Good morning. I’ve got Kings of Leon radio playing on Pandora, a cup of coffee sitting on my desk and sunlight streaming in through the windows. I taught yoga at 6 a.m. and then came home and made breakfast for Tanner and myself. I’ve got the rest of the day ahead of me to focus on work with a running date planned midday with Virginia and a girl’s night later with Dorie.
I missed posting yesterday. I had this great idea to write a “lady love” post for International Women’s Day and to feature a bunch of bloggers and female business owners that I love and respect but then I didn’t.
Two reasons for that.
1- I really try to weave a theme of supporting women into the overall messaging of my blog. I like to think I celebrate women doing awesome things all year and not just one day of the year.
2 – I have this tendency to want to do things so big that sometimes I don’t do them at all. Ultimately, I think this thoroughness is what keeps you guys coming back, reading and trusting my workouts/recipes/yoga flows/content in general (or maybe it’s just the cute dog pictures?), but sometimes I think I could take a step back and just keep things simple. I feel that as the years have gone by that blogging has gotten more and more complicated (I talked about this a little in my 2016 wrap up). Gone are the days of “hey, here’s what I ate today and I ran 5 miles, okay bye!”
It’s not unusual for a post to take me anywhere from 1-2 hours (weekend recap or recent eats kind of post) to 3-4 hours (favorite yoga gear, simple recipes, “list” type posts) to 6-8 hours (almost every sponsored post, yoga flows or workouts including photo and video demonstrations, more involved recipes, etc.). For the first 3-4 years I was blogging I used to almost always write my blog on the couch at night after dinner. I can’t even fathom doing that now because a) I’ve officially quit working after dinner while Tanner and I actually have a short amount of time to spend together and b) there’s no way I could focus to write the way that I need to these days!
Okay, all that to say that I am craving a bit of simplicity right now.
I suspect this is primarily in direct correlation to the fact that we are moving next week. (YES, AGAIN!) Simple, grounding things have been very appealing in the midst of transition and change. I baked bread yesterday before I dealt with moving logistics like getting quotes from movers, mail forwarding, cable/internet scheduling, etc.
p.s. I know so many of y’all are looking for me to post the sourdough bread tutorial but it’s going to be one of those 8-hour post kind of projects when all is said and done so it ain’t happening until we get into the new place.
I’ve also been sure to make time for long walks with the girls while I talk to my grandmother or my mom and catch up. (They are NOT going to be excited when the boxes start taking over the house this weekend but I know they’ll love the new place.)
Last night for dinner I made the simplest and most perfect dinner of them all. White rice cooked with a little salt and coconut oil, baked salmon and spinach sauteed in butter.
And RE: the move. Some of you might remember that we moved about a year and a half ago. We decided to transition my house into a rental property so that we could start fresh with something together and be closer to the yoga studio since we were spending so much time getting the new studio off the ground and constantly driving back and forth. We rented a house from a friend that was just a little over a mile from the studio. We went into it knowing that it was only an 18 month lease and that she’d be selling when our lease was up.
Did that 18 months ever fly by! Here we are facing another move and while moving is never fun, we are SUPER thrilled about our new home and it couldn’t be more perfect for what we want and need right now. We plan to stay there for a bit. 😉
One final PSA…one of my moving goals was to reduce our cable and internet cost. I find that moving always provides a perfect time to switch providers and take advantage of “switch and save” deals. I called ATT&T to cancel our service yesterday (I was going to go back to TWC) and the customer service representative offered to look at promotions to lower our bill without me even asking because they wanted to keep us as customers. When it was all said and done, I had locked in a rate of $59 a month (before taxes) for the basic family cable package + the highest speed Internet that they offer…I have currently been paying $190+ monthly. INSANITY. I did downgrade our cable package but to be honest I could cancel it all together because we usually watch TV through Amazon or Netflix so that didn’t really matter for us.
Annnnnddddd I’m off! Time to tackle the day.
What are some of your favorite “simple/comfort” foods?
Do you still have a cable subscription or have you dropped it?
Favorite “simple/grounding” activities?
we just made the switch to at&t/direct tv…SO much cheaper than what we were paying with TWC with faster internet, like you said! if my fiancé wasn’t such a sports fanatic, we could probably drop cable too. but the savings is worth keeping it at this point.
good luck with the move!! such an exhausting process, but I like to take advantage of the chance to purge when I pack, and reorganize everything when I unpack!!
Kate – we’ve been pretty pleased with AT&T over the last year and a half so happy to keep the service. I’m secretly happy that Tanner isn’t super into sports! 🙂
We are definitely in purge mode. Ready for this move to be over with!
We just moved and its been a nightmare to get Comcast working here. Literally hours on the phone, 2 technician visits and over a week later, it’s still not working 100%. Oh the joys of internet. At least with all this hassle they are giving us a few months free…it’d just be nice if it worked all the time haha.
As for cable, we have a basic cable box that we don’t even plug in. The Cable + Internet bundle was cheaper than just internet. BUT we do get HBO through this bundle, which the only thing we use other than Netflix.
Congrats on making it through your move. I am so ready to be done with ours. It’s exhausting!
I can’t even take it when the internet doesn’t work. So frustrating!
If you haven’t locked in a mover yet, I highly recommend Southern Moving. Randall York is the owner of Southern Moving AND Cloister Honey! He is great and employs a wonderful team of movers. We have used them three times over the past 15 years and I have recommended him to many friends over the years! Good luck with your move!
Thank you for the suggestion but we had JUST locked someone in. I’ll keep these guys in mind for next time! (Hopefully that’s a long way away!)
I’ve been in a decluttering/minimalism phase this year. Pairing down unused and unneeded items that are no longer serving a purpose in our life and home. The extra space feels great and it helps feel less stressed when I get home at night.
We have been in major purge mode over the last year and it’s been so amazing. It definitely does help you feel so much lighter in your space.
I would drop cable TV in a heartbeat, but my husband HAS TO have ESPN and his other sports channels. *sigh*
We are getting ready to list our house for sale in the next week or so and move (we hope) in the next 30-90 days, so I definitely feel ya there. We have been in our current house about 8.5 years — by far the longest I’ve lived anywhere as an adult — and I am NOT looking forward to packing everything up and moving, no matter how excited I may be about a new place. Ah well.
Your Goldens are absolutely adorable! 🙂
Congratulations on your upcoming move but I do not envy you in having to get a home ready to go on the market. I hope it all goes super smoothly for you guys!
I bought Jasmine rice for a meal a few weeks ago and forgot how much I love just plain white rice with butter incorporated into a meal.
We’re about to move and plan to drop cable. My husband subscribed to Playstation Vue that we stream through our Roku, and it has all the channels we want, plus the ability to record. That plus Netflix and Amazon will cut our bill more in half. CAN’T WAIT. Sending you (and myself) hassle-free moving vibes. Moving is so the worst, but it’s a GREAT time to purge and declutter.
I have been on a huge white rice kick lately. Try cooking it in a little bit of coconut oil. It’s so good.
Yes, we are definitely taking advantage of the opportunity to PURGE!
Good luck w/ your move & congrats on the new house! Can’t wait to see pics when you’re all settled.
Thank you so much. We are eager to get settled.
For me the most simple/grounding thing to do is just get organized and go back to the basics- get my schedule/to-do list in line, meal plan, do laundry and grocery shop. And sleep- all of those ground me!
Yes to all of those things and I am so ready to rest and sleep!
I dropped my cable! I have Netflix, Hulu and HBO Go on my Apple TV and it’s doing me well. Cable was just TOO expensive and I can still get great shows with Apple TV. I’ve also heard the Amazon Fire is great!
I think it’s the way to go! Great to hear it’s worked well for you! And helped you save!
I dropped cable a couple of years ago and just watch Netflix and HBO Go. We’ve been able to find plenty to watch and I feel like it’s made us more intentional about what we’re watching rather than just throwing something on, which has actually been kind of nice.
Re: posts needing to be more complicated these days, I totally hear you and get there are so many more components these days (not to mention social media, SEO, etc). But I do have to say that as a reader, sometimes I enjoy reading the simple posts just as much, if not more so because they are often more personal or come from the heart (ie, day in the life, random thoughts/happenings, etc). Not saying the other posts aren’t useful (they totally are) but I do think there is a time and place for both!
Thank you so much for the note on the simple blog posts. It’s great to hear that you guys still like reading them. <3
Moving is HARD though I like how it forces me to really go through my stuff, purge, organize, and just freshen things up. We’ve lived in our current apartment now for almost 5(!) years and it’s feeling a bit cluttered and stale. We’re doing our first BIG move – Ohio to Iowa – this summer and it’s kind of intimidating but also exciting to think about settling into a new home. I hope the moving process goes as smoothly as possible for you two!
First off – King of Leon!!! 🙂
Secondly – cable free since November 2013?? It’s so much easier with Netflix and having a couple subscriptions/log ins for certain channels and use RokuTV. We’re really not home enough to sit and watch tv live anyway!
Lastly – exercise is my favorite way of zoning out. Sometimes it’s a leisurely walk w/ the dogs, other times its going hard lifting or running, or an energizing yoga flow class. I love to move my body — it’s so freeing and somehow helps me process stress and sort my thoughts all at once.
OOPS for the reply here!
Though, IOWA welcomes you, Amanda!
My “go to” comfort food as of right now is pie and ice cream! I think it is really interesting how many people are dropping cable these days. It is so expensive and for so many channels that you never watch…I have the Amazon fire stick, but need to get myself more acquainted with it. Have a beautiful weekend friend! XOXO
Good luck with the move! I’m with you on the posts- SO much involved!
When my fiancé and I moved in together I was kind of forced to give up cable because he had already cut the cord and thought it was the best decision ever. I have to admit I was overly concerned about not seeing my shows live! I watch a lot of reality shows like Survivor and Top Chef where people get kicked off each week. So in my head it was a big deal. But it wasn’t! I surprised myself in that I don’t even miss cable! Netflix and Hulu all the way! 🙂
Happy moving!!
I love this comment. Haha. So glad that you’ve been able to make the switch!
I felt like we were overpaying for our family cell phones and was determined to lower it. I priced out Verizon and was able to lower our cell phone bill substantially. I never thought AT&T, our current provider would match it. Sure enough…they did! Good luck on the move!
Awesome! I think these companies will do a lot to retain clients. Good for you for being an advocate for your family.
I cut cable a year and change ago when I moved into my own apartment (after WAY too many years of roommates!) Netflix + HBOGo + AmazonPrime = WIN! Also: a few months ago I bought $20 TV bunny ears at Target and while sometimes they can be spotty (mostly when it’s windy!) they are awesome and I get a couple of free channels now 🙂 Granted I still pay $40/month for internet but that is so much better than when I was splitting $200+ with a roommate for cable/internet!
This is AWESOME! And I love the bunny ears. I didn’t know those were still a thing!