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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 3301 – Don’t Negate The Small Shifts In Your Life

As Bret and I are gearing up for what will be one of the busier seasons of our life, we are thinking about ways to trim things in our days and maximize the things that will have the biggest impacts. It reminds me of this book (which is an affiliate link, see my disclosures page for more info on what that means):

Dream Big, Think Small: Living an Extraordinary Life One Day at a Time by Jeff Manion. One of the biggest lessons in the book is that small steps each day really add up. It was and is a good reminder that even the tiniest of shifts or changes can impact your whole life.

A big example in recent memory is how Bret changed a question he asked of me. It used to be “are you working like your worth XXXX (very small amount of income) or XXXX (a reasonable amount of income)?” I would always respond that I was working like I made more. A few months ago, he shifted the question to “Do you feel like your worth a reasonable amount of income?” It was in that moment that I realized, no, I don’t. For a myriad of reasons, I haven’t felt worth in myself. After realizing this, I’ve been putting in the work to feel worthy to make more, to charge more, to do more. Just that tiny shift has changed my life. In doing the work to see my worthiness in my work, I took a leap and started a new business which included making a large investment in training (which you can read more about here), and changing a few things in my life.

Another big example in my life is in my running practice. For years, I struggled with running. I know that I love to run. I know that I can run. But every training program I did fell apart. I realized that it was because each plan was just too fast for me. I’m a major overachiever and when Bret suggested starting very small, like, running around the block, I thought it was just too small. But after a few more “this plan doesn’t work for me” I decided to finally try. My goal has been to run three times a week. I started in October/November at .25 miles. So so so hard for this lady to do so little. But I did it, and while I fell out of the practice until about April, I’ve been better in the months since. I increase my distance by 10% after about 4-5 runs. It has been so helpful in building up my endurance and muscles. I’m happy to say yesterday, I ran my fastest speed…ever. At least since I’ve tracked on my running app. I ran in the rain, splashed in puddles, and ran fast. While I’m “only” up to .37 miles, I’m running regularly and increasing my distance.

Never negate the small shifts in your life.

For a real life example, check out this photo. Just by shifting a few degrees, a better picture was achieved.

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Day 3300 – What’s In My “Currently Reading” Pile Right Now?

I still have a goal of reading 300 books this year. I’ve only read 101, but I still think that I can do it. Ha ha, I’ve done the math and it’s possible. Part of how I’m working to achieve this currently is by tracking how much I’m reading throughout the day. I’ve found I read more than I think I do. Audiobooks while driving, doing the dishes or wash helps a lot too. Part of my morning routine is to read out of a few books, right now, that’s the first three on the top row. The fourth book is one I’ve been going through for the last week or so. I’m thinking it will be one that I recommend. It’s a great snapshot of different types of meditation and I’ve seen improvement just in the few times I’ve practiced.

I’ve noticed that I read much more when I’m reading fun books, especially page-turning reads. It’s been a while since I’ve had one of those, but holy smokes, I’m tearing through Into The Water. A Unicorn in a World of Donkeys has also been a fantastic read so far and I’m sure I’ll be highly recommending it to other Unicorns in my life.

What are you reading right now? How many books do you read at a time?

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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 3299 – Sharing The Movie Big With Bret

When we visited Santa Monica earlier this month, I got super excited about seeing this!

Upon discussion with Bret, I realized he had no idea why I was so excited. He’s never seen Big. My friend and I couldn’t believe it! So I gave myself a reminder to fix this. Last night, we watched Big and Bret kept saying, I can’t believe I’ve never seen this!

Have you ever seen a Zoltar in real life? Have you seen Big?

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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 3298 – Happy Junk Food Day!

Not sure how much junk food I’ll have today, but still cause for celebration! πŸ˜€

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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 3297 – Bret & Jen – 2007 vs 2018

Last night, we had a business dinner right down the road from a spot very special to us. We had a meaningful conversation about our future at Loch Raven and it was pretty surreal to go to the same spot 11 years later.

We haven’t changed at all, right? πŸ˜€

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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