Category Archives: Life

Day 3187 – Children’s Book Day – or – The Best Children’s Books I’ve Read

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Last year, I read 300 books. 200 of those books were Children’s Picture books. I’ve had some people say those didn’t really count. But I have to say, I was moved to joy, laughter, and deep thinking after many of those “books that didn’t count.” Today is Children’s Book Day, so I wanted to share some of the best children’s books I’ve read recently.

All of these links are Amazon Affiliate links. That means if you purchase the book or something else on Amazon after you click on the link, I will get a small percentage. If you’ve been here a while, you know I only ever share links to products, books, etc. that I have personally read, used, and believe in.

Brontorina by James Howe – A brontosaurus doing ballet is reason enough to read a book, and part of the reason I grabbed this one. But what I found was a story that encouraged chasing your dream, encouraging others to chase their dream, and not putting anyone in a box.

Bad Day at Riverbend by Chris Van Allsburg – As a kid, I loved Two Bad Ants, also written by Chris. I sought out his other books and found this one. It was such a different story line than any other kid’s book I’d read before. This was a really fun read.

Mother Bruce by Ryan Higgins – I love the books that turn what you expect an animal to do and be into something completely different. I especially loved that Bruce ate organic. I am now a super big fan of this series and read each new book when it comes out.

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin – This was so delightfully fun. I laughed very very hard reading this one. I mean, how can you not enjoy a book about dragons who love tacos?

Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians! by Jason Carter Eaton – I picked up this book for the title alone. What I found was a very comical result of a messy room. This is a great book if your kids are having trouble cleaning up.

Blue Sky White Stars by Sarvinder Naberhaus – I am very patriotic about my US of A. This book was such a great reflection of this great country and I loved all of the elements that came together. There were a few books in my stack of children’s recommends that moved me to tears, this was one of them.

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty – When I first picked up this book, I read the title as Reverse Engineer. Since I’m all about systems, it sounded perfect. Upon reading, I realized my mistake, but I found something better. This book was a great reminder about creating things, failure, and the drive to continue on. This is great for little inventors.

What Children’s Book do you recommend?

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Day 3185 – It’s Never Too Late For Your Dreams To Come True

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There’s one thing that really bothers me. When people don’t pursue their dreams. I really hate excuses. (Totally talking to myself here too.) I hear it all the time in these phrases…

“it must be nice”
“I’ve always wanted to do that”
“I’ll never”
“it’s too late”
“I should have”

For a number of reasons and because of a number of experiences, I live pretty much every day of my life as if it was my last. I have no regrets. I have pursued things. Sometimes they fail, sometimes they don’t.

I’ve started to have really big dreams and goals. Some I’m actively working towards, some of them are down the line. But I’ve started to actually believe they are possible. I’m moving past the fear of writing them down and putting them out there. I have things like meeting Oprah (I’ve met Stedman, so I’m only one degree of separation away there!) and Tim Ferris. Doing Yoga with Adriene. Being a New York Times best seller. To be a millionaire. To meet YouTubers I’ve followed for years. (One of those is actually coming true in less than 3 months! AH!) To live on the water.

I think one of the biggest hurdles is just believing it’s possible. Getting rid of your excuses and actually doing the thing.

Bret and I had a conversation the other night after hearing a statistic – people watch an average of five hours of TV….a day. A DAY?!?! I said, how many people could start businesses in those five hours? How many books could be read in those five hours?

This morning, I read an article and watched a video about someone who had what seemed like an impossible dream, that actually come true. It was such a great reminder that it IS possible to achieve your dreams.

So friends, keep dreaming. Keep pushing after your dreams. Every person who had a dream doubted it at some point. Every one of them started from scratch. Every super successful person is just another person. Just like you.

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Day 3184 – Woooo Spring Break…All Four Days Of It…

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Today is the first day of Bret’s spring break. I didn’t expect to do much “days off” celebrating, but Bret surprised me today by wanting to sleep in. Dudes, we slept until 7:30! It was positively luxurious! See, Bret has been getting up at 4 and I’m getting up roughly 5/5:30. So 7:30 is a BIG sleep in. It was so nice to not feel rushed this morning. Granted, my morning routine is, well, non-existent, but the have to’s are getting done. I have a feeling the next four days will all look like weekend days. I’m much less strict about my routines and to dos on the weekends….which is something I do want to work on, but I also want to give myself grace and self-love. I tell ya, letting go of what my days should look like, embracing what they ARE and working with that has been a game changer.

I’m looking forward to hanging out with Bret, watching some movies (side note, it looks like Ready Player One’s “partial nudity” is ok for us to watch, so I’m super excited and we’ll likely see it this weekend), seeing friends, and honestly, working our butts off on our business. It’s been so much fun getting into a groove with working together again, playing to our strengths and sharing the workload. I’m excited to see what this year holds for us because it has been SO good so far and we’re only 1/4 of the way through. Wooo!

I will say, it will look a little like this….

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Day 3183 – Reflections On 3.5 Years Of Sobriety

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In some ways, I feel like I’ve always been sober. I feel so far removed from my drinking days that they almost seem like they happened to someone else. I suppose in some respects, that’s true. I am so different from that person. I always heard “people don’t change” so I didn’t try to change myself or others. Looking back on my own struggles and changes, I realize people do and can change, but sometimes it can take a very, very, very long time. I was arrested in 2006 but I didn’t take God at His Word (to be sober-minded) until 2014. I joke that it took me eight years to quit cold turkey. But the truth is it was all God doing a work in me over many many years. It has helped me to be patient with change; to not rush it. Some things take a long time to marinate.

One change from not drinking is the ability to get up early. I still can’t believe we regularly get up at 5:00. But there is so much peace and productivity in the early morning hours. I would never voluntarily get up this early in my drinking days.

An awesome blogger I follow (No Wine I’m Fine) celebrates big anniversaries with epic trips. While I’m not taking a trip today, I do count my trip a few weekends ago as a celebration. I do think I’ll take another solo-cation for my four year sobriety anniversary.

One of my life verses is Ecclesiastes 5:20, “For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.” I feel like this is a reflection of how I feel about my drinking days. I don’t much remember them (which has made writing my book especially interesting and hard), but God has kept my heart occupied with such joy that even looking back becomes easier.

Hello 3.5 years, here’s to 3.5 more!

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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 3180 – Make Up Your Own Holiday – Say No Day

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Since adding this fun day, Make Up Your Own Holiday, into my marketing calendar, I’ve been thinking what holiday would I create. There were a few contenders – minimalist day, prioritize your marriage day, say no to downgrading marriage entertainment day (this would be movies that make light of marriage and/or make you cheer for a spouse to cheat or leave).

But at the end of the day, saying no has been a big thing in my life and I want to champion it.

I think the biggest hurdle in saying no is the guilt and judgement you face. Society wants us to say yes to everything, people want us to say yes to them, it’s hard to understand when someone says no, especially if saying no is drastic. I know this is the hardest part of me saying no to different things. I say no for lots of reasons to lots of things. Some of them are very very painful.

At the heart of saying no to things is taking care of yourself. We are our biggest resource and we are a limited resource. If you don’t say no to things, you will use up your resource. You cannot work 24/7 forever. You cannot stay awake forever. You cannot play that game forever. You cannot help others all the time forever.

By saying no, I protect myself, our marriage, and our businesses.

What are you saying no to today?

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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