Tag:

the little things

10 things making me smile

by Kaylah Stroup February 28, 2018

▴ this sweet, sweet pup even if he stinks up the couch.

▴ this guy who thinks plastic mailers make the coziest bed.

▴ plants taking over every surface in my home.

▴ perfectly dried flowers

▴ these fun socks!

▴ this disco kitten!

▴uh, whatever this is…

▴ this cactus + how cozy it makes my office feel.

▴ starting my own mini avacado farm.

avocado propagation

▴ seeing progress in my stretches, and this concerned pup.

Other good things on my mind: ▴ Jeff had flowers delivered to me at our apartment – I cried ▴ gourment burgers at home ▴ Squid turning into a cuddle cat supreme ▴ trying out new sodas ▴ sunshine! ▴ days so warm you don’t even need a jacket in February ▴ Professor’s bowtie (I will never tire of it!) ▴ freshly painted nails ▴ finally remembering to buy stuff to make the carpet not smell like dog ▴ cactus PJs for our Arizona wedding

What’s making you smile today?
xoxo

Okay fine, I’m grateful! – a book review

by Kaylah Stroup February 13, 2018

Okay fine, I'm grateful!

‘What I’ve been reading‘ posts have been few and far between here on The Dainty Squid. I just haven’t been making reading a priority lately. I dooo, however, have a book recommendation for you!

Something I really wanted to do this year was focus on the good. It sounds cheesy but honestly, it’s incredibly easy to just get hung up on the bad things in life. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve gotten home and immediately told Jeff about somebody driving poorly instead of the gorgeous sunset that I just witnessed. I want to change that. I feel like it takes a lot to rewire your brain to stop being so negative but I also think that it’s something worth working on – OF COURSE. All that to say, I recently decided I wanted create a habit of making little lists of good things.

Right after thinking about starting a gratitude journal I happened to stumble upon this one. The sassy cover roped me in. I bought it immediately. Obviously you don’t need a special book to write positive things in but I mean, it certainly doesn’t hurt. Plus once you find the perfect one, it makes you extra excited to get started, and actually keep up with your goal.

gratitude journal

The book has a brief introduction about how important having a gratitude journal is. Studies have even shown that having one has an impressive range of benefits such as better sleep, higher levels of positive emotions, acting with more generosity, feeling less loney… The list goes on!

After that you’ll find that the left side contains quotes and the right side is where you’ll do your writing. (TBH, I am not a quote person. I could not care less about this half of the book.) Each of the writing sections says “Why I’m grateful today, more or less:” and has fifteen lines for you to journal your little heart out. The top of the page has a small section for the date, and the bottom has little mood faces to choose from to record “today’s gratitude level”.

Clearly this book was made with the intention of you using each page as a seperate day but I’ve never really been huge on journaling. List making is more my style so I’ve been writing little positive highlights from each day in the following style:

1-22 found TWO plastic soldiers on the beach!
1-22 facetiming Jeff right as he facetimed me.
1-26 bike rides yelling ‘happy friday!’
1-27 being woken up with back rubs.
1-31 got my wedding dress – I look like a princess!!!
2-5 sunshine on snowy days.
2-10 DIY haircuts gone right.
2-11 sledding with the kids!

(Those are actual things I wrote in my book.)

It may not seem like much but taking the time to acknowledge those good moments is such a game changer! It forces you to look for the good, and being able to look back on your lists is seriously the best. I make an effort to write at least one thing every single day. Some days are easier than other but I’ve found that most of the time once I get started writing I just keep thinking of things.

I bought it in the smaller, perfectly purse-sized version so that it’d be easier to always keep around but it does come in a larger version as well.

Like I said before, totally something you could do just as effectively on any old piece of paper but if you’re looking for a special place to start a gratitiude journal, I highly recommend this book! And of course, I definitely recommend taking a few moments each day to just write down some positive things that happened if you’re not doing it already!
xoxo

It’s the little things…

by Kaylah Stroup October 4, 2017

boxer

Earlier this summer my parents adopted a dog, Ellie May. Klaus spends a decent amount of time at my parent’s house since they’re the only people I trust to babysit him. So when my dad brought home this neglected pup from a coworker I think we were all a little nervous about how they’d react to each other. They basically became BFFs immediately though. They honestly could not be more perfect for each other. Klaus and Ellie May are the same size, around the same age, and their energy levels are exactly the same. Seeing them together is the best. It melts my heart. Nothing makes me smile more than seeing Klaus play.

Last Saturday Jeff and I went over to my parent’s house to visit. While we were there I took SO many cute photos of these two idiots, I have to share! Dog faces mid-wrestling are absolutely hilarious. Hope you enjoy these as much as I do…

Seeing Klaus have fun is my favorite, and wearing out his energy makes me feel like an accomplished dog mom.
xoxo

For more Ellie May check out this tweet, and these photos of her playing in the leaves!
Check out more “It’s the little things…” posts here.

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It’s the little things…

by Kaylah Stroup September 14, 2017

For the past four years, I have been waiting for the day Klaus and the cats were finally friends. I adopted a puppy hoping my cats would raise him to be basically a giant cat. That didn’t go as planned though. The cats weren’t fond of this big, smelly, energetic creature, and poor Klaus could never understand why.

The first year there was barely any progress on the friend front. Klaus was more than interested in being buds but neither of the cats wanted anything to do with him. He just had too much energy. The three of them would rarely even be in the same room together.

The second year the cats and Klaus joining Jeff and I in bed was a HUGE deal. I have so many grainy photos of the five of us together that I excitedly took. “I’m touching all my babies at once!” was whisper shouted multiple times. It was a very fragile thing though. One wrong move and the lot of them would scatter. Most of the time they hung out at completely opposite sides of the house unless united by their love of Jeff and I.

The third year things became a bit more comfortable. The three of them were regularly all in the same room, and often joined us in bed for a movie each evening. Touching was definitely off limits but it didn’t matter because I was happy to have everyone together. Once or twice I even caught Professor and Klaus in bed together without Jeff or I joining them. It was an exciting time.

This year everything changed. All of the animals cuddling up on the couch with us in the evening is a common occurrence. There have been more than a handful of occasions where Professor will be laying on my chest and Klaus would cuddle up next to us. Professor sometimes licks Klaus’ ears and even tolerates licks back. Its becoming more and more regular for Professor to smash his little head into Klaus’. (He’s a huge nuzzler!) Unlike in year two and three, it takes a lot of effort to get them off the couch or bed when they’re up there together. I’ve been feeling really great about it. Although I had been thinking that their friendship had reached its height, like if they hadn’t cuddled yet they probably wouldn’t. Then from my office, I glanced back into the living room and spotted this…

On my birthday I managed to grab a photo of a pretty awesome cuddle session between these two (see here) but I had been there as mediator. So to turn around and catch them like this without any other humans nearby was pretty dang exciting. I wonder how often this happens that I don’t catch it. Hopefully all the time…

To read about more good things, check out the tag ‘it’s the little things‘

rainbows in my home pt. 2

by Kaylah Stroup September 13, 2017

rainbows inside, apartment rainbow

Toward the beggining of the year I discovered the magical world of rainbows in my apartment. I purchased a suncatcher that attached to the window with a suction cup. It changed my world. That sounds so ridiculous and dramatic but truly having rainbows fill my apartment daily is so relaxing. I can’t imagine not having them now.

Because I have the type of personality where when I like something I’m OBSESSED I’ve been looking for even more ways to make my apartment magical. I basically have a suncatcher in each window that gets direct sunlight but I wanted more. I was poking around Amazon, clicking through suggested similar items from the suncatcher listing, and ended up stumbling upon a set of two crystal ball pendants for under ten bucks. They had significantly less reviews than the suncatcher but figured they were worth a shot. The very fact I’m writing a post solely about them should tell you exactly how I feel. But first, some photos…

the dainty squid, rainbow, suncatcher, rainbow maker

The photo above shows rainbows from both the suncatcher (long skinny rainbows) and the crystal balls (short round rainbows.)

The crystal balls come with pre-drilled holes but without any way to hang them. At first I had some string, as pictured below, but later realized how much nicer looking fishing line is. I have them currently have them hanging from the lock on my office window but they’re obviously very easy to move around. With the fishling line, you can’t even see how they’re attached.

If I had to choose between the suncatcher and the crystal balls, I think I would choose the suncatcher because those rainbows take up a lot more space. That’s 100% not to say these aren’t awesome though, like I said I definitely wouldn’t be dedicating a whole post to them if they didn’t completely wow me! I love the way rainbows dance around the room when the wind blows. The small rainbows are a lot less cheesy looking of a rainbow, if that makes any sense to you. I guess what I’m trying to say is that they look like a happy accident instead of a giant rainbow stripe.

For the price, I kind of want to line my window with them! In my opinion, this is definitely a case where more is more. Bring on allll the color. I can’t emphasize enough how wonderful having rainbows in your home is. Like I mentioned, I have some sort of rainbow maker in each of the windows in my apartment that receives direct sunlight but I think my favorite has to be in my bathroom. The timing always seems to work out so that when the sun is hitting it perfectly, that’s the time I’m going in there to shower. I have a clear shower curtain so rainbows cover my body each day while I get cleaned up. It’s the best way to start the day.

He finally caught the rainbow!

For more rainbow photos be sure to check out my first post about the suncatchers here & for even more magic, try a disco ball.

Updated 8/17 – I found an even better deal on the crystals! A set of 10 for just a few bucks more than I paid for the original set of two. In the year since this post, I’ve filled my window with crystals. It’s THE BEST.

10 things making me smile

by Kaylah Stroup August 30, 2017

dumb, happy puppies.

finding mushy photos I honestly don’t even remember taking.

making crazy colorful bouquets of whatever I can get my hands on.

finding random things I don’t quite understand.

‘Y’ did you nail this here? Maybe it’s super thought out, maybe someone found the letter and randomly nailed it there because why not? Either way, I’m very into this sort of thing.

this litter nose creep.

making pals while geocaching.

the tiny world of mushrooms.

this tooth holding our toothbrushes.

photos that feel like summer time & that handsome dude on the bike.

these photos of my dad + I from my birthday.

Toward the beginning of the month I received one of those awful phone calls from my mom. The kind where as soon as you see who is calling you get a pit in your stomach.

‘Hey, what are you doing?’
‘What’s going on? Why are you calling me?’ Her question of what I was doing didn’t even merit a response. I could hear it in her voice, something was definitely wrong.
‘Don’t cry because it’ll me make me cry but dad was in a motorcycle accident.’

My dad, the strongest, most badass person in the whole wide world, has been out of commission for essentially the entire month. It’s heartbreaking. You don’t want to think about your parents being anything less than invincible, ya know? He was finally supposed to go into surgery today but that got cancelled yesterday. Its obviously a bigger bummer for him than me but it still sucks. I just want my dad to be happy, and healthy again. I’ve been stressing out about this all for so long so I thought it only appropriate to make a list of ten good things.

So, tell me, what’s making you smile today? I need to hear about allllll the good things!
xoxo

PS. If anyone could just magically make my dad all better, that’d be great. If not, I’d love it if you tweeted me photos of cute animals. (I’m @thedaintysquid, of course.)

PPS. This tweet + photo about my dad from last summer also make me smile & should probably be linked here too!

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It’s the little things…

by Kaylah Stroup August 19, 2017

You guys! It’s a ‘It’s the little things…” post that isn’t about my pets. Woooah! Wild, right? But it is something totally random…

A few weeks ago when I camping with my family, along with all my cameras, I packed some sparklers, and a container of stuff that was supposed to make the fire turn a different color. My dad actually bought it for me years ago while we were camping and I had just been holding on to it waiting for the perfect time to use it.

First night of this year’s camping trip was apparently the perfect time. The product worked way better than I could have imagined and lasted for quite a while. I had set up my camera before sprinkling it in since I assumed it’d be over quickly but much to everyone’s delight it lasted for quite a while.

Looking through my photos of fire once we got home, I felt the same joy I felt the first time I really understood how to shoot photos of fireworks. You can find those photos here. Looking at those photos now I’m not super impressed. My abilities have improved tenfold but I’ll never forget how excited I was to get those photos. These make me feel the same way. I just love all the colors. Fire is already an interesting photo subject but it’s even better when it’s colorful!

Suuuper random, right? And probably not as exciting as cute photos of my dog but I geniuenly think it’s important to rejoice in all the good little things in life. Literally the whole point of this post series. Life is so short and full of obstacles so why not celebrate all the nice things – whether they’re rainbow fires, or simply being proud of your photography skillz.

So, tell me, what completely random thing brightened your day recently?

xoxo

PS. I couldn’t find the exact brand I used but I did find these color changing crystals that have pretty awesome reviews!

It’s the little things…

by Kaylah Stroup July 19, 2017

Y’all, every time I write one of these “It’s the little things…” posts it’s about my darn pets. Part of me wants to apologize but I also feel like if you don’t like seeing silly photos of them, you’re probably some kind of monster because they’re perfect angels. Only partially kidding.

Yesterday I was walking to the front door to fix up the mess of shoes that had been driving me nuts for the past two or three days. I like shoes, Jeff also really likes shoes. Therefore, we have a ton of them! When I turned the corner I spotted Professor casually lounging in the mess with litter stuck to his tiny little wet nose. I immediately turned around and speed tip-toed back to my camera. When I got back to him, he decided it was time to really ham it up.

He rolled around, looked at me while upside down, rubbed his little fangs all over Jeff’s shoes, and yawned oh so dramatically toward the ceiling. Professor reminds me of the typical handsome yet really dumb guy. Just look at those stunning blue eyes… and then the litter on his nose. Why does he always have litter on his nose!? Squid never ever does but at least once a day I catch this little dummy with something stuck to his face.

cat yawn, weird cat, funny cat photos, cat in bowtie handsome idiot, siamese, weird cat,

This little cat brings a smile to my face every single day. I threaten Jeff “You better hurry up and marry me or I’m going to marry Professor!” He makes everything better, and his little meows warm my heart. I don’t know what I’d do without him. Also, I missed the opportunity to write a seven year anniversary post for him this year but you can read our six year anniversary post here.

Hope my silly little kitten brightens your day too!
xoxo

PS. Don’t forget that you can follow Professor’s Instagram account if you enjoy seeing ridiculous cat photos.

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six months + six reasons

by Kaylah Stroup July 5, 2017

July 1st marked six whole months since Jeff and I moved in to what has to be the world’s cutest apartment together. It feels like we just moved into this place a few days ago but on the same hand, I can’t even remember what it was like to live seperately. It took nearly three years before we were both ready to make the leap but any fears about it were quickly washed away. I think I speak for both of us when I say living together has done wonders for our relationship.

To celebrate six months I’ve made a list of my six favorite things about living together…

▴ Watching Jeff bond with the animals.

All of the animals definitely already had a special relationship with Jeff but over the last six months they have undoubledly become BFFs. Nothing makes me happier than seeing Squid love on him. This was a kitty who previously only really let me pet her and now she is constantly baring her belly to Jeff which is such a huge sign of trust. And Klaus – gosh – that dog! I think the biggest supporter of our relationship, the person who most wants us to succeed as a couple, is that dog. Him and Jeff are inseparable.

▴ Spending more time together but separately.

There came a point before we were living together where things were kind of frustrating. We’d want to be together but also at home and doing our own separate things. Like I want to be near you but not necessarily doing that same thing as you. Living together obviously solved that problem! I love that I can get my work done but also pop into his office, give him a smooch real quick before grabbing a snack from the kitchen and getting back to work. Life feels so much more fluid.

▴ Making food together.

This is one of the things I was most excited about and it most certainly did not disappoint. Over the last three years Jeff has turned me from the world’s pickiest eater to a complete foodie. I couldn’t wait to some day live together and be able to share meals more often. I adore when we make food together, especially when it means he makes one element of the meal and I make another. Being in the kitchen together is easily one of my favorite things in the whole world.

▴ Sharing chores.

He takes out trash, I wash dishes. He hangs things on the wall, I do laundry. It works out perfectly. He does the things I hate, and I do the things he takes forever at. (Seriously, you should see this dude try to wash dishes. It takes him forty-nine years. I’m happy to save him some time.)

▴ Combining collections!

The first time I went to Jeff’s apartment I knew that someday our stuff would look really good together. Our tastes are very similar yet different. He chooses things that I think are neat but maybe wouldn’t necessarily want to purchase for myself and those things always end up looking perfect with the things I own. It’s like his weird collections and mine are two pieces of the same puzzle. We have one damn cute apartment. Nary a day goes by that one of us doesn’t comment on how much we love this place.

▴ Lazy mornings.

Some days we wake up early just to move to the couch, turn on the tv, and continue sleeping. Other mornings we grab coffee from our favorite coffee shop and pick up donuts that never make it back to the apartment. I truly love the mornings we get to spend together. There is just something special about starting the day with the one you love.

Jeffrey, I love sharing my space and my life with you!

xoxo

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