From paper to plastic: Why I got a Kindle

So for anyone who knows me, or has known me from birth to high school, they can tell you the countless books and bookstore gift cards I’ve asked for for birthdays and Christmas. My parents can tell you the hoards of books I’ve had growing up, from the one 10ft tall bookshelf sometimes double stacked with books, plus a smaller 4-5ft bookshelf full as well. I love books. I love the feel of them in my hands, turning the pages and that oh so satisfying (but awful for the book itself) crack of the spine as I bend paperbacks against themselves. I love the smell of new books, of old books, of ancient books.  I love going to the bookstore, and browsing books for a few hours or just a short trip in to get what I want and get out. I love leaving the bookstore with a fair amount of weight in my hand from the new books. I love highlighting important/relevant passages, making notes in the margins (more for informational books and textbooks, but some novels have some rad passages too!) [Also, I know some people will gasp at the molestation of the books, but to each their own. At least you can rest assured that I’m not one of those savages who dog-ears their pages! I will always use some sort of bookmark.]

But what I don’t love is those books I’ve bought and read once because I just wasn’t that into them. I don’t love all the space taken up by my books. If I could have a dedicated storage space for my books that also doubles as a library, I’d take it. But at my current stage in life, my house I share with my husband doesn’t quite allocate for a library.

Enter the E-Reader. When they first came out, I was so against them. I would pack 5-9 books with me on car trips, I would lug those books in carry ons and checked bags flying from point A to point B; once I finished them on the trip, cart them back home and add them to my shelf.  No one was going to have any business taking away my experience with books. I was set firm in my ways.

Until I wasn’t. At the end of last year, after talking with my husband about my plans to read a crapton this year, “Well I’m going to be bringing up my stuff from my childhood home to this one” “Stuff?” He looked at me with the chagrin of “What more do you have?” I had 18 years of my life in that house. 18 years of stuff, and yes, 18 years of books! (Plus a few summers between college and vacations and what not) “Ok, well not so much stuff, just books mostly” “Where are you going to put them?”

Therein lay the problem. I couldn’t bring my bookshelf with me. Our 1100 sq ft home had 7ft ceilings. And I certainly couldn’t saw 3ft off the bookshelf, it just couldn’t work. And then I realized, with this house that I’m in, I just couldn’t keep my library I had acquired. For the amount of upcoming books I want to read, there won’t be space for them to make a home.

So, for Christmas, I asked for a Kindle.  Christmas Day, (well we celebrated the day after Christmas) I opened a kindle from my parents.

Go ahead. Moan and groan, call me a traitor.

But let me tell you, I haven’t fully forsaken books. I will still buy the occasional book here and there. The majority will be bought on my kindle, for less than a physical book, which is actually a nice relief on my pocketbook (aka wallet, aka bank account).

Being about half a month (ok like a quarter) into using my kindle, I quite like it. I’ve already read 2 books. I didn’t have to wait for them to be restocked in the store, or wait for them to be shipped to my door. When I finished one outside of the house, I didn’t kick myself for not packing a second book in my purse, I wasn’t weighted down in my purse by 2 books. I had the next book already in my library and I just clicked over to it, and voila, I’m ready to read.

I’m thoroughly impressed and in love with my kindle. It came default with “Samantha’s Kindle” as the name. (It takes your name from your amazon account and just calls it “(Name)’s Kindle”. But you have the capacity to rename it.

Possibilities.

That’s what I’ve renamed it. So many possibilities of books. So many possibilities of just everything. And convenience, but possibilities sounds like a cooler name than convenience.

So that's my thoughts on it. That's why I made the switch, and I couldn't be happier :)

Let's Get Personal: A life Update

I was so busy the majority of this year, doing life, traveling and experiencing milestones, that throughout my posts, I forgot to post about some of the great things that happened this year!
 
So, first off, April 2nd was the 1 year anniversary of me dating my boyfriend (at the time!)


2 weeks later, right before my birthday, we bought some chickens, and 2 days before my birthday, on April 15th, 2016, My boyfriend proposed! And then he was called Fiancé :) 5 months and 2 days after the proposal, on September 17th, 2016, we got married! Immediate following, from September 18th-24th, we went on our honeymoon!


Check out my instagram for some Wolcott Wedding Pix and Honeymoon Pix :)
All of our wedding photos can be found here.

At the end of October, we celebrated 1 year of being in our house. And what a great year it has been. Super trying, super rewarding, and now my boyfriend turned fiancé turned husband and I have a wonderful life. We're still not perfect at the marriage thing, afterall, it's only been about 2 months, but I'm happy. He's happy :)

I definitely fell behind on the PfWo (Pfisterer-Wolcott) House to Home project series. Now it's just the House to Home since I'm no longer a Pf, and there's no need to distinguish the fact that there are 2 bodies in the home, "the 2 will become 1 flesh". We haven't done a TON of remodeling, so there's still hope for the series.

Definitely fell behind on the reviewing front, but planning a wedding kind of took precedence. And my husband uses our 1 computer for editing his photos, so when I want to blog, it seems to come at the most inopportune time, so it's been set aside and I haven't been able to blog much.

I won't set a schedule for myself with the holidays coming, but I hope to find some sort of regular schedule to post and hopefully build this blog into something amazing :)

Until next time

-S

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I know Halloween just got over and done with, and by the title, I'm wagering you're cringing in your seat, awaiting the onslaught of Christmas cheer.


Well fear not my friends, for the only Christmas cheer in this post, is simply just a wishlist.

"An online blog post wish list? Really Samantha? Tacky."

Ah, you say tacky, I say convenient, and here's my reasoning why. Year after year, person after person, "What do you want for Christmas?" Rather than repeating myself time after time, or forgetting what I tell who, I figured for everyone's convenience, a list would help everyone out. Besides, years from now, how cool will it be to look back on this and reflect, either on how it was a good choice, or I probably could have asked for something "better" (but c'mon, some of this stuff is pretty rad). 

And of course, as a Type A person: I love lists, so it just makes sense.

So, if you're all ready, here we go.

Samantha's 2016 Christmas Wish List (in no particular order)

• Michael's Gift Cards (Because who doesn't love getting crafty?! Planning supplies, Washi tape, canvases to paint on...ahhhhh)
• Etsy Gift Cards (Stickers for my planner, and other awesome stuff!)
• InkJoy Gel Pens (all black)
• Pair of rain boots (Who knew October could be so rainy!)
• Another Pair of Tieks (no patterns, already own the grey pair, seriously comfortable shoes! LOVE THEM) 
• Ulta gift cards (because Professional Hair Care that actually does something good to your hair other than build up crap is more expensive than the drugstore)
• A nice gym bag because my high school bag is....well its high school)

This list is not complete and final, it's a draft I'll be working on throughout the next month and a half. So in the meantime, I hope you're inspired to create your own Christmas wish list. :)

Let's Get Personal: Jesus in my Heart

In today’s society and whirlwind of social media, it’s hard to just go about your day and just be you, and just do you. We’re taught somehow that if we don’t get enough likes or comments, our posts just aren’t valuable. If we don’t get his attention or her attention, we’re not worth it. If we don’t become the next top model, the next big band, the next great American author, the next Addy award winner, that our opinion, work and personality aren’t worth knowing.

But that’s not true.

We’re already famous. We’re already known. We’re already applauded.

By our Father.

Francesca Battistelli’s song “He Knows My Name” has been my heart’s song the past month or so.

Spent today in a conversation
In the mirror face to face with
somebody less than perfect
I wouldn't choose me first if
I was looking for a champion
In fact I'd understand if
You picked everyone before me
But that's just not my story
True to who You are
You saw my heart
and made
Something out of nothing

[Chorus:]
I don't need my name in lights
I'm famous in my Father's eyes
Make no mistake
He knows my name
I'm not living for applause
I'm already so adored
It's all His stage
He knows my name oh, oh,
He knows my name oh, oh

I'm not meant to just stay quiet
I'm meant to be a lion
I'll roar beyond a song
With every moment that I've got
True to who You are
You saw my heart
and made
Something out of nothing

[Chorus]

He calls me chosen, free forgiven, wanted, child of the King,
His forever, held in treasure...
I am loved

I don't need my name in lights...
I'm famous in my Father's eyes...

[Chorus]

How cool is that? We don't need to do anything but simply let Him love us. He's chosen us to be where we are, doing what we're doing, with the set skills...and He loves us and knows us by name, so much so, he knows the amount of hairs on our heads. Or, if we're older, how many hairs were on our head. Who would take the time to care about that trivial bit of information? Someone who loves us very deeply.

I don't know that there's a ton of encouragement here, but I hope it's simple enough for it to hit home with someone. Comment below what you're struggling with and let me and others pray for you. If you never tell, we'll never know how to help <3

PfWo Project: House to Home - Painting

As nice as the light yellow walls, and the blue walls, and the purple walls are, it's just not our style. Our goal for the house? An elegant and classy home, with neutrals and shimmer (think Carly Cristman's loft).

So phase one of house to home: Repainting! Our goal is greys and blues.


All the common spaces have gone from yellows to grey.











This was all done the day before Halloween, before we officially moved in. Since then, we've done a lot to the house. I really sucked at posting House to Home updates. I'm working on some more posts, so be sure to keep an eye out for you!


What's your favorite part of remodeling? Comment below!


(Update 11/4/16) All of the pictures have disappeared and I'm not sure why. I will look in to remedying this situation asap!)

Product Review: Quaker Breakfast Flats

I feel like my life has calmed down enough that I’m finally able to accept  VoxBoxes from Influenster again. I usually am on top of accepting their surveys and trying out their products that they send and writing a review. But with how busy life has been recently, I haven't wanted to get busy and forget about doing them!

This last time, I forget what the survey questions were, but the box was a pack of the Quaker Breakfast Flats. I got a cranberry almond flavor. 3 flat bars come per pack.

I ate all 3 within 10 minutes probably as a mid morning snack between breakfast and lunch. They were a bit dry, and makes me wish I had some coconut milk or almond milk to go with it. But they were super tasty, and not as crummy as the Nature Valley bars (where crumbs go EVERYWHERE). I do like them, and with some further research into how healthy they are (for my diet goals, not diet like cutting out food, but changing the diet to healthier options)

Here are the bars peeking out of the package. They were the entire length of the packaging, so well worth what the price would be, I think.

Probably could have cropped this picture, but I wanted to take the picture before I devoured the food, and at work, I didn't have much time to make a nice background.

So, after eating these, I definitely have to say "Thanks!" to influenster for opening the door to a new product I may not have otherwise purchased to try.

Product received complimentary through influenster, I did not pay for the product. Opinions are my own, I am not being asked to provide anything specific other than my opinion.

Get it Right Get it Tight: Kickboxing

Last time we talked fitness, I was raving about Kaia Fit, and how amazing it was and how amazing I felt. I still stand by those statements. It is a great program, however, it's not for me. What I wanted was to gain strength and muscle. What I got was cardio workouts that equaled body shredding of fat and endurance; Not a bad thing at all, just not what I was desiring out of a workout.



So I stopped going. I cancelled my VIP membership and just went line dancing. I lost a lot of endurance I had, and while dancing is great, again, it wasn't doing what I needed to change about my body. I couldn't quite pick up running again. A few things contributed to that. First off, when I was doing squats in Kaia, no one mentioned to not drop your knees over your toes. I had my weight in my heels yes, but my knees had leaned forward over my toes, rather than sitting back like I was sitting in a chair. Secondly, I danced so hard and frequently in the beginning of the year in addition to Kaia, so I think the combination of improper squats and dropping it like it's hot to a few line dancing songs killed my knees.



I've been trying to let my knees heal, but in that song Whiskey Drinking SOB when they say "One step two stepping out on the floor, you pop lock and drop it till you can't anymore" it's hard to not drop it when everyone else around you is. I've gotten better about it. Just need to keep telling myself if I don't stop dropping it, I'm going to have to have my knees replaced. So that's a process.



So, my new form of working out? Kickboxing. One of my coworkers talked about a banging deal for 3 kickboxing classes for $20 ($19.99 if you wanna get technical with it) and a free pair of gloves through ilovekickboxing.com. I thought that it was a good deal and decided to sign up. Well if you go through Yelp.com, there's a deal for 5 classes for $30 and gloves. Groupon is also running a special for the Reno classes. So it's a great way to test and see if you like it.



Sure enough, I did. There's a great grueling 15 minute warm up, which the more I go, the shorter it seems. Following that is stretching, which I think could use a little improving maybe? Its always the same stretches but I don't know what other ones could target the same muscles. And then the rounds begin. Rounds are varied with punches and kicks. Based on ability level, you can control your own workout. You can hit the bag has hard or as soft as you want. A few girls have kicked the bags over. I'm surprised that in the classes I've taken, no man has yet.



After the rounds, there's a short partner workout for a couple minutes, followed by a final round of stretching.



It's a great workout, and I truly enjoy it. I see the type of results I want. I know I'm not getting a ton of strength in my upper body, that would come from the gym and lifting. But I'm happy coming from where I was and getting to where I am. I got a full year membership there. But with all the moving and what not, finances weren't really supporting my working out, so I put it on pause. And Feb 9th, 2016, I made my return. Life had finally calmed down enough to where I can make time to go work out again. And let me tell you, I had forgotten how sore I was. Hoooo baby. I'm feeling it. But, it just means I need to keep on plugging to get back to where I was before I paused. (Can't say I quit, because I'm back!)








I'm really excited for the results I've seen, and excited for what's to come!

Until next time
-S