Knitting the Shawl and Reading On

Hello Friends,


I hope you are doing well. It has been too long since I have been on here blogging. I missed it! I have been busy with work mostly and knitting the shawl here and there. I have knitted quite a few more rows since the last photo. The shawl was too big to take a photo on my usual white chair, so I had to move to the couch to take photos of it. I am following the casual lace knit shawl pattern by Linda Thach found on Ravelry. I like the design from doing the yarn over, and knit 2 together it adds a nice texture to the shawl.

I finished reading Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. I started reading it on New Year's day because it borrowed it automatically from OverDrive library site. I felt like it was a sign to start reading it and working on my money goals this year. It is a great book for getting real with yourself about your financial situation. I am also continuing to read The Miracle Equation by Hal Elrod. It has had a bit of a slow start I am hoping there are some steps to take to live as a "miracle maven" soon. I have been doing better lately with meditation, reading, and writing in the mornings and feeling more on top of things.

This weekend I will be working on a lot of wedding planning as it is getting so much closer to the wedding now! (3 months away!) 

Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday 

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great weekend

Happy New Year! Progress on Knitting the Shawl and Reading On

Hello Friends,


Happy New Year! We are in 2020 now and I am feeling very positive and excited for this year. On New Year's Eve, Liam and I went over to hang out at one of his friend's apartments and we played games and chatted. We also watched the ball drop and celebrated with champagne at midnight. It was a nice group to ring in the New Year with. So far the year has been good, I have been getting readjusted to regular life after the holidays have ended. Next week will feel long at work as it is the first full week back after the holidays. There will be new training happening soon at work and lots of change coming soon so I am anticipating that happening.

I started knitting the shawl again. This week I knitted some more rows of the Casual Lace Knit shawl found on Ravelry. I love how it is turning out so far, the details are so lovely. I really like the green color of the yarn as well. The yarn is the brand Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand in the colorway 'dusty green'. I got a few skeins of it last year when it was on sale at Michaels and thought it would be perfect for this shawl.

I finished reading Better Than Before by Gretchen Ruben and I liked the book. I really liked the tip from the book on pairing tasks to get things done. I think I will try to do that more often such as pairing going to the gym with watching a show while working out as a pairing. I think do that pairing with knitting and watching YouTube videos. There are some types of videos I only watch while knitting, a lot of the videos of vloggers just talking make me feel like I should be also knitting while watching them. So I get a lot more knitting done while watching those videos, and will wait to watch them until I have some knitting to do while watching.
I started reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey this week. It automatically borrowed for me on OverDrive on New Year's Day morning, so I got a jump on reading it that day. I have been following Dave Ramsey's steps to getting debt free and have paid off my student loans and still have some more to pay off from when I was in school and when I was in between jobs and changing careers. I am on baby step 2 and then the next step once debt is paid off is baby step 3 which is to start saving for 3-6 months of expenses. I am interested in reading more about his steps to keep on working towards building a positive financial future for Liam and I.  I have also started reading The Miracle Equation by Hal Elrod and have been enjoying his inspirational words and hope to learn more about making my mornings more productive. I really enjoyed his first book called The Miracle Morning so I am looking forward to reading this book too. I have also been listening to the audio book called Give a Sh*t: Be Good. Live Better. Save the Planet. by Ashlee Piper. I hope to learn more about living more waste-free and helping to save the earth. So far I feel like this audio book is very motivating and I am looking forward to listening to it on my drives to and from work.

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday

I hope that you had a good first week of the new year and are enjoying life getting back to normal after the busy holiday season.

Have a great day!

5 Things I am Doing to Prepare for 2020

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. We are only one day away from a new year and a new decade! It has been such a good year and I am looking forward to 2020 being even better. It is the year I get married, so it is going to be a busy and exciting year.

I feel like a new year is a fresh start and we can start fresh on our goals, start good habits, and learn new things. It makes me feel like being the best version of myself and I feel like starting strong this year and continuing throughout the year to work on myself and my goals.

There are five things I have started doing and will continue doing tomorrow as well to start 2020 on the right foot. Some have been on my to-do list for awhile and some things are fun and I just thought they would be a fun motivation for a good start to the year.

1. Clean and tidy apartment 
I would like to go around and tidy up some of the Christmas mess that has emerged over the past month.I would also like to put some stuff away and clean up a few areas. I want to vacuum and give the floor sweep, dusting, and a mop. Just to freshen up our home to start the year off with a clean and refreshed space.

2. Write down goals and resolutions and how to achieve them
During Blogmas I wrote a post with a list of resolutions and I will write these down and ways to achieve them this year. I will make a spread in my planner for this to visit throughout the year. I received the Happy Planner below for Christmas from my mom and I have made a first week of 2020 spread as you will see below to motivate me to start the year off strong.

 I have since written in things I would like to accomplish on different days of the week. I feel more motivated now to start the year off right. I love the bright and uplifting stickers and motivational stickers to inspire me.

I love the quote sticker for the week it is so inspiring for the whole year

3. Do miracle morning routine New Year's Eve morning
Doing Miracle morning SAVERS is something I want to take into the New Year and what better way to start something than to do it the morning before to gain some momentum? I have been doing the meditations mostly daily since my last morning routine post, but haven't been keeping up with the other steps and would like to do them all in the morning before the new year. I am excited to read Hal Elrod's new book The Miracle Equation in January to get that extra boost to kick off the new year with more motivation. I loved the first book, so I feel like I can't wait to see what the second one has in store for me. I also received the book good morning good life by Amy Schmittauer Landino from my sister for Christmas and can't wait to see what morning rituals and night rituals they have as well.

Books that will inspire me to have the best mornings

4. Create a vision board for 2020
I have created a vision board in the past, but never for the entire vision of the year ahead. I can see the benefits of this practice. I really think doing this would help me keep focused on my goals and to have a clearer idea of what I want to achieve in the new year. I have shared my vision board below and I am excited to look at it during my morning routines. I really believe that having vision boards are so good to keep you on track and to know what you really want. I have photos below for my wedding, getting that first AdSense cheque from Google, making healthy vegetarian and vegan meals, writing in my planner, reading lots of books, getting in shape, becoming pregnant, getting to be debt free, trying out new knitting stitches, and buying a townhouse. These are a lot of big goals as well as some health and wellness goals. I am so excited for 2020 just looking at this vision board and if you make one, I hope yours excites you too! I will print this out and paste it into my planner to look at each morning.

5. Finish reading my book and writing in Q&A book
I am reading Better Than Before by Gretchen Ruben and would really like to finish my last book of the year. I am enjoying it and really think it is beneficial to understanding how habits can help us to create the life we want. I have a Q&A a day book and I still have some pages to fill in for 2019. I know you are supposed to fill it in daily, but I get behind and then fill it in later on so I can compare the answers I wrote in the year. In 2020, I would like to make it more part of my morning routine like I did at the beginning of the year and it will help me to remember to fill in my answers.

These are the five things I will be focusing on completing during the remainder of 2019. Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope that you all have a wonderful New Year and feel your best!

Happy New Year!