A D V E N T U R E S.

Hello! Happy New Year. Hope 2015 has started off well for you. Thankfully I've been on vacation this whole week to usher in the New Year w/my best half. :)

We spent our NYE at home, surrounded by 4Rivers BBQ. That was our last big indulge of the year because I am still committed to my #operationpinkbikini goal this year. I gained a few extra pounds and that isn't sticking around. My hubster is also determined to support me this year by him getting fit too. Another good thing that happened on NYE was that I was able to see a good friend of mine that I haven't seen since my wedding day. So catching up over Starbucks, yes please! Feels great to have coffee with friends.

Chris + I ended 2014 on NYE by working out! What a great way to end the year. He was on the elliptical and I was doing a mix of Zumba Core + starting my JessicaSmithTV DVD's. Burned some calories. Which helped me keep the flame to get fit/healthy this coming year. Even when I don't want to - I am VOWING to DO SOMETHING. Everyday. Slowly & surely - I am training for my first 5K that I will be able to run/walk. Hooray. :)

Yesterday - I was able to invest in our home with some extra $$. Our home is definitely a first home with it's own list of fixer upper qualities. Every time we run into an issue - we immediately remember this. So, thankfully Home Depot will be helping us start off our New Year with the first home project - replacing our bathroom towel bars. Thank you Jesus, the other ones are just too dingy & cheap. Lo + behold - not doing favors for ANYONE!

So for 2015 - I am claiming the word A D V E N T U R E S. 

Which this weekend - we will be back to hanging out at Disney. Ohh, the perks of living in Central Florida. :) 

Jan 5th has  2 big adventures - I am celebrating my 4th year @ my company! Another A D V E N T U R E awaits to hit year 5.

& this is my Papa's birthday. Another one spent in HEAVEN. 

CHEERS to A D V E N T U R E S. This year is a milestone one for me. I turn 30! & I am going to work hard to look good. 

Ps. I've been following her YouTube channel for a few months because of my love of ballet + Ballet kickboxing. Starting Monday - JessicaSmithTV will be starting the #FITIN15 challenge. I love her workouts. Try them out HERE! 

My goal for this blog is to be MORE consistent. Posting way more. Meeting new friends. in 2015. 

So I hope you will sit, stay awhile + say HELLO. :) 

 

Back to the Grind.

Hello, loves!
Hope you've enjoyed the past 48 hours of 2014 thus far. I've been inspired from visiting other blogs through a weekly linkup I post on & I'm trying to blog more substance-y posts than just what the weather is & what I ate for dinner because well I think there is more purpose in life than boring people on my daily life.

Anywho - I came across something that a fellow blogger who is a daily must read for me over at The Everyday Joys - does that makes way more sense in terms of making goals. See I'm a planner. I like, erm looove to plan things. I turn 30 next year - that is insane to me. I have already begun making ideas for it, trying to imagine what I want to do & after some brainstorming - I've decided on the beach which is a great thing since I live by all the beaches & mostly sunny weather year round. I digress - that is over 22 months away so I am going to stop looking for now. My blogger friend does monthly goals and revisits them after which I think is fantastic for holding yourself accountable. So instead of looping up my yearlong 2014 goals, I am going to break them down into a more eye level approach - monthly goals.

JANUARY GOALS:

1) Exercise 26 days out of the month.  If you follow me on Instagram, soon you'll be seeing my workouts & myself more frequently especially in the next twenty minutes. I am going to be coming on here with weekly updates because its true, working out alone & trying to yield results is harder than working out with others. I am going to start back up Monday with myFitnessPal & own up to the holiday weight gain :( I think exercising 26/31 days is pretty darn good. 

2)  Be a better friend. This really applies to family/friends who don't live close by but are still dear to my heart w/ monthly Skype dates.. 


3) Use Instagram more. I try to be all miss photographer but I sometimes forget about it. It's time to be a bit more #carpediem on a regular basis!


4. Watch the excessive sugar intake. Being a woman - its okay to indulge on chocolate or Starbucks from time to time but I need to learn when to say no. I am really going to wean myself off the extra soda that I've been drinking and I know this will help me for the long term as well as drop additional weight. Need to get back on the addicted to Smart Water train (which happened tonight!)

5. Entertainment Book = Creative Date Nights. Being that we subscribe to Netflix/Hulu on a monthly basis means we're rarely movie theater people unless its Anchorman 2. *tomorrow!* So, I am going to use this book this year to come up with fun date nights with my mister so that we can see more of our city, save money & be together. So far this far - we've been to Disney, taken some selfies & tomorrow we'll be doing it again - Everest @ Animal Kingdom & Magic Kingdom. Hooray!

6.  End every post I do with "Hallelujah's" - on a weekly basis. I think its important to remember the positive in everything we do. Maybe one day that could be become a linkup in itself but for now, it will be my way to keep the positivity a float in my life. I'm already a fairly positive person as is - it's in my DNA so finding positivity in my life won't be overall a complicated task but actually quite enjoyable. I also am a big fan of sharing so I will be providing y'all with my positivity so check back - it's a comin'.

7. Sew something. For Christmas in 2013 - I made my dad a 'Cleveland Browns' pillow. For my mom & nephew, (it didn't happen for Christmas) I am finishing their minky blankets once my sewing machine gets fixed. I am new at sewing but come from a family of crafty women, literally. So, my goal is to peruse Pinterest for productive projects that I can continue to improve my new talent. 

8. Make my passion for writing a priority. I have a voice & I do have a goal to someday self publish my book so in order for that to happen - I need to write the book to publish it.

& that's a wrap. 2013.

I cannot believe that tomorrow is New Years Eve. I also can't believe that Christmas came last week. This year flew by. My husband & I are graciously off this week from work and I am so happy. I hope you enjoyed your Christmas with your family. My hubs & I are starting to begin our own traditions for the holidays, kind of getting them started for when we have our own kids. Christmas morning started out with Chris making us breakfast and him unwrapping a gift from his family - this one had strict 'Don't open til Christmas'. His brother bought us a Wii U and his sister's gift was a new Wii U game. Which was perfect because I had bought a Zumba game for the Wii U - I am opening it tomorrow :)

Afterwards - we headed to my parents for the afternoon of opening more presents, a nice lunch and just time with my family. When we got there - wrapping paper & boxes were strewn all over my parents because my sisters & little nephew just couldn't wait til we got there to open their gifts. So - everyone was all happy when we got there because we had gifts for them & we got all of our gifts right then and there. A tad hectic. Honestly it was one of those years when each gift I got - I loved & were a favorite. My sister got us a Mickey Ornament that she was stoked to give us because it was 'so US!' It was so cute. My brother/sis in law got us a Starbucks gift card which they knew I'd be overly excited for. My parents got us gifts - some individual & some for both of. Two of my faves from all of them: my mom sewed us throw pillows for our couch & my husband surprised me with *early* Disney season passes!

BUT TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY OF 2013! WHAAA?!

I posted this on my Facebook last night because I thought it was important to be transparent. I saw a post on a friend's blog over the weekend and having a 'word of the year' and after much reflection. I think my word of 2014 is going to be TRANSPARENT. To a degree - I have no problem being honest with family & friends about my personal goals for the new year. In fact - there are 4 main things about this next year that I fully plan on being TRANSPARENT about & accomplishing wholeheartedly:

2013 has been kind of a roller-coaster ride for us. Honestly there;s a few things I'm thrilled for in 2014:
1) Making a noticeable dent for repayment of student loans.
2) Continuing to make sacrifices for my hubs in all aspects of our lives.
3) Continue to be more active & healthy.
4) Seek out new adventures for ourselves daily.

I'm really excited for the blessings, joys, and even the lessons to be learned in 2014 & for a fresh slate.  Ps. I am really stoked that I am ending the year with Tijuana Flats!! :) :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! You stay classy :) -- Jessica

SO WHAT! Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! I cannot believe Christmas is a week from today. I'm ready for it, mostly. Today I am linking up with Shannon for her awesome weekly 'So What Wednesday'. 

This week (& lately) I am saying SO WHAT if:

1) I emailed the chick on my husband's team to say THANK YOU for his new wallet that she so generously gifted for Secret Santa. I love my husband but he is too frugal sometimes.

2) I've been counting down to my office's Secret Santa/Cookie exchange on Friday morning; so that I can start making Christmas cookies early.

3) I got my vacation days approved at work for the week of New Years. Already excited about the possibilities & the fact that this explains my more-than-cheeriness lately:



4) My sister's Varsity Basketball Christmas tournament is at my alma mater high school this weekend. I can't wait to show up there after ten years & eagerly cheer on the other team (just a bit too excited)!

5) I have my own recipes for Christmas cookies but just in case Pinterest has something I may have overlooked, they have replaced Google searches for the most part.

6) Anytime I get a cute picture of my husband & I, like the ones from this weekend @ SeaWorld, I'll instantly put them on my Instagram with awesome hashtags. #makingmemoriescount

7) I've watched the amazing, hilarious National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie twice in a week. The Griswolds have the perfect quotes. Already planning to watch it again twice, before the end of the year.

Absolutely love this link up. Thanks for stopping by. You stay classy :) - Jessica

New Years Prep

This whole week I've been blessed to have off work, which I needed a few days to sleep in without an alarm set and no plans to just relax & have time to work out.

Now, its Saturday and I am enjoying more time to make my house pretty. Last night @ 12am- it was discovered this pretty face had peed on our bed & we had to do emergency laundry with our sheets/blankets.

Don't be fooled by her big brown eyes

But I wanted to take a moment to recap on 2012 since celebrating New Years is in 3 days! 

Celebrated 1 year at my job & moved into our first house on 1/1/12.

Celebrated my mom's 50th birthday by throwing her a surprise party with family/friends.  

She doesn't look a day over 28.

With my momma & the homemade birthday cake I made her.

With my sister in law & my beautiful mama.

Celebrated my husband's bday. His gift: Ron Swanson (Parks & Rec) bobblehead in Mar.

Happy Birthday! Loves 4Rivers BBQ to celebrate with.

Spent time with my in-laws over their spring break/enjoyed Disney Vacation club villa. 

Celebrated one of my good friends birthdays.

Helped my husband when he had his wisdom teeth surgery done. 

Celebrated first year of marriage, yay us! 

6.18.11 

Celebrated 4th of July by flying out to Missouri to spend time w/ my husband's family for the holiday. Got to reminisce with him about his childhood, go to fave places of his that he grew up at and spend time with family.

Another celebration by then was that I had lost 30 lbs by this time!  YAY :)

Celebrated my dad's birthday.

Celebrated my birthday on our first cruise to the Bahamas! I also signed on as a Pampered Chef consultant on Halloween.

First night of dinner.

Elegant night for dinner.

Celebrated our first Thanksgiving in our house. Stayed behind and enjoyed a dinner at Boston Market.

Celebrated our first Christmas in our house. Put our tree up and enjoyed the day with my fam.

Our Christmas Tree

Work Christmas party 12.16.12.

W/ my mom at our Christmas party. 12.16.12

Now we're about to bring in 2013 & I couldn't be more excited. Here's a list of things I'm determined to do: 

1) Will be running 2 races w/ family: Winter Park 10k & OUC Half Marathon. :)

2) Will be working hard to lose my Biggest Loser weight. 

3)  Spending more time being active.

4) Taking more time to keep our house looking great.

5) Giving my Pampered Chef biz my full focus.

Have a very Happy New Year! See you in 2013 :) -Jessica