Turn Off Your Mind, Relax, and Float Downstream.....

Been a minute here... I have been pretty caught up in May. I had my cousin come into town, went to Wilmington, NC for the first time, met my new boyfriend (Yes, I now have a boyfriend - it's even Facebook official!), and have been having some serious health issues.

First, Wilmington in April!
AWESOME city.... rich, beachy sleepy town with a gritty service based underbelly. It rained the whole DAMN time... we did try to make the best of it and hide out in pubs passing time. Our room was amaze-balls! Right on the beach - here is the view....

Nice huh? Waves were intense due to the rain... we ended up that night at a gay club, watching a drag show that was pretty bad.

Sidenote - I LIVE FOR A GOOD DRAG SHOW! Legends in Raleigh has the most amazing ladies you have ever seen... this place paled in comparison, but it was fun and I got huge, fake titties in my face at one point when the host forced me to motorboat her. Yep... the queens love me.

So as the night progressed in this club, we noticed a lot and I mean, A LOT, of the kids (listen to me sounding all old at 28) were using electronic cigarettes... like huffing them like it was a joint. It was the cool thing to not smoke the cancer sticks, and to smoke the E-cigs.... it was SO strange to see people all over using these vaporizers essentially, in such a huge volume. All over the night club we saw little red or blue lighted tips!

Yup that's us doing goofy photos after opening a bottle of wine.
While the cuz was in town, we also went to Legends, to a baseball game, the movies and ran around Raleigh!

May brought a new man in my life and he is wonderful. <3<3<3
He is an ACO and moved here from Illinois this past year. I'm very lucky as he is the sweetest man (so far)... will keep y'all posted on this.

I have been fighting a nasty sinus infection / allergy infestation madness since February. On again off again sickness paired with congestion, pain, and coughing. I am not sure what the frick is going on with my immune system, but have been on antibiotics for a while with little avail.
I think I just got allergies this year with the pollen being BANANAS in NC this year. First year ever and I am such a baby...

Laters!

Bottles and Cans... Just Clap Your Hands

Asheville was AMAZING as always!

Bia and I had a great time, she was such a trooper with a sprained ankle. I bought her fancy chocolates to thank her at this awesome place :)

It was so YUMMY! After we indulged ourselves in toddy and truffles, we walked around downtown to various shops, some amazing people playing mountian music, had a fabulous lunch, and ended up at the Grove Park Inn. Within the first few hours we saw a man playing Sublime on a harp, a guy dressed as a nun on a unicycle and a motorcycle with a side car pulling a pig in a cage... yes that is Asheville!

 Mountian band....

Sublime Harp player

Shop on main....

Me looking at some awesome paintings on resin and wood...

View from the terrace at the Grove Park Inn....

We just had a lovely time there in the moutians together! We of course went to the bars at night, got our drink the FUCK on, and ended up meeting some cool people. I ended up meeting a nice mountain man :) Something about those damn beards......

 

Until next time! Cheers!

Asheville Bound!

I am going to Asheville, NC this weekend with BIA B :D
Very excited about this much needed trip out of town... only downfall is BIA B decided to take a spill last night and she sprained her damn ankle!
This means either two things:
1. We are going to spend an awful lot of time in either a car or the hotel room, OR
2. We will end up in some crazy ass, crutches involved situations!

I am praying for #2....
We will not get to view the Biltmoore like I wanted to, but that is OK. We might still go on our winery tour.
I did find an amazing Techno Dance party on Friday night to go to.. but not sure she can do much dancing...hehe.

I will have pictures to post upon our return for sure!

Also last night I sold my storage bench! whoo hoo! 1 more thing gone!

The Challenge Continues!

3 mugs, 1 glass, a baking pan (1 of 4! why did I have 4 baking pans?!), and the bench is being bought tonight. That's 6 more things outta my life to manage! whoo hoo!

I have come down with a rather nasty sinus infection and have been stuffy / sore throaty for about a month now. I figured yesterday that I should probably go to the doctor and get some meds. Now, I haven't been to a general doctor in years... I mean.... YEARS! But I took a stab at one I found online and drove on my lunch break to get some much needed antibiotics.

Not only did I have to wait over an hour because they were behind, not only was the nurse an old crow who asked invasive questions unrelated to why I was there (Uh, why do you need to know if condoms are my primary BC if I am not on the pill??), BUT my "doctor" was a pony-tail wearing, tan to the gills, nasty toothed hippy!! And I LOVE hippys.. I just don't want my doctor to be one! So I sat and listened to his reccomendation that he had to change once he heard I don't have allergies (He was convinced that's what it was), and then waited for him to get my results for strep.
While I was looking out the window and sneaking peaks in drawers, I heard him telling the BIA nurse that he couldn't figure out their Rx system.

Lo and behold... he couldn't - NAY - wouldn't call my Rx in.

Great. Now I get to sit at Walgreens and wait.

Thanks, Dr. GoodfornothingHippy.

100 Things in 100 Days Challenge, part deux!

OK, blogworld, on to more decluttering and organizing! :D

I donated 2 shirts, 2 dresses, a pair of flip flops, a jacket, a hoodie, pair of socks, a plastic bin, drapes and a folding chair! Whoot! That is 14 more items out of my life!

I just want to point out that I never really had A LOT of things. I was at a medium level of processions in my opinion, but I just felt the need to have less and manage less. As a self proclaimed clean freak, I felt that if I had to wipe one more shelf of dusty books or clean out the dumb junk drawer again, I was going to go bananas.

I did,however, do a non-minimalist thing this weekend - EEP!
I bought something that I have coveted for a long time and have hunted for on Craigslist FOREVES!
A PAPASAN CHAIR for $40! That is a sch-weet deal that I couldn't pass up! Be jelly!
I drove up North Raleigh, got lost, packed it Tetris style in my little car and hummed all the way home with joy. :)

SO to compensate... I am getting rid of this lovely storage bench... any takers? It is awesome and from IKEA (LOVE), but I have nothing to put in the sucker anymore because of my new found minimalism.
http://raleigh.craigslist.org/fuo/3666547070.html

What else did I do this weekend you might ask? Well, I went to the grocery 3 times due to forgetting items for a recipe, I met with K for dinner, which quickly turned to dinner and drinks, met a guy who was a conspiracy / gun nut who I just had to bait and mess with being the bia I am, I watched season 2 of Sherlock, I made 2 dozen strawberry meringue cupcakes for my cooking MeetUp tonight, and I bought a Betta Fish, which I have yet to name... help?!

~ Nicole  

100 Things in 100 Days Challenge!

Whelp, I have been bitten by the Minimalist Bug! I secretly imagine this bug to be very svelte, very leggy, very teethy and very pale green... kind of a mix between a praying mantis and stick bug if you will.

I have been playing with the idea of minimalism for about a year and half now. Several months ago, after my then-boyfriend moved in with all his stuff and a dog, it really sunk in just how much crap I have accumulated in my less than 30 years! I started to feel claustrophobic and stuffed... Literally STUFFED with STUFF in my tiny one bedroom apartment.

So, I did what any normal gal does, I Googled my issue and found some great information on Minimalism. I researched, read some inspiring blogs and printed out a new mantra:

A Minimalist’s Train of Thought

Less money spent means more money saved

More money saved means the longer you can live in financial peace and security

Financial peace and security comes from owning less

Less stuff owned means less to carry around, move or have to travel with

Less responsibility for your stuff also means less maintenance and more time

The more time you have, the more relaxed you will feel

The more relaxed you are, the less you will care about stuff

If you care less about stuff, it means you’ll care less about image

If you care less about image, you will care more about experiences and memories

If you care more about experiences and memories, you will be happier with less

If you are happier with less, you’ll never want or need for more

The less you want or need for more, the more you will feel free!

I started having daydreams of living out of a suitcase, being able to travel at the drop of a dime, paying down all my debt and just living simply with only the items I truly needed to survive. Then reality hit me as my cat jumped in my lap, showing me just how not mobile I really am.

But, I was motivated and did my due diligence by cleaning out junk drawers, closets and cupboards. I got rid of bags of clothes, boxes of books (and their bookshelves), and many household items.
I felt so satisfied afterwards.... really accomplished and happy. I had LESS to manage, LESS to worry about and LESS to clean... it was freedom! FREEDOM I tell you!

Then, CRASH... the freedom high wore off and I was grounded once again to my earthly possessions. Which by the way, seemed to multiply before I knew it... I have a sneaking suspicion that house elves are to blame.

I honestly gave up at the end of last year. I just felt I wasn't a"True Minimalist", one who can have less than 100 items and just pick up and go whenever the wind changed. But due to recent life events -- a rubber band break up, the resigning of my lease to my small apartment and a new view on debt vs. value-- I have been on a rampage emptying my apartment and have now accepted the

100 THINGS IN 100 DAYS CHALLENGE!!

I am vowing to sell, donate or trash 100 items in 100 days!

You better act like you know!

Items Lost Since 3/7/13: 39

• Shirt - Donated
• Sweatshirt - Donated
• Hanging Lantern - Given to my very best friend, Bia B.
• Light bulb - Given to Bia B.
• Outside table - Sold to Bia B.
• Gas Grill - Sold to my very good friend, K-Killa.
• Present Wrapping Bows (3) - Donated
• Anne Klein Pumps - Donated (and counting as 2 things, hehe)
• 24 Pens and markers - Most were dry... Trash!
• Big, dumb bureau cabinet that took 3 men to move - SOLD!
• Fish Tank stuff - who was I kidding?!? Donated.
• Duck Tape dispenser - Donated
• Cat sweater - Donated... The cat hated it anyways

I will keep y'all posted on the next round and have some pictures up shortly! Until then here is my favorite minimalist blog where my quote came from above....http://www.everydayminimalist.com/


Take Care!

The hardest part of ending is starting again

Hello Blog World!

First time blogger, here... Long time writer.

I am sharing my life in hopes that I can inspire creativity not only in myself, but others as well. This journey has been wonderfully challenging so far, and I can only dream of an even better future to come. This blog will surround my life events, cooking adventures, green living endeavors, city exploration, my so-called art attempts and my new found flame of minimalist living... basically, everything I love and hold dear to my little heart. <3


Please stop and stay for a while... browse around... peak in dusty corners... leave notes. I look forward to our time together and wish you calm moments filled with peace.

~ Nicole