…and Blue Sky

Happy Friday, everyone!

1. I kiiiiiinda binge watched all 10 hours of Making a Murderer in one night. And weirdly enough, I did so on the exact day that there was a big development in the case (don’t want to spoil anything) without knowing that was happening!

2. Just bought two new buttons. Love em.

 

3. Okay, this is totally more of a question than a favorite, but oh well!

The notebook on the left is the one I’ve been using as my bullet journal most recently. I’ve ONLY been able to find this brand/type at K-Mart of all places. I only have a few pages left, so I ordered the one on the right on Amazon (it’s this one – I mostly picked it because it was the right general size and $4 w/ free prime shipping), but it just doesn’t *feel* right.  For those of you who do bullet journaling, do you have any suggestions that’s similar in size to the left one? (8.8″ by 6.5″) Or should I just head to K-Mart and stock up since I know I like them?? Not pictured, but it has handy folders int he front, and a little divider that I can use to divide my daily pages from my section of lists.

4. So… I tried out a float tank this week. It was super cool and super weird. I’ve got a post about the experience almost finished, but if you have any questions, leave ’em in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer them in my post!

5. My mom has been pretty depressed about being in a nursing home for the past 6 weeks while she recovers from illness (she still needs 24 hr care for now), so we started taking goofy selfies on SnapChat to cheer her up. They were too good not to share with the world, so she now has an Instagram!

Go follow her – it will make her day! (She asks me how many followers she has on a daily basis.)

And don’t miss the new giveaway I have going on!

 

Friday linkup time!

Happy Friday, everyone! Let’s talk Favorite Things this week!

1. I didn’t have time to do a Friday Favs post last week, so we’re opening today’s post with this GIF from the opening of the DNC:

 

2. I spotted these at WalMart earlier this week, and got super excited:

 

A photo posted by Crystal Ward (@crystalward11) on Jul 31, 2016 at 2:16pm PDT

I loooooove this style of pen, especially for my bullet journal, but they’re usually pretty expensive. (A 12-pack of the regular colors is $12!) I’ve already nerded out writing my daily to-do lists in all kinds of summery colors!

3. I tried this dress on at Target way back in February, but just didn’t have the spare $ at the time…

I am terrible at dressing room pics.

But I found it new with tags at Goodwill this week! Pro tip: Did you know that Goodwill gets Target’s clearance stuff after a while? They must have just gotten a shipment the day I was there – TONS of Merona and Mossimo stuff with tags still on, but way cheaper than clearance ever was. (My dress was originally $23, I paid $6!)

4. Stopped n Bath & Body Works this week to use some coupons, and ended up finding my absolute favorite new hand sanitizers!

 
5. A publisher that I’ve worked with for reviews/giveaways before sent me some of their newest books, including this awesome dot-to-dot book for adults:

 
I didn’t expect to be that into it, but uh, I’ve already done 14 of them in like 3 days. SO ADDICTING! And yes, I get to do a giveaway soon where this book is one of the prize options – yay! I seriously might have to buy a bunch more ASAP, though, because I’m in love.

I slept for SIXTEEN HOURS yesterday (I think I was on the verge of getting sick, so my body just took a day off instead?), so I’ll be working like crazy today to try to make up for it! My current goal is to move back to FL by the end of September, so I need to stay focused if I want to have the $ needed to do it! (Or, you know, win the lottery. I’m totally open to that option, too!)

Linking up for Friday awesomeness with these rad ladies:

 

1. My air conditioner is fixed! I was AC-less for 3 entire weeks after getting back from Florida! I’m usually alwys cold, so I don’t use it much even in summer, but a wave of 90+ degree days with no air was AWFUL!

2. Current Meal Obsession:

Do you ever go through one of those phases where you eat the same thing pretty much every single day? My current thing is Morning Star Farms Black Bean Burger + cheese + fancy bun + pickles + Silver Dollar City Sweet Hickory BBQ sauce. It’s a magical combination of goodness that gives me life. Typing this out made me realize I should probably upgrade the cheese I’m using (store brand cheese food product slices – heh) since everything else is all fancy.

3. Okay, yes, I’m posting two favs about food – This is why you shouldn’t blog while hungry! – But I’ve developed a pretty serious addiction to Triple Double Oreos. 

Do I want chocolate cream? Or regular? BOTH! And they hold up especially well for dunking. I don’t even want to think about how many packages of these I’ve gone through lately.

Speaking of… has anyone tried the cookie dough kind yet? Contemplating these as my next purchase!

4. TWO of my amigos have just announced that they have books coming out! I’m super excited to read both, even though they make me feel like a failure for not writing a book yet.

 

Time Spent Falling is a book of poetry by my velvety voiced, amazing haired friend Nick Holmes. He’s an amazing photographer and has a beautiful way with words, so I can’t wait to dive into this book of his poetry. Oh, he was also on Gilmore Girls.

They Can’t Kill Us All – The Story of #blacklivesmatter is by Wesley Lowery, one of my favorite people to ever be arrested in a McDonalds. I got to know him via Twitter when he was covering Ferguson two years ago, and would probably totally hate him for already having a Pulitzer and a book and countless incredible Washington Post articles while still in his mid-20s, but alas, Wes is pretty rad and a crazy hard worker.

5. I just stumbled across this video from over a year ago. If you follow me on Twitter, you know I watch All In with Chrs Hayes (aka bae) every freaking night. I totally remembered when this originally aired – it was the first time I heard about a brand new off-Broadway show called Hamilton. I dunno guys, I think it might be big.

 

BTW, if you noticed this in the video?

If you add to this derpy photo of me…

I’m tooooootally 1 degree of separation from being in Hamilton.

 

Linkup time!

I’ve only been Orlando for a week now, and it’s crazy how much has happened in that short span of time! I have so many posts coming up about my travel adventures, I just need a nice chunk of free tie to actually write them!! Until then, here are a few favorites from the past week or so:

1. The way the community has come together after Saturday night’s tragedy. Lines to donate blood stretched on for blocks, so many fundraisers have been organized, there are vivils being held in pretty much every neighborhood (I’m going to one Sunday night), and even billboards popped up along the interstate literally overnight. What happened is unspeakably horrible, but as Mr Rogers said, “look for the helpers”. I’ve seen so much love and desire to help out in any way possible this week.  That’s love.

The #OrlandoEye, lit in #rainbow colors. ???? #OrlandoStrong #Orlanfo

A photo posted by Crystal Ward (@crystalward11) on Jun 15, 2016 at 9:30pm PDT

 

2. If you follow my personal Twitter, you know I have a big ol’ nerd crush on MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. (“Big” is definitely an understatement there.) When I found out he was flying down to Orlando on Monday morning to broadcast live from a location close to Pulse that evening, there was no question that I’d be doing whatever I could to at least go say hi. It’s a good thing I’m determined and stubborn as hell, because making it happen was an endeavor. Every single street was blocked off by police cars, and there were media vans everywhere.

I parked at the ginormous Target since it has a parking garage where I was pretty sure my car would be safe and pulled up walking directions on my phone. I was only about 1/2 mile away from where Chris was going to be filming, but even walking wasn’t possible in a lot of areas due to filming in progress. It took about a mile of walking in 90+ degree FL heat and humidity, drawing upon that ever important skill of walking quickly with purpose and looking like you totally know where you’re going and belong there, but I made it. I didn’t have the best view, but I could actually see him every now and then.

He knew I was there thanks to the wonder and beauty of Twitter, so moments after he finished that night’s show, this happened:

This guy. ???? I think this is his third or fourth time covering unspeakable tragedy in the past year. I don’t know how he does it, not to mention keeping up with the insanity of this election season. Also, he is okay to look at. (I realized that the reason I look so derpy is that I was gazing at the Chris on my phone screen instead of looking at the camera. Good job, me. Way to play it cool.) #inners #orlando #HowDoesHeLookThatDamnGoodInThisHumidity #nerdcrush #news #msnbc @chrislhayes

A photo posted by Crystal Ward (@crystalward11) on Jun 14, 2016 at 8:07am PDT

 

Yes, I know that photo of me could appear next to the term “derp” in a dictionary, but OMG HE IS SO BEAUTIFUL I COULD NOT EVEN. I would have happily chatted with him for the rest of the night about news and politics and his upcoming 2nd book and how he got his eyes to be so freaking blue, but he had another live show to prepare for in just two hours, so after a few minutes of conversation I had to let him go. (I then proceeded to get totally turned around walking back to Target, because my brain had totally stopped functioning.)

Definitely NOT the circumstances under which I would have chosen to finally meet someone I’ve absolutely adored for almost 2 years, but timing is never perfect, and getting to meet him was such a nice break from the overwhelming sadness of that day.

 

3. PUBLIX!

I don’t even want to add up how much I’ve spent at the best grocery store ever since I’ve been back in Florida. That black bean humus was amazeballs. Also addicted to the brownie pudding their deli makes. (I also got the Orlando City soccer shirt I’m wearing in the pic at the top of this post there for $14!)

 

4. The creator of Welcome to Night Vale has a new podcast called Alice Isn’t Dead. I listened to the first 6 episodes on my drive to Florida, and it’s so good! And a lot of the storyline takes place on the road, so it’s perfect for a long drive.

5. Florida rainstorms. It rains almost every day here in the summer, which I’d kind of forgotten. It goes from zero to downpour in like a minute, rains like crazy for about ten minutes, and then stops as abruptly as it started. Then you get that glorious post-rain ozone smell, and everything is just kind of… refreshed. Plus, there’s usually seriously badass lightning involved.

Heading to Disney’s Animal Kingdom tomorrow, which I’m pretty excited for since I haven’t been in like 6 years! I miss my gorillas and Festival of the Lion King and everything else!!

Check out some of the other awesome Friday posts in these link-ups!

Happy Friday! We all survived another week! I say we deserve cookies & wine, don’t you?

Here’s what I’m loving this week!

1. Perfect riding weather! It’s been in the 60s and 70s, so I got two good rides in since last Friday. It’s so nice to be able to get out and ride without freezing or sweating! Hoping to ride as much as possible while it lasts!

This is from yesterday morning. I actually made it out of bed at 7:30 am to get in some riding time with a few barn ladies! Gambit and I are on the left.

2. Okay, I know this is a terrible photo, but I have to share my kind of genius invention with you guys.

I found a pair of black petite, boot cut jeans at a thrift shop last month that I decided would make awesome cut-offs. (Ah, the joy of making shorts – no need to worry about the right length or cut!) After hacking off a good chunk from each pants leg, inspiration struck. What you see above is about 12″ from those jeans, folded n half and slipped over the jeans I was wearing to ride in. It makes the PERFECT phone holder while I ride!! I hate riding with my phone in my pockets – back pocket hits up against the seat of the saddle, front pocket isn’t very secure due to how my legs are bent. I tried putting my phone in a little bag attached to my saddle horn, but getting the phone in and out was super awkward.

My super fancy invention is rad because the slightly stretchy denin fits snugly enough around my thigh that I can just slip my phone in and it won’t go anywhere. And it’s just wide enough that about an inch of my phone sticks out the top, so grabbing it when I want to take a fast pic is easy. Plus, it’s a fairly large target to aim at when I’m ready to put my phone back in, which is helpful because it’s a law of nature that as soon as I pay attention to something like trying to put my phone away, my horse will do something dumb, so I like to be able to do so as fast as possible.

I’m a crafty genius, is basically the point I’m trying to make here.

3. I discovered this week that Dollar General has chocolate covered cashews for $2.35/can, and they’re actually good. I don’t want to question why they’re so cheap, I just want to stuff them all in my face.

4. This is so true.

5. Buzzfeed Yellow on Youtube has been doing Body Positivity Week. LOVE this one!

 

Linking up with these other fans of Fridays!