Friday, April 15, 2016

Five Things Friday | 1

TGIF right?

I don't know about y'all, but I am so excited that Friday is upon us, even though I have to work Saturday!  Today I am spending the day in Statesville helping out the branch there, so I am little far away from home!  That's okay though because tomorrow at 12 noon, my weekend starts!  So in celebration of Friday, I am posting five of my favorite finds from the week!  Hope you enjoy them!

Kids are so honest...


Can you say yummy??  Check out the full, super easy recipe here!


As a young professional in the corporate world, I always want to better my leadership skills.  This link has some great advice!


If you are like me and prepping for good summer reads, here is a pretty interesting list of really good, really underrated books!



I love motivational quotes, and this one is a GREAT one!  Take a deep breath, and realize your plan doesn't have to be perfect!




What are five things that made your list this Friday?
Like I said, let me know!


XOXO
Tricia



Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Work/Life Balance


As I am writing this, I have just spent the WHOLE weekend cleaning and organizing my house.  My brother-in-law couldn't tell that I had done anything, and that is okay.  I can see what I have accomplished, but some days, it is hard to admit I can't do it all.  I read blogs about other women who work, are great wives, great moms, AND have time to manage a blog about their awesome lives!  It makes me feel pretty inadequate.  I sit on my couch on Sunday night and plan out my blogging week so that when I get home from work, I don't have to really write any posts.  I don't cook, and I only make time to clean on the weekends.  But that is all part of the balance.  

At Enterprise, we call it a work/life balance.  Balance your job at work and your life a home.  Sounds easy right?  Not exactly.  The Mount Airy branch is open from 8:00 to 5:00, but, unlike my naive expectations, those are not the hours I work.  My mornings start at 6:20 AM with my alarm and it is not unusual for me to still be at the branch at 6:00 PM.  Some days involve a quick drive-thru grab lunch and some days involve leftovers in the office.  Most of my time spent away from the branch involves delivering and moving cars, and when those rare moments come, I am normally super thrilled.  It's the little things.  Most days I bring home stories of bizarre rental experiences or I have dreams of Tahoes or minivans all night.  Turning it off sometimes feels impossible.  

Joshua told me when I first started working that I would be "living for the weekends," but what he didn't say is that when they get here, I am normally too tired from the week to really want to do anything.  I clean, go out for dinner and decorate, but my activity level is pretty low.  Still though, the work/life balance is improving.  With the change in the time, I feel like I am getting more done during the week, and I have started (finally) to have more energy when I get off work.  I have picked up reading before bed again, and my blog is finally starting to take shape again.  All of these are good things, and I am getting better (slowly).  I feel like most working people struggle with work/life balances, so if this post speaks to you, here are some tips that I feel are helping.

PRIORITIZE
This sounds so simple, and it is.  You just have to sit down and do it!  Pick what is important to you, and make sure that goes on your list.  When Joshua and I had our pre-marital counseling session, our preacher told us about how he and his wife have a date night every Friday night.  At the time, that sounded cute but unnecessary for me again Joshua.  As the time has gone on though, meals with Josh have become a focal point of my excitement, and I enjoy eating dinner out with him.  While we do not have a set schedule yet, we do prioritize time with each other.  I have found that making a "To-do" list is very beneficial.  If I have something written down, I can't forget to do it.  Plus, scratching that item off the list is one of the best feelings.  

REALIZE YOU CANNOT DO IT ALL
I struggle with this so much.  I want to do it all, but I just physically can't, and that is okay.  Joshua does not expect me to cook or clean, which is great.  This doesn't mean I abandon all attempts at cooking or cleaning, but I realize on Tuesday night when I am worn out that I don't have to cook dinner and Josh won't expect me to clean anything.  Still, some weekends, like this weekend, it is worth putting in the effort to getting a lot of stuff done.  I made my list, and it was HUGE, so I knew going in, it would be a long shot to complete that bad boy.  I didn't complete it, but I knocked some big tasks off that list, and that is the best I can do.  Do your best, and realize that the rest will (eventually) fall into place.

TURN IT OFF
Part of a work/life balance is to be able to turn off work.  I work hard when I am at work, so I should be home when I am at home.  Find ways to turn off work, and de-stress.  My coworkers love to work out, so they go to the gym or go for runs with their dogs.  This sounds life pure torture to me, so this is NOT how I de-stress!  lol  Right now, I like to go home and work in my "garden."  I also read before bed every night so I can turn my mind off.  Joshua and I like to watch Netflix and Hulu together and just spend the evening on the couch cuddling.  All of these things are ways that you can turn work off when you are at home, and whatever works for you, that is what is important!

Work/life balance is a process, not a competition.  It is something you will work for every day, and I don't think we will ever get it perfect, and that is okay.  Perfection is overrated and the journey is what is important.  So learn to live with work and life and learn to balance the two in a way that works for you!  Good luck!

What tips do you have for a good work/life balance?
Like I said, let me know!

XOXO,
Tricia      

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Currently | April


Hello friends!

I am so excited for another edition of Currently!  The last Currently I participated in was last August, and I was actually so late that I missed the cut off date, I didn't get to link up!  This month though, I have it under control!  I have gotten a lot better about planning my blog entries accordingly, and paying very close attention to when group link ups are happening.  I have also gotten a lot better in general just about blogging, and planning when it is all going to happen!  If you want to check out the creators of this Currently linkup, just check out Gold and Bloom and Anne in Residence!  I am always excited to see what they are into!



MAKING | a flower bed!  We moved into our house in October, and while I have some really pretty flowers, I have this really weird flower bed.  It is covered with landscaping sheets and gravel.  Very strange.  I am digging all this up and before too long, I will be spreading mulch and planting flowers!  I especially want an herb section for cooking herbs, but I might do that in something I can bring inside during the winter!  I doubt it will look like this, but one can dream!

WISHLISTING | these adirondack chairs!  They are currently selling them at Lowe's Hardware for about $20 a piece!  I so want some brown and red ones so that I can put them in our yard!  We have this weird section of our yard that is bricked out and also covered in gravel.  Eventually, I want to cut down the weird shrub in the middle, and fill the spot with mulch and some paver stepping stones.  Then I can put some chairs and a little table in the middle, and have a thinking spot.  Maybe I am actually wishlisting a thinking spot?  

CLEANING | my whole house!  lol After the grill, I realized that I apparently stress hoard and forget to cleaning during my stress period.  Luckily, I have been doing a lot of pinning lately, and I found this niffy little spring cleaning post!  Specifically, my week goal is get my closet organized!

POSTING | good content!  lol This month, I would like to focus on posting some good strong content, and not necessarily get wrapped up in the generic posting.  I would like to get better about leaving a impact on my visitors, and not specifically following a trend!

TASTING | all the goodness of spring!  As part of my blogging for books, I received a free copy of Sweeter Off the Vine.  It is a year-round cook book that focuses on sweets and treats for different seasons, depending on what is in season!  As part of my review, I like to have recipes that I have sampled from the book, so I am getting wrapped up in the excitement of the spring fruits!  Ultimately, I cannot wait to share more about this book with you, because I think I am going to love it for sure!

What are you into Currently?
Like I said, let me know!

XOXO,
Tricia

Monday, April 4, 2016

April Goals


Happy April friends!

I cannot BELIEVE we are already in the month of April.  Easter happened, the GRILL happened, and now we are moving into the next exciting phases of 2016.  I am so excited about all the new adventures to come this month, and I am pretty pumped that I kept up with my goals last month!

March Goals

1 - Post more - Yay!  I got a little behind there in the end due to the GRILL studying, but I did post eight times last month!  I am super excited about getting back into blogging all the time.  I just always have to remember in the back of my mind, that it does have a lot of hard work associated with blogging. 

2 - Pass my GRILL (for work) - I DID IT!!  I passed my GRILL, so I am now an official Management Assistant, not a Management Trainee!!  Now I am looking for an Assistant Manager position in the surrounding areas to apply for, and then I will leave my little Mount Airy branch behind.  This is both sad and exciting!  I will have to keep everyone posted on where I am heading next!

3 - Get some more renovating done - YES WE DID!  Back in December, we took down the wall dividing the living area and the dining area.  In January, we rewired everything and in February, we officially hooked up some new plug ins and a new switch.  FINALLY we wrapped a fake beam around the electrical wires, and Joshua created an open bookshelf by the door.  It is beautiful!  Saturday we are wanting to go look about buying our new floors, so I will have to keep you posted!
  
4 - Cook at home more - I did not cook more at home, but Joshua did.  He has been cooking up a storm lately, and we have eaten in a lot more the past few weeks!  So delicious!

5 - Plan accordingly - With studying and so much going on, we had to really coordinate our schedules.  I think we did this really well this month, and we still got a lot completed!

6 - Finish at least 1 book - That is all I finished!  lol  I was reading The Hundred Foot Journey and I finished it in the middle of the month.  It started off as a really well written book, but by the time I finished the book, I felt like the story I wanted to read ended about 100 pages back.  Even still, I did complete this goal!  

See??  I totally conquered this month!  lol  I really want to do the same goals again for this month, but I guess I need to switch up April a little!

April Goals

1 - Find an ABRM position (work)
2 - Install new floors in the house
3 - Plant a garden
4 - Organize the closet and work on the "storage room"
5 - Come up with good content this month
6 - Finish at least one more book

What are your April goals? 
Like I said, let me know!

XOXO,
Tricia



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