True Story Thursday: Lots and lots and lots

As you can tell from the heading this True Story Thursday is gonna be jam packed with goodies… so prepare yourself!

Armchair BEA

I’m skipping today’s “conversation” topic of Beyond the Borders because I’ve already discussed it a few weeks ago and it got kind of heated. So… no.

It’s also giveaway day – one of the best days of Armchair BEA!

I totally suck at giveaways so I’m going to do one that’s pretty low-key and not very elaborate. I know, I know… not fun, but whatever. Enter it anyway.

I’m giving away a $10 gift card to your choice of Amazon or Barnes & Noble! Why the choice, you may ask? Because of all the mess that’s going on with Amazon and Hachette books, and the potential mess it opens doors for, I figured there might be some of you who are taking a stand and shopping at B&N instead of Amazon.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Living Room Redecorating

It’s almost finished!!! I just need to finish up my curtains and hang some pictures (after I buy frames) and I’ll be finished! It’s looking really great and I’m very excited about it. In case you missed me tweeting it the other evening, here are some really fun pictures I made the other evening. I’m super proud of how they turned out!

I still don’t have pictures of the room yet, mostly because it’s not complete, but I should be finishing everything up this weekend so you all can see!

Small Group

This starts next Monday and I’m this weird combination of nervous/excited/terrified. What if people don’t come? What if I fail? What if I’m no good at leading? Ugh, my insecurity is running amok right now.

But actually, no… I’m good. I’ve got some great stuff planned and I’ve got friends who are coming to it and I’m really excited to not only share with others but learn from them. I’m also excited about making snacks for the group. Like I don’t know why this is the most exciting part for me, but I keep finding recipes and thinking “I SHOULD MAKE THIS FOR MY SMALL GROUP!!!” Weird, right? This coming Monday I’m going to make brownie ice cream sandwiches. Like I’m way too excited about them too.

I also found a new group for me to go to, which makes me excited and nervous too. This past year I’ve been going to a young professionals one that’s led by one of my friends and over the past couple months I’ve realized it’s not really for me. It’s good and all, but not for me. So instead of continuing to go to this one I’m going to branch out and try another… and hopefully meet some new people. 🙂

Dieting

I think I told you last week that I was doing that Advocare 24 day challenge. Finally finished the “cleanse” part on Tuesday – hooray! – and am starting the 100 pills a day part of it. Okay, not really 100 pills, but there are quite a lot. Its all vitamins, so I know they’re good for me. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

I have been feeling a lot better, which is the purpose, but I think it’s also due to the fact that I’ve been eating WAY healthier than normal and I’ve been working out more. Usually I don’t like either of these and they feel like chores but for some reason I’m really getting into both. Which has really paid off because today I put on a pair of pants and a top I haven’t worn in a very long while and they’re both very baggy on me. Not really too big, but definitely not as fitted as they used to be! I feel very raggedy today, but in the best way.

So yay!

Super Secret Project

This ties back in with my small group. One of the things we will be discussing this summer is legacies and the importance of leaving one. Which is awesome because I have been wanting to do this project for about a year now and this feels like a great push to finally start it.

I’ve been wanting to write letters to my daughter, kind of telling my story and words of wisdom I would like to leave her with. “But Candice, you don’t HAVE a daughter you might find yourself saying. Yes, I know. Which is why I’m writing them to my hypothetical daughter.

Letters to My Hypothetical Daughter is my super secret project and I want to share it with you all. I’ve been debating how to do this, whether it needs to be a separate blog or if I just wanted to share them on the GUYA, but then when I decided to talk about legacies with my small group I realized that I wanted to share this project with them but also DIDN’T want to share my book blog. I decided to use Tumblr as my platform because it’s easy, there’s very little formatting needed, and I can add fun little things interspersed with letters.

Starting next week I’ll be posting letters every Wednesday for the duration of my small group (ie the summer) as well as quotes, pictures, lists, etc. whenever I find a fun goodie to share. In addition to the letters I’ll also be posting discussion topics and lessons from my small group in case you want to follow along for yourself. Actually, a lot of the topics I’m choosing to discuss with the group came from you fellow bloggers, so I really hope you’ll join in on some of the discussion!

Letters to My Hypothetical Daughter is NOT available to search engines because I want to keep it… well, not private as I’m sharing it with all of you but rather somewhat on the DL. That’s not to say you can’t share it; please feel free to! Just letting you know that if you’re wanting to Google it, it’s not there.

So happy Thursday everyone! If you’re participating in Armchair BEA, hope you’re having a great week. If you’re at/going to BEA, hope you have/had a safe trip (and that you’ll bring me back a prize!).