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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 2736 – Me, Darth Maul And A Friend Who Thought I Was Crazy

Three years ago today, I went to Disneyland with our dear friend Crystal. I wanted to reshare a hilarious encounter…

After the teacups….Crystal said I had to see this Jedi training thing….ok, cool! I love Star Wars. It’s training for kids 4-12…so after a few minutes, I’m like, eh, I’m ok if we move on. Crystal said, oh….you don’t want to see Darth Vader? At this point my mouth was hanging open and I quickly said, OH! Nevermind!!!

Then this happened….

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And this happened….

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At this point I screamed in a “I’m seeing some pop star and screaming like a girl”…..”THAT’S DARTH MAUL!!!! HE’S MY FAVORITE!!!!”

I tried to get some pictures, but he was too far away….so I’m like, I gotta go get a closer shot!!!

I did…

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I later found out that my friend thought I was going to run out and interrupt the show….heh heh, nahhhhhh. πŸ™‚

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Day 2735 – Throw Back Thursday To The Day I Was A Bride!

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
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Day 2734 – January Goals – or – My Thoughts On New Year’s Resolutions

I talk about goals and lists and planning a lot. I’m always thinking of ways to meet my goals and ways to create good habits or break bad ones. I love lists and spreadsheets and just getting better in general. Personally, I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. I think you can start fresh any day of the year. You can set yourself up for a major life change just by making small adjustments to your life.

I’ve realized that making monthly goals, or periodically updating your goals is a great way to get them accomplished. In November, my dentist very forcefully said, you gotta floss every day. I printed out check boxes for myself and for Bret on every single day until about June. I have flossed every single day since then. After such a successful change in my habits, I thought, oooo, I’ll make a big list of check boxes and get a lot of new habits implemented! Yea, that did NOT work. I still wanted to try this check box method, so I’m trying something for January – goals and would be nice goals. Only five of my goals are on the check box list and only 2 of them are definite goals.

So what are my goals for this month?
– Some kind of workout/activity every day
– Read 9 books
– Write every day

Would be nice goals
– 10,000 steps
– Consistent Journey With The G’s media schedule
– 100 YouTube subscribers
– 50 Facebook likes
– 50 Instagram followers
– Bring in some additional income
– Get 3 book reviews*
– Finish first draft of road trip book
– No soda/energy drinks
– Eat breakfast
– More networking

I’m only using check boxes for:
– Workouts
– Writing
– Breakfast
– No soda/energy drinks
– 10,000 steps

Another thing I’ve realized about meeting your goals is setting yourself up for success. So I’m writing first thing in the morning after my devotions. It is one of the important things in my day and I want to get it done before I get into other things. I’m sure I’ll write at other points in the day, but I want to ensure I get a devoted chunk of time before my brain is fried. The fitbit has worked for me in the past, but when the band gets worn down, I stop wearing it (after taping it of course). I’m not sure why I didn’t realize this before, but I can order replacements from Amazon*. I now have a drawer of 12 colorful bands ready for changing out. I’ve already had a night of walking around the apartment just to get my steps. I made sure to stock up on books for my reading goals. I have a personal goal of reading 100 books this year. Since I’ve got a children’s book brewing in my mind, I plan on reading a number of kid’s books….this will help me definitely hit my reading goals. I’m already at 5 books out of 100, though, two of those shouldn’t count – Moosey Moose and Crabby Crab, I’m looking at you! One of the ways I read a non-fiction book is with a piece of notebook paper to write down things that stick out to me. Writing them down with pen and paper really help to solidify what I read. I have stacks and stacks of papers from read books and partially read books laying around. Last night, I found all of them, sorted them and filed them in an expandable folder – to be typed, partially read, and get again from the library. I can’t tell you how much mental space it gave me. Mmmmm, love me some organization.

What are some of your goals for this month or the year? What are you doing to make sure you reach them?

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* Amazon Affiliate links

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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 2733 – Back To Work!

I’ve missed having a routine, here’s hoping it’s an easy transition!

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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 2732 – My Book In Person!! – or – Reading Goals

Last night, or very early this morning, we arrived home around 2 a.m., driven by an awesome Uber driver, I might add. While we were away, I ordered a few things from Amazon, including the softback version of my book. I purposefully waited until we were close to the end of the trip so we wouldn’t miss the packages. Amazon is a great service, unfortunately for me, too good! Thankfully, we know some of our neighbors well, and one of them grabbed the first package. When I got notification about my book, we texted the neighbor but he said nothing was there. I was sad because I realllllly wanted to see my book as soon as we got home. Even though I stopped the mail, on a lark, I check our box…..there it was! The first thing I did was rip into that package!

Oh friends, I sat on the floor and cried….I’m sure some of that was from traveling for 10 hours, not eating a ton, and enduring another crying baby for the duration of our flight…..but what joy it was to see something I created. I realized while we were away that it has taken me well over 5 years to write this book. It has given me courage to write more and write like crazy. It has also given me reason to read more. I find I am a much better writer and creator when I’m reading a lot. I’m signed up for the Modern Mrs. Darcy’s 2017 reading challenge and I’m excited to see what books that will bring my way…it’s a bit of a choose your own adventure reading challenge. I’m doing both of the challenges: Read for Fun (book you chose for the cover or a book you don’t want to admit you’re dying to read) and the Reading for Growth (book more than 600 pages, a Newbery Award winner). I like having some direction to my reading but I also like freedom to choose. If you have any challenges or books to recommend, throw them my way! You can check out my to be read list on Goodreads and get a feel for what I like.

Now for the geek out portion of the post….

I’m a Goodreads author!!!! Eeeep! I mean, it wasn’t that hard to get my account set up that way and add my book….but still….as a Goodreads nerd, I’m excited. πŸ™‚

Are you interested in the printed version of my book? Check it out!

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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.