Well friends, the first month of 2015 has already passed and as we transition into a new month, it's time to look at what we accomplished in January. Whether you had a new years resolution or a set of goals you set for the new year, now is a good time to reflect on if you are really going to follow through. For me, I set in motion a year long happiness project in which I am working on becoming the best person I can be. I chose a word for the year and that is Rejuvenate. I spoke about my happiness project goals back in the beginning of January and I think I am off to a great start.


My most viewed post for January was: How to Order Eyeglasses Online

January was all about R & R (Re-focus and Relaxation). I feel pretty good about what I accomplished. I could always do better, but the couple of things I did do, really made this months goal feel like a win. Lets see what I accomplished:

#1 Working with a counselor to manage stress: This is one of the best things I could of done for myself. I was drowning in my own stress mess and had no idea how to get out. My health was on the downward spiral and I was all together feeling miserable. Talking to a third party who has no idea what your life is like is really nice. There is no judgement or harmful criticism to make you feel worse about your situation. You should never feel like this is a bad option. Never feel embarrassed to ask for help.

#2 Signing up for a class: This is something I have been wanting to do since I moved to my new city (3 years ago). I dragged my feet for so long. Finally I saw an ad for a stress relief yoga class being offered locally. It was being offered for 10 people only and something inside of me screamed this was the class I needed to take. Sitting on a plane coming home from Nashville, I sent the email. I was the tenth applicant!

#3 Yoga: I have officially attended 3 yoga classes in the stress relief series. I have learned so much about myself in the 3 weeks I have attended. I am learning to use my breath and clear my mind when things gets overbearing. I am getting a little more comfortable about looking at myself in the mirror and liking what I see. My core is getting a workout and that makes me smile. I love feeling the muscles I forgot I had. It also inspired me to write a beginners guide to yoga by the beginner. I hope you check it out.

#4 Baths: I was given a gift of homemade bath tea for Christmas. I forgot how nice it is to relax in a bath full of relaxing herbs. Epsom salts and herbs were my savior on cold nights when my muscles aches and my mind raced. Being able to fully relax all aspects of my body was very fulfilling. I slept better a night and woke up more rested. Win/Win. Expect a how to on making your own herbal bath teas coming up in February!

#5 Reading: I have been reading my little heart out since November. I strived to finish up my winter reading challenge, but I didn't complete it. I do not consider this a fail though because I have read more books in the past 3 months then I have in a few years. It has also inspired me to use the library and my kindle more often. Coming up in March I am planning an e-reader reading challenge. I hope you join! It will be lots of fun!

I really think January was a great start to my goals for the year. I feel like I am on a good track! Now let's talk about February. I am dedicating February to Friendship and Fitness. The reason I am picking those 2 topics is February is American Heart Month as well as the month of Valentines. I think starting here after working on relaxing would be a great time to focus on my health and relationships. I will continue to layer what I learned in January into my February goals.

The goals I want to set are as follows:

#1800 Minute Challenge: I have decided to participate in this challenge that Erin over at Living in Yellow is hosting. I missed it last year and this year it fits perfectly into my plans. It runs from February 1st through March 31st. This is a great opportunity to bring my yoga practice into this months goals.

Eat better: I am participating in a Biggest Loser competition at work starting today and running through April 24th.  Between this and the 1800 Minute challenge I have a lot of motivation to get healthy this month as well as getting myself into the gym!

Make 2 new friends: This is a tough one for me, but it needs to get gone. Meeting friends as an adult it totally like courting someone to date. I am going to try to ask at least 2 new people out for coffee or something that interests us both.

Rekindle Friendships: I have a lot of long distance friendships. Sometimes just like long distance relationships, friendships also need rekindling. I am going to reach out to some of my close friends and get that magic back. Life is hard and busy but it gets easier to have the ones we love there with us.

Read 3 Books: This one doesn't fit in with the rest but I am going to try to meet a book goal each month to keep me reading!

So there we are. My 5 goals this month. They are all pretty big ones. I hope to get them accomplished!

We made it! It's Friday... And.. I have nothing prepared today for my post. So I got an idea as I was waking up this morning and ran with it. My High Five For Friday post will consist of 5 up and coming things on the blog. I have been brainstorming some new fresh ideas and I am excited to hear your opinions on them.

#1 I am planning an e-book reading challenge starting in March. The basic idea of this is to pick your books from all of the downloaded books you have already on your e-reader. I know I can't be the only one who hoards books! More about that as it gets closer, but I'd like to know if anyone has interest in this :)

#2 I have been seriously thinking about offering some sponsor options on my blog. It won't be anything big right away. Baby steps. I am still not 100% sure I can commit to having a bunch of sidebar spots, but I think I can certainly handle a weekend spot where I can promote all week for your weekend post. I think it's a good place to start. What do you all think?

#3 Me and Sarah over at Silly Incantations have been talking about teaming up and starting a wellness link up on Thursdays. It will be a place where you can link up what you are doing each week to get yourself motivated to make better choices for your wellness and fitness. I hope you will all come link up with us once we are up and running! More info to come as we get settled in!

#4 Speaking about teaming up, I am always happy to team up with peeps who want to start something. I have a lot of great ideas I would love to share with others to help bring some great content and fun to our blogs. If you ever want to team up please drop me an email.

#5 I have just recently started using Pinterest with my blog. I am still getting used to posting my pins to my own boards. I would love you forever if you would check me out from time to time and help me figure out this Pinterest journey!

So there ya have it! Lots of fun stuff coming up on the blog in the next few weeks!

Where are all my bookworms at? Today I wanted to talk a little about where I find all my books and fun (and sometimes free) ways to get the good stuff (books that is). Because let's face it. Books are not cheap to buy. This is not saying I am not trying to support writers, because I certainly do buy books. However sometimes I am looking for a quick read, or want to get into a new author but not sure I will like the style of the writing. So here are a few tips to get yourself back on the reading train finding books you love!


Sign up for a library card: This is probably the cheapest (free) way to check out all kinds of subjects and authors without having to purchase the book. Library cards are free and offer all kinds of options. A typical time frame you get to keep these books is between 2 and 3 weeks. I normally take out only 2 books at a time in order to give myself enough time to read both. Most of the time you can renew your borrowed book if the book is not in high demand.

Book Sales: I really enjoy when libraries and book stores have sales. You can get some pretty great books for a fraction of their original costs. Most of these sales benefit your local library which is pretty sweet. In my town there is an annual book sale and it is HUGE! Books get cheaper as the days go on. You can walk out with loads of books under $10 if you choose.

Buy an E-Reader: Owning a reader like a Kindle or Nook can be fun because you have the library literally at the palm of your hand. Most libraries have electronic book borrowing these days. Same process as checking out a book, but downloaded on your device. When it's time to return the book it magically disappears from your archive. Pretty sweet right?

Along with borrowing electronic books from the library Amazon offers all kinds of books to purchase for less then the hard copy as well as daily free books. There are quite a few sites out there that sift through all of the free books and offer them to you in categories that are easy to follow. Some of my favorites are:

Pixel of Ink
Free Booksey
Hundred Zeros

I have found hundreds of books to read from these sites. It is absolutely insane how much is out there to read!

Goodreads.com: If you are unsure of what to read or want to keep track of what you are reading, Goodreads is the place to go. You can friend people you know and see what they are reading, along with get recommendations from the site based on your likes. There are categories and reviews on almost any kind of subject you can think of.

Library and Kindle books are my fave!

You have so many options out there to get yourself back into reading and finding stuff you love. In the next couple of weeks, once I finish the Winter Reading Challenge I am currently reading, I will be posting a new reading challenge. It will be simple, kinda. If you are like me and have WAY to many books on your kindle/nook this challenge is going to have you pick books by theme from the books you already have stored on your e-reader but never read. Sounds fun right? (I suppose if you also hard copy books laying around you could also do it that way if you don't own an e-reader)

Stay tuned for that. more details to come!