Good morning!
I had a lovely 9 hour sleep last night and didn’t get myself out of bed until 8:45am. It was pure bliss. Need to rest up for my 10k race tomorrow!
I raced downstairs for this lovely breakfast that was waiting for me. How nice of that lovely girl to make me breakfast last night! ;)
Raisin Pumpkin Spice Vegan Overnight Oats
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup oats
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1.5 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/2 cup pumpkin
- 2 tbsp chopped walnuts
- 1/3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp Eden’s Apple Butter
- Raisins, to garnish
- Coconut, to garnish
Directions: In a medium sized bowl mix the oats, chia seeds, pumpkin pie spice. Now add the milk, maple syrup, and pumpkin and whisk. Place in fridge for at least 30 minutes. When ready, sprinkle with raisins and coconut. I also used some apple butter for a fun change.
I love getting in another veggie in the morning!
So we went a bit crazy on Saturday…
I don’t know about you, but whenever September 1st strikes Eric and I go into an organizational tailspin for about 36 hours. After a summer of fun, most of our rooms look like they have been hit by a tornado.
And then we crash and burn. Hard. Never wanting to organize so much as a desk drawer for the rest of our lives.
Over the next 363.5 days, we slowly but surely return the clutter to where it came from.
It’s the circle of life, folks.
I thought I would entertain you this morning with a few before and afters…
As you can see, the shelves were a bit cluttered and messy…(and dusty!):
(That is Eric’s desk- we share the office)
This is ‘my’ side of the shelf below:
Old university textbooks on top (not sure what I am keeping these for? Kindling?)
And a TV that is not in use because we don’t have cable.
Minor detail.
We like to pretend we have cable. Sometimes I turn it on and just stare at the blue screen.
My side AFTER:
Boom, right?
Side by side:
Much better.
Then I decided to turn my boring old bulletin board into a Vision Board.
I bought some scrapbooking things at Michaels (OSGMOM will be so proud!).
Scrapbooking paper..note, girly prints.
I bought several of each print because I couldn’t choose.
And now for the finished product….
Unfortunately as I was making it, I didn’t step back and look at the entire board and it ended up VERY busy looking. I’m actually not that happy with it overall…
It shall now be known as the Dizzy & Bizzy Board!
I would not suggest using such a busy print like I did. ;)
The ‘I’m A Quitter’ by Natalie Dee print is one of my favourite things in the world. It is an inside joke in my family that goes way back and when I came across it I knew it was special. I want to buy the t-shirt too. [I also LOVE this one too.]
When I showed the board to Eric he said, ‘Umm it’s a bit busy….’ trailing off and eyes glazing over as he looked at it.
Then he added with a wink, ‘But I think it fits your personality. I wouldn’t expect it any other way or less complex looking.’
Hrmm. I have to agree. If you opened my mind and put it on paper it is probably quite dizzying! ;)
I love the ‘You Hold The Key’– this phrase is so meaningful to me. It reminds me of the quote I love from The Eagles song called ‘Already Gone’
“Well I know it wasn’t you who held me down
Heaven knows it wasn’t you who set me free
So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key…”
I have the key to live the life I want to live and you hold the key to living the life you want to live. We have the power within us. Not our partner, family, friends, mentor…once we take responsibility of our own lives things start to fall into place. I firmly believe in this way of life. Realizing that I held the key to my happiness has allowed me to be where I am today.
The dizzy board all together…
The Vision Board made Sketchie dizzy too…
A comparison:
I must say things are looking up.
I decorated the red magazine holder (far left) with floral scrapbooking paper. It added a fun & girly touch!
The yellow basket on my desk holds my favourite cookbooks and yellow basket on the shelf holds my health books!
Eric’s side is looking great too! He packed up a ton of DVD’s and is donating them.
We bought all the baskets you see above from an awesome organizational store called Solutions. How I didn’t know this store existed until last month is beyond me. It is my DREAM store.
Today’s goal: Organize this shelf and expand my business file box from one box to two. gulp.
Does September 1st inspire you to start organizing your space? Will you be going back to school or starting something new this September?
Even though I am no longer a ‘professional student’ (as my family used to joke when I was in university for 7 long years!), I still get that back-to-school feeling every September, along with the urge for a fresh start. This is one of my favourite times of the year.
See you tonight for lentil walnut burgers!
Your overnight oats always look amazing! This was a great post, but my favorite part was the Eagles quote and your bit after it. When I lost my Mom in December to cancer I had that moment of clarity..Beyond coming to terms with the fact that life is not to be taken lightly, not to just be loafed away, I finally realized that life is what YOU make it and that I had the power to create the life I’d always wanted for myself.. so I did! I applied to art school, got in, and moved to Chicago on September 1st (just a few days ago!). I’m beyond happy with the choices I’ve made since losing my Mom. For once in my life I made decisions based on what was best for ME, and did what was necessary for my own satisfaction and fulfillment.
I just adore that song snippet, thank you for posting it!
I LOVE the dizzy bizzy board- I always get over excited and my cute scrapbooking projects turn into jumbles of patterns :) My favorite part of your board is the “I hold the key” quote. I totally agree that you and only you can take charge of your life.
Thanks for the inspiration I’m off to organize…
Organization makes me feel SO much better. I’m the same as you, though- I let it go for awhile because the actual process is kind of tedious :-)
I love lentil walnut burgers!
Yes!! September 1 was nice and cool here, and I was also inclined to start organizing our place!
I love the vision board. I hope you have fun in your 10k tomorrow!
Angela, with this post you helped answer a personal question I was praying about today. Thank you so much!!
Im glad to hear this!
Looks great! Can you come do my place next!!!
Great job on the organization project. September always feels like the start of the new year more than January to me. Love the vision board. Maybe you could add a few more pictures so the background wouldn’t seem so busy. Enjoy the crisp fall air.
It must be something about spring and fall… I went on a major cleaning bender today too! Purged a ton of stuff.
The vision board: what a beautiful piece of personalized art …
Oh, and by the way: after reading about your various flavors of overnight oats, I have decided that you should open a breakfast shop that features the full menu of flavors :)
i really want/need to reorganize SO badly! thank goodness for Labor Day being tomorrow with plenty of time to get started on it!
My cleaning sprees aren’t really seasonal I just get the cleaning bug and I just go. I pull out everything and throw stuff away and pull out stuff to give awya and just CLEAN! It always feels so good, but I just have to wait for it to hit me I can’t force it.
well done on the organising – everything looks great!
I love inspiration boards! It’s great to look at something that will always give you positive vibes : )
I love that Eagles song. It’s my favorite one of theirs… well, I also like Desperado.
Apparently the organizing bug is biting quite a few people. My husband decided to organize our downstairs closet yesterday.
I started school about two or three weeks ago, so my new beginning was quite early. Your inspiration board is certainly very busy, but I really really love the idea. I actually think one of my weekend tasks will be to clean out my entire study, throw out what needs to be thrown out, and redecorate a little. ;)
looks great! isn’t it funny how you clean things then they creep up on you and get messy again? lol!
I love your board! I want to make an inspiring board like that :) September marks the month in which I run my first race – a 5K in one week!
Hahaha, I love the spring cleaning just before fall begins! I’m absolutely going to just keep pushing mine off for as long as possible. :-p
Oh I can’t WAIT to try this in the morning ! I don’t have any apple butter but will definitely be ordering some soon thanks to this post’s inspiration. I love buying fresh organic apple butter from local farms here in SC. Have a great day! PS- I just posted a lovely new muffin recipe! You’ll love it!