Our first “official” Airstream trip to test the Airstream out was to Emerald Desert RV Resort in Palm Desert.

I’m dubbing it our first “official” trip because the very first trip for the Airstream was to the Pala Casino RV Resort for 3 days as our first shake down trip.

The Pala Casino Resort was only 5 miles from the Airstream dealer in Temecula, we wanted to stay close in case of issues. Pala was really a very nice resort, but we only went to try out the Airstream. We did go to the buffet while we were there, but no other exploring.

So Palm Desert is really the second Airstream trip, but what I think of as the first actual trip.

We went the first round for 3 days in the beginning of December, had an issue with the Airstream batteries overheating, so we had to cut that trip short (it ended up being a bad battery). We then went back over the week of Christmas for our first “official, official” Airstream trip.

It was a great week, and the Emerald Desert RV Resort was a nice stay. It has a very nice pool, well maintained property, gym, and nice bathhouse. Also, if you have a dog they had an amazing, large run behind the storage area.

I didn’t capture too many picture of the resort. We lounged at the pool on Christmas Eve, but the rest of the week was pretty chilly weather-wise.

Eats + Drinks

Sandfish Sushi & Whiskey
Great food, good staff, small place. I would definitely recommend a reservation.

Mr. Lyons
We really enjoyed our Prime Rib. It’s a very old school vibe steakhouse. It was a pricey but nice dinner. Though fair warning their dirty martini was not very dirty.

Eureka! (Lunch)
The food was super impressive. I particularly liked the fried mac and cheese. Good beer selection too. Highly recommend for a nice sit down lunch. Maybe consider a reservation, it got busy quick.

Sherman’s Deli (Lunch)
A very popular Jewish deli, the sandwiches were spot quite good. I recommend calling in your order and just picking it up though (we ended up getting our’s to go to avoid the wait).

Cheeky’s
Yummy little brunch spot that has been on our list forever (but both our prior trips it has been closed). They have a bacon flight, good flavor but not wowed by it. Unique offerings we had a breakfast tamale and oxtail fried rice. Warning their “pickled” green beans, in the bloody mary is actually vodka soaked not pickled.

Lulu California Bistro
Super big space, and they take brunch reservations (yay). Good meal, good michelada even though it’s not listed on the menu (I spied it on another table).

Coachella Valley Brewing Company
Good beers, just check the abv they had some high ones.

Draughtsman
Super nice space, good beer list and cocktails. We did have the pimento cheese and that was good, but that was all we ate there, just drinks.

Hikes + The Great Outdoors

Joshua Tree!!

It’s amazing, such a different landscape. We did 3 different hikes in Joshua Tree (two the first round in early December and one December 26th).

Hi-View Nature Trail (1.3 Miles–Loop)

This was my least favorite of the three, I just didn’t feel like it had the same views as the other two, it’s on the edge of the park so you don’t have the weird rock formations that the other two hikes had. It’s listed as High view on the link, but in the joshua tree park hike list it’s listed as Hi-View.

Barker Dam (1.1 Miles–Loop/Flat)

Super easy hike, really it’s all very flat and wide trail, it’s more of a walk. You do in fact see the damn, lots of joshua trees and rocks to see. There are some other trails that you can take to make this longer but we stayed on the loop.

Ryan Mountain (3.3 miles total–Up and Down–1500ft elevation gain)

This one was intense because it was COLD and WINDY. Once we got to the top the wind was whipping making it crazy cold. The views were really nice, but this one was definitely a work out, but not too too challenging (and I’m out of shape).

Coachella Valley Preserve

McCallum Pond (2 Miles–Loop/Flat)

Super easy “hike” to see the palm oasis. Pretty cool to see the massive palm trees. Beware the water does smell and I’m sure in the summer months it’s much smellier. There are other more challenging trails in the same area as well.

I highly recommend a trip out towards Palm Springs/Palm Desert/Joshua Tree. We saw a TON of RVs on our trip in December, the particular park we stayed was filling up fast by the end of Christmas week so make a reservation.

We really liked staying more in the city and just driving up to Joshua Tree, rather than staying in the Joshua Tree area. This way we could take full advantage of eating and drinking (and taking a Lyft). It was about an hour drive to get into Joshua Tree from Emerald Desert.

Also near Emerald Desert was a Bristol Farms grocery store, which is really nice. Tons of prepared foods if you aren’t in the mood to cook but want to eat in. There are several other grocery store options near there as well (like Ralphs and Vons). Plenty of other stores to fit any needs too. On set-up/arrival day we went to Panera for an easy easy dinner on a long day (can’t beat broccoli and cheese soup). This might become a tradition.

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Yes, we are have decided to go totally outside the box of life (once again), give up a permanent residence and live in a RV for at least a year. How did this come about?

It’s really a short story for what feels like a big change in lifestyle and a huge shakeup of routine and everything we know.

In April of 2018, we went on a wonderful trip to Denver to see our friends. I could not have asked for a better trip, we dined, we brewered (wined is a word, maybe it should be we beered?) , we did all the things we love and it was great.

On the flight home I got to thinking about all the things we want to see or say, oh next time we should do this or that on a trip. P and I rarely get out of the city when we visit anywhere (because much of our favorite things are in cities) but we also enjoy hiking and seeing the views of unexplored (to us) places.

I believe life is what you make of it. While we enjoy a wonderful life, our normal daily routines could only allow us so many new experiences, so many new places to explore. There is only so much time and money to go to new places (or to go to old places to see old friends-#thestruggleisreal).

Driving cross-country definitely awakened a desire to see more of the American landscape. It was amazing to see all the changes in landscape as we drove from NC to CA. And since moving to CA we have tried to do more hiking and get out into nature.

P has always joked about living in an RV, and I was always like umm nope. I’ve never been a camping kind of girl. So while the idea may seemed left-field, it is something that had come up in short conversations.

The Saturday after our trip, after the idea struck me on the flight home. I mentioned to P, what if when our lease is up in 2019 we should figure out how to live on the road for a year. And that afternoon, we were out looking at RVs (no joke).

Now at least one year out of our lives will be constant adventure of new experiences.

For me, such a big change in routine is scary because I don’t know what to expect (and I’m a little bit of a control freak). BUT I’m also so driven by wanting to see and experience new things, and this is the ticket for that.

Of course a ton of research and negotiations happened between that first outing to look at RVs and when I’m writing this (and the research continues, this is a big learning experience for sure).

April idea announced, May we bought the truck, September the Airstream, and in March we hit the road.

Other factors in making this move is that we currently do not have any pets (having lost Eddie in January of 2018 and Sam the year before), our lease was ending and we had discussed maybe seeing if we could move to a new location (depending on P’s work), and the fact that P’s work agreed to him working remotely.

It just felt like the timing was right. I wanted to do it when I felt like we can really take advantage of the adventure; when we are physically able to explore and hike. If not now, when?

I’m not sure when (if) we reach retirement age that we will be able to explore so freely (plus none of us are guaranteed that anyway). We both have seen too many people say, “we will do that when we retire” and one or both don’t make it to retirement.

Are we incredibly lucky and privileged to be able to do this now? YES! But part of that is realizing that nothing changes unless you make the change, unless you ask if it’s doable and take the steps to make it happen.

Here are a few common questions about this whole adventure:

Are we getting rid of all our stuff? NO. It’s all going in storage, however we had already tagged quite a few big pieces to be replaced when we moved next so that cuts down on some of what we will store.

Are you working? YES. We are both still going to work full-time, and we aren’t traveling each week. Most places we will be staying a month to a few weeks so that we can enjoy the location and the travel won’t be disruptive to our work week. There was a lot of research that has went into how to make sure we stay connected on the road.

How can you afford it? Given what we pay in rent + car payment + utilities already, the budget for our monthly expenses living on the road is roughly the same (maybe a little less). Since we are not maintaining a house that big expense goes to the rv payment and rv park rentals. Plus see above, we are both working, it’s a new way of life not a vacation.

How will Philip brew beer? He won’t. He’s going to have to hang up his brewing hat for our life on the road. But if he’s lucky he gets to visit even more breweries than we have already.

No matter what it will be an adventure. We might hate it and can’t wait for the year to be up (also by the way that’s a pretty arbitrary deadline set my me but I feel like we need to stick it out for a year). We might love it and make it two years (or more?!?) We might fall in love with a place we visit and never want to leave.

As I’ve said before and I’m sure I will continue saying, probably well into the trip I’m excited and nervous, and can’t wait to share the adventure! I guess I’ve really taken to heart “all the places you will go”.

The post You’re Going To Live In An RV!?! appeared first on Food, Booze, & Baggage.

We said goodbye to Sam and Eddie

Our biggest change is that both Sam and Eddie have passed away. I miss them both so much every day, it’s so hard not to have them with us. They were such a big part of our lives.

Sam died at the end of June in 2017. He had cancer, and we had to have him put to sleep. However, we lived 3 months longer than expected and we got to spoil him and he actually acted normal and health (just got tired easy) until the end. He just loved life so much and was so happy.

Eddie died in January of 2018. Losing Eddie as so heart-breaking. I miss Sam of course, but Eddie was my constant companion since I was 21. He slept with me each night, he would sit on my desk or beside me as I worked, he laid on top of me when I was sick or had been away for any amount of time. He died unexpectedly (though we knew he was getting older) of kidney complications (we aren’t really sure what happened and the vet was horrible).

We really do miss them every single day, they have left such a big hole in our lives. We do want another pet (I’m thinking small dog) but we are going to wait until after our new adventure.

Where we lived

So we were still living in University Heights (north park) in San Diego when I abandoned the blog. In 2017 we moved to La Mesa, which is about 7 miles from North Park. It’s a smaller town in San Diego county, not part of the city. It has a little business district called The Village, which we live within walking distance of.

La Mesa Village has a few restaurants, bars, and coffeeshops so we still enjoy an area with walkable amenities but we miss the variety and convenience of North Park.

But THE HOUSE. P found this house for rent and we just fell in love (plus we had friends who lived in La Mesa). The house was built in 1910, it’s been restored, has so much light, a huge kitchen, big fenced backyard, 3 bathrooms, and a walk-in closet with a washer and dryer in it!! It was just too hard to pass up.

Here are a few (not great pictures of the house). I will try to update it with some better ones before we move. Backyard, my office w/ balcony, and the backdoor view into the house.

We love the house and happy we had the space in this past season of life (the animals loved it) and we stayed here for two full years, which for us is a record for us (LOL).

M + P

Things with us are pretty much the same, we still love to try new food, and new breweries. We love to travel but haven’t as much as we would like with the animals being sick and life being busy. Though we have managed quite a few trips, Palm Springs, LA, Cabo, Portland, Denver, Rapid City, NC, Ojai, San Francisco/Big Sur, and probably a few more that I can’t remember right now (see this is why I blog).

I’ve been working hard on building my business and after lots of tears, stress, tons of self-doubt, fear, and all the feelings and mindset stuff I finally feel like I’ve found my footing. I love having my own business, and working with amazing women doing amazing things.

We have met such a great group of people in San Diego and I’m so grateful to the friends we have made here. They are all so supportive, caring, and smart. We had so many fun times. BTW most of them are childfree and I met them because of this very blog.

We celebrated 5 years of marriage in 2018, and it does not seem nearly that long at all. They say time flies when you are having fun.

So that’s what has been happening here What’s new with you?

The post A Brief History of 2016 to 2018 appeared first on Food, Booze, & Baggage.

So let’s start with some of why I’m firing FBB back up and writing this today. The long and the short of it is we are starting a new adventure, and I want to document it.

I never intentionally decided to abandon this space for so long to begin with, I never really called it quits, I just didn’t have the time/energy.

I always wanted to come back to add back in our travels/our adventures/our lives. FBB very much acts as my scrapbooking, it’s a wonderful way for us to re-live our adventures and mark time. Plus I can never remember the names of things so it’s a great resource for me to just tell people to look it up on the blog.

I’ll write another post and try to summarize some of what the last three years have held (don’t worry it’s not going to be a novel).

I almost feel like a different person writing this, starting my own business has been challenging, but also a journey of extreme personal growth, and self evaluation. It’s crazy how much I feel like I’ve changed mentally.

But back to the subject at hand, Philip and I are hitting the road to live full-time in an Airstream Globetrotter starting in March. We are both working full-time still and plan on staying mostly on the West coast.

We are committing to 1 year on the road, and then we will see what happens next. And I’m going to be documenting it all right here! I’m excited and nervous.

How did this come about? Well, after a trip to Denver in April (which was a great trip), I decided we were never going to get to see ALL THE THINGS. That our time was limited and there was so much to see and do and experience that could never be done just by vacationing.

P use to joke/mention living in an RV years ago. So one Saturday morning, I said what if when our lease is up, we hit the road. And well, now we own a big ass truck and an Airstream.

I hope you will join us for our year on the road. I’ll be sharing some of the logistics of the rv life but mostly the adventure of places to see, foods to eat, and new beverages to try. All the baggage just now fits inside a space smaller than our current bedroom.

2019 the year we live in an Airstream…

The post Hello Again, New Adventures Ahead appeared first on Food, Booze, & Baggage.

Howdy, blogging friends!!! I thought I would pop back in and finally share my post on our trip to Portland Oregon this past January. We liked Portland so much we are actually going back this month! So needless to say we loved our trip in January. I’m actually so glad we went in January (the off-season), it was a lovely trip and I got Voodoo Doughnuts (original location) with NO wait ? The weather wasn’t too bad either, we actually had some sunshine, and overall it was not too cold. Of course the trip was ALL about the FOOD and BOOZE, like we seriously did not do anything else. We did stop by Powell’s books, which I fully intent to pay a longer visit to on our trip back and that was about it other than walking or riding to our next bar or meal.

FOOD

Dinner

Beast

My favorite first! Beast was AMAZING, I highly recommend it. Do the late seating (they only do two seatings a night) and get the wine pairing. The food was great and we enjoyed the overall experience. The seating is communal and you are all served at the same time, our table mates were so friendly and all around our age. There are no menu choices, other than drinks and you get six courses. I thought it was well worth the price. Pictures are in order of courses, the second being my favorite course, the foie gras truffle is in the far back with the square gel on top (so good).

Le Pigeon

This is considered a Portland foodie destination, and it was certainly good, but Beast won out if I had to choose just one. With that said we did have a very good meal. Le Pigeon went on the must-go-to list as soon as I read that they had Foie Gras profiteroles. We enjoyed the 5-course chef tasting menu, all our dishes were lovely and huge. I could never have made it through the 7-course. My favorite course was the first one, the scallop crudo. It’s a very small space, with communal tables, not exactly a relaxed fine dining experience, it’s a bit uncomfortable to get in and out of the tables. The profiteroles were good and unique but I would have liked a little more saltiness than sweetness. The foie gras truffle we had at Beast was better. I’m very happy we got to say we tried Le Pigeon and add it to our foodie passport.

Taylor Railworks

Some of the dishes were really good, some were pretty blah, continuing down to the dessert being just terrible. It’s hard to leave with a good perspective on the overall meal when the final dish is SO terrible. No flavor, the pear was undercooked, the whole dish was ill-conceived. If you don’t want to come up with a decent dessert than just offer cheese and be done with it. The scallops that started our meal were amazing, though. This is one of those places you can walk away with an amazing meal or a blah meal, just depending on what you choose to order. Pictured below the best dish and the worst dish.

Breakfast/Lunch/And In Between

Tasty N Sons

Just look at that biscuit sandwich and bloody marys, the picture says it all. In need of a cure for (maybe) overindulging the night before? This is your spot. We went for breakfast, but I’m sure their dinner would not disappoint.

Voodoo Doughnuts vs Blue Star Donut

The Portland donut/doughnut smack down. While I’ve wanted to try Voodoo Doughnuts FOREVER, I’m ruling in favor of Blue Star Donuts. I’ve been ruined by our neighborhood donut shop,Nomads and just prefer the less sticky sweet version of the yeasty breakfast bite. Again, glad I got to check Voodoo Doughnuts off my food bucket list, but it’s not on the revisit list. Blue Star Donut’s fancy flavor combinations won me over.

Blue Star

Voodoo Doughnuts

Olympic Provisions (Southeast)

Such a cool interior, and of course you can’t keep me away from any place that the central theme is cured meats. We stopped in for a later lunch, where neither one of us were all that hungry. So we opted for the cheese and meat plates, both great. The sandwiches looked amazing, and I wished we had more stomach space to try one.

Genie’s Cafe

This was a last minute change to the itinerary based on our Lyft driver’s suggestion. He won us over to change directions by his description of over 10 varieties of bloody marys. The food was good, in a laid back kitchen cafe vibe. I liked my bloody mary from Tasty N Son a bit more, but not bad and such variety!

Beer & Booze

I’m sharing my two favorites first.

Commons Brewery

Exceptionally done Belgian style beers and cheese, what more could you ask for. Oh and a big, open space, they still felt warm…perfection. I just HAD to order a cheese plate, even though we had dinner in less than 2 hours. I love cheese and cheese with good beer is hard to beat. Very friendly staff. This is on our revisit list!

Hamlet

A bar that serves only ham…how could we not go here?!? Very friendly, funny bartender, beautiful interior and one of the more memorable cocktails I’ve had. Trumper’s Revenge, house-infused horseradish vodka, mint and fresh carrot juice, OMG so good. This and the Dream Weaver (from Husk in Charleston) are two of my top cocktails ever. This is also on our revisit list!!

Baerlic Brewing Company

My favorite space award for a brewery goes to Baerlic, really cool, well designed, and well lit tasting room. The beer was good too, but I just really liked how bright and fresh their space felt. It’s tucked away in a neighborhood which only added to it’s cool factor (not that anywhere in Portland would try to be cool or anything).

Hair of the Dog Brewing

This is one of the original breweries of Portland, so we just had to go. I’ve never been a huge fan of their beer, but it was neat to visit their space and get to try a wider variety. We stopped here before walking over to Taylor Railworks for dinner. We had a little fun on the way while waiting on a train to pass.

Ex Novo Brewing Co

This was our very first stop for a bite and beer when we landed in Portland! It was a great choice, the food and beer were both great. Cool space to boot, that filled up quickly as people started to get off work.

Base Camp Brewing Co

A very open, warehouse style brewery. Cool space and nice variety of beer, I especially liked that one of my tasters came with a toasted marshmallow. We are actually staying in this neighborhood on our return trip this month.

Burnside Brewing Company

Home of a million beers. We got every single one of their beers as a taster (15 beers!). Not my favorite brewery of the trip, but very friendly staff and worth a stop in (just maybe stick to a few tasters at first to see how you like it). 

Lodging/Transporation

We stayed at the River’s Edge Hotel. I would not recommend it, it’s a bit out of the way and the rooms were clean but not overly nice. We did the Priceline Name Your Own Price, and it was the one that was furthest away from downtown. We got a good deal so I don’t have too much to complain about, but if I was paying what the asking rate was I would have been disappointed. Really we didn’t mind the location too much because so many of our destinations were on the other side of the river anyway, and we would have been calling a car even if we were closer to downtown. Portland is fairly spread out and while they have public transportation (which we did use for some trips), it’s not that convenient/quick to get from neighborhood to neighborhood and requires a quite a bit of walking to get to stops. Lyft/Uber rides were readily available so no problem there, just be prepared to do some car rides unless you are only concentrating on downtown for your itinerary.

I’m looking forward to reporting back on our Portland adventure this month, hopefully, it will not take me 6 months to get it published ? We have decided to do AirBNB for this trip that way we can stay in more of a neighborhood area. I will let you know how that works out for us.

Finally Thoughts: I highly recommend visiting Portland in the off-season, our trip in January was awesome!

Have you been to Portland, Oregon? If so, what was your favorite stop?

The post Portland Oregon in January appeared first on Food, Booze, & Baggage.

Hi Friends! Jumping back in for Clear The List. Join me and my co-hosts,  Lindsay from Lindsay Does Languages and Shannon from Eurolinguiste in encouraging each other in reaching our goals, and #clearthelist. Linkup your goal setting post below and cheer your fellow bloggers on with their goals.

March

This month was good overall, and I feel ready for April. March was a bit of a reset month for me, with a focus on planning and just trying to organize myself a bit more in terms of my business. Also I was sick twice this month, allergy related and just did not have the same energy I had in January and February. You will see on my tracker that for the last week or so, I kind of just gave up on tracking. Honestly, I just didn’t fill in the sheet, I did yoga a few times, but didn’t take the time to fill in the sheet. I considered going back and doing it, but then decided, nope just moving forward.We only got one hike in, so hopefully I will do better with that in April. Also I lost my FitBit mid-month ?. So the steps thing went out the door. Good news is that I just ordered a new one for April (like literally I ordered it today Friday 1 and it is supposed to be delivered today, yay Amazon Prime). ? In other techi news, we got a Roomba. I named him Jeffers, and he does a pretty good job. He’s not the smartest, but it’s nice to set him to go and I don’t have to debate using my time to vacuum. I worry about how long he will last since he does seem to hit things fairly hard, and he is already fairly scuffed up. Now let’s move into April.

April

In April, my focus is steps once again. I’m need to work on my morning routine again, I was doing really good in January and February, but totally lost a consistent routine in March. Part of it was being sick, and just trying to sleep when I could. Yoga is one habit that is becoming much easier to make time for, I feel better when I fit it in. My habit list has changed a little but not too much.

I do really want to get our Portland post up this month. And I would like to try to be more active on the FBB Instagram page. April is already fairly scheduled out with a few trips and other plans, so I know it will go by quickly.

So catch me up on what you have been up to lately!! If you have post on your goals, link it up below!

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The post Clear The List: April 2016 appeared first on Food, Booze, & Baggage.

Hello All! I made it back to the blog for Show Us Your Books! I’m combining two months for this post, and really most of these were read in January. Much like blogging, reading has also gotten a bit of a bump when it comes to prioritizing time. However, reading is one of the few activities that really relaxes me (ie I can focus on it and only it), so I do try to get some reading time in at night or in the morning. This is what I’ve been reading lately…

The Silent Land by Graham Joyce

It was a good read. I sort of figured out what was probably going on midway through, but it was a well written, well developed story. I feel like it’s a good pass the time read, but not too fluffy either.

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

I have so enjoyed both her book. I find them laugh out loud funny, like I was reading this one at the airport laughing out loud. I can’t say I like one over the other one, I enjoyed them both. I did like how this one really got into her career and how she got The Mindy Show. Here were a few of my favorite quotes:

“We will never come home to each other again and we will never again have each other’s undivided attention. That version of our friendship is over forever.”

“If you’ve got it, flaunt it. And if you don’t got if? Flaunt it. ‘Cause what are we even doing here if we’re not flaunting it?”

“People get scared when you try to do something, especially when it looks like you’re succeeding. People do not get scared when you’re failing. It calms them.”

FanGirl by Rainbow Rowell

Loved, loved this book! I love all of her books Her character development is what makes her books. I’m always so surprised at how much I enjoy her books, most of the time reading the summary, I think, nope not for me and then I get sucked right in and LOVE it. I didn’t even mind the fan fiction. I have to say I’m not hugely drawn to the concept of Carry On, but I’m totally going to read it, because well I’ve learned my lesson. Just for fun I decided to rank her books: 1. Eleanor & Park 2. FanGirl 3. Attachments 4. LandLine. It was a bit a toss up between 2 and 3. What has been your favorite?

Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor

I was not a fan. I kept thinking that it would kind of come together, and was disappointed. I could not get into the story, the writing rhythm totally threw me off. I like books where I can get lost in the story and this was not it. It is interesting that it started as a podcast though. One day I will learn just to put books down that I don’t really like, but it doesn’t seem like that will be anytime soon

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

This book was one of those that got you hooked immediately, and I stayed up way too late reading. This book was all kinds of crazy, and twists and turns (though lots that you saw coming). It is a bit on the long side, but I would rather get more closure than less.

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica 

Meh. I don’t have anything much to say with this one. I just felt very blah about it overall, not the worst book, but didn’t really love the characters, the plot, or how it was presented. I wasn’t a fan of the jumping back and forth in time either. Also, the side story on the mom and detective was more annoying than sweet to me.

Thank you to Steph & Jana for always keeping us well stocked in the reading department!!

What have you been reading lately? 

The post Show Us Your Books: January/February 2016 appeared first on Food, Booze, & Baggage.

Hello All!! It’s me Mariah, the blogger who only posts once a month now February was good, and you guys know the drill by now, it FLEW BY. I really don’t know what else to say about it. I’m still working so hard on BHG, I spend so much time at the computer that it is really hard to find the energy to spend more time at the computer to do the blog:( I’m exhausted by the end of most days, and have been going to bed around 9:00 or 9:30, figuring out, learning, interacting with new people, is HARD. This week I worked most days from 6:30 am to bedtime. Of course the whole month was not all work, and I’ve been out to meet Shannon and with P on weekends, it’s just seemed intense this month. I don’t feel like there is enough hours in the day, and have felt some of the stress of feeling that no matter how hard I work everything takes longer than expected and I’m not getting it all done. I hope all of you are doing well!! I know this time will pass and things will get easier, but for now I’m working hard because that is the only way to see if I can make BHG work

Before I get into my goals, I want to welcome another #childfree lady to the Childfree Are We Bloggers List!! Cece of Mahogany Drive wrote an amazing blog post, “We Don’t Want Kids”, about her (and her husband) choosing to be childfree. I don’t talk about it enough here, but I’m so glad other women are talking about their choice to be childfree. Honestly, in the past month I’ve interacted with two women who were truly shocked (and not in a bad way) that there are couples who choose as a lifestyle to be childfree. Their responses were centered around not realizing or knowing any couples who chose to do that, or that is a path other’s choose. Thank you for sharing Cece!!

Now onto Clear The List. I can’t wait to hear what you are working towards. Join me and my co-hosts, Esther from Local Adventurer, Lindsay from Lindsay Does Languages, and Shannon from Eurolinguiste in encouraging each other in reaching our goals, and #clearthelist. Linkup your goal setting post below and cheer your fellow bloggers on with their goals.

February

This month was much better in terms of me remembering to track fro my daily habits, so I feel good about that. Weekly habit sheet not so much, and part of that is b/c P was doing a lot of those items for me (umm dog and cleaning), I did record some of his cleaning mainly so I could reassure myself the cleaning was getting done. Sam walking I only record if I do it during the day. I did get two hikes in this month, even though I thought for sure that would not happen, I’m very proud of myself for making it a priority (and for P also making it a priority). The title picture above was from one of our hikes, it was a cool landscape…both hikes were great. One day I will share more pictures of them :o. Also you will notice that I’m throwing the towel in on taking a vitamin daily (at least for now).

March Goals

I’m really going to focus on reaching my daily step goals this month. I know I’m not being active enough. To be honest it is hard to pull myself away from the computer and commit to the time it takes me to get the 5000 steps in. We will see how I do on this one this month. I say it’s a focus, but honestly above all else I want to work on, BHG is #1. I’m feeling good about March, and looking forward to getting a handle on all my to-dos for BHG. I’m also determined to join back in for Show Us Your Books this month and share what I read in January and February. I do take notes after reading each book, but it is just getting the post together. I would like to get the Portland trip post up this month too, but no promises Besides being super focused on the business, here are my weekly and daily habit trackers.  You can get a blank tracker for printing here.

Share your goal posts below if you got one!! If not let me know what you are planning for March!!

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Hello!! I’ve missed all of my blogging peeps! January was an awesome month, it flew by. Of course, when have I not said that about a month? It did seem to be over quickly, but not in a hazy way as some months. More like each day was filled full and I was kicking-ass. I’m so scared about losing the motivation I had in January, because January felt good. I’ve been super focused on BHG. I’ve been so busy, and feeling like I don’t have enough time to do it all but in a good way. This is why I’ve been quiet here but I need to focus and not split my energy for now. When I get some more of my projects/ideas completed then I will have more time to be here. The really funny thing is that my pageviews have doubled in the last several months, isn’t that just how it works out. I do miss you guys and hope you do not think I’ve abandoned you all.

It’s the beginning of the month so you know what time it is, Clear The List time. Join me and my co-hosts, Esther from Local Adventurer, Lindsay from Lindsay Does Languages, and Shannon from Eurolinguiste in encouraging each other in reaching our goals, and #clearthelist. Linkup your goal setting post below and cheer your fellow bloggers on with their goals.

But first, let’s talk January.

January was an excellent month in terms of motivation and productivity. Was my habit tracker filled out perfectly? No, but I feel good about what I was able to get done and my focus. We also took a super awesome last minute trip to Portland Oregon this month. I LOVED Portland, and eventually I will share our trip in a post…especially since we had such awesome food

Below are my filled in sheets. Though one of the problems with the weekly sheets is I totally forgot to fill it in, oops. I’m sharing it but it is not really a true accounting. I’ve got to get better at using it, but regardless it is a good reminder of what I should be doing. The “get out” on the weekly is working from outside the house (like at a coffeeshop), which I really have been enjoying. Just wanted to clarify in case you think I only left the house twice this month LOL. Though again even that was more than twice I just didn’t fill it in.

The use of the daily journal is working pretty well, but I do find it hard to remember to document my day, everyday. I’ve been really focused lately, so I don’t feel like I’m wasting as much time day to day, or find myself trying to figure out what I should work on. I’ve found a good direction/focus (at least for now).

I’ve found that if I don’t get my yoga done in the morning then I usually don’t find time to fit it in later, so that is something I’m going to try to be more conscious of next month. Sidenote: Yoga with Adriene this past month released a 30-day Yoga Camp series, which I am loving. If any of you are thinking about trying out yoga, her videos are such a good place to start (I know I’ve said it before and I’m going to keep saying it) Just getting started and into a routine is half the challenge and I think her videos just make it so easy, especially the 30-day series, since you don’t have to “find” the next video to try.

February Goals

Guys I hate to disappoint you but they are basically the same as January. I’m just working super hard on making BHG work. I know February is going to feel like a very short month, and honestly most of it is already booked. I would love to get two hikes in, but we only made it once in January and that is very likely the case for February too The weather was not great on many weekends in January, and I know we have limited availability on weekends this coming month. On the tracker I’ve included social media, and the reason that is there is to: 1. make sure I’m being consistent 2. using social media intentional (ie not random scrolling). Again, broken into daily and weekly sheets. Here is a blank tracker sheet if you want to start your own.

My main goal for February (in addition to the above routines), is to stay focused and try to maintain the same motivation I have felt throughout January. A big part of that for me is making sure I schedule out my day the day before, and I reach my top three daily goals.

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What are your goals for February? Do you have any big plans for February? Link-up below or share in the comments.

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Had a great reading month in December!

The first thing I must share is that, Miriam (Farm Girl), finished and published her very first book!!

How To Be You

I am SO proud of Miriam for following through on a dream and putting herself out there. I was beyond thrilled to get to push buy on Amazon and read her book. I was smiling ear to ear reading it, and crying a little too. Nothing I can write here will do her justice. I don’t push you guys much here to do anything, but I demand you go buy this book GO NOW, PRESS BUY!! Seriously, it’s your lose if you don’t listen to me.

In other December reading news, I had several books that really got me thinking and are changing my daily actions, which I love. As always when we talk about books it’s with Jana & Steph

A Good Marriage by Stephen King

I just randomly picked this up between books. It’s more of a short story than a novel, and this edition contained the story 1922, which was actually longer than A Good Marriage. Both were ok, but not my favorite King writing. A bit more old school thriller/mystery as in the lines of Hitchcock. Apparently they made a movie of A Good Marriage, I’m going to have to look it up. That is what drew me in to choose this book, as I was waiting on holds

Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon

LOVED this book. Very quick read, but so many good tidbits. Sometimes you need to hear out loud (read out loud) things that are common sense, but click when you see them on paper. I felt like there was so much good advice in this book. I get really overwhelmed with the idea of originality especially with spending so much time online, so this resonated with me to get out of my own head. I pulled a few of the passages that I really felt rang a bell with me…

“What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.”

“If we’re free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it.”

“You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences. The German writer Goethe said, “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”

“…if you try to devour the history of your discipline all at once, you’ll choke. Instead, chew on one thinker–writer, artist, activist, role model–you really love. Study everything there is to know about that thinker. Then find three people that thinker loved, and find out everything about them. Repeat this as many times as you can. Climb up the tree as far as you can go.”

Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin

Loved, loved. This is a book that I can say 100% changed actions and something I’m still working on applying today. I took like five pages of notes and it really got me thinking about how I set goals, and daily routines. This is one of my top books for getting me thinking and putting things in a different mindset for myself. Very thought provoking, but also very actionable. Prior to this book, I had not read The Happiness Project. Embarrassingly enough I didn’t even realize she wrote The Happiness Project, though she referred it often in Better Than Before (however she never said “my” book). She breaks down personality into four types when it comes to building habits and approaching goals: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels. She then goes through different approaches to building habits and how the different types can best use these approaches. I just loved this book, and had so many good ideas while reading it. I’ve been struggling with getting a daily routine together, and this book was wonderful for me.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Of course after reading Better Than Before, I checked this out immediately. The books certainly flow into one another, though I think I might have looked at Better Than Before with a more fresh view of the author than if I had read The Happiness Project first. I really liked this one too, though it felt less actionable than Better Than Before. Honestly, it’s hard to separate the two completely in my mind, once I finished this one. The Happiness Project reads to me much more of a personal story, where Better Than Before is a bit more scientific based. I liked The Happiness Project too and it had some great lessons about being more mindful. I love the idea of building your personal commandments and really evaluating what do you enjoy, versus what you “wish” you enjoyed. This is an exercise that I am absolutely working on and bringing into my life.

Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin

Nice fast-paced plot that draws you in quickly. I think the “love” story was so superfluous to the story, it could have so easily been left out. It seemed so silly to add that in and not tie it better to the plot or emotions of the character…other than hook-up scenes and a splash of jealousy here and there. I felt like the ending was presented in a clunky manner, and super rushed. Honestly they could have cut out some of the “love story” and added to the end instead of cramming it all into the Epilogue. Good entertainment value but overall the characters and plot could have used some refinement as you got further into the story.

The Expats by Chris Pavone

I hated the back and forth jumping in time of this book. Often times jumping around does not really bother me, but in this book it did. I considered giving up on it half way through, because I was so annoyed. To me it was hard to really get into the plot. Of course right about when I thought about giving in, they stopped jumping around quite so much. The plot is interesting but I was not blown away with this one.

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

What an interesting read! I really enjoyed how he organized the book and found it very intriguing and engaging. I enjoyed this book much more than I expected. I thought the topic was interesting so I thought I would give it a try, and found the author very witty and engaging. Not a dry book, so if you have an interest in psychology at all, I think you would enjoy it.

ReWork by Jason Fried

I like how straightforward this book was. I think there was some good advice there for anyone in business. I would have loved to share some that knowledge, but my kindle did not save my highlights I’m so sad.  

What books are on your 2016 reading list?

P.S. As a total side note, I’m really focusing on building my business this month. January has started off great. Anyway that is why I’ve been quiet over here, I just need to put all my attention and energy to get BHG off the ground So sorry for the lack of interaction lately….don’t worry I’ll be back when things get smoother.

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