Author Archives: 365 days of marriage

Unknown's avatar

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 3196 – Debt Free Since 2013!

Posted on by
Reply

Like my sobriety, it now feels like I’ve always been debt free. The good times of finally getting out of the debt trap have been outshined by the debt-free days.

What’s funny though, is that we are in the process of looking for a new to us car, and potentially a car loan….as well as purchasing our first house. But having had our current car for almost 13 years and that was bought new, and knowing that by purchasing a home, we are building equity, it’s a different view.

I’ve talked about how we paid off our debt of $30,000 a number of times, the best post is this one. I talk about our budgeting methods and how we were able to pay down that debt.

One thing I’ve been learning recently is how messed up my mindset has been with money. From “I’ll worry about it later” to “there isn’t enough to go around” to “I don’t deserve more money.” It’s crazy how much our mindset impacts our lives. So I am purposing to reshape my thoughts.

What about you? Are you working on paying down a debt? Do you have a bad mindset about money?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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 3195 – One Small Step, Every Day

Posted on by
Reply

Y’ll know, I have LOTS of ideas and dreams and things I want to do. At any given moment, I have half a dozen ideas floating around in my head. But there’s no way I can realistically work on all of them. Ha ha, even outsourcing might not be enough. I have big plans for YouTube, social media channels, my books, and this blog. One thing I hear over and over again is how powerful Pinterest can be as a traffic source. So, I’ve been working on getting my blog ready for that, and cataloging things as I go. I have been working on this for months. In the past, I would have gotten discouraged, thrown up my hands and said, that’s it, this is too much work, I can’t do this.

But then my mindset shifted. I read this book (this is an affiliate link, so if you purchase the book or something else on Amazon, I’ll get a small percentage….this book changed my life and I am ALL for sharing it!)….

Dream Big, Think Small: Living an Extraordinary Life One Day at a Time by Jeff Manion

The idea is that you can accomplish a lot, just by showing up every day, even if it’s in small ways. This has helped me to see my five minutes a day working on getting ready for Pinterest in a much different way. Instead of thinking, “man, this is just not worth it, it’s so little every day!” I think, “I am one blog post closer to finishing.” Some days I can do a few posts, some I only do one. I am so close to the finish line and I’ve gotten here by just plugging away at it.

So friends, no matter what you’re working towards, don’t beat yourself up if you think it’s only a small step each day. You’re still moving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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 3194 – New Boundaries – or – Time Management Tips

Posted on by
Reply

I am constantly trying to better myself and make my life more efficient. I try to pay attention to myself and how different things impact me. One area that I have struggled with is checking my work emails on the weekends and in the evenings……and first thing in the morning. I told myself it was because I was keeping up to date, but truly, I wasn’t going to actually work or do anything about what came through. So checking was distracting me from other things I could be doing – reading, hanging out with Bret, working on our business, or other projects.

Well friends, I had some major growth in this area over the weekend – I didn’t check my work emails AT ALL! From Friday evening at 5 p.m. until now, I haven’t checked my emails. I’m trying to be pretty strict about only doing client work during 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. each weekday. By giving myself work hours, it really does help me turn off work and the need to check. I have so many different things that I’m working on right now that I HAVE to have boundaries. 9-5 during the week is plenty of time to accomplish what I need to do. I did pretty well last week with my work hours, so I’m curious to see how this week goes, now that I’ve established this rule.

I think that creativity and productivity thrive with set rules, systems, and guidelines. (At least mine does)

What about you? What boundaries do you have in place?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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 3193 – That Time I Made Food And It Wasn’t A Disaster

Posted on by
Reply

My friend makes the best guacamole. I finally watched her make it and took notes on how to make it myself. I’ve tried a few times but it’s never been the same. My biggest mistake? Non-ripe avocados. I noticed the stack of avocados I had were ripe and I thought, ok, I’ll try again. Honestly, I had said to myself that I was done trying. I thought, ok, well, I’ll finish up these avocados and that’ll be that.

What followed was absolute perfection and I realized I really needed to just be more patient with those poor avocados. I felt so accomplished actually making something and not wanting to cry afterwards. No tears were shed in this making….EVEN with the onion!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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 3192 – The Worst Road Trip Mistake I’ve Ever Made – repost

Posted on by
Reply

I didn’t realize I had made the biggest mistake of my “road trip career” on my last trip until over a week after we got home. My typical road trip beverages are soda and Rockstar. My typical road trip snacks are chips, sunflower seeds and anything from the salty family.

I had the WORST adjustment period I’ve ever had after returning home from this road trip. At first, I thought it was just a “I just saw some of the most amazing things and I miss being on the road” but I realized I had pretty much poisoned my body.

On the trip out, something happened that has NEVER happened to me on a drive. My feet swelled. They were huge and it was very freaky. I’m actually surprised it was the first time it had happened to me! So, on the trip back, I made sure to not have as many salty snacks. Unfortunately, I did not slow down on the sodas and Rockstar. I purchased a CUBE of Cherry Pepsi and had finished it in just a few days after we returned home. I was so discouraged and down that first week back. It wasn’t until the soda and Rockstar were long gone and a new workout plan was started that I felt better.

It’s crazy how much what we eat and drink can mess with our bodies.

So, my next project is figuring out how to eat even healthier on my next drive. The biggest question is what to drink to help me stay awake that isn’t filled with sugar or super acidic like coffee.

Any tips? What’s your worst road trip mistake?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
originally posted 7/28/16
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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