Mellow Yellow

Mellow Yellow

If you follow me over on instagram you may have noticed a consistent color on my feed for the month of June! I’ll wait for you to go check it out! Did you notice it?

That’s right Yellow!

What are your thoughts about the color yellow?

Personally I love it! It’s not my favorite color but one i’ve recently fallen in love with!

I chose yellow for the month of June because I though it was the perfect color for the month, vibrant bright and bold!

Did you know there is a whole branch of psychology dedicated to color:

Color psychology is the study of hues as a determinant of human behavior. A popular theory on color psychology is that a person’s mood can be influenced by the color, light and the surrounding colors (Colorpsychcology.org)

According to color psychologists, Yellow, the brightest color of the spectrum is commonly used in images depicting fresh ideas, creative projects, or new business initiative.

Some things color psychologists have also found about the color yellow:

• Associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.

• Produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates
  muscle energy.

• Bright, pure yellow is an attention-getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this color.

• Yellow indicates honor and loyalty.

• The Yellow color is one of the most commonly used colors on the superheroes. The yellow colors are long wavelength color. In psychology, the color yellow is considered as a color of positive thinking and confidence which is to be represented by the superhero.

Some negatives:

• In some parts of history the meaning of yellow was connected with cowardice ( Colorpsychcology.org)

• When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect ( may trigger warning or caution)

• It has been researched and in some cases shown that babies cry more in yellow rooms.

Theres def a clash in opinions about the color yellow. What are your thought? Love It or leave it?

Lets discuss it!

Protein Peanut butter cups

Protein Peanut butter cups

I was wanting a quick snack/ and an excuse to use this protein powder I got so I amended a few recipes I saw for Peanut Butter cups and played with some of the proportions

Check out My Protein Powder Peanut butter cups below!

In my next 30 years

My Next 30 years

As I reach the milestone age of 30 it has me thinking about all the the things that I was able to accomplish in 30 years as well as all the things I still want to do! I created a bucket list of sorts of all I want to do in my next 30 years:

30 Goals for My next 30 years

1. Learn how to swim

2. Learn American sign language

3. Prioritize mental health: Take more mental health days

4. Walk more

5. Worry Less

6. Give more

7. Take Less

8. Spend less

9. Save more

10. Get another Degree

11. Become a licensed Therapist

12. Own my own Private Practice

13. Buy a home

14. Travel

15. Stop apologizing so much (S.O to Hayley :)

16. Say no more , to things I don’t want to do

17. Stop putting things off

18. Volunteer more

19. Prioritize sleep

20. Learn to Play golf

21. Start Playing the violin again

22. Play in an Orchestra

23. Go to Africa

24. Start Scholarship Fund for Ma

25. Drive across Country

26. Run a Marathon

27. Retire

28. Go Scuba diving

29. Pay off my Car

30. Live a life worth living

Card memory books

I have always saved all of my greetings card and they have always just kind of taken up their space in a box in my closet. When going through and figuring out all the things that we were going to keep in my moms room we found tons of card, pictures, and memorabilia. Like me my mom kept everything. She kept every single card she received. I wanted to find a way to save the cards in a creative and cool way not just hanging in a box that id most likely forget about. So I turned to the holy grail of all things crafty and creative, Pintrest. I found a-lot of cool ideas one of my favorites and super simple being making them into a book

What you need:

Old greeting cards and/or other memorabilia

Binder rings: I got mine from amazon linked here

Card stock, scrapbook paper, construction paper etc.

Other decorating tools if you please, stickers, markers, ETC

Hole puncher ( dollar store) work smarter not harder

All ya do is:

1. Hole punch the cards, you can do 2 holes or three, dealers choice. I did one book with three and others with 2 whole

2: Organize them in any fashion you want, by size or color. I separated mine by occasion, birthdays, holidays etc.

3:Attach the binder clips and viola, a simple easy way to keep your old greeting cards

***Another cool idea that these rings could be used for might be to save old recipes from the family or that you that you just enjoy.

I also used my clips to hold my measuring cups. Life hack!

Memorializing MA

Hey friends,

So its definitely been a while since i’ve published a blog. In case you missed it my mother passed away at the end of April due to COVID related complications. To say the least, my life has been completely turned upside down, my and my sister moved, I took time off work, continued to deal with the pandemic and am starting to piece my life back together.

While figuring things out and sorting through all the details of my life, something that I wanted to do almost immediately was to figure out a way to have a piece of my mom with me always. Fortunately we were able to keep so much of her things that had sentimental value and have a lot of those things in our new apartment.

But we also wanted to have/ dedicate and memorialize her in other ways. One thing me and my sister did was order memorial jewelry, for her, myself, brother and my niece.

These pieces would also be appropriate for lots of other occasions as well, I saw a lot of people order them as mother’s day gifts, birthday presents, as well as remembrance pieces in case you're in the market for anything. Generally all the pieces we ordered came out beautiful and at like 1/3rd of the cost from the funeral home.

The funeral home we used ( the package we got) did include a fingerprint necklace which was beautiful. It’s sterling silver and retailed originally like $275 which is like what?? Its already so expensive with all the costs associated with a funerals it just wasn’t feasible to order any additional jewelry direct from the funeral home.

So we ended up looking into Etsy to have some personalized jewelry made that wouldn’t completely break the bank

I have linked below the items we purchased. Other than some shipping delays, which make sense given the climate of things, we were super pleased with how everything came out.

Fingerprint necklace from Etsy store:

CaitlynMinimalist

$31.50

Rose gold

Was able to get an inscription on both sides and uploaded a picture of fingerprint. Super simple to do

This place has great reviews and really amazing looking products. However the shipping delays and some communication issues initially were off putting. I will say at the end the shop owner was better with communication and able to meet our needs

Linked here

Charm bracelet from Etsy shop

HopeisHipJewelry

$32.21

Was able to upload a picture, not able to choose inscription on the charm.

Was a bit disappointed because the picture showed the bracelet as rose gold when I was purchasing it, however after I checked out I noticed that they only do silver jewelry and I am not much of a silver person. But it was super easy to order and shipped very fast.

Shop linked here

Engraved bracelet from Etsy shop

JewelryBlues

What I liked about this piece was the ability to get mom’s handwriting on a piece.( I apologize for the clarity of the photos)

This was the most expensive piece, I got engraving on both sides and opted for a longer length. I will say I thought it would be a bit longer, I find it difficult to put on by myself. But I do think its super dainty and a beautiful piece overall. Also it was made and shipped rather quickly.

Linked here

We also ended up (my sister, brother and I) getting different tattoos to memorialize ma which has meant a lot to us.

Check out my ink below.

I got her handwriting on my wrist. My ma had a signature where she signed the most adorable smiley face. I got her signature off of a card she wrote for me and had them transfer it into a tattoo.

The same artist did a more in-depth piece and I love it so much. He incorporated the carnations into the tattoo which is moms favorite flowers. The word’s read “ I will carry you with me until we meet again”

Sprinkles

If you haven’t already been able to deduce from the blog name I’m kind of into sweets, cupcakes, cookies,cakes whatever really. Luckily my metabolism hasn’t come to a screeching holt just yet so I’ve been able to indulge in the occasional treat from time to time or like everyday who is keeping track?

Not only do I love eating sweets but I love baking a which might also be obvious by looking through my Instagram feed. Recently I haven’t been able to do as much baking as I’d like, its so time consuming and although the results of making homemade treats are delicious and full- filling ( get it) some times the pie isn’t worth the time. I will usually bake something for a birthday or special event but I want to get into the habit of baking for fun without a special occasion like I used to before I had adult obligations ( insert crying emoji) .

I do enjoy baking for events and special occasions, I was at one point even thinking about professionally doing some baking for special events like a catering kind of thing. That like many of my idea has not gotten off the landing strip but I am optimistic! I’m also hoping to try some new recipes and new and adventourous treats! Leave your favorite treats to make below!

 Recently I went to Sprinkles  cupcake, my namesake right in D.C. So I’m usually a Georgetown cupcake gal through and through but how could I not make a visit to sprinkles bakery it’d be like blasphemy I mean. I enjoyed a seasonal raspberry cupcake for women’s history month and a traditional Vanilla with sprinkles, both were what dreams are made of! If your in the D.C area and your wanting a major sugar fix with some Sprinkles on top, Sprinkles in Georgetown is a must!

Welcome to the real world she said to me

Be an adult they said, it’ll be fun they said, well actually I’m not quite sure if anyone said it’d be fun at all but I want to say they totally hyped it up!

Recently I did a photo shoot for some head-shots for my profile on a counseling website to get some potential leads for clients ( look at me sounding all professional ayyy). But it really clicked for me like I’m an adult with an almost career and almost 30 cue dramatic music and aggressive closeup shot.

I finished Graduate school last year, during my last semester of graduate school I moved back in with my mom because I wasn’t sure where I’d be after graduating and didn’t want to commit to a lease I also wanted to save hundreds of dollars a month not paying rent, so like win win right? Moving back in with parents can be kind of a catch 22. on the one hand its freaking fantastic, to reiterate saving hundreds to thousands of dollars, on the other hand there is this inevitable stripping of independence, whether its intentional or not moving in with parents you lose your independence. Looking forward I’m moving out of my mother’s and retaking the reins of my independence in the next month! **Cue dramatic motivational music

So at this point I’m still kind of a fake adult but also a real adult, but also kind of a 70 year old who likes to coupon and watch Golden girls trapped in a 28 year old’s body. Although sometimes I feel like I have the body and joints of about a 65 year old with pronounced osteoporosis ad aggressive Acid reflux, but that’s nether here nor there!

Some things I do to feel more adulty ( if that is a word) and like I have a handle on life:

Budgeting, planning, and organizing: So even though it seems like these things might stress you out I find that when I budget my money, plan my days and weeks out and organize my time I feel like I have my life together, even if its a facade of stickers in my Happy planner I feel way more put together and in control. I recently just purchased a Simplified life by Emily Ley linked here and am also actively doing the 30 day decluttering challenge. This is another tool I plan to use to refocus and reorganize areas of my life! Will def keep yall posted on how it goes!

Take Care of my metal health: Being an adult or event semi adult is hard shit excuse the language. You have got to take care of yourself, Surround yourself with people and environments that feed your soul instead of draining it! Engage in self care regularly, making time for yourself as a priority, If you can afford or have any interest, get a therapist! Having an impartial unbiased individual you can talk to your issues about is amazing!

Drink Wine: In my old age I have enjoyed drinking wine more and trying a bunch of different varietals. Living across from a total wine as well as in the state of Virginia known for it’s great vineyards I have embraced the the old adult past time of enjoying a nice glass of wine, especially after a stressful day. PSA I am in no way condoning drinking in excess as an answer for your problems!!!

What are some of your adulting tricks of the trade? How do you adult? I’d love to hear in the comments below!!

Be a goal getter! 2019 goals and bucket list

As the first month of the year ends and the shortest month of the year is here, I wanted to focus this week’s blog on some goals I have for 2019 before the year is over before I know it!

Some background info: I am really into quotes and one of my favorite quotes is from a speech by Denzel Washington that he gave at a commencement ceremony. “Dreams without goals remain dreams” This quote is like the embodiment of why setting goals is so important. For myself personally, as well as with others I have worked with as a counselor and coach, goal setting can be a great tool to really focus and narrow down on specific goals you have. I use the SMART model credited to George Doran, that basically is an outline on how to better construct your goals. SMART is an acronym standing for Specific, measurable, attainable or achieve able , realistic, and timely or time bound. It’s just one tool I use and might be helpful for you in setting your short term and long term goals!

Below are a list of goals I’m planning to tackle in the next 11 months!

Start a blog:

More specifically: Start a blog and write on blog post a week.

[Ok done] I have been talking about and thinking about starting a blog for some time now and finally decided to take the plunge. I was super nervous about it to be honest, like is anyone going to want to read my content? What if I don’t get enough followers? What about my picture quality, I don’t have a professional photographer right now! But that was fear talking and I refused to let it win! So I decided to start my blog on January 1st and am ready to keep going with it! Side note but low key kind of of applicable there is a song by social experiment and Chance the Rapper called wanna be cool it’s like my 2019 theme song! Check it out! Linked here on YouTube]

Engage in more Self care:

Schedule one day once a month for a mani/pedi and/ or hair appointment

[Self care is something that I have improved upon over the past few months. I used to be really terrible at it , and I’m still working on it to be honest. But I want to be more intentional about my self care this year. I want to have a scheduled day where I go to the nail salon each month or every two months at least! We spend so much time planning for work and chores and other deadlines in life. I think actually planning a day for myself to look forward each month will really allow me to focus on this goal I have and force myself to make time for it]

Focus more on health and fitness:

Specifically: Engage in some sort of physical activity 4 days a week [stay tuned on that]

and Meal prep lunches and snacks at least 2 weeks out of the month.

Travel more this year:

Go on 3-5 large trips this year

Go on 3-5 smaller trip or stay-cations.

So somewhere between 6-10 trips this year about every month to every two months.

[I am desperately trying to be in someone’s airplane, boat or train this year! I have fell in love with the traveling bug. And after starting a blog this year I’m hoping that it will be another excuse for me to travel a lot more and see some new places I haven’t been before]

Some places I want to get to this year!

Nashville

Ohio

Charlottesville

Martha’s Vineyard

Las Vegas

Texas

An overseas destination

Possible cruise destination

Do more Volunteer work:

Specifically: Volunteer for an organization/event once a month

Another great quote, If you have too much to receive, you have enough to give. I’m all about the quotes y’all. I want to really dedicate some time this year and every year doing some volunteer work, donating time and effort to good causes!

What are some goals you all have for the year? How do you all construct or organize your goals? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy February y’all and happy goal getting!