noBOLOGNA

How my life would be different…

If I weren’t a blogger…
I probably wouldn’t wait as excitedly for the mail.
It’s hard to imagine a life where only bills, credit card offers, and wedding/baby announcements came in the mail.  If I weren’t a blogger, I’d miss out on giveaway winnings, box exchanges, friendly mail for no good reason, free products, and more!
Sweet package from Holly to create my own running bib board
I would probably be lonelier…
Sure, I have friends… great friends in fact!  I have a wonderful family that loves and cares for me.  What about the times when I royally mess up though?  These IRL people… well they see it all, know it all.  They get the good, bad, and ugly.  Although I try to be as real on my blog as possible, there is a lot that I don’t share, a lot of missed opportunity for bloggers to get to know the real me, the things that make me tick, the things that hurt my feelings.  If I didn’t have this other set of blogger friends to encourage me and lift me up during my rough patches, I’d be a lot more lonely.  There is also something strange about how much easier it is to open up to someone you’ve never actually met.  If I need serious prayer about something or just want to share or vent with someone, there are times that I go to a blog friend over a best friend because it’s easier that way. Please don’t misunderstand… I share a lot with my best friends and they truly know me better than anyone and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but when I feel lost or lonely because of things I’ve done, I turn to blogging and blog friends.  It’s additional friendship insurance!
Alabama Blate February 2013
I probably wouldn’t receive free money or handouts…
I don’t know about you, but people don’t just stop me on the street and say, “Hey, thanks for following me lately… let me give you a couple hundred dollars and some gift cards just for fun!”  Yeah… didn’t think so!  But that’s completely acceptable in blog land and thanks to some fabulous giveaways and wonderful bloggers, I’ve won money and gift cards with no catch other than finding more great bloggers like myself!

I would probably work out less….
A lot of my motivation to workout and run comes from blogging!  I read about others who run (motivating), I want to write my own blog post about training (motivating), I realize that this running thing could potentially get me connected with other bloggers in person (motivating!)
Triathlon Race May 2013, 3rd place F 20-25
I probably wouldn’t know about a lot of new products that come out…
Luckily I get to try new products, which gives me insight into what’s up in the world.  I feel informed, I finally am one of the first people clued in.  That use to never be the case.  I was always the last to know, last to have.
Some Influenster and Woolzies products
I wouldn’t be as blessed….
Sure, I know God would have blessed me in other ways, but he chose to bless me in this.  I have made amazing friends, I have started an exchange that you can join that I think is really encouraging and helping people (I at least haven’t had any negative feedback so far), I have been asked to pray for people during extremely trying times and have been honored to do so.  It’s been a blessing and I can’t imagine missing out on this blessing in life.
I wouldn’t contemplate dropping money for a conference…
So there are work conferences (been there, done that, love them!) and your office usually pays for those.  I love conferences, I think they’re fun.  I got my first real taste of one this past year for work.  A lot of people decide to spend their money on concerts or plays (well… that’s me too! Wicked, anyone!?) or other events, but only bloggers think it’s cool to go to a blog conference… other people look at us like we’re crazy!  We look at it as swimming in a sea of new best friends that we can actually stay well connected with in the future (thanks to their blog!).
I’m going, are you!?
My life would be different, If it weren’t for blogging and I must say… I’m thankful that it’s not.

MIA + BHB Sign Up!

Hi there friends! I’ve definitely been MIA over the past few days with the exception of posting a fabulous giveaway that you should totally check out and enter!  My great grandmother passed away over the weekend and so I made a sporadic trip to Kentucky for the funeral.  It was so nice spending time with family and seeing family that I’ve only met once or have never met before!  The drive was long, but it was enjoyable and the scenery was gorgeous!  My great grandmother had a total of 104 grandchildren between her grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren!  How ridiculous is that!?  She had 13 children, so I guess that’s to be expected.  She had a wonderful life, she had an army of a family and she lived to be 90, almost 91.  She was in a lot of pain at the end, so it was better for her this way.

I’m finally hoping to get caught up on life and apply for a lot of jobs, I’m still on the hunt and I have a few opportunities I’m looking at, but man… job searching is rough!

Here are a few scenes from the past few days, I didn’t get a ton of pictures, but this gives you an idea of what’s been going on in my life lately!

I definitely enjoyed some Dunkin Donuts on the long 8 hour drive to Kentucky!! It was the perfect pick me up, as always!

I started my training plan this week for the Disney race!  My sweet friend created this fun training poster for us and I’m in love with it!  At the end of every week I’ll discuss how my training went for the week, but just a heads up, I didn’t get my first 2 days in because of my trip to KY and was told that if I went on a run, I’d need to watch out for black bears, red foxes, and rattle snakes… I say, “NO THANKS!”

You all know my interest in a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle and I’m almost certain I’m about 2% away from being a complete vegetarian which is the perfect step to being a vegan in the future.  For the first time in EVER… I mean literally… EVER, I did not order the Chicken Tortilla Soup from Mcalisters.  Y’all, that’s my most favorite thing from there and I finally broke down and tried something vegetarian.  I got the veggie sandwich and the spud ole with veggie chili.  It was ama
zingly delicious!  I also ate a few casserole dishes at my great grandmothers after the funeral and they all had some type of meat in it… I had the biggest guilt in the pit of my stomach and that’s when I knew I could/should officially convert to vegetarian.  I may still have a few vices to break, but I’m pretty satisfied with this!
I missed the post yesterday for Bloggers Helping Bloggers, so you can sign up below!  This month I was paired with the lovely Jessa @ The Life of a Sports Wife and although I haven’t been as diligent in our relationship due to the all the changes going on right now, I was still tremendously blessed by her and grateful for the new friendship!  Please share your experiences with me!

Oh, just some things I love + a Giveaway!

So let’s talk about some things I love….

I obviously love Reeses.
I love coffee.
I love my family and friends, plus my boyfriend.
I love candles.
I love jewelry.
I may just be an “i love you” slut.

When I can combine two of my loves into one, it’s even better!

Coffee with a reeses?  A dynamic duo and something I would do almost anything for.
Family, Friends, and boyfriend who all hang out and enjoy each others company? Pure joy!
Jewelry mixed with a candle? What would you NOT love about that!?

I was excited to be contacted by Diamond Candles to do a review AND giveaway!  Before I jumped on this wagon though, I decided to do a little research.  I found out that Diamond Candles are 100% soy, natural, and eco-friendly!  I know y’all have heard me talk about veganism here on the blog and so when I saw that these candles contained soy (which is a huge vegan product) I was basically sold!  I responded back and eagerly awaited my code to pick out my own candle!

Watch this video to learn a little bit more about Diamond Candles

 I’ve recently been a huge pomegranate lover!  I tried the pomegranate Lifeway Kefir product and loved it and usually when I choose pomegranate flavored anything, I have no complaints!

I decided to order the ‘Pomegranate Lemonade‘ scent and anxiously awaited its arrival!

Each of the candles come with a ring wrapped inside!   The ring could be worth $10, $100, $1,000, or $5,000.  They say that if your ring has a 14K symbol inside the band, then you should take it for a verbal appraisal!

I started burning my candle immediately and had it burning throughout most of the day because I was so excited to get to my ring!

You could finally start to see the gold sealing for the ring!

And then THIS happened!  Oh happy day!

I had help from a trusty paperclip to unwrap this beauty!  Inside the gold wrapping was a little bity ziplock pouch containing my ring!  Unfortunately, I didn’t see a whopping 14K symbol inside the band… oh well!

I love the beautiful red color of my ring and I’m excited about pairing it with some cute outfits!

I do have one issue though….

It’s too big.

I absolutely LOVE what this company stands for and I enjoy the excitement of getting 2 things in one and waiting patiently like it’s Christmas day for the candle to burn down to my ring!  I will say that one disadvantage though is that you don’t know what ring you’ll get (so you may not actually like it) and you also don’t know what size you’ll get.  Mine is obviously too big.  I can hold it on my finger ok, but there’s a chance of it slipping off.  I’ll probably get something to help make it tighter.  If you have a normal hand size though, it shouldn’t be a problem.  My little fingers are abnormally small for some reason.  I pop my fingers all the time too, so it’s hard for me to believe that myth!

You can see some of the other rings that people have gotten here

Because of how much I enjoyed this product, I’m excited to share the opportunity with you!  Enter below to receive your own Diamond Candle and see what kind of ring you get inside!  It’s so much fun and they have some remarkable scents!

Be sure to check out Diamond Candles
Website // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram // Pinterest

*I was not compensated for this review except by receiving a free Diamond Candle myself.  All opinions are my own*

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The views and statements expressed on No Bologna are my own. You are reading No Bologna at your own risk and I am not providing any type of professional advice. Unless otherwise noted, all material on No Bologna may not be used, reprinted, or published without my consent. I do occasionally have affiliated links on my blog - this does not raise the price of the product, I simply get a very small commission from the regular retail price if something is purchased using an affiliated link on my site. I appreciate any support by you in regards to affiliated links.