Welcome, Gabe the Babe!

For those of you following our weekly recaps, I'm here to inform you that Holli Anne won't be posting her recap today. Why?

Well, while we were sleeping she was being super sneaky and having a baby.
(!!!!!!!!)

I am very happy to announce that Holli Anne gave birth to a beautiful, perfect little boy! His name is Gabriel and, as you can see, he's adorable! So here's a big ole CONGRATS to Holli and her hubs on creating Gabe the Babe!

<3

-Tyler Anne
Images via here, here, and here.

Holli Anne's 2014: Week 6-7

Well, I'm not proud of skipping a week on these, but sometimes life just happens, huh?

These last two weeks were full of big-time nesting, enjoying my little family and definitely feeling the love! So. Much. Love.

Here's what went down:

Pins I'm pinning: I GOTTA have this Sprinkle Cake for my birthday. And this super simple wall art is inspiring a little project for my little man.

Books I'm reading: Finished Harry Potter #3 and have been reading For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. (It's for a book club I'm in...I'll be back to Harry Potter this week!)

Movies I watched: The Lego Movie. It's flawless!

Things we're doing: Finishing touches on baby nursery. Cleaning everything else because, why not?! (I can't sit still!) Trying to wrap up things for maternity leave.

Highlights of the week(s): REAL progress on our home! Annual Valentine's Day Date: Waffle House + Lego Movie (it was very fancy). Baby shower from my coworkers. Super sweet visits and surprise baby gifts from friends and family. Just feeling super loved and excited for our little guy to get here and feel the love too!

Hope you've had a wonderful couple weeks!

-Holli Anne

Valentine's Day Roundup

Tyler Anne's Valentine Roundup

I know Valentine's Day is only a few days away but here are some DIYs/Recipes that you can totally pull off in that time! 

1 / / This creative and definitely cute DIY Valentine's gift wrap found on PaperBlog can be pulled off quickly, giving that extra touch of love. 

2 / / This A Beautiful Mess how-to might not be meant specifically for V-Day but I think it should definitely be considered if you and your loved ones dig yummy, homemade kitkat bars!

3 / / I very rarely drink but what better way to celebrate love and Valentine's Day with Design Love Fest's 1966 Cosmopolitan?
4 / / Want to make your celebration a little more festive? Maybe surprise someone special with some LOVEly balloons? Check out Design Improvised's Valentine Heart Balloons!

Holli Anne's Valentine's Day Roundup

So this year I'm a tad busy for fun Valentine's Day crafts. If I do anything nifty it will definitely be ON Valentine's Day and probably way simple. But, I'm super into these four Valentine's day goodies.

1. These Valentine's Day Cookie Cakes on Bakingdom not only look delicious but are adorable! Plus, they have sprinkles on them and I'm just a sucker for those!

2. I love, love, love these Cupid Arrows from The Sweetest Occassion.  They are such a creative way to give your Valentine a date-night package.

3. This cheesecake is just amazing! I'm sure I'd never have the patience to make it, but isn't it wonderful?! Featured on The Foodie Crush Blog.

4. And lastly, these Crayon Paper Hearts from Martha Stewart are such a simple, effective decoration to me. They were featured on Craftley Blog. 

-The Annes

Holli Anne's 2014: Week 5

This week was crazy because it snowed in the south! If you don't live down here (or if you do), you probably saw some silliness on the news about people being stuck in their cars overnight because of our snow, but that didn't happen where I live, so it was just fun! Plus, my husband and I got a couple surprise days off work and used them to work on little man's room. Bonus weekend!

Here's the run-down of the week:

Pins I'm pinning: Maybe it's the fact that our house is almost back in order, but my pins seem to be heavily organizing themed. I love this to-do list method.

Books I'm reading: Finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets. Why am I just now reading this series? Better late than never I guess! I'm hooked!

Movies I watched: (I don't watch a lot of movies but I figured this could be a fun category since I DID this week). Fargo.

Things we're doing: Painting walls gray (check). Painting furniture white. Staining desks. Building Websites. Playing in snow!

Highlights of the week: SNOW (duh!). Lovely date night with my hubby. First visit to Chipotle...yum!

Things I'm blogging: Super Simple DIY Desks (our office space is getting done...yay!)

What's the scoop on your week 5?

-Holli Anne

Super Simple DIY Desks

My husband and I have been on the hunt for the perfect desks for a while now. He is an illustrator and wanted a drafting table BUT our office is in our living room and drafting tables are pretty large. (Except those smaller plasticy ones, but again, this is in our living room). He found a table-top drafting board at Hobby Lobby to solve that issue. So that meant we just needed desks with a large enough surface to hold the drawing board. Plus, I like a really roomy work space to spread out! 

These were easy to make, only cost us about $90 total (for two of them) and look so spiffy in our office space. Here's how we did it:

Supplies: 

• Slab of pre-cut wood from Lowe's (though, I'm sure you could cut some yourself if that's your thing).
• 2 Ikea trestle legs
• 1 can pre-stain wood conditioner
• 1 can wood stain & polyurethane in one
• Fine grain sandpaper

1. Assemble the Trestle legs following the Ikea instructions. 

2. Lightly sand the surface of the wood and wipe dust off with damp cloth. (The wood we bought was about $20 for each slab).

3. Apply coat of pre-stain wood conditioner with paint brush or cloth. Let soak for about 15 minutes. 

4. Apply first coat of wood stain and sealer. Let dry for about 6 hours and then apply the second coat. 

5. Put the wood on top of your trestle legs and get to work!

So, maybe this is almost a little TOO easy to qualify for the DIY category, but it's perfect for us. Affordable, adorable and assembled with love!

-Holli Anne

Inspiration: Baby Boy Nursery

This coming week, I'll be just five weeks from my due date! Say what?! Time is really flying! 

We have officially disassembled our baby boy's room to cover the walls and a couple pieces of thrift store furniture finds with fresh coats of paint. (The walls are going to be a warm gray with white furniture). Currently, the walls are a dark blue.

Anyway, the next couple of weeks will be super busy for us as we put this little guy's room together, and I won't have very great pictures to show until we're all done. BUT, I thought it'd be fun to show you some of the inspiration behind our project. 

First, we don't really have a concrete theme. We are doing a Montessori-style nursery (you can read more about that here). Essentially, we are using a simple mattress on the floor, which I get may sound a tad crazy, but the idea is that the little guy can begin exploring his space whenever he's ready. Also, we'll make sure there are comfy things around his bed so if we does roll off or crawl off, it won't hurt. Toys are low and accessible and it's not dangerous because we are working hard to make sure his space is really safe for him. The beds below are a bit busy for a baby, but they are a good example!

We also have a big wooden shelf and plan on using a lot of wooden and natural elements for his toys. When he's old enough to really play with toys, we'll rotate them out so he can have a little to play, keep things interesting and not overwhelm him. 

And lastly, we don't really have a color scheme or particular theme in mind. BUT, we want to use a versions of primary colors, mixed in with some green. 

We want to give the whole thing a vintage feel, with soft, bright colors and awesome thrift store decorations. 

We'll post the final (hopefully) in the next couple weeks! 

Here's all the links to the pins above. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 

-Holli Anne

Holli Anne's 2014: Week 2

This week was all about family and babies (well, singular baby...the one growing inside me!) My parents came to visit, we made some major progress on getting our house in order  and we got to see the baby again in ultrasound form!

I'm 32 weeks pregnant, and I'm not super into pregnant pictures of myself, but I thought this one would be a good round up of the week. (You can see that big belly down there!)

Here's the low-down on 2014, Week 2:

Pins I'm pinning: Looking back, most of them are food related (go figure). These banana rolls and overnight oatmeal in particular have my interest peaked.

Book I'm reading: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman...just finished last night. It's beautiful. And a lot of things. SO MANY FEELS.

Things I'm doing: Majorly working on our house. We organized ALL our art and office supplies, which was a major feat. We also got new table legs from Ikea in the mail this week, so our office project is almost complete. Post coming soon!

Noteworthy things: An 11-degree low in south Georgia and a new neighborhood coffee shop that sells Fairtrade Coffee (that happens to be delicious!)

My blogs from this week: Chocolate Banana Coffee Cupcakes. Yep, make these!

Best moment of the week: Seeing our baby on ultrasound form. The best part was that we didn't really get a good look at his face because he's all turned in the right position for birth. BUT, we did find out he has hair! Yay!

How was your second week of this year?

Recipe: Chocolate Banana Coffee Cupcakes...oh my!

OK...so I know it's the new year and all that and many people are probably doing that diet thing. But hey, we can all use a little chocolate in moderation, right?

These particular cupcakes happen to combine a few of my favorite things: chocolate + bananas + coffee +powdered sugar + honey almond cream cheese + more chocolate. Holy mess. These are beautiful.

I got most of this recipe from The Joy of Baking, but I did make some additions (coconut oil, instant coffee, and the frosting). Here's the version I did.

Chocolate Banana Coffee Cupcakes

• Ingredients
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1 egg
• 1 banana mashed
• 3/4 tbsp. instant coffee
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 coconut oil
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350. 

2. Mix all dry ingredients in bowl, followed by wet ingredients. 

3. Pour batter into a muffin pan lined with 12 cupcake liners. Fill about 2/3 full. 

4. Bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• Ingredients
• 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp. honey almond cream cheese

1. Mix all these ingredients together (preferably with a mixer but mine broke tonight so it worked without!)

2. Once cupcakes are cooled, ice with yummy frosting mix and eat! 

Hope you enjoy! And if you are dieting, it's fine if you just pin them for a reward when you aren't! 

—Holli Anne

Holli Anne's 2014: Week 1

If I have one regret about 2013, it's that I didn't document enough of it. I've always wanted to be a Project Lifer or a scrapbooker, but when I'm honest with myself, I know I'd never carve out the time to do it.

For some of last year I simply wrote down a Highlight of the Day in my journal, and those were pretty cool to go back and read. So I'm trying to do those again. But, I want something visual, so with the inspiration of some other bloggers, I decided I'm going to do a brief recap of the week on here. It'll have at least one image from the week and maybe even some of the blog's I'm digging, pins I'm pinning or books I'm reading.

This week (the 2014 portion anyway) was a short one. I've seen many people, along with their New Year's resolutions (or in place of), give themselves a word of the year. If you saw our New Year's Goals post, then you may know one of my major goals is to NOT freak out over things. So, I decided to give myself the word "Courage."

I doodled it on this piece of paper and stuck it in an old frame on my desk today. It's by no means fancy, but luckily hand-lettering isn't one of my goals for the year. (One of our friend's Allison is doing a 365 hand-lettering project that's pretty gorgeous, so you should check that out).

The courage to...
give birth to a healthy, happy little boy.
be a first-time mom.
adjust my schedule a million times as my little guy grows and his needs change.
guard my priorities and let the other little details go.
reject negative thoughts.
turn to others when I feel like I can't handle things on my own.
trust that things will always fall into place when they are supposed to.
trust myself.

Here's to a courageous 2014! Do you have a word of the year? Let us know in the comments below.

-Holli Anne

Goals for 2014

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR! We hope you had a fun time surrounded by loved ones and all of that heartwarming jazz! If only the holiday could last a little longer!

Now, it's time for New Year Goals that we oh so want to complete before 2014!
Curious about our 2013 goals and report card? Go here!

Tyler Anne's Goals:

I'm not going to lie, my goals are going to be heavily writing-oriented so hang in there with me!

1. Finish writing my newest work in progress! (It's a paranormal romance, cozy mystery, women sleuths type deal!)

2. Get the book from #1 self-published OR very near it!

3. Start working on book number 3, whether it's a sequel or another series!

4. Post to the blog every week! Why? BECAUSE I LOVE IT!

5. The old desire to get more in shape and exercise regularly! We. Shall. See.

Holli Anne's Goals:

This year I'm having a baby! So, I'm going to be a little easy on myself in terms of specifics in goal-setting. Since I've never done this whole parenting thing, I figure I might need to make up some of this as I go.

1. Don't freak out! That's my number 1 goal for this year and if I accomplish nothing else but this one, I'll be pleased as punch. Sure, it might be hard to control, but I plan to do this just by doing my best not to entertain negative thoughts/emotions as much as possible.

2. Invest in the community more. This includes getting actually involved in a church and maybe some other things around town as we get to know this place better.

3. Continue working toward healthy living. Yes, this is super vague. But last year I started running and eating a lot healthier, and mainly, I just want to keep those things up. I also want to work on getting chemicals out of my house with natural cleaning products...and who knows what else. I'll take it as it comes!

4. Establish a new writing routine. I'm thinking with a child on the way, this is something that will have to change and grow as he does. Mainly, the goal is to keep writing!

5. Speaking of writing, I'm also with Tyler Anne on this one...blog on here at least once a week because I love it.

6. Read double what I read last year.

Do you guys have any New Year's goals? We'd love to hear what you will be doing in 2014!

2013 Report Card

2013 was without a doubt one of the more eventful years in both of our lives. SO. MANY. CHANGES.

It was wonderful and busy, and now that it's 2014, it seems like a good time to take a second and reflect. At the beginning of last year, we listed out some goals we each had for 2013, so it sharing the results of those seems like a good place to start.

Holli Anne's Goals:

FIRST of all, can I just say that 2013 was the best and craziest year of my whole life! I got married, moved to two different houses, started two different jobs (and my husband got a new one, too), wrote the first draft of my first book ever...oh, and got pregnant! Phew! It was a tad overwhelming attempting to keep up with...well, any of that. But, I did manage to accomplish some of the goals I set out at the beginning of the year, and that was pretty exciting.

1. Start running regularly again.

• A - I did the Couch to 5K program to get started and was back up to running three miles on a regular basis. Unfortunately, due to some intense pregnant leg pain, I had to ditch the running toward the end of the year. I'll be back, though!

2. Take care of my health better in general: Taking all the medicines doctors tell me to take (I rebel against them), eating something green everyday and to drink more water.

• A - I've definitely been sick a lot less this year and overall feel in good health, physically, spiritually and emotionally.

3. Get on a "normal" sleep schedule (the 8-5 work schedule my soon-to-be husband is on would be good).

• A - I'm not going to lie. I didn't think I'd do this ever, but thanks to some day jobs of my own, I'm on an awesome schedule. I even find myself waking up without alarm clocks on the weekends ready to go.

4. Quit doing things I just like so I have time to do the hobbies I LOVE.

• B - I did this one for a while, but with lots of working, I've slacked on hobbies sometimes and find myself vegging out on things I don't really love doing (i.e. too much TV!)

5. Keep writing the book I started late last year.

• B - I DID finish the first draft of this book. But then I haven't really been brave enough or dedicated enough to give it the work it needs to be readable, so that's why I don't get all the credit on this goal.

6. Be a good wife come March 9, and to make our new home look awesome!

• B - Well...I'm a pretty good wife, probably! And our 2nd new married home is starting to come together, so that's good.

7. Start the vegetable garden I've been scheming.

• D - I sort of started a vegetable garden, but it did not produce so well.  

Tyler Anne's Goals:

1. Visit the gym more than 0 times a week and also start up running again too. I used to be an avid runner but man have I been slacking!

• C - OOPS! The most I do is walk with my boo or pull ups with my nifty pull up bar! Beyond that it's all still BABY STEPS!

2. Cook more and healthier. If you know me then you know I tend to shy away from cooking anything that takes more than 30 minutes.

• B - I definitely eat healthier and have lost the weight I set out to lose! Occasionally, I even cook! (Though, let's be real...Boy Tyler is the star of the kitchen!)

3. Also get on a more "normal" sleep schedule. I'm trying to make my schedule less night-heavy so I can, you know, see the sun occasionally.

• A - Considering I used to go to sleep just before the sun rose, my sleep schedule now has definitely improved! Other than a few upsets from reading a really great book that keeps me up, my sleep schedule is as normal as I'm going to get it! So, YAY, my first A!

4. Up my photography. I want to learn more and let my camera get a good workout.

• C - For the first half of this year I rocked this goal's FACE. Then...not so much. I intend to fix this in 2014.

5. ALSO finish my book! (Holli and I are such twins!)

• A!!!! This is perhaps why I did so poorly on all other goals. Not only did I finish an entire book (in one week, no less), I was asked to pump up the word count and then resubmit it to an interested editor! I can't give out details on who, but when I hear back I'LL LET YOU KNOW! Oh and this is the only book I've ever 100% finished. So, you know, that's a big thing!

6. Snail mail it up! I want to write some personal letters to family and friends! So personal, so awesome!

• -F - I was reaching with this one, BUT, I'm sending out New Year cards because I TOTALLY spaced on Christmas cards...whoops!

7. Keep working hard on Almost There! (Not hard because I love it!)

• B - I didn't do EVERYTHING I wanted (because of the whole writing thing) but I'm happy with the behind the scenes planning I've done as well as ALL of the 2013 posts! I hope you like them too!

- The Annes

Holli Anne's LITTLE Announcement

Well, I guess that image pretty much sums this blog up, but I'll say it anyway since it's so fun: I'm having a baby, and he's a boy!

I'm 18 weeks pregnant now (4.5 months for those who don't feel like doing the math), so almost half way there! It's been a whirlwind of emotions (and sicknesses and food aversions) since we found out, not only letting the news sink in but also moving to a house to accommodate our new little man.

Now that I'm REALLY nesting, I'm sure there will be plenty of little DIYs and home decorating blogs coming your way for every room in my new boxed-up house.

Side bar: We haven't given the little lad a name yet, so if you have any fun ones you think we should consider, feel free to pass them on.

-Holli Anne

The back of our books

So, what are these books we've been talking so much about? If they had covers and all, this is what you might find on the back of the books! Both of our titles are very much in progress, but we'd love some feedback on our summaries!

Conner Moon, the son of a Senator and a rising star in the Mobile District Attorney's office, has lived a pretty comfortable life in south Alabama with one exception: the death of his sister.

When an disheveled woman shows up at his front door 13 years later looking for help, Conner discovers his sister, Danni, might not be as dead as he thought.

As Conner seeks out his long-lost sister, he finds himself tangled in a web of lies about his past and comes face to face with a truth he isn't sure he can handle: his greatest enemy is a lot closer than he ever imagined.

With the help of his wife and his best friend, Conner must tackle dangerous territory and countless dead ends to save the one person that will keep his world together before its too late. 

--Holli Anne



Goodwyn knows one thing for certain: telling the truth can be deadly. After a hormone-driven fight leads to her mother’s suicide, she vows to never let her web of lies get tangled again.

Fast-forward eight years later, she's consumed her life in lies and the real Goodwyn has fallen between the cracks. That is, until she meets a man who offers her a job at an interactive PR company—a position that would utilize her lying strengths while paying her the big bucks for it. She would be a part of a team of fellow liars—each with a secret past that may put her own horror to rest.

Before she can officially accept, she is thrown into a job that puts her deep into the throngs of rich socialites, sexist old men, and straight into a world that she has to pretend she’s always belonged to, all in order to uncover the plans of a handsome billionaire…or to be there when the bottom falls out afterward. What was supposed to be a fact-finding job turns into a painful, terrifying, and eye-opening experience that leaves Goodwyn questioning everything.

Now Goodwyn is caught in an underground war between two powerful groups, the desire to finally tell the truth, and the promise she made to herself long ago to uphold her new life of lies at all costs. A struggle made harder by the new reality that the people the company are interested in are a little more extraordinary than she thought.

--Tyler Anne

The summer of victory!

Tyler and I both took on one ambitious goal last month: Writing books.

A month later, and thanks to National Novel Writing Month's Summer Camp (CampNaNoWriMo), we both succeeded in cranking out those first drafts. 

She wrote a synopsis on her book-writing process here, and today I thought I'd share mine. 

The backstory

I actually started my book last November. I had a dream about the opening scene, woke up and wrote it out. I kept going for the next 50 or so pages with only this vague idea of what exactly this book was going to be about. I had to let the story begin to come to life before I could really develop a concrete plot. 

If you're a regular follower of this blog, you know that a few months after November, I was busy getting married (and preparing for that), so the book took a huge spot on the backburner. I would write still, but it was sporadic and random. 

Still, I kept talking the plot over with some trusted writer friends (like Tyler, my rock) and developing the story in my head. 

When I heard about NaNoWriMo's summer camp, I immediately jumped on board. Sure, July is hands down not the easiest month to tackle a huge project, but what really is? 

The writing process

Two things are true about my writing style: Sitting down and doing it every day is a challenge; a mandated word count is hard to meet. 

I had to do both of those things in July, and somedays that was a gigantic hurdle. We went out of town a lot that month (hello, summertime!). I still had to write. 

If I was sick or just tired from working or anything else, I still had to write. 

The discipline got easier for me at the end. Actually I did not start camp off with a bang but rather eased my way into meeting my daily word counts and being anti-social when needed. 

At the beginning of the month, the whole thing was pretty daunting to me. Somewhere in the middle I started to get in a groove and fell in love with writing all over again. And by the end I was just rushing, tired and ready to finish. 

Now what?

I definitely have taken a good week or so to just relish in the whole completing a first draft process. 

Now, it's time to buckle down and write the second draft, get it readable and as Tyler said, beg beta readers to read it for me! 

And definitely lots of blogging. I actually have a super huge announcement coming in a separate post soon, soon, soon! 

—Holli Anne

We're Back!

Ahhhh!! We did it and we're back!

For those of you who didn't know, we (the Annes) took a month-long break from blog posting (so sad!) to finish our respective novels! Using Camp NanoWriMo, we spent everyday of July writing towards our goal word counts. I'm not going to lie, it was difficult at some points. For both of us July was one HECK of a busy month!

At the end of it all, though, we met our goals. We finished our first drafts. We conquered writer's block and ignored procrastination.

What does that mean for us now? Well, we're working through our second drafts and the joys of editing (insert a touch of sarcasm here)! However, this post is the first in our return to blogging!

What you can expect next week from us:

• Tyler Anne's Camp NanoWriMo experience
• Holli Anne's Camp NanoWriMo experience
• A post that will contain the synopsis of both Anne books!!!

So, welcome back bloggy friends! We hope your month of July was wonderful!

-The Annes

Above picture can be found and linked back to original owner here.

July Resolution

Normally, we post a structured resolutions post, inspired by She Learns as She Goes. (Her July Resolutions post can be found here.) However, this month we are doing something a bit different.

See, Holli and I are making one huge commitment/goal for the month of July.

Drum roll, please!

We are finishing our books. End. Of. Story. 

If you saw our Monthly Resolutions: June Report Card post then you might be a little wary of our ability to complete such huge tasks, but it's because of our books that last month got hectic! We've been planning, plotting, writing, and getting ready for July for the past few months. 

Why did we decide July was the it month? Well, because of Camp NaNoWriMo! We signed up so that Camp can help get our butts into writing gear. You should too! 

This month our personal goals as well as Almost There's goals are being combined into one giant goal: Finish the first draft of our books.

However, since we have a wonderful steady stream of readers, we will still post here! They won't all be Holli Anne and Tyler Anne but we have some wonderful guest bloggers stepping up to the plate to help us out.

So, be patient with us and send some good writing mojo feelings our way.

If you'd like to be bunk mates or just follow along, our Camp links are bellow. If you want us to follow you put your link in the comments!

Holli Anne

Tyler Anne

Monthly Report Card: June Resolutions

Let's be real here, not every month's resolutions are going to be met with the diligence they deserve. Life gets busy, priorities shift, and not everything goal gets addressed in full.

It's fine.

Last month's resolutions post can be found here. As always, we are joining She Learns as She Goes in doing a monthly report card. Her report card can be found here.

Holli Anne's Report Card:

1. Write every morning! D

You know how people usually set goals and then get all gung-ho about them at first? Total opposite this month. I woke up and wrote in the mornings probably three times this month. However, I DID write at other times and make some great progress on outlining/character development for CampNaNoWriMo (where I will be writing the first draft of my book this month)! Just not in the mornings, most likely…

2. Keep up my running schedule A-

I definitely have kept running up. I haven't really gotten much faster on my times or anything, but I've been exercising regularly, which is the most important thing for me at this point.

3. Continue down the healthy eating track B+

I'm pretty happy with our household eating habits these days! We aren't like totally off the sugar/junk food, but we have cut back A LOT! The gluten-free diet wasn't really improving my husband's skin condition, so we've decided it's not for us, but we are still going to keep many of the healthy habits we've developed and go easy on the carbs/bread.

4. Read my heart out! B-

My goal was to finish all my unfinished books that I've started. There were five. I read 3.5…so progress?

5. Paint my house! FFFFF

Just hit me in the face if you ever see me in person.

Tyler Anne's Report Card:

1. Have a successful first part of TV Inspiration: Lost! D-

The ONLY reason I gave myself a D- instead a flat out F is because I loved the one TV Inspiration post I did (here). Why haven't I done more? Well, life happened and I couldn't watch enough Lost every night to be able to write true to what I originally wanted to do with TV Inspiration. Now, I'm not giving up on this series, I just didn't stay true to my "every week" thing. Whoops!

2. Keep true to my "diet" B

I'm pretty proud of my whole counting calories "diet." It's made me shun most of the sugar I craze and I'm at a better weight for my height now. I just have to be a little bit stronger with what I take in during the weekends. I have a tendency to smudge the numbers then!

3. Write 8 pages (or more!) everyday C

Wow, I was certainly ambitious last month with this goal! I've been writing everyday, but definitely not 8 pages per day. Stay tuned to July's resolutions to see how this ambitious goal gets amplified to straight up ridiculous! 

4. Read all the unread books currently on my Nook F

Okay, I had 8 unread books. I read one and a half. SO SUE ME!

Almost There's Report Card:

1. Be more active on our Facebook page C

Remember, we have both been social media managers for others as a part of our past/current jobs. So, when it comes to doing the Facebook dance for the blog, we aren't all up in it because we get social media tired. We are getting better at it though, slowly! Go see for yourself.

2. Stick to our blogging schedule B

No, we aren't counting our blogging series. It's fine. Everything else we are proud about!

-The Annes

Currently Digging: Ruche Picks

 

Something about a season change makes us really want to shop. That, plus Ruche's Win Clothes for a Year contest (yes, really!) brought us to their site this evening. The idea of free clothes for a year is something to truly dig, are we right?! Plus, all their stuff is amazing all the time. Clothes and these books are on our summer wishlists for sure!

Holli Anne's Picks

I'll keep this short and simple. I adore this dress. I've been wanting some new shorts that aren't for running, and I'm super picky about shorts, so these are adorable and perfect. And this shirt I obviously need to wear with my new shorts! Ah, pick me to win, Ruche!

Tyler Anne's Picks

I pretty much just am head over heels for books in general. Add Ruche to the mix and I come away with the three books above that I'm goo goo over. The 5 Book is all about where you will be in five years. It is a guide of sorts to help you live your life to the fullest with inspiration, questions, and examples of well-lived lives. Creative Walls smiles at the designer in me as an interior decor book with stunning pictures and unique and inspiring ideas for decorating your walls. The last book I found on Ruche is called Missed Connections and, honestly, I want it the most. It's all about love and what ifs with wonderful artwork to adore throughout. I highly suggest you check out its page here. It has an example page that says, "Throat Tattoo on the L Train. Hey, guy that got on at 1st Ave dressed in black with the throat tattoo. Thanx for existing." It reminds me of Post Secret, without all of the depressing stuff. 

I want all three of these books with a fiery passion! Thank you Ruche for existing.

Parks and Recreation Series: Getting Out of the Pit

TV Inspiration is a Summer blogging series that the Annes came up with to help spread inspiring content based on two popular TV series. Holli Anne's series is Parks and Recreation. Her Intro post can be found here. Tyler Anne's series is Lost. Her Intro post can be found here and first post can be found here.
This post is Holli Anne's Tv Inspiration. 

Season 1 is definitely not the best when it comes to Parks and Recreation, but honestly, what show's first season is its prime?

I will say, though, that going back and watching Season 1 after having seen them all is pretty fun. They're so young!

If you decide to give the show a chance, just plug your way through Season 1's six episode run because man, oh, man, the show gets so funny!

While it's not comedic gold, per se, this season obviously introduces most of the show's base characters, not least among them by any means: Leslie Knope.

As I was rewatching this season, letting it inspire me, there was one strong element that stood out to me time and time again: Knope's sheer determination. 

Sure, one of the things that makes Leslie such a strong character throughout the whole show is her ability to follow through on what she sets out to do in relentless fashion. But going back and watching Leslie work to turn the infamous pit into a park scenario is a beautiful display of blind determination.

From the Pilot episode, in fact, comes this scene that really does paint a big picture for just what Leslie will be trying to do in the whole show: follow her passions, work for change, stop at nothing. 

This scene is between the city planner Mark Brendanawicz and Leslie, talking about building a park. 

Mark: "When I think about the logistics, the various hoops you're gonna have to jump through, I would say…is it likely? Nah, it's not likely. But, is it possible? No, it's not possible. I would give up on that."

Leslie: "Why?"

Mark: "There's like a million reasons why: homeowners associations, anti-government nuts, bureaucrats, miles of red tape."

Leslie: "It sounds like your telling me to go for it!" 

Parks and Recreation fan or not, there is definitely advice here for any of us with a desire to accomplish something to heed. 

For me, I've been really struggling with carving out time in the day to write my book. It's one of my monthly resolutions to wake up in the morning and write before I start my day. Spoiler for half way through the month: I'm failing. 

I know Leslie Knope's a fictional character, but that doesn't mean her willingness to put so much energy into the things she's passionate about doesn't inspire me. I compare that to the way I so easily put off my daily writing if I'm tired, busy, or distracted…and well, I'm put to shame in a second. 

As I was mulling over all this today, I came across a post on making a living pursuing your passion by one of my favorite inspirational bloggers Jeff Goins. 

The gist of it? You have to be faithful, show up to your time to (write for me but could be whatever), and you have to let your success be defined in your own completion. (I left a lot out, so read the post if the topic interests you).

I'm using this post part as a way to tell you how awesome Leslie Knope is and how it would definitely behoove you all to follow your desires with the insanity she does, but also, and selfishly, to kick myself in the butt for not being even half as driven as she is. So, for any of you out there, who may have fallen in the pit, it's time to rent a bulldozer, fill that bad boy up, and build that darn park already!

—Holli Anne

Laundromat Fiction: Jett's Dream

Yesterday was laundry day! So that means more laundromat fiction, written from the actual laundromat. This one was really quick, so the story was also really quick, maybe a little weird. Oh well. I'd love some feedback if you have any thoughts. As always this series is very off-the-cuff fiction, with minimal editing. Here are other posts from the series. 

No one intrigued me more than Jett Donovan. He was honestly one of the hottest guys I’d ever seen, with that dark chocolate hair that swooped across his face like a frat boy. Only he countered it with the ruggedness of an actual man. He was so kind to everyone but he also seemed to care about one thing and one thing only: farming.

Perhaps it was his ambition to do something that not many young people, let alone a young person who didn’t have a farmer in the family, wanted to do. Maybe it was his blasé attitude about making actual friendships. Probably it was the fact that he didn’t pay that much attention to me that led to know with all my being that Jett was the guy for me. 

He was a man who knew about a lot of things, but the only way to get his attention was to ask him about the farm. A lot of girls did that, though, so I tried to come up with something a lot more flawless than my predecessors.

One day, I walked right up to Jett, wearing denim jeans cutoff mid-calf. They were tight as hell and made my otherwise small ass look awesome. I accompanied it with a red and black checkered flannel to pull off the most earthly vibe I could come up with, and then I led with this: “Jett, I got this project for my class, where we have to try something new and well, I was wondering if I could come live on your farm for a while?”

His facial expression didn’t do much. He just tilted his head so slightly I hardly would’ve noticed if I wasn’t waiting on such an important response that just flowed out of him as a simple, “OK.”

It wasn’t much of an answer, but his nonchalant tone somehow gave me the impression he meant it.

The next week, I was unloading a small bag of things in Jett’s guest bedroom. He lived in a really simple, pleasant home. It was pretty old, I guess. Hardwood floors, white on the outside with red shutters. Sort of a cookie-cutter, fresh from the farm kind of house. The inside was pretty bachelor—no art, limited furniture—but it was clean.

I was Jett’s sidekick day in, day out that summer. We started our days collecting new chicken eggs, passed the time watering, planting, harvesting summer squash and tomatoes and ended the nights eating simple meals with whatever it was we gathered that day.

It took a few weeks, but I had Jett talking to me, even enjoying my company. About a month later I found myself sleeping in his room at night. Then, I just stayed.

Jett had always wanted to be a farmer. I guess the only thing I really wanted was Jett.

Photo from flickr.

—Holli Anne