More (My 2015 Resolutions)

This year I am going to keep all of my New Year's resolutions.

Okay, so maybe that's a tad bit unrealistic.

But I am going to share them here. And I am going to post updates periodically. And I am going to do my best to do as many of them as possible.

And, because I couldn't figure out how to organize them, here they are in alphabetical order.

Blog more.
Considering I haven't blogged in five months, I figure this one should be easy. We'll see though! I just need to remember that this is my space, and my blog isn't going to be the same as anyone else's.

Cook more.
We eat out way too often. And we eat way too many frozen pizzas and other prepared, packaged foods. This year I want to cook whole-some, healthy meals. (And some not so healthy meals too.) Instead of just spending all my time pinning delicious looking recipes on Pinterest I want to actually take them time to make some of those delicious looking recipes.

Do more.
I love reading, and I love snuggling with J and Daisy on the couch watching TV, but I don't want that to be all we do. I want to try new things and go new places. I want to learn to crochet and I want to go see concerts and I want to go for walks at the park.

Move more.
I need to get off my butt. I want to not be winded walking up a flight of stairs. I want to take Daisy for a run, not have to hold her back when she wants to go faster. I want to feel better in my clothes and in my skin.

Pray more.
I'm really great and praying to ask God for things, but I forget to say thank you and to praise Him even when things aren't going exactly the way I want them too. I need to start spending more time in the Word too.

Wife more.
Okay, so that's not really a thing. But I want to be a better wife to my husband. I want to do more things with him and for him. I want our time together to be quality time, and I want to do the things that he likes to do. I want to put down my phone and talk to him more often. And it's sad that I have to make that a resolution. But I do, and it's one of the most important resolutions on this list.

Happy New Year!

Return of the Blogger (And an Introduction)

My desire to return to blogging was prompted by a couple different things. One was a Christmas present from an old friend. When it comes to my writing she's always been my biggest fan. (And she's one of the few people I know "in real life" who ever read this blog.) She gave me a book of writing prompts for Christmas, for when writer's block hits. She lives in South Korea currently but I was lucky enough to get to spend the day with her and her son on Friday. We talked about blogging a little bit, and while I still think she should start her own blog, the discussion made me realize I miss this.

A Thirty-One Day Blog Challenge graphic popped up in my news feed on Pinterest recently as well and it seemed like a good way to start getting back in to the habit of blogging. I'm a few days late, and I'm not sure I'll use all the prompts, but it's nice to have lots of options.

I am going to use the day 1 prompt today, even though it's already the fifth of January, and give you a quick introduction.

I'm Sara and I'm 32-years-old. I've been married for about five and half years to an amazing guy. (Jonathan, or J here.) We live just outside Halifax, Nova Scotia with our two furbabies. We have a beagle named Daisy and a beautiful cat named Sydney. They were both adopted from the SPCA and the expression "who rescued who?" is very fitting in my case. I work as a department manager at a grocery store. I'm in charge of the cashiers and customer service staff and I'm one of those rare breed of people who actually really enjoy what I do. (Not every day, but most of them.) I'm an avid reader, and my favourite way to spend my down time is curled up on the couch with a book or watching Netflix with my husband.

The Other Side of Blogging

One of the things I struggle with in the blogosphere is comparing myself to other bloggers. I find that sometimes I get into a bit of a 'funk' (for lack of a better word) and start comparing my life to the lives of the bloggers I read about.

There are people taking exciting vacations, people getting married or engaged, people having babies... Plus everyone seems to take beautiful pictures with beautiful cameras of beautiful places (including beautiful homes) wearing beautiful clothes.

I can't afford an exciting vacation, I'm already married and can't even really be considered a "newly wed" any more, and the fact that I don't currently have children will be a topic for another time. I am not at all fashionable, and the clothing I do like looks out of place on my figure. And even if that wasn't the case, there's still the cost factor.

But I realized two things this weekend...

One, not everything on the internet is true. Not that I think bloggers are lying about their lifestyles, but I do think a lot of bloggers focus and post about the good stuff. (And that's not necessarily a bad thing.) All of my weekend updates have been about fun adventures that I've had with J, but we didn't do anything this weekend so I probably won't bother posting a weekend update. So to the casual observer it looks like my weekends are all day trips to the Atlantic when the truth is most of my weekends are spent quietly at home curled up on the couch watching Netflix. (Although we did try out a great new restaurant this weekend...)

Two, I still love being part of the blogosphere. Yes, sometimes it may make me feel slightly inadequate, but it also challenges me. It challenges me to write better, and to come up with creative ideas for posts. It gets me off my butt - I want to do things so I have stuff to blog about. I want to go places, I want to try out new recipes, and I want to take lots of pictures. (Even if I am just using my little Sony Cybershot!)

Happy blogging!

Getting Messy

Way back in the day I did all my own layouts for my blogs -- graphics and HTML.

When I got back into blogging I thought designing my own layouts for blogger would be a snap.

I was sadly mistaken. And the whole graphic design thing (and I use the term "graphic design" loosely because... well, just because I am not talented or educated in that department) is not at all like riding a bike. I've played around some, but then I get frustrated and I give up.

Then I go on the hunt for free pre-made templates that I like. And for a while I'm happy. But it's not mine. Does that even make any sense?

I decided I would save up all my pennies (well, nickels I guess, we don't have pennies in Canada anymore...) and splurge on a custom design. But then I started worrying that I'd pay $50 to $100 for something and end up tired of it in a month. Or that it still wouldn't feel like mine.

So, long story short, I've decided to try my hand at designing something myself again. Things might look a little wonky around here for the next day or so. But please don't let that scare you away!

EDIT: I think I'm done! Please let me know if you see anything that looks wonky. :-)

xo,
Sara

Outfit of the Day. Err, week?

This my friends, is why I am not a fashion blogger. And why you will not see "outfit of the day" posts here. This is me, five days a week. As far as uniforms go, it's not too bad. (Although black pants + a cat and a dog are a bit of a nightmare.) And sometimes, I actually like wearing a uniform.

There are lots of pros to wearing a uniform: when I get up in the morning I already know what I'm going to wear, I spend less money on clothing (J would say that's debatable!) and I don't ruin any of my own clothes at work. My company provides everything except my shoes, which is pretty great.

Truthfully, the uniform isn't the only reason I'm not a fashion blogger. I'm not fashion savy - at all. And as much as I love to shop, I have a hard time finding things I like in my size and in my price range. I have a bad habit of buying things and wearing them once or twice, either because the quality isn't there or because I changed my mind about actually liking the way I look in it. I'm trying to work on this, I'm trying to only buy things I really love and know that I'll wear. And I'm going to try and build up some "staple" items. Maybe some day you'll even see some real "OOTD" posts here. :-)

Happy Friday!

xo,
Sara

Imagine Whirled Peas

The first mark I made on the internet was geocities site I built back in grade ten as part of a project for my technology class. Gradually the site morphed into a Backstreet Boys fansite (I was so cool in high school!) and then morphed again into a personal site that included a blog. I was decent enough at HTML and created some layouts that I thought were pretty snazzy.

Eventually I decided that I would like to purchase my own domain. A friend and I decided to go splits on a domain that would house both of our personal sites. I'm not entirely sure where the name came from, but we decided on whirled-peas.org. (I told you I was cool in high school...) She didn't end up keeping her site for very long, but I did. I met some awesome people - I even hosted Melanie's site for a bit. Most of the people I met back then are no longer blogging. Or if they are, I can't find them. I'm really excited that another one of my old blogger friends is looking at making a come-back. (Yup, that's you Sid!)



It's a sign! This is my Jones Soda cap from last
Wednesday,  the same day I started this blog!

I had whirled-peas.org for years, I used it as a personal site/blog for a while that I got another domain name for that and used whirled-peas for fanlistings. (Does anyone else remember fanlistings? I was super into them for a while!) I also had a fansite for Ryan Malcolm... (I really was cool, I swear.) As I finished school and got married blogging sort of faded away. I've brought my blog back a couple times over the past few years. (Melanie was kind enough to host me during one of those revivals) but I never stuck with it.


I feel like blogging has changed a bit since I first got involved. Now there are link-ups and give-aways and "blates" and conferences and people with thousands of followers. Everyone seems to have a theme or a niche. I haven't totally decided where I belong yet, but I'm working on it. And I'm not going to give up this time. Once upon a time blogging gave me a lot of joy, and it's really nice to do something for myself. I'm not looking for thousands (or even hundreds) of followers, and I'm not looking to make money. I want to meet people, I want to learn things, and I want to have fun.

I'm glad you stumbled across my new blog. Feel free to come back. :-)

xo,
Sara

Welcome!

Hi, welcome to the newest version of my blog.

I've been a blogger off and on (more off lately!) since I was in high school. I always start out strong and then things fizzle off. I've been doing a lot of thinking about it lately though, and I figure it's time to give it another go.

Who am I? I read a lot, I'm trying to teach myself to cook, and I'm about to join Weight Watchers. (Not for the first time...) My husband, Jonathan, and I are trying to have a baby and trying to renovate our house. I work as a Front End manager for a grocery store chain and I actually love my job. We have a beagle named Daisy, and a beautiful cat named Sydney both of whom we adopted from the SPCA.

I still don't know exactly what you'll find here... But I'm excited to get things rolling!

xo,
Sara