Living a Joyful Life

What We're Eating This Week... Monday: Leftovers from Sunday: Chicken, vegetables, rice Tuesday: Salmon, green beans, carrots and I'm not sure about the rest of the week. What I'm Reminiscing About... The two trips I've taken to the Caribbean. Both of these trips happened in February and I always reminisce about them during the month of February (and lets be honest... I think about them a lot more often than that. The Caribbean Ocean soothes my soul.) ^First trip to Turks & Caicos in 2012.^ What I'm Loving... Spending time with my mom and my friends, filming IG Live videos, watching TV/movies. What I've Been Up To... Lots of doctor appointments. What I'm Dreading... Some things that I can't talk about. What I'm Working On... Blog posts. What I'm Excited About... Baseball season! Let's Go Mets! Credit:  This Site What I'm Watching/Reading... Watching:...

1. Health Update While this first thing isn't a favorite, I want to include it anyway. I've been dealing with a lot of ongoing health issues recently and in the past 2 years. I've been diagnosed with hip bursitis and have yet to find any relief for the constant and excruciating pain in my left hip. We have tried countless things to help lessen my pain. I have been to so many doctor's appointments and tried so many things and have yet to find any relief. I also have rheumatoid arthritis and I've been struggling a lot lately between both of these issues. I feel like I'm a burden to lots of people, especially my job and my family. I've been praying so much and reading lots of self help books and trying to do things I enjoy because all of these health issues have left me feeling so depressed, stressed, emotional and beyond worn out. My favorite word is JOY and I'm trying to not let everything that's been happening lately, steal my JOY but someti...

What We're Eating This Week... Monday: Chicken, sweet potato, zucchini with shallots & onions Tuesday: Leftovers Wednesday: Fish, quinoa, broccoli Thursday: Pork chop, veggies, salad Friday: Salmon, roasted veggies, fruit salad Saturday: Out to eat with a friend Sunday: Not sure What I'm Reminiscing About... My trips to the Caribbean. They both took place in February and I'm always itching to go back there to the ocean I love so dear. ^Photo from my first trip to Turks & Caicos.^ What I'm Loving... Self-help books. (I will be posting about the two books I read in January sometime next week.) What I've Been Up To... Working and doctor's appointments. What I'm Dreading... Being in constant pain everyday. What I'm Working On... Lesson plans and blog posts. What I'm Excited About... Hanging out with friends this weekend. What I'm Watching/Reading... Watc...

1. What did you do in 2018 that you'd never done before? Traveled to Texas (for my second Go Wild Planner Conference), celebrated a year working at my full time job. I started doing Live Plan With Me’s on my Instagram Channel. 2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't make any resolutions. 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My friend, N. 4. Did anyone close to you die? No. 5. What countries did you visit? None. 6. What would you like to have in 2019 that you lacked in 2018? Relief from my hip pain. 7. What date(s) from 2018 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Feb. 18th-Feb. 23rd: My brother, SIL, nephews J & N came to visit! It was so much fun getting to spend quality time with them. Unfortunately, I had to work M-W and Friday but I was able to take Thursday off and we went to a local wax museum, went to Dave & Buster’s and played lots of games, and did some shop...

Book(s) you have read multiple times? I'm not sure I have a book that I've read multiple times but I could definitely read Wonder by R.J. Palacio over and over again. It's such a great story with a really important message. Favorite Book/Author of All Time? I'm not sure what my favorite book of all time is as I've read so many amazing books throughout the years. I have a bunch of favorite authors that I look forward to reading whenever they come out with a new book but if I had to pick just one it would be Linda Castillo because her Amish mystery series is my all time favorite book series! Favorite TV Show to Binge? I am obsessed with all of the Chicago shows (PD/Fire/Med) so any of those would be great shows to binge. I actually caught on to the show Chicago Fire late (in the 3rd season) so I binged the first two seasons of the show over a week and a half. On Netflix, I love Fuller House as I was obsessed with the original, Full House, when I w...

Number of Books You Read: 37 Number of Re-reads: 0 Genre You Read The Most From: Fiction 1. Best Book You Read in 2018? 1) A Gathering of Secrets (newest novel in the Kate Burkholder series) by Linda Castillo 2) The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah 3) Still Me by Jojo Moyes 2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more but didn't? The Perfect Sister by Jessica Knoll 3. Most Surprising (in a good or bad way) book you read? The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang 4. Book you "pushed" the most people to read? Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis 5. Best series you started in 2018? Best sequel of 2018? Best series ender of 2018? I didn't start a series in 2018. Best sequel: A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo. Best series ender? Still Me by Jojo Moyes 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2018? Kristin Hannah... yes I'm late to the game of finding out about her fantastic writing! 7. Best...