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We all know my beloved Newlywed Game came to an end, leaving me with wide open Fridays. We also know I've had a super fun week recovering from surgery. Thankfully, one of my favorite bloggers of all time, Christina, started 5 on Friday, a weekly list of personal sunshine. I occasionally post such things under "re•cent awesomeness," but this works too!

Happy Wednesday! Miss Halie from Penguins, Pasta, and Polka Dots has been kind enough to guest blog today as I continue my recovery. Enjoy her list of things bringing happiness. I hope you can agree with many. See you all next week!



Hey there, new friends! Y'all probably know this already, but Bekah is out recovering from surgery right now - and so today is my turn to fill in for her. So Hi, Hello, Aloha! I'm Halie and I blog at Penguins, Pasta & Polka Dots. In a nutshell, I'm a wife-to-be planning my wedding for this upcoming October. I write about my silly adventures, bike rides, food, crafts, nail art, losing weight and getting healthy, and all sorts of random things. It's quite fun, if I do say so myself. :)

I'm typically a very positive and upbeat kinda gal. I love having fun and laughing, and I love finding new things that make me happy. Of course it changes all the time, sometimes almost daily it feels like, but today I just want to share with you 5 quick things that are currently making me super happy!

1. Summer time. I love the sunshine and the beach and swimming and working on my tan. Seriously - it's one of my favorite things about living in Florida.


2. Wedding planning! We're at a pretty fun part of the process, and I definitely have what a fellow blogger-friend of mine described as "bride brain." It's all I can think about sometimes!

3. That my future step-sons are here visiting us for a few weeks. My fiance Jeff has twin almost-7-year-old's who live about 9 hours from us. But they are here to hang out for six weeks (2 sets of 3) this summer! And they're so stinking cute :)

4. My new blog design. My awesome blog friend and designer just made me my second new design since January, and I'm kind of obsessed with this one. Love it!

5. Fresh fruits. Specifically mango! Soo good and so summery. I could eat one every night as dessert.

Simple list, but each of these things brings me so much enjoyment and happiness. I think y'all should also try to list at just five little things that make you happy. I think it makes us stop and appreciate those things so much more when we take time to actually recognize them! So think about it, and then make sure you take advantage of those things.

If it's a person - tell them.
If it's a place - go for a quick visit.
If it's an activity - get out and do it!
If it's food - definitely eat it.

Whatever it is, just make sure you take time to enjoy whatever it is that makes YOU happy!

I'm glad Bekah had me around her cute bloggy-blog today, so that I could also take the time to think about these things. But I'm also glad because it gives me a chance to make some new blog friends! I'd love for y'all to hop on over to my little space and say hello. Seriously, I love it when I get comments and emails. (I know we all do, I'm just admitting I like it a whole super lot...) Hope to hear from  y'all soon, and meet some new friends!

Also, you can find me all over the social media world, but my favorite is definitely Instagram, then Vine!

This month's Cara Box was my fourth! Between my surgery and other chaos, I'll be honest. It was a bit rough. I told myself I would take a break next month, but of course, I gave in and signed up anyway. These things are addictive!





Don't know what I'm talking about? Get paired up with two strangers. Talk to them. Get to know them. Send one of them a fun care package "Cara Box" based on that month's theme combined with what you've learned about said person. The other does the same for you.  See? Fun and addictive.

I won't lie, this month's theme was hard. I was quite disappointed in what I sent out compared to boxes past, but my sweet partner promises she liked it, so who am I to judge? The theme was fairs/circuses/carnivals since summer is officially here. I was paired up with Susanna and Katherine.

Susanna is clearly all about making memories with her kids. Her blog demonstrates the fun they have, often through pictures. Of course I had to include them in the box I sent her:

This is the first box I made where I really wasn't feeling creative on my own. Thanks to this pin, I threw this item in as a last minute extra. Ironically enough, she loved it! You can see the rest of her box here.

Katherine is a Graphic Designer (and clearly very talented)! She openly admitted she turned to Pinterest for ideas as well, so I don't feel so bad. Here's what I got to open up:

This fun little sign she made!

What is a fair without cotton candy? I love the stuff? Looking forward to the bubble gum once I'm chewing normally again...

A fun hand-made card and some adorable notebooks w/pen

Plus she made this adorable banner since I love the carnival ambiance. This may be going up this week to celebrate Sean's birthday!

This will be short as computer screens aren't the best for helping with dizziness, but wanted to give a quick update as you all have been so kind!

Things went much better this time around I think.

Last year, my surgery was delayed 3 times, went worse than expected (lasted 4 hours), and I ended up super hot and being admitted. I'm still fighting the hospital over the bill that resulted...we just can't do it.

I also felt like complete crap. I was scheduled off work a week and ended up calling out for a few more days.

This year, my surgery was scheduled for 3 pm. Even later than last year's regular 1:25. I wasn't thrilled. They called me in the morning and said things were going good schedule wise and bumped me up to 1:40. 20 minutes before I left, they called and said "come now!"

the sexy inflatable hospital gown - more on that in another post.

Everything went much faster than last year for sure. I was in the OR quite quickly after the entire staff made sure I knew my name and I promised them that my husband doesn't beat me (MD state law makes them ask all female patients about domestic abuse)

This surgery I hear only took 2 and a half hours. There was some regrowth of what was removed last year, but all localized enough to remove and proceed to reconstruct. That gave the doc some trouble, but he got it done!

I woke up super hot again. I swear recovery nurses have never recovered from a thing in their lives. They can be so condescending and unsympathetic. One of them actually asked me "are you always this hyper?" As I fought while still sedated to remove the blanket from myself. Wow.

that's about what I'm thinking. via

Well, I remembered last year and realized I had to ask for things very specifically ..so a cup of ice chips and 2 ice packs on my body later...I felt much more tolerable.

Now I'm home living it up with staples in my ear, a sore throat from the breathing tube, and still dizzy, but nowhere near as bad as last year, I think.

Thanks for all the prayers...continue to pray the not so bad feelings stay not so bad.

here's to hoping I'm at the gym feeling like this in a week ;) via

My surgery is at 3 pm tomorrow.

When I'm not working, I'm cleaning like a madwoman trying to get ready since I know I'll be doing none of that for the next week or so as I recover and don't want to be stressed by a mess.

We've still got some things to do, but it's not looking to shabby.

I figured it was time for some blog cleaning, too. I absolutely loved my first "real" design from Erin, but I was a total novice blogger who didn't know what all I really wanted or needed.

One of the best things about summer? The abundance of fresh fruit. YUM. Especially berries. We recently got a Wegman's in town, and the first thing you see when you walk in are strawberries. 2 lb. cartons for $3.99, to be exact. Not bad. I find myself picking up a carton just about every shopping trip.

There is a downside, of course. We all know how quickly those blasted things go bad. I feel like I wake up the next morning only to throw the carton out. I rinse them, I've tried random tips like rinsing with vinegar...not much seems to work.

Nothing is wasted; the tops make a tasty snack for Zoot!

My solution? Eat 'em fast!

I bring the carton home,rinse and cut the berries, and store them in the fridge so they're super accessible. They seem to keep a tad bit longer in the fridge too.

I eat 'em raw, throw them in yummy drinks, and a recent favorite, toss 'em on a salad. YUM. With the berries already cut and good to go, this truly is a super lazy eat.

Summer Berry Salad

I was a good girl this morning: I went to the gym. I try to go twice a week. I know I should go more, but I do what I can.

Admittedly, I mostly do Yoga. Better than nothing! via

The gym is a huge perk of my job. It's a local, reasonably sized, non-chain gym. We have a company membership that gives us access to work out dirt cheap. I avoid a lot of big chain-ish gyms, because I don't treat the gym like a club and I hate crowds and the thought of people watching me. Ugh.

This place is just right. And thanks to my unusual hours, I'm able to go during non-peak times, which means a quiet, stress-free workout.

Or at least I thought it should. I'm not a gym veteran by any means, but I thought there as an unwritten gym code, per say. Maybe it's all in my head, because said code seems to get violated quite often. Know what I mean?

No?

Take these examples:

• Personal space: In most public places, the rule of personal space dictates that you sit at least one spot away from the closest person to you, except in peak times when all seats/spaces/whatever are in use. Then anything open is fair game. So why oh why, when I am the only person using a treadmill (there are 12, by the way, I counted.), would you get on the one right beside mine? I don't know you! You couldn't even move over one more?

Except I'm pretty sure you're not flirting with me...so please go away. via

• Waiting for equipment: I realize that some people are very set in their routines and refuse to deviate. Get over it. It's not good for your workout to do things in the same order every time anyway. There are not twelve of each free weight machine. There is one of each. I get that. But there are MANY different ones to choose from. I saw you working out on the one I had planned to use, but that's OK. I moved on and used another one, and another...and then went back when you were done. At some point, I was going to use each of them anyway. Clearly you don't share my attitude, sir, because why oh why did I get up from a machine to have you standing behind me waiting when so many others were wide open? You don't get in shape by standing. Even worse, it was the inner thigh machine. I moved over to the outer thigh one, and you didn't give in. You claimed that machine instantly so we could both work out awkwardly while trying to avoid bumping knees. Thanks.

Yeah, these. Only with no space in between. Awkward. via

• Waiting for equipment, part 2: You know the whole concept of lifting weights in sets? You know, l5 reps, rest, 15 more, rest, etc? (I know it is a faux pas to rest for minutes, but seriously, I count to 10 and get back to work) It's quite common, even recommended. Just like before, I am working out, and you, different sir, are staring at me, clearly ready to pounce on my machine despite the availability of others. I stop to rest, and you clearly don't practice that...I know because you glare at me five seconds in and actually ask me, "are you done with that now?!" why oh why indeed.

We've been married three years now, but I'm a June bride too. Plus, I love many of these ladies. You bet I'm linking up! This week's topic is "hardest moments from the first year."


I've said this before and many have agreed with me: it seems like married women try to scare you when it's your turn to get married. I was constantly being told that the first year was the hardest.

Sean and I had been dating five years when I walked down the aisle and we didn't have any real conflict til 2-3 years in. So on one hand, I was thinking "yeah, right!" On the other, I was wondering "what do they know that I don't? I don't want to be that couple who argues over what cereal to buy!"

The couple who skips together, stays together

Thankfully, we weren't. And still aren't. The only food "argument" we've had was this past year when I finally called him out on putting hot sauce on everything I cook. To me, that meant he hates my cooking. To him, that means he just really likes hot sauce. He said something to his boss one day and discovered they have had the exact same conversation!

Off the rabbit trail and back to the topic at hand...the hard moments. Honestly, I came out of our first year deciding that everything sucked EXCEPT our marriage. Here's a little timeline:

• 2-3 weeks before the ceremony: We are on our way to AT Days. We stop for lunch and I check my e-mail on my phone (my LG EnV3- didn't have a smart phone yet!). There is an e-mail from my boss saying my replacement had been hired and my job was up come the end of the month. (I was an intern turned part time employee. They knew I was graduating college and would be seeking a full-time job. One I hadn't found yet despite a whole semester of job fairs and applications)

• Home from the honeymoon: Jamaica was certainly enjoyable, but of course we had to come home to reality. The harsh reality started with living with his mom. Not that we don't like her, but really, what newlywed wants to live with parents? We hadn't found a place because we didn't know where I would be working (I applied in many states), so we spent two months at hers while I continued to look with no success!

• Two months in: Yay! We finally moved in to our own place. Living with Sean's mom had brought up some conflict and I was ready to go (we're fine now). We ended up at an apartment a mile up the road - with still just one income. All our wedding gift money that could have been a down payment for a house ended up going towards the deposit and first month's rent. 

• Three months in: Finally! Some interviews! And just in time, because the rent was due in two weeks and we didn't have enough to pay it. I did what I had to do and accepted the first job that was offered to me, knowing full well I didn't want it. I remember hanging up the phone and bursting into tears because I didn't want to work there. The hours were bad, the people were mean and backstabbing, and the job had nothing to do with my field of study. At least the rent would be paid.

• The New Year: I had managed to still use my parent's health benefits to the end of the calendar year. Now it was a new year and I was uninsured. No more birth control and no affording paying a doctor cash to prescribe me some. Obviously if we couldn't afford that, we couldn't afford a pregnancy. A friend slipped me some of her pills to hold me over, and a nurse we knew got someone to write me a refill prescription. We bought a $20/mo discount plan to bring the cost of the pills down some. Oh yeah, my ear surgery that I talk about? I'm pretty sure that's a result of an ear infection we couldn't afford to have treated while I was at said uninsured job.

We worried much, and it's interesting to look back on this now. I haven't for some time. I try to forget it. This is my first time writing all this down and I can see what I didn't see then: God was (and is) good. Things didn't go the way we wanted them to, but he provided all our needs. We have a place to live, we both have jobs, my immediate medication need was met, and now I am at a job that offers insurance. It isn't perfect, but it is better.

And you know what didn't suck during that first year? My husband. He supported me even through conflict with his mother, he encouraged me when I was depressed about being unemployed - he never got angry with me about it. He wanted me to be happy then, just like he does now.



Sorry this isn't your traditional post. We have enough conflict in our lives to bother adding any to our marriage. We celebrated three years of marriage last week and I mentioned, like here, that things aren't perfect in life, but we are still happy and in love. My friend Karla left this comment:

"...Things like that could rip a relationship apart. So, I think it's so encouraging and so awesome that you guys have such a strong loving relationship."

She's right. Things like that could rip a relationship apart. And they do. Many of our trials likely are sources of conflict in relationships. We don't see them that way. We do what we can and move on while loving one another. What good does arguing do over a job search anyway?

Once upon a time, I hated school. At least the academic part of it. I loved recess, lunch, music time, and any social interaction. But classes and homework? Not so much. Oh, I was smart, but I was lazy. I'm sure teachers were frustrated by me. I could have had A's but walked out with much lower grades because I rarely turned things in. Better believe I aced most tests though!

Something changed when I transferred from my local community college to my college in Maryland. At the end of my semester, I found I'd earned a 4.0. It was like crack. All the sudden, I was one of those grade-obsessed kids I used to make fun of. I now LOVED school. I graduated with a 3.95 (darn you, you one stupid B!)



Yep, all those years of hating school, only to turn around in the final two. Truth be told, I miss it now. I dream often of going back. It was so much easier to succeed those days.

There's only one thing I really don't miss about my whole college experience: textbooks. I was a product of public schools. Buying books was unheard of. You checked them in on the first day of school and checked them out the last. You only paid if you lost or severely damaged the things.

Nope. College makes you buy every. last. one. Lame. Even lamer? You try to sell that $120 sucker back at the end of the year and the unsympathetic kid behind the counter offers you $5, take it or leave it. What!?

I thought I was pretty good about bargain shopping in my day. I generally got good deals on my books through careful online scouring, but I still never had a semester where I got all my books under $300. Now that I've heard about campusbookrentals.com, I'm a little mad. And I REALLY want to go back to school.

Seriously? I'm a little bitter that this wasn't around in time for me.

Actually, it's not too late for me: turns out, if you own books, you can rent them to other students with their RentBack program. That means you make money semester after semester! Not too shabby.

I didn't get to the best part. Yes, this is a genius business model...but they don't hoard all the cash to themselves. They donate a part of EVERY single rental to Operation Smile, an international children's medical charity that heals children's smiles by providing safe, effective reconstructive surgery and related medical care for children born with facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate.

I often feel guilty when I can't donate to charities as there are so many worthy causes. This gets two birds with one stone for you: affordable textbook access AND a good deed!

I was an uber picky eater when I was a kid. I probably still am, though I hide it better than some (I'm talking to you people who order chicken fingers wherever you go!). At taco bell, I ordered tacos. At any Mexican restaurant, really. End of story. Pizza was cheese only.

In my first post regarding my choice to go vegetarian, I even mentioned that really we were all such picky eaters, we ate the same things at home over and over again, mainly spaghetti. I mean, lasagna? Oh, no! That is a crazy foreign concept.

Occasionally we would branch out and order Chinese. This may shock you, but I ordered the same thing every time. I don't know why my mom even bothered to ask me what I wanted. Chicken fried rice and an egg roll. This went on until I graduated high school and branched out to chicken and broccoli. Go me! Now I just don't bother with Chinese takeout. Wanna know why?

The veg diet is part of it, but more importantly, I tried to make the stuff myself one day. And I succeeded  On the first try! I could not believe how darn easy it was to prepare fried rice. All these years, I'd been getting ripped off! No more. Seriously, this is on the easy level with a grilled cheese sandwich. I keep cooked rice in the fridge and frozen veggies in the freezer so I can throw this together on a lazy night.

Haven't tried? Allow me to help. Stop paying the takeout people crazy money for this. It's likely healthier anyway if you DIY!

Veggie Fried Rice

I feel like I only just discovered this fun link up and got to know Karla and Veronica. I'm sad to see it go. What will I do with my Fridays now?

Oh so true. I think this was one of my very first pins when I joined Pinterest.

Tie for the wedding pic.

The Walsh Timeline...

June 5, 2010
Got Married!


June 5, 2011
Made it a year. Celebrated with a kayaking excursion and anniversary photo shoot with Victoria Wolcott Photography.


June 5, 2012
Two years! Flat broke and had to work since it was a Monday, but celebrated with cake and a gift exchange.

We didn't even get a picture. But here we are a few weeks later in Maine. That counts, right?

June 5, 2013
Three years! Still flat broke. Cake today and gifts come payday!

After my sister's recent graduation. She mailed me this as an anniversary gift. I think it summarizes our relationship well!

If you asked us where we thought we'd be three years from our wedding, we'd have said in a house with a dog. Me advancing in the career my degree warranted me. Maybe in a different state, maybe even taking about kids. Definitely still happy and in love.

I often get depressed because out of all of those statements, only one is true. Thankfully, it is the last statement. That one being true makes dealing with the others more bearable.

We are still in a one bedroom apartment while the rent goes up and our hourly wages stay the same. I love my job but make what I did with just my high school diploma. No dog allowed in the apartment, and if we can't afford a home, we certainly aren't talking kids. It's not ideal, but it's OK. I come home to a best friend who loves me and If I had to choose, I would rather have him any day.

Happy Anniversary, Sean!

You may or may not have noticed the lack of recipes on my blog as of lately. The truth is, I can be quite lazy. There are times where I'm all about destroying playing in the kitchen, and then there are (much longer) times where I want nothing more than to grab some Panera and call it a day.

My wallet doesn't always allow that and obviously, it isn't the healthiest to begin with. Then I have to resort to what is left in the house because I'm too lazy to grocery shop and too lazy to put much effort into making something anyway.

Don't judge me. I know you've been there, too.

I know because I recently discussed my top five blog posts since beginning re•solve, and I realized that four of those five were recipes. Quick, lazy recipes to be specific. I mean, my #1 post of all time, Arbonne Protein Bars, involves some stirring and a minute in the microwave.

this was one of my first posts and I thought nothing of it, but many of you felt otherwise!

So, here's my solution. I'm lazy and apparently you all like it. So, I'll be sharing more of my go-to lazy day recipes that I once thought worthless because the numbers have spoken! Any time you see a post prefaced with super lazy eats, you'll know what's up. I'm starting now with a throwback and a new recipe, both from a sack of potatoes!

Super Lazy Eats: nom nom potatoes and vegan potato salad

Over the weekend, I realized how empty my kitchen was. All fresh veggies were gone save for a sack of red potatoes.

I snack throughout the day, so it is not unusual for me to cook a veggie and call it dinner like I'm doing here. And, since potatoes take time, I pulled a lazy trick of doing double duty - I prepared two potato dishes at once.

The first I have blogged about before - nom nom potatoes. Yum. These never get old. You can make them with any potato you want, but I do think red is my personal favorite.


While those baked, I boiled more potatoes on the oven so I could whip up a potato salad to hide in the fridge so my lazy self would be pleasantly surprised on another hungry day. Lazy resourcefulness!

Vegan Red Potato Salad

Thanks to Coastal Charm for featuring this post.

That totally makes it sound like I'm four years old, and I'm totally OK with it.

I believe in celebrating the little things. Today, I'm celebrating six months of re•solve with bloggy friends who have encouraged me and helped me grow via ad swaps, Cara Box exchanges, and other fun weird things that only bloggers do!



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