Living a Joyful Life

^I'm linking up with these blogs for Five on Friday!^ 1. Weight Loss Journey (so far) Last November, I really got motivated to start my weight loss journey. Since then, I've lost almost 25 lbs. I was sick a lot between November-February and I also had my tonsils out at the end of December. Along with that, I've been keeping track of what I eat in a food journal, cutting back on my portions, not going for second helpings (even if it is one of my favorite meals/foods), not snacking as much during the day, making better choices when I do have a snack, and rarely having anything to eat after dinner. I've been drinking more water. Aside from water and my morning coffee, I have apple juice at night, (which is when I sometimes find myself craving something sweet) but I drink the Mot's for Tot's which has 40% less sugar than regular apple juice and it's mixed with water. Before I started having the problem and pain with my left hip, I had been walking a l...

1. What We're Eating This Week... Monday: Grilled chicken, string beans, French fries Tuesday: Pasta with meatballs and I'm not sure about the rest of the week, yet. 2. What I'm Reminiscing About... As a child, every year, for a week in the Summer we went to Lake George, NY. It was the highlight of Summer every year. To this day, that lake is still one of my very favorite places. I would spend all day in the lake, swimming, jumping off the dock, and just spending time in the beautiful lake. We stayed at the same place every Summer and I became good friends with the owner's of the place grand-daughter who would spend the Summers there. During the rest of the year, we were pen-pals and wrote letters to each other. ^I went back to Lake George a few Summers ago for the first time in a while and it's still my happy place.^ 3. What I'm Loving... My planner friends & the planner community! This past Saturday, I attended a mee...

I've been planning in a paper planner ever since I started middle school and we were given an academic planner to keep track of anything school related: assignments, tests, projects, extra-curricular activities, etc.  ^One of my previous Life Planners^ Almost nine years ago, I purchased my first Erin Condren Life Planner. I have been using an Erin Condren planner ever since. The EC planner is seriously my favorite planner. I use it to keep track of everything: work schedules (including when I substitute), birthdays/anniversaries of family & friends, medical appointments, fun events such as marking when I have a planner meet up, when library books are due, when I receive happy mail, etc. Next week, I will be making a post reviewing the 2018 Erin Condren Life Planner but today's post is going to recap the amazing experience I had earlier this year when I attended the Go Wild Planner Conference in Nashville, TN with a ton of amazing planner girls! ^Another prev...

^I'm linking up with these blogs for Five on Friday & Friday Favorites.^ Five on Friday: 1. Hip Bursitis Within the past month and a half, I've been diagnosed with left hip bursitis. I have been having pain in my left hip for the majority of this year and after visiting my regular doctor, he sent me to an orthopedic doctor where I had X-rays and was given the diagnosis. I'm currently doing 3 days a week of physical therapy until the second to last week of July. I'm still in a lot of pain but therapy has been going well. I always have exercises that I do at home that my PT gave me to do. Unfortunately, my doctors didn't want me working this Summer because of this and because of the fact that I have to go to PT three times a week so I had to regretfully leave my Summer job which I was loving. 2. The Graduates Tomorrow my niece and God-daughter, O, graduates from elementary school. Her elementary school goes through 6th grade so tomorrow sh...

I am trying to get caught up with a lot of things, including blog posts, however, I've been working a lot and have just recently been diagnosed with hip bursitis so life has definitely been busy lately. Here are some upcoming posts that I will be making in the near future: -Erin Condren 2018 Life Planner Picture/Review Post -Recaps of the 3 1/2 days I spent in Nashville, TN in April for the Go Wild Planner Conference -Trip Recaps of my trips to Turks & Caicos (one in 2012 and one this year) I will also be making posts with different link-ups that I join in with! For now, I just wanted to write and say that I hope you all are having a great start to June. Also, how is it June already? Since graduating from college, I feel like the years just fly by so quickly! Do you have any fun plans for the upcoming Summer months? I would love to hear about them in the comments! Credit:  This Site