Art Journal << 4 >>

So after not having any magazines at all I was able to scoop up a couple and found a few pages that I liked enough to rip out and paste into my little book. I liked the one above so much the way it was I just cut it down to fit.

I don't know why I liked the nail polish so much, probably because they look shiny haha. The page was too plain with just that so, I splattered some of my own paint on there too.

The moment I saw this Hermes ad it immediately reminded me of Iceland! I want to go there soooooo bad!!!! It's number 1 on my travel bucket list.

Week 36

Week 36

   This was our last bit in the UK, which was only three days in London but, obviously there was enough pictures to fill the whole layout and then some. Also, there are a few pictures of Stephen running his 5k while I was gone. 

Why I have an Emergency Fund

   Having an older vehicle for the past six years, sadly the picture above became a common one to me. Jimmy (yeah I named my Jimmy, Jimmy. Very creative I know) has stranded me multiple times over the years in quite a variety of places. Always in the middle of nowhere. Multiple times in New Jersey farmland, a small town in Tennessee and the Everglades here in Florida. Just to name a few. Anyway, having a reliably unreliable vehicle can get pretty costly really quickly.

   I used to drive around constantly worried about when my next break down would be and how in the world I would pay for it. After going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University I learned about Dave's suggested 7 Baby Steps and number 1 is a $1,000 emergency fund. $1,000 is a lot of money to someone like me who doesn't really make a lot, but thankfully I had been saving up for some furniture and misc clothing that could be relabeled to be my emergency fund.

   Now, that was no fun for the future shopping spree I was planning, but after Jimmy did this a week ago, I was sure glad I could take him to a repair shop and not be too freaked out about where the money was going to come from. Good thing too because the repairs came to about $500!! Oh Jimmy, now the game plan is to save that $500 again and refill my emergency fund. After it saving me a bundle of stress I can't imagine not having an emergency fund.

   Any questions about saving money or budgeting? Any tips you want to share with me?

Week 35

Week 35

   So this week was our full week of being in the UK. Which means a TON of pictures!!! Hindsight is telling me this is where people make those mini books. Oh well, next time though! Because of all the inserts the front and back pages don't really match, the front starts with our time in Wales and the back page is in Scotland.

   The insert above is Caerphilly Castle --> the Cotswolds.

   Again Caerphilly Castle --> the Cotswolds.

   The Cotswolds --> York

 
   The Cotswolds --> York

   York & Eccles

   York

   Edinburgh

   Edinburgh

Art Journal << 3 >>

I just started messing around here with watercolors and it turned out so well that I didn't want to ruin it by adding more. Maybe one day I'll add a quote or something but, I like it the way it is too.

I was having a really rough time when I made this, going through a rainstorm if you will. This was my way of working myself through that a little bit and getting to play more with my calligraphy.

When you want to make something colorful but still don't really have a handle on watercolors it's time to pull the crayons out. Oh yeah!

I don't get any beautiful magazines in the mail so I'm stuck with using supplies I already own, but after sitting around in a auto repair shop for a few hours I figured they wouldn't miss this page from one of theirs. Thieving for creativity!

England {Roman Baths}

   Alrighty, so back to my UK trip! Here are all of the previous posts: Windsor Castle, Bath Abby, Coffee & Panini's and #Cherubbing. I'm determined to get all of these posts out, we were busy bees our whole time there and I want to give each memory its moment in the spotlight (but really I just want to make sure I have them recorded for myself.)

   From the outside the baths didn't look any more exciting than any other old beautiful building that there is to find in Bath. But once you walk through the tiled entryway, which is to the right in the picture above, you see this. How cool! I just stood there for a while daydreaming about what this place looked like as people walked around in robes and sandals socializing around this natural occurrence. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that people had been using this site since around 836 BC in some way, shape, or form.

   The baths are consisted of four main areas, the main bath, the steam rooms, the spring and the museum. The main area is two stories surround by beautiful architecture and statues. After spending quite a few minutes listening to the audio guide and snapping a bunch of pictures I wasn't ready for how much more there was to see! I figured there would be a bunch in the museum to see, which there was, but then there was another bath area that has even hotter water and the steam rooms.

   It seemed like the steam rooms went on forever! And, there were rooms on both side of the main bath. Sadly the rooms were pretty beat up (I mean this place has been around for literally ever so...what are you gunna do?) but the way the audio guide put it all back together made it come right back to life. Things that just looked like crumbled rock were pointed out as being steps and water passageways. These rooms were obviously placed here to be as close to the spring as possible and because of that almost every picture I took in that area was completely blurred because of the steam. I totally understood why the Romans, being used to the warmer climate of Italy flocked to this site during the cold dreary days that are so well known to England.

   This was the first real historical site that we visited and it really set the tone for how much history I was going to be learning on this trip. It's definitely one thing to read about this stuff in books, but to actually be here is something that will make those lessons stick around.

Week 34

Week 34

   This is the first spread from my family trip to the UK, which only covers three days of that trip but three inserts was as much self control as I could muster up. Before I started working on this trip I was wondering why people needed two 12x12 albums for one year but now I get it! I think I'm just going to stuff everything into one album, but it's going to be a tight fit for sure!

   I've been very slow about catching up with my spreads. In order to catch up I printed two months worth of photos and put them all in their places, but what really has held me up is the journaling. I'm not always the best with words and I want to make sure the best memories are shared. Reality is though, that the longer I wait to try and get it just right, the more memories actually get blurred or lost. Maybe next time I go on an amazing trip like this I'll keep a simple journal to record those individual memories.

   

   Anyway, so now that I have printed a couple months worth of pictures I'm determined to knock out the journaling so they can be completed and I can actually be caught up! Well, almost, now another month has gone by that I need to get in the books too. Oh well, I know I will. Just gotta keep chugging along.

Art Journal << 2 >>

It's Get Messy Thursday! I'm not very consistent about this project, but I love having it as an option for when I'm feeling stuck creatively or when I'm bored with the structure of Project Life. I love this quote about creativity being a habit. I'm determined to strengthen these muscles!

Sometimes you get bored, want to paint, and then just stop with a triangle. Works for me!

And then other days I feel like getting fancy with different colored stripes and a canoe drawing.

Words to live by!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my art journal pages! I plan on having a few more catch up pages the next couple of weeks and then the game plan is to be diligent about creating something new every couple of weeks.

No Spend October Update

 So, I would say No Spend October was a success, but also a huge eye opener! Let me break it down for you:

• With doing a zero-based budget like Dave Ramsey suggests, I've been doing this for years, but this time I put my bills first and then cut everything else out. And I mean everything!!
• So that meant the cat, entertainment, home, and photos categories got the boot.
• To cover those expenses I estimated what I might have to spend every week and set myself an allowance of $20.
• This really made me conscious of what was absolutely necessary to spend money on! That cute purse from Target? Gotta save up. The new Taylor Swift album? Patience is a virtue! A new fall sweater? Not a need.

   At the end of the month when I balanced my budget again I was pleasantly surprised that I saved $154!! And I had $30 left over from my weekly spending money that I just left in my wallet to add to the new weeks allowance. Yay!!! Win. And good thing too because I had a few birthday presents to but so I really wasn't able to save up that much. Looks like No Spend November will be a thing! Christmas is coming you know. I'm hoping to be able to spend almost nothing for November and December so I can survive the holidays and then continue into the new year so I can officially start my journey paying off my debt (student loans) EARLY!

   If you have any questions about budgets or living frugally let me know! I'm an open book :)

Asian Noodle Stir Fry

   When we were in the Keys {1, 2, 3} we spent some time in Peppers of Key West, an amazing store with more hot sauces than you could ever imagine! When Stephen and I first walked in we were greeted by the man working in the store behind a bar with hot sauces circling the counter. He invited us to sit down and do some taste testing. We started off pretty mild and worked our way up. I'm pretty proud of myself, I'm not a hot sauce person at all but I was able to hang until the first sauce you used a toothpick to try, that was HOT! And Stephen just kept going!

   Anyway, one of the milder sauces was a Peppers of Key West original Asian Marinade was soooo delicious! As soon as we tried it I knew it was something I would actually eat. Perfect for stir fry, chicken and rice, or you know as a marinade lol. Here we used egg noodles, broccoli, snap peas, onions and the Asian Marinade to make a delicious stir fry. Let me warn you though, even though the sauce is mild in heat it does build, my little mouth was burning by the end of this meal. But then again I don't ever eat hot sauce.

   This sauce and all of the others we purchased are absolutely wonderful! If you are ever in Key West I recommend you stop by and test your hot sauce stamina. Here is the address:

Peppers of Key West
602 Greene Street
Key West, FL 33040

*This post is not sponsored in any way, we just had a great experience and I thought I would share!*