Simply Pure and Beautiful

Happy Fall Y’all 🧡🍂

2021-10-19T13:35:00.001-04:00

Wow 2 years! I can’t believe it has been that long since I have made a post. On my way home from work today I was driving along and thinking “man I really miss writing on my blog,” so here I am coming at you with a post 2 years later...better late that never right! :)

cute fall cup

Here I've linked a similar coffee cup for those crisp mornings for coffee or even hot chocolate! YUM!

I found this cute picture of Pinterest a few years ago when I was creating a vision dashboard for my fall planner & find it perfect for this post! :)

This is one of my favorite times of the year and I was brainstorming some ideas of what I wanted to do to my front porch this year and I thought why not share it all with you! I love getting on Pinterest and looking at everyone’s cute pumpkins and mum’s and it gets me so inspired for my own little porch.

This is our current porch mostly everything came from Amazon and Hobby Lobby. My two favorite stores!

hello sign//welcome sign//buffalo check rug//hello door mat//farmhouse lantern

farmhouse pumpkin //orange pumpkins

farmhouse pumpkin

farmhouse lantern//orange pumpkins

I still feel like our porch is missing a few things and I have been wanting to purchase some colorful mums to put on our porch for the fall season as well. I am just terrible with plants. Last year I totally forgot to water them and they died :( whoops!

Let me know in the comments some of you alls ideas on what would make this front porch complete :) or even how you are decorating your porches for this fall season. Pictures are always welcome too! Can't wait to see what everyone is doing to get into the season. Sooner or later HALLOWEEN will be here as well and I am sure some of you are decorating for that as well.

Life Update // WE HAD A BABY!

2021-10-19T12:26:00.002-04:00

Omgsh you guys it's been FOREVER since I have posted on my blog. My last post was another life update back from July 2017. So much has changed since then as well. Jesus and I ended up going on our very first vacation together that year in November. We had so much fun in Panama City, but we did not expect the weather to be chilly. Next time we are definitely going further south.

December of that year literally 5 days before Christmas and Jesus's birthday we found out we were going to be parents! Now I was scared shitless I will be completely honest and Jesus was in shock I believe. We just were not prepared for what was in store for us. We were living with his parents, so that news definitely gave us the push to move out on our own.

House hunting was a complete nightmare you guys! I never want to go through that process again. Every house we loved we would talk to our realtor about seeing, and it would have a pending status. Some houses she would start to set up and they would switch to a pending status, so we could not go see them. It sucked. We eventually got so tired of the disappointment that we looked into building our dream home.

Fast forward to May of 2018 we signed our contract with a builder to build our very first home. We were super excited about this new journey, and ready to be in our home since we had a baby on the way. At this point I was around 25 weeks pregnant and getting anxious about having things ready in time for the baby.

Pregnancy was really a breeze. I had zero sickness and my energy levels were pretty high. I was able to work all the way up until I had our little one. Our little princess was born on August 11th, 2018 at 10:54am. Let me talk about labor for a second. HOLY SHIT! Thank goodness for the epidural. I was trying to convince myself to hold off and try to have her naturally without medication, but let's be honest for a minute I am a complete pansy.

I believe though if they didn't have to induce my labor my contractions wouldn't have been as bad. They put this little medicine on a string up there on Thursday night and left it in for 12 hours to see if it would start to open and dilate my cervix. When they took it out and checked it literally did nothing. So the next step was for the doctor to go in and scrap my membranes. This step freaking hurt I could've slapped her.

Seriously being induced into labor was horrible. It made everything I had ever dreamed about when giving childbirth, turn into a nightmare. Scraping my membranes sped up the dialation process and when I finally got to 4cm she broke my water. After this everything went downhill for me. My paint tolerance sucks! Ya'll I lasted a few hours and said give me that epidural!

Fast forward to Friday night...and ladies and gents I didn't have our baby until SATURDAY MORNING! So when I say this labor was exhausting I mean it. Holy SHIT. My contractions were getting stronger and the medicine was flowing into my veins. At a certain point I don't remember much just from what my boyfriend or parents would tell me. And can I say the one thing I will never take for granted is having them all in the birthing room with me. Since COVID started I feel for all you lovely mommas. COVID has ruined many great memories and experiences for us all.

Back to the story...it's now Saturday morning at 10:54am and we finally welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world. She is really our greatest blessing in this crazy thing we call life. She couldn't of been more perfect. I still remember to this day seeing that beautiful face full of dark hair like her daddy and tan complexion. It's crazy to think this current day that I am writing this she is 3 years old! Time really does fly by.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this mess of a story and made it to the end with me. I'm starting to get back into writing so bare with me if it's a little rough. I hope to be back writing with you all a couple times a week and bring some fun content to the blog again :)

Life Update // July Edition

2017-08-12T08:57:00.000-04:00

Hello loves! Happy Monday and welcome to the blog. It's been a great year and I have so much to update you all on. My man and I have had lots of adventures together this year and we are planning our very first vacation together. We could not be more excited!! I can't wait to share it with you all on the blog.

As of lately back in March we added two fur babies to our little family. They have been the best addition to our lives.

Meet our babies Max and Toby

Max

Toby

The boys are huge now compared to what they were when we first got them. It's crazy to think that in a few more months they both will be 1! 😭 Excuse me while I go cry my eyes out. I don't know how I'm going to handle having actual children 😬.

Other than the our newest additions to our family we've had lots of celebrations around here as well. I turned the big 2️⃣5️⃣ back in June which was depressing. Just another year older.

The best thing thought was going out to dinner with my family. They spoiled me to a nice meal.

Love my parents ❤️

& my grandma she is the cutest lady.

Another celebration we had was our nephews first birthday and baptism.

He is the cutest little dude. Can't believe he is already a year old!

The party was a success with lots of food and piñatas 🎉.

Lastly we've had some fun in the sun by going to our state park. We enjoy being outside doing active activities such as hiking and swimming. Swimming especially since it's been flipping hot as hell year.

I just love this man❤️. Just this past weekend I had my wisdom teeth removed and he has been the best caregiver I could have ever asked for. He's brought me lots of food that I can eat and made sure I'm not in pain. We've binged watched our favorite shows and cuddled up on the couch. The best ways to spend the weekend in my book.

I know this post was a little boring I'm out of my groove. I haven't been writing lately which is something I hope to get back to very soon.

If this is your first time here on the blog welcome! I hope you enjoyed this post and subscribe to Simply Pure and Beautiful for alerts when we have posted new content.

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XOXO 😘

Shelby

Happy New Year!

2017-01-07T02:15:00.000-05:00

Holy cow 2017 came so fast! I can't believe it's already January 7th! It doesn't seem possible. Feels like just yesterday it was Christmas and we were enjoying the holidays and our days off from work. I definitely enjoyed my 4 days off from work relaxing with my love and spending quality time with my family.

This year is all about balance for me. I know we all come up with New Years resolutions but this year my goal is to just focus on being present in the moment. I've noticed our generation is so wrapped up in social media and technology that we are missing out on life. At least I know I have been. Not spending time focused on my friends or family when we are gathered around but yet my face is buried into my phone scrolling through facebook or instagram.

So this year my resolution is to find balance in life and be present. Finding balance is huge for me also because I for the past 4 years have been so focused on health and fitness that it's been an obsession to where I was restricting myself from enjoying life.

Cheers to the New Year & I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

Xoxo,

Shelby

Let's Get Spiritual!

2016-11-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

Hi loves! I know I've been absent from blogging for a few weeks and I just wanted to fill you all in on what's been going on in my life lately! First off I just want to say thank you too all my readers who keep coming back and reading, because without all of you there would be no Simply Pure and Beautiful. As I have taken some time off from blogging I have begun to dig deeper into my spiritual side and I have been doing some soul searching. This is something that is very new to me and actually quite outside of my comfort zone, because I really dislike change in my life.

So to bring you up to speed, this past Thursday I left my job of 6 years. This was a very huge decision, but in my heart I feel I am making the right move in my life. I have prayed a lot about this decision and I feel that it was my time to leave and switch companies. With that being said I am super anxious and nervous for what is to come at my new place of employment. The job I left was my very first job so it just felt like home and definitely was routine in my daily life. I am super excited though behind all the nerves and anxiety for a little change up in my life. I know I am being guided in the right direction, so this is why I am much more excited about the change. I'm ready to learn more about my work ethic and what skills I can develop as well.

Throughout my time soul searching and figuring out what is the best for me and my boyfriend, I got in touch with my spiritual side. This has really helped me find peace and clarity throughout all the tough decisions I had to make, and I can say I wish I would have started earlier. I've learned that in these times we need our mind/body/soul to be working in sync. I have this lovely feature on my apple watch that allows me to mediate throughout the day. It's just simple breathing exercises to help bring a sense of calmness throughout the body. I love it and I use it at least 5 times a day.

Meditation doesn't have to be very long as long as you can quite your mind for a few minutes of the day. Calming your mind is probably one of the hardest things to do, but it is vital for letting your instinct come through. One way I love to mediate is right before bed. Laying flat on your back and just focusing on the calmness of your breathe. Feeling the air move into your lungs and out through your mouth is one of the most relaxing feelings for me. Another way to bring a sense of calmness throughout the body and get in touch with your soul is through yoga. I've mentioned this in other blogs before that I just started up yoga a few months ago. This has really opened my eyes to being in touch with our bodies.

As I am still learning more about my spiritual side I would love to encourage you all to join me on this journey. It has been nothing but rewarding and I feel as if I'm a new woman through it all. The toxic thoughts and emotions are slowly fading and I am seeing a brighter future for myself because I am not only working on me, but I am asking Him for answers and clarity.

I hope you all enjoyed todays post. I just wanted to catch you all up to speed on my life lately and I hope to be back in the blogging game really soon. I am not sure yet what hours of the day I will be working with my new job, so I hope I get my blogs up on time for you all to enjoy them :)

God bless you all!

Xoxo,

Shelby

Relationship Advice & Weekend Fun!

2016-11-07T16:17:00.001-05:00

Hi loves and welcome back to Simply Pure and Beautiful. Today's blog is all about the exciting weekend we had over here and maybe a little bit of relationship advice as well. I love WEEKENDS because I get to relax and enjoy time with my family, which is something that is very important to me. Spending that quality time together is what grows our relationships with one another and we learn how everyone's week went.

This weekend was no different than any other weekend we usually have around here. My man worked all weekend so I spent the majority of my hours watching chickflicks on netflix while laundry was in the washer and dryer. I also spent some time planning in my happy planner which I have not posted about in awhile, so for that I'm so sorry. If you all do love those kinds of posts please let me know in the comments so I can bring them back for you!

Jesus works odd 2nd shift hours so he usually gets home late in the morning and loves to sleep until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. This has been hard to adjust to for the last 4 months, but we are making it. If anyone of my readers is reading this post and has any advice for couples who work opposite shifts, I would love to know your secrets of how to keep emotions in check. As a woman I find it harder to deal with than he does, because my emotions get in my head and make me feel a little lonely at times. I am by no means unhappy I just require a lot of attention. What girl doesn't? Sooo...

On Sunday we got to have date night, which is something we haven't be able to do for a while now as I've pretty much laid out for you above. Haha. We had a double date with some of his friends from work. I forgot to get some pictures but the place was very delicious. I highly would recommend it to anyone, especially if you like Authentic Mexican cuisine.

This restaurant is location on 38th street in Indianapolis, Indiana. If you're ever in the area go check it out! They serve a lot of seafood.

This massive bowl is what he ended up ordering and I got the buttery shrimp platter, which came with rice, salad, and bread. It was all really delicious. His food came with an assortment of seafood and I got to try a few new things out of that bowl. One of them being octopus, yes I said it, I have never in a million years imagined I would try it, but it was actually really good! After we ate we made a trip to the grocery store where his friends got a few things they needed and then we all made a trip back home. I'm pretty sure we made it in bed by 8:30. We are old farts I tell ya! Driving home at 6:30 it was already dark and it felt like it could have been 11pm. I sure am not a fan of it getting dark this early.

Well that is pretty much my weekend in sum. It gets pretty boring around here at times, but we do try to go out every once in awhile and do something to spice up life. What do you all love to go out and do on your weekends off?

Let us know down below in the comments. Maybe we can all inspire one another and give each other ideas that we might not of thought on our own.

Hope you all have a wonderful week! I promise to have more posts to come this week so be on the lookout!

Xoxo,

Shelby

Plan With Me Sunday // WEEKEND RECAP

2016-10-09T08:51:00.001-04:00

Happy Sunday loves and HELLO FALL! I want to first apologize for not posting last week. I took some time to myself and just brainstormed some ideas for upcoming blog posts and enjoyed time with my friends and family. There are weeks where I am not pleased with the content I've created or feel like there is more I can share with you all and last week was one of them. So I decided to take a week off and regroup myself. I hope you all will enjoy what is about to be brought to the blog for weeks to come! I know I am super excited so I hope you will be there with me along the way!

Okay so let's just talk about the amazing weather we had hear in Indiana this past weekend. Saturday was beautiful and I am pretty sure I am not the only one who thought so. My family and I took a shopping trip and the stores were packed! Everyone was out and about shopping and enjoying the nice weather just like we were. It was even nice enough to dress like FALL! Oh yes, I broke out my boots, skinny jeans and a cute leather jacket.

I love this time of the year because I personally think it's the best season for fashion. You can put on a cute sweater and not sweat your ass off 10 minutes later, unless you are booking it to a 11 am lecture on campus. I've had many of those days. You end up stripping off three layers to just put back on two. You know you have done that!

Gosh do I not miss those days.

I did pick up some cute to-do lists at TJMaxx because if you know anything about me by now you know I love me some to-do lists. The best part about them is the huge magnetic attached to the back so I can throw them on the refrigerator and glance at them daily.

We also made a stop at Gordmans where I happened to find myself buying a coffee mug and a rug. WTF Shelby! I almost put both of them back but then said screw it we are checking out and I'm buying them. The rug is going to be for my bathroom next year when I purchase my first home. I've slowly been buying things here and there so I'm not overwhelmed all at once. I am though saving the big purchases like furniture and some appliances for me and my babe to make together. :) He loves checking out furniture just as much as I do so we love being able to dream together. haha.

That pretty much sums up how my Saturday went. The morning was super busy with getting in a workout, scheduling a nail appointment and then coming home to get ready, but other than that the evening was perfect.

Today I just plan on taking a rest day. Catching up on some sleep, grocery shopping, and getting my meal prep done for the week so I can start up the 31 Day Challenge with the Tone It Up girls. I was going to be starting it last week, but I was not prepared at all and ended up eating whatever I pleased.

This week though we are getting back into the game and going strong. I've got my grocery list all made out, my Happy Planner planned out, my workout clothes laid out for the week, and a clearer mind to tackle this week ahead. I've learned from past experience that it is really easy to become overwhelmed if you try to plan to far out in advance, so it's best to just take one week at a time. That is what I will be doing for the remainder of the challenge. I hope to become better at taking care of myself both mentally and physically.

I now figured I would show you all what my weekly spread looks like in my happy planner. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted it to look like and at first I was not pleased at all, but once I started writing in everything for the week it doesn't look to shabby.

All products are from MAMBI, because at the moment that is all I have. I hope to get a nicer printer in the future so I am able to print out some really cute sticker sheets that are on Etsy. If you love planning and are looking for more tasks stickers or boxes for your planner definitely check out Etsy, because there are tons to chose from!

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday & happy planning!

Xoxo,
Shelby

Workout Wednesday // The Ultimate Burn

2016-09-28T16:38:00.000-04:00

Woohoo it's finally Wednesday! This week has been going so slow but it is officially half way over. Today I am bringing you a workout from the girls over at Tone It Up! I love doing their workout routines so I thought I'd share one I got today from their website. This is a Ultimate Ab Burn routine that came strictly from the girls at Tone It Up.

https://www.toneitup.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/mobile-ultimate-total-ab-burn-tone-it-up.jpg

Hope you all like this exercise I am about to do it myself right now too! I love fast routines for when you are on a time crunch so if you are anything like me you'll love some of their workouts. Check them out! I'm participating in their 31 Day Challenge starting up this Saturday October 1st and would love to have some accountability partners 💕

Feel free to comment down below if you wanna join me for this challenge :)

Can't wait to hear from you.

Xoxo

Shelby

Organization of Planner Products

2016-09-26T18:42:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. Monday's can really set the tone of the week so I want to start this week off on a positive note and bring a little organization post to the blog today. It has been a while since I've blogged about organization so I figured hey why.

Today's post is going to give you a glimpse of how I keep all my planner products organized and how it keeps me sane. I have a ton of different products so staying organized is important. One so I know where things are and two so it makes using my happy planner products easier and quicker to find.

A few of the products I keep organized are all my washi tape, stickers, planners, and pens and highlighters

My washi tape I keep in this storage container. At first I only had a few rolls but over time is has grown quite a bit, so I needed something to keep them all together.

My stickers I created a sticker book so that they are easy to find when I am planning out my weeks on Sundays. I saw someone using one of these when they were doing a plan with me on Youtube, and I thought this idea was genius so I decided to make my own as well!

Here are some short steps on how you can make your own sticker book as well.

#1: You'll need some expander rings and either your own covers or I just used the dashboards from MAMBI. These worked great because they are hard plastic and sturdy.

#2: I used old planner pages and cut them down to size of the sticker sheets. If you are someone who likes to save their planners to look back on then you can get regular paper and whole punch them with a MAMBI punch to fit in the dashboards.

#3: Take the stickers out of the packages and organize them how you prefer. I organized most of my stickers by functionality. I have all my fitness stickers together, chores, etc.

#4: Here you will glue down your sticker sheets to either the planner paper or regular paper with a glue stick.

#5: Here you will start inserting your stickers into the expander rings and then continue steps 2-5 until you have your finished sticker book.

I love my sticker book it makes going threw my stickers so much easier than flipping threw each individual sticker set.

I also keep all my planners together in one place so I don't have to search my room for which one I want to use. I am currently only using two of my planners. One fitness planner and one regular planner that you see on Sundays.

That is all of my products so far I only have a few pens and highlighters I use which I keep in the bottom drawer with my washi tape. Everything is pretty much all in one place, which works great for me. I like to spread out all my products on my bed on Sundays and plan out my weeks right here. Then when I am done I can return it all to its correct place.

Hope some of these ideas help you stay organized. I am sure there are other planner fanatics out there who have way more products and cuter organized spaces. I would love to see some of them, so if you have a blog or picture feel free to share with us down below in the comments.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Xoxo,

Shelby

Plan With Me // Week #38

2016-09-23T18:31:00.001-04:00

Happy Sunday! Welcome to another Plan with Me on this fabulous Sunday. I hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend where you were able to take a minute or two and just relax with your family and friends. Around here it gets pretty crazy with working on the weekends and trying to get everything caught up between laundry, grocery shopping, and meal prepping. Not to mention trying to keep things organized. That is why I love using my Happy Planner and making out a schedule for myself each week. I am much more organized with how I should be spending my time and when I can take a moment for myself and just hang out for a bit.

I love Sundays because I tend to use them as relaxing days only. There are some times when I will wake up early enough to squeeze in a quick morning workout, but most of the time I use it as a rest day. Sundays as I have mentioned before are days where I do all my planning for the next week. I get out my planner and fill out the week so I am ready to hit the ground running. This time is "me time". It tends to take me about 30 minutes to decorate my spread how I want it to look then I will gradually fill in things here and there as the week goes on. I fill in all the important stuff on Sundays, but then jot stuff down later.

This weeks spread is more calm and has a taste of fall to it! I am getting more excited about the seasons changing, if only the weather would just catch up. It has been in the 90s this week here in Indiana and it is just crazy how stinking hot it is staying. I am ready for sweatshirts and jeans people!

So with all of that being said let's take a look at what my planner looks like....

My washi tapes is from Me and My Big Ideas they came from the Fresh Floral set and Brights set.

The animal stickers came from a set I had found at Wal-Mart I believe I purchased them for under $1.

The heart checklists, the boxes backgrounds, the "lazy day", "coffee first", and the "put your heart into it" stickers came from the color-coordinated sticker book from Me and My Big Ideas.

The "hello fall" and leaves stickers came from the seasonal value pack sticker book from Me and My Big Ideas as well.

That is a list of all the products I used for this weekly spread. I tried to keep things pretty simple this week and I went with this color scheme to shift more into the seasonal change as well. Summer is officially over, now let's just hope the weather catches up.

Hope you all enjoyed today's post.

Have a wonderful week!

Xoxo,

Shelby

Workout Wednesday // Chest & Triceps

2016-09-20T21:30:00.000-04:00

Happy Wednesday loves!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. I am so excited because I am finally starting to feel like myself again. Feeling more energized and happy with how I'm living each day of the week ☺️.

This was me after yesterday's workout! I was so sweaty but happy because it was my realization moment of this is the life I want to live. Being comfortable with the decisions I'm making and also the workout I completed released my happy endorphins!

So let's get to it. Today's workout is the exact workout I completed yesterday so I hope you all enjoy and feel the burn!

First up...bench press

4 sets of 12 reps. I did 2 warmup sets with the bar of 10 reps just to get my muscles warmed up. Then I threw on some weight and did 4 sets of 12 reps. The last few sets were difficult but I pumped those reps out like a badass.

*Always have a spotter or someone near you when doing bench or any other exercise where you may need help!*

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

4 sets of 15 reps

Incline Dumbbell Flys

4 sets of 15 reps

Tricep Pushdowns on cable machine

4 sets of 15 reps

Tricep pullover with Dumbbell

4 sets of 12 reps

Use a lying bench and scoot your head all the way to the end so you can comfortably extend the Dumbbell over your head. Feel the stretch almost all the way to the floor then raise dumbbell to your chest.

Tricep Overhead Extension

4 sets of 12 reps

I like to do these while standing up. My triceps were very tight once I got to this exercise so I went with a lighter weight and still got a great burn.

After this routine I went up and completed 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill. I put on some YouTube videos I've been wanting to catch up on and set the speed to 5.5 and ran my little heart out. This was difficult at first but at the end I was shocked with how well I did during this cardio session.

When I got home I enjoyed a lovely protein shake. I use Muscle Gain in the flavor chocolate by Advocare. I love that it doesn't take like a protein powder and it goes very well with a glass of milk 😋. Protein shakes work best if you consume them within an hour of any exercise. This helps you recover after your workouts and will help you see muscle growth quicker than without taking any supplemental protein source. If you are not one who likes protein shakes make sure you are eating a meal high in protein when you finish your workout.

Hope all you lovely weight lifters love this routine. This is my go to when I am on a time crunch in the gym. I can usually finish the lifting part in less than an hour which is awesome!

Let me know what you think of this exercise in the comments below.

Xoxo,

Shelby

Plan With Me Sunday // Hello Fall

2016-09-18T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hi loves and happy Sunday! I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend. Mine was filled with lots of pampering and spending quality time with friends and family. Today I will be showing you this weeks spread in my happy planner.

It is not as filled out this week because I am going to try and write things down as the week goes on. I usually have my planner all filled out on Sundays but I want to try this new method and see how well it works for me. I will let you guys know how I like using this method in next weeks plan with me!

Doodles have slightly taken over this week. I find doodling fun and a way to express how you are feeling. I've never been great at it but sometimes I enjoy doodling away.

Until next time!

Xoxo,

Shelby

Fall Favorites // Shopping Haul from Charlotte Russe

2016-09-15T00:16:00.000-04:00

Hi loves and happy Thursday! I hope you are all having a wonderful day. If you are anything like me I bet you are so ready for fall and what it brings from the leaves changing beautiful colors, chunky sweaters, combat boots, pumpkin everything, and my all time favorite Hocus Pocus and other Halloween movies! This time of the year is very special to me because it's when me and my best friend/other half started seeing one another. It was a sparatic time in my life where I made some big life changes and I was so happy to have met a kind gentleman who is now the love of my life.

Since it is starting to feel a little bit more like the seasons are changing around here I decided to treat myself to a shopping haul. I love buying clothes on clearance because I get way more and I can find some pretty good deals.

Today's post is about my shopping haul brought to you by Charlotte Russe. I typically can find really cute clothes here and the price tags aren't so bad either. I picked up 9 pieces of clothing and got it all under 70 dollars (which included taxes)! My budget was close to this so I was very excited about this purchase. Typically I will buy a new outfit or piece of clothing about twice a month. It's good to treat yourself once in awhile. The way I go about it is I set myself a goal and if I achieve it I will reward myself with either clothes or another item I've had my eyes on. Since I've been getting back into the gym I decided if I stuck to my meal plans and did my daily yoga I'd buy some cute new fallish clothes. So are you all ready to see what I got 😁

The first item I selected was this cute black dress.

It was under 10 dollars so I just had to get it. I can pair it with about anything I already have. Some cute boots, heals or even sandles as well as even a nice fall jacket. Oh and we can't forget the accessories!

Next item was this cute pencil skirt

This was only 4 dollars! Originally around 15 so I thought that was a pretty good buy. I can't wait to wear this for a night out with my love. Love how it shows off a little leg but not too much.

I picked up a few of these tanks for 3.99 I ended up getting 3 different colors! 🙈

These are great for basics and you can never have enough basics in my book.

This next item...I don't know why I decided to buy this but heck I figured I'd give it a try. And it was under 3 dollars.

Definitely not an item I would wear by itself but we will see how I can pair it with what other clothes I already own.

This next piece of clothing is what I am most excited about. I've always wanted to buy one but didn't think I'd look good in it, so here's to trying new things

I'm obsessed with this color so I hope I can make it look as good as she can!

I might be able to pair it with these cute skinny jeans I got as well that were 15 dollars

I've never owned a pair of white pants in my life, so we will see how this goes. I am one who spills shit all over myself 🙈 yep I'm that girl! 🙋.

Okay last piece of clothing I purchased was this mini skirt

Not sure when and where I'll ever wear this but it was 5 bucks so I figured why not maybe one night I'll be spontaneous and look cute for my man😁.

Once I start wearing these cute outfits I will definitely share with you all how they look and what I've styled them with. Looking cute doesn't have to be expensive and if you are on a tight budget I would highly recommend giving yourself a shopping treat every now and then. It doesn't have to be much. I got 9 different items that can make about 12 different outfits for under 70 bucks. Just think what 30 dollars could buy you 🛍.

Hope you all enjoyed some of my favorite things about fall and my little shopping haul. This was a fun post for me because I love shopping so you can be on the lookout for more cute affordable styles coming to the blog :)

Have a wonderful day!

Xoxo,

Shelby

Workout Wednesday // Time For HIIT

2016-09-14T16:55:00.000-04:00

Alright it's the dreaded workout we all hate doing...CARDIO! And to make it even worse its HIIT! I am one to admit I hate doing cardio. I'd rather spend 2 hours in the gym lifting weights then just knocking out 20 minutes of cardio.

I am bringing you my go to HIIT workout that will only take you 20 minutes to complete and it flies by when you complete it. Do this workout as your morning cardio and it will help boost your metabolism first thing in the morning. This helps keep your body fueling with energy all day long.

HIIT the Treadmill Workout

Warm up for 2 minutes on speed 3.5 or 4.0

Complete this circuit for 10 rounds

Speed 5.5 for 1 minute

Speed 8 for 30 seconds

Now that is one round! Only 9 more to go!

Cool down on speed 2.5 or 3 for 3 minutes.

If you are more advanced at sprinting you can do faster speeds or if you are a beginner try the speeds I've provided and if it is still too hard you can bump it down a few. Try to work your way up to faster speeds each time you complete this workout.

It's that simple and it gets the job done.

Hope you enjoy and get a good workout with this HIIT routine.

Xoxo,

Shelby

Health & Fitness // How Do I Track My Meals & Workouts...

2016-09-12T19:21:00.001-04:00

Happy Monday and welcome to Simply Pure and Beautiful if this is your first time here! I hope you enjoy today's post. I am bringing you some insight on how I track my meals and workouts. I also want to take you along with me on how I plan out everything for the week! It really is simple once it becomes apart of your weekly routine.

I am slowly getting back into my groove again with tracking my meals and workouts, so I thought I would share with you how I do it. I fell off the wagon back when summer came around. I've tried so hard to start out each week fresh, but by Wednesday I return to old habits or eat too many pumpkin reese's. Oops.

Okay so here's where we start...

I get ahead start by starting on Saturdays, this is when I plan out my meals, so I can go grocery shopping and spend Sunday's meal prepping. I go by tracking my macros, which are carbs, protein, and fats. Everybody's macros are different considering what your goals are. The macros I am currently using are 165 grams of carbs, 144 grams of protein, 45 grams of fats, and I am keeping my calorie count at 1645 calories. Learning how to count your macros takes some time. I still suck at it to be honest. I love using MyFitnessPal to help see where I am at because it is the most accurate tracker I have found.

So once you figure out the goal you have for yourself whether it is weightless, muscle gain, or maintaining weight or muscle, you can input your meals you'd like to have for the week in MyFitnessPal. I have to play around with different options to get all my macros in for the day. I eat lots of chicken, veggies, and either rice or sweet potatoes normally, but I also love to add in recipes from my Tone It Up Nutrition Plan. This week I found a yummy fall recipe that I am putting into my meal plan...dun dun dun, Turkey Pumpkin Chili :) I really hope it turns out good.

After I get all my meals logged into MyFitnessPal I then get out my Happy Planner Fitness Tracker and write in all my meals that way I can physically see them in front of me. It also allows me to put my workouts in for the week as well. It is just something that I find fun and relaxing, so this is how I tend to track everything for the week. I tend to stick to everything that is written down, but there are times when I will switch a meal around here or there. Just do whatever works for you!

So like I've said before I plan on Saturdays and also get my grocery shopping done this day as well. This leaves Sunday for meal prepping. I prep most of my meats and some of my sides that way it helps me stick to the plan. I find when I plan and prep I am more likely to not skip meals or waste foods versus when I don't plan or prep. I tend to get super busy during the week and will become too lazy to make dinners normally.

Now for the workout portion of the planner I follow Tone It Ups weekly routines and I also do my own weight training circuits. I like how the girls over at Tone It Up come out with their workout schedule on Sundays, so I can just write them in and then look at what my workout is for the day. Adding in some motivational stickers here and there and wahlaa we are done!

Like I said once you get the hang of a system you will become more comfortable with it and it will take no time! It just starts becoming apart of your daily life.

I hope you all enjoyed this post! Comment below pictures of how you like to track your meals for the week :) I'd love to see them trackers!

Xoxo,

Shelby

Plan With Me Sunday // Feeling Blue

2016-09-11T20:28:00.000-04:00

Happy Sunday loves! Here is this weeks planner spread is full of to do lists and everything blue. Everything you see in the planner is from Me and My Big Ideas.

Xoxo

Shelby

Workout Wednesday // Legs for Days & My Journey with 30 Days of Yoga

2016-09-07T21:25:00.007-04:00

Hi loves! Today was an amazing day. I worked a 10 hour shift at my job and still found the energy to go to the gym and complete my leg day circuit. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do today when I went into the gym, and since it has been awhile since I've lifted I decided to work on my quads, hamstrings, and glutes. Let's just say everything was burning and my body is already sore from the aftermath. I figured go big or go home! And I went big then cried like a little baby going home. My gyms weight room is down stairs two floors...ummm hello what the heck...yea I could barely walk up them steps today. I was holding on to the railing saying "ow, ow, ow", "am I there yet?"

The days after legs are always the worst though. Trying to sit on the toilet is always a no go for me. I literally ease into the motion and cringe with pain the whole time. But as I always say no pain no gain, so suck it up buttercup!

Okay let's get to it!

Leg Press 170 lbs

5 sets of 15 reps

my legs were on fire after set 1

The trick to doing any lifting exercise is to focus on controlling the movement rather than pumping the reps out as fast as you can. The slow the movement the more you can use mind to muscle connection.

Superset
Lying Hamstring Curls 40 lbs
5 sets of 15 reps
Standing Calf Raises (body weight)
5 sets of 15 reps

Again focus on slow movements through the range of motion. Squeeze at the top of the hamstring and slowly lower down, and repeat 14 more times.

Right before I was about to do some deadlifts trying to pump myself up with my jams! I was sweating so bad. I kept the pace of this entire workout fast only having about a 30-45 second rest time in between each set. This helps keep the heart rate up and will cut down your time in the gym.

Deadlifts 22 lb Kettlebell

5 sets of 15 reps

you can do these either straight leg deadlifts or sumo deadlifts I started with straight leg then moved to sumo to target more my glutes.

Superset
Donkey Kickbacks on Cable Machine 2nd notch
3 sets of 20 reps
Lateral Raises on Cable Machine 2nd notch
3 sets of 20 reps

Squats

I ended the workout with a shit ton of squats...okay just 100!

I broke it down into 5 sets of 20 reps

Plie Squats
4 sets of 10 reps

And that concludes the workout! If you try this routine let me know how you like it!

Now lifting was not the only workout I did today...so a few days ago I started challenging myself to do yoga for 30 days. I went onto YouTube and found a 30 days of yoga challenge. If you are interested here is the lady who has the channel. Her name is Yoga with Adriene. I am really enjoying it so far. I love coming home taking my shower and then turning out the lights to do my yoga routine for the day. The routines are usually around 30 minutes but they seem to fly by! After I'm down I'm relaxed and ready for bed. I highly suggest this if anyone is interested :)

As a typical girl I totally took a "selfie" after I was done with the routine tonight. My hair is wet, I have zero makeup on, and I am just extremely happy with life. Can't wait to see how much these 30 days change my body and my self awareness as well.

Xoxo,

Shelby

Workout Wednesday // Burn Your Abs

2016-08-31T18:42:00.000-04:00

Hi loves and welcome back to another workout Wednesday! I hope you are all enjoying these weekly workouts I've provided you with over the last month or so. Today's workout is going to be making you say OH MY GOSH MY ABS! I put this workout together one evening at home. That is the best part about this workout is that you can do it anywhere! Traveling? You can do this in your hotel room. Don't feel like going to the gym? Great do this routine in your bedroom. It's great to add to any day of the week's workout. Doing legs today throw this routine in at the end and you will saying wow today was an AWESOME workout!

Okay...let's get to it! Sorry in advance because you will be feeling the burn from this routine.

5 sets:

Crunches: 100 reps

30 second side plank each side

Leg lifts: 45 reps

Bicycle crunches: 1 minute

Rest: 45 seconds

Crunches: 50 reps

1 minute plank

Leg lifts: 35 reps

Bicycle crunches: 30 seconds

Rest: 45 seconds

Crunches: 25 reps

30 second side plank each side

Leg lifts: 25 reps

Bicycle crunches: 30 seconds

Rest 45 seconds

Okay thats 1 set! 4 more to go! You got this! Don't give up. It will be challenging but you will be feeling proud of yourself after you complete this routine. Remember pair this routine at the end of a lifting session to get maximum results. I like doing this routine at least 2 times during the week.

Until next week!

Xoxo,

Shelby

Plan With Me // Month At A Glance...HELLO SEPTEMBER!

2016-08-28T16:22:00.001-04:00

Hi loves! I hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday! I've spent part of the day with my love before he went to work and then I have just been planning for a new week ahead. Not only do I have a brand new spread to share with you all today in my Happy Planner, but I also have what the month of September will look like as well. I am so excited to share this with you! I had so much fun planning for this next month, because Jesus & I have some fun things planned such as a wonderful weekend in Chicago!

We could not be more excited. So let's just get started with the month of September.

Here are the products I used to create this month's spread as well as the weekly spread I will share here in a bit.

I used 3 of the sticker books from Me and My Big Ideas, the rose gold basic stickers as well as the rose gold washi tape, and then these travel themed stickers I picked up from Wal-Mart. I am obsessed with how everything turned out!

Along the side of the planner I put in a sticky note with important dates to remember for the month for when I was filling out my planner. Sometimes I put these in each month and just make lists of what events are coming up. This helps me remember what I have going on for when it's time to fill out the monthly spread.

The finished product! I am sure I will be adding in more as the month goes on, but for now it's as full as it is going to get! I love just the simplicity of it and how cute it turned out. Besides posting blogs on Sunday's and Wednesday's regularly what else would you all like to see posted on the blog? I am opening up the floor to you all because you are the reason why I am here! I love writing but I want to bring you all content you want to read. I would love to maybe do a DIY or Tutorial every now and then or even something more with beauty. Let me know down in the comments what your interests are. :)

Now let's take a look at the last week in August and the beginning of September. This is one of my favorite spreads so far in my Happy Planner. It's simple, there is a ton of white space, which I love, and it still looks like a planner. I have noticed a lot of people are not using their planner as a planner, but more of a showcase of how good they can decorate their planner. This to me is fine if you don't use the Happy Planner for planning out your weeks, but my question is where do you actually write things down when you cover the planner with stickers and such? Don't get me wrong I love looking at how beautiful other spreads are and their are some really gorgeous thought out spreads, but I personally don't have the time to take hours to do so.

I guess I am just one who really loves simple and lots of white space so I can still write down things throughout the week if I need to. Plus it isn't something that I have to spend so much time on either. I get everything planned out and then have time to spend my Sunday doing other things. :)

Up close and personal...notice those smudges of chocolate...ooops haha was going to just cover it with a motivational sticker but then said heck with it because you know what I am sure I will have more smudges or even coffee stains someday in this planner.

I do take my planner everywhere so it is worn down already and I have only had it for 2 whole months! That is crazy.

This part of my spread I am very in love with, because it makes me that much more excited about our adventure coming up in less than a week! I have been to Chicago once before, but I am so excited to be going with my love to explore the city with him and try some delicious foods. We are also big shoppers, so we are super excited to buy some new clothes and goods while we are away.

I hope you all enjoyed this weeks spread and a look at what September will look like for me. I did rant a little in this blog post, sorry for that, but I just had to get that little moment off my chest. I hope all you planner babes out there enjoy these plan with me's and keep coming back every week for what's next.

Xoxo,

Shelby

My Skincare Routine

2016-08-25T19:59:00.001-04:00

Hi loves! Today's blog post is going to be a little different than most. I am one who loves health and fitness but I also practice to have a well-balanced life. Today's post is about how I take care of my skin. Everyday I wake up and use a facial cleanser to wake myself up and two help give my skin a clean, refreshing feeling. I love using Philosophy's purity made simple one-step facial cleanser. It helps deep clean the pores and eliminates makeup build up and also provides natural oil extracts that help condition the skin. I use this daily morning and night. If there is one product out of all the skincare products I use daily I would highly recommend this cleanser.

After I wash my face I like to use a moisturizer to help keep my skin looking youthful and healthy. I use Philosophy's anti-wrinkle miracle worker for both day and night. They have a day creme and a night creme. Both these products work wonders. I have learned from a very young age that taking care of your skin is highly important.

I've also learned probably like many of you that taking off our makeup every night is important as well. Caked on makeup will clog pores and make it hard for your skin to breath. Every night I take off my makeup with Neutragena makeup remover wipes. I love how easy they make removing leftover makeup. After I clean off my makeup I use the Philosophy's purity made simple one-step facial cleanser like mentioned before to help lift dirt from the pores.

Every so often I use a mask or peel and give myself a spa day. I love doing this on Sunday's when I am at home relaxing. For this I use the micro delivery peel in-home vitamin c/ peptide peel from Philosophy as well. This product helps smooth and resurface rough skin and helps minimize the look of fine lines. It also helps brighten and even your skin tone. I like using this product because if I can prevent the signs of aging now I can't imagine how good my skin will look when I am older.

I only use this system every so often because I have very sensitive skin, and the peel is a little rough on my face.

This is the majority of the products I tend to use. I switch it up every now and then but I have found these products work best for me. I found out about Philosophy back in 2013 and I've never went back. I would love to hear from you all on what some of your favorite skincare products are and why you love them!

Plan With Me // August Edition Pt. 2

2016-08-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hi loves and happy Sunday! I hope you are all enjoying the weekend and getting ready for a wonderful week ahead.

This week I am bringing you my space where I like to think about the week ahead and gather my thoughts and ideas.
We have a beautiful deck off the back of our house where I love to come out and sit once in awhile and just think. It is very peaceful out here in the country and makes my Sunday mornings very relaxing.
I love bringing my coffee, planner, and laptop out and just getting my work done for the days ahead.

Creating a space where you will enjoy spending your time, whether it is for a few minutes of the day or whether it is for a whole hour is my #1 tip to being able to accomplish a lot on your to-do lists. It also makes it exciting when you do need to get work done etc.

Now let's just jump into what my weekly schedule looks like. I don't have too many events coming up this week, just working and getting in my daily workouts.

Each week I like to think of a theme out of all the products I have and stick to the same color scheme. You've probably noticed this in my last two plan with me posts that I stick to a few colors and follow it throughout for the week.

Just check out all these fun and colorful stickers and washi tape. They are so cute and I love using them in this planner.

This week is pretty simple. I don't have a whole lot going on and I still have a ton of room if I need to add in little things here and there throughout the week. Overall I love this weeks look. I first started off with the pink washi tape and went from there. It took me a little bit to flip through my different sticker booklets to find the stickers I wanted to use as motivation this week. Overall I love how it turned out! Hope you all enjoy your week ahead and have fun planning it out!

Xoxo,

Shelby

Workout Wednesday // Bubble Butt

2016-08-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hi loves! W E L C O M E B A C K to another workout Wednesday! Who's ready? I know I am because today is all about them glutes. Ladies, I know you are all wanting to have a more toned sexier booty, and there is no better way to get that "bubble butt" than by following this simple routine a few times a week. Really focus on the muscle threw every movement and squeeze those muscles at the top of every motion.

My booty could use a lot more toning, especially around where my hamstrings and glutes connect. I love doing this routine, so I hope you do too! Enjoy this workout and I hope your booty feels the burn.

Bubble Butt Routine

Lying hamstring curls single leg then superset with both legs

4 sets of 15 reps each leg then 4 sets of 20 reps both legs

Squats

Start out with one warm-up set then move to heavier weight

(5 sets of 10 reps) 1 warm-up and 4 regular sets

Front squats

4 sets of 10 reps

Sumo squats with dumbbell

4 sets of 20 reps

Cable kickbacks

4 sets of 20 reps

Dumbbell stiff legs

4 sets of 20 reps

Plate hip thrusts, squeeze at the top

4 sets of 20 reps

This workout is super quick and effective! I love doing this routine 2 times a week. I like to split up my leg day into two days during the week. I usually do more hamstring & glute work and then I will fully focus on the guards on another day. Be on the lookout for a leg day workout that will have you saying..."holy cow that was a killer workout"

Xoxo,

Shelby

Plan With Me // August Edition

2016-08-15T18:22:00.000-04:00

Hi loves! Today's post is going to be this weeks planner spread. It's a day late and I'm so sorry to have kept you all waiting! But here we gooooo....

My planner is from Me and My Big Ideas and the stickers on the pages are also from their shop as well. They have a ton of options so you can customize your planner to your style.

I am so obsessed with this planner and I just love how pretty it is.

Hope you all enjoy

Xoxo,

Shelby

Workout Wednesday // I'm Bringing Sexy BACK!

2016-08-09T20:58:00.001-04:00

Ahhh...it's Wednesday which means it's time for another WORKOUT WEDNESDAY.

Hope you got a clue from the title what today's workout will be. We will be working out our backs, let's give them something to talk about with this amazing back routine.

This picture is over a year old but it was way back in the beginning when I first started weight training consistently. I haven't taken a progress picture in a long time so maybe that's something I can add onto my to-do lists. I hope that you all enjoy this routine. It isn't loaded with a ton of moves and I've tried to set it up so it flows from one exercise to another. Let's here your feedback on this routine down below in the comments!

One thing you will notice each week with these new weekly routines is that I love to add in isolation moves. These have helped me build the shape and definition in my muscles. Overtime you'll gain strength as well.

Okay let's get to your workout!

Bringing Sexy Back Routine

Pull ups 5 sets of 10 on the assistance machine

45 second rest

Lat pull downs 4 sets of 12

45 second rest

Cable rows 4 sets of 12

45 second rest

One arm rows 4 sets of 15

45 second rest

Back extensions 4 sets of 15

That's it! This will have you saying wow that's all it took. The thing about weight training is you don't have to do 10-12 different exercises to get results. If you stick to a plan and just increase your strength overtime you will see the results you're looking for.

Don't give up on yourself!

Xoxo,

Shelby

New Planner Spread // The Happy Planner

2016-08-09T20:29:00.001-04:00

Hi loves! Welcome back to the blog. I'm so excited you are here today because today's post is about this weeks planner spread.

I am in love with my Happy Planner from Me and My Big Ideas.

Each month I start out filling in the monthly spread then I do each week on Sunday night. I love how customizable it is to my style. Each week can have its own personality which I love. The colors and vibrancy it displays makes me stick to using this planner weekly & daily. I'm always writing down notes and adding in things during the week that I want to get done or simple reminders.

I am OBSESSED with all the stickers from this brand as well! The fonts, the colors, and the cute chores stickers are probably one of my favorite things about this planner.

This is the weekly spread. It's split up into these 3 sections which I use for morning, afternoon, and then evening. Sometimes I put work all in the top section and then I will do to-do lists in the middle and then more to-do lists for the evening. This helps me with keeping on track for the day and getting my tasks done in a timely manner. Lists are my thing so it's nice the boxes are a decent size to write everything down.

Be on the look out each week because a new series is starting....wait for it...

PLAN WITH ME ON SUNDAYS!

I am so excited about this because this is something I have been wanting to do for a long time.

Where are all my planner babes at??

Xoxo,

Shelby

Simply Pure and Beautiful

Happy Fall Y’all 🧡🍂

Life Update // WE HAD A BABY!

Life Update // July Edition

Happy New Year!

Let's Get Spiritual!

Relationship Advice & Weekend Fun!

Plan With Me Sunday // WEEKEND RECAP

Workout Wednesday // The Ultimate Burn

Organization of Planner Products

Plan With Me // Week #38

Workout Wednesday // Chest & Triceps

Plan With Me Sunday // Hello Fall

Fall Favorites // Shopping Haul from Charlotte Russe

Workout Wednesday // Time For HIIT

Health & Fitness // How Do I Track My Meals & Workouts...

Plan With Me Sunday // Feeling Blue

Workout Wednesday // Legs for Days & My Journey with 30 Days of Yoga

Leg Press 170 lbs 5 sets of 15 reps *my legs were on fire after set 1* The trick to doing any lifting exercise is to focus on controlling the movement rather than pumping the reps out as fast as you can. The slow the movement the more you can use mind to muscle connection.

Superset Lying Hamstring Curls 40 lbs 5 sets of 15 reps Standing Calf Raises (body weight) 5 sets of 15 reps

Again focus on slow movements through the range of motion. Squeeze at the top of the hamstring and slowly lower down, and repeat 14 more times.

Right before I was about to do some deadlifts trying to pump myself up with my jams! I was sweating so bad. I kept the pace of this entire workout fast only having about a 30-45 second rest time in between each set. This helps keep the heart rate up and will cut down your time in the gym.

*you can do these either straight leg deadlifts or sumo deadlifts* I started with straight leg then moved to sumo to target more my glutes.

Superset Donkey Kickbacks on Cable Machine 2nd notch 3 sets of 20 reps Lateral Raises on Cable Machine 2nd notch 3 sets of 20 reps

Squats

I broke it down into 5 sets of 20 reps

Plie Squats 4 sets of 10 reps

Workout Wednesday // Burn Your Abs

Plan With Me // Month At A Glance...HELLO SEPTEMBER!

My Skincare Routine

Plan With Me // August Edition Pt. 2

Workout Wednesday // Bubble Butt

Plan With Me // August Edition

Workout Wednesday // I'm Bringing Sexy BACK!

New Planner Spread // The Happy Planner

Leg Press 170 lbs

5 sets of 15 reps

my legs were on fire after set 1

The trick to doing any lifting exercise is to focus on controlling the movement rather than pumping the reps out as fast as you can. The slow the movement the more you can use mind to muscle connection.

Superset
Lying Hamstring Curls 40 lbs
5 sets of 15 reps
Standing Calf Raises (body weight)
5 sets of 15 reps

you can do these either straight leg deadlifts or sumo deadlifts I started with straight leg then moved to sumo to target more my glutes.

Superset
Donkey Kickbacks on Cable Machine 2nd notch
3 sets of 20 reps
Lateral Raises on Cable Machine 2nd notch
3 sets of 20 reps

Plie Squats
4 sets of 10 reps