Lifestyle Change 2018

I have not been happy with myself for a long time. I have talked about making a change but haven't done anything about it. So, now we as a family have decided to make a total lifestyle change. 

AND, hold on to your seats, I am actually EXCITED about it!

We are changing our eating to follow the Paleo diet. We had our first paleo meal for dinner last night and it was AMAZING! We both felt amazing after eating and I woke up with so much more energy and feeling so great this morning!

This was our dinner last night! Steak, Sweet Potato, and Bacon Wrapped Brussel Sprouts!
SOOOOO GOOD!!!

I am also going to be working on getting more water intake in each day so I will start the day filling a gallon jug of water and then filling up my cup from that throughout the day and make sure I get the full gallon down each day. 

And having a cute cup to drink out of will definitely help! 

I have a pinterest board full of Paleo recipes to try and I will be adding to it as we go on this journey! Feel free to follow me and share your favorite recipes with me! 

SO, starting on this journey we did a weigh in first thing this morning for a beginning point to watch our progress. We also took some "Before" pictures to really SEE the progress! I am so excited to get things going! 

Starting weight 243.8 lbs. 

Starting weight 220 lbs. 

 

Starting weight 24 lbs of total cuteness! 

Soon we plan to add some workout stuff into our plan with the Beachbody On Demand programs so we can have a variety of workouts to choose from! 

I  plan to start with the 21 Day Fix program! 

I am so excited for this journey and to see where it takes us! Weight loss is ultimately a goal in all of this but I am so ready to feel better and have more energy to play with my little man more than I can now! 

Gratitude Challenge Day 2

Today I am thankful for my family. 

I have the best mom I could have ever asked for! She and my sister truly are my best friends. Even though we live far away from each other we talk pretty much every day and help each other work through issues we have. They are the first people I call when I have something exciting to tell.  I couldn't make it through this life without them. 

I am also very thankful for the amazing husband that God sent me! He is my partner in life and we are building the most amazing life together. I couldn't have asked for a better partner. I am so grateful for our little family we have started and can't wait to see what God has in store for our future. 

Gratitude Challenge Day 1

I found a challenge online from Revive Our Hearts. You can go here  to find out more about the challenge and join in! I'd love to go through this journey with you! Read through the challenges and feel free to comment here on my posts about your challenges each day or write your own blog and comment the link so I can follow you!

Day 1: 

Discover a blessing from God each day, and express your gratitude to Him and to someone else for it. As your gratitude increases, watch your gladness grown by leaps and bounds. 

Today I am grateful for God and all He does for me and my family! Today we got a large refund in our bank account that we should have received years ago but due to several things happening (and me not even knowing about it at the time) we just got it yesterday and it couldn't have come at a better time! This is making it to where we can go visit family for Thanksgiving and not have to stress or worry about how to pay for it. I am so grateful that it worked out the way it did! But, that is only a small part of what I have to be thankful for! 

Dear Lord, Thank you for all you do in my life! Thank you for being there and caring for me through everything, even the times I may not think I deserve your love and grace! Thank you for my family, my home, and that we are all healthy and have food on the table every day! 

Rest and Release Bible Study

So, as we are moving into the Fall season lots of changes are happening. Weather is changing, colors, smells, and schedules too. So, it makes life seem a bit crazy when the sun starts going down in what feels like the middle of the day. When the sun goes down my body says "YES ITS BEDTIME!" BUT, my brain says... NOPE... Still have lots to do! 

So, my sister introduced me to the bible study Rest and Release by Courtney Joseph. Its all about resting in the Lord and releasing anxieties and worries to Him. 

I was hoping to be able to do this first thing in the morning before my day gets going but that was my first test in this bible study. :) My 15 month old son has other plans for me so I do my bible study and prayer time at nap. BUT, you know what! I have done it for two days now and the world didn't end! 

How It Works

Each week has a main focus and this weeks is STOP. So the challenge is to light a candle each day and when the flickering catches your eye, stop and pray for peace. So, I do that first thing in the morning and take a minute to say a pray for the day and for peace to be in my heart and in my life. 

There are passages each day to read and meditate on and the SOAK method for note taking to really soak in the word. (S = Scripture O=Observation A=Application K=Kneeling in prayer)

How I do it. 

I have my devotional book I ordered from Amazon and my bible of course. I have a little notebook I made from scrapbook and copy paper to take my notes in and I have my planner to write down the verses for the day and any main points or prayers that stand out to me that day. I also have my AMAZING giraffe bag from Thirty-One that I keep it all in with my colorful pens and pencils I use for it all. 

We have been doing this for two days now and it is amazing how much better I feel taking that time each day to read His word and pray. Resting in Him and Releasing it all to Him really takes so much off of my shoulders! 

My sister and I have started a discussion group on facebook to go through this bible study together and we would love to have you join us!

Exciting things happening!

So, as most of you know I'm a Thirty-One Consultant and have been for a few years now. I love everything about it! :) Its so much fun. Lets me earn an income to help my family but also have the flexible hours that I need for my family. 

Well, for the first time I am doing a fundraiser. I am helping a friend and fellow Thirty-One sister get sponsors for bags to donate to the NICU at a local hospital. I am so excited to be able to do this and my customers have been so amazing with how much they are donating! I am putting the order in tomorrow for the bags and I can't wait to see how many we end up being able to get! 

This is the bag we are donating. HOW CUTE IS IT?!?!? Perfect for a baby bag right?? It is the perfect size to be able to carry supplies back and forth to the hospital as needed and then it will be great for a diaper bag when they finally get to go home!

Again, I want to thank all of my customers for supporting and helping with this! I will update later when I know how many bags we get and when we deliver them to the hospital! 

I'm Back!!!

So, It has been a really long time since I blogged... A lot has changed in my life since I was last here. For starters I have a kid now!!!! WHAT!!! Not only that but he is 14 months old now! See, I told you a LONG time. :)  

This is me and my little man! (The pic is a few months old but I JUST LOVE IT!)

Another change, we aren't in Ohio anymore. We moved to Louisiana about 8 months ago. AND about 4 months ago we BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOUSE! See, everything is COMPLETELY different. :) 

We took the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class after we moved down here. It was our second time through the class because we went a little crazy when we bought the house and moved in so, we are working on getting our finances back under control. If you haven't heard of Dave Ramsey or taken his class I HIGHLY recommend checking him out! It will change your life. Here is his website. https://www.daveramsey.com/ and here is where you can find a class near you https://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/experience.  My husband and I are even wanting to sign up to lead classes to help our community around us. 

We started going to a church down here that we both love and want to get more involved. We started last week going to a bible study on Wednesday nights and its awesome! This is the church website so you can check it out. http://revivaltemple.com/. 


As most of you know I have been a Thirty-One Consultant for a few years and I love it! But, I recently also signed up for Lilla Rose. I love it too! They are beautiful and amazing hair accessories! 

These are the Lilla Rose Hair Accessories! Click here for my website! 

I don't really know what this blog will turn out to be but I am hoping to keep up with it and blog pretty regularly.   

Another New Journey

So, I posted on my Facebook a few days ago looking for a friend to help me learn how to do my hair and makeup. Well, the problem is that I now live on the other side of the country from all my friends. A little hard to learn makeup and hair from people that are at least 1,000 miles away... Some even more. A bunch of them are more than willing to help because I have super awesome friends but like I said... There is A LOT of country between us. :) 

The #1 tip I have gotten from them is to look online at videos and tutorials. Should be easy enough right? :) I am so lost when it comes to all of this. I have never been great at hair and only decently passable at makeup so it will be a long journey.  

I started with going to the best place to find anything you want to find on the internet anymore... PINTEREST! Where else would I go???? So, I have a board for hair and a board for makeup. I found a bunch of great looking things that I want to try. Awesome right??? Well, now my problem is that I don't really understand how to do the things the videos say... I need to find tutorials that start at the VERY basic for this whole makeup thing... how sad is it that I am 26 years old and know pretty much nothing about this. :) Oh well, Its never to late to start right???

This is one look I want to try... Looks like maybe it should be simple enough??? Right??? YIKES!

As for my hair, I am really hopeless there too... I blame my hair for that. :) It is really difficult to do anything with. AND yes people who do hair have told me that. NOW, I said difficult, not impossible. I really think that I might be able to train it to do some things and it will also take lots of practice for me to learn so I am going to try. 

I love this look! Nice and simple for every day but still looks like she tried to do something with it.

So, my plan is to pick a new makeup look and hair style and try it every so often. I think everyday would be a bit much so I am going to try maybe 3 new looks a week to begin with. :) I will post pictures and keep you all updated along the journey. :)