Home Office Project & The Monday Plan

Good morning and happy Monday everyone!

I am checking in this morning from my little spot at Starbucks, waiting for the car dealership to call me to say my oil change is finished and my Jeep is ready for pick up. Fortunately most shops and cafes are within walking distance, so I packed up a bag with my laptop and decided I would wander around on foot until I found somewhere to settle. And of course that was Starbucks!

My order of the morning was a venti iced coffee with sugar free caramel and skim milk (I have been trying to stay away from milk, but unfortunately Starbucks does not offer my beloved almond milk and my body dislikes soy!), and a super green juice on the side. I had pretty much the same thing at Starbucks yesterday too, minus the green juice, while I was out and about with a girlfriend. We ventured to Nanaimo and got our Costco on, then headed to the mall (naturally). There is something about quality time with a girlfriend that makes me feel very much like myself, if that makes any sense! Additionally, Ryan's dad is visiting for the week from the mainland, so we went to a local pub for burgers and Caesars. Can't go wrong there! All in all, it was a lovely Sunday, and I am looking forward to today's adventures!

At home, I have been working on a bit of a project. Or rather, I am finding projects of my own to complete, and this latest project is turning our spare room (which we call Simba's room, because his cat tower is in there and all of his cat goodies) into something more along the lines of an office space.

This desk was previously in our living room slash dining area, though we were finding it was quickly becoming a dump zone for all of the mail and things we wanted to keep off the table. Moving things from pile to pile is not my type of organizing, so I took the time to take everything out of the drawers and organize it in a way that everything as their own section. My personal training homework has a place of its own, and so do the bills, financial statements, planning supplies, and cords and chargers. It feels good knowing that everything is in it's rightful spot and easy to find! I will continue to rearrange things as I go - I am debating whether I want to keep that shelf there or move it back to the other corner. Ideally, I want to put a nice arm chair in one of the corners, though I have yet to find the perfect one that is less than a million dollars ; ) Office on a budget, here!

A closer look at the shelf. I apologize for the poor picture quality! A new camera is definitely needed.

What's next after this? I am meeting Ryan's sister in law for a hike later this afternoon (fingers crossed my vehicle is done on time!) and then going to Zumba again with my sister! I thought about going to the gym while my car is in the shop, though with two other activities going on, I didn't want to be burnt out before the day began. Besides, I wanted to spend some quality time blogging and getting ahead of the game. This means scheduling Facebook posts and making sure I have a game plan for the week ahead. Hopefully I will have some time this afternoon as well to meal prep. The day is still young!

Bloggers out there: any camera recommendations? Please leave them in the comments!

Be sure to check out the Healthy Living Holly Facebook page to stay updated on new posts, if you are new to my little corner of the Internet here, and be sure to share with your friends!

Catch you on Wednesday!

Once Upon a Time, I Brushed My Hair & Ran

Pre-drinks for a highschool friend's birthday celebration. It's always nice to connect with people I haven't seen in a long time. Plus, when red wine is involved it's definitely not bad!

Hello, plants! I started some plants indoors, and they are thriving! The ones above are cherry tomatoes, but I also have broccoli, cauliflower, onions (which just started to sprout!), basil, and cilantro started inside. The weather was decent this weekend, so I was able to get out and plant in the garden this afternoon. It makes me happy to spend time outside, and so far there's garlic and possibly some radishes sprouting - it is undetermined whether the radishes will survive since the garden bed became flooded after the gutters overflowed (ughhhh big mess!), so we shall see! Regardless, it'll be a true test of Mother Nature. This afternoon I planted spinach, lettuce, parsnips for a winter harvest and carrots!

Scene's from Wednesday's run. I lost my Garmin and haven't been able to find it for weeks now, so I have been relying on the app RunKeeper on my phone to record my distance and pace. The only downside to this is that my phone died when I was almost finished my run. Oh well! I didn't have much farther to go and completed just under 4 miles.

Yesterday I actually took the time to blowdry and brush my hair (and wear something other than pajamas or leggings), because I was speaking at the Shawnigan Lake Business Association's Shawnigan Gathering event about social media! It was a fantastic way to network with local business people, talk social media and introduce how it can benefit their businesses. Why did I do this? You'll find out at the end of the post ;)

And today's sunshine filled run! I wanted to get out there before the clouds rolled in and the rain started comin' down. So far it's been holding off and it's just cloudy, but it was nice to get out in the sunshine!

Hope you guys had a fantastic weekend!

And a little mini announcement slash self promotion...

I started a social media and online marketing company! Be sure to head over to my website, HD Social Media to check out the services I offer. I look forward to working with you! :)

Ten Thousand Years Later...

Hey friends! It's been a long time, hasn't it? The blog has kinda taken a backseat as you can tell, but I figured I'd share some pictures of what's been happening and update you on lifeeeee and all that fun stuff!

I've still been eatin' my veggies: see photo above. 

I've also been planning my garden! Garden beds are built, some seeds have already been started indoors, and all that's left is spring to finally come around! I thought I'd be able to put more soil into the other two garden beds, but we basically had a torrential downpour all. freakin'. day! today, so that was a no go. So, I started peppers, cauliflower, and broccoli indoors this afternoon so they will be ready to transplant once Mother Nature permits!

Birthday snow man. My birthday was last month, and I celebrated by making a little snowman with my boyfriend. You know you're old when...

If you haven't tried making a personal pizza on naan bread, then I'm sorry you are missing out on such a beautiful creation. I urge you to try it now! I would like to make my own naan bread next time and see how that turns out :) I have enjoyed actually putting thought into my meals and cooking everything from scratch. There is something so satisfying about making a meal that everyone else enjoys! Tonight I made a ginger teriyaki stir fry with chickpeas - filling and I could pronounce every single ingredient that went into the dish! That's the way it should be!

Kickin' back with a cup of Earl Grey after shoveling cow poop and garden soil all day. Fortunately the garden is coming together now! 

Yogi Tea has the best quotes on their tea bags. A little smile during the work day!

This book is fantastic! I ordered it on Amazon.ca at the beginning of the month, and it came in the mail earlier this week. It is full of delicious, healthy recipes that use clean ingredients. I am excited to experiment some more in the kitchen!

Trail walks with Marley and the notorious photo bombin' Sarah.

An evening walk with Sarah and Marley last night. It's so nice being able to be outside at 6:30pm and still have some day light! Of course, I had to add an Instagram filter to this picture and it was actually 8 o'clock at night, so the sun had gone down, but I digress :)

And now we are at today! I joined a run club last month which has been a fun way to make new friends, run with company, and actually have a training plan to stick to. Today called for an hour and a half of running, which translated to 10 miles (16 km) for me. After my run, I stretched for a bit and then went to the health food store for some goodies. Don't worry. A shower happened before I went out in public. At the health food store I picked up a giant bottle of apple cider vinegar (my sister is probably puking in her mouth if she's reading this right now!), buckwheat groats and hemp seeds. Our pantry had been without hemp seeds for far too long! Other than that, the day was spent hanging out, plantin' some seeds, cleaning up, and then making dinner. I actually kind of love days like this!

I hope you all have been doing well, and I will try to pop in and visit more often! Honestly, I didn't exactly know where I wanted this little blog to go, but I wanted to stay in touch with the few people who may read it. So, I will continue to post, even if it isn't every day. I hope you will understand that!

If you are interested in my life and what I do and things I see and pictures I take, follow me on Instagram! Or follow me on Twitter, where I try to post witty things.