Five Thing Friday

1. I was listening to a new podcast called Happier in Hollywood, and I was so happy to hear them do a segment on bullet journaling. They were right, that a bullet journal is an amazing thing because it can be absolutely anything you want it to be, and it's uniquely yours. I love my bullet journal! I get to flip the page to a new, blank page full of possibilities, and write anything at all that I feel like writing. I like to plan my time, make habit trackers, doodle, write random lists, record income and expenses, set goals, and more in my bullet journal. I don't know why it took me so long to try something like this! I've wasted so much of my life buying regular old planners! ;)

My weekly spread for this week, and a hippo :)

2. Speaking of planning, meal planning is such a wonderful thing to do. I bought this handy-dandy magnetic "What to Eat" pad online a few months ago, and I finally used it this week! I got to plan exactly what I'm cooking and eating and when, and then make a grocery list from that so I had exactly what I needed, and no extra food that won't get used this week. This has made life so much easier! I'm excited to plan next week's meals on Sunday!

3. My favorite devotional that I read this week was written by Sheri Rose Shepherd. She said, "Every day, every moment, we have a choice. Will we choose to walk with God and follow his example and commands? Or will we choose to walk in the other direction?

"When temptation to sin presents itself, we have a choice. Walk with God, or head into sin. God doesn't force us to do the right thing, he gives us the choice. We have the free will to walk with him or to walk away. In every moment of this day, God graciously gives you the choice to walk with him."

4. In my free Facebook community, we have been doing a mini, "kickstart your happiness" challenge based on Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project." We are striving to improve our energy, as well as our overall happiness. We've been talking about sleeping more, exercising better, tackling nagging tasks, organizing our surroundings, and simply acting more energetic. It's been a fun challenge! I hope everyone taking part in it this week has liked my daily tasks and ideas to help them have more energy. 

Please send me a message if you are interested in joining my Facebook community for support, encouragement, motivation, and fun challenges as you strive to become happier and healthier.

5. I am currently reading a novel that has started off a bit slow. I'm a little over 100 pages in, and I started it in March. I am declaring here and now that by the time I write my Five Thing Friday post next week, I will have it finished. I will review the book as one of my five things, and I will decide whether it was worth it to persevere and keep reading. In the future I might try to stop wasting my time on sub-par books. It can be difficult to find a really amazing book, though!

I read a book this week that was recommended on the "What to Read Next" podcast. The host said this was the best book she had read this year, if not in the past five years! I decided I needed to read it myself if she was giving it that kind of review. It wasn't bad. But that's about the best review I can give it. It was definitely different than anything I've read before, so I guess that's a good thing to broaden my reading horizons.

Anyway, I'm going to take this week to finish the novel I started in March, and to think about how I want to approach books like this in the future.

The book I'll finish this week.

The highly recommended book that was distinctly odd.