Friday, March 2, 2018

Ultimate Coffee Date: March 2018


Happy March!

It's time for our monthly coffee date, co-hosted by my friends Coco and Deborah. Stop by their blogs to visit the rest of the linkup. In the meantime, pull up a chair and let's catch up!


If we were having coffee, I would tell you...

My staycation was great. I was very deliberate in how I chose to spend my time. I spent time with my family & friends, decluttered & organized, finished our taxes, and focused on fun. I also truly disconnected from work, which isn't easy for me.

I want to continue to make deliberate choices about how I spend my time now that staycation is over.


If we were having coffee, I would tell you...

My staycation "decluttering" involved lots of donations. I sometimes find it hard to get rid of things because I want to find them an appropriate home rather than sending them off to a landfill.

I took a lot of my old running shoes to Potomac River Running. Some of them are still in good shape and will be donated to those in need by Project Sole. Some of them are worn down and will end up being recycled into a playground blacktop or something cool like that.

The shoes in the lower left were my
Marine Corps Marathon shoes - hard to say goodbye!

If we were having coffee, I would tell you...

My staycation "decluttering" also involved unsubscribing from subscription boxes. I love the fun surprise of monthly boxes, but a lot of the surprises end up being clutter that I feel compelled to find a good home for (see above). I unsubscribed from:

  • Ipsy
  • Birchbox
  • Love With Food

I also enjoy the convenience of weekly meal boxes, but they come with a lot of packaging and the meals are starting to feel repetitive. I paused Blue Apron and Hello Fresh for the next four weeks, and will cancel at the end of the month unless my family decides they miss them.

What survived the cut? I'm still getting:

  • Stitch Fix (referral link that waives the $20 styling fee if you want to try it for free: https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3342639)
  • StrideBox (they turned off my referral link because too many people used it and I ended up getting two years of free boxes!)
  • Picky Bars (but I reduced the frequency to every 2 months rather than monthly)


If we were having coffee, I would tell you...

My staycation "focus on fun" involved a lot of LEGO. I've discovered that I really like building things with LEGO bricks.

I made my own fidget cubes (picture at the top of this post)! I got the basic template from Lemon Lime Adventures, and then used our "free play" bricks for inspiration. I also now have my own stash of bricks that I'm hiding from my son...please don't tell him!


I'm starting a LEGO flower garden in my office
to remind me to take breaks and stay balanced

If we were having coffee, I would tell you...

I'm going to be a coach for the Women's Training Program this year. Four years ago Louisa asked if I would be interested in being a coach and I'm finally able to make good on my enthusiastic "YES" (http://kimruns.blogspot.com/2014/06/womens-distance-festival-5k.html).

I'll be coaching in the "Run/Walk" group, but there are groups for all levels of walkers and runners. The program runs April 30 through June 17 and culminates in the Reston Runners "Seize the Day" Women's 5k on June 23.

If you are close to Reston, consider joining us! Registration opens March 9: https://www.restonrunners.org/index.php/programs/women-s-training.

2017 Women's Training Program participants
before the "Seize the Day" 5k


If we were having coffee, I would tell you...

We should catch up more often! Let's plan to have coffee again on April 7.

The Ultimate Coffee Date

23 comments:

  1. It sounds like your "staycation" was wonderful! Good for you for getting the decluttering out of your life. I love the idea of your lego flower garden too.

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    1. Thank you! I'm excited to build more LEGO flowers for my garden :)

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  2. Sounds like a productive and relaxing staycation! I only have one subscription box now - Popsugar some months are better than others. I never ate any of the snacks in those other boxes and ending up giving them away so I ended them. Thanks for joining us for coffee today

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    1. Popsugar is one of the boxes I've always been tempted to try. It's a higher price point, which is why I think I haven't gone for it. Some months it looks absolutely amazing, though.

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  3. I have never don any subscription boxes. They look interesting, but I had a hunch there would be a lot of stuff I had no use for and then I'd feel obligated to find a suitable place for it (other than the trash). My kids never had much interest in Legos...(?), though I'd find random mini bricks in the middle of the night while walking barefoot...

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    1. Those random bricks hurt when you step on them barefoot! And in your case, you have to wonder where they came from :)

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  4. The reason you described (wanting my stuff to go to a good home) is exactly the problem I have with letting go of things. That said, I've gotten better about decluttering but still a work in progress. Your staycation sounds wonderful and those Lego flowers are adorable!

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    1. I think decluttering will always be a work in progress for me. Someone described it to me once as "chipping away at an iceberg," but I have a brighter outlook than that. I can tell I'm making progress, slowly but surely :)

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  5. I'd love a staycation! I really need to declutter. The only box I get is Stitch Fix, but I just decreased it to every other month.

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    1. I also decreased my stitch fix frequency to every other month. I tried to go to quarterly, but I couldn't let go that much :)

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  6. Wow, I'd say your were extremely productive on your staycation! I soooo need to get rid of some old running shoes ..but, you're right, it is so hard to say good-bye to some of them.

    The women's running group coaching gig sounds like great fun ...I love inspiring and motivating others!

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    1. Thanks! I love inspiring and motivating others, too. I wish I could figure out how to inspire and motivate myself as much as I do others!

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  7. MY MRRT group has a "Buy Nothing" subgroup that helps me balance my need to declutter with my need to "re-home" things. :-) It really is helpful. I love your LEGO creations. I was so into LEGOs as a kid!

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    1. What a great subgroup! Brilliant. I didn't play with LEGO when I was a kid, and I can't figure out why not. I was definitely missing out on the fun!

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  8. Sounds like your staycation was a big success!

    I don't do any subscription boxes. It's so tempting, but I don't. So far. Same with the food services -- which is funny, I did a local one for a while when I lived in Austin & was still working. I was so sad when she stopped it!

    I am volunteering as a mentor for the training challenge for our local women's 5k this year for the first time, too.

    Legos. Interesting! I've been getting into making my planner more decorated, and think I'll actually do a bullet journal next year.

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    1. That's cool that you are mentoring for your local women's 5k. From what I've read on your blog, I think you'll be a great mentor!

      I started a bullet journal last year. It's not very pretty, but it really helps me capture things. Some of those "show and tell" journals on the official website are so beautiful.

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  9. Sounds like a relaxing and productive staycation! Love the Lego flower garden.

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  10. Sounds like a super productive staycation! I love how you wanted to be sure to donate things to folks who could use them.
    Good luck with the Women's training program, sounds like a good experience!

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  11. your staycation sounds wonderful! Love the lego flower garden.

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  12. Those lego flowers are adorable! Our staycation starts Saturday, I have very flexible plans at this point but want to make sure we have a lot of fun!

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    1. Thank you, Kristen! I hope you have a really fun staycation :)

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