Author Archives: 365 days of marriage

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About 365 days of marriage

I started this blog in April of 2011. At the time, Bret and I were wedding photographers and it was a way to share how marriage is more about the day to day and so much more than the wedding day itself. For about 5 years, I blogged about the joys and sorrows of the Christian walk, marriage, work, family and friends. I’ve blogged every day since a few weeks after I started. In May of 2015, we photographed our last wedding. Now, I have become passionate about simplicity, particularly in marriage, Christianity, business, travel and life. For a number of reasons, we have become minimalists. I’ve found that having simplicity makes life so much deeper, refreshing and joyful. I hope that this blog will help others see the benefits of living simply.

Day 2866 – Happy International Virtual Assistants Day!

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I’m coming up on my third anniversary as a virtual assistant, so I thought it was high time I celebrated! I will say I’ve grown into more of a virtual office manager than anything else. Can we say hodge podge? Because really, if you look that up in the dictionary, my face is there.

I’m so thankful for the path my life has taken, and I love the freedom and flexibility this job provides. I am also thankful for the awesome people I have met because of it.

In honor of a day celebrating us organized folks, I wanted to give you a few of my current tips.

– Color coding my handwritten to do list – You know I’ve toyed with a number of methods for my to do list. Right now, I’ll look at each of my various lists – I have an Asana account for each of the businesses I do freelance work for, and a personal Asana for all of my projects, including but not limited to – writing, this blog, Journey with the G’s, Bret’s real estate investing business, and more. I’ll pull out my legal pad, and write my list the night before (this has been a BIG help). Then I’ll highlight – one color for all work for each client. If there’s a particularly important task that HAS to get done that day, I add a star. Another color for Bret work. Then I alternate two colors for everything else.

– Getting up at 5/5:30 a.m. – For years I’ve read that getting up early is a good thing. For years I’ve tried for a few days and then go back to my old ways. Friends, I’ve gotten up most mornings in this early window for about a week or so. I point to this change in my day as the main reason I have accomplished SO much in the last week or so. I finished my road trip manuscript, I created a Facebook community, I created an email list, I uploaded my road trip budgeting spreadsheet online as a bonus if you sign up for the list. I have such a fire under my butt about getting things done. I’ve talked about doing these things for a while, because I LOVE talking about travel. I LOVE encouraging people to take road trips. Now I will be able to talk to so many more people about it. Woooo!!! But I just love the feeling of getting the most important things done early (sermon/devotions, journaling, blogging, writing, sometimes working out). I used to jump into freelance work around 9/10ish, where now I’m jumping in around 7:30/8. At the end of my days, I’m not feeling overwhelmed because I didn’t get much done that day, I’m feeling accomplished.

What about you? How do you stay organized?

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
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Day 2865 – Sunday Night Date Night

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Last night, I was SO jazzed by my epic day of finalizing SO much with my road trip business (did you join the Facebook group yet?), and we had both worked really hard all week and weekend, that we wanted to go out and celebrate. We got to finally see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and finished up the date with an Oreo milkshake….Johnny Rockets was closing, so thankfully we were able to order one to go! It was a great time of just hanging out and enjoying a really fun movie. I love movies where I laugh like that. 😀

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget

Day 2864 – BIG News – Facebook Group To Help You Plan Your Epic Road Trip!

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I am absolutely over the moon right now! I could yell out with glee….but since I’m indoors, with the windows open, I’m trying to contain my excitement.

Ahem – my road trip book is now in the hands of my editor/proof reader! Woooooo! That’s not all!

I have created a Facebook group for YOU to help you plan your own Epic Road Trip! It is open to everyone and anyone! Check out the Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget Facebook group here!

I’ve also put my planning spreadsheet online! If you sign up for the Journey With The G’s email list, you’ll get access to it! Click here to sign up.

This photo about sums up my current mood…

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 2863 – A Very Happy International Hummus Day!

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Over here at the G’s, we eat a lot of hummus. Especially Mrs. G. I used to make hummus for us, because it was really cheap and easy to make. Now that we live close to Aldi, we get all of our hummus there, because it’s so cheap (ha ha, and we don’t have a really powerful blender, so I get more annoyed than anything else). In honor of International Hummus Day, I wanted to share the best recipe I’ve found for hummus.

It’s a little messy to make because of some of the ingredients, so I recommend making it right next to your sink, if you can.

15 oz can chickpeas
1/2 cup tahini*
5 tbsp oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 medium garlic cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
1 tbsp oil (optional)

Drain and rinse chickpeas, reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid. Combine all ingredients in a food processor (or blender**). Process until mixture is smooth. If mixture is too thick, add 1-2 tbsp of reserved chickpea liquid***. Move to serving dish and add 1 tbsp oil, if desired.

Old Bay Hummus
Same as above, minus salt, pepper or ground red pepper. I added about 2-3 tbsp of Old Bay instead. This is a “to taste” ingredient. I put in a bit…then poured in some more…thought it was too much…but after I tasted it, realized it was perfect. If you are from Baltimore, you know that there is no such thing as “too much Old Bay.”

Tomato Basil Hummus
Same as above, minus salt, pepper or ground red pepper. I added one full tomato and a bunch of basil. I used dried basil, but I would imagine fresh basil would be tasty! Now, since I used a whole tomato, it made the mixture a little watery, so I just opened another can of chickpeas and added about 1/4-1/3 of the can.

* find this near the peanut butter in the store. I have purchased it at Wal-Mart. This is also one of the messy ingredients.
** I have NOT had luck making a double batch in the blender
*** I typically will add 2 tbsp of the chickpea liquid at the beginning. I’ve also found that if you drain the liquid into a measuring cup (I use a 3 cup), it’s much easier (and cleaner) when adding more to the hummus.

I’d love to know how it works out for you! Share your hummus story below!

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 2862 – How Traffic Reminds Me How Good I Have It

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Yesterday, I was doing some errands and got stuck in just awful traffic. It was rainy, and close to rush hour. When I finally got home, I was just so thankful for my current work situations. I love working from home, and having so much flexibility. I’m so thankful for my amazing clients, and the opportunities I’ve been presented. It takes a different type of work, it’s still hard in some ways, and it takes more planning, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Traffic always seems to remind me to be thankful (take a walk down memory lane with this post).

What stressful thing are you thankful for today?

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel