Poppin' Tags! Thrift With Me!

Who doesn't like a good thrift shopping trip? Roll with me as I hit up our local thrift stores for good deals! On this trip, I'm looking for stuff for myself and to resell on Mercari and Poshmark.

VLOG, our first day in Kauai, Hawaii!

Day 1 of our Kauai, Hawaii VLOG. Join us on our trip as we explore the beautiful island Kauai! 

We give you a little bit of everything. Food, fitness, shopping (thrift and souvenir), comedy, and randomness. Today we start our journey at 5AM CST at BNA, travel cross country to LAX, then enjoy an amazing ocean view flight to LIH (Lihue). We get our first views of the island and our resort, Kauai Coast Resort at the BeachBoy, skim the souvenir shops (LOVE me some ABC Store!), make a new friend and walk the beach.

Please like and subscribe to see the rest of our Kaua’i, Hawai’i vacation!

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Do You Love Free Samples?

Did you know that Amazon has some really cool sample boxes that basically let you try products for free? Yep! They do!

How it works.

1) Order a sample box at a cost of $7.99- 19.99.

2) Receive a credit of the cost of the box toward the purchase of an item in the box!

For example, I love coffee! When you purchase the K-Cup Sample box for $7.99, you receive 13 K-Cups in 9 different varieties. If you choose to purchase a full size product from your samples, you get $7.99 credit toward that order. 

How many of you love makeup and fancy beauty products? Check out the Luxury Beauty Box. 

12 amazing products for only $19.99 including brands like Calvin Klein, L'Occitane, Tan Towel, Elizabeth Arden and Clark's Botanicals. If you choose to purchase one of the products in your box, you get at $19.99 credit!

Have a puppy you love to spoil? Check out the Dog Lover's Box! This box is only $11.99 and gives you samples from The Honest Kitchen, Blue, Nutro, Spot Farms and others! And again, if you choose to purchase an item from the box, the cost of the box will be deducted from your purchase.

Are you a fitness junkie or know someone who is? Why not try an Optimum Nutrition box? This box is only $7.99 and you get samples of protein, amino acids, fat burners, pre workouts, protein bar and other fun stuff!. Yet again, you get $7.99 credit to the purchase of any item from the box.

These are just a few of the boxes that caught my eye, but there are quite a few listed on the sample page. You do need to be an Amazon Prime Member to get these deals, but most of us probably already are, right? 

Stay Strong Y'all!

**Many of the links above are affiliate links. This means that if you click through my link and purchase something, the company gives me a few pennies as a ‘Thanks For Referring Yo Friends’ gift. You get charged nothing extra. And I get a penny (or two) for my thoughts.

Clairol Root Touch Up- A Product Review

Raise your hand if you love your hair! Raise your hand if you don’t love your ‘Sparklers’! What are Sparklers you ask? They are what I call my grays. I do not love them. At all. I do, however, love my hair girl, Kela because with one magic appointment she makes my hair look awesome! We’ve done brown, blue, red and blonde! This transformation from blech to beautiful happens as long as I remember to make appointments…. And I’m really, really bad about not making an appointment to get my hair colored until it is really, really disastrous looking.

It was about the time that I was realizing that the hair needed some help that Influenster sent me a box of Clairol® Root Touch-Up - Light Brown to try and review for the blog. I was skeptical because I learned a long time ago not to try to do my own coloring at home, but I thought, eh, why not? If it is a train wreck, Kela can fix it!

The instructions were super easy. I took the provided little plastic tray and mixed bottle #2 with tube #1. I swirled it around with the provided brush and then painted it on my part line and hair line. I waited 15 minutes and sent a few ridiculous Snaps to my sister who tried to convince me this was a bad, bad idea. At this point however, it was too late to turn back.

After fifteen minutes I rinsed and conditioned as the directions said. And guess what? It was awesome! When it dried, the sparklers were gone and my roots were a nice shade of light brown that blended really well with the rest of my hair. Beyond impressed!

Before (and post lake)/ After

I even got a Snap of approval (‘Not bad’) from my sis!

It wasn’t messy and it was super easy. If you wake up and realize that your roots have become too much, I’d encourage you to give Clairol Root Touch Up a go! It will tide you over until you can get your whole head ‘did’!

Disclaimer- I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Want an opportunity to get free stuff too? Check out Influenster!

Stay Strong Y'all!

What I'm Reading, Volume I

I love to read, both fiction and non-fiction. I remember the first time I read Gone With The Wind in 7^th grade and absolutely fell in love with the story, the characters and the drama that engulfed poor Miss Scarlett her entire life. The fact that the America Civil War was an area of emphasis in my collegiate career is in no small part a direct result of Ms. Margaret Mitchell.

For me, reading is therapy. It lets me get out of my head and into someone else’s. There is something so relaxing about sticking my nose in a book and ignoring everything else.

Sometime I read non-fiction to make my inner student-nerd happy. Random knowledge is some of my favorite knowledge!

Since you are reading this blog, you must be a little like me and maybe you enjoy reading as much as I do. This will be a series on the blog where I let you guys know what I’m currently reading, loving and hating.

Here are three I've read and enjoyed lately.

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

Let’s be honest. We’ve all had that moment when our spouse pushes us over the edge and we think, “Oh my god, I’m gonna kill him!” In this book, someone says that out loud, to the wrong person (or maybe the right person, depending on how you look at it) and all hell breaks loose.

I really enjoyed this one and while I had a pretty good hunch of what was going to happen, I was still delighted as my suspicions were confirmed!

The Widow by Fiona Barton 

She was the perfect wife and she worked damn hard at it. When the husband dies, will she keep up the façade or let the secrets spill?

Trigger warning, this is one is pretty dark and covers the uncomfortable topic of child pornography. If you choose to read it, pay very close attention to the dates and names at the start of each chapter as it jumps around chronologically.

Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi

A story of a Fante tribe of Africa told through seven generations as they suffer through the slave trade and the repercussions of it. It is a good book, but be prepared to continually reference the family tree at the beginning of the book. It gets complicated y'all. And honestly, if you haven’t read Roots, read it first then come back to this one.  Homecoming is like Roots version 2.0, but not nearly as good as the original.


What books are you enjoying right now? I have quite a few I'd like to tackle this year, but am always looking for more!

Stay Strong Y'all!

I just updated my "Affiliates I Love" page, check it out!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me on Facebook at Angie McCord, Fitness, Nutrition and Life Improvement.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. I'm even more random fun over at IG!

**Many of the links above are affiliate links. This means that if you click through my link and purchase something, the company gives me a few pennies as a ‘Thanks For Referring Yo Friends’ gift. You get charged nothing extra. And I get a penny (or two) for my thoughts.

The Problem Of Getting A Bad Ass New Shirt...

A few Friday's ago, LiveSore Nashville came to the box for 17.2 and I went home with this sweet "Traps & Tats" tank.

I frickin' love it. I feel so boss and bad ass when I rock it.

However, I also feel like a fraud. A hypocrite.

You see, the shirt says, "Tats".

As in plural.

As in more than one.

I only have one tat.

Can I wear this shirt honestly?

Should I get another tat?

I want another tat.

But I'm trying to save money.

And I want a big tat.

Hand drawn by my daughter.

Seriously, it's already drawn up.

Or maybe just a little tat.

A small, minimal something that is actually really deep and metaphorical.

Do tattoos go on sale?

Do you want a tat that was on sale?

Can J do it? He's artsy.

Do they sell tattoo guns on Amazon?

Oh wow, they do.

Hmmmm....what all else would we need?

Is it cheaper just to get the tat at my shop?

Wait, can I say, "my shop" since I only have one tattoo?

Hang on. Since my current tat is actually a cover up...do I indeed have 'tats', plural?

The circle of life.

Oh man, two gym buds just brought up the 'let's get tats' discussion.

#want

Random conversations I have with myself.

Stay Strong Y'all!


I just updated my "Affiliates I Love" page, check it out!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts

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Gooood morning, good morning! Good morning routines!

Good morning! 

I enjoy reading and learning about other people’s lives. Especially really successful, driven people. I want to know what they eat, how they sleep, what they do for fun, how they schedule their day, how they handle email, how they prioritize stuff, how they avoid burn out…..how do they do it??

One thing I have found that successful people have in common is morning routines. They all start their day very intentionally with the idea of starting off calm, focused and centered. 

Most of them do some form of these things.

Meditation

Journaling

Exercise

Most of them do NOT do these things.

Check email

Open social media

Hit the snooze button

Do work/occupation stuff

Their intentions are to spend the first part of their day focusing on their needs and making themselves an overall better person. Most of them emphasize this is not a long, drawn out routine. 5-10 minutes of meditation along with 5 minutes of journaling while drinking their morning breakfast beverage (most drink tea). And then another 5-10 minutes of stretching, yoga or mild calisthenics. Some of them do their daily workout in the morning, so of course, that takes longer.

Basically, one half hour to start their day on the right foot.

By opening email and social media first thing in the morning, you are letting other people determine how your day starts off. And if it is work email, you are letting others dictate your priorities for the day. These successful people choose not to let other people’s requests/needs affect their schedule or feelings right off the bat. Think about it. If something has happened overnight that is a true emergency, you would already know because someone would have actually called you.

The world won’t end if you don’t connect with the world within 30  minutes of waking up. I promise.

Knowing all that, let me share my routine(s).

When I was teaching my morning routine was routine, but there was nothing calm, focused or centered about it. I got up, fixed coffee, took a shower, made myself presentable, fixed a quick bite and drove to school. And that was on a good morning. It didn’t happen often, but I occasionally overslept or I couldn’t find the skirt I wanted or my hair just would not dry or I left the house only to turn around after three miles because I left my bag at home. Ya know, the stuff that happens to all of us.

It worked, but it didn’t necessarily start my day off in a Zen like state. And since I was already getting up at 4:50, getting up even earlier to do all these hippy- trippy- namaste things was just. not. happening.

Then, once I was no longer teaching and no longer having to get up at the butt crack of dawn, I decided to do a focused morning routine. I would get up, fix my coffee and go sit on our front porch swing. I would bring out three books. The book I was currently reading, a copy of The Secret and my journal. I would spend a few minutes reading and writing positive affirmations in my journal. On a super good day I’d even do a few sun salutations!

And get this, I didn’t even bring my phone outside at all!

Then we sold our house and life got way more interesting. I realized last week that I no longer have that morning routine and I miss it. Currently my morning looks like this.

Get up and fix coffee. Open email and read TheSkimm and The Morning Brew while drinking coffee. Nibble on breakfast #1. Open FB and look at notifications. If I see something important, I’ll read that. Then I get dressed and ready for work.

While there’s nothing terrible about that routine (and I do learn a lot with those two emails!), it doesn’t exactly fit with what I’d like to accomplish for myself in the mornings. As the weather gets nicer, I want to get back into that routine of reading, being thankful and sending out positive juju into the universe. Of course, I could totally do these things inside, but something about being outside just makes it better!

Y’all know I’m big on goal setting, so here we go. I’m setting a goal to get this morning routine back on track at least twice per week. I’ve got to go dig my copy of The Secret out of storage and get my journaling pen ready, but that part is easy. It just the part of dragging my lazy-non-morning-person butt up and at ‘em that is hard!

What does your morning look like? 

What could you do to make it a more positive experience?

Stay Strong Y'all!


I just updated my "Affiliates I Love" page, check it out!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts

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Follow me on Facebook at Angie McCord, Fitness, Nutrition and Life Improvement.

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Proudly linked up at :

I Am Accepting Applications!

Hey Y'all!

I'm currently accepting applications for the following position:

Gym Caddy

Responsibilities include:

Loading/unloading my barbell during weightlifting work- If I expend energy loading and unloading my barbell, that's less energy I have for my workout. The ideal candidate will be fluent in both metric and U.S. customary units.

Setting up equipment- The time before a workout needs to be spent mentally preparing for the task at hand and emptying the bladder. My gym caddy will allow me to do such things by setting up all needed equipment prior to my workout. This could include boxes, jump ropes, abmats, kettlebells, barbells, etc. 

Knowing my abilities- My gym caddy must know all my maxes, my preferences for rig stations, barbells and boxes, and my capabilities for any given workout. This ties into the duties listed above as the ideal candidate knows precisely what I need for any wod and he/she will generally not need to question me as to which weight and/or size equipment I need. 

Ensuring I have chalk at all times- The gym caddy will be held responsible for ensuring that I am never more than 3 feet from a solid piece of chalk. Minimum dimension on said piece of chalk is 1x2x3. 

Mixing/presenting pre workout drink- Pre workout hydration and supplementation is incredibly important and my gym caddy will ensure that I am ready for the day’s work. Caddy will be expected to know whether the day’s work requires stimulant-type pre workout, supplement-type pre workout or a mixture of both.

Preparing/presenting post workout nutrition- Gym caddy will have the post workout nutrition ready for consumption within 15 minutes of workout completion. The meal or drink will already be planned/packaged by me, caddy may need to assemble and/or heat.

Counting repetitions- Gym caddy will be responsible for ensuring an accurate rep count of all movements. Whether it’s 5 reps or 50, he/she must ensure I do not lose count.

Other duties as dictated. Could include cheering and motivating, mopping up blood/sweat/urine,  playing the role of a child in CF kids classes,  fetching towels, turning on fans, turning off fans, etc.

This position is open immediately. Hours vary based on time of year and my mood. Salary is non-existent however; I write excellent letters of recommendation and will gladly lobby for MSU credit hours for the right candidate. Please send resumes to gymcaddy@crossfitmurray.com

**Please note: this is a joke**

**Unless you like to work for free**

Stay Strong Y'all!

RANDOM: Do you Skimm? Check it out to be smart.

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!

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November Has Me Like...

Remember the title of this blog is "Doodleturtle's Random Thoughts" and this is one of those random posts!  I've just got so many things running through my head I have to get them out!

First, I've been quite negligent in posting about our hobo life since...... we are no longer hobos!! About three months ago we purchased some land and we moved our motorhome from the campground to our land! Let me tell you, this place is beautiful, but it was a dump. TWO single wide trailers (circa 1976 and 1965) were on the property and the people who lived here before us did not believe in trash pick up. The options they saw were 1) burn it, 2) throw it in the woods or 3) build a storage building to put it in. 

No joke. 

So we've spent the last 3 months hauling off trash and trailers and tearing down buildings. There is still a ton of work to do, but it's much, much better! We have a great old barn we've fixed up and many spots that would be perfect for our future house.

And speaking of house, we've decided sadly that Betsy just won't do through the winter for us to live in. She's a great motorhome and we are sad to see her go, but she's just too small. And since she's built more for warmer climates, we just don't think she'd be able to handle a cold winter. It's crazy that we've lived in her since March! 7 months! I don't think I ever posted pictures, so here you go. These are from the day we purchased it.

This is our kitchen, the hallway/bathroom and a view into the bedroom.

The view from the bathroom looking at the kitchen and living room.

Our dainty little bathroom

Our bedroom

Tiny right? Yep, that's been our tiny house for the last 7 months!

In her place, we are getting a new camper! Fingers crossed our new-to-us "home" will be delivered Friday! It's a fifth-wheel and has SOOO much more room than we have right now. I'm so stinking excited to actually have a living room and an OVEN! Yep, we've not had an oven in months.

It's not new at all, but it's new to us and fits perfectly in our budget and will help us get to our financial goals quickly. Score one for the month of November!

The kitchen and hallway.

Our bedroom..with a king size bed!

Also starting November 1 our box is hosting an "Earn Your Turkey Dinner" Paleo Challenge. It's been a loooong time since I was straight Paleo, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. It's 23 days leading up to Turkey Day of lean meats, veggies, nuts, seeds and fruits. No dairy, grains, legumes, artificial sweeteners or alcohol. 

Y'all, I've eaten oatmeal for breakfast for probably the last two years. Aaaargh..... And I've eaten Taco Bell 4 times a week for the last year.....Chicken Power Bowl, look it up, yum!!! 

There are definitely some changes in my diet I will making, but I'm looking forward to cleaning it all up and sharing the progress with you guys. 

One kink I haven't decided on with the Paleo Challenge is what to do on my trip...Yep! Another exciting thing about November is that we are going on a trip! I'm not giving away details yet, but the countdown is on and I'm stoked. 

So there are 3 big things I'm looking forward to in November! Wait, make that 4! 

J and I will be celebrating 22 years of marriage in November! What?!?! Crazy right?

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!

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Hobo Life Week 12

Thoughts on hobo life.

Almost 3 months ago we closed on the sale of our house and became what we affectionately call ourselves, hobos. We gave away 60% of our stuff and put the other 40% in storage and moved into our motorhome. Our goal is to live simply and pay off debt and “reboot” our lives as we both approach the 40 year-old milestone. We see so many people living paycheck to paycheck without any choices in their lives because they have to work to pay the bills and they are suffocating under all the stuff they have. And even though they have all this fun stuff, they can’t enjoy it because they are stretched so financially thin.

We don’t want to be those people. We want to truly own what we have, not be renting it from the bank. We don’t want to live in anxiety over money and things. We are saying no to a lot of things now so that we can say yes later.

What’s the Dave Ramsey saying? Live like no one else today so that you can live like no one else tomorrow?

 It’s been fun, but it’s also been challenging. Here’s a little update on the highs and lows of being a hobo.

Ticks- Have you ever heard of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever?  I had, but didn’t think it was anything anyone really got anymore. You know, like Polio or the measles. Turns out that when you move to a camper and live in campgrounds you are way more likley to encounter ticks. And those said ticks are very likely to bite you and make you sick. 20 days of antibiotics later the spots, fever and headaches are gone.

Paying Off Debts- Think about how much you spend on your house each month. Mortgage/rent, insurance, electricity, gas, water, trash pickup, pest control, telephone, internet, cable, etc. Add it all up and then realize how much you could pay toward debt or put away each month with these costs reduced or gone entirely! Yes, it stinks sometimes not having space to spread out in the floor, but when I get to pay off a doctor bill or an old credit card bill, it makes up for it!

Mowing/Maintenance/Landscaping- Jeremy is totally loving not having to mow!

No TV- Well, that’s not true. We have a tv and thanks to a high tech antennae booster, we get ONE CRAPPY CHANNEL! I’m sorry if you work at Channel 24, but your channel is terrible. First, it’s a hybrid of the CW and MeTV. Neither of which are known for stellar programming, but it seems to be the lowlights of both are what we get. If you get up at 6:00 AM you can watch the Brady Bunch, which I’m totally down with, but then you get a dose of some self-important guy at 6:30 proclaiming himself to be “your favorite apostle”. Um, no. At 7 you get the news. I’m considering applying for a job there because, me with zero television experience, could read the news way better than any of their anchors. After that it’s a couple of hours of Matlock and Diagnosis Murder, followed by all the westerns ever made. I’ll spare you the details of the entire line up, but I’ve successfully resisted the urge to buy a microwave roaster, a multi-saw (FILLS ALL YOUR DIY NEEDS!) a year’s supply of Omega XL (NOT A FISH OIL!) and a 7 piece essential kit of IT Cosmetics. #winning

Reading- Since I’m not watching a lot of television, I’ve been doing a lot of reading. Reading is one of my favorite hobbies and lately I’ve been really indulging. Since we are trying to not spend and not accumulate stuff, I’ve found two great ways to get my reading fix. First, the humble library. You know that place we all use to go before amazon.com? And did you know that most libraries have eBooks now so that you don’t even have to physically go to the library? I just open up my iPad, go to the library’s website and download books for free! The convenience is a total win. The drawback is that eBooks are really popular and sometimes the wait for a book is glacial. Take the new Steven King book for instance. I just put myself on the hold list for it and I’m number 36 in line. Since you can keep the books up to two weeks, it will definitely be no longer than a year and a half before I get it. WOOOO!

               

 The other way I’ve been sourcing reading material is the local thrift shop. Magazines are 10¢ each and books are 50¢-$1. I buy a pile for a couple bucks, read them and then donate them right back.

Kayaking- Since we stare at the lake every day, we’ve been thinking about getting kayaks. We’ve hummed and hawed over sit in or sit on for quite awhile and overall were just afraid to go for it. What if we purchased them, used them once and then hated them? After searching around at prices and styles, we found some that we thought we would like and that we thought we could get our money back out of if we hated them. We looked at our budget, dug out some old gift cards, sold a few items from our storage building (more on that below) and headed to hell-mart to make the purchase. Completely worth it!

Storage- The 40% of our stuff that we kept is in a storage building and it is a huge storage building. It’s full of things that I didn’t think I could live without or part with. Kitchen utensils, fancy dresses, side tables, papers from college, four wheeler parts, toys from when we were young, toys from when we weren’t young. That big storage building comes with a price tag and now every time I go there I look around and wish it were all gone. Of course there are some sentimental items that I don’t want to part with like baby books and wedding pictures. But for most of it, I’m just done with it. When we do wind up in our next place, I simply cannot imagine bringing all that stuff into it.

I realize that not everyone can just chuck it all and go hobo like we did. We are lucky that we have a really supportive child who doesn’t mind that we are “homeless” and she has her own apartment. Even if you can’t go at full steam, maybe you can be inspired to do something to free up your space and finances.

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

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Things That Annoy The Hell Out Of Me

I am normally a very positive person and this blog is my way of motivating myself and others to live our Dream Lives. However, I am human and this has been brewing for a bit. I present my list of

Things That Annoy The Hell Out Of Me.

This isn't some high and mighty list of sins and trespasses such as liars and drama queens. These are just little things that piss me off. In no particular order....



1. People that don't know how to use a multi-exit. For example, most fast food places have a really wide exit only area. If you are turning left, you go to the far left. If you are turning right, you go to the far right. Two cars should fit easily. Don't be the person who attempts to turn left from the far right. I will go to your left and turn right in front of you.

2. The word "Firstly". Is that even really a word??

3. The Oxford Comma. I am sorry Brooke and Samantha, I hate it. It's clutter. It's redundant in 90% of its uses. If Brooke, Sam and I are going to the grammar store, we don't need to buy an Oxford Comma for this sentence. I know, I know. We will have to agree to disagree.

4. Reality shows like "Alaskan Bush People" and "Moonshiners". Dear God, where do they find these people? My IQ drops 3 points every time I see these shows.

5. Enhanced Eyebrows. Girl, you are pretty! But why do you have those big black things on your head? If your eyebrows are drawn on with a sharpie marker and take up a large percentage of your face, just don't.

6. Protein bags that won't stay shut. We are paying good money for the protein. Can't they take some of that money and make a bag that will actually close? Ever heard of Ziploc? Thank goodness I sell Tupperware, I just dump it out.

7. Having to turn the drier on. I frequently put wet items in the drier. I frequently forget to turn it on. In 2015, shouldn't it just know there are wet clothes in there on turn itself on?

8. People that call multiple times, but never leave a message. I know we all hate voicemail, but if I don't know you, I'm not picking up. If I don't know you, I'm not calling you back unless you tell me why you are calling. 

9. Ladybugs in the house. I swear to all things holy, I will set my whole damn house on fire if another lady bug gets in my water jug.

10. FB messenger harassing me to turn on notifications. I hate notifications period. Every third time I open up FB messenger it asks me to turn on notifications. NO! Mark Zuckerberg, if I have not said yes in the 1000 times your app has asked, I ain't going to change my mind! STOP IT! And make that annoying little red 1 go away!

There you have it. 10 things that currently drive me berserk. #firstworldproblems #effittuesday.

What things would be on your list?

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do  me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me me on Periscope, I'm crossfitang.  I broadcast about fitness, nutrition, life improvement, planning and organizing and lots of random stuff.

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I Hate Winter!

57 Days Until Spring!

I saw this somewhere on the internetz today and smiled big! I hate winter & I hate being cold. However, I don't mind snow. I mean, if it's going to be so freaking cold I can't feel my extremities, at least I'll have something pretty to look at. 

With the oncoming snowpacalypse, I'm reminded of when I was a teenager and learning to drive. One day my stepdad took me out in the snow so that I could learn how to drive in it. I had an five speed manual 87 Fiero and I LOVED THAT CAR! (I swear, if you have a Fiero for sale, I'll buy it!). He stressed to me to go slow and steady and to not aggressively accelerate or brake. 

I was doing great on the snow covered back roads and was feeling pretty confident. I mean, it wasn't that hard.... I guess my confidence/cockiness was showing because he reached over and pressed on my right thigh causing me to press the gas hard. You can imagine what happened! The car started to slide and spin and I, the oh so smart teenager, stood on the brakes! We did a nice little 180 and then wound up nose first into a ditch.

Remember I said it was a Fiero, right? (If you don't know what those cars looked like, google it.). My step dad laughed really hard and said,
"I told you not to hit the brakes."
"I didn't!" I exclaimed.
He pointed at my right foot.
It was still pinned to the brake and the brake was pinned to the floor.

Ending up in the ditch that day was definitely a failure. However, I learned a lot from it. Thankfully, someone encouraged me to get back on the road that day and to keep driving.  I'm now a pretty decent driver in the snow and ice. I drove a Camaro through many snow storms and have plowed many a backroads with my Prius. 

Why am I telling you this story? Well, how are you doing on your New Year's Resolutions? Have you driven them off in the ditch? Did you give up and quit trying to drive? Did you decide it was too hard?

If you did, let me be the person that encourages you to get back behind the wheel. So you had an accident. No biggie. Get back in the drivers seat and take charge of your goals! You can do it!


Things I'm Loving This Week:

                                                  


I just found these bars and OMG they are amazing! They taste like iced sugar cookies! And they have 22 grams of protein!











This app is awesome! Strides lets you track your goals easily and sends you reminders when you are slacking! You'll love it!










What has you excited this week? I'd love to hear! 

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do  me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me me on Periscope, I'm crossfitang.  I broadcast about fitness, nutrition, life improvement, planning and organizing and lots of random stuff.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. I'm even more fun over at IG!

I'm Starting A New Monthly Subscription Service!

So you've probably heard of BirchBox or WODbox or MessyBox or one of the hundreds of other monthly subscription services. You have right? I love BirchBox and have referred many of you to it because it's a fun way to try new health and beauty products. And it's like Christmas every month! Check it out, if you haven't already, at this link.

Well, this morning I stumbled across a website that helps you start your own monthly subscription service! Yes! How fun would that be? Every month I could pick out some fun goodies to mail to really cool people?!?! What theme would I choose? Healthy eating? Flexible Dieting? Organizing? Fitness? Turtles? And then I got it. Who's ready to subscribe to get a monthly...


"RANDOM BOX OF SHIT!"

Yes! Every month, for the cute little amount of $9.99, you can get my artfully curated Random Box Of Shit!

February's box: A peanut butter sample, a hair tie, some thumb tacks, a jump rope and a ninja throwing start!

March's box: A Keurig Cup, an antibiotic ointment, pretty file folders, a Godiva chocolate and a bull whip!

April's box: A bean sprouting kit, a 1/2 pound peanut butter cup, crazy socks, a packet of cute labels and a Dos Equis!

I'm so jazzed about this! Something for everyone! Who's with me? Subscribe today!

LOL, so maybe the world isn't ready for this fabulous idea, but if you are............

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do  me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me me on Periscope, I'm crossfitang.  I broadcast about fitness, nutrition, life improvement, planning and organizing and lots of random stuff.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. I'm even more fun over at IG!

Planning My Life With The 2016 Intentional Life Planner From Just AGirl Abby

Today I want to tell you about my 2016 Intentional Life Planner that I purchased from Just A Girl And Her Blog. It is only $10 and I am really enjoying it.

To start off, I grabbed a binder I already had that I had and put some pretty scrapbook paper in the front and side. I also made a cute little name plate, but you could get a pretty new one like this or  a professional looking one like this.

The first thing I liked about the 2016 Intentional Life Planner is that you get a nice full year calendar for both 2016 and 2017.

There is a page for you to record important dates which is great for me because I always forget birth dates!

I love the "In Five Years" page! I haven't filled mine out yet, but I have a a LOT of ideas on my head and plan to have it written out by the end of December.

I am a huge believer in goal setting so I really appreciate the goals for  the year page. The action steps are great because many of us set goals and then don't plan how we are going to achieve them! "Dream Life 2016" is a little project I'm working on to help myself and others reach their goals and these pages match perfectly! (See below to find out more about that project) I have a brain dump page going on right now with goals and ideas and plan to have these pages filled out by the end of December as well!

Every month starts out with a great quote and a monthly focus goal sheet. I like how it allows you to tie in your yearly goals to each month.

Next comes the big, overview calendar for the month. I like to fill it up with appointments and the tasks that happen every week. Blog and periscope ideas go on there as well.

Next in the planner is the weekly breakdown.Each day has a To-Do section and an hourly breakdown. I LOVE THIS! The day by day hourly breakdown is what sold me on this planner. When I have really busy, hectic days, planning it out hour by hour makes it way more manageable.

One con to this planner is that printing it out can be tricky if you don't have a great printer. However, the quality and price makes that a very trivial matter.

And I don't know if it was something in the file or my really crappy printer, but everywhere in the planner that has a "W" printed weirdly.

(I'm pretty sure it's because my printer is 10+ years old and I purchased it on Black Friday for only $25.)

Check out my video if you want more details of how I use my planner!

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? An early Christmas gift if you will? Do  me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable! And you'll be the first to get my Dream Life 2016 Goal Printable!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me me on Periscope, I'm crossfitang.  I broadcast about fitness, nutrition, life improvement, planning and organizing and lots of random stuff.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. I'm even more fun over at IG!

***Affiliate link*** because I am an Amazon Associate they give me a little thank you gift of a few pennies if you shop through my link. The price is the same for you as if you just went to straight to Amazon. Even if you don't want to buy a new binder, use my link and buy something you would normally buy, ok? And then I can write in my YMJ that someone shopped through my link and earned me a penny for my thoughts. :)