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July 12, 2015

One Month in One Post

Good Morning my long lost friends! It just so happens that I disappeared for an entire month from blogging – wow! How did that even happen? I missed y’all, but I definitely think the time spent away was refreshing and necessary for me. I have felt bogged down all summer with commitment after commitment, all great things, but too many things! Today I’m just going to share some random stuff with you from the past month, blogging was not on the brain, so there is no way I could go back and create decent quality blog posts about what all has been going on the past 30 days, so hold on to your seats as I zoom through one month in one post!

30 Days to Healthy Living

I started the 30 Days to Healthy Living program with Arbonne (Ask me how you can get a great discount)! Me, Nick, and our friend Shaina are doing it right now. We’re currently on the 7 day cleanse and I’m definitely noticing a change in my body. I feel great, I’m confident in my skin, and my running has been going very well. Due to our current diet, we’re eating very healthy for the most part! I won’t lie and say we haven’t had a cheat or two, but I’ve been impressed with some of the meals we have made so far! Also, if you’re on a healthy eating diet, Which Wich can be your best friend! They have a lot of options for a healthy meal since it’s completely customizable!

Professionalism

I started feeling very professional lately. I bought my first “big girl” purse and it’s one that holds your calendar and files nicely in the side pockets. I’m the worst about buying cheap-o purses and literally wearing them down until the “p”leather has worn completely off. It’s gross and ugly and I should feel ashamed, but I’m not good at investing in things for myself. That’s where Nick comes in – he finally told me that I needed a new purse and not a crappy one. I needed to invest in myself and get one that would last years, so I finally did! I love my coach bag and they were having a 50% off sale at the outlet on the day we went (who am I kidding? They probably have that sale all the time but I would never know it!)

I also got my own business cards for Arbonne. I definitely plan on this being a good business for me. I love the products and the people I surround myself with in this company, but I’m currently studying for my Series 65 test at my 8-5 day job so I’m holding off on getting serious until I can pass that test and get the burden off my shoulders. Although I’m not heavily doing the business, I wanted to at least have business cards if people ask and I’m so glad I ordered these ADORABLE ones from Vista Print. Also, they were cheap. #winning

Houston, TX

Nick and I took a trip out to Houston last month to visit my cousin! Remember her from Jamaica?! Yeah, I can’t stay apart from her too long – I get all sad and mushy because I miss her so much. It turned out to be the perfect relaxing trip. We barely did anything while we were there except hang out by the pool and enjoy ourselves. My cousin and I took a few ours to ourselves for a pedi & some girl time, then met back up with the boys for a visit to the Shack where Nick ordered the most ridiculous burger. I already miss my cousin and I’m looking forward to our next visit. While we were there, we stopped by Nick’s great uncle & aunt’s. They were so sweet and we enjoyed our time with them. Luckily, Nick may get a few job leads because his Uncle was an engineer for NASA and has a lot of connections. Although I think both of us would be happiest in Florida, I certainly wouldn’t mind living that close to my cousin and her family!

July 4th Weekend – Gainesville & Orlando, FL

Surprise, Surprise! We made another trip to Florida. I’m honestly not sure why we don’t quite our jobs and just move there. We’re slightly obsessed. You just wait though, we’ve been brainstorming even more ways to master the art of Disney vacationing! We have another trip planned in August (for longer than a day) and if all goes according to plan, then I may have some serious tips to share! We headed straight to Orlando this time around and found our way to the Captain’s Grille again (side note: I should start doing Disney Dining Reviews!) It’s one of our favorite places to go now. Luckily, Trey and Kathryn were able to drive down for the day and experience Animal Kingdom with us which was a heck of a lot of fun. I didn’t see the Festival of the Lion King this time (womp womp) but I almost saw Tracy Morgan. Yes, he was there and Nick, Trey, & Kathryn all saw him while I missed him by a hair – EVERY SINGLE TIME! I’m so oblivious, it’s depressing really. I’m such a fame fan – I get excited over any famous person. After Animal Kingdom, Trey & Kathryn headed home while we found ourselves at Epcot. The weather turned terrible so we headed back to David’s and got some early shut eye so we were ready for Saturday at Hollywood Studios & Epcot (again!) Our lunch on Saturday was a Disney Princess Dining experience at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall and we were thoroughly impressed! The rest of our weekend was spent in Gainesville and we visited World of Beer, ordered Pizza in, and played a mad game of Mexican Train Dominoes. I also completed a 5 mile run to get me ready for a 10k I have next weekend.

Boating

We’ve been taking the boat out a few times this summer after work and it’s been nice and relaxing. When you go after work, not a lot of people are on the water. Both times I’ve been out with the boys, there have been thunder storms looming near us. We still manage to have a great time though! This past time on the boat, before me and Shaina arrived, Nick and Danny got us flowers along the bank of the reservoir. I have never seen such a long stem!

That pretty much wraps up the past month. I’m in the middle of studying for the Series 65 test and next week I’ll be in Milwaukee for our company’s annual meeting, so you may not see much of me around here until all of that rolls by. I have plenty of posts that I’d like to write, along with some great new recipes to share, but it’s finding the time to write them! Let me get through next Thursday and we’ll be on the up and up!

A few other random highlights:

I’ve been training for a 10k, my knee is doing GREAT! I’m excited to say that I’m now registered for the 2016 Disney Princess Half Marathon. Kathryn (Nick’s sister-in-law) and I are doing it together and I can’t wait to experience her first half-marathon! Since we’re Annual Pass-holders we were able to register before public registration opened up. I will probably stick very close to an Engine 2/Health Starts Here diet. Nick swears that he would never have been able to finish the Marathon (with zero training) if it had not been for that diet.
I’m driving down to New Orleans Friday night before I fly out to Milwaukee and I am way too excited about eating at Seed again!
Nick and I have another Disney trip planned for the end of August. I have an Arbonne training in Orlando and we decided to use some vacation days and actually do a full on Disney experience. Usually we’re doing quick day trips when we visit his brother in Gainesville, but we’re going to do Disney campgrounds and a Dining Package on this trip. We have a few new things up our sleeves as far as making our trip efficient and worth every penny! I can’t wait to share some of our stuff with you and I may do a full on “Everything you ever wanted to know about planning your Disney vacation!” blog post. Seriously, we’re pros at this point!
I am taking on the responsibility of Program Director for our local Girls on the Run Chapter and I’m over the moon about it! I love this wonderful program and I love the girls who participate. I can’t wait to see what this position holds for me and I hope to make a huge impact on the organization.
I have resigned from Mississippi Women Bloggers – I was being pulled in too many directions and although I’m sad to leave my position, I felt a huge burden lifted off my shoulders. I’m thankful for the community and glad to still be a part of it, but I needed to make space for other things that I’m passionate about right now. I sincerely hope they find the right replacement and that it’s someone who has the time and passion for the job!

Hope y’all have a wonderful week, I may or may not be back sometime this week, but once I get through annual meeting in Milwaukee and passing (fingers-crossed) my Series 65 exam, I should be back on that blogging train, my friends! This summer has turned out to be insanely busy, but absolutely spectacular!

Tell me what you’ve been up to this summer!

June 10, 2015

Seed

Hello there friends! How is your week going so far? Mine has been pretty good, busy, but good! I’ve started walking with a friend on Monday’s & Wednesday’s so Nick and I end up spending our evenings there for the most part. Nick has been working out with her husband almost every day of the week, so it’s pretty convenient! Last night I had a Discover Arbonne event that I went to, I always enjoy going to those because they’re very encouraging and always informative! I’m hoping I’ll find some people to bring with me at some point, but for now it’s just me, myself, and I. I’m so lucky to have found some sweet friends in this business already! I definitely look forward to every Arbonne event I attend.

Me, Noelle, & Lacy at Disney Wine & Dine

I promised that I would recap my super quick, but super worth while trip to New Orleans last week. Now, I’m honestly not a fan of NOLA – it’s gross, smelly, ugly, and just not up my alley, but my wonderful friend Lacy was there for a conference and 3 hours
is much closer than 20 something hours so I knew I had to drive down, even if it was for a quick dinner and a short nap.

I got off work at 3:30pm on Thursday so I could make the 3 hour drive down. We decided it would be best to park my car in the parking garage and to walk or use uber the rest of the night. I was really craving a unique restaurant that was vegan. We don’t have any vegan restaurants in Jackson, but I assumed NOLA had to have something good in that department and boy was I right! I wasn’t really sure what we were getting into, but I found a decent vegan restaurant that was only a mile from her hotel, so we started our walk towards dinner. We had planned to walk back, but as we neared the restaurant, there was a small section that didn’t feel very safe, so we ended up using uber for our trip back to the hotel.

SEED

The area was quaint and as soon as we saw the restaurant, we could feel that this was going to be a wonderful experience! We felt pretty hipster too. It was a completely garden based restaurant and had a lot of southern favorites – fried “chicken” nuggets, gumbo, chili cheese fries and so much more! I absolutely love a good fried tofu nugget, so I was especially excited to see that on the menu!

We both raved about the appetizers. I think I enjoyed the chili cheese fries a little more than Lacy did, while she enjoyed the hummus more than I did, but overall they were both excellent! The chili cheese fries seemed bottomless because we barely made a dent in them!

I could not say enough good things about my chicken fried tofu. The crispiness was absolutely perfect and I chose the agave mustard dipping sauce which was amazing! Lacy ended up not liking her gumbo so much. I thought it was great and ended up eating it for lunch the next day, but I’m in no way a gumbo expert, where as Lacy loved gumbo before she went vegetarian and so she has more room to be critical! I don’t think she thought it was spicy enough or the taste wasn’t on point, but I really couldn’t tell a difference – again, I think it’s because I really don’t have an expectation of what gumbo should taste like.

We ended our meal with a chocolate chip cookie that was divine. I was thoroughly impressed with this restaurant and I told Nick that we would have to go here if we came to New Orleans. He of course said that’s a big IF because we really are not fans of New Orleans, but I know I’ll be down there in July when I fly out for my companies annual meeting – so I may have to indulge at Seed again, whether or not others want to join me!

Later that night, we thought it would be a good idea to walk down to this arts festival, but that was more trouble than it was worth and absolutely smelly and gross the whole way there – again, not a huge fans of New Orleans. We finally made our way back to the room so we could have girl chat and drift to sleep before I had a 5:00 am wake up call to drive back to Jackson for work on Friday.

June 8, 2015

Tonsillitis

Good morning! How was your weekend?! Mine turned out extremely busy, but a lot of fun and very informative. Let’s back up to recap very briefly what the past two weeks have looked like though – I had my wisdom teeth out which you all know, I thought I would heal a lot quicker than I did, I had to leave work very early one day because of the pain, I was practically in tears over my dinner one night because I couldn’t even take five bites of it and was miserable, then I finally started feeling better, only to be hit with tonsillitis literally that same day! That is finally behind me and I’m starting to feel like my old self again – I’ve been eating REAL FOOD!

I still have some holes in the back of my mouth from wisdom teeth, but they no longer hurt and I’ve gotten use to keeping them clean. Crossing my fingers they close up this week. So far I’ve had zero infection, hooray! Also, I’m slowly starting to feel like this dumb palette expander is part of my actual mouth, so I’m learning to ignore it’s awkwardness when I eat. Since that has practically been my life the past few weeks, looks like you’re all caught up! Now on to the weekend!

Friday night we had a company event at the Mississippi Brave’s Game. It was a lot of fun and very chill – we had 2 suites with food & drinks and enjoyed watching the game. It was getting late though and I had to be up super early for a drive to Tupelo so I could go to an Arbonne training. This was my first Arbonne training and it came at the perfect time. I haven’t done much with Arbonne yet because of everything going on in my mouth, so I’ve been trying to stay connected to events we have going on to stay motivated so when I was ready to start having my own parties and presentations, then I could! I’m excited to say that I have my very first party this week, so hopefully it goes well because I’ll be doing it on my own which makes me a bit nervous!

We had a long day of wonderful speakers, everyone did such a great job and really provided solid information that I felt I could use when it was over along with excellent motivation and encouragement to get me up and going! They shared a lot of great quotes, but I really liked the one above. Setbacks are inevitable, not just in multilevel marketing companies, but in life. Although I’m extremely terrified of rejection and I do NOT want to be on people’s “call screening” list, I know that this quote is going to help me through a lot of setbacks and it’s going to propel me to do the things that are not so fun with Arbonne. Arbonne has been unbelievably fun so far – the people I meet are loving, kind, encouraging, and supportive, the events are fun, uplifting, and motivating, the products are absolutely perfect for my life and provide such a large variety, that you’re bound to find something you love, but with everything, there is a negative or a not-so-fun part of the job and 99% of the time in Multilevel Marketing – it’s the ask!

The things I have to remember though are this: 1) I have a longer list of goals than I do of fears in this business, so I can’t give up on my goals because they’re way too big and way too important to me. 2) I have products that are beneficial to others so I shouldn’t be afraid to share that. And 3) This opportunity was given to me for a reason and even though it can be hard at times, I also know it will be rewarding – I trust that it will be rewarding.

Here are a few other quotes I enjoyed throughout training:

“Duplication is key, the best copy cat wins.” I love that they encourage using what others have already done and they don’t get bent out of shape or offended. It makes working this business so much easier for the newbies out there and it gives us all the opportunity to be better and do better!
“God does great things through surrendered people.” Another thing I’m thankful for with Arbonne is the Christian based community I’m surrounded with. I have not been going to church for the past few months and I’ve been wanting to get plugged back in, but just haven’t done it yet. I definitely think God brought me to Arbonne when I needed it most and although I was terrified to sign up as a consultant, I do believe I surrendered to a calling and my prayer is that it’s beneficial to those around me and that I’m able to help a lot of people through it.
“You can’t worry and trust at the same time!” So so true. A beautiful reminder for daily living!
“Work more on yourself than you do on your business every day.” They also encourage self-improvement which is something I have always been passionate about. I love that this business is not all about the money, but it’s about empowering others and improving lifestyles for the better!
“Formal education will make you a living, but self education will make you a fortune.” I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of millionaire’s who either didn’t have a degree or got turned out thousands of times before someone said yes to their million dollar idea! Good food for thought right here, education doesn’t just stop at high school or college or with your masters.

I cannot explain how great this training was for me, I’m just so thankful I had the chance to be there! Lindsey and I talked about Arbonne the entire way home and again, it was all very uplifting and encouraging!

I got home really late Saturday and had been going non-stop all weekend, so I was looking forward to a more relaxing Sunday – I spent time reading a Liane Moriarty book (If you haven’t read her – do it!) while sipping on my coffee. I worked on my personal goals and making a list of things I’d like to read or watch for self-improvement. I cleaned my room and purchased new bed sheets. I did laundry. And just like that, the weekend came to a close.

I can’t wait to share about my very quick, but very wonderful trip to New Orleans last week! Now that I’m feeling way better, I am actually up for blogging again – which for a little while there I wasn’t sure I’d ever be up for anything again! haha

Questions for the day:

What was your favorite quote and why?
What did you do this weekend?
What is an organization or group of people that you’re a part of that is a constant encouragement and motivator in your life?

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