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 3101 – Life And Business Change – Letting Go And Being Ok With Slow Progress

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I’m a big dreamer. At any given time, I probably have 5-10 “that would be SO cool” ideas, jobs, or books floating around. Right now, I have at least 8. But, thankfully, a few things have changed my mindset about dreams recently.

I love learning, all the time. I have pages and pages and pages (and photos and typed documents) of notes from conferences, webinars, YouTube videos, books I’ve read, and more. I felt a tremendous pressure to get these notes typed up and/or organized into my Asana so I could quickly access them. I recently read/heard/watched (seriously, I intake so much information all the time, I can’t remember….lol, maybe if I had a system….) something about how just the act of taking notes or journaling and then never looking at it again is good. The act of writing something down helps your brain to remember. I also read something about ideas, that if it’s good, it will stick. Just mentally letting go of “catching up” with my notes has given me so much relief.

I have some great ideas for Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. I know I have SO much content I can share. I’ve taken so many adventures, seen so many great places, and had many life changing experiences. I’ve learned lessons and have knowledge about a lot of things. It’s easy to get caught up in looking at other content creators and thinking “wow, they post every day” or “look at the editing and graphics in this video!” or “this image looks perfect!” and feel woefully behind. In a lot of ways, I had to let go of all of this and decide on what’s the most important, and that’s this blog and my Facebook group. Those are my “personal projects” definite to dos. I am still working through my old blog posts to add links, remove links, clean up text, and use posts for Pinterest, but I don’t have the pressure of getting it done by a certain time. That feeling has been freeing.

I am embracing my voice. This is something that I hear over and over – just be yourself – and I’m taking it to heart with the blog. I can see and feel a difference in my posts since we got back from California. I am unabashedly me, and that’s what I want to share. Going through my blog, I noticed I did a few quizzes about “what do you want to read?” and while it’s important to write things your audience wants to hear, I think it’s also important to be authentic and genuine and honest. Just like things change in a marriage over the years, so this blog will change over the years. What will I be writing about next year? Who knows, but I’m going to keep at it.

So while I would LOVE to get back into making our YouTube videos, and I would love to be marketing my books more, and I would love to have a super active social media presence, I am going to take my advice about being a minimalist and ruthlessly say no to the bad/good/great to make room for the oh “heck yea.”

Here’s one of my favorite “oh heck yea” places, Clearwater Beach, Florida.

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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 3100 – My Amazon Affiliate Experiences And Book Sales (How Many Books Have I Sold?)

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I don’t know if I’ll ever be an “educator about making money on a blog.” While I love making passive income, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be in a place to teach others about it. I’m much more passionate about road trips, organization, and personal growth. But, one thing that I think helps when you teach anything to others is brutal honesty about the journey. And I’m sure y’all are wondering how much I make from asking you to click on links to Amazon or how many books I’ve sold.

This month, I received a deposit from Amazon in the amount of pennies and I thought, you know what, I gotta blog about this. I also wanted to talk a little more about what the Amazon affiliate program is and my experiences.

When you click on a link I share, whether it’s for a book or a product, and you choose to purchase it or something else on Amazon within 24 hours, I receive a percentage. Think of it like a commission. It’s a small percentage, and that depends on a few things, but typically it’s very small. Ha ha, judging by my deposit this month, I hope that shares just how small.

I’ll never forget that first day I made a sale (even if it was a friend), and received like $.40. Waking up to my first deposit was great as well. For years, I wanted to make money when I slept, and it finally happened. All told, I’ve made over $200 passively through Amazon Affiliate program. I have loved using this program and getting a little something for sharing recommendations totally fits my personality type. I love sharing things that have changed my life with others in the hopes that it will change their life too.

Now my books. I get lots of questions in person like – “How are your books doing? How many have you sold?” I just added up my current totals through then end of 2017 and I have sold 34 books. Two of those were purchases I made, so I could have copies of my books. Even though there are times I think, wow, that’s not THAT many, I remind myself that it’s still 32 people who were interested in and curious about what I had to say. And I know at least one person was changed because of what I wrote (see the review of Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner (this is an affiliate link, lol). I was so moved and encouraged by that review, I have it printed out in multiple places. I did sell four of those 34 in December (which is always fun to see!) Hopefully this means there are folks hoping to take a road trip this year, if that’s you, kudos! Taking a road trip will change your life, even if it’s something you’ve done before. Every road trip has changed me in some way.

What about you? Have you sold books on Amazon? Have you had experience with the affiliate program? What do you think about clicking on links? Haha, I have heard of people purposefully not using the affiliate link but still purchasing the item. 😀 I’m so aware of affiliate marketing, that it’s hard to know what someone who isn’t thinks about it.

Oh, and fun fact – I submitted my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget (also an affiliate link) one day, ordered it that same day, paid an expedited shipping fee, and received it….the NEXT day. My how the publishing world has changed.

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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 3099 – My Word Of The Year – No

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I’ve known about the “word of the year” for a while now, but never selected one for myself. I thought about Good, based on Jocko Williams Good. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized my word needed to be No. Bret and I have some seriously big goals, and unless I can ruthlessly say no to the good, ok, and bad things, I won’t have room to say yes (or oh heck yea a la Jenna Marbles style) to things. Having this as my word forces me to question each decision I’m faced with and look at it honestly, a lot like how minimalism forces you to really think about why you own things.

I realized this morning that I also have to say no to myself. I’ve been sleeping in a little later than normal. I always think I’ll make the transition from pacific time to eastern time just fine, but those 3 hours seem to be a bigger deal than I think. Bret’s been getting up about 4/4:30 instead of the 5/5:30 we’ve been shooting for. This morning, his alarm went off at 4 but he mentioned sleeping until 5. At 4:30, our phones went off with a notification that schools were opening 2 hours late. Unfortunately, my brain starting running. I did fall back asleep and snoozed until about 6. During the snoozes, I thought, you know, I need to say no to myself when I want to sleep in. I’ve felt behind every day this week because of sleeping in. It’s crazy how just an hour or two can make a big difference in your day.

We’ll see if it sticks for the year, but it has definitely taught me a lot already.

Do you have a word for the year?

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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 3098 – How To Read 300 Books In A Year

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Last year, I read 304 books. 200 kids books (picture books) and 104 “adult/full length” books. I was super proud of myself and learned a lot about a lot through reading so much. My previous year, I read 75 books. I like challenging myself to do more, so this year, I am planning on reading 300 books again, but all or very nearly all “adult/full length” books. I know I will read, I have to, but having a big goal is helpful. And a big shout out to Goodreads in helping to keep track of my goal….and telling me if I’m off track.

So what do I do to set myself up for success in this area?

I set aside several times a day to read. My morning tasks include reading through a book on book marketing/blog marketing/etc and reading through Tribe of Mentors. This helps me to chip away at 2 books. My evenings I want to read a little out of a non-fiction and read a fiction book as well. Since we just got back from being away, there are things to catch up on, so my evenings aren’t as open as they normally are, but in the future, I hope to spend an hour or two reading.

I keep track of my progress in Goodreads and on a sheet of paper. This serves as a double check to make sure I’ve recorded all of my books, and an easy way to count up adult vs. kids.

I use reading challenges to expand my options of books. Last year I started two challenges but they fizzled out by February. I’m not sure if I’ll complete any of the ones I’ve chosen this year, but they really help my options. This year, I’m hope to attempt the following:

The 2018 Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge
The 2018 #BWELLREAD Reading Challenge
The 2018 Popsugar Reading Challenge
The 2018 Read Harder Challenge
The Mommy Mannegren 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge

There are some fantastic ideas in there (in order of the lists above):
a classic you’ve been meaning to read
a book with a one-word title
a book that was being read by a stranger in a public place
a comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image
a book with bad reviews

I listen to audio books during my longer commutes.

But most important, I won’t beat myself up if I don’t meet my goal. The reasons to read are many (authors should read a lot, reading gives you many perspectives, etc) and just the act of reading and learning new things elates my soul.

Are you doing a reading challenge this year?

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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 3097 – Survival Tips For A Long Las Vegas Airport Layover

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If you’ve read my blog a while, you know we travel through the Las Vegas airport….a lot. I’ve shared my unfavorable feelings absolute hatred of this airport before. There are a few reasons for this that I realized after our recent trip – Vegas holds negative memories of drinking, and I just wasn’t using my layovers properly.

On our way to California this year, we had a very short layover. I don’t normally like having one that short (about an hour and a half), but Southwest is typically really great at arriving on time (or early). Our Allegiant flight was a little later, but not too much (unlike previous trips).

On our way back, due to flight prices and timings, we had to fly into Vegas on New Years Eve in the afternoon and fly to Baltimore early in the morning on New Years Day. All told, it was about a 14 hour layover, I think our longest to date, and honestly, our absolute best.

After we arrived, we found some food and chowed down. We then found a table to set up our computers and do some work. Unfortunately, the electric wasn’t working on the one we happened to find, so I opted out of working to do some reading. I’m making my way through Tribe of Mentors by Timothy Ferris and it has been quite a journey so far. I love reading advice from such a varied group of successful people. We could have ventured out of the airport and found something to do, but the more we thought about it, the more we thought….why not spend this gift of time working on our businesses and brains. I probably read about 25-30% of an almost 600 page book. So. Much. Fun.

A few people came and went at our table. Most notably was a family with two small children. Bret had chatted with the dad a little bit and they went on their way. After they left, we started to pack up to move (we were by a Starbucks and they closed, and turning out the lights above us). That was when we noticed – one of the kids left their lightsaber. I stayed at the table in case someone came back and Bret took off to find them. He thankfully saw where they headed and brought the mom back with him. It was a little NYE miracle to reunited this kid with his red light saber, even if he was on the dark side.

Around 9, after wishing Bret a happy east coast new year, I thought, hmmm, we need more food after all this coffee and a spot to watch the fireworks. We made our way around the airport finding a good spot. We set up shop and I left to find some food. I’ve done lots of research on the airport, since we’ve spent so much time there. I truly thought that everything closed overnight…and sometimes early, especially on a holiday. It always struck me as odd that there wasn’t a place to get food 24 hours, because Vegas itself is 24/7. I thought, well, I’ll walk around to see what the options are. I also was getting restless. I left Bret in the A Gate and made my way through B and C. On my long trek, I passed a lady doing yoga (you go lady!). I also felt so light without my bag. Since we are carry-on only travelers, our bags are quite full. How often do we try to trek through life with so much baggage when the journey could be so much better if we just put down the bag?

I also noticed that if you ride the moving sidewalks and look down, it feels like you aren’t going anywhere, but if you look up, you can see movement. Another life lesson – look up. I found myself so inspired by the things around me. Even though it was getting late, everything was closed or closing, there was still life in the airport. I realized I loved this time in the airport. I felt a part of something bigger than myself and that I was almost in a secret club.

As I made my way through C, I thought I found one spot open, but sadly no. Oh but friends, as I walked passed C24, I found my mecca – Jersey Mike’s Subs and Nathan’s Famous, located between gates C22 and C23 – you will find the only 24 hour food options. Thankfully, it’s not too terribly unhealthy – especially if you get a sub in a tub, which I did. I also got bacon ranch fries with a side of cheese – ok, so not terribly healthy. So, if you find yourself looking for food in the middle of the night, head over to C. I can’t believe I didn’t know this until now. But I am SO thankful!

We chowed down and continued our reading and learning. As it got closer to midnight, we realize we found the perfect spot because a few employees started to come by and even the outdoor crew started pulling up. If you’re at the airport at midnight on New Years Eve, gate A7 is the best spot to watch. Some ladies told us it was their tradition to jump 3 times at midnight, so I did! Then we all pressed our faces up to the window to watch. It was such a fun thing to do! We got to see the fireworks and didn’t have to deal with crowds.

At this point, we decided to make our way to our gate for the morning flight. They hadn’t updated the arrival/departure monitors for the morning yet, but the individual gates had been updated. In my long journey to get food, I found where we would be leaving from in the morning. Bret decided to sleep and I continued to read. It’s crazy how quickly a place can go from no one around besides workers to a whole lot of people in such a short amount of time. We went from no one around to a whole lot in just a span of an hour.

As I reflect on this layover, I find myself looking at McCarran in a different light. I don’t hate this airport anymore. If anything, I might have a growing love for it. Which is a good thing because for our California visits, it makes the most sense to fly in and out of there. So take a lesson from me, even if you truly hate a place, you could one day grow to love it and look forward to the next trip. I’m incredibly grateful to say that was the best layover I’ve ever had, and given that it was a 14 hour layover, that’s good news.

And flying into the sunrise wasn’t a terrible way to start a flight.

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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