Vlogmas 2017!

Hellooo!

Vlogmas. 

What the hell is Vlogmas?!

Let me explain all the weird words for you if you haven’t entered this crazy world yet.

A person who writes something like I do is a Blogger who writes a Blog.

A person who records their thoughts on video, is a Vlogger and they record Vlogs – Video Blogs.

We all know what Christmas is and so as if there isn’t enough to do in the run up to Christmas, some of us join ‘Blogmas’, where you Blog every day in December until Christmas Day or even beyond.

I’ve decided to join ‘Vlogmas’ where, as you’ve probably guessed, the goal is to Vlog everyday on your blogging youtube channel.

I'm not gonna lie this Christmas wasn't very interesting since my husband is deployed but its a start. HA!

Take a look and please subscribe to my channel, I’d love to share our month with you. Baking, decorating and crafting all things Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHihu7YSUs8&list=PLFdRU0Uxmj4f539YTwtFdikp3C8uy1BIy

An Open Letter to My Husband...

To my wonderful husband,

You are a soldier who has been called to action and have left today to serve your country. While I have known about this for quite some time, and I feel I am as prepared for it as I’ll ever be, I’ll never truly be ready to let you go and I need you to know how I feel and what you mean to me.

You came into my life when I wasn’t looking and you brought a kind of light that I’d never experienced before. You won me over with your charm, your charisma, and your beautiful smile and I was smitten from that first moment. Our first dates were mostly spent just laughing and talking, and I knew right then you were the one. It didn’t hurt that you showed me your nice guy side right away and I loved every minute of those long nights when we had nothing to do but talk and laugh. (And because of you I learned to be who I really am!)

I was also afraid. I was afraid to let myself fall for someone that fit me as well as you did. That something this wonderful couldn’t be real. That fear quickly melted away and my feelings grew into something much more, and it was visible to everyone in my life. Over the first few months of our dating, all of my friends and family came to know you. There was never any awkwardness between us. That they saw from the beginning that we were just us.

What I love most about us is that in finding each other, we not only found the person to share our love with, but we also gained a friendship that can never be replaced. You are not only my husband but also my best friend. You bring me excitement every morning and peace at night.  You are the person I can always count on and the person I can trust with my secrets and my life.  You complement me in the best way possible and have only ever added to my happiness. Our life together is the greatest adventure I have ever had and I could never thank you enough for taking me on your life journey with you.

I love the life we have created together.  The life that includes regular date nights, even if it’s just in the house. I love how we play games together so that we can get a little competitiveness out… even if it is over a game of Yahtzee.  I love how we have our shows we have to watch together. I love how you love going to a random village and exploring with me. I love how you ever so quietly try to get out of bed not to wake me when you have to go to work. I'm the lightest sleeper so I always hear you but it makes me smile as I fall back to sleep. Having you next to me at night is what I will miss the most. I love when we go out and paint the town red, blue, purple, green, or whatever color we are in the mood for.  You are as spontaneous as I am and you have made me even more adventurous.  You keep me grounded and at the same time, you lift me up to reach new heights.

But you are gone now. And I will miss you beyond words.  I’ve tried to hold it together, keeping in mind that each morning begins another day that gets us closer to the end of this deployment, but each days seems to drag on and on, and I feel like we missed out on trying to fit in all of the time we can while we still have work and other obligations. So while I wanted to tell you all of the things I love about us, I also wanted to tell you that I have wondered for so long, what will I do without you?  Here is my answer:

I will continue to build our home into what we want it to become.  A place of love, warmth, respect, comfort, and joy (and I will probably repaint all the furniture!).  I will love our kids hard enough for the both of us.  I will hug them harder, kiss them more, and simply highlight all of your awesomeness while you are away. And I will love you harder and more than I ever have. After all, it is said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I will appreciate you more for the sacrifices you are making on behalf of others who you nor I even know. I will keep myself healthy. I will do things that make me happy. I will take care of myself! I will be strong!  And I will honor what I promised you the night we became husband and wife when I placed your ring on your finger “as a symbol of my love and honesty, as a constant reminder, that I have chosen you, above all others. To be the one, to share my life.”

With all of my love,
Your wife

How to shake a funk...

Have you ever woken up and from the second you open your eyes there’s this FUNK following you around that you just can’t seem to shake.

That’s been me. For the last FIVE days. I thought I’d wake up this morning feeling more like myself again. In fact yesterday I was betting on it so I didn’t take any action towards fixing it. I trusted it would go away on it’s own.

It didn’t.

So today I knew I needed to do something about it before I wasted another precious day not feeling like “me”.

This is my tried and true recipe for shaking the funk and getting back to your normal kick ass self:

1: Flood your body with endorphins. This doesn’t have to be traditional exercise. Have a freakin dance party in your living room. Or better yet…get OUTSIDE into the glorious sun and soak up some vitamin D. For me music, singing on top of my lungs and dancing really helps. So this morning after my lifting session the lil boys and I cranked up so 90's music and danced and sung our hearts out. I started to feel a LITTLE better but I knew my work wasn’t done.

2: Flood your brain with positive voices. While making the boys and myself some lunch I turned on some of my fav podcasts that are teaching me to be better at the things I love. So while I was cooking and cleaning, I was learning and turning on my creative juices. And cooking leads me to #3.

3: Eat a wholesome meal. Todays lunch was eggs with some delicious red grapes!

4: Gratitude – flood your mind with ALL the things you’re thankful for…no matter how small. I like to write a random list in the mornings during my miracle morning time. I have a whole notebook full of gratitude.

5: Shut down technology and don’t let others put demands on your time if you have that option. Take care of you first! I kind of did this over the weekend. I choose to hangout with the family instead of working my normal work hours. Sometimes you just need a few hours, few days (no more then 2 is my rule) away.

6:This is the final and VITAL tip that I use to pull me out of a funk…Meditate.

(Doesn’t have to be a spiritual thing if that turns you off.)

I only started doing this regularly for the last 2 months and it’s been life changing. I’ve struggled with ups and downs and anxiety my whole life but I’ve always looked for natural ways to cope.

Meditation has been a total cure all for my mood swings and my anxiousness! I can tell when I skip a day that I just feel off balance. And guess who didn't meditate Saturday and Sunday...yep this girl. No wonder my funk has lasted for 5 day. I meditated Monday, Tuesday and this morning and I could defiantly feel myself slowly coming out of this funk. 

Hopefully after tonights rest. I'll be completely back to normal. :)

#JudgingYou

The look…

...that you get occasionally when you talk about meditation.

I am a perfectionist and with that comes stress and awful anxiety!

I promised myself that 2016 would be my year for self care.

I started mediation consistently every morning in mid August 

and I seriously can’t imagine ever going back!

Do you meditate or are you curious?

It’s a technique… not necessarily a spiritual practice. You can incorporate it into your spiritual practices but otherwise you can use it to quiet the chaos. (And we all have a LOT of chaos don’t we?)

It reduces stress, gives mental clarity, reduces anxiety 

and is just pure AWESOMESAUCE in my book!

I have felt so calm and clear since I started taking it seriously. I’ve only been doing it for 5-20 min in the AM and it sets such a KILLER vibe for the rest of my day! 

My productivity is THROUGH THE ROOF friends!

I’ve meditated in the past but it was a “here and there” practice.

I have no doubt that the rest of 2016 is going to be amazing and that 2017 is going to be the best year of my life and I credit that to me putting me first… 

so that I can show up in a bigger and more audacious way for those around me.

What do you think? Woo woo or awesomesauce?

What’s one thing you’re going to do for YOU this year? Comment below, I want to know!