Blogging is a Funny Thing

Hey guys!

I feel like I have been MIA around here for the past couple of weeks. I have had absolutely no motivation to blog, or even catch up on the blogs I read daily. I have no idea why. I go through spurts where I'm like "must read every single blog! Must write atleast 5 days a week!" and then I have weeks where I'm like " I don't give a rat's ass about blogging or reading blogs" and that has been this last couple of weeks. 

I hate feeling guilty for not blogging or for not checking Twitter and giving shout outs to my sponsors. I am so thankful for those people who choose to advertise on my page and I never want them to forget that. However, I also don't want to feel pressure to come up with a post when I feel like I'd rather do almost anything else. I love blogging, but when it starts feeling like a job, it's not as fun. That's not what blogging is about for me.

I started this blog for Garrett and I, and for our friends and families. Along the way I have gained more followers, began advertising on other's blogs as well as having people advertise on mine. Quite frankly, I'm a little over it. I'm over the giveaway's and the whole competition of who has the most followers.

For me, blogging is a creative outlet as well as an online memory book. It's something I do to preserve memories, pictures, and moments that Garrett and I have. Sometimes I feel like it has gotten away from that and has turned into a silly blog world competition to see how many new followers I can get and how many giveaways I can participate in. I don't want blogging to turn into something negative for me. I want to have the same excitement about it that I did when I first started. When I had like 5 followers and didn't care.

Blogging is a funny thing. You want to have more followers so that you can share your life with more people as well as learn about theirs, but at the same time more followers brings about new things such as advertising. I guess it doesn't have to. It is not mandatory that I advertise or swap buttons. I'm not even sure that I plan on stopping advertising or having people advertise with me. I just know that I want things to change around here. I don't want my blog to be a business that I stress out over.

So, what do I plan to change? Not much. 

In fact, the only thing I want to change is the feeling of guilt I get when I go for 3 days without so much as a peep in the blog world. I want to come and go as I please, posting when I want to and commenting when I want to. I still want to advertise and accept advertising, I just don't want to feel like I have to post 5 days a week or I am letting people down. I realize that this may mean that no one will want to advertise with me, and I am ok with that. I didn't start this blog to earn money. If people do choose to advertise with me still, I will be very thankful. I will still do everything that I say I will, I just may not post 5 days a week every week. I will post when I feel like I have something relevant and fun to talk about. 

So, there ya go. No big changes are coming up, I just wanted to let you in on how I have been feeling lately. Also, I was wondering if you had any advice? Do you ever feel pressure to come up with a post just to please your readers or out of fear of losing readers? How do you deal with it?

Ps. This post started out on a whoooole different topic and somehow ended up on this one. Funny how that happens sometimes!

Happy Friday! 

I'm headed to Austin, TX on Sunday and couldn't be more excited!

Weekend Fun!

Hi babes!

Yesterday, instead of sharing about my weekend like I normally would, I had a group giveaway going on. {I'll wait while you go enter...}

...

......

.........

Done? Ok.

So, today is the day! Weekend posts are my favorite to share and my favorite to read from you guys. I love that blogging inspires Garrett and I to get off of our asses and go do something fun for the weekend. This weekend we did a tour in Golden, CO at the Coors Brewery and then had a nice Sunday night at Cinema Grill.

Saturday morning we woke up and drove to Golden to tour the Coors Brewery. We parked in the provided parking lot to wait on the bus to take us to the actual brewery. After standing in line {part of it in the cold rain} for what seemed like forever, we boarded our bus and took a short tour of the town and were then dropped off at the brewery.

Inside we were hooked up with these sweet audio tapes for our self-guided tour. To be honest, neither of us listened to more than 5 minutes of the recording. Instead, we whizzed through the tour part {which, honestly, was a little disappointing} and made it pretty quickly to the sampling room.

I managed to take a couple of pictures along the way.

And then we made it to the tasting room. It was crowded! I think alot of people just rush through the tour {or don't go through at all} and head here. If I were a beer drinker that's what I would do. You get 3 huge samples and it is all free! 

I tried a Blue Moon and Garrett had a Batch 19 for his first round. I didn't like any of the ones I sampled. Beer is gross. 

Garrett also had a Killian's Irish Stout and a Killian's Irish Red. He didn't much care for either of these. Side note: I think he has been spoiled by living in Denver and having local beer. Just FYI.

Afterwards we headed to the downtown area of Golden, had lunch, and shopped around. We ate at a place called D' Deli and our sandwiches were delicious! It was just a small place with literally 100's of sandwiches to choose from. One panini had peanut butter, chocolate, and marshmallow!

After lunch and looking around, we headed to the top of Lookout Mountain. You could see the whole town of Golden nestled between the mountains on one side, and on the other side was mountains as far as you could see.

You can see the brewery in the above picture if you look hard enough. It is directly above the center of the photo, that tiny red sign is it! 

And last but not least, on the way home we saw these cuties:

I know this post is going on forever now, but we had a good Sunday too and I want to talk about it. You know, for when I'm an old lady and want to reminisce with my grandbabies. What? You don't think they will want to read about what we ate at Cinema Grill? Yes they will.

Well grandchildren, your grandpa and I had a cheeseburger, chicken fingers, and fries. And they were GOOD. Then we had a slice of cheesecake with strawberries. We watched Identity Thief {which was hilarious!} and we definitely want to go back sometime. Cinema Grill's are cool!

I wish we could fast forward to this next weekend, I have some exciting stuff coming up! We see Miranda Lambert on Saturday and then I am off to Austin for several days to stay with my sister and see Tay Swift! SO EXCITED!

Ok. I am done now. Thanks for hanging in there! : )

On Being the Cool Girl

Ok. You can quit laughing now. 

I know what you are thinking. "You aren't cool, Whitney!"

Well, on Tuesday I was. 

For those of you who may not know, I work at a residential treatment facility for girls. I could go on and on about this job but I won't. I'll just fill you in on the basics:

1. I used to work with the 11 to 13 year olds. For like a year and a half. They loved me and I loved them.

2. I switched positions at work because I was tired of my schedule. {5:30am M-F? No thanks!}

3. Now I work with the older girls, 14-19 year olds. I'm scared of them, and they don't know me. They also aren't as lovey and cuddly as the 11 to 13 year olds, but that's neither here nor there.

So, now you are all caught up on my work life.

A very important part of my job is to be authoritative. I have to confront the girls when they are trying to lie about stealing someone's makeup, talking about their time in jail, or doing something more awkward like smearing poop on the bathroom stalls. Yep, you read that right. No, it doesn't happen often.

 

 

 

As you can imagine, trying to be authoritative with teenaged juvenile delinquents is quite tricky. Most of the time they just look at you like you are crazy, make fun of your Texan accent,  and continue doing what they were doing.  Tuesday I was telling my group of 20 girls to be quiet while in line for their medications and to my surprise one of the girls said, "Whitney! Will you sit with us at breakfast?"

Say what?

They like me!?

 

I figured I would sit down at one of their tables and they would just roll their eyes and look at their friends and laugh like, "great, now we can't talk about how we are going to run away after breakfast."

 

    

 

But I got this instead: 

 

 

And you know what? It warmed my heart. They wanted me to sit with them so they could talk to me and get to know me and tell me about their lives and ask about mine. Sometimes that doesn't come so easily in this type of setting. By the time breakfast was over I had my whole table singing We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together quite loudly. Actually, another staff member asked us to quieten down. Oops.

 

I left work that day feeling accepted and like I could maybe actually make a difference in these girls' lives as well. I sure do miss my younger kids and literally want to scoop them up in the biggest hug when I see them, but these older girls might be ok too!

 

 

 

Healthy {Paleo Friendly} Meatloaf

Hi y'all!

Remember last week when I was talking about trying to eat healthier? I decided I wanted to try to eat "cleaner" and so I searched Paleo friendly meals and came across this meatloaf recipe.

I don't like meatloaf so I was hesitant to try it, but it was full of veggies so I talked myself, and Garrett, into trying it. You know what? It wasn't half bad! I think Garrett liked it a little more than I did, but for me to like something with veggies in it was a big deal!

You will need:

2 Lb Extra Lean Ground Beef

*2 Red Onions, finely chopped

*4 Garlic Cloves, minced

*1/2 Bell Pepper, chopped

*1/2 Cup Cilantro, chopped

*1/2 Cup Parsley, chopped

2 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Pepper

3 Eggs, beaten

2 T Flaxseed Oil {I used vegetable oil}

*I don't like chunky veggies in my food so I added all of the ingredients with the * to the blender, and blended them up completely. That way I still got the veggies but without the chunks. If you don't mind chunky veggies you can skip this step!

What to do:

Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Spread evenly in an 81/2 by 11 baking dish and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. 

I added brown gravy to mine because I needed a little salt, but you don't have to. {It's better with it though!}

I liked this recipe because it was meaty and hearty but without the guilt and I was getting my veggies! 

Enjoy! : )

A Very Special Someone(s)

Hey friends!

Today I am sharing four sweet ladies with you that you will definitely want to get to know! When I started offering advertising, I didn't know how lucky I would get with the people who would choose to hang out on my sidebar! I really have gotten the best, sweetest ladies!

So here ya go...check 'em out!

Megan owns a cute shop called Megan's Beaded Designs.

Megan hand makes jewelry, hair pieces, brooches and much more. Check out her shop here and read about her business model here! She creates unique pieces for unique people. Not only does she create pretty beaded pieces, she writes about things like living in the here and now and being happy in the moment, as well as eliminating the word "just" from your vocabulary. She also shows us 5 ways to rock a headband (check out the Geordi! : )). Basically, Megan is a creative sweetheart striving to make unique pieces for women who want to stand out a little bit and she is doing a great job! 

Meighan blogs over at Heavens to Meighan.

Now if you couldn't tell from that picture, Meighan is pretty awesome! I guess I am a little bit biased because she is my best blogging friend, as in we text pretty much daily. If you are looking for a new friend who is sweet and hilarious, please check her out! Need an example of this hilarity? Ok. What about the time Meighan tripped and fell? Or the time she relives her time with her childhood imaginary friend, Peter? Don't worry, your abs won't always be sore from giggling at her words, she also shares other things, like her new collection of pretty blues!

Ange is a beauty blogger at Hair Spray & High Heels.

If I remember correctly, I met Ange on Twitter. She is always up at 2am like me, so we hit it off! She is extremely sweet and goes out of her way to help out fellow bloggers. What more could you ask for from a blogging friend? If that weren't enough, this girl loves fried pickles and usually doesn't feel like getting dressed for the day, it's like we are the same person! : ) Remember I told ya she was a beauty blogger? This girl came up with a manicure inspired by each Disney princess!! 10 different manicures! {The Pocahontas one is my fave!} She also shares her ideas for a makeup starter kit!

Jeannette is a blogger at Jeannette with Two Ns.

How cute is she? Very is the answer! : ) She is also sweet and is loads of fun. Jeannette's blog is fun and one I am definitely glad I found. She talks about all sorts of things like why she blogs and says that when she doesn't blog for awhile she feels incomplete. Now if that's not love for the blog world, I don't know what is! She also participated in our fun link up Never Have I Ever where I discovered that she doesn't really love Taylor Swift like I do, and I'm ok with that! Jeannette also almost got arrested, you'll have to read this one for yourself! : )

Now you have four new ladies to check out! If you are like me, you never get tired of meeting new bloggers and potential blogging friends. It's always fun to see if you might connect with a new person through their blog!

Ps. Come back on May 13th for the group giveaway these girls are participating in! 

How did THAT get you HERE?

Hi love bugs!

Just the other day I was Tweeting the funny things that people had recently searched for that brought them to my blog. Then, today I came across this great link up idea hosted by Helene and knew I wanted to participate! Thanks Helene!

Basically, the idea of the link up is to share what ridiculous search terms people have used to find your blog page. I normally don't look at my search terms too often, so I only really have 2 funny ones to share. But, they are good ones and will make you giggle.

1. "Ugly cat in the shower"

Y'all, I have no idea how this would have brought anyone to my blog! Sure, I've talked about my love for my two cats, as well as cat breath, but I have never talked about an ugly cat in the shower. Weeeiiird.

2. "Sex toy giveaway"

Mom, I have never given away a sex toy on my blog. Or at all for that matter. But I did talk about this curling iron looking like some kind of weird sex toy and in that same post I was doing a giveaway. Someone was probably upset when they got here and discovered there was no sex toy giveaway. 

My apologies.

{I just realized that I said sex toy 5 times now which will probably lead someone here again just to be disappointed.}

3. "Happy life"

This one just made me feel happy. 

The fact that someone searched happy life and it somehow brought them to my blog is sweet and encouraging.

What strange things have people searched for that brought them to your blog page?

Cara Box and Some Random Rambling

Hi y'all!

Remember last week when I said I was going to start trying to eat healthier? Well I am still trying and today I had a salad for lunch. It was gross and I ended up throwing half of it away. It's times like these that I just want to go to Arby's and try the new Sweet Hawaiian Roll sandwich. Then after that, drive a couple more minutes to Sonic for one of their shakes. 

Why can't eating healthy be easy?

I have thought about making myself eat healthy for 5 days out of the week and then having 2 cheat days where I can eat what I want. I think that having cheat days would be counterproductive for me because then I would have this voice in my head saying, "nope, you can't have this today but you can have it on Saturday" and to me that's silly. 

Oh eating healthy, I hate you. Atleast right now.

Annnyways, I got my April Cara Box on Sunday from Gayle and it was really cute! Thank you Gayle for the box and sweet card!

From left to right, Gayle sent me:

1. A space saving water bottle. Isn't that cool? It's flat until you fill it up with water so it's easy to store in a purse/backpack. And it has a fun print!

2. A bright, spring themed coffee cup that can be recycled. I love the bright print on this too!

3. 4 little pots of flowers to grow. These were my favorite thing she sent, I can't wait to grow them! Now if it will just stop snowing so that I can sit them outside!

4. 2 reusable produce bags. These are great since Garrett and I recently started eating more produce! Can't wait to use these either!

Thanks again to Gayle for the sweet box filled with fun things!

Hope you guys are having a great Wednesday! Half way to the weekend!