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Let's Look

Let’s Look: Maintaining Friendships

Hello Hello and Happy Wednesday! I hope you all are having a great week as we make our way through April.

We have had a week of up and down in the weather department, some warm and cloudy days, other sunny and chilly days with snow, it truly is a mixed bag.

Although cloudy, a warm day to get outside.

I am heading out of town this weekend for a little getaway which I’m very excited about. I leave first thing in the morning tomorrow and I can’t wait. It will be good to get away for a bit before the spring season gets busy. In the next month, we have Easter, graduations, weddings, and birthday celebrations. Needless to say, it will be a busy few weeks, but I’m looking forward to it all!

It’s the second Wednesday of the month which means it’s time for another Let’s Look as I link up with Shay and Erika for Let’s Look.

Every month, they host a link up party where they share different parts of their lives. So far this year we have talked about various things. 

In January, we talked about Low Level Goals

In February, we chatted about How We Maintain Relationships

In March, the topic was about How We Reset for the Week

This month, we are talking about how we maintain friendships. I touched on this a bit in my post in February about maintaining relationships, but wanted to go more in depth with it today.

Friendships are so important to me and it’s something I value and make a high priority in my life next to my family and boyfriend. Whether they are near or far and whether I talk to them every day or once a month, I cherish my friendships. There are some friends that I have had since preschool and we still try to talk to each other once a month. I also have work friends that are newer and I can chat with about upcoming projects. My friends are certainly a mix of people who have known me forever and others who I’m just getting to know. 

One of the biggest ways that I maintain my friendships is by being consistent with my friends with routine dates or check-ins. Besides sending random texts or check-ins with my friends about life, tv shows, or memes, I try to set up weekly or monthly dates depending on our schedules. Life can get busy, but having something on the calendar is important for holding each other accountable. These can be anything from virtual dates like on facetime or zoom, or meeting up in person for a yoga class, walk, or coffee date.

For example, my one friend and I have monthly facetime dates. We talk at the end of the month for about an hour and catch each other up on all our life happenings. We will still occasionally text through the month, but we save all the girl talk for our facetime dates since we live far away from each other. We have been doing this for years and it works best for our friendship. With other friends that live out of town, I love to give them a call when I am out on a walk, not only am I getting exercise, but I’m catching up with a friend too. 

A snapshot from a walk when I was with a friend.

When it comes to friends who live in town, my friends and I try to see each other once or twice a month for a walk, coffee date, or meal. It’s always great to catch up with a friend and do an activity, we try to take advantage of local spots and places for girlfriend date. For me and my friends, having something on the calendar keeps us in a good rhythm of visiting one another. 

A snapshot from a recent meal with a friend

I have also been reconnecting with old friends over the past few months, life can get busy and suddenly it’s been years since I have caught up with a friend. I’m so lucky to have such great friends in my life that we can pick up right where we left off when we visit in person or on the phone. 

I personally don’t have a big group of friends that I socialize with, I would rather spend time with friends one on one and really have a conversation with them as opposed to hanging out in a group setting, but I do love a good group outing. 

I think it’s so important to maintain the friendships you have in your life no matter when they were formed. As humans, we need our people to help lift us up and be there in life’s big and little moments. I’m so glad I have such wonderful people in my corner. 

Pastries and coffee with friends is always a good mood booster in the middle of the week.

This post got a bit more sentimental than I was expecting, but I hope it gave you some ideas about how to maintain friendships near and far. 

As we make our way through spring, what are some ways you like to connect with friends? I am always looking for new activities to try with friends. Have a happy Wednesday and I’ll see you back here on Friday for another roundup of Friday Favorites!

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Fun Ways to Organize Let's Get Cooking

Meal Prepping and Planning

Happy Wednesday all!

It’s the first week of April, every day I feel like we are closer and closer to the consistent warmer weather. I can’t wait for sunshine, clear roads and blue skies.

The morning sunshine gives me hope.

Today we are talking about one of my favorite topics…planning and more specifically meal planning!

I’ve done posts in the past about outfit planning and getting your planner organized, you could say planning is one of my passions. My latest planning area is with meal prepping.

I pack my lunch every day for work. I packed my lunch all through grade school and high school and in college I ate lunch in the cafeteria, you could say I’m not big into spending money on lunch. When it comes to eating when I’m at work, it made the most sense to pack my lunch. Every day is different and I never know where I will end up, so always having my lunch with me works best. I always try to eat healthy and balance meals when I can.

If you pack your lunch like me, I have a few ideas for different meals that are affordable and healthy and keeps lunch time interesting.

I always like to eat a variety of things for lunch to keep it fresh and exciting.

In my lunch box, I typically have something substantial (my main meal), a fruit or veggie, something sweet and sometimes something salty. I don’t always eat all this stuff every day, but I try to have a variety available. For example, I may have pasta and veggies, pretzels, and trail mix. Some days, I may eat it all, other days, I may just eat pasta and veggies. I like that these meals are balanced and will satisfy me.

 I keep things for my lunches or snacks organized in a bin in my pantry. I like to keep back stock for different dry snacks. Right now, I have peanut butter crackers, pretzels, trail mix and goldfish all divided up. I shop when needed, but I typically buy things for meals once a week and then grab things for dry snacks as needed. This also gives me choices of things to put in my lunch.

A look at my snack bin. I divide up the pretzels or trail mix into like reusable containers for portion control.

When it comes to fruits and veggies sometimes I will buy bulk and separate them into reusable containers (one of my New Year’s resolutions was to use more reusable products and I’m so happy that I’ve been using less wasteful products). I will cut up carrots, peppers, celery or broccoli and store them and bring them in to eat. As for fruit, I will enjoy clementines, grapes, apples or even a banana.

For more substantial meals, I like to enjoy salads, either pre-made from the store or I will make a big one at the start of the week and I will bring dressing to add each day.

I also enjoy making baked chicken with seasoning (everything but the bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s is my favorite.) I just add that with some salt and pepper and bake the chicken and then refrigerate it and divide it up as needed. I also often make frozen veggies to add on the side.

A look at meal prepping of chicken and veggies and then chicken salad. I will cook them and put it all in one serving container and then I have a smaller one that I will use to bring into work.

Pasta and veggies is another go-to for me. I will boil a large pot of pasta and then add some butter and garlic and then make frozen veggies (often mix, but sometimes I’ll just choose a specific vegetable.)

Sticking with the veggie theme-Making rice with vegetable is always a tasty win too! I will boil brown rice and stir fry vegetables and add some soy sauce and then seasonings to add flavor. Sometimes, I will add chicken or shrimp, but other times, I just will go with the vegetables. 

A look at a veggie stir fry for this week.
The whole meal goes into one large container and then I divide it up into a smaller container.

As far as other alternatives, I often will enjoy a chicken salad, tuna salad, or egg salad and enjoy that with cracker or pita.

A look at my tuna salad in a large container and then separated out for each day.

In the winter, soup is always an easy go-to for me, especially with getting easy to go soup containers.

I typically will make all my meals during the weekend and then add snacks each day. I always get my meals organized the night before work so I can just grab and go in the morning.

An example of my lunch for a day. Tuna salad, crackers, trail mix, an orange, ad some peanut butter crackers.

I always like to break up what I eat and what I pack for meals. I find that having a variety of tastes and things in my lunch helps keep things fun and tasty. 

For those of you who pack your lunch, what are your go-to lunches? I’m always open to suggestions.