Goal Getter /// May 2016

MAY 2016

FAMILY (50%)

• Spend time with Mr. LL's Family (100%)
• Spend time with my family (0%)

NOTES: We have plans to have dinner with my mom this week!

SOCIAL LIFE (31%)

• Book club (0%)
• D&D with friends (25%)
• Try to hang out with local friends (0%)
• Celebrate our THREE YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY (100%)

NOTES: D&D night is this coming Saturday!!!

HEALTH (83%)

• Meal plan every week (75%)
• Stick to said meal plan every week (75%)
• Try to work out at least once this month (100%)

NOTES: Bigby loves walking on the levee by our house. :)

 FINANCIAL (35%)

• Pay off at least one credit card (0%)
• Get Mr. LL's account up to his goal (70%)

NOTES: I took off the taxes thing because I've talked to a lot of people and I don't think I need to worry about it this year. I added Mr. LL's financial goal that he created after being inspired by my own. :)

CLEANLINESS  (38%)

• Keep going with the "chores" (75%)
• Either get back into the Kondo method or tryout feng-shui (0%)

NOTES: meh

BLOGGING/FREELANCE  (94%)

• Get posts ready for the month (99%)
• Write at least one post for LV Book Design (100%)
• Work on more planner printables (100%)
• Work on new designs for shop in June (100%)
• Finish From Side Hustle To Success course (80%)
• Freelance work for client #1 (100%)
• Freelance work for client #2 (80%)

NOTES: At least I'm good at working. Lol.

Strawberries + Cream Day! Strawberry Icebox Cake Recipe /// Lazy Cooking

Happy Strawberries and Cream Day! I didn't know that was a thing, but apparently it is and apparently it's today. So, I thought I'd share with you one of the easiest and pretty damn tasty desserts you will ever make. Enjoy!

The recipe actually calls for a lot more work than I put into it (like making your own cream filling and chocolate sauce–psssh, yeah right, like I’m going to do that). I’ll post the original recipe from The Kitchn though for any of you who aren’t as lazy as I am: No-Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake.

For my version you only need 4 things:

• Graham Crackers
• Strawberries
• Cool Whip
• Chocolate Syrup (optional)

Now, time to put it all together:

First, wash and cut your strawberries into thin slices.

Next, start your first layer of graham crackers (don’t worry, I filled in the gaps).

Then, put on a layer of cool whip.

A layer of strawberries, then repeat till finished! Now, you can top it with chocolate sauce. I didn't have any when I made it this time, so I left it off.

Then comes the final step, which is the hardest. You have to let it chill in the fridge for at least FOUR HOURS. I know. But trust me, it's worth it!

Vacation Re-Cap – New Roads, Louisiana (again) + Texas!

Last Monday was Mr. LL's and I third wedding anniversary. When we got married, we just went to the court house, with a photographer, and got hitched. Our families knew, but we didn't want a big wedding. The bill would have been footed by just us and we have big families who would want to go...in other words, we would have HAD to invite EVERY ONE. So we just decided to celebrate "us" and our love for each other, privately. Because we weren't doing it "traditionally" we didn't really have the time to take a real honeymoon. We took a mini-moon and stayed in a really nice hotel in New Orleans (courtesy of my work via a wedding gift) for a few nights instead. So I wanted us to take a real vacation AND kind of make up for our lack of honeymoon three years ago by making this a new tradition.

So we both took off work all last week. We left town Saturday morning at too-early-o'clock and drove over four hours to Vidor, TX. When we went to Kemah, TX about a year ago, we stopped at this giant flea market we saw from the interstate on our way back home. Because we hadn't really planned on going there, we didn't have the money to buy much of anything. So this time, that was all we were there to do–shop. A year ago, there was some really cool taxidermy pieces and this great semi-permanent stand that sold vintage tabletop games. We didn't find the albino deer head that we were hoping for, but we did get some great insect shadow boxes. The saddest news was that the game stand was gone. :(

We also decided that neither of us wanted anything leather, the traditional third anniversary gift; so we each took $3 (for the third anniversary) and challenged each other to get gifts with it at the flea market. I found this really cool plate that actually says "Happy Anniversary" on it almost immediately. Mr. LL thought I had gone insane because I made him stay on one side of the booth we were at and he didn't realize why, lol. By the time I was done with the flea market, we had been there for almost three hours, Mr. LL still hadn't found "the gift." I went back to the car so he could shop alone. You won't believe what he got me. It's a taser that looks like a phone. LMFAO. I still can't believe him. I laughed so hard. It slightly terrifies me though, tbh.

We came back Saturday afternoon and enjoyed our treasures. Then we spent Sunday and Monday getting the car ready to hit the road again as well as cleaning the entire house and packing. We wanted to come home to a clean house so we could still relax after our trip.

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Tuesday morning I took Bigby to the vet to be boarded while we were away and then we loaded up the car and hit the road. We fished, relaxed, laughed and had a great time back in the cabin we went to last year in New Roads, LA. That place is really magically. I brought books to read, but barely touched them. Instead, Mr. LL and I just spent all of our time outside. It was great. 

Now it's time to get back to the hustle. Vacations are too short.