Manic Monday.

Happy Monday.

Back tomorrow :) xox.

Inspired Thoughts...

Grow your grass.

Sometimes, the perfect way to start your week is with a little inspired thinking...

Make it.

it's never too late.

Fact.

Music for your Monday...

Exactly.

Anyone else feeling particularly ruffled today? For me it's just one of those days when even the post-work day already feels hectic, like do I go to yoga or the grocery store or pick up the drying cleaning that's been ready since Thursday??? ...will I leave the office early enough to do any of these items? Yoinks Monday you sure are a crazy lady!!

When the world gets too loud, there's always music to bring me back to my center and I've got a new artist to recommend today that's providing some awesome, soothing energy via my ear buds.

Sam Smith

Maybe you discovered him on SNL Saturday night (click HERE to watch his killer and seriously well received 2 performances!) or maybe like me you noticed his single "Money on my Mind" creeping onto the Spotify top tracks playlist a few weeks back... regardless, this UK import is sure to soul-sing his way onto American airwaves. Slow tracks like "Lay me Down" (his second song on SNL) have a John Legend-esque quality of painful romance and incredible musicality, while more funky upbeat songs like "Money on my Mind" and "Together" are sure to have you grooving down the street. Check out Sam Smith's music now and I promise this crazy Monday is gonna just melt away.

A few things you should know right now...

Sassy ruby slippers!? Yes please!

Annnd we're back! Another manic Monday, but hey, another day closer to all those lovely holiday days off right!? I am so full of excitement for family visits, friend get-togethers and time off at home with my favorite Dr., that waking up this morning, despite not nearly enough sleep* was a pleasure. I feel like I'm full to the brim with good good stuff... like:

Did you know that Beyonce dropped a whole damn album, a visual album (14 tracks along with 17 music videos to compliment them) on Friday!? No hype, just a whole lot of "here I am, Queen B, Sasha Fierce, hottest mama (and I brought my baby and epic husband along for the ride)" in your face-ness. The album is ridiculously good and though I've only watched some of the videos at this point (Dr. H and I may need to have a screening tonight) it is clear that this woman absolutely owns life. Talented, business saavy, beautiful, powerful, everything. Download the full fierceness HERE and for some more info on this unique approach to rocking the music industry, check out THIS article.

Last night I made my own version of this delicious dish for dinner. I've been re-motivated to get back to eating better/cooking more recently (after several weeks of rock bottom laziness and indulgence) so I prepared this tasty one-pot dish more healthfully by swapping in chicken chorizo, whole wheat pasta, skim milk, and low fat cheese. The result was Merry Meri tested and Dr. H approved! (Pin it HERE, full recipe via Damn Delicious HERE)

Have you heard about Unroll.me? I don't know where I first heard about this great new email service which helps clean your inbox, but I'm in lurve. As a big online shopper, contest enter-er and activist, I get about a billion "junk-but-I-kinda-want-it" emails a day (think coupons, GW alumni updates, Gilt sales, Amnesty International newsletters). Using (the totally free!) Unroll.me, you plug in your email address and it identifies all your subscriptions (I had over 200!!) Then you either unsubscribe or "bundle" the subscription into a daily Rollup which you have sent to you at a time of day of your choosing. Now I get 1 email a day with thumbnails and the subject line of each subscription I elected to keep and the chance to add any new subscriptions to my roll with just the click of a link. It is like a daily housekeeping service for my inbox!! Though still a work in progress, I highly recommend you give Unroll.me a try!

Lastly, this sassy little lady who signed to her deaf parents throughout her Kindergarten concert will absolutely melt your heart:

* Funny story: Yesterday morning at about 8am I sprang bolt upright in bed and said "F*CK I had physical therapy at 7:30! I overslept!!!" until I looked around (in particular at a completely bewildered Dr. H), remembered it was Sunday, and passed the hell out again. Well that over-sleep anxiety apparently didn't go anywhere because I had the most fitful, in-and-out sleep last night. 4 hours 40 minutes total (thanks Jawbone Up). On the bright side, I was 10 minutes early to my PT appointment :)

Actual LOL

Laugh it up

What better way to start off the week than with a laugh!? Though I cannot personally attest to the effectiveness of this product, 1) I'm certainly intrigued, and 2) this ad is the bees knees. 

Big ups to Sis for sending this funny my way!

And for those of you still in need of a costume, today's 31 Days of Halloween (sourced from the lovely Diana over at ExPress-o) brings you the 10 Best Last Minute Halloween Costumes. You're welcome :)

Frozen in motion.

Helllllllo Monday! How's it going out there!? Sorry for crapping out early on you last week, but I've been doing a crazy-pants (official terminology) amount of moving around lately. With all the time I've spent in motion on planes, trains and automobiles the past few days, I found it amusingly ironic that I stumbled upon these amazing images last week. A combination of two deep loves, photography and dance, these stunning pictures take the quickest of movements and freeze them for our viewing pleasure. 

If you ask me... they're pretty freaking awesome.

Check out more from the incredibly talented Jordan Matter HERE and I'll do my best to freeze in motion and share some good stuff with you again tomorrow!!

Blegh.

Mind's afloat...

And so it was the Monday after a long weekend spent playing and celebrating in Boston/Cape Cod and Merry Meri who should be feeling fresh and fierce is feeling frazzled and funky.  Maybe just because it's Monday or perhaps because me and the mister have spent the past 5 consecutive weekends away from home, I'm just in no mood. I even tried one of my own favorite tricks and put on a killa outfit this morning, but alas I am funkified and so funkified I shall be (at least I'll look good doing it?!) Someone pour me a glass of sour lemons.

That sounds about right.

We'll try the whole super cheery blogger thing again tomorrow. Until then, just look at THIS (awww).

The Monday after...

For them and for us...

I keep trying to write a post, and everything feels inappropriate. Too cheery or superfluous when just last night our President was reading the names of children whose lives ended in the most horrific and unimaginable way. Even the stories of incredible bravery, love and courage from teachers and administrators at Sandy Hook Elementary School are not enough to be "uplifting". Like the rain hovering over New York, refusing to budge, I feel it's appropriate to have just one more grey day. One more day to hug children closer and  hope, pray even, that solutions exist in the areas of gun control and mental health to ensure that something like this will never happen again.

Absolutely no effort at all.

I wish.

Today is grey, rainy, unseasonably warm, humid and pretty much just disgusting. Also it's Monday. As such, I have made absolutely no effort at all. Why wear makeup when you can just cover your face with your glasses? How about you put on those pants from the "Saturday outfit reject pile" in the corner of the room? Is your hair damp and flat from last night's shower? Ponytail!! This morning I looked out the window and knew that it was just one of those days when no amount of effort was going to make me feel glam, so I figured, why bother?! I consider it an accomplishment of epic proportion that I was able to drag my ass out of bed and into a coherent outfit at all. 

Looks like it's gonna be a wet one...

I personally think it's a-ok to take a day off from effort every once in a while. Really all I'm doing is saving my energy (and overpriced hair/makeup products) for a day when my effort won't be undone by damp, sticky air the second I step outside. I'm going for "dishelved chic" (or something like that).  As far as rising and shining is concerned, I'll shine again tomorrow... until then, fingers crossed I don't run into any ex-boyfriends or celebrity crushes.

Manic Monday.

Yup. That's about right.

My brain is not fully functional today. I started out feeling very empowered at SoulCycle:

A coveted Union Square ride!!

And since I have the day off from work, I was all "Ima hit up the Farmer's Market and cook Dr. H something amazing and fresh for dinner".

The plan was to cook up some chicken cutlets with a side of THIS:

my maiden voyage with cauliflower.

But then my girlfriend reminded me (thank goodness!) that we're signed up for a little pre-turkey/gravy/mashed potatoes burn sesh at Barry's Bootcamp tonight and I'm like "F. I totally forgot. The chicken is defrosted and my butt's already sore from spinning." Also, the "clean and organize my closet" project is not nearly complete:

So now I've got Tim Gunn screaming "make it work!!!" in the back of my mind as I push forward into the day's plans. Tomorrow I will likely be crippled, have an untouched head of cauliflower in my fridge and be back at my desk. But on the bright side, I'll be having guilt-free pumpkin pie on Thursday and my closet will finally be livable.  I might even be able to squeeze in painting those dining room chairs... SO, I'm off... Seize the manic Monday friends... holiday break is just around the corner:)

Summer Mondays...

Case 'o da Summer Mondays...

Summer Mondays are freakin' brutal! Especially a Monday after a perfectly sunny/not too hot/plenty of fresh air and relaxing type weekend... Am I right!? To help you ease into the week (and feel energized enough to survive to the next sunny Saturday!) here are some goodies from the merry files.

Survive graduation season by gifting cash in this super unique
way (also an excuse to buy and eat several boxes of chocolate?)

Just downloaded some new music after a few weeks of Spotify testing (highly scientific). Let's all listen together: 

* The Lateness of the Hour by Alex Clare (whose song "Too Close" is featured in an Internet Explorer commercial)

* My Head is an Animal by Of Monsters and Men (the track "Little Talks" is what caught my attention)

* Never Trust a Happy Song by Grouplove (thank you Spotify "Top Lists" playlist for this one)

* Megalithic Symphony by AWOLNATION (as heard during SYTYCD auditions and highly endorsed by my sis-in-law)

* Also, Katy Perry's Wide Awake (for when I'm feeling angsty) Gym Class Hero's The Fighter (because it's great for workin out/a very cool music video) and Pitbull's Back in Time from the MIB III soundtrack (which I'm willing to admit I purchased because Mr. Worldwide knows how to throw down a dance jam!)

I think my parents need this on their driveway...
(because I have no driveway of my own to make glow-in-the-dark!)

I hope Dr. H is hungry for some mexican,
because this week I'm firing up the crock pot!

Sometimes...

Cookie with a side of Confucius

...on Mondays, you need a little inspiration to get through the day. So be inspired:

By this,

and this.

Have you found your Great Hill yet?

Just do it.

Just another manic Monday.

Seriously.

Well this was bound to happen sooner or later. It's Sunday night and I'm staring at my computer screen all "uuuuuuhhh, what should I write about!?" Four months and eighty posts into my merry adventure, I am feeling a touch of writer's block (or maybe it's just my burning desire to watch SO MUCH tv? Frozen Planet, Mad Men, Family Guy, Shameless... my DVR is calling!)

I could remind you how much I love turtles and show you funny pictures I've found of them:

Like this.

And this.

Or I could tell you about this great new trick I play on myself to realize I'm not that busy and I do have time to get "undesirable" things done. (Instead of saying "I don't have time to _____." I say "It's not a priority to _____." and if that doesn't sit well, snap to action. I swear it works! I finally got my teeth cleaned!!) Read my full inspiration HERE.

Speaking of inspiration:

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

Is this cheating? 

Something about this lunch is bugging me (hehe)

Probably, but thankfully the internet is here to distract and amuse you while I go watch tv :) Until tomorrow!