Over the past couple of years I've learned a lot on the business front. I've failed, I've succeeded, I've gotten burnout, as well as really pumped about the directions things have gone. And of course I've blogged about it haha! For those who are new to the blog, I figured I would round them up into one post of small business branding heaven. This is advice from my experiences as a freelance designer and small business owner.

Every year our office shuts down for about 2 1/2 weeks coinciding with the schools being closed for Christmas vacation. It's hands down my favorite time of the year. Christmas, no work, food, lazy days, movie marathons... need I say more? We spend lots of times playing with the goodies Santa left and eating way too many Christmas cookies.

 Looking back on 2015 it's been a big year for me with my personal & business endeavors. My business is grown and morphed into something I love with all of my heart and that is insanely exciting. I've worked with some incredible businesses and individuals and watched them flourish. It's so rewarding helping others further their dreams and give them the tools they need to be successful. 

If you follow along here you may remember me mentioning going back to this past semester in pursuit of my masters degree. I just submitted my last assignment for my last class of the semester! Squueeee! I thought it'd be fun to share some of my student work from this past semester.  I wish I could say that most of these assignment's WEREN'T turned in 2 minutes before the deadline or super late but ya know....  It's been a busy semester + work + life

Christmas themed vintage is always guaranteed to either be fabulously chic, or insanely quirky in a mostly good way. Hunting for the best ugly Christmas sweaters and New Year's Eve worthy items is always tough, especially with the popularity of ugly sweater parties now!  Here are few of my favorite items this year to help you celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve in vintage greatness.

We are in week 4! This week is titled baby steps because I feel like that's what all major changes and goals are composed of. Lots and lots of baby steps. In case you've missed it, each Tuesday I'm writing my goals and recapping the previous week's goals in my journey towards mental and physical health/happiness. You can find the previous posts here.

So here's how it went this past week with my week two goals.

- Create a fitness routine. Routine? No. I did buy some weights that I used a couple of times, but sadly that's all I can say about that. I'm going to aim for using weights at least 3 days a week.

-Write In My Journal This was something I enjoyed. I wrote and doodled twice and I always feel so fresh and free afterwards.

-Cut Back On Carbs & Portions So far I'm doing great in the food department. I'm trying to watch portions and trying not to eat that much bread or pasta. I allowed myself to cheat a bit when I took my mom out to eat for her birthday this weekend but other than that I was good. There is a Christmas candy issue going on but I will allow myself some wiggle room there haha. Also, I've hardly even missed soda! I've been drinking water like a nobody's business. I crave water now as soon as I wake up and all day long actually.

-Spend 30 Minutes Every Day Being Active I definitely missed a few days. But we've done a lot of walking and soccer this passed week! 

-Decorate For Christmas We got more done! I love the way the tree looks lit up in a dark house at night. It's so whimsical.

-Try Something New I can't say that I picked up a new hobby but I did start a new book. And starting a new book feeds my soul.

-Spend an hour drawing / painting I doodled, I painted, I conquered. Maybe I'll get brave enough to share some soon.

This past week was eh... apart from buying weights I don't feel like I accomplished too much. BUT I did receive comments from several family members that I looked like I had lost weight! That's always super encouraging to hear. It makes you want to get outside and run a marathon to keep it up. (well not QUITE but ya know). So I feel very motivated to keep it up.




- Actually Create a REAL fitness routine. Okay I'm establishing now
Monday: Weights, abs, legs
Tuesday: Walk the dog
Thursday: Weights, abs, legs
Saturday: Weights, abs, legs

Before you think this may be too much or little, I'm going at my own pace and will be pushing myself further each week with this. All those years of school athletics taught me a lot about working out thankfully so I know a lot of great exercises and routines.

-(Begin To) Create A Work Space Where I Can Thrive Don't ask how, but my awesome office somehow became cluttered with shop inventory and future garage sale piles. My computer made its way to the dining room table and I just pretend my office isn't there so I don't have to deal with it. A completed, functioning work space is something I've always wanted.  It'll definitely be a work in progress but I can't wait to start.

-Incorporate More Fruit Maybe I'm weird but I really don't like fruit. I'd rather eat green beans and carrots than fruit. I'll eat bananas and cantaloupe occasionally but that's it. It's mostly the texture I don't like. Maybe I'll try to get more smoothies or force myself to try more.

-Walk The Dog & Look at Christmas Lights Walking the dog is something that I need to do for both her sake and mine. Luckily we live right off of one of the most beautiful streets in my city. It's nothing but old Victorian & early 1900's houses and they go all out at Christmas. So instead of just driving to see the lights this year, we'll walk!

-Try Another Cleanse I really think that the last one I did some good resetting of my body.

-Spend An Hour A Day Playing Piano / Painting / Drawing As silly as it may seem to force yourself to set aside time for a hobby, the struggle is real! I always forget! 

I think this weeks goals are much more simple and specific than the past few weeks. I left myself too much wiggle room with my previous goals. What are your goals? Is there a hobby or routine you use that feeds YOUR soul? Let me know in the comments! I'll be tracking my journey on Instagram & Twitter with hashtag #fitandhappytues


 

I had the pleasure of taking pictures for a coworker a couple of weekends ago. We barely made it before sweet Riley's birth. She was born just a few days after we took these photos!

I felt inspired this year to throw some retro Christmas spunk into my holiday decorating! We typically are pretty tame and typical with our decorations so I'm stoked to do something a bit different. For me it's mostly all about color. My parent's Christmas tree features a lot of ornaments that my Grandmother passed down from my Dad's childhood! It's complete with a retro Life Saver garland and kitschy elves. Maybe one day they'll be passed down to me. A retro lover can dream right?

It's week 3! Thanksgiving wasn't as overindulgent as it could have been so I'm giving myself big brownie points there. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Sadly, mine was quite lonely. Normally I spend the day with my family but this year my son was with his Dad's side of the family and we didn't do our usual family get together. I had Thanksgiving with my parents the day before but I missed seeing my cousins and grandparents. I spent most of the day watching Game of Thrones and drinking wine. :-\ So while it wasn't a complete failure, it was lonely. This weekend though we did have our annual Friendsgiving and it was great. I love my circle of friends. They feed my soul.

So here's how it went this past week with my week two goals.

- Enjoy Thanksgiving. Even though Thanksgiving day wasn't the best, Friendsgiving more than made up for it!

-Focus On Feeding My Heart & Soul I think friend time and time with Conrad really helped me get through this past week.  It was miserable weather all week long and the cuddling and movie marathons really helped.  We put up our Christmas tree, which always adds a little bit of magic to my day and each time I look at the sparkling lights. Anxiety and depression have been creeping up on my lately so this past week has been really uplifting.

-Cutback On Meat Unconsciously I did really well here. Apart from Turkey I did pretty good.

-Spend 30 Minutes Every Day Being Active This is something I keep forgetting to do daily. Though we did A LOT OF walking, I need to push myself in this department.

 -Cut Out Fast Food I made it through the whole week without fast food! That's quite a victory honestly.

-Get Rid Of The Things We Don't Need I cleaned a lot but didn't declutter or get rid of things like I had hoped. I blame it on the weather.

-Go Somewhere New Again the weather kept us inside most of the time but I did adventure out a little bit on Wednesday to some random thrift stores and pawn shops.

-Spend an hour drawing / painting I doodled quite a bit this past week! I didn't get to paint, but there's something so lovely and raw about black ink of paper to me. I love it.

So I did OK this past week. I definitely need to focus more on working out now that I'm somewhat got my eating habits in check. I cave once or twice a week and have a soda but definitely not daily like I used to. I've also been drinking tons of water like a crazy water person. I feel like I can never get enough! I think that blogging each week what I'm struggling with has helped me a lot in feeling accomplished. I'm also continuing to feel more and more confident in myself which is amazing.




- Create a fitness routine. This was something I was hoping I'd be able to avoid, but if I don't, it won't get done. So I'm going to start out with a basic list and see what happens. I want to tone my arms and legs and of course my stomach so maybe I'll pick up some light weights.

-Write In My Journal I've been having a lot of anxiety and depression these past few weeks. It's weird because I haven't had any of these issues since high school but they've been creeping up on me. I'm hoping that putting my thoughts down and doodling in my journal will help.

-Cut Back On Carbs & Portions This week I'm going to focus on cleaning the carbs out of my life and shrinking my food portions.

-Spend 30 Minutes Every Day Being Active I'm going to set an alarm to remind me to do this every evening. Whether its just playing soccer or zumba on the Wii, I have to do something!

-Decorate For Christmas There's something magical about decorating that really lifts the spirits. We put up our tree over the weekend, but I want to decorate the rest of the house.

-Try Something New I want to try out a new hobby or past time this week. Not sure yet what, but I'll find something! Picking up piano again is something I've been wanting to do so maybe I'll do that.

-Spend an hour drawing / painting I want to keep this up so I'll leave it here again this week. 

Okay there are week three's goals! I really hope I can accomplish most of these. What struggles have you faced in getting healthy and happy? If you want to join in on this with me or blog along let me know in the comments! I'll be tracking my journey on Instagram & Twitter with hashtag #fitandhappytues