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 2771 – A Lesson In Marketing From Past Jennilyn’s Mistakes

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I’ve been relying on income from freelance sources for some or all of my income for over 12 years now. I’ve learned so much since I started, from how to use my photography gear, to how to use different editing software, to how to code a website, to how to market. You know I regularly check my previous year’s posts on Facebook. I see soooooo many statuses with me saying “like my Facebook page,” “check out my website,” in so many words, my Facebook feed screamed “BUY FROM ME!!!!!!!” I am so embarrassed by past Jennilyn. I’ve learned you don’t get raving fans from shoving your wares down potential clients throats. You get raving fans by sharing great content that is important to them. I sure hope I learn this lesson from past Jennilyn as I jump into new ventures. I hope I am more concerned with getting my messages to people that need to hear it than trying to get everyone to listen.

What about you, have you ever made a really embarrassing marketing mistake in your past?

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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 2770 – The Worst Winter Ever

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This has been the worst winter ever. There have been no snow days. My Facebook On This Day has been taunting me with the epic snows we had in previous years. Even this day several years ago had snow and snow days.

Today, Bret got a 2 hour delay – YAY! But…..poor guy is sick, and woke up around 4 a.m and couldn’t fall back asleep. So no sleeping in for his delay. Not sure if it will turn into a day off (which would be awesome for Bret). But it really sucks that we can’t enjoy even one snow day together this year. I guess we lucked out last year with a whole week of snow days.

If you’re in Maryland, are you mad at this winter? Are you happy? Tell me 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 2769 – You Can Take A Cross Country Trip, No Matter Your Budget – or – Making Progress On My Road Trip Book!

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve realized I am really, really, really passionate about encouraging others to follow their dreams, especially travel dreams. We’ve taken four cross country road trips and every time we tell people that, we get the “I’ve always wanted to do that!” I realize that I always say, “you should!” It takes planning, but I think you can do it for any budget.

As I’ve been reading some of my old blog posts about our travels, I realized in 2013, we were able to make the trip for just under $500 (there are lots of great tips here that I still follow today). We only stayed in one hotel and we took food with us.

Now, we’ve also taken trips that were well over $2,000. There is a budget for every type of road trip. But I’ll bet you didn’t think you could take a cross country trip for under $500, did you?

Make sure you’re subscribed to the blog to learn more about how we take these trips for so cheap. I hope to make a few videos about travel budgets on our YouTube Channel too. And hopefully soon, I’ll have a book you can buy with all our trips and experiences!

How do you save on your trips? Have you done a cross country trip for under $500? Tell me below!

Here’s a sneak peek at my first page! (I’m writing from the future and the book is done! Check out the link below)

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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.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 2768 – Marriage Tip – Have An Emergency Fund

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Yesterday was quite the day! I took our car to the mechanic because of an indicator light. Come to find out, we needed work that was a few hundred bucks. Finished up, stopped by a good friend’s house.

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Had lunch with another good friend.

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After lunch, I discovered my indicator light came back on. So back to the mechanic I went. They figured it out, and I left with another bill adding another hundred or so. After the events of the day, I kept thinking about something that has radically improved our marriage – an emergency fund.

After our truck was totalled, we got a hefty check and that was our emergency fund for a while. Unfortunately, it also became our fun fund and our bills account. So we went from a good 6+ months of an emergency fund to less than 2, probably even closer to 1. While we were on our summer trip, we started to listen to the financial peace seminar by Dave Ramsey. One of his biggest things is having an emergency fund. Hearing this was a great reminder for us. While we are also investing in Bret building a real estate investing business, we’re also trying to build our emergency fund up again. Since we’re back up to over 2 months, it’s a real comfort when something goes wrong. Driving to the mechanic, I thought, well, if something major is wrong, we have the money saved to take care of it. A few years ago, a day like yesterday would have been extremely stressful to our marriage. There would be anger, disappointment, and discouragement.

As I thought over the day, I was just struck at how powerful having that emergency fund is. It took us time to do it, it’s not a quick thing to do, but it should be a priority. Trust me when I say, it has a HUGE impact on your marriage. There are lots of ways to save money, and cut your bills back. One thing that helps us is an account on Mint. Seeing how much we ACTUALLY spend on things and not what we think we spend is extremely helpful….and surprising. Fun Jen and Bret fact – we spent over $400 on Dunkin Donuts since we started tracking our spending on Mint. Funny enough, we really started spending when we moved here. Darn you Dunkin within 3 minutes walking distance!

What about you, do you have an emergency fund? Are there ways you can cut back your spending so you can build it up? Let me know below!

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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.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 2767 – Repost – What Should You Do With Your Life? (The PJs Go With The Post, Really!)

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Today ended up being one of those days where I ran around ALL day. Oy. Since this chick is way tired, I’m resharing a post from two years ago. Enjoy!

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originally posted 2/6/15
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I was going to post Bret’s story about his two year long journey to attempting a Guinness World Record twice. I even reread his story, edited it down (just a little), emailed it to him to review at school as a last check. That was going to be the post today.

But then something happened.

I’m listening to an amazing two week event. It’s called On the Road and Making Money (you can probably still sign up if this interests you!) So far I’ve heard about a half dozen calls and have garnered some really great advice. It’s set a fire under my butt to make big changes in my life and my business. It’s given me ideas for one of my clients. It’s only the first week and it’s already been life changing.

Today, I listened to a rebroadcast called “Take Your Business on the Road to Explode Your Ecstatic Brand and Attract High-Paying Clients” by Christina Morassi. My biggest takeaway was this – it is ok to be you and to share that in your business. I found myself listening with tears streaming down. My journey has definitely been on the road to fully embracing ME and not apologizing for it. It was more of a “preaching to the choir” talk.

It was awesome to be reminded it’s ok that:

  • I love to have a stack of 29 books from the library, 2 on hold and requests for 2 more (my current numbers).
  • That I LOVE puzzles and have completed over 700 on the Jigsaw World app on Facebook. (I listen to sermons/webinars/etc. while putting together puzzles, so it’s not ALWAYS indulging in fun just for fun.)
  • That I get giddy excited about PivotTables and Excel spreadsheets.
  • That I wear adult footed PJs.
  • That I cry at beer commercials.
  • That I would drive across the country and not take a shower until Nevada.
  • That I get so into non-fiction books about research studies it’s like I’m reading an intense fiction novel.
  • That I can get my heart broken, but still love on someone.
  • That Christ and following Him is the number one thing in my life. Even if it turns people off or causes me to “sacrifice” things/people/whatever.

So today, I want to encourage you to fully embrace who you are. Every single aspect of you makes you wonderful and uniquely YOU! It is OK to be you!

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11

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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