Some Favorites on a Friday

Forgive me, my loves. It has been a whole month again. I have such valid excuses, really! Softball, a wedding, work has been insane, and I'm taking a management course for work. I love school, and have a true "teacher's pet" streak going, so I am loving this course, even if the material is rather dry. I have skipped more boot camps than I've attended, and my eating has gotten crazy again. Which has led me to more soul-searching, because nobody is better equipped to analyze my crazy than my own crazy brain, right? I'll address this briefly a little later, as it pertains to one of my favorites, and further over the next month.

It's been awhile since I wrote a good list. Let's go over some of my favorite things from the last few months:

1. Emily McDowell The most excellent cards and gifts. I've posted pictures of my favorite work mug on Instagram, but I've also bought the best cards here. They just say such fantastic things. If you follow her on Instagram, you often get lovely discounts. Who doesn't love discounts?

2. J.P. Sears and his hilarious YouTube videos, Ultra Spiritual Life. As a person who actually loves to look at yoga Instagram pictures, this video is my favorite:

He also does serious, life-coaching-like videos, but who wants serious?

3.  Instagram. Yeah, I'm late to the party. I don't care, I really love it. At times inspiring, amusing, and friendly, I feel comfortable there. Unlike Twitter. Dumb Twitter. I got an account to follow my sweet pumpkin, Jenny Lawson, but it's like a crowded room in there, and I have trouble keeping my head above the fray. So I stay out. Stick to the Instagram.

4.  Essencha Tea House, and their Valerian Dream tea. It is the only way I get to sleep early enough on Sunday nights to get to 5AM boot camp on Monday mornings. It smells like butt, but it tastes fine, and helps me calm my brain. No easy feat, that.

5.  New blog I'm following: fANNEtastic Food. She is a registered dietitian specializing in whole foods and intuitive eating, and she has some excellent recipes. She and two other RD bloggers I follow, Avocado a Day and Delish Knowledge are running a course on Intuitive Eating, and I have signed up for the course - happy early birthday to me! I have been intrigued by the concept of intuitive eating for some time, mainly because I have problems with binging, and I lost touch with my hunger cues years and years ago. The Whole30 was definitely effective for me in February, but it was so restrictive, and as soon as the 30 days were up, I binged like I would never see ice cream again. Maybe taking away choices isn't the answer, but understanding my body better is (there was also the whole "beans and whole grains are unhealthy" bit that really irritated the logical side of me.) The course is called Joyful Eating, Nourished Life, and I am excited to get started, for three reasons: I am interested in intuitive eating and learning about it and my own body, I'm a big nerd and I enjoy taking classes, and I am more and more convinced that health and wellness is the field I should go into (yeah, I'm 40, obese, and thinking I want to go into the health and wellness field, so what of it? Others have faced bigger challenges...), and this is a step in the right direction. I will keep you all up to date.

So there are some favorites for right now. I am playing in a charity kickball tournament tomorrow, and I am way more excited than I should be. I'm already on the team, guys, so I won't be picked last. And I always liked kickball. And, you know, it's for a good cause.

Night!