Week 2 Challenge: Read every day

Posted in Inspire by Alexis

Week 1 challenge is complete! I’ll admit I did better than I thought I would and only ate out one time all week! I bought a lot of groceries that I actually used, ate a lot of leftovers and got creative! We entertained friends 2 nights out of the week instead of going out. I only slipped up once over the weekend (which is actually amazing now that I think about it) when I was becoming famished and we walked right by this little pizza restaurant I wanted to try that had just opened the night before! (btw it was delicious!) So I would say week 1 was a success, now on to week 2!

Week #2 Challenge: Read every day. I’m currently reading 2 books (and have many more on my list!) and I want to get in a better habit of reading every day. I love reading before going to bed but I tend to wait until I’m completely exhausted before I head to bed and then I fall asleep rather than reading a couple chapters. So! this is my next challenge. Join me?

5Jan2015

Introducing Weekly Challenges: Week 1

Posted in Inspire by Alexis

Happy New Year, everyone! Today I’m starting a new blog series of 7-day small challenges to complete each week. At the end of the week I’ll introduce my new challenge and reflect on how the previous week went. I’m hoping some of them will end up sticking for more than a week but it’s a good place to start. Feel free to join in and let me know how you do! Here it goes:

Week 1 Challenge: No eating out.

I try not to eat out a lot but inevitably I get lazy or didn’t make it to the grocery store or want to go out with friends, etc. I’m also terrible at eating leftovers and awful at getting creative with the random food in the fridge. Not this week!

I’m going to do this by meal planning ahead of time, doing a big grocery shopping trip at the beginning of the week, eating leftovers and getting creative.

I’ll let you know how it goes next week! In the meantime this might create a few recipe posts, so bonus. :)

20Dec2014

Time to Reflect

Posted in Inspire by Alexis

[My new planner from A Beautiful Mess]

It’s that time again to reflect on the past year and look to the next. It’s been a lovely year and I decided to take some time to reflect on everything I accomplished (or didn’t) and what I want to continue working on/start in the next year.

Looking back on 2014, biggest accomplishments:
– Starting Simple and Lovely: My biggest personal accomplishment was starting my blog. This is something I’ve been itching to do for a long time and I’m so happy I finally did it!
– Learning to cook: I can say this is the year I learned to cook, like actually cook. I hope to take what I learned this year and take it to the next level.
– Decluttering: Although this is a continual process, I’ve managed to pair down my closet and make strides towards defining my personal style and putting quality over quantity when making purchases.

Looking forward to 2015, goals for next year:
– Home: I want to focus on my home. Making it a cozy place filled with only things that make me happy or are useful and getting rid of the rest.
– Blog: I want to focus on my blog. Refining the content, adding more and better pictures and continuing to learn.
– Enjoy the little things: I want to spend more time taking walks, reading, cooking and entertaining at home.

Now it’s time to enjoy the rest of 2014 filled with family, friends, great food, chilly nights and holiday cheer :)