to say is that we humans, especially women, need to be kinder to ourselves because we are sooooo much more capable than we remember when we are stuck in our struggle.  Whatever it is you’re struggling with in your life, give yourself patience, kindness, and support.  It took me over four years of immense struggle to look back and say it was worth it, and I feel more well now than I did before my decline!  Look for the evidence in your life-proof that you can do it for the first time or again because you’ve done amazing things before!

Happy Monday!

In hopes of amazing,
Lindsay

Thursday, July 11, 2013

sweet little tea lady...


In California we rarely get dreary, rainy days… especially in late June. Two Mondays ago it was a dreary, kinda cold, sorta muggy, mostly funky day. I took a vacation day to accommodate a dentist appointment, a vet appointment and two doctor appointments (being a grown up, sometimes, isn’t as glamorous as my 7 year old self was hoping for).

After my last doctor’s appointment I was down in the dumps.  I got some weird news from my doctor… and decided I didn’t want to go home. Knowing myself like I do, I would have wallowed on the couch. So I stopped into the nearest market, which happened to be a natural foods store. I went for one thing: clear top coat nail polish, which they didn’t carry.  I wandered around… and at some point decided to buy some yummy treats for Hubster and me.

I was gently confronted by a sweet middle aged woman, “You look deep in thought. What do you need?”  I looked up, not even knowing, really, how deep in thought I probably looked. She was a customer. I retorted, in my typical jovial and sarcastic way, “Therapy!”  We shared a laugh.

Unlike most people, who laugh and anxiously walk away when I give a humorous yet honest answer, she didn’t budge. She put her hand on my shoulder and smiled empathetically. Then she suggested a few types of tea, pointing out that the $2 off coupon could be used at the time of purchase. I was alarmed at first. Tea? Coupons? Why is she suggesting tea and coupons?  Then I realized I was so deep in my own thoughts, I had wandered four aisles in, and landed on the tea and coffee aisle unknowingly.  After I put three boxes of tea in my arm cart and we exchanged pleasantries, she was down the aisle and rounding the corner. I didn’t catch her name, and thought, “I’ll ask her if I see her again in the store.” But I never saw her again. I’m not saying she was a spirit or an angel… but she was just what I needed at that very moment. I think God and spirits aren’t always super natural, though I believe in that kind too.  I think sometimes life (and God) gives us exactly what we need, when we need it, if we’re open to it. That lady was, even for a brief moment, exactly what I needed.

 I proceeded to buy a big beer for my hubby, a big pear hard cider for me, a tub of fancy olives from the olive bar, a baguette, and other indulgent goodies. When he got home, we celebrated nothing more than the present moment. Less than great news doesn’t have to be a buzz kill. It can be a cause for celebration! And tea lady saved my day, gave me perspective, and plugged me into a daily dose of wisdom… every tea bag has a little encouragement on the tag!
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