Laina Turner's Blog, page 29
November 23, 2016
Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!
The post Happy Thanksgiving! appeared first on Laina Turner.
November 21, 2016
Who Wants to Budget?
I don’t.
I don’t want to budget any more than I want to eat healthy all the time and work out every day.
And I’m a gal who likes her buffalo wings, nachos and sitting on the couch watching Netflix.
But just like diet and exercise, which we do to feel good inside and out, budgeting is also a necessary yet often neglected part of life. Not having control over your money and making it work for you causes stress and who needs more stress in life.
I am a horrible budgeter. I take that back I am great at creating a budget but horrible at sticking to it.
Why?
Guilt over saying no to my family.
Feelings of I deserve that.
The justification that it’s ok, it doesn’t cost THAT much.
I can see you’re nodding your head reading this because you’ve said those exact same things to yourself and if you haven’t pat yourself on the back cause YOU ARE AWESOME!
The thing is nothing great happens without some sacrifice. As Dave Ramsey says “If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.” Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money: The Handbook of Financial Peace University[image error]
I’ve tried a million different ways to stick to a budget EXCEPT saying no. So it’s not a huge surprise that it’s never worked. Am I right?
Well, I am pledging to you all here and now that I’m turning over a new leaf. Spending this year has gone a little out of control with the wedding and all (there are a lot of reasons excuses but let’s just blame it all on the wedding) but to reach my life goals something MUST change, and that’s MY attitude toward money.
I also know that slow and steady wins the race, so I have created some mini goals that will get me to my ultimate goal of sticking to my budget.
Mini Goal #1 Do NOT spend money on unnecessary stuff for the rest of the year. I feel it will be easier for me to say no to the kid’s requests for this and that with the holidays coming up.
Mini Goal #2 Limit eating out to twice a week for the rest of the year. This goal will be the hardest yet will save the most money because it requires meal planning which is also not a strength of mine.
It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it in the long run and I feel it will better set me up for success for 2017.
How do you stick to your budget?
The post Who Wants to Budget? appeared first on Laina Turner.
November 14, 2016
Believe in YOU!
I think one of the things I find hardest in life is believing in myself 100% of the time. Sure I do it most of the time but then doubts creep up, and I find myself feeling like a total screw up.
It’s so easy to let head trash occupy our thoughts and make us feel defeated don’t you think?
Has this ever happened to you?
You know you need to get up early, and workout before the rest of the world is up because that’s your only time. But how often does your alarm go off at 5 am and you immediately think of all the reasons why it’s a bad idea to get up.
You do well on eating healthy for a week and then one day you have a mini Kit Kat your daughter gives you from her Halloween candy and you figure you just ruined everything and might as well eat all her candy.
You didn’t have time to interact on social media the way you wanted today and your page views tanked. You may never get them back up ever, ever again. You’re finished.
You had a bad sales day, and you know this is it. The death spiral. Life as you know it. Over!
This stuff happens to me all the time. I let my mind get the best of me by thinking that one small lack of action on my part has thrown my entire life off track.
But it hasn’t. It’s the continued spiral out of control that comes with the little slip up because we no longer believe in ourselves at that moment that really hurts our progress.
If instead of focusing on how we screwed up we need to focus instead on how much success we’ve had and that one tiny bump in the road isn’t going to undo all our hard work.
Forgive yourself when you slip up.
Believe in yourself ALL THE TIME. Not just when you do well.
Celebrate little successes that will snowball into big ones. Have faith in yourself and your ability.
Believe in YOU!
The post Believe in YOU! appeared first on Laina Turner.
November 10, 2016
Weekend Traffic Jam Link up!
Show us your old posts and more on Traffic Jam Weekend!
Come on in to link up, share, and learn something with us.
#trafficjamweekend
For any newcomers to Traffic Jam Weekend, this weekly linky party is all about linking up your old posts so you can get some new comments and traffic.
To the frequent TJW visitors, thanks for always linking up.
The bloggers bringing this fabulous party to you:
Kimberly from Being A Wordsmith | Facebook (site) | Facebook (book series) | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Google+
Laina from LainaTurner.com | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Google+
Gail from Frugal and Coupon Crazy | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Google+
Natasha from Epic Mommy Adventures | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram
Evelyn from Eclectic Evelyn | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Google+ | YouTube | Tumblr
Mari from Living in Mommywood | Twitter | Pinterest | Google+ | Bloglovin’
Reuven from Marriage-Reset | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Google+ | LinkedIn
These are the featured posts from Traffic Jam Weekend #69…
Gail chose How to Make Money Blogging from Peaches and Salt. “Blogging and money which everyone wants to make.”
Kimberly chose To My Enemy by About Life and Love. “This resonates with me through and through. I cannot be defeated when God is on my side. He has plans for me that the enemy can never destroy.”
Mari chose Dreaming Is Free by yadadarcyyada. “It touched on subjects my daughter and I speak of often. Dreams should always be encouraged no matter what life throws our way.”
The post with the most views was Pokemon Go…AWAY! by Daily Dump, Life is a Shit Show.
Thank you guys for sharing! Your posts have been pinned to the Traffic Jam Weekend Linky Party Pinterest board. Please grab a special Traffic Jam Weekend featured button below to display on your blog.
Just a few rules for the party…
Grab a Traffic Jam Weekend button below for your site
Link up as many of your old posts as you like below
Take some time and visit the other posts
Create some traffic jam for the hosts of this party
Share this party on social media with the hashtag #trafficjamweekend
Follow Being A Wordsmith’s board Traffic Jam Weekend Linky Party on Pinterest.*Disclaimer: Adding your link to this linky party gives permission to Being A Wordsmith and co-hosts to share your posts and pictures via social media with a link back to the original source. It also gives Being A Wordsmith and co-hosts permission to contact you via e-mail or social media for networking purposes.
An InLinkz Link-up
The post Weekend Traffic Jam Link up! appeared first on Laina Turner.
November 8, 2016
Cider Slushie with a kick!
Its fall and cider is one of my go-to drinks.
Hot or cold.
With cinnamon or without.
I like it in all forms. It also can make for a super delicious nighttime wine replacement.
You just need to add the KICK!
This cider slushie recipe is super easy and if you don’t have time to freeze it, It’s just as good. I personally like the slushie idea as it gives me more reason to sit in front of the fire.
Another fall activity I love.
For one serving, you want to add a ½ a shot of bourbon to every 8oz of cider. More if you like it strong. Just keep adding the bourbon to your liking.
Put it in a storage container and freeze for a few hours then scoop out with a spoon. I did make a big batch and kept it in the freezer for a few weeks until I ran out and it was just fine.
I hope you enjoy!
What is your favorite fall drink?
Cider with a kick!
Ingredients
Burbon
Cider
Instructions
For one serving, you want to add a ½ a shot of bourbon to every 8oz of cider.
More if you like it strong. Just keep adding the bourbon to your liking.
3.3.3077
For this recipe, I recommend:
The post Cider Slushie with a kick! appeared first on Laina Turner.
November 6, 2016
Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Drink – Adults Only
Anything pumpkin.
Adult Drinks.
Two of my favorite things. Combine the two? Well, that my friends is a recipe of one of my favorite fall drinks!
This is an adult pumpkin pie drink. I know many people are probably getting tired already (as if) of pumpkin by this point. Me? I personally never tire of pumpkin but once the holidays are over I patiently wait until the following fall. That’s what makes it so special. I’s a seasonal thing.
During the pumpkin season, I enjoy the pumpkin pie blizzards from Dairy Queen. {Have you ever had one of these almost magical and most delicious blizzards?! If not, as much as I want you to continue reading my blog post, stop reading and R.U.N. to go get yourself one! RIGHT NOW!
This year, after buying my favorite pumpkin pie liqueur and finding some oh-so-delicious pumpkin pie vodka, I came up with a great idea of making my own blizzard. But, this homemade pumpkin pie blizzard comes with a most fabulous adult-only kick.
Want to enjoy a bit of blizzard goodness, with an adult twist?
To make an 8oz serving you want the following:
2 cups vanilla ice cream
5 crushed vanilla wafers
1 ½ oz pumpkin pie liqueur
1 ½ ox pumpkin pie vodka
Mix all ingredients thoroughly and drink cautiously. The alcohol is very hard to taste.
Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Drink
Ingredients
2 cups vanilla ice cream
5 crushed vanilla wafers
1 ½ oz pumpkin pie liqueur
1 ½ ox pumpkin pie vodka
Instructions
Mix all ingredients thoroughly and drink cautiously. The alcohol is very hard to taste.
3.3.3077
For this recipe, I recommend:
The post Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Drink – Adults Only appeared first on Laina Turner.
November 1, 2016
30 Days of Practicing Gratitude Kick Off
I admit I made it quite a ways into my thirties before I realized the power of actively practicing gratitude. It’s not that I wasn’t grateful, but it was passive. I’d say thank you and be appreciative of the things I had, but I didn’t take the time to sit and reflect and think about how amazing my life truly was.
It wasn’t until I went through my divorce and was struggling with finding things to be happy about that I realized how powerful focusing on the positive could impact your emotions in a positive way. But even though I knew in my mind that it was a good thing to do daily I still struggled. It’s so easy to forget when something bad happens to focus on the good not that one bad moment. My kick ass boot camp instructor Jessica sent out an email a while back, that said:
You have $86,400 in your account, and someone stole $10 from you, would you be upset and throw all of the $86,390 away in hopes of getting back at the person that took your $10? Or move on and live? Right, move on and live. See, we have 86,400 seconds in every day so don’t let someone’s negative 10 seconds ruin the rest of your 86,390. Don’t sweat the small stuff; life is bigger than that.
It’s so true. We often allow one little thing, like Starbucks being out of pumpkin spice syrup, to ruin our entire day. Instead of taking it for what it is and letting it go because there are so many other amazing things happening in our life.
I am currently on day XX straight of journaling my gratitude and for the next 30, I want you to join me. Let’s harness the power of us all to be positive and uplift each other.
Each day, starting today, I will be posting a link on social media and sharing what I am most grateful for each day. Then my hope is you will join in with the thing you are most grateful for that day. I will also send out a daily email with a reminder and the links to where you can participate. I want to make it as easy as possible.
Sign up here to get the daily reminder.
Follow me on Facebook.
Join the In Pursuit of Fabulous Facebook group.
Follow me on Instagram.
The post 30 Days of Practicing Gratitude Kick Off appeared first on Laina Turner.
October 31, 2016
5 Tips to Generate Your Next Great Novel Idea
One of the most asked questions when people find out I’m a writer is how do I come up with ideas for my fiction books, and my answer is an emphatic, I don’t know. They just come to me. It’s not like I sit down at my desk and tell myself I’m not leaving until I’ve come up with an idea. Though I often sit at my desk and tell myself, I can’t leave until I’ve figured out what happens next.
The idea is easy. Figuring out how it evolves into a novel, not so much.
When I decided to pursue this writing thing several years ago, the hardest part was settling on ONE idea and seeing it all the way through. I have shiny object syndrome in this respect.
So many books to write, so little time.It also doesn’t help that I’m my most creative when it’s most inopportune.I get tons of ideas when I’m not able to write them down right away, such as at yoga or in the shower. Then I’m faced with the task of remembering them long enough to write them down. And it happens. A twenty-minute shower has probably lost me several best-seller ideas. I like to blame it on age
The reason I have so many ideas when in these moments is because I’m relaxed and NOT TRYING to think. If you’re struggling with solidifying that one great idea, or you can’t figure out how your idea will work, or you know you have a book in you but just can’t figure out what the story is here are 5 tips that always help me when I’m stuck.
Relax and stop thinking about it. This might seem counterproductive but as I said in the last paragraph it’s when we stop obsessing over a problem that an idea/solution comes to us. Go for a walk or take a nap (my favorite). Then come back refreshed and see where your mind takes you.
Get out of your routine. Shake things up. If you usually go to Starbucks to write go to Dunkin Donuts. If you write in black font, try blue (I prefer green). If you type on your laptop, try writing longhand. Something that jars you out of your comfort zone and your slump. If you’re in a rut, you need to do something different even if it’s a tiny change.
Read a book or watch a movie that’s in the genre you’re attempting to write. My dissertation chair told me when I was freaking out over finding a new revolutionary idea to write a 200-page paper on that there are few new ideas but rather it’s about finding a different spin on an old idea. It’s the same in fiction. Love stories are all the same. Girl meets boy. Boy breaks her heart. She plots revenge. They make up and live happily ever after. It’s what happens at each of those points that make the story. Watching or reading (I prefer reading) how someone else does it might spark your imagination.
Try your hand at free writing. Sometimes we get tied up in our own mind. We want to have the perfect words to put down on paper, and when we can’t think of those perfect words, we do nothing. Tell yourself you are going to write a piece of flash fiction (500 words or less) and then go to Facebook and the first post you see make a story about it. This silly, mindless exercise will get your creative juices flowing, and you never know where that story will take you.
Sit and write for your daily scheduled time even if you are just writing a grocery list. Don’t have a daily scheduled time to write? You need one. I’ll be writing about why this is important in a couple weeks. Don’t let yourself off the hook or a day you don’t write will turn into a week, a month. And you don’t want to go there.
Chances are you’re too hard on yourself. Ease up. The idea will come.
What are some ways you get your ideas flowing?
Oh, and it’s not to late to turn your idea into a novel during Novembers National Writing Month!
The post 5 Tips to Generate Your Next Great Novel Idea appeared first on Laina Turner.
October 29, 2016
Bats and Bling a Halloween Cozy Mystery .99 cents
Are you ready to read a Halloween cozy mystery?
Presley is excited to provide dresses for a charity Halloween ball, client Veronica Knapp is hosting. It’ll be great exposure for Silk. But when Veronica’s very expensive brooch is stolen from the safe at Silk, it brings on the kind of exposure Presley doesn’t want.
The brooch is found a couple days later along with Veronica’s dead body, but now her husband is missing.
Is he the one who killed her?
When Veronica’s friends want the show to go on in her memory Presley agrees but can she find out who killed Veronica before anyone else gets hurt?
The post Bats and Bling a Halloween Cozy Mystery .99 cents appeared first on Laina Turner.
Bats and Bling a Halloween Cozy Mystery
Are you ready to read a Halloween cozy mystery?
Presley is excited to provide dresses for a charity Halloween ball, client Veronica Knapp is hosting. It’ll be great exposure for Silk. But when Veronica’s very expensive brooch is stolen from the safe at Silk, it brings on the kind of exposure Presley doesn’t want.
The brooch is found a couple days later along with Veronica’s dead body, but now her husband is missing.
Is he the one who killed her?
When Veronica’s friends want the show to go on in her memory Presley agrees but can she find out who killed Veronica before anyone else gets hurt?
The post Bats and Bling a Halloween Cozy Mystery appeared first on Laina Turner.
