Living a Joyful Life

1. What We're Eating This Week Monday:  Pizza Tuesday: Grilled sausage, ravioli, and green beans I'm not sure about the rest of the week. 2. What I'm Reminiscing About... My trip to NY to visit my family that happened earlier this month. Credit: Pinterest 3. What I'm Loving... That I was able to spend a week in NY and spend quality time with my nieces & nephews and my siblings. Credit: Pinterest 4. What I've Been Up To... I started back to work last week when it was the first day of school. I work at an elementary school in the aftercare program and I'm also a substitute teacher. Credit: Heather Stillufsen @  Rose Hill Design Studio 5. What I'm Dreading... Nothing at the moment. 6. What I'm Working On... I have a couple of blog posts that I want to get posted and one of them is my review of the 2018 Erin Condren Life Planner. 7. What I'm Excited About... My brother R ...

1. Pool, lake or ocean? If I could trade the Caribbean ocean for the Atlantic ocean, I would in a heartbeat and I would be there all the time. Since I sadly can't make this happen, I love both pools and lake. I grew up going to the lake in NY for a week every Summer for our Summer vacations and that place has my heart. To this day, it is still one of my all time favorite places in the world. 2. Camping, cottage, or hotel? I've only been camping a few times in my life so I would say cottage or hotel. 3. Favorite ice cream flavor? Funfetti (it tastes just like the Funfetti cake mix). 4. PJ's, Nightgown, T-shirt/Shorts or Birthday Suit? Combination of PJ's and t-shirt/shorts. 5. Fave Summer Beverage? Sweet Tea/Iced Tea 6. Would you rather be hot or cold? Cold. 7. Sandals with heels or flats? Flats 8. Shorts or skirts? Shorts. 9. Sit in the sun or the shade? Shade. 10. Water, tea, or soda? Wate...

Here are the books I read in July: 1. The Arrangement by Sarah Dunn I really enjoyed this novel. The story was very different and it held my interest. I was very curious to find out what was going to happen next and how the story was going to end. I rated this book 4 stars on the Goodreads website. 2. Always & Forever, Lara Jean -Jenny Han This is the third and final installment of the Lara Jean series. I have loved all of the books in this series and this one was no exception. I'm sad that there are going to be no more new books but I do love how this book ended and wrapped up Lara Jean's story. I rated this book 5 stars. 3. The Sunshine Sisters -Jane Green Another fabulous novel by Jane Green. This one focused on three sisters and their childhood and how they were raised by their mother and how the mother treated each of them so differently. A circumstance finds all the sisters (who are spread out in different places) back home for the Sum...

1. What We're Eating This Week... Monday: Sausage & peppers Tuesday: Chips & salsa (I'm keeping it real... lol) and I'm not sure about the rest of the week 2. What I'm Reminiscing About... Summer memories made with my nieces & nephews and my family. I'm also still reminiscing about my trips to the lake every Summer growing up and how it was always one of the absolute best weeks of Summer vacation! Credit:  This Site 3. What I'm Loving... This past weekend, I got together with my planner friends and we had a meet up. It's so much fun getting together to chat and plan with good friends. I also got to meet one of my best friend's new baby boy! Credit:  This Site 4. What I've Been Up To... Last week was my sixth and final week of physical therapy for my hip bursitis. For fun, I've been spending time with my mom (when she's not working). I've also been doing a lot of reading and...

Since I was a little girl, reading has always been my one of my favorite things to do. I was always obsessed with going to the library and to book store. When I was younger, reading, helped me get through a lot of things and for that I will always love and be grateful to reading. Credit: someecards.com  When I became a little older, I would walk up to our local neighborhood library with an empty backpack and spend hours there browsing through books and picking which ones I wanted to take home. After I checked out with one of my most prized possessions at the time (my very own library card!), I would put a quarter in the pay phone and call my mom to tell her I was ready to come home. I couldn't walk home because the empty backpack I brought with me, was now filled to the brim with treasures: my mountain of new (and old favorite) books to read. Credit:  This Site This year, from January until the end of the school in early June, I wasn't able to do a lot of ...

^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 the lake.. 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 the lake 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 meet up that...