Weekend Rambles & a Giveaway!

Greetings!!

Happy Valentines Day friend! It seems like I've either always hated Valentine's Day or I really loved it of course depending on if I was in a relationship or not. After a while though, I became indifferent because I generally had to be at work anyway. I think everybody goes up and down depending on how their valentines day goes and who they're with at the time. How has yours been over the years? 

I can honestly say that I am truly enjoying  today. It oddly enough started out at the  laundromat. I simply had to wash my comforters today. A few months back I tried washing one of my comforters in my stackable, but that didn't turn out so well. I saw that during the spin cycle, part of the comforter hadn't touch the water at all! Some parts were clean and some weren't and that wasn't going to work!

Now it's time to run back out of the house and enjoy some movie theater action! Before I leave you though, I thought I would mention that I'm having a freakin giveaway!!!! I thought it would be something lovely to do to spread some good vibes out into the world..

If you've been following me on Instagram, then you know I've been sharing peek a boo pictures of what I'm about to roll out. Im still keeping it a secret for now, but come on back Monday 2.16.2015 to see what I'm giving away and to enter to win this raffle giveaway!!

Alright peeps, I'm off to see 50 Shades Of Grey.  The book was awesome and I hope the movie is just as good!

Ciao!

Bits of Sparkle

A. Sparkle Says...

I know it's a few days early, but I wanted to show you some love today for Valentines Day! You have a bright sparkly light that the world deserves to see. Don't let anyone take that away from you! Go forth and dazzle them baby!! 

Have an awesome day Sparkle Peeps!

Ciao!

Standing in Line at the Trendy Spot

Greetings!

I hope you've had a fabulous weekend so far! I feel like this is the first weekend we've had here in Atlanta that was sunny and somewhat warm. I'm so looking forward to Spring and Spring fashion that will accompany it. :)

Earlier this week, I was posting to the weekly weeks linkup that The Nectar Collective has and ran across Muriel who has a blog called Pies & Travel.  (I've found that I really like her blog, so you should check it out by clicking here) She's in Atlanta just like me and mentioned going to The Shake Shack and had a picture of a glorious meal! I was like, 'Hmm.. Shake Shack you say? Where is such a place??' Of course I Googled.

If you've been reading my blog for a good length of time now then you know I'm all about trying new food places! Since The Boo and I were out and about anyway, we figured why not give it a shot? So we drive to downtown Atlanta and happily find a spot in the parking garage that has a sign that says, 'Welcome to blah blah parking garage. We are happy to tell you that we're giving you a complimentary 30 mins free to park in our swell garage." I may have taken some creative liberties in writing that, but hey! you get the gist...


So I'm all ready to nom nom on a delicious grass fed burger and cheesy fries when (cue the horror music) there is a line...  Not just any line.. A big line that goes down the street. Said line is also in the shade with no sun to speak of and I have no protection against the hawk (i.e the high winds).  Soooooooo, no yummy trendy goodness for me. It's a good thing we had that gifted 30 mins from the parking garage, right?


I swear it took about 30 mins to just get out of the parking garage, but we did escape for free. :) All was not lost though, for I finally got a tripod for my awesome sauce camera and we did end up trying a restaurant we hadn't been to before. More on that in another blog post!

What did you do with yourself this weekend? Tell me about the exciting and mundane activities you got yourself into. :)

Ciao!

New Food, Designing, & Paleo Oh My!

Greetings Sparkle Peeps!

Its that time again for weekly wishes/monthly goals! Did you set any goals for last week/month? If so, how did they go? Are you just joining me? Let me explain what happens for Weekly Wishes..

The Happenings: You share your weekly, monthly, or yearly goals/wishes/achievements and you get to be a part of this big group of people that are doing the same thing. Yay! Wanna join in? Check out The Nectar Collective and add a link to your blog!

It’s that time again for monthly wishes! Last month I was really super burned out from blogging and from being on social media, so I made the decision to practice a little self-preservation and take a month long break. It was crazy beneficial for me. I was able really think about what direction I wanted to take with this blog, write a couple of stashed away blog posts, and think about really re-designing my space here. Plus it allowed me to just have some downtime and be in my own head for a while. It's a good thing I tell ya! Let’s get to some goal sharing, yeah?

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• Try New Foods ~ For the life of me and I can’t figure out why, but I’m really obsessed with trying Brussel sprouts right now. I’ve never had them before, they look like they would taste good. I’ve gotten either rave reviews or really horrible reviews, so it looks like the wind could blow either way. Lol. From what I understand, roasting them is the only way to go otherwise they are slimy. Me and slimy don’t mix, so I’ll be roasting them puppies! Besides that I want to try my hand at other new foods too, specifically more veggies. Me and veggies haven't been the best of friends over the years, however I think we've stopping giving each other the fish-eye long enough to interact with one another. Wish me luck in my foodie adventures!

• Designing New Site ~ For a long time now, I've been wanting a more polished look for my home away from home (i.e. this blog) and I think I've finally found suitable living arrangements! I'm choosing new fonts, colors, pages that I'd like to have, and more. It's been quite fun actually. I'm hoping to have it all done before the end of this month. #excitingstuff

• Hello Paleo ~ I was talking to one of my besties the other day and we were talking about the ever struggle that is food when she suggested that I look into going Paleo. I've of course heard of it, but never really researched it. No disrespect here, but I kinda just just lumped it together with vegetarians and vegans figuring that there's nothing you can eat! I love meat and foods made from animals far too much to ever give them up, but I can get down with eliminating a few carbs, gluten, and the like. Seeing as I eat whatever I want at the moment, going Paleo still seems restrictive, but it doesn't seem unbearable. I pretty much want to be healthier, feel better, and still have some yummy food to eat. So this month, I wanna see what I'd be getting myself into and giving it a small go. Have you gone to a Paleo lifestyle? Do you like it??

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I'm feeling pretty good about all of goals for this month and I'm excited to attack all of them. What are your goals for this month? Did you accomplish the one's you set last month? Tell me all about it!

Ciao!

30 Days to a New You!

Greetings friends!

We've made it to February and I'm still excited about doing new lifestyle changes for this year! I am determined to get back on track by taking better care of myself and one way I'm doing that is by getting my meditation on. Yes, I'm talking about sitting in a cross-legged position holding my pointer finger and thumb together and chanting 'OMMMMMM’. The effects really are glorious!

Although I tend not to show it so much in public, I carry a lot of anxiety and it hits the hardest when I’m around high strung people for long periods of time. Mediation is a great way for me to come back to center and feel balanced again. I feel more alert and calm when I meditate on a consistent basis. So what do you do when you need practice? Duh! You join a 30 day meditation challenge!

Sometime last year I happened upon a 30 day yoga challenge through DoYouYoga.com. It's a totally awesome website where you can find out everything under the sun about yoga and meditation. A major rabbit hole is what it really is, because if I read one post then I end up reading at least 5 more!

Here are a few benefits of meditation:

Reduces Stress 

Encourages a Healthier Lifestyle 

Slows Down Aging (woo hoo!) 

Improves Concentration & Clarity  

You Become More Self Aware

Reduces Pain Brought on by Tension  


What's there not to love about everything on that list? And all I did was list a few! I implore you to do something good for yourself today..... I dunno, with maybe meditating! :) So will you be brave enough to join the challenge with me?? I think you should. Just click here to sign up! 

Ciao! 

Taking a Break

Greetings friends!

I'm writing to say that I'm going to take a little mini vacation from blogging for the month of January. Everyone needs a little down time every now and then, right?

I'll be back bright eyed and bushy tailed for the first of February! In the meantime I hope you are well, have plenty of smiles and fun food adventures!

Ciao! 

New Things For a New Year!

Greetings Friends!

Its that time again for weekly wishes/monthly goals! Did you set any goals for last week/month? If so, how did they go? Are you just joining me? Let me explain what happens for Weekly Wishes..

The Happenings: You share your weekly, monthly, or yearly goals/wishes/achievements and you get to be a part of this big group of people that are doing the same thing. Yay! Wanna join in? Check out The Nectar Collective and add a link to your blog!

 I'm so glad that you've decided to join me today! In my mind for the past couple of days I've been thinking and planning for the new year. I must say that I'm pretty excited about what I want to get accomplished! Oddly enough, I used to hate setting "New Year's resolutions and I thought they were a waste of time, because no one ever got them done... Now though, I do it because well... I like it and it makes me feel good to have something to complete and work towards! Plus starting a new year just feels so fresh and new like the previous year's misgivings are forgotten and replaced with shiny new hope!! :) What's your shiny new hope look like? Here's mine:
 

Goals for 2015 by ptyfashvic featuring word wall art

1. I know it's on most people's list every year, but for really real I want to start loving myself more and fighting for my well-being. That means, exercising most days, cooking more at home, and doing things that make me feel pretty and good about myself. It's so easy to not take care of your needs and just let them fall by the wayside because it's feels selfish or like you're not worthy, but I don't want to do that anymore! So I'm planning on kicking ass on this one in 2015!!

2. These days, everyone has some debt big or small and I am no different. I'm going to muster up all the courage I have and actually look at my credit report to see what the damage is. Then just start knocking things out one by one. I've heard that the newer stuff is what hurts your credit more so than the old, so I'm thinking I'll start there. 


3. Let me tell you that living in a one bedroom place is the quickest way to feel like the world's biggest clutter monkey! Forget to put a few things back and BOOM your home looks a mess. (insert sad trombone sound here) And so I figure it's time to get rid of a few things I just don't need or have completely forgotten about!  

4. I like doing all these tools that apparently help you relax and kill anxiety, like journaling, meditating, doing yoga. Yet I seldom take the time to do them. So I'm committing now to start doing them when the urge hits instead of dismissing them.

5. I am an introverted extrovert. Sounds crazy, right? I LOVE and crave having time to myself, but then I also need to be around people to have conversations and be social. I will be honest and say that I never attempt to start conversations with people that I don't know. It's just not in my DNA. You ever seen that chick standing off to the side just watching everything going on in the room without actually interacting with people? That's me. Instead of shying away from conversation, I want to start stepping into it and just go with the flow. No lie... I had three people just yesterday randomly talk to me. It felt weird, but good to just go along with the flow of convo. What's the worst that could happen?



So this is the snack size version of the things I want to work on this year. I'm feeling pretty motivated and pumped to get things started and see where they take me this year. I hope you've had a delightful day with many bright things to come for the next 364 days remaining. 

Happy New Year!!!!!