…and Blue Sky

 

1. A recommendation for one of this guy’s Ted Talks came up in my YouTube feed, and after watching that I fell down a huge rabbit hole of watching all of his stuff. Most videos are about his replies to spam emails and the hilarious exchanges that ensue, but this one about his exchange with a roommate is my favorite so far:

 

2. I’m super weird about paying someone else to do a task I’m capable of doing myself, so learning how to do something new makes me happy. This week, the light bulb for my car’s rear turn signal went out. I stopped by WalMart to look at replacement bulbs and asked how much they’d charge to install one. It’s $5.50, so I almost had them go ahead and do it, but I decided to YouTube it first and I’m glad I did!

It was literally 1) Open Trunk 2) Unscrew a little twisty thing. 3) Twist the piece that holds the bulb to remove it. 4) Pull bulb out and stick new one in. 5) Put everything back into place. It’s totally something you can do in one minute. Um, unless you’re like me and don’t smush the bulb far enough into the socket the first time and you have to figure out how to recover from this:

(I put sticky tack on a pen to get it out. VICTORY.)

Anyway, I highly recommend doing a quick YouTube search before paying someone to do simple repairs! I’ve learned how to replace fuses, windshield wipers, and now bulbs. Sure, it’s only like $6 saved, but even if you do end up paying someone else to do it, it’s nice to know you can do it yourself if you want to.

 

3. I usually choose wet food to review for the #ChewyInfluencer program, but this month the Purina Beyond dry food caught my eye because it had freeze dried chicken pieces in it, and I knew my cats would be allllll over that!

 

 

We got the Wild Turkey & Lentil recipe, and Captain Kitten earned his keep for another month with this adorable tongue out photo. He really is my most talented model. (Yes, he got a new collar and yes, he will have it utterly destroyed within weeks. Again.)

 

As expected, the cats loved it! (Except Tennyson, who will almost NEVER eat dry food. Tiny weirdo.)

It’s made in the USA and the info says the turkey is farm-raised, but I do wonder if that actually means free-range or the usual poultry farm cages. It’s grain-free, and has no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, though, so thumbs up for that!

 

 

4. I found these on clearance at WalMart for 50 cents, and they’re SO GOOD. Finding foods rich in Omega-3’s is hard when you don’t eat fish. Of course, now I’m annoyed that the little packages are gone and all they have available are big $14 tubs of them. Still – yum!

 

5. The infamous “This is not a mailbox” at my local post office made a friend:

 

Hope your weekend is lovely!

 

 

Sure, it’s been a billion degrees for over a month, but now it is officially summer! It’s a season of big changes for me, which has life feeling pretty chaotic at the moment, but I know it’s for the better in the long run. (Sorry to vague blog, but more on all of that soon!)

Here’s what I’ve been loving lately!

 

1. The new season of “Real Talk Radio with Nicole Antoinette” (one of my fav podcasts) came out last Friday and it’s been so hard not to just binge listen to the whole season. (She releases 8 episodes every 2 months.) This season’s episodes touch on topics including writing, courage, grief, and more. It’s so good, you guys! (I never know how to link to podcasts since everyone uses different apps to listen, but you guys are smart, I trust your ability to find it!)

 

2. I just found this artist on Instagram and I’m really loving her work.

Still standing. It’s been a pretty rough year for me and I’m so happy that at the end of it, I’m still standing strong! (Thank you @dorientju for reminding me!) #dailysketch

A post shared by Yaoyao Ma Van As (@yaoyaomva) on Dec 27, 2017 at 8:32am PST

“It’s going to be ok, mama!” #sketch #sketchoftheday #itsgoingtobeokay

A post shared by Yaoyao Ma Van As (@yaoyaomva) on Apr 9, 2017 at 1:33am PDT

 

3. I’ve been feeling really overwhelmed lately, to this week I decided to try to figure out one thing each day that will make my life a little easier. I SO suggest doing this. Take a look at the things you do all the time and see if there’s any way to either semi-automate them or just make them 10% more convenient. One of the best examples of this is when I finally gave in and bought an extra phone cable to just keep in my car so I didn’t have to grab mine anytime I left the house. (and then grumble about having to go get it from my car at midnight because I left it in there and my phone is dying.) I can’t even imagine how many hours of frustration I saved myself with that $5 purchase.

Along the same lines – I have kitty litter boxes at both ends of the house, and I spent YEARS filling a little bucket with litter to take to the other box each time I cleaned it before it *finally* occurred to me to just buy containers of litter to keep at both boxes. Also? Stick a trash can right inside your front door so you can dump junk mail as soon as you walk in the house.

 

4. Speaking of cat care supplies, it’s time for this week’s review of something awesome that Chewy sent us for their #chewyinfluencer program! This week it’s Instinct by Nature’s Variety Grain-Free Wet Cat Food Cups in the Tuna flavor.

Here’s how that went:

 

Thought I’d change things up and do a video for this month’s #chewyinfluencer review! The boys were sent a package of these @instinctpetfood cat food cups, and as you can tell, they’re a hit! 👍 (BTW, I know Captain Kitten’s collar looks awful. He’s a master of turning a night new collar to trash in a matter of weeks!) #catlady #catfood #catfoodreview #petfood

A post shared by And Blue Sky (@straightontillmorningblog) on Jun 22, 2018 at 8:12pm PDT

 

5. I am serious need of a quick getaway, so I’m planning to head back down to Northwest Arkansas sometime in the next few weeks. There’s a new Georgia O’Keefe exhibition at Crystal Bridges Museum, and I still have a museum membership that I received when I worked with the museum last year to cover the amazing Chihuly exhibition. (You can find that post here. I LOVED those stunning outdoor pieces!)  Funny enough, I was checking out a list of the top articles of 2017 on GoNomad, and I was excited to see that an article about Crystal Bridges made the list! Definitey a sign that I need to revisit it. (The GoNomad article is here – Crystal Bridges, The Great Museum You’ve Never Heard Of) I think I’m going to see if GoNomad would be interested in an article about Eureka Springs; You can’t cover Bentonville and not discuss its super-quirky neighbor! (My upcoming plans involve quite a bit of travel writing, btw, so prepare for lots of updates to that “Destinations” tab up at the top of the page!)

 

Tomorrow is my one day a week job at the thrift store, so I’m preparing to curl up with a book soon and attempt an early night! (I’ve gone in on less than 3 hours of sleep the past few weeks. I’m not good at mornings!) Will this be the week I finally get some decent rest? Let’s hope! (I’m considering sharing some of the weird things that show up at the store in my Instastories on my personal Instagram, so be sure to follow if you aren’t already!)

Happy Weekend! 

 

*

 

 

 

Happy Friday, and happy June!

I started this post last week and it had an intro about how hot it’s been and how much I’ve sucked at blogging and blah blah blah, but then I decided to go run errands and finish it up Friday evening, but then… Sam. (See my last post if you missed it.) It was weird to re-open this post to finish it and see those petty complaints from Friday morning. It’s hard to take your previous concerns seriously after something like that.

I also mentioned that I’m working on a big thing, something I’m hoping to accomplish by this fall. Keep your fingers crossed!

(Friday morning post script: Well, shit, Anthony Bourdain. I’m going to miss your moody music-hotel room instastories. Thanks for making travel writers look cool.)

 

Here’s what I’ve been loving lately!

 

1. I found this tote bag at Dollar Tree of all places:

When I leave the house, I usually have several things besides my purse, like a notebook, bottle of water, etc, so I’ve been loving tossing my purse plus all of the extras in here when I go. Plus, I then have a reusable grocery bag handy, as long as I’m not buying anything too heavy. (I mean, it was $1, it’s not super sturdy.) They also had some super cute anchor and pineapple-print bags, so if you live near a Dollar Tree I’d suggest stopping in to check them out!

 

2. I got to hang out with my tiny perfect pony friend last week:

 

 

The down side of being freelance is that I’ll occasionally have a REALLY slow work week, and that throws my budget off. I had one of those last month and thus had to cut some non-essential spending, which meant no riding for a whole month. I missed it so much! While I was away, someone else rode Folklore in a local show and he was awesome. Such a good boy!

I moved my lesson to 10 a.m. instead of my usual noon in hopes of escaping the super hot heat, but it was still HOT. I took a few breaks to walk but I didn’t want to “waste” lesson time just walking, so I tried to keep them short. I was SO HOT by the end, though, that I only let Folklore graze for a few minutes and then untacked him and groomed him as fast as humanly possible so I could go drink water and blast the AC in my car. I didn’t have as much water as I wanted, so I drove straight to Walgreens (about 10 minutes) and stopped in the bathroom there to splash some water on my face, but was surprised to see that it was still BEET red. At first I thought it was sunburn, but nope, just flushed from the heat. Bought a liter bottle of water and drained it in record time, considered going back in for another one.

So basically, I need to come up with a better plan for riding this summer! My trainer said I could start coming at 9 or earlier instead, so hopefully that will work? I might also look into getting my own riding helmet – I use one that belongs to the barn and it’s the black velvet kind, which is obviously NOT the coolest thing to have on your head in the summer sun.

I’m not a fan of how the white ones look, but I guess not passing out would be worth it?

 

3. My cats’ favorite day of the month is always when we get a big box from Chewy.com that’s full of kitty food or treats for us to review for their #ChewyInfluencer program. This month, we got a 24-pack of Purina Pro Plan cat food, which Captain Kitten was kind enough to model for me:

 

 

We got the Seafood Variety Pack, which had salmon, a seafood stew, and tuna.

 

I don’t usually buy small cans like this since I have several cats to feed, so it’s a huge treat for the cats when Chewy sends some over! The variety pack had three different flavors, and they all seemed equally popular. These are finely diced meat, which my cats seem to prefer over pate or big chunks. Definitely kitty-approved!

 

 

4. I always stop and look at the chameleons when I’m in a pet store (If I wasn’t convinced the cats would find a way to eat them, I would TOTALLY have a pair of chameleons.) but last night I was treated to the following surprise:

 

This might be the single greatest thing I’ve ever captured on video- both the tongue and the way he tries to play it cool once he notices me. #Ifreakinglovechameleons

A post shared by Crystal Ward (@crystalward11) on Jun 7, 2018 at 4:26pm PDT

 

5. The Show Us Your Books link-up is coming up on Tuesday, but I had to go ahead and share a note now! I’m listening to the audiobook of Mary Roach’s “Gulp”, and in the chapter on pet food I learned that outdoor cats are usually either birders or mousers – rarely both. I don’t know why, but that struck me as so fascinating! I always assumed they just saw prey as prey and were equal opportunity hunters. What else do I not know about the tiny weirdos who live with me?

 

May your weekend be lovely and summery and full of beautiful things!

 

*

 

 

Happy Friday, friends! I’m finishing this post up in between a busy morning of writing work and a trip to Target. (YAY!).  It’s supposed to be **92** tomorrow, so I’m REALLY happy that I’ll be working at the thrift store, since I don’t have air conditioning at home. #WillWorkToAvoidHeatStroke. If that kind of weather continues, I’m going to have to go back to writing at the library, which is kind of the worst because I have to put on pants and they frown upon bringing a cat for company.

Anyway, here’s what I’m digging right now!

 

1. I go in phases when it comes to food. I spent the last coupe of weeks eating way too much Tasty Bite, now I’m back on Morning Star black bean burgers. Sometimes I’ll put those big pickle slices from the refrigerated section on them, but mostly it’s just burger, cheese, bun, BBQ sauce. Given that it’s less than $4 for a four pack of black bean burgers and buns and cheese are super cheap, you’ve gotta love a meal that comes out at like $1.25!

 

I always seem to get on a burger kick this time of year. Anyone else? Are there any other good black bean ones I should know about? (Most veggie burgers seem to be mushroom-based, which… NO THANKS.)

 

2. I’ve only got about 10 pages left in my Morning Pages notebook, so I’ve been looking out for a new one. I was so excited to find this one at Walmart!

(I love that you can see cat food & coffee in the cart… I feel like I buy those two things every time I shop!)

I LOVE dragonflies, and I’m totally into this pattern & colors, so I’m looking forward to writing in this. They come in 3 different colors/patters, and there are also full-size one subject notebooks in similar prints.

One of the other options

 

3. I’ve been decluttering and yesterday that involved finally flipping through some free newspapers I picked up on my last trip down to Eureka Springs. I’m SO GLAD I DID, because I found these gems.

First, I discovered that the Eureka Springs Independent has a “Constables On Patrol” section. The one about the lamb is my favorite:

 

 

Second, I came across this amazing typo:

 

4. Y’all know I loooooove Chris Hayes:

 

Well, he has a new podcast! I finally found time to listen to the first episode, and as expected, it’s really good.

 

5.  This last one is kind of a favorite, kind of not. I’d been looking for a really pale purple nail polish with glitter, and found this one. It looks awesome for the first day or two, but then it starts looking REALLY bad.

 

Important question to end on: What’s on your summer/beachy playlist? I need new music!

 

*

 

1. Okay, first things first:

 

2. Okay, now that we have that important note taken care of…

I used to spend a LOT of time entering giveaways and sweepstakes and such online. A few year ago when blog giveaways were at their heyday, I won things pretty often – some cute flip-flops, my beloved hiking shoes, several gift cards, jeans, etc. I still enter a few when they pop up in my email or blog feed, but  I don’t devote anywhere near as much time to it as I used to.

So I was pretty surprised to get an email a couple of weeks ago that I’d won the grand prize in a recent giveaway – any pair of Christian Louboutin shoes of my choice under $700.

 

 

The challenge was that there aren’t a lot of shoes on the Louboutin site that are under $700, except for the flats, which I never wear in general, but in the case of this particular brand seem like a waste since you can’t see the red bottoms. I finally picked the Miss Gena slingbacks pictured below, which come in at a mere $675. 😲

 

So, here’s my conundrum: Having super fancy designer shoes is freaking cool. I can’t think of any time I’ve ever spent more than like… $60? on a pair of shoes. (And that was a pair of Kenneth Cole heels I’d been lusting after for ages that I got on ebay. They got destroyed two years ago when my sister left my apartment windows open while I was in Florida and molded everything.) And I can’t imagine ever spending this kind of money on shoes – even if I had way more than I needed, I’m pretty sure it would still go towards practical things, travel, or charity before I’d feel comfortable blowing almost a month’s rent on shoes. So winning fancy shoes is basically the only way I’m ever going to own them.

THAT said… I need to get some super expensive dental work done ASAP, and let’s be honest – how many occasions am I going to have to wear these? I picked a pretty sensible heel height (about 3.4 inches), but still, $700 shoes don’t really fit my lifestyle – especially my current life in middle of nowhere Missouri. If I was back in Orlando I could imagine a few occasions each year where these would be great, but here? Nada.

So… do I keep the shoes, since when am I going to get such expensive shoes ever again? Or do I sell them on ebay or Poshmark or something and get several hundred dollars to put towards much more needed things? There’s the practical choice and the fun, indulgent choice. I know which one I’m leaning towards, but I don’t think I’ll be sure until my shoes actually show up. What would you do? (And hey, maybe I’ll win a ton of money in the meantime and not have to decide!)

 

3.

These are so good. That is all.

 

 

 

4. When this cat food came up as an option for this month’s Chewy Influencer review items, I was intrigued because I’d never heard of the brand before. It ended up being a perfect choice, and not just because my cats absolutely loved it. The meat is in tiny (minced) pieces with a fair amount of gravy. My cat Remy had managed to hurt his mouth fighting with his brother the day before this arrived (nothing serious, but it was definitely uncomfortable for him), and I’d been trying out different foods to see what was the easiest for him to eat. Big chunks and shreds seemed tough for him to chew, but he wasn’t interested in pate or liquidy things… but this worked *perfectly*. Probably not a situation that’s likely to pop up in your life, but if you do have a kitty who is having trouble chewing bigger pieces (maybe a senior cat or kitten who is new to solids?) this cold come in handy.

Even without the weird situation that made it perfect for that week, the other cats loved this food so much that I’d definitely recommend it. We got the Poultry & Seafood variety pack, btw, and Chewy currently has a promotion going where you can get your first case for half price!

I was just looking at their products on Chewy.com and now I really want to try the dry food, too. Look how cute the package is!

 

5. This is kind of a two for one, but I picked up this acai flavored lip balm and oatmeal soap on my last trip to Lcky’s Market, and I’m loving both. The soap isn’t entirely fragrance free (fragrances are my arch enemy most of the time), but the scent is so soft it’s not a problem, and the built-in oats offer some exfoliating action. $2 for the soap and 99 cents (on sale) for the organic, fair trade store brand lip balm = a lot of good stuff for three bucks! I’d recommend both if you have a Lucky’s near you.

 

I’m getting ready to run to the DMV (ugh) and Target (yay!), then work all weekend. Hope your weekend is full of adventure or relaxation, as your mood dictates!

 

 

*