On This Day | 4.27

This picture still fascinates me.

Although I wouldn't dive right into this water, I would love to be there in person in the beautiful weather and super sunny sun. Know what I mean?

I'm trying to think positively since our weather here in Iowa has gone to crap the last couple of days.

Cheers to Thursday, though!

A More Serious Note

Happy Hump Day ya'll!

I'm currently obsessing over Garden Tomato & Basil rice cakes and Sun Dried Tomato Mozzarella Laughing Cow Cheese as a snack. Seriously thee most flavorful snack! ...And bonus -- low cal, carbs, and fat. Can't beat that!

..........

On a more serious note...

Blake has been battling a painful shoulder for about a year. He's been to the doctor multiple times, had an MRI, etc. We were told, no surgery would be needed, and he took a month off from the gym like he was told. It started to feel 'much' better and he went back to the gym only to feel the irritation begin again. He has put some muscle back on that shoulder, but it's still bothering him. He has been doing physical therapy the last few weeks to work on whatever is going on only to be told by the PT that she was pretty sure he has a labral tear.

He went to the Dr. on this last Monday whom told him he's very sure it is a labral tear. He has another MRI this Thursday to confirm and then we will go from there. This MRI is the one where they inject some dye into his shoulder...it's over my head (knock on wood, I've never had to do this)!

So we both have been stressed out & a little scared what this could mean for the (near & far) future. I don't EVER say this so you know it's pretty serious...but if you're creating a 'prayer' list, I would please ask that you put Blake on it. He's come a long ways since we started dating when he first started getting into bodybuilding. It's a level him & I connect strongly on! So it would really bum me out if I was going to the gym by myself for many weeks/months to come. (This isn't about me, I know. But it's a full circle of what will be affected.) He's great at lifting, and he works extremely hard--to say the least, he pushes me to constantly strive to work harder and be better, because I love this bodybuilding life, too. It's tough to watch someone so passionate go down for something that isn't 'fair.' Here's to a heck of a lot of well wishes, positive reinforcements, and lots of deep breaths!

The Cozy Corner

In between reading my 'monthly' book, work, LipSense, working out, and trying to keep up with 'my' shows, I try to find some time to put my house together.

This past weekend, my dad let me borrow his (huge) truck to haul some furniture my mom was holding at her house / refurbished for me. You seriously should have seen me trying to drive my dad's truck. I have a tiny Ford Focus that is considered a "larger" compact car that I can seriously park almost anywhere. Blake sure got a kick out of it!

Anyways, so this chair started with me in my Ames, single bedroom apartment. I miss that apartment sometimes...however, I do not miss the monthly payment for that apartment ($$$$$$$), (what sounded like) an elementary PE class going on on the floor above me, and the constant smell of curry & (not allowed) dog in the hallway.

I'm excited my leopard chair is making an appearance in the 'new' crib. I call this..."The Cozy Corner." Very suitable for my reading habits and just a place to hang out (and for Beebs to sleep)!

We have an awkward space from the living room going to our stairs so this fits in it perfectly.

Now...to decorate the walls and get a rug!

 (Pics of the dresser my mom did to come!)

On This Day...2013.

Since I missed my "On this Day" yesterday, I thought i'd share some fun pics that showed up on it today!

This photo would be from my 23rd birthday in Des Moines. Lol...I laugh every time I see this.

If i'm doing the math right, this collage was made shortly after my friend Kayla's bachelorette party (where the pic of the left is from).

Ahhh sweet memories...

Easter Weekend 4.16.17

My weekend started off with an impromtu girls get together with these two wonderful ladies!

 Saturday was a much needed pamper & shopping day. I went with Jen, Taryn, & Nikki to get a mani and get myself moving for the day after Friday nights happenings.

We have lived in our house for almost a year, and a couple of weeks ago my mom came over to help me FINALLY hang up some decorations around the house. We don't have a TV downstairs (*yet*) so we decorated the fireplace. I'm a HUGE fan of gold decor, so my mom made the & canvas out of gold TACKS! How cool is that?! I won't lie, I found that steal of a SPRING sign, the gold jars, and the gold frame in the "dollar" spot at Target. Which is now known to me as the $3-$5 spot. The white candle sticks were bare until this weekend. The final touch...the faux (green) plant balls is what I like to refer to them as. 

The rest of Saturday was spent doing laundry, reading (Get Over Your Damn Self), and sleeeeping. Lots of cat naps happened with all of the rain we got!

Sunday. Easter. Blake and I got up late. Go figure. Decided to get dressed up and go have a late lunch. It was such a beautiful day!

Of course, with all of the ridiculous amounts of terrible food we consumed over the weekend, we had to head to the gym for a sweat sesh. I did my 2nd leg day of the week, while he did back, abs, and cardio. He just started going to physical therapy for his left shoulder/arm. So hopefully we will see some improvement in pain in the upcoming weeks!

I didn't capture much this weekend due to the fact that I feel like I am always carrying or on my phone and I vowed to set it down more than usual this weekend. It's something I should practice more often because it was refreshing not constantly refreshing my social media news feeds. :) See what I did there?

Lessons to be Learned

Do you ever look at your "On This Day" on Facebook? It's really interesting to see how fast time goes, where you were at in your life x amount of years ago, and some of the silly things you probably said. 

There's also an app (TimeHop) that combines all of your social media outlets to show you what happened on this day x amount of years ago.

I think from here on out, I will post something I find in my "On This Day" on Thursdays...should be interesting! :)

There's one that stuck out to me that I posted on this day two years ago. 

I believe that I certainly forget this quote that I stated two years ago.

I wouldn't say that I have a large amount of difficult people in my life or that I have had a large amount. I have had a "few." Yes. But if you were to ask me how I felt about these people, my most common reply would be that I wish them well. I really have taken a lesson or two from these "people" and moved on.

I don't know when it clicked (two years ago), but I was very happy to reread this post this morning.

I think over the past two years, I have chosen to exclude anyone that I found "difficult" in my life instead of letting them contaminate my thoughts. "Out of sight, out of mind." It's hard to remember sometimes, but we are our own worst enemies when it comes to thinking and overthinking. If we continue to dwell on stuff that bothers us without taking action on it, then we are setting ourselves up for the downfall of the situation.

I hope you can bring yourself back to focus and realize that in every situation there is something to learn. It's human and healthy to feel upset, annoyed, irritated, etc. but learn from it and continue to get better and think how you will handle it if it comes up again.

End preach. ;)

Tuesday Trickery

I'm convinced Tuesday's are more difficult than Monday's. However they aren't as bad as Sunday evenings. Ever since I can remember, I get a weird sort of anxiety on Sunday nights. Like the weekend flew by. Did I get enough done? Do I need to get anything ready for the week? Food prep! Anything I need to mail this week? Anything I need to get dropped off this week? Who do I need to respond to? Etc. Etc. One day I will conquer the thought of Sunday nights &Tuesday's. We'll work on it. ;)

On a good note, the weekend was great! A baby shower, drill team tryout (judging), and an attempt to start a new book! Not to mention, the weather on Saturday was FAN-TAS-TIC! I am such a warm weather kinda gal. Give me warmth/heat/hotness EVERY day. I'm there. I should move to a beach eventually...

Going back to my hometown to judge tryouts for this years' upcoming team was very fun & kinda stressful. I love seeing the potential girls have and remembering being in their position. There were a lot of girls that tried out, and so many of them have great great potential. We are given X amount of girls that can be on the team, so it's a process to deliberate and pick out the people that will flourish, and I really hope the other girls will work on the things that will help them get on the team if they really want to be on it in the next year. (That was me!)

On another note...

I started a new book! I've been trying to get a book in a month since the beginning of 2017 and so far so good. Whether it's a guilty pleasure book, or a personal development book, I am open to either option. 

This month, I'm going for personal/business development. I've been eye-balling a certain book on Amazon for a while, and finally made a spur-of-the-moment decision to get it.

I am always looking to become a better human. Especially when it comes to talking to people and really working on my attitude. I'm only 5 chapters in and this book has me sold. It's really good & I have learned a lot so far that I can apply to my both personal and work/business life. 

The book is, Get Over Your Damn Self.

I highly recommend it if you're in for a good, non-guilty pleasure but super life-relatable read. It's about the no-BS blueprint to building a life-changing business. More so for me, about overcoming self-doubt & fear.

One of my favorite quotes I've highlighted so far is this:

"...we can manifest anything we want, simply by setting the intention." 

"When you throw a tennis ball in the air, you can count on it coming down. Intention is just like that tennis ball. It comes back just the way you send it out." 

I can't wait to continue to dig farther into this book. My goal is to read "at least" one chapter per day to get my mind off of work, life, etc. It's a great way to just get out of my own head for about 20 minutes. 

A Very Special Day!

🎈🎉🎣HAPPY (60th) BIRTHDAY to PAPA JOHN!!! 🎣🎉🎈

So glad we got to celebrate with him this past weekend. He might be the most hardworking retired guy I know!

I'm going to greet him with a brand new bottle of Jack Daniels & (his favorite) French Silk Pie when I see him later today. Hopefully, he gets to break out his fishing gear and do what he does best one of these days!
🎈

Birthday Weekend 3.31.17

It was a fast weekend, that's for sure. I don't think I got much sleep...at least it doesn't feel like I did. Friday night, my sister, and friends Melissa & Jen came over and we had an "ugly leggings" exchange & we all have birthday's within a couple of months of each other so it was like celebrating all 4 birthdays! It was so much fun and the leggings were quite hideous (in our opinion). It was hard to vote, but I'll let you decide which were the "worst." 

😂

Top to Bottom:
(We think is) Humpty Dumpty
 Gummy bears/lemons/oranges
Bears
Bucking Horse Cowboys

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I have some very cute/hilarious videos on my phone of the boys doing SnapChat filters (which they LOVE), and are starting to talk more. How does this happen so fast?!