Maybe Just a Little

These past few days I've actually been in the mood to blog, so I thought I'd just take advantage of that and write a few things down. As it's the first of the month, I have goals that I'm working on through out the month.  At the beginning of the year I was focusing my energy on different themes for goals.  It was working pretty well, but when I moved I lost some momentum and I decided to just make a few goals that will help improve my my life on a daily basis. 

All of the things on this list are pretty self explanatory, but sometimes you just need to take a step back and take some time to really focus on the little things.  It takes a lot of little changes and improvements to create a constantly wonderful life and making creating a few better habits and focusing on some small tasks could be exactly what I need for right now. 

What do you think about your goals? Now that we're half way through the year and then some, are you sticking to your plans?  Do you care if you have or haven't? 

That Freshman Fifteen Though

I have yet to report on how my goals are going for this month, so I guess it's time.

Honestly, I haven't been giving my fitness goals as much attention as I would like.  I've been trying to get into the gym as often as I can, but it's really difficult with the end of the semester nearing. I never really believed in "The Freshman 15" until now...I get why it happens.  You forget to work out, you eat whatever is convenient, you stress eat...It's like you only have time to read, eat, and sleep. 

However, as hard as it is to keep in shape and eat right in college, it's no excuse.  It's literally my job to be physically fit, so it really is important for me to make time to run around a little bit or do a few sit-ups every now and then. 

What I have been doing though, is throwing a little activity into my every day routine. I've been lazily taking care of myself...

+When I'm at work I stand up and do calf raises and lunges.  Sitting in a desk for 8.5 hours is not so great, so it's good to try and keep the blood flowing.

+I do my best to make good food choices when I go into the dining commons.  I try to choose a meal with some complex carbs, proteins, and some veggies if I can get myself to eat them.

+I walk a ton! I'm not sure if ya'll have investigated this updated to iPhones, but they have a health tracker.  I checked it out a few nights ago and it told me that I walk an average of 2 miles every day.  That's not so bad, but it's probably just from walking to my classes around campus. 

+I've been paying attention to things like my oral hygine, skin, and hair.  I think fitness is more than just how you eat and move.  It's also about how you feel overall and paying attention to all aspects of my health has really made a change in me.

How do you stay fit when if seems like you don't have enough hours in a day?

Wrapping March

For the month of March, I placed all of my energy in my Academic Achievement. 

It went so well. I'm so glad that I was able to be extremely disciplined and actually make some changes in my habits when it comes to school.

 

These are a few things that really helped me out a lot this month in staying focused, on task, and productive.

 

1.I stayed away from watching Netflix and Hulu. For the entire month.  I did watch it a little bit, but mostly just at night after all of my day's tasks were complete.

 

2.  I worked on my study strategies.  It isn't enough to open a book and read it.  You have to actually LEARN.  I know. Shocking.

 

 

3.  I worked on prioritizing and timing my tasks.  It kept me from spending too much time on one task and allowed me to make time for everything that I had on the to-do list.

 

 

+Also this month, I made a move towards a more "college based" blog.  I'm writing more posts about my life here in Vegas surviving as a college student specifically.  I also shared a few ways you can conqure college

 

+In March I started into a brand new sponsorship program.  It's really awesome and I'm super excited to start sharing all the wonderful people who have invested in my future as a teacher and have trusted me to promote their blogs. If you're interested I higly reccomend you click on the 'Advertise' link above.

 

+I also joined a blogger network! I'm really excited to see what kinds of opportunities it has to offer and I am pumped about making my blog even more awesome.

 

+I got a new job, applied for 50 others, and got a new schedule at job#1. 

 

+And I found out I'm about to put in a packet for Promotion in the Army!

 

 

Lately, my mantra has beenAs long as you are getting better and progressing day by day, even if it's a tiny bit, you should smile. Every day is worth getting out of bed and pushing for something better than before. If you ask me, I have made a heck of a lot of progress in the past month and I'm really quite proud of it.  Spring has sprung, life is good, and there are even better days to come.

 

What has March been like for you?

 

From Critical Thinking to Critical Injury

Hello world.  Happy Monday.  You know how the past couple of weeks I've been in a complete funk? Well I think I'm out of it.  At least for now, I'm feeling much better  I had a great weekend and I'm feeling a little less overwhelmed by my circumstance and life is good.  
I do however want to remind you about my new sponsorship program.  It's a "pay as you like" system where all you have to do is contribute to my college fund to get an awesome sponsorship package. Click on "Advertise" to learn more. 
As you most likely know, for the past few weeks I have been focusing on academic achievement.  As it's about half way through the month I figured it's time to check in. 

It's going great.  Seriously.  It's a miracle...I have basically spent every minute of the past two weeks working on homework, studying, and being completely immersed in school and it is paying off like you would not believe.  I wrote a six page paper like it was nothing.  It was like I couldn't stop the my brain from creating sentences.  I had done that much research on the topic and I was so ready. 
Here is a little PSA for everyone out there who is struggling like I was:   Take a deep breath and get to work.  It's gonna be okay. 
-I got a 26/30 on my Philosophy test...If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I have a serious dislike for philosophy. It's a critical thinking course and I want to critically injure my professor every week.  So getting a 26/30 is, again, a miracle.  -I'm two chapters ahead in one of my books -I finished this coming Thursday's homework last Tuesday.  -I'm on top of all my assignments for all my classes and I officially do not feel overwhelmed by the amount of work and reading I have. 
I hoping that my midterm grades look amazing and I will tear up with joy when I look at them.  I have never worked so hard for my grades in my life and I'm so happy that I did. When I started working on these monthly goals I didn't know it would work so well but  it's really working.  It has shown me exactly what I'm capable of in a lot of different areas.  It has shown me that I can be a great blogger, I can be frugal (okay so I sort of have to be frugal...) and that I can really do well in school and work hard.  It has been a tough month so far if I'm being completely honest but it's worth it and I know that. :) 
How are your new years resolutions going?  Did you make goals for this month?  Are you sticking to em? 


PS--Don't forget about my weekly link up "What's Up Wednesday"  This weeks questions are the same as last weeks.  You can start adding your links at midnight every Wednesday! Check out the guidelines here!

Because I Suck at Staying on Task

Because my goal for this month is to focus on academics, I've figured out a few ways to increase my productivity to make staying on task a little bit easier
1. Task timers I have heard a lot about people using apps that kick them off of Facebook if they use it for too long, so I looked into those types of apps and I found a task timer.  It's amazing. *All I did to find this was search the Google Chrome Apps for time management*

You choose how long you want to spend on each thing and it will start a timer for you.  When I started editing that screen cap, I started the timer.  I'm now on the clock! I have to finish all my blog work with in the designated amount of time now which leaves time for other things.  Like many other things though, you have to allow it to work.  Once the time is up, it's up!  I'm also looking into apps on my phone that will do the same thing. 
2.  No Netflix

Like none.  Seriously. Netflix eats up all of my productivity.  If i just don't open it up, I'm fine! I get lots of stuff done, but the second that Netflix window pops up I may as well throw in the towel.  My work for the day is over... I've put up reminders to keep me from even going there! 

3.  Minimal Travis Time...

This is the saddest part.  We are both so busy with school, it's important for both of us to be really focused.  It is really not fun to be so close and have to spend so much time apart, but we have responsibilities that we can't just forget. So I just look at that picture a lot instead of being sad about it. 

How do you keep yourself from getting distracted? Is it hard to stay productive? It can be quite a challenge for me, but I'm sure that these things will help. 

P.S- Don't forget about What's Up Wednesday! It's tomorrow. All you have to do is follow the prompt and add your link. We would loove to have you! This week we have a few new questions and a new guest host, so be sure to stop by and check it out. 

Academic Achievement

 

For the month of February, my focus was "Better Blogging" I was a little bit skeptical when I started out on it, but I'm really happy with how things went.  I wasn't able to do exactly what I set out to do, but regardless of that, I made some real progress.

 

Unfortunately, I couldn't spend any money on sponsoring other blogs, but I was able to use Facebook Groups a little more, I worked on using the scheduling features on social media, and the link up is a success.  I made a few new blog friends and I've honestly been pretty happy about the way things are going.  That means we can call this months goals a success.  I'm going to continue working on all those goals and I'm working on growth and progress.

This month, I'm working on...

 

 

My goals associated with this are as follows:

 

1// Procrastinate less! February was pretty stressful becuase I accidentally put off some stuff I should have done a while ago...If I work harder not to procrastinate, maybe my life will be better.

 

2// Focus on quality. Anyone can write a crappy paper and turn it in. I need to work hard to produce quality assignments that I can put in my portfolio and be proud of.

 

3// Manage time better! So I'm already pretty good at time management, but I end up spending hours and hours on one thing and then I have spent my entire day on one assignment and I haven't worked on anything else.  I need to change that.

 

4// Keep my eye on the prize. I have been struggling with the fact that my teaching license is so far away...I just need to remember that these are all steps to getting there and I'll be there before I know it!

What are your goals for March?



 

Progress

As I write this, I am eating lasagna for breakfast and thinking about all the homework that I should be doing instead of writing this.  College life is tough. But I feel like doing some writing, so here I am. 
This year, I've been focusing on different goals.  I updated you here on how that's going, but I failed to mention that I've chosen a word to theme this whole year around. I thought for a while about it, and I decided on this:

Having goals is a really important part of my life.  Without them, I'd probably never get anything done.  I've been focusing on using my planner which has helped a lot and I've been overall making an effort to work towards...more and better.  Lately I have been really stressed out.  I missed a couple days of school, I've been sick, and I don't have enough money for...anything.  So I just keep reminding myself that my focus is Progress.

Life is hard and hectic and I'm struggling to stay positive lately, but I'm working hard to remember...Progress. Every day I'm taking steps in the right direction and heading towards better days. 

How do you look at things when you're feeling like life is getting you down? Do you have a word that you work to focus your goals around?

Checking In

Lately I have been working very hard to make a plan for, well, the rest of my life.  Yeah, I know, life happens when you're making plans, but at least I'll have a place to start and goals to get to where I want to be.  I've been working on different goals and focusing on one thing each month (all two of em...) since the beginning of the year.  So far, I'm doing okay.  I could be doing a lot better though.  For the month of January, my goal was to work on my Financial fitness.  Sadly, that did not go as well as I had hoped.  With the semester starting I didn't really have the ability to save.  I had tuition to pay, books to buy, and I was already at a slight deficit trying to recover from Christmas.   I'm still recovering from the spending that had to go on in the month of January...Isn't that ironic? I was basically hemorrhaging money when my intent was not to spend at all.  However, I'm not calling it a total loss.  I have become aware of some of the really stupid expenses I create for myself.  I'm continually working on making my financial fitness a priority.   

February I've been working on my blog.  I swear.  I really am working on it, but I'm sure that it's hard to tell.  I started a link-up with a few other bloggers, I installed Adsense (I've made like...$2...) and I've been working on bringing quality content to this space.  That is part of why I actually have been posting less.  If I don't have something to say, I'm saying nothing at all.  After we started the link-up *shameless plug* I had this little crisis over this old blog.  I felt like I don't have a niche or a place to fit in here in the blog world.  I was encouraged to take a step back and look at what my blogging goals are.  Even more specifically, bloggers encouraged me to remember why I started blogging in the first place.  That reason is this:  I love it.  So I'm refocusing my blog to write more of what I love. For the coming month of March, I will be confusing on Academic Achievement.  That is something that I have been doing through out the entire semester thus far.  It was not been easy...Let me tell you, it has not been easy.  The planner helps, but I still struggle slightly.   March will hopefully be a time for me to really crack down on everything and get not only on top of my work, but ahead of it. I'm doing okay as of today, but I'm really feeling like I'm drowning in work to do.  Luckily, my political science course ends this week.  Losing that weekly commitment will make a difference. I'll have more specific goals outlined in March 2nd's goal post.  Ha. Goal post... So that's how I'm doing with my goals.  This year has been the best as far as working hard to accomplish my goals and making certain things a priority.  Breaking it up like this is helping me focus and keeping me from being overwhelmed.  I think it's important to work towards something and these goals are making me better.  Hopefully all this hard work will pay off!

Channeling My Seventh Grade Self

On Friday, I took some initiative and I got rid of all that stuff I said I would.  I can't believe it.  I followed through on some hard stuff just like I said I would. I'm already sad about Spotify.  It breaks my heart, but I will survive.  Hopefully.   I'm home in Salt Lake for drill and I decided to take advantage of the "free" time that I have.  I also started reading this book about retirement and the best way to save money for when I'm old and social security isn't a thing.  It's a pretty dang boring book, but I'm learning a lot and I'm pretty sure it'll change my future.  So that's pretty cool.  
That's not all I'm reading though.  It's not the focus of January, but I've made it a personal goal for 2015 to read more books.  I put it down on my 2014 list, but I didn't really follow through.  My year ended up being filled with the Military, a cross country road trip, and yet another big move to Las Vegas...so the book thing only happened via audio book during my road trips.  I "read" a whopping total of 3 books last year.  I used to love reading.  I used to read a book every single day...
This year, I decided that the only way to get myself to read a bunch of books was to make a list of books I want to read. I've been inspired by Bonnie, so of course, I stole a couple books off her list that I haven't read and I definitely should have. 
The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger  Wonder by R.J. Palacio.  The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston  If I Stay by Gayle Forman  If I Go by Gayle Froman  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith  Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte Rant by Chuck Palahnuik  1983 by George Orwell  A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess  Landline by Rainbow Rowell  Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Mindy Kaling  Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom 
And....I suppose I should start with these.  I'm working hard to make my life more enriched with the written word.  I could really benefit from some time away from Netflix and into the reading.  Any suggestions? I could use em!

Cutting Back

I promise, this is my last post about financial stuff until next Monday! I mean it's January...So I can't get enough of this little graphic.

I have big financial goals.  Currently, my big one is to pay off my car completely as quickly as possible. I don't want to pay a bazillion dollars in interest.  Makes sense right?  Well, I've been thinking about a few ways that I can make it easier to make bigger car payments and get that taken care of sooner rather than later.

In an effort to cut back on some of my expenses, I'm thinking that come March when my phone contract is up, I might ditch the iPhone, get a simple little phone without data and use social media only when I'm on the computer.  It would definitely change the way I do a lot of my blogging, but phone bills can really add up.  And for what? To be on Facebook all the time? No thanks. Ditching the iPhone could potentially mean $1400 in savings each year...But that's with no phone at all.
 

There are several things that I'm cutting out in an effort to save money.  Some of them, I must admit, I'm sort of sad about.

1) Spotify Premium. 

     I spend $10 a month on my premium Spotify.  There are no commercials, I get basically unlimted music, and I can play it on my phone when I'm offline.  It rocks, but if there is one thing I've learned from all my research it's that living below your means is a great way to save and Spotify Premium is definitely a luxury.  Getting read of it will save me $120 per year.  Out it goes.

2) Hulu Plus

      Hulu Plus costs $7.99 every month.  Big Whoop, right? Well that's around $100 per year that I can never get back...and for what? To watch the Mindy Project & Grey's Anatomy instead of doing my homework?  Not a good idea.  Bye Bye Hulu Plus.

3)  My Gym Membership

     Would you believe me if I told you I've been paying $22 every month for a gym membership I can't use because I live in a different state (I also have a free gym on campus walking distance from my home) and I'm too cheap to pay the $100 bucks to cancel it? Well, you should, because it's true.  For this one, I have to pay $100 up front, but it will save me $164  ($264 next year after I pay the $100 to cancel) per year! That's huge! See ya useless gym membership.

4) Eating Out

     If you ask Travis what my favorite thing to do is, he'd probably tell you that I love to eat out.  This is partially due to the fact that I lack a kitchen and partially due to the fact that eating in the Dining Commons gets very old very fast.  Well, I pay for that meal plan, so I may as well use it, right? I can't tell you exactly how much I'd save by not eating out, but I can say it would without a doubt be around $100 each month (if not more).

If I do all of those things it will save approximately $190 per month equaling $1180 per year.

 This isn't including the cell phone because I don't have any hard numbers and there a few downsides to getting rid of the phone such as none of the money saving apps like Cartwheel or Ibotta, but it could be a worthwhile trade off.  I've also considered getting a pre-paid phone simply because they're cheaper.  I've considered buying a TV to get rid of the Hulu temptation (School has a cable package with the rooms).  Basically, I waste a lot of money on the silliest things.  By making all of my purchases for only essential things, I'll have a lot more left over and be able to make extra car payments, student loan payments, and maybe even have dinner out once a month. With a shared entree. 

How do you cut your expenses to meet your financial goals?

November At a Glance

This awesome thing just happened where I completed my homework for the entire week (and the beginning of next week) And I feel so good. I updated my "November-at-a-glance" calendar and It hurt my heart.  Ouch.  Gonna be a rough month.  However, it really helps to stay organized.  I had a little lapse there earlier in the semester...But I'm back on track and keeping my grades exactly where they should be.  Now that I have a pre-loaded excuse for being a the worst 5-days-a-week blogger ever, you don't have to be shocked when you see that I haven't posted in a while.  With that being said...I've got some November goals.  

 

My goals aren't that specific, but I think that for this month I need a broad target.  Hopefully I can stay on top of all my goals and see how things go!

 

Working Hard

So I should have said this yesterday, but I didn't, so I'll lay it down now.  I knew writing about my religion would get a bit of a response, but...whoa. I just want to say thank you to those of you who took a moment to read and reflect. It was a very personal and difficult post to write. I wrote it several times, each time a different way. I think that it ended up being sort of perfect and I hope it reminds each of you to be true to yourself.  In the spirit of being true to yourself, I've drafted a few goals for myself for the month of April. I spent a little bit more time on these ones than I did my goals for March. Hopefully I will be as successful with these as I was in March. For the month of April, I'm spending...basically the entire time on Fort Leonard Wood and also going on my Annual Training (also called AT) for 21 days.  I'll be home for Easter then I'll head back out to the field. I almost feel like an active duty solider. And I kind of love it.  I have a whole lot of exciting things happening in my military career and I hope I can keep it up.  Anyway, about my goals.  This month I want to...

Because I'm not at home, it will possibly be a struggle staying focused and working on myself while I'm busy working for someone else, but hopefully I will have some success.   Hopefully I don't go completely crazy! What are you working on this month?

Coke Is A Fashion Statement.

On Monday, I had the day off. I spent almost the entire day laying in bed catching up on reading blogs. I read about 200 blog posts in a few hours...Okay...So maybe I skimmed a few.  I started writing a few posts as well, but they ended up being way more involved than I realized. With that being said, they are not finished yet... Today, I updated my Facebook...I fixed my job and my city location.  It still said Las Vegas. It made me so sad to change it. That might be really stupid, but I loved it there. I didn't really have friends, and I wanted to get a new job, but I wanted to stay. Leaving there was a sad occasion that I really wish I didn't have to do.  Maybe some day I'll return to live with the palm tress...Who knew I was such a desert rat? I sure didn't. Guess sometimes we surprise ourselves. Okay...Anyway, now I'm going to get to point here.  As you might know, I quit drinking soda.  I didn't realize it was such a big deal until I started telling people that I quit and everyone was treating me like I had done the most amazing thing in the world. All I did was give up Coke!  But Seems how everyone has been asking me how I did it and what made it easier, I figured I would share my secrets. Maybe it will work for you, and you too can give up the bad habit and change your life. 

Let me preface this by telling you this:  I was a coke drinker to the max. Two or three 20 oz bottles a day. A can in the morning. One after my work out at the gym. I drank maybe one glass of water a day and I craved Coke all the time.  It was truly an addiction.  It really was not easy to kick it, but a few of these things worked for me. 

1.  I told myself that I did not drink soda instead of tell myself I could not drink soda. It became something that wasn't disallowed, but something that was simply a part of my daily life. I didn't do that just like I didn't smoke. 

2. I didn't make allowances for anything even similar to soda. No energy drinks, no non-caffeinated soda like Sprite, no sparkling...whatever. It made it so I couldn't make excuses to drink a soda. 

3. I found something flavored that I liked instead of soda. I drank blue Powerade when I wanted something sweet or ordered lemonade at restaurants. The key to this one, is not completely replacing the old vice with a new one. I didn't drink half as much Powerade as I used to drink coke.  I just drank it every now and then when I really wanted a coke. 

4. I drank a lot more water. When you aren't thirsty, there is no reason to look for other things to drink.

5.  I told myself there was no choice in the matter. I'm not a coke drinker anymore. I hope I never will be again.

I'm going to be completely honest with you, blog, when I wrote on my list that I wasn't going to drink soda anymore, I thought I'd crack after a few days. Well, it has been an entire month and I haven't slipped once. I can run faster.  I sleep better.  I have more energy.  I lost weight.  I saved money, and I drink twice as much water as I ever did. 

A part of me still misses the Coke...I even have a shirt with the Coca-Cola Logo on it...It's my favorite. Unfortunately, for me, Coke is now just a Fashion Statement. 

Stay tuned for a review of how my other goals went this month!

Those Repetitive motions

Over the past few months, I have been looking at my life a lot differently than I ever have before. It's really hard to go from a point of constant forward motion to a point where I feel like I come to an abrupt stop.  In all reality, I haven't "stopped" I've just  had to sort of...take a little jaunt off in another direction for a while.  It feels like a stop though.  Hopefully things will start to change soon.  I change my mind every week about what I want to do with my life, so everything seems to always have too many moving parts to make it work. Even my blog is suffering from my inability to make solid decisions. I can't even think of what to blog about. It's a little bit ridiculous. As of right now, I'm looking at paying off some education loans, going back to school, and moving out of my parents house. Don't get me wrong, having a bucket of money because I'm not being charged rent is glorious, but it is so hard to come back home after being out all on your own for a whole year, then being shocked back into a life of repetitive motion.  On the bright side, after being out of all my training for 8 or so months, I can finally sleep well in my soft bed. It took forever to get used to how soft this thing was after sleeping on crappy "military grade" mattresses.  Now my bed has never looked more inviting...
Don't be fooled by the term 'military grade' it just means cheap and easy to reproduce for large numbers. 
The weather around here has been beautiful. I took the baby out on a walk up to the library the other day.  I didn't even have a jacket on, and I was wearing my flippy flops. It was that nice. The baby even tossed of the blanky I put on her. Needless to say, she loved going to the library. 

Auntie Katie, for the win. 
But then after all that beautiful, jacketless weather, it snowed on us yesterday. I was not particularly happy about that. It was really just the crappy, spring, lake effect snow.  That's when the temperatures get nice enough for the water in the lake to evaporate and then the temperatures drop just enough for it snow. And it sucks. I hate it because you just get excited about the sun and the warmth and the promise of summer in the future and then this happens.  
No thanks. Go. Away.
Okay, and last but no least in this Marathon post, I'll update you on my March goals.  I'm actually doing really well with most of them. I'm sucking up the blogging every weekday (obviously) but I'm succeeding at the hardest one on my list: I quit drinking soda. Cold Turkey.  My last one was February 24th. It has made a huge difference in my life so far. +I save money not stopping for a coke every day  +I've lost about 4 lbs without even trying. +I drink twice as much water +I can run faster and longer because I'm better hydrated +I don't get a head ache if I don't have one. 
It really has changed my life. As of right now, I haven't made any allowances for things like Red Bull.  I figure if I allow that, I'll just let my self have one coke, and then it will be all down hill from there, so as of right now, I haven't had a single bubbly thing in nearly four weeks now! Hopefully I can keep it up. 
I'm working on my fitness goals and trying to keep up on that stuff. I'm doing fairly well, while not exactly doing what I said I wanted to, but I am working hard and making a difference in my body and my work out. 
I hope every one is having a wonderful Wednesday. I have to day off today, so I'm going to really  enjoy it!  

Workin Hard

Well, hello, Monday! We meet again. Mondays don't really bother me.  I work literally every weekend, so Monday is just another day of the week, not really the start of working.  It's an interesting trade off of this job I got myself into.  For the month of march, I've made a few goals.  I am working on my New Years Resolutions, so I thought I'd just made a a few sub goals that help me to accomplish those big ones that I made. For this month, these are some of my goals. 

I kinda cheated because when I made these goals, it was the end of February, so I already completed this first goal on my list. The deal was, if I finished it, I got to stay a specialist. I got promoted last drill even though the standard had changed, but if I wanted to keep it, I had to get that done, so I finally finished it last Thursday.  So far, my other goals are going really well.  I started working on them before the month began.  I haven't had a drop of soda in days (which for me is a huge deal. I usually drink at least one a day) I've been hitting the gym every day and working hard. I think March is going to be a great month.  

You know what else I'm so excited about?

The Sassy Seamstress just sent me this fantastic pillow! I am so dang excited about it.  When I saw it sitting on my couch a couple days ago I was so happy I could have shouted...I didn't , but I wanted to.  It is so adorable.  It came with care instructions and arrived the day she told me to expect it and it is seriously too awesome. I think I need another one that says "Fezes are cool" 

I am pretty sure I'm going to have to order a couple of more things from the "not so family-friendly" gal.  All of her products will be this high-quality and hand made. I don't recommend anything I don't actually love...I. Love. This. 

Well, I think I've got to get going, but I hope you all have a wonderful week! I am pretty sure I will!