Weekend Recap: Hiking, Flea Markets, and Outdoor Movie Night!

Hi! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I feel like it’s weird that I sometimes recap my weekends on Tuesdays, but since Monday’s posts are for meal plans, Tuesday it is. Plus, it always takes me a day to adjust and accept that the weekend is over ;).

This weekend was a fun one! Saturday we were busy the entire day, which is very unlike us (ha!). We made up for it on Sunday by watching the new season of Iron Fist. I already talked about but I loved this season and thought it was better than the first–so if you weren’t sold on the first season, give it a chance. Somehow Ward has become my favorite character–he’s the worst but the best.

Anyway! Let’s get back to Saturday. We started the day by heading out to a Halloween Garage Sale at a skate rink. There was so much good stuff! I only ended up buying a couple of pins and a couple of vintage pop-up books, but it was fun to look at everything.

From there, we stopped at a thrift store nearby. We found a few good shirts as well as some items for the porch Halloween display we’re working on. I’ll definitely post pics when we’re done…. hoping to have it up soon.

After shopping, we moved on to our next destination: Maybury State Park for a hike.

How creepy is this tree? It looks like eyes!

On our hike, we talked about how fun it would be to have a haunted hike. I love hiking in the woods, but it always creeps me out a bit, even during the day. Can you imagine going at night? We won’t do jump scares but just have people running around through the trees so that you see strange shapes and noises. Maybury actually used to be the site of a tuberculosis sanitorium from 1919 to 1969. It was eventually torn down and converted to the park. They still have the sign; I’ll have to grab a picture next time. It’s the perfect site for a haunted hike. Who’s in!? 😉

After our hike, we grabbed food and headed over to my sister-in-law’s house to celebrate my nephew’s birthday. He turned 11! I can’t believe it. It feels like he was just a toddler trying to steal sips of our Slurpees. To keep the party going, we had them over to watch a movie in our new backyard set up!!!

Don’t look at our grass, please.

We didn’t watch Spiderman 3, I just clicked on a movie to test the sound. Don’t worry.

I’ve been wanting to do this for such a long time, and this year, we finally made it happen!! I’m so excited to watch movies in our backyard, especially with fall and Halloween approaching. I might do another post on our set up, if anyone is interested? We did this pretty cheaply.

We watched Little Shop of Horrors, which I’d actually never seen. I saw it live on a 7th grade trip to Washington D.C., but I’d never gotten around to seeing the movie.

It was fun, and I hope he had a good time!

Next morning, we woke up bright and early(ish) to head out to Greenmead Flea Market. They do the market twice a year, and I always think of it as the unofficial “beginning” and “end” to summer. (You can see what I found at the first one here.)

Flea market scores–can you tell we were born in the ’80s?

We’re pretty cheap when it comes to flea market shopping and mostly end up grabbing knick knacks and nostalgic items (AKA, things we don’t need). I was super stoked to find some more Halloween McNuggets to add to my collection. My husband got Super Mario World and a Mario toy and was happy to add another Earthworm Jim figure to his collection. I was excited about the Krumm figure (Aaahh! Real Monsters, anyone?), and we got that Bob’s Burgers Funko for $! There are also some window bobbleheads, a brass bat key holder, flying bat Halloween decoration, a couple of patches (really love the Michigan State Park Camper one), Barlow’s Guide to Extra-Terrestrials, some cassettes, and a Harley koozie.

It was cold and drizzly, so after we left the flea, we grabbed some coffees and headed home to sweatpants and the couch. It was the perfect balance of busy and relaxed all weekend.

Now we’re almost halfway through the week! How about that. Have a good one!

Tell me: How was your weekend? Do you like flea markets? Are you down for a haunted hike!?

 

Monday Meal Plan (Week of September 10)

I love reading recipe blogs and perusing Pinterest for meal ideas–but the act of meal planning? Not so much. I know it can be hard to come up with (and stick to!) a menu for the week, so I wanted to share my weekly menus. My meal plans run Monday-Sunday.

Delicious falafel rice bowl covered in spicy tahini and garlic from House of Falafel.

Happy Monday. How was your weekend? Ours was pretty busy, but we still managed to watch the entire second season of Iron Fist. I know a lot of people didn’t like the first season, but we enjoyed it, and I thought the second season was great. After disappointing second seasons of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, it’s becoming my favorite Marvel Netflix series.

Anyway, are we here to talk about TV or food? They are my two favorite topics, so I’m happy to do both. Let’s look at the menu for this week:

Monday:  This Chipotle Tofu from Vegan Yack Attack sounds awesome. I’m probably going to just serve it straight up with a baked sweet potato (I love Chocolate Covered Katie’s method).

Tuesday: I always seem to forget one thing from my grocery order each week… this time it was the cauliflower from these BBQ Cauliflower Bites from Veggies Don’t Bite. I’ll have to pick some up in time, because these sound delicious.

Wednesday: I found this recipe for a copycat Impossible Burger–the “I’m Possible” Burger by Planted365. I’m definitely curious and am going to give it a try! I’m also planning to make this Vegan Smoked Paprika Potato Salad by The Vegan Caveman. Trying to get those last summer flavors in…

Thursday: Leftovers

Weekend: Camp food! Going to try and fit at least one more camping weekend in before the season ends. I might bring a pack of those Beyond Meat Brats for the weekend.

Hope you have a great week!

Tell me: What are you making this week?

Saturday Six: Thrifted

Each weekend, I’ll share six cool finds. All items are linked in the caption. Some links may be referral/curator links.

Hello and happy weekend! Is it just me, or do the short weeks somehow always feel the longest? Oh well–we made it, and I’m proud of us.

We’re planning to do some thrifting this weekend–we’re going to a Halloween rummage sale event today and our favorite flea market tomorrow (you can see what I bought last time here!). Since I decided to extend that to this week’s Saturday Six and do a roundup of some recent vintage tee finds on Etsy.

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! I would freak out if I found this Highlander shirt at the thrift. Available from VintageRockNRollShop on Etsy.

 

I stumbled upon this while trying to find a vintage Elvira tee. Those are all ridiculously expensive, but this one is cool (and more affordable!). Available from sideburns on Etsy.

 

I just finally purchased the Tales from the Crypt box set, and I can’t wait to binge watch them all this fall! Tee available from robineggsurprise on Etsy.

 

How cute is this Pilsbury Doughboy tee!? Available from TickiesTreasures on Etsy.

 

Love this rad ’80s skateboarding tee! THRASHIN. Available from ElevatedWeirdo.

 

Everyone needs at least one vintage ringer tee in their closet. I like this “Beach Bash ’85” one! Available from TCWonline on Etsy.

 

PS: Did you know my husband and I sell vintage clothing? We’re working on getting our shop revamped and have an event coming up later this month. Check us out at Sofa King Awesome Vintage.

Tell me: Do you like thrifting? Do you ever go to flea markets?

The paradox and pain of choice

Photo by Mister M on Unsplash

I’ve been thinking a lot about the paradox of choice. We live in an age where it seems you can create a business out of anything. Jobs exist now that people couldn’t have  imagined 100, 50, or even 20 years ago, and new niches continue to be carved out.

Despite this seemingly endless landscape of opportunity–the idea that you can achieve your dreams if you work at them, and if you want them badly enough–we’re unhappy. Diagnoses of mental health conditions are on the rise. This could in part be due to greater awareness and conversation around mental health, but I think it’s also tied to the overwhelming amount of information and mental stimuli we have access to in this age of the Internet and social media.

The idea of the “American Dream” used to be a steady job, a spouse, a house, two kids, a white picket fence. This is shifting. Our ideals are shifting. The dream is self-employment. It’s financial freedom. It’s a husband, a wife, or independence. It’s no kids or maybe five kids. It’s an apartment, a condo, a van.

There was a time when you accepted that you had to work. You got a job, you fed your family. Maybe you didn’t love it, but you didn’t question it. Now we’re regularly faced with an appeal to “live our truth” and follow our dreams–with the lifestyles of influencers and Instagram models making it seem like we made a mistake somewhere. The 9-to-5 culture is increasingly viewed as a trap rather than an achievement. How did we end up here?

I’m all for self improvement, and I’ve fallen into it full force this year in a quest to find peace and meaning with my every day. There isn’t harm in it on its own, but the danger is falling into the habit of constantly seeking the unattainable. There’s always a new way to do things better, faster, simpler; to be stronger more resilient, kinder to ourselves, more productive, more social, more self disciplined. We’ll never achieve perfection, so of course we’re dissatisfied. We’re constantly told that we’re doing the wrong things in the wrong way, our discontentment affirmed by someone else’s tropical vacation. Once you’ve started to question whether what you’re doing is worth doing, you allow doubt to creep in and take its hold. It never will be enough, because there will always be something new.

There’s something to a simpler time–of accepting your fate or accepting your choice and moving forward. There’s a reason why successful people wear the same outfit every day. We have a limited capacity to make decisions. Decisions used to be for bigger moments, but now we make several before we even get to breakfast, and we run the risk of depleting our mental reserves.

I fully recognize that I’m writing this as a white woman of privilege, and that for many people, there is still no opportunity. I don’t mean to imply otherwise. What I have been struggling with is the awareness that a lot of my perceived problems are a result of the comparison trap–and that a degree of surrender to circumstance can have a positive impact.

If you read this ramble all the way through (thank you!), what do you think? Can you relate? How do you combat the comparison trap?

 

Monday Meal Plan (Week of September 3)

I love reading recipe blogs and perusing Pinterest for meal ideas–but the act of meal planning? Not so much. I know it can be hard to come up with (and stick to!) a menu for the week, so I wanted to share my weekly menus. My meal plans run Monday-Sunday.

Happy Labor Day! I hope you’ve been enjoying the three-day weekend and are soaking up what remains of summer (no, it’s not officially over, even if I did buy Pumpkin Spice coffee and start putting up Halloween decorations).

After a wonderful vacation, it’s time to go back to reality tomorrow and get back to meal planning. I can probably use a few vegetables after this past week.

What I wish I were eating this week… the “Farby” from Morels Cafe in Louisville, KY. I was so stoked to visit this place! My husband was a good sport for indulging me in the few places I wanted to eat in Louisville.

Monday:  Labor Day! I picked up some smoked tofu to throw on the grill. I tried it last week with breakfast and it was delicious. I’m also making those Root Beer Baked Beans I posted about last week. (Side note: I FINALLY found the Beyond Meat Brats, but I already ate a pack over the weekend, ha. They live up to the hype!!)

Tuesday: This Tofu Feta by Connoisseurus Veg looks like it’ll be great in some Mediterranean-style bowls! I’ll probably marinate some tempeh in Shawarma marinade (we love this one!) and serve with quinoa, grilled squash, pickles, and lots of hummus.

Wednesday: I’ve got some butternut squash to use up. I’m not ready for soup, so I might just roast it and serve with some BBQ tempeh. Do you have any good butternut squash recipes?

Thursday: These Sheet Pan Tofu Tacos with Peach Kale Slaw by Hummusapien look amazing! I love an easy sheet pan meal!

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: While in Tennessee, we happened to drive by the Busch’s beans factory and store one day, so we of course had to stop. (Want to know how much I weigh in beans??) I picked up a couple of cans of their chili starter, which has beans and seasonings–you just add your “meat” and tomatoes. One of the sales staff was actually vegan, so she helped me find the products I could eat (sometimes animal products are hidden in “natural flavors”). I’m going to try it out and make some chili for chili dogs!

Sunday: Since we’ll probably have leftover chili, I’m going to pick up a couple of potatoes for chili-topped baked potatoes. (I got my groceries yesterday and they were out of lots of produce, including potatoes! Back to school/Labor Day rush?)

Hope you have a great week!

Tell me: What are you making this week?