Category Archives: About me

Posts that tell you a little bit more about me.

10 Years Ago

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10 years ago today, I was seventeen and in my senior year of high school.  1st period was AP Statistics, and we had a test that morning.  This was before Facebook updates, internet news feeds and the predominance of text messaging, so during that hour, we were cut off from the world.  The bell rang to go to homeroom around 9:00am, and while walking through the hallway, I heard other students talking about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center.  ”What a horrible freak accident” I thought.  Then I got to homeroom and the television was on.  The second plane had just hit minutes before.  That was when the sinking realization came that this was no accident.

I don’t know if we had a morning show that morning, because no one wanted to change the channel.  We were all glued to the news.  3rd period was Physics, and instead of having a normal class, our teacher turned off the television and we discussed what happened.  This was the first time I ever heard the name Osama Bin Laden.  The principal made an announcement.  Then a student who had been in the office rushed in and told us to turn the television on, one of the towers had collapsed.  We were glued to the TV once again, and watched in horror as the second tower fell.

4th period was English, and my English teachers way of coping with what had happened was to have class as usual.  I think we studied Shakespeare, but everything was in such a daze, that I really don’t remember.  I skipped lunch that day to go to the library so I could keep watching the news.  I had journalism for the last class of the day, and I was already witnessing the aftermath of what that day would bring.  One of my classmates was Egyptian, and other students had been asking her about Islam.  She was insulted because she was Coptic Orthodox – her family left Egypt to avoid religious persecution.  This was only the beginning of the xenophobia to come.

I can’t remember what I did the day before, or what I did the day after.  But September 11, 2001, will be forever etched into my memory.

Summer 11 in 2011: Wrap Up

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Back in June, I posted a list of 11 goals I wanted to complete during my summer off.  I’ve been back at work for several weeks now, so I figured it was time to wrap up how I did.

Here’s my list:

  • Go kayaking on the Hillsborough River: Unfortunately, this one didn’t happen.  I did manage to do some research and find out about locations that you can rent kayaks at, but I didn’t get around to doing any actual kayaking.  However, I am planning a kayaking trip with my dad soon.
  • Try hot yoga again: I only ended up going to two classes, but I still gave it a shot.
  • Ride my bike as often as possible: I didn’t ride as much as I should have, but I did get out on my bike at least three or four times this summer.
  • Swim laps at least once a week: I didn’t swim once a week, but I did go frequently and found that I really enjoy it.  I haven’t been back to the pool since school started, but I’m hoping to this week.
  • Read a ton of books: I read the books in the picture above plus at least four or five others.  Not bad for eight weeks off.
  • Go to the beach: Technically, I did go to the beach when I was in California, but I never visited any Florida beaches this summer.
  • Have a day hike/picnic: Did this one with my mom, nephews, and nephew’s mom.  Hopefully I’ll hike even more once the weather cools down.
  • Plant that garden from my 11 in 2011 list: Umm, does planting two basil plants and not killing them count?
  • Save money: Meh.  Technically I did manage to save a little money this summer, but only about $200.  I didn’t get my credit card paid off either.  I blame this on an office/studio revamp and too many trips to IKEA.
  • Plan for next year: I did read some of the Battle Books this summer, but other than that, I didn’t really plan much for the school year.  I find that when I have time off, it’s really hard to get my brain back into work mode.
  • Finish knitting my sweater (11 in 2011 list): Check!  I can’t wait for the fall with this one.
So, I managed to really complete five of my goals, sorta completed most of the rest, and a couple I didn’t do at all.  Still, I had a great summer, so no regrets :)

My Fitness Plan (for the school year)

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This summer, I’ve been really good about getting active again.  I’ve worked out on and off since I was 18, but the only time I was really consistent (and got results) was about 5 and a 1/2 years ago, when I went running three times a week and did strength training twice a week consistently for several months.  I lost a lot of weight, felt great, and ran a 5K.  Then my fiance at the time broke up with me (I always worked out with him) and I was never really as consistent after that.  I tried to keep running, but I slacked off.  I got back into gym workouts while in grad school and had some consistency, but they became too boring and took too much time, so I dropped that.  This summer, with plenty of free time, I’ve begun consistently running three days a week, strength training for two, and going to a yoga class for one.

I know that it will be difficult to maintain this when I start working forty hours a week again in two weeks.  I have to be at work by 7:00am each morning, and I don’t want to wake up at 4:30am to go running in the dark, because that’s not enjoyable to me, and I need to enjoy my workouts if I want to keep it up.  So this is my plan to make sure that I find a pace that is sustainable.  By writing it down on here, it helps me to commit to my plan and stick with it.  (If I am consistent for two weeks, I plan on giving myself a little reward, like some cute workout clothes from Athelta or Lululemon.  If I’m consistent for another month after that, I get another reward.  That will help motivate me on days when I really don’t feel like working out.)

(Note: this plan is specifically for me and my schedule.  I don’t expect it to work for everyone, and I didn’t write it that way.)

  • Sundays: AM – Yoga class – I treat this like church.   I do my best to always make it every week.  Occasionally though, I do go out for brunch with my family.  On those days, I will go to Yoga in the Park in the evening, or practice at home.
  • Mondays and Wednesdays – AM – Strength Training – I mostly do free weights and body weight exercises, as well as crunches.  By doing this in the morning, I can get energized for the day, and free up time after work for meetings and errands.  Since I do this indoors at home, it doesn’t matter if it’s dark outside.  Waking up extra early only two days a week is much more sustainable for me than trying to do it every day. Ideas: Buy an old iPod and armband to listen to tunes while working out.   Break up the routine occasionally with medicine balls, exercise balls, etc)
  • Tuesdays and Thursdays – PM – Cardio – For me, this is generally running.  But I’ll switch it up every once and awhile to make it interesting.  Swimming, hiking, skating, biking are all other options.  I need to make sure this is something that I look forward to.  I plan to try jogging in new locations, like local parks and such, to help motivate me (of course, I always carry mace when I run.  A girl has to be safe).  I’ll pack a bag with my running clothes so I can change after work and hit it fast, otherwise my motivation will likely lag.
  • Friday – PM – Day off or Fun Workout – Depending on how hard I’ve hit it the rest of the week, this is generally a day to take it a bit easy and do something fun.  Walking to a local park and swinging on the swingset, swimming laps for fun, visiting an indoor skating rink.  Just something to get my body moving, but nothing too intense because of what comes next…
  • Saturday – AM – Long run – This is to help me train for a 5K (and after that, a 10K maybe?).  I can do different types of cardio for my other workouts, but this needs to always be a run, to keep my training steady.

 

A Non-Niche Blog

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Sarah Von at Yes and Yes had a great post today about tips for non-niche bloggers. I felt so inspired after reading it that I wrote a really long comment.  Here it is:

“Thank you for writing this post! I’ve gradually shifted my blog over the past year from being a daily outfit blog to a non-niche blog. There’s several topics that I write about a lot (style, sustainability, bentos, health, Etsy) but there’s not one individual thing. I recently changed my tagline to ” a little bit of this and that for the optimistic soul” and I’m so glad I did. It really sums up the tone of my blog, since I prefer to keep a positive perspective.

Thanks for re-affirming that I made the right choice. I was worried at first about losing readers, but now I enjoy writing my blog more than ever.”

I’m so happy that I got myself out of the box I had originally put myself into.  I started as a craft blogger, but then discovered the style world, and started only blogging daily outfits, but then as I discovered other interests, I wanted to write about them too, but I wasn’t sure how they would fit.  Now that I’ve accepted the fact that my blog doesn’t stick into one defined niche, I feel so free.  I can write about outfits or bento boxes or composting or my Etsy favorites or riding my bike,  always keeping what I consider my signature positive tone..  I may not have the statistics and sheer number of readers that I used to have, but I feel that the quality of my interactions with you, my readers, has improved dramatically since I shifted.  I don’t know if you noticed, by I updated my header recently by changing the tagline from “style and sustainability for the optimistic soul” to “a little bit of this and that for the optimistic soul”.

I just want to say thank to my readers for sticking with me and supporting me as I transitioned to where my blog is today.  It wouldn’t be anywhere near as much fun without you!

Oceanside, CA (Part 2)

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Welcome to Part 2!  Above you will see a picture of my favorite place to hang out in Oceanside – Pierview Coffee.  I can’t even tell you how many times I ended up here on my trip, but I do know that one day I visited three times – coffee in the morning, gelato at lunch, and herbal tea in the afternoon.  It was just a short walk from where we were staying, so we walked down here for coffee and breakfast on several occasions.  I liked it so much, I even bought a t-shirt there (you’ll see it soon).

After looking at all the beautiful gardens in California, I’ve pretty much decided that I have to plant a succulent garden.  So many beautiful varieties – there were a ton that I had never seen before.

(Carlo makes goofy camera faces for me)

The food was pretty amazing too.  These are some fish tacos from Alfredo’s in Oceanside – seriously the best fish tacos I’ve ever eaten.  They were so awesome that I went back and got more two more times during the trip.

And these were the calorific Bacon Waffles I had at the Breakfast Club Diner (yes, named after that Breakfast Club).  That’s crumbled bacon mixed into the batter – heavenly, although my stomach felt loaded down the rest of the day.

We also spent one day in Balboa Park in San Diego, where we saw beautiful sculptures, looked at flowers, rode a vintage carousel (I caught one of the rings!) and rode a miniature train.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip, and I hope to have many more.

Oceanside, CA (Part 1)

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A few weeks ago, I traveled with my boyfriend and his family to Oceanside, CA for a week.  I’d been to Southern California once before, for my boyfriend’s brother’s wedding.  This time we were traveling to meet his brother and sister-in-law’s brand new baby girl.  It was a really fun relaxing trip.  I could totally see myself living in Oceanside, if I didn’t have such deep ties to Tampa.  If I ever save up enough money, I’d love to buy a timeshare there that I could live at every summer.

Walking on the beach in California is amazing.  The sand is a lot darker than Florida’s, which seems more natural to me, since we import a lot of our white sand here.  There’s all these beautiful, smooth beach stones all over the place.  I brought a couple home with me.  And the waves!  I loved getting up early in the morning to sit out on the beach and watch surfers catch the waves.

Oh and the weather!  70s and 60s everyday.  I could wear jeans and a cardigan outside – in June! – and not get sweaty – even after walking for an hour.  That never happens in Florida summers.

I wore my Keen Sarasotas pretty much everywhere.  They continue to be the best beach shoes ever.  Even if they did give me minor blisters after walking for 3 + miles in them.

Me and Carlo on the Pier in Oceanside.  This is one of the best places to people watch.  Surfers, fishermen, locals, tourists – everyone ends up here.

More photos and stories to come in Part 2!

“Living is simple”

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Right now, life is a crazy, hectic and over-stressed world, and I’m just trying to make it through it one day at a time.  Nothing particularly bad is happening, there’s just lots and lots of deadlines as the school year winds down,  lots of bored kids who don’t want to stay on task, and lots of stressed out fellow adults dealing with their own deadlines.  I know that this just goes with the territory as the school year comes to a close, so I’m just taking it one day at a time.

At this point, I’m trying to keep the rest of my life as simple as possible so that I can really focus on the important things and not get bogged down by clutter.  That includes physical, mental and emotional clutter.  I took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill during spring break.  I’ve started listing stuff I know longer use on eBay (if you’re interested, check out here.  It’s just shoes right now, but I might add books and other misc later).  I’ve been clearing mental clutter by cleaning out my inbox and cutting back on mailings that don’t interest me.  I’ve been trying to deal with some emotional clutter by getting rid of items that I was holding onto because I was trying to cling to a part of me that doesn’t fit anymore.  These items were things that used to be a strong part of my identity, but my identity has changed, and I think that they had simply become emotional weight that was bringing me down subconsciously.

I have a feeling that the tone of my blog is changing and evolving.  I don’t really like to write short, frequent posts anymore (and it’s difficult to find the time).  But I love to share with my readers (you!) and I love to express my thoughts and my journey through life in this blog.  I think my posting style is going to change to longer, deeper, but less frequent posts.  That’s just what works for me right now, and I think it’s best to go with the flow of how my life is rather than to stress myself out conforming to a pattern that doesn’t work for me.  We’ll see how it goes :)

Tank: Ann Taylor LOFT (Revolve)
Cardigan: J Crew (eBay)
Slacks: Gap
Shoes: Dansko Sally
Necklace: Urban Outfitters

Quote: Living is Simple, by Switchfoot

Spring Breakin’

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I’ve had this whole week off for Spring Break, and it’s been glorious!  Here’s what I’ve been up to:

  • Getting my read on:  I’m a librarian, so I’m always in the middle of a book.  Since I had so much free time this week, I read more than usual.  It was awesome.
  • Spring cleaning: I’m horrible at putting off household chores.  My kitchen floor generally looks disgusting.  This week, I swept, vacuumed, and scrubbed to catch up on all those chores. (And my boyfriend cleaned the bathroom and did an amazing job!).  I’ve also taken the opportunity to declutter – cleaning out my file cabinet, getting rid of half-finished craft projects I have no desire to do anymore.  I took three bags of crap we didn’t need anymore to Goodwill – it was so freeing.

  • Awesome thrifting karma: Maybe it was getting rid of all that stuff, but I had awesome thrifting karma this week.  I was desperately needing some new clothes for yoga, since my yoga pants have seen better days.  I went to Goodwill, Revolve and Second Image with the intent of simply getting new yoga pants and tops.  I ended up with: 2 pairs of yoga pants, a pair of running shorts, a short sleeved hoodie, several new tops, and the most kick-a** pair of white glittery Doc Marten boots (seen above).  With my Revolve store credit, the total damage from all three stores: a mere $34.  Heck yes.

  • Line drying laundry: I realize that this totally doesn’t sound exciting to most people, but I love line drying my laundry.  I find it so relaxing to get out in the sunshine and hang clothes up to dry.  When I’m working, I try to hold off on laundry til the weekends, but I often have to run a load or two during the week, and there usually isn’t enough sunshine left to line dry.  I’ve had plenty of sunny warm days this week, so I’ve been catching up on laundry I’ve been neglecting.  I’ve also been washing up all those new thrifting finds.
  • Being a responsible adult: As I mentioned earlier, I cleaned out my files this week.  I also took my computer into the Apple store to have it looked at (which is part of why I haven’t been posting much lately).  If I’m really, really responsible, I’ll spend a couple hours tomorrow working on homework for my teaching certificate.  Maybe.
  • Yoga! Running! Biking!: I love exercising in the morning.  Since I have to be a work by 7:10 during the school year, that never happens normally.  This week, I’ve been able to go running before it gets ridiculously hot.  I’ve been trying out yoga classes that don’t normally work with my schedule.  I’ve hopped on my bike to run errands.  I’m hoping to work in some swimming and hiking, but we’ll have to see.  Now, if I only had a kayak….

We Are Teachers Grant – Please Vote!

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my library

I normally don’t post anything personal or work-related on here, but I need your help to start a new project in my library.

I am currently participating in a contest sponsored by AccuCut and WeAreTeachers.  I submitted a grant project for creating a student-run book review wall in my media center to encourage students to have discussions about books and to help give them a sense of ownership in the library.  The grant money would help us to purchase the supplies we need to start the book review wall.

The winners of the grants are chosen through an online voting process – the top five projects with the most votes get $200 to use towards their project and a Flip video camera to document it.  The project with the most votes gets $500.

I’m almost in 10th place right now, so I just need about 400 more votes or so to get in the top five.

If you have a minute, I really appreciate it if you would vote for my project.  Simply follow this link and search for “Diana” to find my project  Thanks!!!

Voting runs until March 31st.
Thank you so much for your support!
~Diana

    “Each with a star dissolved in the blue”

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    I really didn’t intend to be more or less MIA for the past few weeks, but as we all know, life has a way of being overwhelming sometimes.  I’ve been extremely busy at work: tech conference out of town, preparing for a bookfair, working on my teaching certification (more on that later this week).  Needless to say, it’s been busy and stressful.  The stress caused some of my skin problems to flare up, so I didn’t want to take many outfit pictures.  Things are started to calm down now.  Just don’t get worried if my posting is occasionally sporadic in the next few months – I should always be posting at least once or twice a week, but right now, I can’t handle much more than that.

    I love this beautiful Boden cardigan, but for awhile I was a bit frustrated with it, since I always ended up wearing it with the same combination of jeans and a solid tank over and over.  I wanted to find a new way to wear it, and my answer came last week as I was trying to find a new way to remix my favorite navy dress.  Turns out, this cardigan makes a really cute wrap bolero too.  (And by the way, it was in the 70s that day.  No snow for Florida :/ )

    Cardigan: Boden
    Dress: Soprano
    Shoes: Dansko Sally
    Necklace: Express
    Headband: Target

    Quote: George MacDonald

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