Good afternoon, party people!
I hope your day is trucking along smoothly so far. I spent the morning working on a new project before heading out to a committee meeting for the Taste of Ocala.
I made sure to fill up an extra large cup with water to take with me on the drive over to the College of Central Florida.
(Say hello to the oblivious woman behind me!)
For the past two days I’ve been tracking my water intake with a goal in mind of consuming nine glasses a day. I’ve hit my goal every day and wanted to keep my momentum going. Drinking a lot of water takes a conscious effort on my part and I’m working at getting better about keeping myself hydrated.
The meeting itself lasted around 90 minutes and before heading home, I made a quick pit stop at Ulta where I snagged bottles of my favorite shampoo and conditioner.
I’ve been using Marc Anthony Instantly Thick shampoo and conditioner for a while now and feel like it’s the only shampoo/conditioner combo I’ve tried that has even slightly added thickness to my ridiculously thin hair. It isn’t a miracle-worker or anything, but it seems to add a little more oomph than other thickening shampoos I’ve tried. (And yes, I always think of the singer when I buy it!)
Ulta just happens to be located within walking distance of the hotel that Ryan and I called home for a month when we first moved to Ocala and were searching for a place to rent.
It was a nice place but I can’t say that I miss living there. Remember our horse-themed room and the egg patties? Ooph. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. To those of you who stuck with reading my blog during my hotel-living days, bless you!
After my short errand, I headed home and was greeted by Sadie’s nibble kisses which made me even happier we’re no longer living in a hotel that doesn’t allow her crazy face.
Clearly she was a little traumatized by the experience. 
Lunch
After lovin’ on Sadie, it was time for lunch.
Lunch today was reminiscent of yesterday’s mid-day meal and included a chicken apple sausage served with a side of roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower and a cold nectarine.
Everything was great though the nectarine wasn’t quite as sweet as the one I had with my waffles this morning. You win some, you lose some.
Off to cram in a few more hours of work before callin’ it a day!
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I find the easiest way for me to meet (or on most days surpass) my water requirements is with herbal tea!
mmm your chicken sausage meal with brussels sprouts the past couple days are reminding me of how much i miss the summer days of lots of barbecuing!! can’t wait for the warmer months to come! and i’m so jealous you’re wearing a tank top!
I’ve got the same Starbucks cup as you! I like the Marc Anthony gloss that protects hair from heat styling, but thickness is definitely NOT something I need more of! Too bad I can’t give you some of mine! 😉
How much is that poo and dish? I have super fine hair too and need some help in that department!
LOL i totally thought you were talking about the sausage at first… it DOES look like poo. 🙂 anyway, the shampoo and conditioner is around $7.50/each.
Ok, I think I just fell on the floor laughing!
I need to invest in some good thickening shampoo, not sure I’d be able to get this one in Ireland..I’m likely to fall in to the hairdresser/sales person “advice” trick on my next trim!
I’m working on drinking water, too! Now if only my bladder would adjust 🙂
i swear i’m peeing every 20 minutes.
Haha I’ve gotten to the point where I drink the recommended amount daily, but I def. pee every hour if not more – my bladder never adjusts!
I actually started reading your blog when you were living there! Haha totally forgot about that!
oh, bless you, child. thanks for sticking around!
We have a Taste of “My Town” here annually. It’s always a fun, sold-out event!
Wait, what!!!!!!!! I would have to go to the bathroom non stop drinking that much water!
more than every 20min!
You know, I always thought it would be fun living in a hotel. After reading your blog during that time and really thinking about it… it lost all of it’s appeal.
Ohhh water.. I am so so SO bad about drinking enough! Partially because of my pea-sized bladder.
Looks like a fun day Julie! Today I find myself prepping for an afternoon job interview, and I keep thinking about “control what you can control” as I prep and do research for this. Thanks for that blog post, its really helping me think and center myself and not stress over the other candidates or what they bring to the table, because I can only control what I bring to the table and how much research I do!
Oh, Julie. I am currently living your former life. 😉 My husband and I just moved from Ohio to Atlanta, and his company has put us in a hotel until we can find a house. It’s been less than 2 weeks, and we could be here for up to 90 days … I can’t even imagine living here this long!!
i hope you find a place soon! in the meantime, something that helped us was stocking the fridge and cabinets with some of our food essentials so we felt like we had some of our normal food still and weren’t do dependent on eating out. i also made sure to unpack everything so i wasn’t living out of a suitcase to give us some sense of normalcy. it’s definitely a transition and i wish you both the best. i hope you love atlanta! definitely look into eating at woodfire grill or two urban licks. ryan and i LOVED both of those restaurants!
Wow, fastest response ever haha! 😉 Thanks, Julie. I unpacked everything (other than the stuff in storage) on Day #2 … I would go crazy if everything was in boxes everywhere! And I’ve been stocking up on groceries, too. Between the hotel’s breakfasts and dinners and my groceries, I’m hoping we can avoid spending money on restaurants! But I do want to try Woodfire Grill! That’s at the top of my list! And now I’ll have to add the other one you suggested. Thanks os much!!
I’m so jealous you have an Ulta store! I’ve only made purchases from them online. Haven’t been lucky enough to come across one yet. 🙁
Thank you for the shampoo recommendation. I have the thinnest hair, and I am always open to a suggestion of a good product. I just ordered it!
I have thin hair too and I love Bumble and Bumble’s Thickening Hairspray (http://www.bumbleandbumble.com/product/74/224/Products/Styling/Structure/thickening-hairspray/index.tmpl). I get volume and body with this spray. It isn’t really hairspray in the traditional sense as the name states, but it acts as a setting spray for damp hair before you style it. Plus Bumble and Bumble has great hair how-to videos.
I have painfully thin hair as well, just a TON of it, which makes for limp lackluster and often staticky (is that a word?) hair. After hearing commercials for it on the radio all the time and not being able to find a shampoo that really thickened my hair, I invested in Ovation Cell Therapy (and HATE to sound like an infomercial). In three months it has TOTALLY improved the thickness, texture, shininess, and has even promoted growth past my shoulders (which has been the longest my hair would grow) It is spendy but, in my opinion, worth giving a shot!
Julie, did you get that really big Starbucks cup at Starbucks or is it from Tervis?
Thanks!
i have thin hair too..but i refer to it as “fine”…lol… your hair is gorgeous either way!
Okay, I just have to say that this picture of Sadie has got to be my fav! Just SO precious!
that picture of the lady in the background is funny. We just recently took a video of my daughter learning to swim with an underwater camera and when we rewatched it we noticed a lady swimming by in the background with a quite interesting swimming “stroke”. It makes me laugh every time I watch it.
I think its so neat that you’re working with Taste of Ocala! I can’t remember exactly how you found it, but it seems to be fitting in to your life really nicely. I love driving past old places where I use to live- it brings back so many memories! I’ve been working on increasing my water intake too. My tervis makes all the difference. Having a fun glass to drink out of makes it easier!
I just stayed at a Residence Inn last week, where they had a breakfast and dinner, and it totally reminded me of your posts from that time!
About the shampoo, I know you’ve found a product you like, but I just tried a new one and thought you might like it: Kerastase (the green bottle). I have fine hair, but I have a lot of it, and after I used it, my hair was almost too full! It’s pretty expensive, but it’s an amazing product. If you ever find a deal for you, you should test it out. And I just recently noticed it in my local CVS, though you could probably get it online for significantly cheaper.
awesome!! i’m definitely going to look for this!
hey- does that shampoo weigh your roots down at all? A lot of volumn/thickening shampoo I’ve tried for my fine hair weighs it down. I like the Sebastian Light products but they are $20 for a tiny bottle.. I’d be willing to try this other stuff for $7.50!
actually, no! i’ve been pretty pleased with it, but i also blow dry my hair upsidedown to try to combat that, too.
I remember when I lived in the Hilton Hotel Fashion District in Manhattan for 2 weeks for a business trip. I wish I would have had someone to share the room with and not be so lonely! I did enjoy throwing my clothes around the room though! They had this mini bar that had little levers, and if you pulled one and didnt even take the beer/peanut/soda out they would still charge you! My friend from NYC came to visit me since I hadnt seen him since college, and the firs thing he did was go “oh this is neat i havent seen this before” and we ended up buying a pack of m&ms for $10! (good thing it was on the company dime and not mine!)
I have very similar hair texture as you… VERY STRAIGHT AND LIMP.
I will need to try this Marc Anthony guy’s shampoo! 😉
I really want to be able to drink more water too, however working in a classroom makes it very hard. Can’t exactly leave to go to the bathroom whenever I need to! I try to fill er up as soon as I get home! 🙂
I totally think of Marc Anthony when I see the bottles! And with Tresemme … I always sing their commercial tune “Tresemme, oooh la la” in my head haha 🙂
ha! i just bought that shampoo for ryan!
I totally remember your hotel posts! I bet it was fun for a day or so, but I can imagine it getting old reallll quick!
Being a rather new follower to your blog, I have just discovered some of your hotel “gem” posts 🙂 All the more fun!
haha they’re a treat 😀
that woman just cracked me up!! hilarious!
I’m trying to drink more water as well! I use my CamelBak water bottle that holds just over 24 oz and try to drink two of em. Try adding chopped bacon with your brussels sprouts while they’re roasting…they get even better! 🙂
After you posted the chicken apple sausage yesterday a craving struck and I promptly went to the store and bought some. I know what I’ll be having for dinner tonight! Yum.
For some reason it’s much easier to drink lots of water on work days than non work days. I would think it’d be the other way around, but I think it’s because at work I’m talking constantly so my mouth gets dry… maybe?
I’m not going to lie. Living in a hotel sounds kind of fun. But I’ll take your word for it that it’s not like the suite life of zach and cody 🙂
Hi! I recently stumbled across your blog, and couldn’t help but notice all the pictures of your beautiful Vizsla!
My husband just brought home a 5 month old Vizsla 4 weeks ago and we are in love. She has totally changed our life, but has been SO much fun (and such a little lovebug!).
Just curious if you had any separation anxiety issues with your pup when you first brought her home? Any advice?
aw! you’re a julie AND a vizsla owner!? perfect! 🙂 sadie is definitely a crazy little girl but didn’t really have separation anxiety aside from the normal whining and barking that every puppy goes through at first. have you heard of the thundershirt? it’s supposed to be comforting to dogs and seemed to help sadie w/ her anxiety in the car: https://www.pbfingers.com/2011/09/01/thundershirt/ – maybe that might help?
Great name, great dog! 🙂 Someone else recently mentioned the thundershirt to me. I think we might have to give that a try! Luna also gets anxious in the car (drools a TON!), so maybe it will help for that too. Thanks for the advice!
I drink water out of the same starbucks tumbler, too! For some reason, I can drink soooo much more water out of that thing then anything else…and I actually enjoy it! I like to add a lemon wedge to “changet it up”.
I’m always looking for new shampoos to try and could also use a bit of oomph! Will scope this one out next time I’m shampoo shopping. 🙂
That picture of Sadie is hilarious, it really does look like she is speaking about something very traumatic.
I couldn’t help but laugh when you mentioned your horse themed room, but at least you got to move out. My husband loves horses and doesn’t really care what he does to the place with his decorating. I’ve included a link with my husband’s home decorating so if you have a spare moment and would like to laugh and cringe all at the same time check this out effiegetskinny.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/home-decorating-while-i-was-sleeping.html
I CAN.NOT.WAIT to try that avocado mousse!!!
Ahh I remember the hotel living days! So glad that’s no more for you guys hah.
I need that shampoo!
Don’t know if you’re into using mousse in your hair but this website has amazing tutorials and just recently added a blowdry tutorial– big volume
http://www.thesmallthingsblog.com/2012/03/my-blow-dry-method.html
I’ve been trying so hard to drink a lot of water throughout the day. I’ve been drinking a ton of green tea lately too. I feel like it’s easier for me to drink something that has a bit more flavor. I hate that I am up from my desk at work peeing like every 20 minutes. I feel like people must think there is something wrong with me.
I remember your hotel living days! Thank goodness you were able to find a place to rent and be reunited with Sadie 🙂
Nioxin came out with a new product called Diamax, go to the Nioxin website to check it out. I have not tried it yet, but have heard only great things about it. I know it will be pricey because it is a salon only product, but I am going to give it a try.
Hi Julie!
I tried this shampoo and conditioner combo recently after seeing you talk about it on your blog and have been very pleased! My hair is thin, straight, and long too! Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve really picked up some great lunch ideas and other tips from you.
Keep up the great work, I look forward to reading your blog posts every day! 🙂
Have a great weekend,
Amanda
so glad to hear it! thanks for following up!