What Am I Doing? A Little Chat.

When I was thinking of some ideas for posts that I could be writing for this blog I hit a wall. Not an actual wall or even close to a writing wall, but more of a “Mia, what the heck are you doing?!” I had to have a good little moment to think if I could really keep up with the schedule and with everything else that I am trying to do and accomplish. As well as think about what I wanted to share and where I wanted this blog to go.

I am a wife, mum, part time employee, full time business owner, all while still trying to keep not only my sanity, but my home clean and my friendships intact. It is a lot to balance and I feel like I have finally been coming into my own rhythm. Do I really want to add one more thing to the mix?

One may think that blogging is a piece of cake all you do is simply sit down and write a post. Folks, I wish that were the case. There is so much thought and planning that goes into a single blog post and for me, it will sometimes take more than an hour to do depending on the specific post that I am writing. It can be easy and quick, or it can take quite a while to come up with a post that I am happy to put out there and proud of. With that little bit of business out of the way, back o my rhythm…

I have finally found my happy place in my schedule. It may seem weird to anyone that I have to have a schedule even though, I work from home and rarely actually get out of the house (getting better about that though!), but for me it is a necessity. It allows me to feel organized and like I’ve got my head on straight. Each day is roughly planned out in groupings of about 2 hours. I based that off of my little human and what has, so far, worked best for him. Within those blocks, I designate my time, work, blog, play with little human, etc. This has allowed me to be able to have my “me” time (which I talk about HERE with my weekday morning routine) as well as just make sure our home is clean, food is on the table, and things are running smoothly.

My dilemma was wondering if I had the space to put one or two more things into what I found worked well for me. I was able to have some reading time, cleaning time, cooking time, all of these other items that needed to come first, without sacrificing anything else that was important to me. BUT you know the saying, “You always find time for the things that you love” and having my own spaces to share with anyone who wants to join has been very important to me.

With all of that being said, my biggest dilemma is how I want to share. I have a love for blogging. I have always loved to write (mostly fiction, this whole write about yourself thing is no picnic for me!) and I know that blogging is a great way to get that passion out. I also love to talk and share pictures and share my day to day life. So that is where I am at…I know that I can’t commit to posting every day or having a million and one pictures to share, but I know that I can post at least one to two times per week, but I am not sure if I am going to add another medium and do some videos, or if I will just stick with blogging. Decisions, decisions…

Ultimately the direction this blog is going to take is me; my life, the struggles that are day to day life, my families travel, just our lives. Whether I stick only with blogging, or if I incorporate another medium, the content that I will be doing, will remain the same. Until I make that decision of another medium in addition to blogging, you can find me here, or on Instagram/Twitter at acuppabooks. Until next time…

Curl Up with

A Cuppa Books

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My Weekday Morning Routine

Good afternoon everyone! I thought I would share something that is somewhat important to me, as small as it may seem, and that is my morning routine on weekdays. The morning time is what I refer to as “my” time. It is the time when the house is the quietest and the most calm. It is very important to me as a wife, mom, employee, and business owner to get a good start for my day. I find that this is also a good time for me to just have some time to myself, to do what I need to do and just enjoy the morning.

I typically will wake up about an hour and a half to two hours before my son, so around 6:30-7:00am and one thing that I make a point of is to not get on my phone. I find that if I pull out my phone and start playing around I won’t get up and get things done and then next thing, little human is awake and I haven’t gotten anything I needed to get done. I don’t typically get on my phone until about 7:45-8:00am and it helps so much with my getting gout of bed and getting things done.

With that being said, the first 30-45 minutes are devoted to doing bathroom things; Taking a shower, brushing my teeth, makeup, hair, etc. I do this right as I get out of bed and it usually only takes me 30-45 minutes total for everything. Once done, I make our bed up, get dressed and head out of our bedroom.

Once I am done, I like to “open up the house”. I go through the living room, front nook, and kitchen and open up all of the window blinds. We are so blessed in our house with an abundance of natural light along with some great views, so I like to take advantage of this every morning and I feel like this also helps put me in the “right” mood for the day. I also run out to the drive and grab the newspaper that has been delivered.

img_9662I then head to the kitchen for breakfast and tea. I set the kettle on to boil and start to pull some food out of the fridge for breakfast. My breakfast differs from week to week although I try to always have some fruit and protein. Right now I’ve been loving gently scrambled eggs and a piece of pear for breakfast. While eating breakfast I typically read the paper or a book or if I need to I’ll get some writing done.

Typically, sweet little human is up around 8:30 am and then the rest of our day begins. So, that is my morning routine! Do you have anything specific that you do every morning or that helps you get your day started off well?

Mia1 Comment

Healthier Living

Hello my lovely readers! I wanted to take a minute and chat with you about a transition that we had at our home earlier this year. It took a little time, a lot of dedication, and something that has really changed our household. I wanted to share a little bit of the journey that we went through and how everything came about.

I’ve always loved cooking (and baking). I always loved creating meals from scratch and experimenting with foods. When my husband and I first started dating, we somewhat shared the cooking duties, but my husband kind of did it a little bit more than I did due to our schedules. At the very very beginning, we had kind opposite schedules, so he would cook and then I would eat when I got home. Then once our schedules balanced out and matched we split the kitchen duties. We cooked from scratch some, and used frozen dinners or box dinners for quite a bit as well.

Then we moved to South Carolina and my husband became a Drill Seargent. Honestly, nothing could have prepared us for what that was going to be like. The long hours and the constant “tiredness” for my husband changed a lot. We started to rely on the box or frozen meals as they were quick to prepare, kept relatively well on the cooktop, and they allowed for quick eating late at night. Honestly, I kind of despised what I was making for dinner and felt very stuck in a rut of unhealthy but quick meals. This was a little over two years and that habit (even though I didn’t like it) became very easy to fall into. I made a promise to myself that once we moved and left that lifestyle I would make more of an effort to make full meals from scratch, no more boxes.

Fast forward to a few months after our little human was born, I finally felt like I was in a place where I could make good on that promise I made myself. Typically in our household it takes about 2-3 weeks to make a habit “stick” and one weekend I just decided that we were not having anymore box dinners. That’s exactly what happened. I looked up a couple of recipes to try out and made a meal plan that had Rigatoni, Casseroles, etc that I knew would be a good entry into this new lifestyle of dinners.

Honestly the only thing I kept thinking to myself was “Stick to it. 2 weeks, just get through 2 weeks”. I knew deep down that at the end of those 2 weeks I would be so hooked and it would feel like the new routine. And those first 2 weeks weren’t easy. They weren’t hard, per se, but they weren’t a breeze. Our little human was just starting to become more of a handful and it was difficult to set aside the time, but I made myself. I knew that it would be better for our family once I got into the routine and got away from the unhealthy things that we were eating.

I got through those 2 weeks and sure enough, the habit stuck and I started loving being back in the kitchen. I started venturing into new recipes and started making more complex recipes again. Along with this change, I tried to implement a couple of other changes, I cut most of my soft drink intake (only one a week, except on vacation) and started trying to eat better lunch and breakfast meals. I am also trying to start adding more salads and vegetables into our dinners.

Here is the biggest part of our transformation. Although this wasn’t a sudden change, when I decided to do it was and so therefore, we still had one Hamburger Helper meal left in our cabinet. My husband didn’t want to simply waste the box and I wanted to test and see how much we had really left the box dinners behind. About 2 months after making the homemade meals every night, we made the Hamburger Helper. It just so happened that it was one of my husbands favorite ones. After finishing, he found that he didn’t want a second helping (unheard of) and that he didn’t really like the meal! I knew at that moment that we weren’t going back and that we were back on track.

We’ve been eating homemade meals for ~4 months now and are happier and much healthier with the rest of our choices in food as well! My biggest takeaway was to just stick with the change, even if I had a night that I didn’t really want to cook I knew that I had to and that it would be worthwhile. It was and still is! Now, I’m off to eat my Chicken, Rice and Salad dinner. Until next time…

Curl Up with

A Cuppa Books

MiaLeave a comment

Oh Hai there :)

Man, I feel like today I have been running a blog writing marathon. I say this because I have tried to write several blog posts today (some over for my main blog and shop page) and then a couple for here that I keep planning on posting, but keep putting off. I had kind of a rough and overwhelming week last week and I just needed to take a step back. There was a lot going on, some good things and some not so good, and I’ve only just started to feel the ground back under my feet. With all of this blog writing going on, I just wanted to do a little non blog blogging! I don’t really know where this blog post is going to actually go, but I just feel like sipping and chatting. So, I’ve got my tea, grab whatever you like to drink and come chat!

Let’s see…

Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year. I know everyone says it, but I take that love to a whole new level and I extend it as long as I can. I’m super excited because this is the week that I am pulling out all of my autumn items from storage to start decorating. Decorations will be limited due to a small human crawling and “cruising” around furniture and figuring out how to walk along the furniture and grab things. Seriously- NOTHING is safe anymore. I am constantly putting something down and then having to move it because he can reach it and is trying to play with said item. Irregardless though, the decorations are coming out and I am doing what I can where I can. Be on the lookout for pictures of the fantastic-ness that is to come 🙂

This past weekend, our Date Night movie was Angry Birds. Yes, Angry Birds…such a romantic date night, right? Surprisingly (and begrudgingly) it wasn’t terrible. Would I buy it or re watch it-no probably not, but I didn’t hate the movie. I gave my husband so much crap for being obsessed with Angry Birds because he has just gone on and on and on and doesn’t even play the game!

We had such a lovely Date Night and I love our new tradition that we are going to start trying. Basically on Saturday Nights we are going to try and make relaxed “us” nights. This would consist of no electronics (or books!), no falling asleep early and the following: ordering in some dinner so no one feels obligated to cook and a movie on the television. The movie doesn’t have to be one that is new to us or one that we haven’t seen before it just has to be a movie. Fingers crossed, this is one Date Night idea that we will stick with! Every so often instead of ordering food in, we will go out to eat at a restaurant. We are such homebodies though that going out happens maybe once a month to once every couple of months. This plan would work much better for us and still will allow us to have some “us” time.

The other good thing about having date night this way is that it gives us a “cheat” night on our dinners at home. This year I have really been cracking down on what we eat and even more specifically what we eat for dinner. I”ll have a post detailing this out, but basically I have been making home cooked meals every single night for a long time. That’s from scratch, no box dinners, very little frozen anything (frozen has happened a total of like 3 times since ~June). Date Night gives us a night off of that and lets us eat something “crappy”. Typically we get Pizza or Chinese, occasionally I will go pick up something from somewhere else like Chipotle or Panera and this gives me a break from the cooking and both of us a chance to eat something more “junk food” related.

Now that I’ve pretty much rambled on about Autumn and Date Nights and our little human needs to start getting ready for bed, I am going to sign off of here. One of these days a coherent post will come out of here that is planned and makes complete sense…one day ;). Until then…

Curl Up with a

Cuppa Books

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I have not had enough Tea…

Boy oh boy oh boy…I said this blog was going to be my personal blog and that I was going to have more aspects of my life on here, but I didn’t expect to have such a crazy first week or two to blog about! It’s been absolutely awesome to have the vacation time and see our family as well as watch our sweet boy play with all of his cousins, but getting back to the grind this past week has been hard. You know how sometimes you need a vacation from your vacation? That’s how I feel. Our vacation was one big rollercoaster!

The one thing that I love about visiting my In-Laws is that they have a large family (my husband has two sisters, one brother and a total of 3 aunts, 4 uncles and all of there children as well) and most of the family live within an hour radius. It is a very close knit family, much more so than my own family. That usually means that we get to see majority of the family when we are in town and typically it is at one time. This year it was at a party that my Mother and Father In Law hosted at their home. It was a blast to just relax and have some good ole fun. Once it got dark we got a campfire going and got to catch up with everyone.

The other thing a large family means is noise! This vacation we were back in town, along with one of my Sister-In-Law (the only other child that doesn’t live in town) which led to all of the siblings and children being together again at one time. In case you are wondering, for this trip, that meant a total of 6 young children and 6 adults living in the house at the same time with an additional 2 adults and 2 children visiting several times. Let me tell you, that is a lot of people in one house! If you are anything like me, noise can be a trigger. I can handle being in a social situation and being around a large number of people (even longer when it is family), but there always comes a time when it becomes overwhelming and I really need some quiet peaceful time. Thankfully I was able to get this time in different ways throughout our vacation so I did completely become overwhelmed.

Several things happened with our sweet little man while we were there, the first being his first time in the pool! He really enjoys being in the water and was all smiles once he got adjusted to it. I’m thinking that for next summer we will have a little paddling pool for him to splash around in or go to a neighborhood pool so he can continue to be in and around the water. Of course, we will also hopefully be doing some fishing and boating so he can enjoy it that way as well. another big thing was interacting and playing with other children close to his own age. He has an 11 month old cousin, a 6.5 month old cousin, and an almost 2 year old cousin (there are several more, but these are the three that he gravitated toward the most). He really enjoyed not only playing with them, but playing with there toys!

I truly realized that this sweet little boy is working his way further and further away from being “my little baby”. I knew I would start to feel this when he started crawling (at 5.5 months!!), but I didn’t realize how hard it would really hit me this trip. Watching him sit and play with toys that he was going to start being able to play with in just a few short months the whole concept of him growing up hit me like a ton of bricks. He’s starting to get away from real babyhood (he’s got a while before that truly happens) and into more toddlerhood and little “man-ness”. He also got his third tooth with a fourth starting to come in, has eaten a couple more finger foods, and has mentally developed quite a bit. He’s also been ever so snuggly this week (thank you teething and a small cold), so that has not been helping my emotional moments! I’ve been savoring those moments as he is such an on-the-go little guy.

All that aside, it has been so hard re adjusting to being in our routine and getting back to work! A lot is going on and I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Like the title says, I haven’t had enough tea for this return from vacation fun! I’ve been putting my nose to the grind this whole week and feel like I’ve just been spinning my wheels and getting nowhere fast. It’s not a comforting feeling at all. I’m trying to trudge through it all and not get overwhelmed, but I’m glad that it will be a longer holiday weekend this weekend.

I know this was kind of long, praises for you and for anyone who got all the way to the end of this post! If you’re reading this, thank you! I’d love to hear from you! Have you gone on any vacations recently? Do you have any plans for the holiday weekend?

MiaLeave a comment

Vacation Time!

Hey everyone! I’m so excited to be writing this because I am currently surrounded by family and little kids! That is one of the best things about the vacations we take to go see family, there are always a lot of kids to be around! This year is extra special because we get to see how our little boy does with all of his cousins. So far, he’s been loving it and has been playing / causing chaos with the rest of them. He loves being around the other kids and around his aunts, uncles, and grandparents. He gets to socialize with other kids/people and discover all sorts of new things and he has been so happy! He’s also going to be going for his first time in the pool some time this week.

This vacation is also good for us as we get to relax and do some more outdoors stuff that we don’t really get a chance to do at home. My husband has already spent quite a bit of time out on our four wheeler and is working on digging out some of the trails on my In Laws property so we can take more rides in the winter time. I am also looking forward to jumping in the pool in the next day or so for a nice swim. I also planning on getting as much reading done as I can and I’ve packed some tea so I won’t go without 🙂 All around, I think this is going to be a very good vacation for us to just be able to get away from our home and the everyday hum drum routine we get into.

I will be sharing some snaps throughout our time over on my Instagram as well as on my posts on here. I hope everything is going well for you! Have you been on any vacations soon?

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Packing and Planning

Oh boy. First off, this was supposed to go up yesterday, however the day got away from me big time. Trying to juggle husband, kid, dog, home, work (both my shop and other part time job), along with myself is normally somewhat doable, but it’s been made even more hectic by the fact that we are leaving on vacation (by the time this is going up we are already at our final destination for our vacation) this weekend. I’ve also had the added stress of dealing with a migraine that put a stop to an entire day. I’ve been preparing most of the week and making a list of everything that needs to be packed, but it is nothing compared to that final day when you get everything packed and are trying to get squared away. We always leave early in the morning on travel days (nine times out of ten we are driving to wherever we are going) and because of that I try to make sure that we are taking very minimal things out of the house on that morning. I am more likely to forget something at 5am than at 8pm in the evening while I am packing.

One would think that traveling with a baby, in terms of packing, isn’t too horrible. Just make sure that you have diapers, wipes, formula/breast milk, clothes, and something for the baby to sleep in (pack n play). This is not the case. My 7 month old has a suitcase all to himself and then another box of feeding needs (baby food and such), plus the pack and play. I wish I could say that I was making this up, but sadly I am not. Before anyone says maybe you overpacked, nope. Half of the suitcase is clothes for him (to ensure that he has enough for a week and then a couple spare just in case) and the other half is diapers, a few toys, and a blanket. I already felt worn out after just getting his stuff straightened out and sorted. Not too begin packing my own items, and my poor husband who had to load the trailer up (yes a trailer, but that is due to other things that we bring with us).

We are headed back home for a little while which is always a great amount of fun for us. Not only do we get to see family, but we get to be out in the country where we can four wheel, fish, hunt (if in season), and be in our “element”. I get to read out on the porch and watch a summer storm roll in and we general just get to relax a little bit more than normal. This year our trips are even more special because we have our sweet boy and get to watch him interact with all of his cousins and extended family. It is about an 8 hour drive for us, without stops, and it will be the second time we have made the trip since he was born. The only difference is now he is older and less likely to just eat and sleep. I am not too worried as we have some extra small toys and a couple of movies for him just in case it is needed.

However, everything went off without a hitch and we were able to get up and going only a couple minutes after we wanted to! I get really bad motion sickness in cars so I’ll be staying off just about everything, only listening to an audiobook or music (or both!), enjoying the scenery, and watching as my husband slowly gets crazier and crazier as boredom sets in.

How was your week? Any exciting plans for the weekend?

MiaLeave a comment

Can I get a Restart Button?

Good evening everyone! It’s Monday and the great thing about this blog is it’s my personal blog, so as much as I try to “schedule” content, I don’t have to! When something feels like it should be talked about, I can talk about it! I was originally going to talk about how we got back to eating and being healthier, but I had something start to happen on Friday and decided to talk about that instead of being healthier (although it could be argued that it is health related as well). I will still talk about being healthy, but on a different day.

Today I want to talk about having a “restart” button. Have you ever had one of those mornings where you feel like you just can’t catch a break? Where your whole day gets thrown off and you feel like you are just sitting and spinning your wheels, getting nowhere fast? Boy, did my Friday start like that! After not sleeping well Thursday, I actually overslept Friday morning and did not get my “jump” on the day. I usually get out of bed about 30-40 minutes before I get Colton up for the day so I have a little time to shower, get dressed, and possibly make a cuppa or some breakfast before I have to take care of him. When I miss out on this time, I feel like the rest of my day just gets thrown off. I am a highly organized individual and thrive being on somewhat of a schedule. I know when I have to get up to have a little bit of time before our son gets up, and how the hours of the day go in order to get the maximum out of each weekday.

So, Friday morning after oversleeping, getting myself barely out of bed before Colton started stirring, and generally feeling out of sorts, I desperately needed a restart button. I wanted to go back to bed and just start over. I have days like these, sometimes multiple in a row and they are typically some of my most frustrating days. I do have a way of “restarting” though that typically works for me if I can take a moment to do it. For me, it consists of putting on some music (the Pride and Prejudice Soundtrack is typically what is playing), making up a fresh cup of tea, putting my phone away, and either reading or just simply sitting for a few minutes. I do an abbreviated version of this in the mornings and I feel like it really helps set the mood for my day. It gives me a calming start to my normally busy weekdays and a chance to ease into my mornings.

I call these moments my moments to “Feed My Soul”. Everybody needs to set time aside to be able to take care of themselves and do what they need to to do to restart or re set there day/week/etc. It is essential to continue to be healthy both physical and emotionally. It can be whatever that really centers you or brings you back down to earth. For me, it is tea, soft music, and a book, but for you it can be anything!

How do you restart your day? Have you run into this problem recently? What do you do to feed your soul?

MiaLeave a comment

The Obligatory Introduction Post

Hello everyone in internet world, how lovely to meet you! My name is Mia and I am the owner/proprietor of The Cosy Book Shoppe (you can check it out HERE). With that, my shameless self promotion is done! That was easy. So now, while I was writing for my blog over there, I was thinking about how I really wanted to have a second outlet to share some of my other thoughts and ideas. Thus Curl Up with a Cuppa Books was born.

DCP (54 of 130)I am not really good at these posts, most of the below will actually be copied from a previous introductory post (I really liked it and I’m really not good at introductions), but I wanted to share a couple of random quirky new things that haven’t been shared…

1.) Some people do things when they get really excited like jump up and down, wiggle there fingers together, dance, etc….I clap my hands together in a golf clap. It doesn’t matter what it is that excites me, it could be a TV show, Book, a Person, everything gets equal treatment with the golf clap.

2.) I am an introvert who can do reasonably well in a social/extrovert situation. I do alright in social situation, I will hold a conversation (although not really start one) and I will meet new people quite a bit. That being said, I highly prefer and love being in my own home with the quiet peace that I have cultivated. I get overwhelmed being in the social situation the longer I am and I will typically start to slowly back away from the conversations and the people. In the worst scenarios (or if it is at my home or a more private location) I will retreat to our bedroom, or a bathroom to get a little break. No matter how it may seem (trust me) I am an introvert and homebody.

With those out there (you’ll find out more as this blog continues and goes along), I am going to put in some just typical information about me now:

I am a mom to a sweet ever growing ever changing infant boy, a wife to an amazing supportive man, play pal and sometimes parent of a 3 year old dog, and a homemaker. I also am still working part time for an insurance company. It’s a lot going on and a lot of juggling! It may seem like I don’t have much free time, but I always make time to do the things that I love.

So what do I love (aside from the obvious my husband, son and dog)? I love books, tea, candles and being outdoors. I’m a county girl from the south at heart who has a slight obsession with the United Kingdom (and well Europe itself). When I’m not reading, I am outside doing all sorts of activities (fishing, hunting, riding atv’s,hiking, etc.) I love exploring and discovering new places and I hate/am terrified of spiders. Seriously though, I am arachnophobic. I do not do well with spiders…at all (event the thought or pictures of spiders, no thank you). I do like to cook and bake as well. I’m a big homebody (as is my family) and outside of our outdoor activities, we are much more into staying home/in than going out.

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