Rearranging

So far in 2019, we have done a lot of rearranging. I feel like rearranging can give a whole new feel to your life.

Over last weekend, I rearranged the kitchen after living here for almost 8 months now. Man, do we have a lot of kitchen stuff we do not need and food we need to eat before it spoils. I also feel like the area is more streamlined for my needs.

I cleared out the things we got upgrades of from our registry and found this I forgot we had. For instance, I bought my partner a soda stream since he loves soda water, but he prefers the taste for a particular brand and has used the appliance maybe 5 times since I purchased it for him close to 5 years ago. Needless to say, that will be going.

In addition to moving around the kitchen, we also opened up a second high interest savings account this month. We are so grateful to have a decent income now and noticed way too much money was sitting in our very low interest checking account. We had already opened a high interest account at a different institution last year and have seen excellent profits in it over just one year.

This new savings account we opened will be our home down payment account. I would like to save extra than what we plan to use for a down payment so that we can spruce the place up if we need to or buy any new furniture or appliances we may need. Its a dream for me to own my own place and stop feeling like I am throwing money away on renting. I also want to feel like I can fix things I know I can easily repair and really make a place I live in my own space.

Have you rearranged anything and it made things better? Any recommendations?

Illness free for a whole cycle!

The tricks worked for this past cycle! Thank you to my friends for the advice! Knock on wood that the tips continue to work. I have not been sick since early December and more folks at work have gotten sick. Not to mention, sick kids are coming in every day. So I am VERY happy with the results.

I am now viewing it as not only do I want to prevent my getting sick, but that I want to prevent my partner, coworkers, museum visitors and people I come into contact with from getting sick as well. My wellness and habits can help all those folks.

I am hoping for another illness free cycle. I mean I know I will get sick again at some point, but if I can go as long as possible without getting sick that would be amazing! I will keep you posted.

Step Back From Telling Others How to Live

I feel like we get this so much and when I catch myself doing it, I feel like a crap bag. Yep, I curse when I am annoyed. Whether it is telling people how to spend their money, raise their children or lose weight, we all really need to just shut it.

For instance, there is someone who makes comments about how there is too much space in our home and we need to get things to fill it up more. We like having some emptiness, I consider it dancing and yoga space, while my partner sees it as his place to do his school chants and let his aggression out on the air when his team is failing him. We explained this to the person and they continue to make their same comments. What does it do to your life?

However, I admit that seeing things, such as unnecessary waste, can send me off the deep end. I am trying to get to a point of simply making a statement, but being careful of  when I do so and not directing it toward anyone. While it is important to me, I should not make anyone feel forced into following practices I am not even perfect about following myself. Also, I know if you really want to educate someone, the negative approach never works.

I say, you do you. As long as you are not hurting anyone and it works for you, then it is great! In summary, we should all save our energy to just be kind to one another and understand that everyone lives life differently.

My trip to Burlington, Vermont

About a month ago, I tagged along with my partner on a trip to the Burlington, VT office. I had planned a trip back in 2016 to Vermont that never came to fruition to see the famed VT fall foliage as a way to celebrate our 30th birthdays. So I was pretty excited to take this trip. I spent a lot of time solo, but it was a lot of fun.

We drove up on a Sunday and checked out the Zero Gravity Brewery for dinner. The drive was beautiful and very scenic. The brewery made us realize that Vermonters must me very into IPAs. That is ok, but we are not so much. The food was amazing though! Highly recommend! We then drove to Church St to see what the hub-bub was about. It is a cute shopping area and we got some Ben and Jerry’s even though it felt like 20°. The last thing we did the first night was pick up some groceries from City Market.

Monday, my partner left for work around 7:15 AM and I did yoga and worked on our Christmas cards while watching YouTube videos. I did that each morning until about 10 or 11 AM.

I then drove downtown and parked in a car park which was free for 4 hours for the holiday season. I walked down to ECHO because I museum person has to check out local museums. ECHO was very cool and gave me a lot of ideas with my own institution. I loved the layout of the museum and the design of the children’s area was amazing!

After that I walked along the waterfront and then up to Church St to do some shopping for the holidays. Wow. Vermont has the local product game down! I was pretty impressed when we were at City Market the night before, but the shops along Church St and even else where around town were fantastic! I picked up some Christmas gifts and maple syrup for us before head to American Flatbread for lunch.

                                    

Lunch was amazing! I got the lunch combo of a salad and personal size pizza which was covered in locally made toppings. I also enjoyed a cider from my favorite place with it. After lunch I picked up some mini cupcakes just off of Church St to try. I think we liked them all. My partner met up with me back at the hotel where we rested until we went for dinner on Church St.

We got ramen and karage which were very good. The food in Burlington did not disappoint. I will try to include pictures. We walked around Church St because even though it was very cold, Church St is quite charming. Of course the holiday lights do not hurt.

Tuesday, I drove to the Lake Champlain Chocolate factory. It was cool and I enjoyed the samples. My lunch though stole the show. I got an everything bagel from Myer’s and wish I had bought more. The Montreal spice is a must. I got the cream cheese with the spice and have to pick up the spice next time we go to Vermont.

After bagel heaven, I stopped by the world’s tallest filing cabinet before exploring the second location of City Market. If I lived in Burlington, I would probably do all my shopping there. The quality of the food and all the local options available was just so impressive. Some would say pricey, but its a co-op, so get yourself a membership to make it more affordable.

I also toured the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, which was way better than the so called chocolate factory tour. My tour guide was amazing and the product they make comes with quite the guarantee. If only I had a kiddo to buy one for.

Our last night, I saved the best dinner for last. We went to my favorite cider maker, Citizen Cider. I was introduced to Citizen Cider at my favorite beer store in Chicago. The Dirty Mayor with its gingery taste won me over instantly and I just kept buying it. Getting to go to Citizen Cider was a real treat. I got to try ciders that I only had seen on the website and pick up of swag. That poutine we had for dinner though… wowza!

Wednesday was not terribly exciting. I picked up groceries, got gas and then we drove home after his lunch time meeting. Overall, I loved how easy it was to drive around town, the walk ability of the downtown area, the street art, the quirkiness of Vermont itself, the kindness and spirit of the locals, the quality of life and left feeling like I am really looking forward to visiting again.