Friday is SOO My FAVORITE!

1//4//5

#1) Friday is my favorite on a whole new level now. It's not even because it's the end of the week anymore. It's because of the BEST idea EVER created by men...has anyone heard of "Tie Friday". If you haven't, you are missing out so much that I could cry for you {okay, so not really, but really, it's amazing}. 

Tie Friday = guys in ties. 

This may not sound very impressive, but if you could just see how nicely some of them clean up...Friday would take on a whole new level of awesomeness for you, too.

#2) I HAD MY FIRST CUP OF HOT CHOCOLATE OF THE SEASON ON THIS MORNING! Next, Starbucks' Salted Caramel hot chocolate...

#3) I won a giveaway at The Sapphire Bee...what!

#4) I've got a TON of work to do this weekend - and that's great because, um, I'm learning.

#5) I'm getting a pair of much-coveted riding boots tomorrow! I think. If all goes well. I'm crossing my fingers and toes!

I hope you all had an amazing Friday!

Fall Bucket List

Inspired by a gajillion other lists out there - here's a list of things I want to enjoy this fall:

I'm going to be making the most of this season I love so much!

What are you looking forward to this fall?

Here, There

I'm over at Covered in Grace today, co-hosting the Monday Meet-up! Go check it out, and give Brooke some love!

OCTOBER: {vitality}

Here are my goals for OCTOBER! The theme is vitality.

So far, I'm doing well with most of the goals, and okay-ish with the others. The hardest ones are acting energetic and monitoring my computer time. I'm always really tired, so acting energetic is quite a challenge. I did fine earlier on in the week, but it went downhill from there, as I got less and less sleep. And monitoring my computer time....um, yeah. Exhibit A: Last night I found "Pretty Darn Funny" and I just had to watch every episode. Yes, I did have other things that I needed to be doing.

I'm loving the challenge, though! 

It's only going to get better every week!

P.S. I submitted a form for Shane's Operation Beautiful a while ago, and it's up this week! If you haven't put in a form, I highly recommend it! You can see mine here.

This Weekend, I'm Watching...

You know, when it rains, it pours. It never fails, even if the pouring is just going on inside my own head. That's kind of how this week has been, but then this comes along:

And suddenly, everything's okay again.

Anyone else watching General Conference? What's your favorite part so far? Elise has come up with some way cute printables for some of the talks already - here and here. Check them out!

P.S. I will be coming back later for that post on my October goals that I talked about forever ago...actually, it was only on Monday, but it's just been that kind of week.

My Pants Are Falling Down!

...and that's how it's been all day. Remember these pants? These amazing, lovely, wonderful pants? Well, when I bought them, I had this brilliant idea of buying them a size bigger, because I had that drilled into me growing up: you always buy everything a little bigger than you need it so that you have room to grow! The problem with that now is, I'm done growing. There was no point in buying them one size up, unless I was planning on growing horizontally. Which I'm not, really. So now I'm stuck with too-big pants. Fabulous too-big pants, but too-big pants nonetheless. But I'm willing to suffer through it! They are the most amazing color, after all. And I can only wear them so many more times before they have to be retired for the winter. I'll deal.

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On an entirely unrelated note,
Am I totally vain if I get a kick out of reading my own blog?
{Actually, don't answer that}
I think I'm pretty fascinating. I just spent an abnormal amount of time reading my own posts. They're waaay more interesting when you know exactly what was going through my mind when I was writing them.

In celebration of Finding the JOYS in My JOURNEY's 6-month bloggiversary, here are some of my favorite posts:

April - my very first post...not really my favorite, but the awkwardness of it makes me laugh
May - my Mission: Put Together wrap-up post
June - my absolute favorite song and my first {and last} trip to GAP
July - a way-legit tutorial and "Dear Boys" (my first, I think!)
August - the evolution of my relationship with August: hate - try to love - love!
September - two truths & a lie and some life changing

Aaaaand so I don't come off as too self-centered, I'm participating in Melissa's Blog Scavenger Hunt!

WILD- Christine @ Pink Hugs & Blessings
POST- Kim's post on being a "Martha"
PICTURE- Erica's "sassy face"
RECIPE- I'm gonna be honest...I haven't actually tried this yet, but come on! How does it get any better than Stuffed Pecan Rolls?? (from Elisabeth @ La Vita e Bella)
CRAFT/FASHION- loving everything from this post by Kilee @ ONE little MOMMA
BLOGGER- me and Jessica...I would so want to be her BFF! I don't know how anyone could ever not be super-happy around her!
POST- this one by Elise
PICTURE- this outfit post from Anne - she has the sweetest smile! And that last picture is great...
POST- this post (and pretty much every other one) from Autumn
BLOGGER- Elise @ Elise's Pieces -  I swear, she always posts exactly what I need to read, exactly when I need to read it!

I love me some bloggers!

It's Here!

Here's my big news...but I need some background first.

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So by raise of hands, who has read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin?

Good, good...if you haven't, you really should. 

That was the first bit of background. The second is that it's my birthday month.

I read The Happiness Project back in July, and I immediately thought that I could use something like that. It's not that I'm unhappy, but couldn't we all be happier? I was crazy-excited to start - my only problem was, I didn't know when to start. Then I thought about how October wasn't too far away...
So I'm giving myself the best birthday present ever:
the happiest year of my life.

I've turned my happiness project into something that is going to help me make the most of myself, and make me the best me possible. It's going to be hard - I've planned the monthly goals around my weakest points. But that's the only way I'm going to improve, right? Every impossible moment is going to be worth it! I'm also aligning my monthly themes/goals with different Personal Progress experiences...it never hurts to do them again, and I don't think you're ever too old! I'll probably be posting about it pretty regularly during this coming year - it'll help keep me accountable.


I started off the year with a pretty easy theme. October is all about Vitality. I'll post more specifics later this week, but I've got to finish my school work for now - one of the goals has to do with time-management and monitoring my computer time...yikes!