17 Goals for Summer of ’17

Sitting at my desk listening to a webinar (been super into self-improvement webinars and blogs and podcasts and books lately…. basically anything I can learn in order to be a better me).

Right now I am listening to Brandi Botts’ youtube channel. Shes giving a great webinar called “This is me: Feel Better Naked.” She’s currently talking about setting goals and following through on them. So I decided to let this inspire me to set 17 goals for the summer of ’17 (and these are in no particular order…….)

 

1. Achieve monthly weight loss goals:
   June 30th: Goal 1
   July 31st – Goal 2
   August 31st – Goal 3
2. Finish writing one of my novels.
3. Blog at least twice a week.
4. Land an awesome work-from-home job.
5. Write in journals at least three times a week:
   Personal
   Marriage
   Baby
6. Work on 501c3 status for Bethel
7. Train for Disney Princess half-marathon (2/25/18).
8. Complete all 40 Love Dare challenges.
9. Pay off two items on our debt list:
   1. Dental bill
   2. Money owed to in-laws.
10. Complete 4 church goals:
    1. Start working in Students Ministry (started last week!)
    2. Start tithing regularly
    3. Become partners
    4. Baby dedication (August)
11. Try 2 new activities a month with Joshua.
12. Make 1 new friend each month.
13. Complete 1 art/craft project per week (especially the chevron baby blanket!)
14. Go camping.
15. Keep the apartment clean and de-cluttered.
16. Complete 2 books per month on my reading list.
17. Spend 15 minutes a day on self-care.

 

Obviously I have other goals for the summer, too; but, these are the ones that are really important to me right now. These are the ones that I want to focus on.

 

What goals do y’all have for Summer ’17? How can I help push you toward achieving those goals?

 

 

Always ❤
Ashley Grace

Changes.

As you may have noticed, there have been a lot of changes to my blog lately. A lot of updates and layout changes and new formatting etc. etc. these changes are all just a part of the way that I am planning on making the site better. So if anybody has any input I would love to hear your feedback. 

The next big change and I will be working on this to the actual content of the blog. Don’t worry, I won’t be getting rid of my usual poetry or other random ramblings; however, I want to add things to the blog to make it better. One thing that I have asked friends and family members and some of my readers to give me feedback on is the top three articles that you feel would pertain to your life. Here’s some of the feedback that I’ve been given…

– social media addiction

– the emasculation of the modern man

– Christianity and feminism

– gym and nutrition

– advice for engaged & newly married couples

– facing your fears and living your dreams

– finding your self worth outside of relationships

And a few others.  What do y’all think.  What would you like to see more of? Articles like the above? Other ideas? DIY/arts and crafts? Recipes & nutrition & fitness? Lifestyle and random activities? I want to hear from you!!

DIY: Low Maintenance Mini Zen Garden

Inspired by a Mini Zen Garden I saw on Pinterest, I decided to give it a go.

And after multiple failed attempts…I finally got it right!

I started with a layer of glass beads as the base (about 1/3 of the bowl).

Then added a layer of small rocks. These particular rocks happen to have been collected from my trip to Cape May with my husband back when we were still just dating. I’ve had them in a water bottle and been looking for a project to use them for.

Then I carefully decided where the cacti would be placed, packed them in with a layer of very gritty silt like dirt

The dirt was then covered with sand (from our honeymoon in the Bahamas!) and I added some accents like stones and shells.

I used a regular old kitchen fork to draw some designs in the sand.

And voila!!

Our cat Sam is very interested in the new addition to the coffee table.

Hopefully the little furball doesn’t try to eat or play with the cacti. I don’t see that going over well.

So how much did this cost me?

$4 for the bowl
$3 for the glass beads
$0 for the rocks, dirt, sand, and shells
$6 for 3 cacti

Grand Total: $13

Level of skill required… Debatable! Now that I know what I’m doing I could totally do it again easily. But it took me a while to work out the logistics so that none of the layers ran together (the garden on Pinterest only had sand and I wanted something a little more fun and artsy).

Definitely worth the time and money!!!

Next project: a scarf made out of tshirt yarn!

Don’t embrace the suck

Looking at my life it’s not difficult to see that it’s a good life; so, I wonder, why do I feel so discontent and unhappy?

I have a family and a husband that would do anything for me and loves me more than I could put into words. I have friends that appreciate and respect me for who I am. I have a decent job that is leading me one step closer to my dream. I have a cat that clearly adores and needs me. I am in relatively good health all things considered. I have a nice little apartment that doesn’t cost too much and is in a decent location. I have a car that is reliable enough to get me from point a to point b without me even having to think twice about it. I am completing the last few classes of my undergrad degree. I am blessed with a gift for writing and singing. And most importantly, I have an ever growing relationship with my Heavenly Father, His son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

I asked myself why do I consistently feel depressed and alone and as if I am desperately trying to keep my head above the water? Well… It finally hit me… Even with all those positive things going on in my life, there is so much negativity constantly fighting to be the center of my attention. It has won that battle for far too long; so, it is time for things to change.

I will be taking a step back from the people, places, and things that make me feel the sense of overwhelming negativity that has plagued me as of late. I apologize to those of you that may be affected by this. If I am distant, please do not think that I do not care about you or the things you may be struggling with; but rather understand and support that I am focusing on my own struggles and what I need to do to conquer them. Or better yet, consider it a challenge! Think of it as my way of challenging you to focus on being happy and positive in your own life. Think of it as my way of challenging you to let go of the negativity and embrace a spirit of joy and thankfulness.

Happiness is a choice. And I am choosing it now.

Best Of: Blogs!

Decided to chose a “best of…” topic every week and blog about them. This week is going to be “best of blogs.”

Today’s Best of Blog is Simply Taralynn (formerly UndressedSkeleton). Now some of you may recognize Taralynn from the “the girl in the green dress” photos that circulate in a lot of thinspirational and fitspirational circles.

Talk about a transformation! Taralynn went from being a pretty but unhealthily overweight teenager to a beautiful, healthy, fit twenty-three year old woman. As of now, she is “living it up as a blogger, photographer, freelance writer, social media marketer, and I have my new fitness line.”

Okay so let’s get started with reasons why I love Taralynn’s blog and chose it to be the first of my “best of blogs” series…

First and foremost…She is real. Taralynn isn’t some celebrity and fitness guru or supermodel. She is just a regular, every-day person. Her blog explains that that road has not been an easy one, filled with ups and downs, and many bumps in the road, but she is making her own way and finding herself in the process. If you would like to read about her story, please click the picture below.

Second…her website is super easy to navigate! (Click on the picture below to be directed to her home page!)

Across the top of her site is an easy to use navigation bar. Directly beneath that are some featured posts about fitness (left side), recipes (right side), and some recent posts (center).

Scroll down further and you will be met by a beautiful picture of the lovely Taralynn along with some links to her social media sites.

Next to this, are recent posts, categorized by things like “Eating at Restaurants” “Fitness” “Crafts & DIY” and even “Mr. Grumples” the blogger’s adorable goldendoodle.

Which brings me to the main reason I love this blog. Taralynn manages to blog about a little bit of everything. She boasts:

“You’ll find posts about restaurants, travel, cooking, fashion, fitness, or my rants. I think it’s safe to call me a “lifestyle” blogger. The reason I chose the name, Simply Taralynn is because I don’t want to categorize my blog. Although, I blog pretty much all aspects of my life, not everything is put on my blog. This year has been a mountain climb. If you’ve been following me over the years, you know what I mean. If you’re looking for a bumpy blog with obstacles, this one is for you. I’m no where near perfect, I make a lot of mistakes, I have a rocky past, but this is where I come to find ease, guidance and support. My readers are what keeps me going everyday.”

And it’s true. She is much more of a lifestyle blogger than a health and fitness blogger (though that does take up a significant portion of her posts). And I adore that about her blog. Not only does she blog about things that are important to her, but also things that are important to her readers. She inspires me to blog better and to focus on my health and fitness, too!

My only (very miniscule) complaint is that I could not find any link for contact information to send her an email letting her know how much I love her blog and to send her a link to this post in case she ever wanted to read my review.

***update: I contacted her via Twitter and she replied! And she even retweeted a link to my blog! Thoroughly impressed with her social media skills and her kindness. Just one more reason to love her & her blog ❤

All in all, I give this blog 5 out of 5 stars!

Forever and for always ~ AshleyGrace