Every Love Story is beautiful, but ours is My Favorite!

No relationship is perfect, including ours. Meet Justin, my boyfriend/best friend/soulmate! We have been dating for nearly three years and our journey began during the Winter of 2011 when we met through mutual friends. We have a healthy relationship and continue to grow each and every day together. Last May we bought our first home and have lived with each other and have learned more about each-other the past 9 months then we have the previous 2 years of our relationship. I can't wait to see what our lives have in store for each of us as individuals and as a couple. 

I am only 23 years young and not an expert on relationships but I know that being in a healthy loving relationship can be the best thing to experience on a daily basis. Justin and I understand each-other better then anyone else. 

Here is a chart that represents some factors of healthy relationships:

Here is my best advice to others in regards to relationships:

1. Listen to one another

2. Agree to disagree

3. Express your emotions and feelings

4. Be true to one another but also to yourself

5. Respect one another 

6. Laugh together

7. Love together

8. Grow together

9. Never go to bed angry at one another

I found an interesting article that expresses some tips in order to live a healthy relationship! Check it out here for building a healthy relationship from the start.

I am happy to say that I think that this suites Justin and I perfectly! 

Love is a beautiful gift when you find the right one!

Attitude is a Little Thing, That Makes a Big Difference

Have you ever had those days where you wake up and just KNOW that it's going to be "one of them days?". I have and more times then I would like to admit. Recently I have started to realize that carrying a bad attitude about something can really make things in life unenjoyable.

There are some things in life that we literally have no control over such as other peoples actions, but there is something that we do have control of and that is our own attitudes and actions. I feel like all of us have at least that one person in our life that is constantly negative, full of bad energy, or just a bad attitude the majority of the time. It's sometimes hard to express to the people we care about that their negative attitude and behavior effects us too.

When my boyfriend and I were buying out home last May I was out shopping (as usual) for household decorations and things. I came across one of those canvas art decorations that gets hung up on the wall, the quote on it was "A bad attitude is like a flat tire. If you don't change it, you'll never go anywhere".  I knew right away that I wanted it because it really hit home to me and stuck with me. We are in control of our attitude and whatever it may be that we need to do to change it, sometimes it just needs to be done.

I found an interesting article that discusses how attitudes form, change, and shape our behavior.

This week I plan to start changing the way I act about things I have no control of. I want to slowly start  changing my attitude to be more positive. With high levels of stress from work and school it is hard for me to sometimes stay positive, but this adorable video reminds me that my attitude really is EVERYTHING, and that it can change the way others view you as well!!!

The following 5 steps will be important for me to remember when creating a more positive attitude in my life!

1. Believe happiness is a choice

2. Rid your life of negativity

3. Look for the positive in life

4. Reinforce positivity in yourself 

5. Share happiness with others

Changing our attitudes can help to change others attitudes into more positive ones as well!! 

Stressed is Desserts Spelt Backwards!

If only it was that easy, right?

This topic for my blog post this week, couldn't of come at a better time. For the past three hours I have had this obnoxious headache, that is really preventing me from wanting to do anything. Lets see here this week has consisted of starting a new job, it being that "time of month", two restless nights of sleep, a killer headache two days in a row, having our bathroom remodeled, and a mental breakdown for school work overload! I keep telling myself that someone else has it a lot more rough then I do, so I suck it up and move on! I am excited to talk about stress this week. I think that we have all felt a sense of stress sometime this past month, some of us maybe everyday. This week I could really use some stress relievers more then other times. Sometimes it seems as if its impossible to get rid of all of the stress we face. Managing stress is all about taking charge: of your thoughts, emotions, schedule, and the way you deal with problems. What can stress really do to us though? Watch this three minute video found on YouTube that incorporates some science into the understanding of what stress can do to our life!

Tomorrow is Friday and my weekend can begin, I am just hoping for a nice relaxing weekend!!!

Some of my favorite ways to stress less include the following:

• A good cardio workout either at the gym or at home
• Reading a book
• Taking a hot bubble bath
• A massage
• A nap
• Yoga
• A phone call with a friend
• Closing my eyes 
• Deep breaths

What are your favorite ways to relieve stress???

I Wish Shopping Was My Cardio

If only shopping really was my cardio especially after a night like last. My favorite part about the Super Bowl besides the game itself and the halftime show would have to be the junk food! My boyfriend and I hosted a Super Bowl party last night and had about 25 of our friends over, talk about a house-full. We cooked up a turkey (yes, super random) that we had been freezing since Thanksgiving since we each got one from our employers. That sounds pretty healthy right? Well let me just mention that there was also party sausages wrapped in bacon with brown sugar, chili cheese fondue, taco dip, meatballs, plus all of the sweets. Not I woke up this morning with not only a filthy house but this guilt that I needed to really kick butt at the gym this week for my cardio exercise. I hope that I make it to the gym at least four days this week. I plan to get in a workout from home if I do not make it to the gym at least four days. I typically use the treadmills at the gym in order to get my cardio in. I feel like I would look like an ostrich if I got on the elliptical since I have super long legs, and I am not that coordinated to use my arms and legs at once while burning up a sweat which is why I realized Zumba is not for me. This week I wanted to look into new or different cardio exercises that might be interesting and a good workout for me. Recently on a friends Facebook profile I had noticed she started the Jillian Michaels 30-day shred workout. I found the video on YouTube and decided to took into it and hopefully incorporate it into my weekly exercise. I want to try new things so I do not get bored with the same cardio each day at the gym. Last week a friend and I went to the gym and decided to do something different on the treadmill. Instead of walking at a fast pace for 2 miles, we decided to start off with 3 minutes of a brisk walk and then jog for 2 minutes. We did this for about 35 minutes and it was a great workout. The whole point of cardio exercise is to get the heart rate to increase, and it doesn't take much for me! I do always feel really good about myself when I get in a good workout especially a good cardio session! If shopping really did count as a good cardio workout, I'd receive an A+!!

I have provided the YouTube video of the 30 Day Shred Level 1 by Jillian Michaels.