My Happiness Project

Lately I’ve been feeling (because it’s true) like I’m spending way too much time watching TV while texting on my phone and playing games on my ipad.  At the end of the night/weekend I’m not sure where my time has gone and I feel “blah” because that much screen time isn’t good for anyone. 

The weeks become so busy with the usual grind that it’s nice to take a break, but spending so much time online wasn’t energizing and at the end of the day I’d be frustrated because I didn’t really accomplish what I wanted/needed to for the day.  Perhaps you can relate to feeling like this:

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One day I decided that I needed to make a conscious effort to cut back on screen time and spend my time doing something productive.  I kept seeing “The Happiness Project” book by Gretchen Rubin and finally I decided to check it out. 

I haven’t finished the book yet (not even halfway through actually), but I loved the premise of the book.  The author embarks on a one-year happiness project aimed at increasing her happiness by identifying small changes that lead to big results.  I think we just take on too much sometimes and neglect ourselves, our hobbies, our relationships, and the little things that make us really happy.

I’ve since decided to do my own mini happiness project.  For the next 6 months I’ll be focusing on one aspect of my life that I believe could use some extra attention.  Everyone’s “happiness project” would be different because we all have different areas to focus on, however the author focused on “Energy” for her first month and I agreed that was a great place to start.  She picked energy because she felt it would set her up for the following months.  It’s hard to be happy and productive when you’re tired and distracted.

I’m beginning today, June 1^st and will focus on a different theme for the next 6 months.  I’ll be tracking and blogging about my progress and I’m so excited to get started! 

What exactly does the theme of “Energy” cover?  For me, it’ll focus on:

•  Sleep – I rarely get enough sleep so I’m challenging myself to get 7-8 hours a night.
• Working out – I’m already consistently working out but I want to vary and expand my workouts.
• Better food – I eat a lot of fruits, veggies, and lean meats, but I want to challenge myself to find new recipes to try, and focus on the quality of the food (organic, gluten free, whole foods) as well.
• Organizing – I feel so much better when things are organized and I have a few areas I’ve been avoiding because they seem overwhelming, but when I go into these areas (closet), it’s not currently a good feeling.  I’m going to tackle some of these because I know it’ll make me a calmer, happier person in the end and organized spaces mean I’ll be spending less energy trying to keep things picked up.
• Cleaning schedule – I have a cleaning schedule and it’s pretty easy to follow, but I just haven’t been following it.  When I do clean now I’m doing some things more than I should and others not enough.  I created a cleaning schedule to simplify things and I need to get back to using it.

I’m really excited to get started and will be checking in along the way.  I'd love it if you'd start your own happiness project with me and perhaps we can both look more like this:

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Yummy Fruit Smoothies

I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!  Regular weekends are great but they’re always gone so quickly and I find myself wondering when I had time to relax and have some fun.  Three day weekends on the other hand, are magical, and by the time I go back to work I feel like I’ve actually had some relaxing time off.  I definitely felt that way this weekend, although that could have something to do with the fact that I didn’t do anything productive for the later part of the weekend and focused instead on completing an X-Men movie marathon so I could get caught up to see the next one in theatres later this week.  Important stuff, people! 

One productive thing I always do on summer weekends is smoothie prep for the week.  For the past few years, Mr. C and I have these smoothies every single weekday morning in the summer.  If you’re looking for a light, refreshing smoothie packed with fresh fruit, then look no further.  It’s pretty basic and I’ve been asked why I don’t throw in some kale/spinach/(insert something healthy/ something very unhealthy here), and the answer is that I love it just the way it is, although I do alternate between the mangos and peaches as the sales change.  I also throw in blackberries sometimes but I feel like they get moldy quickly so I don’t use them often or add them right before blending.

Fruit Smoothies

-makes 10 servings (2/day for the week)

1 pineapple, cubed

1 large or 2 small clamshell strawberries

1 large or 2 small clamshell raspberries

2-3 Mangos

AND/OR

2-3 Peaches

5 bananas

Greek yogurt (I use peach honey or raspberry flavored typically), ¼-1/2 c. per smoothie

Orange juice, ¼-1/2 c. per smoothie

***There’s really no measuring going on here typically…..the Greek yogurt is a big spoonful, and the orange juice is a big splash, but I tried my best to measure the “spoonful” and “splash”.

I wash, chop, and divide the fresh fruit (minus the banana) into 5 containers on the weekend and have never had an issue with the fruit going bad.  I would suggest layering with the pineapple on the bottom, berries in the middle, and mango/peaches on top.  In the mornings, Mr. C. dumps the containers into the blender, adds a banana, orange juice, the Greek yogurt, and blends.  The whole process takes less than 2 minutes in the morning, and I wake up to a fresh fruit smoothie before work everyday.   If you don’t have a Mr.C, then you may not be able to wake up to the smoothie already made, but I promise it’s worth the extra 2 minutes in the morning!

Easter Greenery

Easter is right around the corner and this year I thought I’d do something a little different to decorate.  Instead of buying the icky store basket filler, I decided to grow some of my own grass in baskets to decorate our entryway and use for Easter.   It took a little less than a week for the grass to fill in and get to the right height, so now would be the perfect time to make your own beautiful basket of grass to give as a gift or use as a centerpiece next weekend.

I received a few texts this morning of the snow covered ground in Nebraska, so I’m not sure if the people there will have as much luck, but if you live somewhere where the temperatures coincide with what April should be like and actually have a bit of sunshine, then I hope you give this a whirl!

Here’s what you’ll need:

-Sturdy Easter basket or pail

-Trash bag or plastic grocery bags

-Rocks for filler

-Potting soil

-Grass seed

-Easter eggs

You’ll want to begin by lining the baskets with plastic.  I cut liners out of a large clear plastic bag.  I love the baskets I used, however they did fade a bit out in the sun so keep that in mind when choosing your baskets.

Fill with potting soil and sprinkle seed on top.  I may have gone a bit um....overboard with the seed, but I knew I wanted VERY thick grass.

Give it a good watering and place in a sunny place.  You’ll want to keep the topsoil fairly moist so the grass sprouts.  I watered mine a couple times a day until I had good growth and then cut back to every few days as needed.

I found the sparkly eggs at Target at $5 for the pack and the bunny came from Home Goods.

Here’s a few pics of the candle holders I repurposed around our home with some natural filler and speckled eggs.

Pot 'O Gold

For the last few months I've been all about gold (the color, not the currency, although I'm not opposed to the currency).  In honor of St. Patrick's Day I thought I'd share my recent favorite gold finds.

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1. Target polka dot binder

2. Paper Source chevron stationary

3. Urban Decals gold dots wall decals

4. Lulu and Georgia heart print

5. Lulu and Georgia be you print 

6. Fossil crescent necklace

7. Modcloth twinkle of an eye top 

8. CB2 gold ram

9. Lulu and Georgia wishbone

10. Anthropology tippy pumps

11. Nordstrom "carson" flats

12. Incase chevron iPhone case

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

AZ Monuments Trip

A couple weeks ago my parents came for a visit and I used that as an excuse to take a few days off work.  Since I didn’t really get a vacation over the Christmas season, I figured I could use some time off.  The week was even better than I imagined and the time off was much appreciated.

The best afternoon was one spent playing cards outside while enjoying the beautiful weather.  Sometimes the simplest moments are the best. 

I was in desperate need of some arts and crafts time so one afternoon my mom and I went to a local pottery place and painted some pieces.  I planned for more pics, but apparently we were so into our painting that it slipped my mind.  We had the whole place to ourselves which we both loved!  My mom made a couple cute little ice cream bowls for Mr. C. and I to be used when we enjoy our homemade ice cream (almost daily in the summer) and I made a big polka dot popcorn bowl for myself.

Later in the week the four of us drove up north for a little sightseeing.  We stopped at Montezuma’s Castle where Montezuma never really lived and isn’t really a castle.  The castle is a 20 room dwelling built by hand in the side of the mountain between 1100-1300.  Visitors aren’t allowed inside anymore, but the castle still stands and is doing pretty great for its age and being built by hand.  A very friendly guide took our picture and spent awhile telling us about the castle’s history and the everyday lives of the people who lived there.

We then arrived at the Grand Canyon and were welcomed by lots of wind and much cooler weather.  My dad told us it was going to be cold but we tend to not always listen to him.  Apparently he was right.  It was so windy that it was hard to get any pictures of us not looking crazy with our wind-blown hair.  The upside was that the unpredictable weather came with some beautiful clouds which made for beautiful pictures.

Although we didn't see any big wildlife this time, we did see 2 bluebirds.  They weren't very accommodating about posing together but I did manage to snap some photos of them separately.  

At one point we got out of the car and were welcomed with sleet.  A piece made it into my eye and that was about the time I decided I was over that lookout point and we headed to the tower.  

The tower is one of my favorite spots in the Grand Canyon because it offers so many vantage points from a bird's eye view. 

It was a great week off work spending some time relaxing with my parents and Mr. C. and we’ve been talking about taking my mom to the Grand Canyon for years so I’m glad we finally made it this time around!

The Little Things

Today Mr. C and I are celebrating our 6 year wedding anniversary.  I'm not quite sure where the time has gone but when I look back at our wedding photos and our wedding video, it's obvious that we definitely young when we got married.   I love getting thoughtful flowers, jewelry (what girl doesn't?), and a lovey card, but sometimes the little things are the ones that really get you.

I love birds (yes, this is related).  I grew up helping my dad raise exotic birds so I'm not sure if it started then, but there's almost nothing cuter than seeing a little bird hop around (obviously baby pandas win in the cuteness contest but birds are a close second).  Last weekend I took Coconut outside in the morning and saw something bright out of the corner of my eye.  I didn't have my contacts in so everything was a little blurry but I could tell that the bright object was the woodpecker that hung out in our tree frequently. He had a red head, black and brown stripped body, and although he was a bit annoying when he was pecking on the trees on the mornings I could actually sleep in, I always loved seeing him in the yard.  I was so sad.

I asked Mr. C later if he would bury the bird.  We started talking about something else and moved on.  About an hour later he found me and verified that I really wasn't joking about the burial.  To me it just seemed wrong to put him in the trash.  I could tell that Mr. C thought I was nuts, but a few moments later I saw him out back with a shovel, digging away at the very hard ground below the tree the woodpecker frequented.  He buried him without complaining or eye-rolling.  I loved the bouquet of my favorite flowers Mr. C sent me last week, but it was nothing compared to the small, but full-of-love gesture I witnessed Saturday morning.  It really is the little things.

Happy Anniversary Mr.C! I look forward to many, many more, but hopefully no more birdie burials.

Hearts and flowers

I’m not quite sure how it’s February already but apparently it is.  The Centner house is full of pinks, reds, and lots of hearts this time of year.  After the Christmas decorations are put away it typically looks like we’ve been robbed because everything is so bare.  I’m always so thankful when I’m able to decorate for another holiday and Valentine’s Day is such a happy holiday!  Our anniversary is a week after V-day so the lovey decorations double for that as well.

I love decorating the shelves in our living room with whatever I can find around the house to tie in with whatever holiday is coming up.  I positioned some hearts into our greenery, strung some fabric garland and lights above our TV, and put some wedding momentos on the living room shelves.

Here’s a few pics of my favorite area, our mantle.

I have a pink and red heart runner on our kitchen table with a couple candles and some flowers.  These stargazer lilies are my absolute favorite flower and I can’t get enough of their sweet smell.  After a week of having them in the house I still remark how wonderful they smell everytime I walk by the table (I think it's driving Mr. C crazy).

Do you decorate for Valentine's Day?