Life as I Know It

Currently February 2020

/ Cami Grace / Leave a comment

Sooo…I wasn’t expecting to be MIA in January, but this year has been off to a rough, rough start. A new schedule to adjust to, my sister-in-law’s unexpected passing, a funeral, followed by weeks of vertigo. It feels as though January chewed us up and spit us out. I am so very thankful we are in a new month. Things are finally starting to feel a little more stable and getting back to “normal”. Although, I say that, but as I’m about to ready to post this, I’ve been up all night with a sick kiddo with a stomach virus…ha.

I really don’t have much to add between the above paragraph and the below list so I’m going to just jump in here!

Here’s what we’ve been up to lately…

Currently Watching

The Office.

Steve Carell, Jenna Fischer, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, and B.J. Novak in The Office (2005)

I watch an episode here and there when I have some downtime and could use the comic relief. I know it’s just a show, but I love Jim and Pam.

As for Gryffin, he now LOVES Toy Story, especially Toy Story 3. I probably have been letting him watch a little more tv than I should the past month, so I plan on cutting him back a bit.

Currently Reading

Finished! – Unseen: The Gift of Being Hidden in a World that Loves to Be Noticed by Sara Hagerty

I had to check it out 3 times, but I am finally finished! I have a hard time putting my feelings into words on this book. At first I just had a hard time relating to the author, our stories and personalities are just different, but the things she had to say were true and in some ways eye opening. She really drove home that our value and what we do when no one is looking matters…and it matters to God and God alone – He is the only one we need to worry about pleasing.

I really admire how she handles her kids situations and challenges that have come along the way. There are certain chapters I would like to re-read just because I think I could get even more out of them, so I might even check it out again to re-read some of it.

I haven’t picked up another book yet. I really would like a good fiction that I can’t put down, but I’ve become so darn picky these days that it’s hard to find one I can get into. I used to love “The Baby-Sitter’s Club” in grade school and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” in high school, but my gosh, as an adult I haven’t found a series I’ve been able to get hooked on. Any recommendations (that are clean)??

Currently Making/Baking

Now that Mikey is going to school full time and working I am doing almost all the cooking, which is totally fine, but it makes me realize how spoiled I was! One of my new favorite recipes has been this Ninja Foodi Pineapple Chicken.

pressure cooker pineapple chicken

It does takes more prep than I would like (mostly because I have to cut the chicken into pieces), but the cook time goes really fast. It tastes really good and it makes a lot, which is perfect because we love leftovers. Plus, Gryffin likes it a lot, so it’s win, win, win. :)

Current Favorite (Formerly “Obsession”)

My Planner!! This is the Legend Planner and I’m in love with it! I usually go with the Happy Planner, but I decided to try something different and I’m so glad I did. It’s small and yet has just enough room for everything I need. It’s great for goal setting, it has a full calendar view and a detailed weekly planner. There is plenty of space to write out my daily to-do lists and includes space to write out weekly goals as well. It’s the planner I never knew I needed in my life.

PC: Amazon
PC: Amazon

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I do have more posts planned, but I just need some time as we continue to adjust and deal with what life is throwing at us. I hope you all are having a wonderful February and happy belated Valentines day!

Much Love,

Cami

Hello 2020!

/ Cami Grace / Leave a comment

As every year comes to an end I can’t help but reminisce and think over the past year. This past year comes with a lot of mixed feelings. In the past there’s been a “good riddance” vibe, but this year is a little different. I’m so glad I have blogged throughout the year because honestly I know I would have forgotten some pretty fun moments. This year didn’t quite go like I thought it would…but that’s how it usually goes, doesn’t it? ;)

Starting January 2019 I had chosen a word of the year, which was “Courage”. I had one goal and one dream and that was to start my own freelancing business as a virtual assistant. I have the knowledge and capability to be successful, but when it came time to actually make the jump of investing in my business my husband and I suddenly didn’t have peace. At the time I wasn’t sure why, BUT I knew I needed to wait. Looking back I can see why, but it would take a long time to get into that. Honestly, if an opportunity falls into my lap I would like to snatch it up, but for now I’ll wait.

Looking back my word of the year should have been “Family”. This year, more than ever, that’s what it’s been about and I couldn’t be more blessed by it.

While being miles and miles apart, I have taken a loved ones hand and walked with her down the darkest and most terrifying road of her life…no…road doesn’t cut it…it’s more like full-blown off-roading through a jungle – now that feels more accurate. The things she’s gone through and the conversations we’ve had are absolutely unreal.

Seeing someone I deeply love go through something incredibly, gut-wrenchingly difficult is one of the hardest thing I’ve done in my life. You want so badly to take it away from them and yet your hands are tied and you have to watch them go through it. I have never spent so much time on my knees in prayer. I’m so incredibly thankful that we have a big God and we’ve seen and experienced Him move in big ways.

Some of you, although the situations may be different, whether it be an illness or something else, know exactly what this is like. If that’s you and are going through something similar I wish I could squeeze you and tell you that by the grace of God we will all get through this…one way or another.

While all of this has been extremely difficult, there has been lots of joy and laughter this past year as well. There have been some really amazing memories made with my own little family as Mikey and I took Gryffin and checked things off our summer bucket list! Again, I’m so glad I documented it all because somehow it’s so easy to forget.

After a summer full of fun and laughter, this fall/winter has been quiet and cozy. I’m all about quiet and cozy. Mikey and I have been able to go on quite a few date nights and get back in touch with each other again. We’ve done a lot of kid trades with my brother and sister-in-law to make date nights happen, so that means we’ve gotten a lot of nephew time in as well. Speaking of which, we just welcomed a brand new nephew born into our family this past month! So yes, this year has truly indeed been all about family. <3

As I look into 2020 it holds a lot of hopes and dreams…and uncertainty. Mikey will be starting classes again at one of the community colleges near us. It’s a year long certificate program and then will he continue on to finish his AA after. We’re looking forward to new opportunities that will open up.

While Mikey will be juggling full time work and full time school, I’ll be trying to pick up the pieces in between. We have some pretty fun trips in the works for the summer. I will be jet-setting across the country to Pennsylvania where I will be in a dear friends wedding. We also have a family reunion type trip coming and will be visiting Kansas for the first time! I am also really hoping to make it to Chicago to visit my parents. I’ve also had a desire start vlogging – so maybe I can even take you all along with me! It’s a bit out of my comfort zone putting myself out there, but I also think it’s kinda fun!

As for the rest of the year…well we don’t really know what that’s going to look like, but we’re always excited to see what God has in store and prayerfully commit this year to Him.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!

Much Love and Many Blessings,

Cami

Currently – December 2019

/ Cami Grace / Leave a comment

It’s hard to believe we are at the end of the month and end of the year no less. I have another post coming as a re-cap of the year, but let’s just say there are a lot of mixed feelings with this year ending.

This past month has been both chaotic and quiet. Work was chaotic…completely chaotic. Home life felt pretty quiet. For once in our life we were actually ahead of the game for Christmas shopping (thank you Amazon!). I was even in the mood to bake a couple batches of cookies, which is pretty rare. We also welcomed a new little baby nephew to our family. I was so excited to finally meet him last week! I’ve had my share of baby snuggles, which makes me one happy auntie. Christmas came and it’s suddenly over, just like that.

Anyway…here’s what we’ve been up to this month.

Currently Watching

I think we’ve watched a bit of everything this month! Amazon Prime had a Hallmark quality Christmas movie, “Snowed-Inn Christmas”, which I was not at all disappointed to watch. Of course there is a big cheese factor to these Santa Christmas movies, but it was kinda cute.

On Disney Plus, Mikey and I are watching “The Mandalorian” and Gryffin watched Mickey Mouse’s “Once Upon a Christmas” and “Twice Upon a Christmas” a couple times.

Currently Reading

Unseen: The Gift of Being Hidden in a World that Loves to Be Noticed by Sara Hagerty

I’m still not done with this one. This is a book that I just can’t listen to for hours at a time because I really want what she’s saying to sink in. I’ve had to re-check it out twice and I’m pretty sure I might have to make it 3 times, but I’m getting there.

Currently Making/Baking

Ooooh I have been making and baking up a storm! Well…a storm for me might be more like a sprinkle to others.

For cookies, I made these Andes Mint Cookies by Six Sisters Stuff

PC: Six Sister Stuff

I found this recipe via Pinterest years ago and I’ve made them almost every year since. It’s probably the easiest cookie recipe ever. They are so soft and minty and yuummmy.

I also made these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies by Sally’s Baking Addiction

PC: Sally’s Baking Addiction

I have talked about these cookies a few times on my blog because they are just so darn good! If you love pumpkin and love chocolate, then goooo make these cookies!

In the none-sweet world, I have also made Pozole. I use a recipe that was handed down from a friend – my favorite kind of recipe! We recently won a Ninja Foodie and it’s quickly becoming my best friend. I used it on this recipe and it turned out so, so good! It’s on my to-do list to take a pic and put the recipe on my blog. It’s rich and spicy in flavor and delicious!

Current Obsession

I actually don’t have anything to share this month here. My focus has been on family and spending time with them…everything else has faded in the background and I’m definitely more than okay with that.

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I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the rest of the month…all 2 days of it! :)

Much Love,

Cami

The Importance of Taking a Mental Health Day

/ Cami Grace / Leave a comment

I ended up taking a last minute mental health day this past Friday and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how good it felt and how needed it was.

We will often take a sick day when we are physically ill, but how many times have we been in a mental state of mind that is causing our internal “check engine light” to come on and we don’t do anything about it?  We know the issue is there, but we ignore it until the stress continues to build, and we start to feel that we are going to snap if one more thing happens.  

Going weeks and months running on empty is just not healthy and taking a mental health day can do wonders.  If you have the ability and the vacation or sick time to cover it, I strongly urge you to plan a mental health day. It’s a day for you to do what you need to recharge and re-set your mind.

For me, it’s taking my little boy into daycare and going home so I can sleep and get things done. Here’s a small snapshot of what I did.

~ Target for Starbucks coffee and shopping

Maybe shopping doesn’t seem like the thing to do on a mental health day, but just getting out of my own routine during the week was so nice. I didn’t plan to buy a single thing, but then of course I found a cute shirt and I had a little spending money this month, so I splurged. We (my husband was with me as well) also found a cute trick-or-treat bucket for Gryffin in the $1 section…which actually really was only a dollar.

~ Went out to lunch

Azteca to be exact. I love Mexican food and we don’t eat out at sit-down restaurants very often, so it was a nice treat.

~ Read a book and took a nap

Yes, I actually picked up a book! I found “Unseen” on a different e-book app. I’m happy to finally be reading again. It didn’t take long before I fell asleep, but it was sooo nice to do both.

~ Yard work

This might not sound very fun, but it felt good to be out in the sunshine. They say being out in nature is a huge stress reliever and I have to agree.

It was nice to have something productive done by the end of the day. Finding a mouse at the edge of the garden bed….not so nice. Yes, I screamed bloody murder, more by the surprise of it rather than over the mouse itself. *shiver*

Anyway, here are 10 more ideas to do on a mental health day

  • UNPLUG – I can’t stress this enough. Get off the internet and your phone
  • take a bubble bath
  • work on a craft project
  • journal
  • take a long walk
  • sleep in and/or take a long nap
  • pajama and movie day
  • get a massage (only if you have the money)
  • get a mani/pedi (only if you have the money)
  • Do something productive – tidy the house, deep clean a room, do the one item you keep putting off in your house. Finishing something on your to-do list can feel so, so good.

I hope everyone tries taking their own mental health day. If you have other ideas to add to this list I would love to hear them!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Much Love,

Cami

Life & Lemons

/ Cami Grace / 2 Comments

Financial instability, challenges within work, and life circumstances can be really hard to deal with.   

Certain situations have been personally rough, both at work and in my personal life.  For weeks, even months, I was waiting for these challenges in my life to get easier or to flat out go away.  Nothing catastrophic happened, just a lot of little things were adding up to make it really difficult to deal with.

Thinking it was just a phase, time kept passing and if it wasn’t one thing, it was another.  After a while it felt like I was carrying around one giant, heavy pit in my stomach. 

That’s when it hit me – I need to accept the fact that it’s not going to get easier.  I honestly don’t mean for that to sound negative – it’s just reality. 

Life is hard and that’s ok!

The fact I needed to change my mindset finally clicked. I needed to move beyond the simple fact that life is hard to the part where I say “that’s ok”.  It was time that I accepted it and stopped fighting.  

We are all dealt lemons in life that we don’t like.  I finally stopped whining and complaining about mine.  I looked at the different situations with fresh eyes and said “okay, what can I do with this” and then started taking action. 

Because I had been carrying that heavy pit for so long I had to do a mental inventory and pin point each topic on my heart and mind that was causing heaviness and/or pain and really examine it to find out the root problem and find a solution.    

I’ve been asking myself questions like:

  • Does this really matter?
  • Does this need to happen right now?
  • This is my current situation, so how can I make this work?

Some situations require different questions and sometimes it’s a matter of simply accepting “it is what is” and moving on. 

Praying and keeping close to God has helped me the most. I’ve reminded myself that God is good.  The situation might not be, but God is and He can be trusted with all of this.

There’s a saying that says God doesn’t give us more than we can handle – but that’s not true.  We are often given situations in life that we can’t handle and that’s why we need God so much in our life to lean on Him and let Him handle it.

I don’t know if this helps anyone by sharing any of this, or if you can relate, but this is just where I’m at in life with certain circumstances and it’s ok.  Life is a journey with ups and downs. 

I have so much to be thankful for and am so glad God knows the future and has a plan for my life.  When I keep Him in perspective, all things fall into place, even the ones that are still up in the air, and I can find it easier to rest.