My Favorite Day

Hi there! I'm Rachel. :) 26. Chicago bound small town girl. Passionate about social justice, self-acceptance, and creative expression, Newly vegetarian. Post-recovery for OCD/GAD/Depression. Lover of art, music, and literature. Yoga newbie,...

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Yesterday Gratitude

So my posting might be spotty. I'm adjusting to a new morning schedule and it'll be a week or so before it starts to not exhaust me.

But anyway, I'm working on affirmations and gratitude. I realized at some point yesterday that over the last year or so my depression and anxiety kept me from appreciating a lot of things. Trying to get back at it now that I've worked through a lot of those old triggers. So, yesterday:

- I visited my friend Allie after work and it felt nice to be out and about by myself all day. (The roadtrip was a lot of necessary codependency and now Reed and I work completely different schedules. Leaning back into independence is nice.)

-Plus, it was an inspiring time at Allie's. I feel like I have a better understanding of what I want this life chapter to be all about now. We also made plans to scrapbook together. :)

-I was extra productive and designed an ad for my mom's mailing list yesterday.

-When I called my mom about it, she said she's decided to get us tickets to a Chicago writer's conference this summer. Woo! :)

-And I got to talk to my Grandma on the phone today too. We lost my Grandpa in November so time with Grandma feels extra precious these days.

So yeah, not a bad work day. :)

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Heading to work after a successful morning. Got a green smoothie in tow and I'm trying to keep an eye on my anxiety and tension. Its Day 3 at my new job and it still makes me a little nervous.

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There and Back Again

Hi Tumblr!

It’s been years since I’ve posted on My Favorite Day.  I might need to find a new Tumblr crowd to hang with, but if any of my old followers are still here, feel free to heart or comment to let me know.  But anyway, last time I was here (late 2015/early 2016) I was fresh out of college and an abusive relationship.  I was healing back at my mom’s place for about 8 months, practicing self-love, feeding myself healthy food, getting regular exercise, making art, and reading literature.  It was a wonderful time that I hoping that getting back on here will help me tap into again. Since then, I: 

- Moved to Chicago. I lived in a big hippie house by the beach with 7 other musician roommates.

-I loved and lost and loved some more. A lot.  I built an amazing community around me and we all healed and grew together while carrying each other through some really dark times. There were some tough losses and incredible wins. -I also met my partner in that house. We started dating late summer 2017.

-Being in a committed relationship again triggered a lot of trauma within me.  I was working through healing that before the relationship and even more once I was in it. -Then my partner and another roommate and I traveled the western United States for 100 days at the end of last year. It was an incredible (and difficult) life changing adventure. -And now I’m back in Chicago starting a simple accounting job to afford getting my messy life back in order.   So here I am, because Tumblr always helps.  I’m really hoping to focus on self care a lot on here.  I need to update my bio and photo, but until then, hello lovely Tumblr!   Thanks for reading!  -Rachel

[queensbees]

okay I know that there are terrible terrible people out there but listen

I also know that there are people who stop and smile at tiny plants growing out of sidewalk cracks, people who laugh so loud they snort, people who compliment others randomly, people who take pictures of their friends because they love seeing their friends happy, people who ramble about things that they’re passionate about, people who blush and stutter, people who are kind, people who are warm, people who love and love and love and love.

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I think I started this in December. Maybe I'll finish by June. I procrastinate eeeeeverything. :P

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"We all shine on, Like the moon and the stars and the sun." <3

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Tumblr really needs to hurry up on getting comments back. I miss actually responding to you guys. :(

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Random selfie time? Why not, I guess. :P

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Life Goals :D

I keep saying I should make a list of ridiculously awesome life goals.  Since I won’t come up with everything all at once, I’ll just reblog whenever I think of a new one. 

Visit all 50 states.

Visit each continent (Antarctica optional)

Run a marathon.

Follow a band on tour.

Thru-hike the Appalachian Trail.

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Hike the Illinois River to River trail (maybe instead of the Appalachian trail. Iffy on that.)

Rope swing into a body of water. :)

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What I’m Eating Lately

I keep mentioning that I’ve been eating pretty well, but not specifically.  In case you were wondering (or at least for my own personal reference) it’s been something like this....

Breakfast

For the last 3 weeks, I’ve been trying to make my green smoothie for breakfast.  It has roughly 40% of my recommended daily nutrition in it, so I try to make it a priority.  That being said, I’ve been averaging 4-5 of these a week, since weekends and laziness happen. :P   Ingredients:

2 cups kale

1 apple

1 banana

1 cup greek yogurt

2 tbls chai seeds

1(ish) cup of almond milk

Lunch

Lunch originally was a bunch of raw veggies and dip, 2 boiled eggs, a big whole wheat cracker, and some almonds.  Lately I’ve been either pushing back the green smoothie till lunch or not eating between breakfast and dinner at all (if I’m busy) so now I’ve been adding all the veggies and dip to my dinner and dropping everything else.

Dinner

Unless it’s the weekend or I’m away from home, this is always an Amy’s brand, frozen vegetarian dinner.  Considering the rest of my day is kind of boring in the food department, I really look forward to these. :P  Frozen dinners aren’t the best, I know, but these are organic and I can identify everything in the ingredients list.  Good enough for me right now, lol.   There’s nights I end up eating an extra one of these a few hours later (probably those days where I’m accidentally skipping lunch) but I’m working on that.

Snacks/Drinks

During the week, I have a pretty easy time not snacking and I don’t really crave junk food or sugar at all.  I do usually have coffee with artificial sugar though. I’m letting that be my main vice, but I’ll get off the stuff eventually probably.  I’ve been completely free of soda (regular and diet) this whole time too.  As for adding more good stuff,  I try to drink a class of green tea in the morning, and I’m hoping to start drinking kava tea before bed. :)

Future Changes

I’m switching breakfast to half a grapefruit and 2 boiled eggs (more portable when I’m in a hurry).  Then I’ll do the green smoothie for lunch, and then I’ll continue adding the raw veggies to my dinner.   I was going to do this today, but I completely skipped lunch again and didn’t add veggies to supper either. Not very hungry now, but I’ll make sure to do better tomorrow.

Anywho! I feel like that was kind of boring, but there it is! The end. :D

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#Groundwork2016  Week 3

Technically into Week 4, but I never really said anything after setting up a few goals at the beginning of last week.  (Fyi, my official #Goundwork2016 goals are Here)  Anyway, so here’s a quick recap of Week 3:

Workouts: 

Wednesday and Friday I did the stairs HIIT workout  with my mom . 

Yoga Thursday night as usual.  I remember thinking I felt stronger than I did the two Thursdays before and my balance was better,

Food:

Since I ate crap over the weekend, I used having the flu on Monday as an excuse to continue eating crap.  (Which was illogical because of the whole “Food is Medicine” thing, but whatever. :P)

Tuesday was pretty on point though, straight through till Saturday.  Kate and I had a “Pizza Party” hangout that night.  Sunday was 50/50 junk and healthy stuff. :P

Spanish/Business/Art&Music/Journaling&Reading/Cleaning:

Had a few nights where I practiced Spanish on my phone, but not as much as I should have.

Didn’t register the business name, but Kate and I bought our website, ordered a logo, and created some paperwork on Saturday. So major points in the “Starting a Business” category.

No cleaning, journaling, or playing music. But as for art projects, I made a cool incense holder and Squishy Mermaid on Saturday 

I’ve also been reading Chocolat, and I’m pretty excited about that. :)

Overall I’m pretty excited about the progress I have been making with everything, even if it’s a little hit and miss sometimes. :D  Week 4 has been good too, but I’ll get to that later.

Toodles for now, Tumblr loves! <3

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[witchthetics]

It helps to view loving our bodies as a process rather than a goal

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This is Squishy Mermaid. She thinks you're beautiful. Listen to Squishy Mermaid. She is wise.

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At Kate’s house. Making things out of clay. Looking crazy.

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It's been awhile since I had a lazy Saturday morning. Time to read! :D #chocolat #sunshine #litlove

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The office is cold, and I am sleepy. #unicornblanketsavestheday

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Saw @emalie.oh ’s Ruby and @oh.gee.addie.bee ’s twins, Norah and Maryn, at lunch today. They’re too stinkin’ cute. :D