Day 2765 – New Video About Arches National Park!

Posted on February 4, 2017 by 365 days of marriage

Curious about our trip to Arches National Park? We talk about one of the biggest disappointments in our travels that lead to one of the coolest experiences we’ve had. If you’ve read our blog, you might remember the story, but we include some video from the trip!

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Day 2762 – Road Trip Book Preview – How Do You Stay Entertained On The Road?

Posted on February 1, 2017 by 365 days of marriage

I’m SO excited about my next book, all about planning a road trip across the country. This is obviously something very close to my heart and I just love giving advice about travel. Part of the book will be a frequently asked questions approach. I wanted to share one of the questions and my answer. If you have a burning question about planning a road trip, let me know below!

Disclaimer, the links to books below are affiliate links. This only means if you decide to purchase the book, we’ll get a percentage. We ONLY share links to things we have personally listened to and recommend.

How do you stay entertained?
One of the most entertaining things we do is listen to audio books. If you have multiple drivers, I would recommend being organized with the audio books. If you are able, use two different audio players. For example, we have two iPods, so we put my books on one and Bret’s on the other. That way, when it’s my turn, my book is already queued up.

Make sure you listen to part of the book before you leave! I’ll listen to about 3-4 minutes of a book to see if I like the author’s voice and if they’ll keep my attention. Biographies read by the author are really, really fun. If you can find one where the author took a road trip, even better. We happened to listen to a biography during our 2016 summer trip, Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox, and he author talked about a road trip he took with his son and wouldn’t you know, it was on the SAME route that we were on!

On a smaller road trip, I didn’t take my own advice of listening to a few minutes before I left. I ended up with a book that was very interesting, but the reader’s voice was very monotone and wasn’t helping to keep me awake. Unfortunately, it was a night drive and the only book I brought.

Some of our favorite audiobooks have been – The Hunger Games series, the Harry Potter series read by Jim Dale, Born Standing Up by Steve Martin, Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox, As You Wish by Cary Elwes, Wildflower by Drew Barrymore, to name a few!

We sometimes take a book of questions to ask each other. Writing prompts books are great for this. Or books that ask “What would you rather” or “What if?”

If you will have kids with you on the trip, know what keeps them occupied. Make a game out of the drive – count how many of blue cars we pass or have a bingo game. If you’re traveling in more barren areas, make sure to have bingo for that area.

Bret and I play the alphabet sign game where you call all words from signs in alphabetical order and you can’t repeat other’s words. So it would go like this (note, this is for example purposes only, obviously these signs would be thousands of miles apart:
Jen – Albuquerque! Buffalo Wild Wings!
Bret – Alexandria! Baltimore!
Jen/Bret – California! (whoever says it first gets its)

This is a great game, but it can be terrible if you’re in a stretch with few signs and buildings. I recommend the alphabet sign game near big cities and would you rather/what if games in wide open drives.

Another game we play is the alphabet volley game with movies/entertainment/actors. You have to say a movie/insert category here, the next person uses the last letter of the previous person’s answer.
Jen – All Dogs Go To Heaven, Bret – Next, Jen – Time Cop.

We change the rules depending on how long we want to play. Sometimes it’s just movies, other times it’s a huge realm – any actor, movie, tv show, etc.

Another way to stay entertained is having a good mix of music that you love for the times you want to enjoy the drive. Sometimes you’ll want to focus on what’s around you and not have the distraction of a story. I have a few playlists that I just love for my “thinking and driving” portions.

What about you? How do you stay entertained on the road? Do you have a question about planning a road trip? Let me know below!

(Note, you’ll notice Yes, Please in this picture. I did listen to part of it, but had to stop it. It was funny, but a little too crass for my tastes.

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Day 2761 – You Will Never Change…Unless You Actually Do

Posted on January 31, 2017 by 365 days of marriage

The past week or two has been filled with much reminiscing.

We made a video about how I was NOT a minimalist when I first met Bret, which caused me to look at many old photos of my old room.

I have decided that I am more of a month to month goal setter, thus I have been figuring out what I did well and what I failed completely with my January goals (spoiler – no soda drinking was a win! Writing every day was a utter failure.).

I purchased a great book that has me thinking about things.

I regularly look at my “On This Day” on Facebook. On January 31, 2009, I filled out one of those silly “25 random things you didn’t know about me” things. Here’s 20. “I own nearly 500 movies and tv shows on dvd. Most of them were purchased for under 10 bucks.” I read this number and immediately emailed Bret, telling him the 2009 number and the 2017 number (44). I ended by saying “Who says you can’t change?”

Have you ever thought, there’s NO way I can change? Or there’s NO way they will ever change? It’s so easy to put someone in a category and keep them there. She never does the dishes, he never puts his laundry in the hamper, she’s always negative, he’ll never get a better job, I’ll always be poor, I’ll never get out of debt, I’ll never travel, I’ll never get in shape.

Even though I can take a look at my current life and think, wow, I have changed, I forget just how far I’ve come. I urge you to keep a record, somehow, somewhere, of your life. Your fears, your achievements, your joys, your lows. Have it saved somewhere you can regularly look back. I’ve had the luxury of oversharing on Facebook, so much so that I have a very detailed list of my life.

So if you’re stuck thinking you’ll never change or your spouse will never change, take heart.

I went from well over $50,000 in debt, to $0 debt with money saved.
I went from hoarder with tons of stuff, to minimalist with a lot less.
I went from getting migraines 3-4 times a week because of my diet, to maybe 1-2 a month.
I went from being an alcoholic for nine years who was arrested, to a sober person for over two years and counting.
I went from someone who dreamed about writing a book, to someone who did.

These three shelves don’t even show all of my old DVDs…wow.

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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 2760 – The Tale Of Chasing Dreams – or – Tools Of The Titans Is Going To Change My Life

Posted on January 30, 2017 by 365 days of marriage

I’ve blogged recently, non-recently, and way oldly about the The 4-Hour Workweek
(* Affliate link) by Timothy Ferriss and how it changed my life. When I heard of his new book, Tools Of The Titans, I was beyond excited. It was in my hold requests at the library for weeks. I finally got a copy last week and even just a few pages in and I knew it would be another life changing book. Last night, I was skipping around and reading different sections to Bret. I ended up looking at the recommended books in the back (p.s. be still my reader’s heart at this list!) and thought, huh, it would be cool if I could highlight all of the books I’ve read. I thought of how I would take notes and mark it the heck up. At about 8:40 p.m., I thought, I have to buy this book now. I know I’m going to, why wait? I looked up stores that had it and found a local Barnes & Nobles. I knew I had a giftcard, so chaos ensued. I tore open my purse to find said gift card.

Then began a discussion with Bret, “is this a purchase that I should make right now?” We are trying to be very purposeful in where we invest our money. We have some pretty big dreams right now, and those dreams will take money. We’re trying to take every purchase captive and spend wisely. After checking the prices online and realizing, yes, we will both be gaining much from this book, it’s a good purchase now. I ran out of the house, leap in the car, and headed to the bookstore. I was met with many green lights, easy left hand turns, and little delay.

I arrived at the book store with joy in my heart, I had arrived with a few minutes to spare. I nearly floated to the door, only to be met with an employee shaking his head at me. My face took on that of utter disappointment, and I honestly almost cried. I pulled out my phone and saw I still had three minutes. I looked back up and the employee opened the door and said I had three minutes. I nodded and began my fast walk through the store. At last, I found my book. I tore it from the shelves, and rushed to the check out. I was paying when the announcement that the store was closed came over the speakers. I voiced my deep thanks to the employee still at the door and my heart rejoiced within me. I had my book. I could barely wait to get home.

Once I got home, I immediately started highlighting the books I’d read. After that, I knew it was time to start reading, finally. I started highlighting and realized, crap, I need to figure out a system for how I read this book. I came up with a highlighting system! Different colors mean different things so then I can quickly skim through and find what I need.

As you can see, I have already utilized my system! I am so excited to start the journey through this awesome resource. It was also a really neat experience to leap for joy to buy a book. I buy so few books, that this was a big deal!