Weekend In Charming Chattanooga

Well. This picture perfectly describes my weekend in Chattanooga, I went to visit Lexi and see her new home and I am so thankful for this little break – it was the perfect recharge. It was stupid cold – like 12° cold so we did a lot of just hanging out which was exactly what we both needed. PLUS all the cold was made worth it because it SNOWED. Happy Florida girl. There are so many dreamers and go-getters in Chattanooga, it’s infectious. Such a cool city.

I also may or may not have fallen for Chattanooga a little bit on this trip. We had SO.MANY. local places to choose from.  A couple of my favorites: Tupelo Honey, Brash, The Camphouse, Taqueira Jalisco, Southern Squeeze & The Local – (both really great juice shops and I really can’t say which one I like more).

(Here’s the view outside of Taquira Jalisco *insert heart-eye emoji*)

Just two Florida girls wanting to see snow on the mountains. So, we did. I’m kind of obsessed with the fact that it took us 15 mins MAX to get to the mountains from downtown.

I am so excited for my beautiful friends new journey in this incredible city also incredibly excited that I get to visit her here! Caaaause I love this place. Over the last year, she has been documenting her journey through her blog in becoming gluten-free and transitioning away from modern medicine, it’s become a big part of who she is and the story is amazing – check it out here.

We’ve Got Ourselves A V-day Tradition

So, we live in Florida. And I have no idea why I’ve never thought to watch the sun rise and set in the same day but we ended up spending Valentines day seeing what it was all about. and it did. not. disappoint. We were up bright and early, 4:30 am to be exact, and we drove to New Smyrna. It was 35° {little chilly for this Florida girl} and we saw the sun rise over the Atlantic. We just tooled around between New Smyrna and Tampa in between the sun rise and set, played around with my camera, saw a movie, then headed toward St Pete.

We stopped for lunner (that’s lunch/dinner ;)) at Wright’s Gourmet House in Tampa and now it’s my new obsession. I’m going anytime I am reeeemotely close, and by that I mean I’ll probably drive my happy butt down there just for this place – I love the home-y feel and their food is so so good – I had their Ruben and a carrot cake cupcake to go. You know it’s gonna be good when there’s a line out the door of a bunch of people just happily waiting for their turn at 3 o’clock in the afternoon..and it was.

We walked the beach and found a place to watch the sun set over the Gulf. Magic. This is absolutely our new Valentines tradition for as long as we live in Florida! There are so many things about marriage that I absolutely love but at the very tip-top of that list is traveling, adventuring, and creating new traditions with Justin. Those were some of my favorite memories growing up so to be able to start our own traditions as a little family brings me so much joy.

SLOW DOOOWN. You’ll get there.

My schedule has been super inconsistent so this month I’m focusing on normalizing it and getting into the groove of things and ultimately, setting the pace for the rest of the year. I started Rise and since have been learning as I go, getting so frustrated because I have this beautiful vision that I am not able to press play on because of fundamental shortcomings as a result of a lack of knowledge in my field – so as of late, I’ve just been throwing in the towel when I get to something that I can’t do. With that, I decided to do what I should’ve done to begin with – take a couple of months and really learn the ins-and-outs of all things web development and design, I’m starting with teaching myself how to code. I’ll keep you posted (insert sweating emoji face).

 

I’m sticking with my goals and not allowing myself to step outside of them this month – that’s when I get overwhelmed and end up just running in circles. I broke it down into monthly/weekly/daily goals and I am so doing this every month. My theme of this month is fun and joy!

Month:
-SLOW DOOOWN. You’ll get there. You’re right where you are to be.
-Spend time learning. Learn basics of coding first.
-Come up with a daily chore list and DO IT
-Two family dinners
-Plan vacations/fam time/wedding travel through the rest of the year
-Plan a fun Valentines Date and our anniversary weekend
-Normalize my exercise schedule
-Read Redeeming Love and Essentialism
-MC family dinner

Week:
-Coffee with a friend/family – pray for that person through the week
-FUN, thoughtful date night – be creative!
-Blog once
-Cook 5 meals
-Work out at least 4 times
-Stick to my weekly work schedule

Daily:
-Focus on being JOYFUL and REJOICE often
-Pray/journal/be in the Word
-Encourage, pray with, and love on Justin
-Connect with our families

I am super excited about this list of things – I’m feeling super encouraged and at the end of this I’ll be genuinely, confidently ready to continue on with and succeed in my dreams! It’ll happen. Just not in my timing. If you’re reading this, just pray that I stick with this and don’t get discouraged that I am not farther along – I pray that I am content and enjoying every single stage of this. Because it is so beautiful – it’s not any less beautiful now than it will be when I make this my full time gig – so I need to be present here. I realize now and more and more all the time just how incredibly thankful I am that this didn’t take off like I hoped. I was. not. ready. nor am I now, so I’ll enjoy this ride of learning and creating and I’ll be ready when the time comes. Lord, I pray you help me to remember that daily. Thank you for your timing. It is ALWAYS better.

Y’all – what are your dreams/plans/goals for this month? What are you going to do to make it happen?