A little shopping + minimalism fail:
Saturday my mom and I ran some errands; I had to deal with a couple of returns, stopped at a couple of stores, and got my van washed! I also ran across these cute Adidas hats:
I really like wearing hats- especially when we travel, but also sometimes to the gym, or in warmer weather for out walking…. or just any time, really. I am kinda into the whole “athleisure” thing- I like to wear my black Lulu leggings or joggers, sneakers, a cute hoodie, maybe a vest and a hat…. sort of fits my casual, athletic style and personality.
I have a white hat that I love and wear to death, but felt I could use a hat with some color.
The maroon and salmon-colored ones initially caught my eye. (The lighting is bad in this photo- the middle one looks orange here but it’s really a nice, warm, salmon color.) I LOVE “warm” colors on me. I don’t look great in like blues, greys, etc really with my skin tone. Give me anything maroon, mauve, forest green, orange, salmon, etc.
I tried these all on and loved them all. You see, the salmon-colored one coordinates/ contrasts nicely with maroon (which is a color I wear a lot.) The maroon one… well, that’s probably my fav color. And then the green one had me envisioning myself wearing it out on a hiking trail on one of our family vacations… I just could not decide! My shopping partner in crime was my mother, who is like, the worst person to have along, because she is the farthest from a minimalist you can probably get. 😅 “Just buy them all!”, she said.
OK, fine. LOL!
I immediately texted Elisabeth, who has an amazing minimalistic wardrobe and is a thrifter and is SUPER good at decluttering and living with one single pair of sneakers while still looking super cute and put together, and confessed my sin. hahaha. I think she forgave me, but also suggested maybe I then try to get rid of 3 other hats in their place. Great idea! I do have some old ones that go mostly unworn that I don’t truly love. 😀
Workouts:
I lifted both Saturday and Sunday at the gym with Ethan. He’s been a little spotty with gym attendance and wants a more structured schedule to follow. He may try the program I’m doing! He did both an Upper and Lower workout with me this weekend and seemed to enjoy them.
We did some assisted pull-ups:
We also took aerial shots of our push-ups to check for 45 degree arm angles:
We were both “pretty good”, I’d say. The narrower the arm angle, the harder! It’s tempting to flare the elbows out sideways (more like 90 degrees), but that’s a no-no. You want 45 degrees or less from the body.
Sunday was leg day:
Charlie got an upgraded crib and he failed a test:
His crate was getting too small for him! I noticed last week that he couldn’t sit all the way up anymore without having to duck his head. Yikes! I immediately got a new one, 2 sizes up. He now has plenty of space.
He also recently failed the doggy test of “can I stay out in the house while my owners are away”. He’s been really, really good generally lately about just hanging out, looking out the window, not chewing on things really, etc. So I *thought* maybe he was getting closer to being ready to be left out for short stretches, but confined to the sunroom (his favorite room) and the kitchen. (NOT free rein of the entire house.)
So one late afternoon when I was working and Asher was home (but playing video games in his room), we decided to sort of trial it. (Well, in fairness, I thought Asher was paying closer attention to him, but I guess he was not…hmph.) When I went upstairs almost an hour later, Charlie had chewed a lamp cord completely to pieces!!! OMG. I almost died. THANK GOD the switch was off, but he did a real number on it. Freaked me out so bad.
I told him, “Charlie, you just got a big, fat F on the test. I guess it’s still the crate for you!” 😩
It’s weird, too, because he has really never shown any interest in cords or chewing on furniture, etc. I mean yeah, he’ll go for a sock, but he doesn’t really just chew stuff up too badly. And when we’re around upstairs, we don’t have to watch him too closely anymore- he just hangs around and is generally fine. But I guess this was just too much freedom!! He couldn’t resist the pole lamp cord. lol.
Bummer, as it would make going places a lot easier if he could just be out alone sometimes. Totally not opposed to the crate, but it’s boring for long stretches if he’s not tired or wanting to nap. He really likes to look out the window! Maybe I should set the crate up by the sunroom window? Hmm. That’s an idea.
I went to Asher’s swim meet on Sunday:
My mom came along and it was nice! Asher had a pretty heavy load- the 200 yard butterfly (so that’s 8 lengths of the pool…. omg, that’s a lot of butterfly), then the 100 breast, 100 back and 200 IM.
I caught this cool pic of his backstroke start:
No way could I bend my back like that!
Charlie got his first bath at home
In more doggie news, we gave him a bath last night. This was actually our first time! He’s been to the groomer often enough (and they bathe him there) that we just hadn’t needed to at home so far. But with the mild temps, most of the snow has melted and the ground is just wet and muddy and mucky… he manages to get into anything gross and I just felt he needed a refresh!
Here he is the next morning, nice and fresh, and at the vet.
We switched to a new vet and I’m VERY happy with the change so far. It’s like 1 minute from our house, and the veterinarian is the mom of one of Ethan’s soccer friends. So we already knew her and she’s super nice. (And I totally trust her.)
Next up… his neutering appt. Probably going to happen sometime in the next month or two. Let’s see if he still gets so excited by the vet’s office after that. lol.
That’s all for now! Hope your week is off to a good start.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for falling asleep at 8 p.m. last night. This is SO RARE for me but I’ve just felt kind of exhausted lately. Charlie was suddenly waking up in the night last week several days in a row, out of the blue, and I had many, many days of broken sleep + early mornings. I just feel generally a little run down. I was laying on my bed while Ivan went to pick up Asher from swim practice at 8:10 p.m. and I guess I fell asleep! (I did end up waking up at midnight and being awake then for a while, but still. It felt luxurious to just drift off to sleep at 8:00.)
GRATEFUL KAE 
Every day our puppy finds new stuff to get into…and she’s only lived here for 10 days so just think how much more stuff she has to find. I’m trying to figure out when dogs transition from having to be kept away from everything from being able to have full reign of the house. Our previous dog was two when we got her and we never created her so…it’s got to be less than another year and a half for both of us lol.
Yes I don’t know if I will ever do a pull up in my life but I’m trying!
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The big question for me is how do you know when you can REALLY trust them?!? I mean, all it takes is one time for them to do something “untrustworthy”. You know? Like maybe Charlie never pays attention to lamp cords, but the ONE TIME he does, could be catastrophic….
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Charlie is just beyond cure! Look at that fluffy hairdo. And those eyes. *Swoon*
You know I love the hats and I think three in-three out is a great plan 🙂
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Thanks for the tip! And the support! lol! 😉
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Oh, poor Charlie. He failed his first test. LOL. It’s so great that you are developing a good relationship with a vet. It can be hard to find a good one and they’re so invaluable.
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Yes! We started out at one place and I just wasn’t feeling it. Couldn’t exactly put my finger on it but I didn’t like the vibe. This new place feels more like a “family” feel. And of course it helps that we know the vet personally!
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I’d definitely tell you to buy all those that you like. I buy same style of short bra shirts for workout just different colors as I use them everyday. Not minimal at all. But I don’t buy many clothing items in general. You made me laugh with the F, Hahahah so cute.
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I can definitely see the sense in buying multiple workout shirts or sport bras in the same color!! I want to do a clean out of my workout clothes too. I have lots that are just okay. I’d like to just keep my favorites and then maybe buy a few more that I really love.
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I love that you can workout with Ethan already. I hope I can do that with my girls one day. Fortunately I get to workout in the gym with my husband few times a week too. He with his trainer and I do my own thing.
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I do your hat trick (ha!) with running shoes! If I find one I like I buy a few of them. It makes total sense if it is a style you like that fits well and looks good and especially if it is on sale! But I do like E’s idea of one in, one out, so that you are not totally ending up with a pile of stuff. My issue with hats, since I wear them a lot for running and get smelly, is that they don’t hold up well in the washing machine, so I bring them in the shower with me, but they still end up getting kind of misshapen after a while. So I guess that just supports your buying three at a time!
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That is an issue with hats!! These Adidas ones aren’t exactly the “sporty” ones, like that mesh material. I do have a couple of those which are great for the beach, super hot weather, etc. I feel like these I will wear more as a fashion piece- like out running errands, etc. But I didn’t own any like that before, so, yay! Now I do 🙂
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Awww Charlie! Too much responsibility to handle! I love the hats and think Elisabeth’s idea to swap them with three old hats is brilliant.
200 yard butterfly! Wow! That sounds impossible!
Love the photos of your pushups. I really struggle to get my arms in the correct position, so this is quite helpful!
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Yes, I need to be better about the in/out rule in general. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been like, Oh, I guess I need to buy more hangers. No, you need to get rid of stuff when you buy something new!!!
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I wish I had multiple pairs of the Brooks brand running hat that I have! So if you find something you like and you know you will use it a lot, it makes sense to buy it in multiple colors. I actually do that quite a bit with dresses.
Charlie looks so cute and poofy in the post-bath photo! Have you read “The Art of Racing in the Rain”? There is a scene in that book that I always think of when a dog does something naughty. In the book the dog totally destroys a stuffed animal but then he feels absolutely TERRIBLE about losing his control and destroying something!
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Hahaha, no, I haven’t read that!! That sounds cute and sweet. 🙂 I can tell Charlie does sometimes know when he shouldn’t be doing certain things, but it’s like he just….can’t…. resist….. lol!
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Hee hee.. I like the photos of Charlie all wet, and then dry and fluffy again. Yes, put his crate near the window! Then he won’t be bored.
I went through a phase of extreme minimalism, and ended up regretting some of the things I didn’t get… so I fully approve of getting all three hats! I mean, you’ll use them. If you never wore hats, then no- but I bet you’ll wear and enjoy all three.
Ha, pull ups… I’ve given up. Well first of all I gave up on doing an unassisted pull up long ago, but then you may or may not remember the last time I was working with my pull up bar I hurt my arm. So now I’ve sworn them off and am just sticking to the machines in the gym (but I can picture myself getting out the pullup bar in a year saying “how come I never use this anymore?” and starting all over again.)
I think most swimmers say butterfly is HARD. So Asher really did have an incredibly hard program- good for him!
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Yeah, I don’t really care that much about the pull up thing I guess. I mean, I feel like doing the assisted ones work my arms and back really well, so, mission accomplished. Yes, I would feel bad ass busting out real pull ups, but I am kind of a noodley armed person to start with. hehe. I just don’t know that my genetic makeup and body type lend itself that well to pull ups. And, my legs are proportionally longer than the rest of me. So, I feel this makes pullups harder! Because I’m like, bottom heavy? No? Maybe I just made that up to make myself feel better. 😉
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I love the colors of the Adidas baseball caps… they’re different! I don’t wear hats enough to justify such a purchase, but I can see how you were tempted.
So sorry that Charlie chewed through the cords! Dang. I guess he’s not ready to be left alone in the sun room quite yet… but putting the crate closer to the window is probably a good compromise for now.
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