#which will just consist of me and my sisters and hopefully the babies having cake

[upperranktwo]

Good morning everyone! I hope all of you have a fantastic week as always 💖 I have so much to do this week to prepare for Sunday I already feel tired just by thinking about it 🥱

[bridgertonandchocolate]

Finally putting together a list of things I want to see in season 3 part 2. I hope it's not all delusional. This is pretty much strictly a Polin wish list. Maybe with a touch of Benny slipped in there.

Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 Wishes/Hopes/Dreams:

We already had Colin on his knees which was definitely needed, but now I need him to use his arms to lift his woman. I don't really care how it happens if it's him carrying her out of the printer shop over his shoulder, bridal style or any other way. What I'd really love is for him to pick her up and push her against a wall, but obviously all our hopes and dreams won't become reality and if it happens it's probably not going to be that, but again hopes and dreams.

I really want Pen to come clean about LW and that Colin does know about it before the Cressida bombshell. My hope is that Pen and Colin have a come to Jesus moment and she ends up telling him what she told Eloise in season 2 that she is giving it up (even though we don't really want her to because we love a fierce independent Pen). And then the Cressida bombshell, Pen starts writing again and that's when Colin finds out she's writing again. I don't think my version is happening, but I really hope it does because it's going to be so painful with happy Polin doing all their Polin things and he doesn't know everything about her first.

The Rings. If you've seen some of the part 2 stills it looks like Penelope wears Violet's betrothal ring ... which is going to be one of my favorite things. I always thought that Polin was very like Edmund and Violet and that Colin is very much like Edmund in his devotion. We know that Edmund wore a wedding ring and here's me hoping with all hope that Colin will also wear Edmund's wedding ring! I want this so bad.

I cannot wait to see Colin telling Portia (and hopefully the sisters) off. It's going to be amazing. I think this is just going to be one of a few different moments of Colin verbalizing his love for Pen and it's going to make us melt more than we already have.

The broken furniture. They have talked about this so much and played it up so much that if it isn't in part 2 I might revolt. If we never see or figure out what this piece of furniture is ... I will lose my mind.

Food. We know Colin and Pen are both foodies. They love their cake and treats and biscuits. I really want them to incorporate food into some foreplay and erotic moments. Because really why not? What are we doing? It's a missed opportunity in my opinion.

Benedict to actually have a storyline. Dear God please. I've rewatched this season pretty consistently and I don't really have any idea what's going on with Benny. All I know is he met a widow and he's sleeping with her. Don't really know anything about her other than her name and she was interested in the balloon. I do NOT understand why they couldn't have written more of his struggles being the Viscount while Anthony extends his honeymoon for forever. The first season Violet mentions to Anthony that his younger brothers do more of the job than he does. But we know that Benedict desperately wants nothing to do with it. Come to think of it they should've never sent Kate and Anthony away. I feel like they could have played more a role in the first part than many of the other characters and side plots they've forced this season. Now back to Polin.

Polin enters the baby race. I haven't decided if I really want Penelope to want her child to be Lord Featherington or not. I feel like she's worked so hard to separate herself that that's her focus and she wouldn't really care so much about carrying on her own family name, but who knows. I just feel like they've really pushed the baby thing heavily and hinted that Polin is going to have the first Featherington boy. I feel like by end of season there's a good chance Pen will be pregnant. But what do I know? I still kinda want to see it.

My favorite line from the book. When Colin gives his big speech to Pen about loving her for their past present and future gives me so much life and I think we NEED this in the show. I've already loved the dialogue they have included and I'm hoping to see a few more of those directly from the book in part 2.

Penelope in some actual danger. Whether or her own making or someone else's. Even though I feel like Colin needs to get over his hero complex, I still love for it. I do love me a little damsel in distress. And even though I know Penelope is fully capable of handling herself, I love seeing Colin feral about her safety and security.

This is it for now. Stay tuned for maybe a spicier version soon.

[lovelyirony]

honestly i think it would be really cool to explore the possibility of what if petunia evans had been a witch. she got her letter a year late--dumbledore says the post was crazy, mcgonagall doesn’t say anything--and she goes to lily, who she hasn’t been the nicest to, and timidly asks if she can get a map to where she’s supposed to go. 

“you won’t know the first thing, come with me,” her sister says. “sev and i can take you.” and petunia doesn’t exactly want to go with them because she gets a weird feeling around lily’s best friend, but okay. 

the world is as realistic as it is magical. petunia can hear the casual spell and flick of a wand to grab a dress from high up, and lily laughs as she takes it all in. 

“we have to get you a wand first.” 

and lily teaches her everything. what you shouldn’t wear, how to accessorize, and who to talk to. 

“do not talk to james potter or anyone who calls you anything mean,” lily says. 

(petunia never really talks to james because he is ridiculous and too much of a boy. 

but lily breaks this rule several times over.) 

petunia is there for her sister when severus snape starts saying nasty things, when she gets the position of head girl, and when they have exams. 

She is there when their parents are out of town and lily forges the signature because “tuney, you have to go to hogsmeade with us.” 

she likes the group that lily is part of, the group that she shouldn’t be a part of because all of those people are so...so good. and brash and blunt and petunia has always been too proper. 

“you speak the queen’s english,” sirius tells her over a drink of butterbeer. “you’re not like the rest of us.” 

and in a way, she isn’t. petunia doesn’t go to the magic world for work. she finds that when she takes the wizard version of home ec, she’s one of the few students that can excel in it 

so she opens her own bakery in london, buys her own flat, and settles down nicely. there’s a florist shop at the corner, and she can get small little gatherings for her tables when the morning rush comes in 

lily and james visit frequently, and james always tries to accio some of the lemon-poppyseed scones. when lily tells her the big news of harry, petunia receives calls right before closing sheepishly asking if there are any raspberry cupcakes left 

(petunia never has any left, but she bakes some extra thirty minutes to close because she knows her sister will want some) 

when harry potter is sent into the world, there are dangerous times. and petunia knows this, probably knows it more than she should. she sees the worried looks on his parents’ faces when she comes over to babysit while the Order meets. 

but she knows that right now, it’s her job to make Harry laugh and hopefully not wail as they’re trying to plan out some attacks. 

it is october when petunia worries. she worries when they change from sirius to peter, and she tells them so. she has never liked peter, neither has lily much. but he’s always been okay, and james likes him well enough. besides, he’s like family. 

just 

like 

family 

except he’s not, and he nearly gets lily and james killed. probably would, if it hadn’t been for petunia’s insistence that she come on halloween to take a picture of her nephew in his little bat costume. after all, she had found it on sale 

petunia doesn’t use magic often, but she knows enough of it to carry her wand on her 

they are not sure why the green light reflected off lily, but it does. 

there is a man crumpled on the kitchen, and petunia says she didn’t like the yellow tile of their kitchen anyway after all is said and done 

harry spends many nights at “aunt tuney’s” as he’s growing up, and complains consistently about not being allowed to fly indoors or out of doors, what would Miss Arabella Figg say? 

(Miss Fig would say that Harry would be the best seeker in a couple of years, and some of her cats needed a good scare anyways) 

harry learns how to bake things, and use a little bit of magic along the way 

he also learns that aunt tuney knows plenty of magic, she just doesn’t always use it like his parents like to. 

when he is eleven, he gets his letter while his parents are at work and he is at the bakery after school. petunia made him tea and gave him a biscuit and helped him with some maths homework. (they keep changing the methods! why!) 

and aunt tuney is the one who accompanies them, because while they can get everything on the list, it’s a brand new experience. petunia laughs as harry chooses an owl named hedwig and makes a new friend with a weasley 

“You remember arthur!” james tells tuney when they’re all having a drink after harry has gone to bed “he’s the one who was always making friends with the muggles. i think one gave him a rubber duck and he cried.” 

aunt petunia is there at the train station with a container of sweets for harry to share on the train, and a promise to treat everyone rather nicely and to not get into too much trouble 

they get a letter home from professor mcgonagall saying that harry would be a seeker his first year 

“minnie, holy shit!” james says. “my son!” 

“he’s going to get a bigger head,” lily groans to her sister. “i need stronger tea.” 

petunia meets a nice man who owns a bookshop a few minutes’ walk down the street, and he likes writing about magic. he also attended hogwarts, a year up from petunia. he writes children’s books, and thinks harry is hilarious and one of his books lands big. his name is david. 

their marriage ceremony is small because it’s near mother’s day, and petunia has a lot of orders to fill for tea cakes 

(she and lily go dress shopping for the just right one, and harry says that one of his classmates said that there’s such a thing as a ringbearer, and he figures it’ll be cool) 

david and petunia take a small trip to Greece and come back with ancient magic books for harry and pictures to show off. (even though she keeps the photo of david kissing her for herself. lily would tease her) 

as harry grows up, petunia will get phone calls and letters and even one time a howler from james of all people, and it wasn’t even a howler so much of “please petunia talk some sense into your nephew, he’s a teenager now, ugh” 

she listens to all of the rants harry goes on of his mother not understanding and his father expecting too much of him, she treks into the trendy stores to buy him clothes that look ugly and “honestly you could’ve gone to Harrods or something, Harry, what are these pants” 

she is there when ginny finally comes to family dinners and they’re awkward and she pretends not to see the moments they think they’re being sneaky about. (harry got the subtlety gene from his father. which means it’s not there.) 

aunt tuney is there when she gets to lily’s home after harry graduates from hogwarts and is off to college and exploring career options and lily just wails about 

“my baby! harry! he used to be this tall! and ride on a broom that blew bubbles!” 

she is there when harry announces that he wants to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and James jokes about going back to school. 

there’s a dinner to celebrate Ginny and Harry’s engagement, and Petunia exchanges words with classmates she hasn’t seen in years, and brings David along. he’s always better at reading her, so they can go home a little bit early after she drinks her second fruity drink. 

and when she decides to retire and hand off the bakery to a young witch named luna who has inventive ideas about decoration and has more subtle magic than most of the applicants. the only thing petunia’s really worried about are the numbers, but luna says she has a couple of friends to take care of that. a timid boy named neville--tuney always liked his mother--promises to help around during the break months. he teaches with harry. 

she never meets vernon, never has dudley, never knows who she would have been had she not been a witch. 

to be quite frank, she doesn’t want to know what she’d be like if she wasn’t a witch and if lily hadn’t taken her instead of just thrusting a map in her direction. 

[ringfinger-leonhard]

Family Reunion

((I am not good with these types of drabbles since my own Family Reunions consist of us insulting each other for two days before parting ways for another few years.

But I hope this will suffice. @yellowfingcr I stole Heysel for this.))

"Are you alright? You look nervous?"

Heysel watched Leonhard bring his shoulders up a little, something she hadn't seen him do for a long time now. Last time was a little after he had joined the Covenant, back when he was still acclimatizing to everything. Seeing him be this nervous before meeting his own family again was worrying and endearing at the same time.

"I am. I haven't seen any of them for... decades, it feels like." Leonhard tried to smile under his mask, to give his voice a more chipper tone. The effort fell flat however. "Don't worry! We shall dazzle them with the sheer beauty of our clothes!" The Yellowfinger put an arm around her friend to pull him closer, a big smile drawn across her features. "For the trouble of getting back here! We will entertain ourselves!" "Hopefully. My family is a handful. Especially with all of my siblings present." "Ah yes... you know, Leona could have told me that you two were siblings. Would have saved her a lot of trouble. And your older brother... Vinfried?" "Vilhelm." "I heard he is a bodyguard for one of the Leaders of Londor? I hope I won't anger him." "He's always angry. Don't pay his misdemeanors any mind, it's just how he is. Beneath his dark armor and cold shoulder, a dark fire drives him forward towards his goals."

They arrived at a large door with a servant standing in front of it, an old lady with a motherly face whose features lit up when her eyes fell on Leonhard.

"Leonhard! Oh, how long it has been! Come in, come in, the Lady, your mother, was already complaining about you being fashionable late again! Who is with you?" "This is Heysel. I will introduce her inside." "Ah, a mysterious woman then? I am intrigued. Welcome to Carim Heysel, I do hope you will like it here. If anything bothers you, the Lord and Lady and myself always have an open ear."

Heysel tried to greet the woman back but she was cut off when the doors opened into a large Ballroom with a silver ceiling, dark blue floors and roughly a hundred people with mostly blueish hair or hues of grey starring into their direction, some at once lighting up with a warm smile, others squinting at her bright yellow attire and belt with the Xanthous Medals. It was very quiet.

"I announce that Leonhard and his friend Lady Heysel have arrived!"

"A woman Leonhard? What a pleasant surprise!" A very old looking man with completely grey, shoulder long hair raised a glass of wine. "Introduce us, introduce us! Don't be a stranger among our family Heysel!"

Heysel smiled and bowed as graceful as she could. Leonhard coughed before raising his voice as well. He had warned her that this would be rather uncomfortable for it was one of the few traditions his family held dear, so it was rather formal and stiff.

"This is Heysel of Farron, Daughter of their last Leader, Xanthous Scholar, Creator of at least two of Farrons Spells, the Soul Darts," a few whistles sounded through the crowd, quite a lot eyebrows were raised and clapping was heard, " and my... colleague within Rosarias Fingers, the Yellowfinger who is the first bastion against those opposing us!" Heysel felt her cheeks flush at all that. She really hadn't ever thought about all the titles and accomplishments she had already, well, stacked on her belt but being introduced like this? It filled her with pride.

"It is my pleasure to be allowed to attend this Family Reunion despite not being part of it."

"Nonsense!" A woman with light blue hair and a matching blue lipstick waved her off. "You are as much family as anyone here. Leo here never had many friends, that he brought you means more than any words." She toasted at her before focusing on stealing a small cake off of one of the other guests plates and was promptly accused of being lazy.

"Leonhard, Heysel! You are late! I told you not to be late, you are late, why didn't you listen!" The familiar voice of Leona was it that broke the spell in the hall and at once chatter and laughter echoed around the room as Leona came towards the pair, a large man in armor in tow who she dragged around by the wrist. Encouraged, Heysel hurried in her direction, followed by the Ringfinger. "Leona. We tried our best but- "Excuses! At least you are here now, Mother and Father are stuck with Aunt Amicia so we have some time for now. Heysel, meet Vilhelm." She took Heysels hand and shoved it into Vilhelms. "Vilhelm, this is Heysel. The woman I told you about."

Vilhelm was taller than Leonhard. It took Heysel a second to process it. This man was Leonhards brother. Steel grey eyes, long black and blue hair in a ponytail and scars going across his brows and jaw, a hard to read posture and features.

"Uh... pleasant to meet you."

Vilhelm scrutinized her face but then tightened his grip a little to shake her hand, finally a tick of a smirk moving his lips a little.

"Likewise. Leona told me a lot about you. Got to admit- I wasn't sure who to expect." He released her hand and turned to Leonhard, clapping his upper arm with a friendly amount of force. "And you? Have you finally come out of your shell a bit, baby brother?" "Shut up." "Seems unlikely." Vilhelm threw Heysel a small wink. "Takes a while to warm up to him, eh?" "Oh yes. We killed each other a few times." "A good bonding activity." Others around them nodded in agreement or shouted an 'Aye, aye' before downing their wine glasses.

Heysel watched the three siblings chatting amicably, Leona explaining the new forms of magic they were discovering in Vinheim with gusto, Vilhelm feigning interest but casually drinking glass after glass and Leonhard actually being interested but not drinking. A hand was placed on her shoulder, so Heysel turned around.

Golden eyes met hers. It was a woman with long dark brown hair and crowfeet, deep smile lines and a round, motherly face. She wore a simple dress in an orange shade.

"Are you feeling at home?" Her voice was soft and quiet.

"Oh yes. I'm just not used to these gatherings anymore." Heysel felt some of her nerves relax at once. The woman smelled like spring.

"Me too. I am not the most social person. Guess Leonhard got that trait from me."

It took Heysel a few moments for the words to sink in. But the second it all clicked, her eyes widened.

"You are his mother?"

The woman laughed and finally took her hand from Heysels shoulder to smooth her hair back."Unbelievable isn't it? My name is Laila and this-" She turned a little and pulled a tall man to her. "This is my husband and Leonhard father, Estienne."

Estienne was as tall as Vilhelm, effectively dwarfing his two other children and wife. A sharp face with wrinkles concentrated on his forehead, short blueish black hair with a few graying parts and stern, grey eyes. Heysel felt a little intimidated until Estienne smiled with the warmth that Laila wore all the time. His voice was a deep vibrato, it felt like it rattled her bones a little.

"Welcome Heysel. Both Leona and Leonhard are rather impressed with you. One could say, enchanted even. I am glad that you decided to accompany my son. He can be... difficult sometimes."

"He got that from you."

With a helpless shrug, Estienne finally addressed Leonhard who had stood with his back turned to them. "And you? Instead of greeting your parents properly, you just care about your brother and sister."

Leonhard whirled around with a surprised yelp but no training or reflex saved him from being pulled into an embrace by his father.

"You haven't grown at all!" "I'm an adult Father."

"Not adult enough to send a letter once in a while!" Laila shoved her husband off Leonhard and hugged him even tighter, a hug that was returned hesitantly. "I forgot Mother." "I know, I know. It's just nice to know you and Vihelm are still alive. You both are terrible at keeping contact."

Vilhelm grimaced a little, grabbed two glasses of wine, gave one to Heysel and drank his own in one go, earning him a slap from Leona. Heysel sipped her wine a bit, drank the glass and got a new one from Estienne while she warmed up the the quirky group of Carimians.

"Psst, Vilhelm?" "Huh?" The Knight was properly intoxicated at this point, only listening whenever an Aunt or Uncle made fun of Leonhard, a sport that seemed to follow the Ringfinger from Carim to Lothric. Heysel was already well respected for her stories, some of which Leonhard had groaned audibly to before starting to drink as well. "Why has everyone blue hair dye?" Vilhelm starred at her in confusion. Suddenly he threw his head back and laughed, clasping her shoulder with enough force to make her stumble. "Heysel! Didn't you know?" "Know what?" "Blue is a natural hair color here." "What." "Leonhard had that color too. Leona is the only one who doesn't have it. Must be the air or water in Vinheim." A muffled "Shut up, asshole!" came from somewhere in the crowd, followed by a "Leona! Swear bucket!". "I kind of thought Carimians were lying about that." "Maybe we are. Maybe we aren't." Vilhelm grabbed an entire bottle of a servants plate and chugged it. With a shrug, Heysel followed suit.

By the end of the night, Heysel knew more about Leonhard than before, enough to blackmail him later, lest his childhood stories be spread around Lothric as well.

[ezra-blue]

Week 26

Under the cut!

Last week: 137 This week: 137

Like I said last week, I’d be happy to maintain. I just got back from my trip to New York last night, and there was a pretty fancy wedding feast involved, so maintaining is fine with me. 

I also forgot this was also the “end of the month,” meaning the end of the birth control pill cycle, and every woman knows what that means! Misery and water weight, yay! I have trouble losing weight the week the birth control pills change color. Even when I was losing faster, I’d either maintain or only lose a little those weeks. Of course, I used to be able to tell I was retaining water because my rings would fit again, but that’s becoming harder to gauge too. I’m just going to assume that my body is holding some water as part of my PMS symptoms and kick some ass to actually lose again next week.

Funny enough, my PMS symptoms actually stopped one of my diets cold once. I was 17 and not on birth control (and not having periods, which is something that happens when you’re seriously overweight like I was). I tried to strap down on my health and start working out regularly, and I did lose ten pounds over about two months! However, because estrogen is stored in fat cells, that release of estrogen resulted in the return of my cycle, and it returned with a fucking vengeance. I was flat on my back with cramps for a week and a half, and lost control of my diet. After that, I was scared of going through that terrible pain again, so I tried to slow my roll on the diet, and I worked out less, and since I stopped getting results, I gave up. Yeah. Kind of pathetic. Anyway...

I did my best to be super good all weekend! We did breakfast and lunch at home on Friday, my “road snacks” consisted of two Tupperwares of mixed berries (and I only ate one) and I did a light dinner as best as I could and there were no snacks around the cabin. Saturday was hard, because technically, all I had for breakfast was a cup of tea with honey (so I could take my medicine without dying) and my leftover road snacks. Blueberries does not a breakfast make. This made lunch harder, because we went to his super-cool farmer’s market with a wide variety of food stalls, and I was hungry so I found the first thing that sounded remotely okay to eat, which happened to be spinach quiche. If I’d held out longer, I would have found the salads, but I didn’t, and honestly that was not a good choice, so I had to be careful the rest of the day. At the wedding, I tried to stick to the vegetable sticks for the appetizers, and I didn’t touch the mashed potatoes or rolls and hit the steamed vegetables and salad hard. The “wedding cake” was an assortment of cupcakes, so I had half of a cupcake and called it a night. Then for breakfast on Sunday, oatmeal with fruit and a little yogurt cup, salad for lunch, and a light dinner at home. I think I managed well, all things considered. Hopefully results bear out in the long run.

I mentioned in a few posts that I was visiting my in-laws for a family wedding (side-note, thank goodness I’m not blood related to these people or at all related to any of half of those people Good GOD). I hadn’t actually seen my father-in-law or sister-in-law (or her husband) for months, so they were both surprised to see me. My sister-in-law is this tall, willowy Air Force girl, absolutely beautiful, but she had a baby earlier this year so she’s got a little more hip than she used to. She had heard from my mother-in-law that I’d lost a little weight, so she messaged me earlier in the week to let me know she was going through her closet to get rid of some things that happened to be in my new size and wanted to know if I wanted any. I’m not sure she and I have the same fashion sense, but I’m not going to say no to hand-me-downs! Most of her old things fit, but the pants were loose and only one of them had belt loops. Still, some of the dresses will be great when fall rolls around! I just hope they still fit then. The clothes I’m wearing now are feeling loose already uuuuugh stappit body just let me keep these a little longer.

Of course, on that same note, after my breakfast order Sunday (”Oatmeal with blueberries, and a small fruit cup” while everyone else ordered omelets and waffles), my sister-in-law remarked, “So healthy,” in that way that I couldn’t tell if she was joking or teasing or what, so I just had to laugh back, “No, no, it’s cool, I’m just a crazy person.” Is it weird I’d rather not draw attention to how strange my diet is?

It’s strange, even though I’ve been getting cold easier, I still get hot too easily. I am so sick of 90 degree weather! It makes it impossible to get afternoon exercise in, so I have to keep trying to make an effort earlier in the morning. I got to see the lake we were visiting on Saturday at sunrise, which was fantastic! I need to sleep some time, though... Plus, getting out on Sunday was super hard, because somehow, I managed to get muscle cramps in my lower legs that made it hurt to walk. I have no idea how that happened, except maybe wearing heels for six hours on Saturday (actually that might do it). It’s nice that the knee pain I was having is gone, but it seems like I keep finding other new pains, my back, my legs, my shoulders, and my feet, all from working out. I can’t win. ^^”

Ahh, it’s been half a year now though, and I’m still at it! I even got another random compliment from someone I don’t know at the gym! Maybe on Saturday I should do updated pictures? I still have to get ready for Otakon, too... another weekend where my diet is endangered... all I can do is my best, right?

[tintinnabulary]

Archeron Ambrosia

Author’s Note: Okay, I’ve been a long time writer, but I’ve never written fanfiction before. I’ve read way too much in my time, but I never got an idea I was dedicated enough to write. Then this headcanon of Nesta loving baking couldn’t get out of my head until this happened and well, here we are. So hopefully you like this, and it’ll be a multiple chapter thing, but I’m not sure how much or when. And it’s Nessian, Feysand, and Elriel, but I’m not sure how much we’ll focus on the other stories. I know Nessian is going to come through. So, with all due hype, here’s my Bakery/Tattoo Shop AU that I wrote!

Chapter One

Sugar, butter, flour; the three ingredients that can transform into a myriad of edible delicacies. Nesta loved the way she could take any of these three, and with precision and accuracy, could replicate any number of recipes from her tattered old cookbook. She loved that if you followed the directions, every time the same dish would come together, with the same flavors, texture, and consistency--no surprises, you get what you put into it. The recipe book, handed down for three generations, was one of the only good thing to come from her father, and she had baked every recipe at least a dozen times for her family. For her sisters, Feyre and Elain. Now, after years of hard work, reliable recipes, and a degree in business and pastry arts, she was finally ready to open the doors on Archeron Ambrosia--a bakery for the whole family.

Finally, there was a place where the talents of all three sisters could come together to make amazing gifts for the world--beautifully constructed cakes, cookies, and other delectable sweets for every occasion. Nesta baked the fluffy, velvet-like cakes they were famous for, and piped designs with a militant-like precision. Feyre, who was in her sophomore year of art school, took care of painting amazing scenery on special order cakes as well as air brushing some of the more extravagant designs. Elain, who was hoping to open her own floral shop but fell in love with the freedom of fondant flowers, was a master of edible (and non-edible) floral arrangements that couples loved to adorn their wedding cakes. The team they created would meet the needs of every customer under Nesta’s tutelage, and soon customers would be flooding their storefront instead of crashing their online site every other week with orders.

The only problem was the location. With large ovens comes a large bill, and an even larger gas and electric bill, so their storefront was in an edgier part of town. A black-light bowling alley sat catty-corner from the store, with a dive bar next door. Two streets over was a local college, with coffee shops on every corner and small eateries, but the price for rent went up a grand the closer to the college Nesta had looked. So she settled in to the empty store next to a popular tattoo parlor--Illyrian Inscribed. Nesta appreciated the alliteration enough next to her own, and the front looked black, sleek, and clean, so she hoped its presence next to her own store wouldn’t discourage her usual clientele from approaching.

When she bought the store, her sisters had thought she was crazy. It was a fixer-upper, to put it modestly, but Nesta knew that was what she wanted. Control over the paint, the floors, the windows--just like with her cakes, she wanted a clean slate to work from and make her vision come to life. Dark wood floors were laid, a soft blue-grey was painted on the walls to match her eyes, and soon every other piece fell into place. Small cafe tables sat under windows with flowers Elain had arranged. Artwork from Feyre’s latest installation, Night Sky in Solidarity, was prominently displayed surrounding large mirrors to make the space seem larger. And most importantly, the cake display was the center of attention.

A clean, golden display with curved tops, and different shelving spaces--some towering towards the ceiling and some at waist height--gave room for displaying anything from a dozen chocolate cookies, to a six-tier wedding masterpiece. A vintage cash register sat atop the counters, and gave a rustic feel to the entire place. It combined old school elegance with new school clean lines and precision--exactly Nesta’s aesthetic.

After grueling hours of work to place everything where it belonged in the store, and filling the case up with fresh treats for all to enjoy, Nesta was finally able to open the shop.  It was a bright Tuesday morning when she walked up to unlock the doors, Elain bouncing on her heels in excitement.

“I really think we should bring goodies around to the other shops, Nesta! I mean, most of the people who are going to buy from us are the local people. And then they’ll tell people and word will get around and it’ll help business.” Elain followed Nesta inside of the building, and helped flip on lights and the cursive sign that blinked OPEN.

“But that’s going to cut into our profits if we just take merchandise and give it away to everyone in the block. I mean, how many people do you think work at,” Nesta squinted out the window to properly read the sign, “Helion’s Blacklight Balls and Pins?” She shook her head afterwards, dismayed at the name.

“Well, at least to our immediate neighbors. Illyrian Inscribed probably doesn’t have many people. I mean, don’t most tattoo places only have like, five artists hired at a time? Maybe with an apprentice or two?”

“Why do you know so much about tattoo parlors, Elain?”

She blushed. “I just watch tv, okay?”

Nesta sighed and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Fine. We can bring them over a bite sized cookie sampler. It’s from the leftover batter anyways so it won’t hurt our profit too much. You can do it, and I’ll get started in the back. We still have to finish that five layer wedding cake before Thursday.”

“Which one? The one where every layer is a different flavor for Ms. Alias or the floral one for the Spring Court Commissary?”

Nesta audibly groaned as she wrapped her black and pink floral half-apron around her waist. “Both. But I’m trying to finish Alias’s today, and the Spring Court one tomorrow. You’ve got to get going on those flowers. Five layers, five different types of flowers.”

Elain jumped behind the counter and started grabbing cookies from all over, ruining Nesta’s display. She swatted Elain’s hand, and once the sister backed up, she began arranging a plate herself.

“I know. Daisies, roses, baby’s breath, marigolds, and lilies. Who requests baby’s breath for a cake anyways? Those are strictly filler flowers and have no business surrounding a middle tier on a cake masterpiece.”

“I don’t know,” Nesta finished the arrangement, and handed the now full tray back to Elain. “But regardless, it has to get done. So go next door, dazzle them with your doe eyes and magnetic personality, and tell them to come get lunch from here and actually pay for something.”

Elain laughed and began to walk to the door, straightening out imaginary wrinkles in her floral, knee length dress. “Who knows, maybe there’s a handsome fellow over there to sweep me away.”

“Wouldn’t that be grand? They could sweep all of us away.”

Elain sighed, “Yeah,” she walked out the door. “It sure would be…”

[lotsofdogs]

The Essential Seven: Creating Habits That Lead to Happiness

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while now, you’ve likely picked up on the fact that I am a big fan of the author Gretchen Rubin and her best-selling book The Happiness Project. Since the success of The Happiness Project, Gretchen released a handful of other books that touch on happiness, habits and understanding the way your personality and the way you’re wired impacts your happiness.

Along with her sister Elizabeth, Gretchen also hosts a podcast called Happier that I’ve mentioned on the blog a time or two. It’s awesome and the episodes are short, easy to listen to and often leave me with a little tip or trick I want to apply to my life to try to increase my personal happiness. Gretchen approaches achieving happiness in an easy yet methodical way and gives insight into seemingly small things we can do or implement in our lives that may result in a surprising amount of joy.

Earlier this week, I listened to the Happier podcast (episode 90 if you want to check it out) and Gretchen and Elizabeth discussed what Gretchen deems “The Essential Seven,” or seven habits that most impact our happiness.

Gretchen is HUGE into creating good habits and firmly believes that creating positive, lasting habits is essential when it comes to living a happier life. She says, “We can use decision-making to choose the habits we want to form, use willpower to get the habit started, then—and this is the best part—we can allow the extraordinary power of habit to take over. At that point, we’re free from the need to decide and the need to use willpower.”

We all know the habits we WANT to have in our lives. Healthy habits, responsible habits, habits that make us feel more connected, valued and successful. Gretchen breaks down habits into seven categories and in Episode 90 of the Happier podcast, she and her sister speak about something they want to change or begin doing related to each of The Essential Seven habits to increase joy in their lives. I found myself thinking about what I wanted to change or focus on in my life after they discussed each of The Essential Seven habits and ended up creating a mental list in my mind that I thought might make an interesting blog post.

The Essential Seven

Here are The Essential Seven, taken directly from the Happier podcast notes:

Eat and drink more healthfully (give up sugar, eat more vegetables, drink less alcohol)

Exercise regularly

Save and spend wisely (save regularly, pay down debt, donate to worthy causes, make purchases that contribute to happiness or habits, pay taxes, stay current with expense reports)

Rest, relax, and enjoy (pursue a hobby instead of cruising the internet, enjoy the moment, stop checking email, get enough sleep, spend less time in the car, take time for myself)

Stop procrastinating, make consistent progress (practice an instrument, set aside two hours daily for uninterrupted work, learn a language, maintain a blog, keep a gratitude journal)

Simplify, clear, and organize (make the bed every day, file regularly, put keys away in the same place, recycle, give away unused clothing)

Engage more deeply—with other people, with God, with yourself, with the world (call family members, read the Bible every day, volunteer, spend time with friends, observe the Sabbath, spend time alone in nature)

Now let’s discuss! Below I’m breaking down The Essential Seven and sharing a little bit about one tangible thing I’m planning to do in my life to address the habit and hopefully increase happiness.

Using The Essential Seven to Create Habits that Lead to Happiness

Eat and Drink More Healthfully

My goal: Reduce consumption of refined sugar by limiting dessert to once or twice a week

When Gretchen and Elizabeth discussed this habit, Elizabeth identified nighttime snacking as her biggest health-hindering issue. For me, it’s sugar. I know this without a doubt. I’ve mentioned it briefly on the blog before, but sugar is something I struggle with because I tend to not only crave it every day, but I also use it as a way to celebrate, connect (Ryan and I LOVE picking out new ice cream flavors to try together), distract (I’m totally guilty of baking as a form of procrastination), make myself feel better (my sugar consumption definitely goes up when I’m feeling more emotional) and the list goes on and on. I have zero desire to completely give up sugar because I like it and things like ice cream, cake and cookies make me happy. The pitfall is when I find myself eating too much sugar so it negatively impacts my happiness.

I’m sure some of you know the feeling of the sugar crash that comes when you’re left feeling tired, blah, bloated and just plain crappy. This tends to happen to me more when I eat larger amounts of sugar many days in a row. I don’t usually feel bad if I eat a bowl of ice cream one night but when I eat ice cream one night followed by more ice cream the next night and a cookie at lunch, etc., I begin to feel the negative effects. My current goal of reducing sugar consumption by limiting dessert to once or twice a week seems attainable to me and doesn’t make me feel sad the way I would if I think about eliminating the treats I love so much from my diet completely.  I actually really like the idea of trying to get a handle on my sugar cravings by trying Whole30 at some point (SO many of you highly recommended it when I last talked about sugar cravings) but right now I think this is a good smaller step for me.

Exercise Regularly

My goal: Take 10 minutes to stretch every day

I feel fortunate to really enjoy exercising and it’s already a part of my routine but I know I could always benefit from more stretching. Whether it be taking myself through some of my favorite hip stretches at the end of the day, foam rolling, doing a 20-minute yoga flow at home or simply carving out 10 minutes after my workout to stretch, I know my body (and mind!) would benefit from a little extra stretching. I’m setting 10 minutes as a goal for myself because it feels realistic.

Save and Spend Wisely

My goal: Get back into meal planning and grocery shop with a list and a plan

My finance-savvy husband tracks our monthly spending in various categories which is something I personally find incredibly tedious but SO interesting. I’m glad he does it because it makes it easy to see when certain categories jump on a month-to-month basis. Food is one of our biggest areas of spending and the difference in our monthly food expenditures when I take the time to meal plan versus when I don’t is more dramatic than I would’ve anticipated.

Multiple trips to the grocery store add up, especially when you factor in impulse buys or take-out on nights when you feel like you don’t have anything good at home to eat.  When I shop with a plan, I spend less, feel more organized through the week and our food waste goes down. It’s a win-win situation and a habit I’m actually looking forward to getting back into, as you may have seen in yesterday’s blog post! Quite a few of you requested more meal planning/dinner ideas in future blog posts which I was excited to see not only because they’re fun to write but I think they’ll also keep me accountable.

Rest, Relax and Enjoy

My goal: Take Sadie on a solo walk once a week

Last week, I took Sadie on a walk by myself and it was amazing how much better I felt after our walk around the neighborhood. Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely LOVE family walks – but Chase is getting more and more restless in the stroller these days so walks with him and Sadie often feel a little hectic as I try to find a snack, a book or something to point at along the way to keep him happy/entertained. Walking alone with Sadie felt peaceful and allowed me to focus on the beautiful weather and how good it felt to simply move my body while I listened to my favorite podcast (Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me). I’ve said it many times before but watching Sadie have a blast on a walk and seeing her get the biggest kick out of simple things like sticks and squirrels also serves as the perfect reminder to me to enjoy the little things in life.

Stop Procrastinating, Make Consistent Progress

My goal: Work first, email second

My email completely overwhelms me. My inbox is horrifying and I struggle to keep up with the number of emails (literally hundreds) I receive every day. I could easily spend my entire work time on emails every day but that’s not the best use of my time, nor is it fun or productive. When I sit down at my computer first thing in the morning or during Chase’s naptime, I will often open up Gmail and begin sorting through emails. While I’m responding, deleting and sorting through everything, I can practically feel my creative energy dying a slow death. I’m hoping that by making myself work before I check my emails, I’ll be more productive and excited about the tasks at hand rather than beginning my workday feeling behind and drained.

Simplify, Clear and Organize

My goal (personal): Organize, sort and store Chase’s baby clothes

This one is haunting me every time I open Chase’s closet in his nursery. I need to carve out some time to sort his clothes and box everything up that’s too small so his baby clothes are no longer mocking me from a giant folded heap in the corner of his closet.

My goal (work): Create an “Upcoming Partnerships” bin and a “Completed Partnerships/Invoice Due” bin in a visible spot in my home office

Through the blog,  I feel fortunate to work with a myriad of companies and brands but since I’m just a one-woman show, it can feel very overwhelming at times to keep all of my partnerships in line. I work with brands a variety of ways (sponsored posts, social media shares, freelance content, etc.) and while I have all of my deadlines in front of me on my desk every day, once I’ve completed the task at hand, I find myself looking toward the next deadline and occasionally forgetting to invoice a company in a timely manner. I need a good organizational system in place for keeping track of what I need to do for upcoming partnerships and who I still need to follow up with once a deadline is met and a partnership is complete.

Engage More Deeply

My goal: Write down my prayers

All too often I’ll find myself praying at the end of the day and my brain feels like a jumbled mess. My mind will wander and I want to get better at being more intentional with my prayers. Since writing is something I love and something that immensely helps me work through my thoughts and feelings, I want to begin writing out my prayers to God. I am already enjoying spending some time in the morning with my devotional and think writing out prayers in the morning may be a good way to deepen my relationship with God and help me feel more focused in my prayers.

More Happiness Related Posts

Little Indulgences = Big Happiness

Abstainers vs. Moderators

The Happiness Project Review + Takeaways

Question of the Day

Pick one or two of The Essential Seven habits and tell me about a goal you’d like to create for yourself to help yourself feel happier in that specific area of your life.

[Read More ...] https://www.pbfingers.com/essential-seven-creating-habits-lead-happiness/