September 12, 2013

Fashion, Food, Family, Fitness

What do these things have in common?  Nothing really except for the fact that they all start with F and I'm going to talk about where I find my inspiration for them today.

Fashion.
When I'm in the mood for a new look, new hair cut or color, new outfit I head straight to Pinterest.  Duh, who doesn't?  It's like a one-stop shop for all things fashionable. Some looks I'm loving right now?
And then there's times where I'm just in the mood to buy something cute, cheap, whimsical, totally not necessary and when I need that in my life I turn to sites like Very Jane, Brickyard Buffalo, and Facebook because someone is always posting a "good deal" on Facebook.

Food.
I'll be the first to admit I haven't been cooking much.  I'll blame it on the new baby.  When I'm in the mood for a new recipe I bet you thought I'd turn to Pinterest again, didn't you?  Well I do, sometimes, but mostly I go Kraft.  Back in the day, when I lived with my parents, my mom got their Food & Family magazine and I was always flipping through it, looking at all the yummy pictures and I even stole her "collection" when I moved out.  I just love that their stuff is easy, affordable and the site is so user friendly. Now that I'm back to calorie counting I search the 'low calorie' recipes and there are lots of really good ones and everything I've made has tasted great. I also like reading the ratings because there are usually A LOT of reviews and they're usually really helpful, "don't use as much salt", "the sauce is spicy", "next time I'll add more _____" so it really helps when I'm making something for the first time.

They also have a 1 bag 5 dinners section where they give you the recipes and shopping list to make 5 dinners. It's very easy, cost effective and while some recipes I'm on the fence about {mac & cheese with some frozen veggies thrown in hardly counts as a meal in my book, but I digress} most of them are husband approving yummy.

Family.
When it comes to my family I am always looking for ways to make it better, strengthen our relationships, bring out the best in each other and just love unconditionally.  I love reading other family oriented blogs and seeing other family dynamics.  When I read a blogs like Loves of Life, Blue Eyed Bride, and House of Rose I am constantly inspired by these ladies and their families.  They support each other, have fun together, are creative, love Jesus and whenever I read these posts I always find myself asking myself what I can do to be more of those things.  Not that I'm trying to be like them but I can find attributes within each of them that I admire and would like to incorporate into my own life.

Fitness.
OK maybe it's just the people that I follow but I swear my Instagram is full of people working on their fitness all.the.time.  I log in and whether it's been two minutes or two days since I last checked my feed I am guaranteed to have at least a dozen pictures of people's super healthy food choices or their workout, even at 5am. I swear if I'm about to shovel a cheeseburger into my face all I have to do is click that little camera icon and I will instantly feel guilty about my poor food choices.  I love it because it's a total reality check.  Feel like sitting on your butt during nap?  Check IG and there's bound to be someone squeezing in some sort of workout during their nap time and so to the treadmill I go. It's a quick and easy reminder to me that I need to kick it up a notch.  Check out @mamalaughlin@annie0720@lauralou852, @skinnymeg31, @themrsburris, @amylbutterfield, and @advorunner, just to name a few.

So where do you turn for inspiration? What are some of your favorite sites, bloggers, books, people, TV shows, etc that you draw inspiration from?

6 comments:

  1. Awwwww :) Thank you Shannon! I should clearly start stepping up my a-game in the fitness posts, huh? That way I can be a fitness instagrammer? No? :) haha. xo!

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  2. Just in the way you love reading their blogs, I look forward to reading yours!!!

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  3. Just added these girls to my blog roll:) now off to check out some instagram inspiration:) thanks!!

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  4. Awww, you are too kind Shannon! I love reading your blog for many of the same reasons...and you totally motivate me when it comes to working out!

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  5. Pioneer Woman is a great place to get new recipes ideas, but you definitely have to skinny them down!! AllRecipes.com is another great resource for ideas for supper. And a great family-oriented, Jesus loving blog is Clover Lane, love it!!! (www.memoriesoncloverlane.com)

    Your haircut idea is inspiring me to change mine up a bit. It's been dragging me down but I keep it long b/c I get so many compliments on it. Finally I realized -- why am I keeping it long for them?? So, hoping to make a change and not chicken out at my next appt next month. Thank you!!

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