Okay, the Beyoncé hangover is officially over. That was some RECUPERATION needed from the adventure to see her – no regrets.

As I’ve started getting back into a routine at home, even with a holiday weekend at my feet, I’ve been getting energy and comfort from home stuff, workouts and cooking. So, with that little intro, here’s 5 things making me happy this week!

(1) Alien garden ornament

It started as a joke, but the more I looked at him at Gerten’s Garden Center as we were gathering annuals for our flower pots this past week, the more I fell in love. He is just so quirky and meta and weird. An alien making heart hands – who conceived of this? And yes, I needed him in. my garden.

At first James said no. But the more I talked about what a conversation piece he would be… as well as a smile-giver, my husband was quickly convinced. And I can’t even give an adequate picture with words the hilarity that was James walking out of the garden store with this little guy peeking over his shoulder as he carried him out. I wish I’d taken a video.

He is now placed in our bird sanctuary. And by bird sanctuary, I mean my bird feeder hub. He’s not even lived with us for a full week, but he has already given me so much joy.

(2) Black Velvet Petunias

These dark as night blossoms are a swan song to the goth kid inside of me. They are dark, mysterious and gorgeous. I never knew I could love a petunia more than the night sky ones. We mixed them with some color. My husband doesn’t like his flowers as dark as I do, but what fun it was to discover these and incorporate them into our patio flowers for the season.

(3) 1971 Recipe Cards

My mother-in-law left us a lot of things to sort through and find new homes for – and only a few special items made there way home to Minnesota. There were some antique chairs, a couple of porcelain garden stools, some artwork and the 1971 Betty Crocker recipe index, the latter of which I am SO SMITTEN.

I spent some time working for General Mills and managed BettyCrocker.com as part of that tenure, so I have a very soft spot for the brand. But I also adore vintage recipes. I’m not sure why, but they fascinate me. I’ve been a foodie as long as I can remember. I also really love food and the connections it creates for people. I love how strong it’s a part of our cultures. I love to try new things. I love understanding how tastes have evolved as well as access to ingredients that is always shaping our culinary landscape. So when I came across this 1971 recipe index in mint condition and not a card missing, I was enthralled.

The jello salads, the party menus, the section on Men’s Favorites 🙄 – they are all such a snapshot of the time within which this collection originated. There is literally a whole section on Fondue! I love fondue.

So, I’m sharing the full collection of recipes as my Friday Five, but I also want to share that the recipe cards inspired me so much that my neighbor and i had a fondue night over the course of the holiday weekend. She made the cheese fondue and my husband and I were responsible for the French Fondue, which is basically oil to cook steak with some dipping sauces. I also paired the fondue with the fresh mushroom salad that Betty Crocker had recommended. And while a little dated, both the fondue and salad were delicious.

I can’t say every recipe in the deck will turn out that way. The jellied chicken recipe does concern me. But I’m so inspired to continue this exploration and cook more from this 70-era tome.

(4) The ability to walk away from what doesn’t serve you

So, on Wednesday night, I went to a yoga class that I’d never attended before – or at least, not with this instructor. I’ve done Sol Guided Vinyasa @ Lifetime before as well as Yin/Surrenda and this was a combo class of the two, 75-minutes. But from about 10 minutes in, I really struggled with the class. I couldn’t get the cueing from the instructor. She wasn’t always clear and hearing her at times was really hard over the music. Also, a few of the transitions were super awkward for me. The instructor didn’t offer many modifications. And while that’s not super unusual, it’s still good practice since not all bodies can do all shapes. Having one of those bodies has made me pretty good at figuring out modifications. I know how to modify a lot of poses. But on Wednesday night in this class, the flow was going super fast, the transitions weren’t working for me and the guided part of the Sol Guided Vinyasa disappeared. Soon I was completely lost. That said, I still flowed and did my own thing. However, when we transitioned to the floor for some core exercises, I could not figure out what she was cueing. I also couldn’t see her in the dark room to watch. At that point, I checked my watch. We were only 38 minutes into a 75-minute class. It became to clear to me that I wanted to leave. I wasn’t having fun. This class was not working for me. And even though I was located in the furthest corner of the room from the door with a million props pulled out, I decided to leave in the middle of class.

I could have laid there. I could have tried to make up my own core workout. But it was already a recovery day for me and I only came for the joy of the guided yoga instruction, which I wasn’t getting. I preferred to just head home, have more evening time with my husband and pups, cut my losses.

I felt a little badly having to get up, put away all of my stuff and roll up my mat mid-class, but I was polite and quiet about it. I was also so happy with the decision.

All that said, I can’t help but think of “younger me” and how she wouldn’t have had the bravery to leave a class midway through. She would have been overly worried with what others were thinking. She would have imagined them thinking she was a quitter or couldn’t hack it or were judging her body shape and wondering why she was in the class in the first place. I’m so thankful that I am no longer her. No one was thinking about me, and if they were, they might have been jealous that I was brave enough to leave. Or if they were thinking those negative things that I mentioned, that says way more about them than it does about me. I’m a yogi whether I look the type or not. I’ve practice for over 25 years and long enough to know when something isn’t serving you, you can walk away. 🙂

(5) iPhone Widgets & designing for wellness goals

I took a field trip with Creative Mornings earlier this week from Meg Feil. It was her first field trip and I loved her content. She talked about how to set your phone up to support your wellness goals and use widgets and customizations to do so. And I have to admit, for 2 days after taking the class, I’ve been obsessed with customizing my phone. And now that I’ve gotten it to a place I like, the amount of serotonin that is released when I interact with my “pages” is insane. I love it so much and am thankful for this training.

Maybe the rest of ya’ll are already doing this, but I’m new to this practice and I love it,

I’m sure everyone’s approaches will be different because we all have different goals/motivations/interests. But for me, I put widgets for my calendar, Apple fitness & my water intake app on my main screen with my most accessed apps (Google maps, photos, weather, clock, camera, Peloton, safari & Chani astrology/meditation). Then I created pages themed for things like Work, Health, Reading/Writing, Travel, Entertainment. And on those pages, I used widgets when available for motivation/easy access.

I don’t want to take credit for any of this – but you can check out Meg’s site if you want more information or to leverage her coaching. In short, it’s a much more intentional and enjoyable way to interact with my phone.

So there you go, folks. Whats giving me smiley faces this week. Have a great weekend, ya’ll!