Network Marketing

I have got to blow up the Network Marketing Industry today. This morning as I sip my apple juice (coffee is gross), I have been thinking about all of the things Josh and I have ahead of us with our move. Which of course led me to consider all we have experienced since we got married.

If it wasn’t for Network Marketing, I don’t know what we would have done financially.

I can’t think of a single other job or career that is transferable at the drop of a hat. Or one that allows you to work around the craziness that comes with moving.

Think about it. I mean, Josh and I got married and then immediately moved North to Manitowoc. We stayed there for 2 months and then moved to Madison so he could finish school. 9 months later and now that he is graduating, we are moving again, back up to Manitowoc.

What job would have allowed that kind of back and forth? I can’t think of anything.

Thankfully, because of my “JOB” with Nerium, I am able to bring my work with me ANYWHERE I go.

Josh and I didn’t skip a beat financially despite the moves, the time needed to settle/adjust, and we didn’t have to worry about how we would make money.

This industry is the greatest and I am beyond thankful that I am a part of it.

And now because this is my blog… if you are interested in learning more, email me (averi.greatsinger@gmail.com). Or if you are interested in trying our PATENTED, 30 Day Money-Back Guaranteed Products…. (http://www.nerium.com/shop/averi/products) If you order today or Saturday, you get grandfathered in to 10% off and FREE shipping beginning in May! (Preferred Customers ONLY)

A.C.T.S

Quality prayer time is an important part of my life. Slipping away into the quiet and spending one on one time talking to God is something I look forward to each day.

However, as with anything else, it is easy to forget to take that time away. In fact, I have found that often times, even when I have set aside the time I end up contemplating my “To Do List” rather than talking to God.

It bothered me that my attention span wouldn’t hold on to the purpose of that quality time, so I came up with a way to keep myself on track.

I dug out an old leather bound journal that I had stored up in one of our cabinets and decided that I would use it as my prayer journal. Each day I would turn off all of my distractions and actively write my prayers out. This worked like a charm and often times would lead me to pray more specifically and more purposefully.

This concept of a prayer journal has been keeping me on track and it’s especially fun to look back on some of the various pray requests I have had over the last few years and see that they have been answered.

When I was in Junior High I was taught a method of prayer that has stuck with me throughout the years, and for those who maybe don’t have an active prayer life or wouldn’t know where to start, it may be helpful so I will share it.

The method is A.C.T.S. The “A” stands for adoration. You should begin your prayers by acknowledging who God is. The “C” stands for confession. It’s important to know that we all fall short and do things that aren’t proud of and we are able to bring these shortcomings to God and ask for forgiveness. The “T” stands for thanks, obviously that means thanking God for the good things He has provided in your life. The “S” stands for simply ask. Bring your desires, concerns, and anything else before God and ask Him for the things that weigh heavy on your heart and mind.

I hope that this method will help you in your prayer journey and perhaps you will even incorporate the prayer journal. In any case, don’t give up on communicating with God. He hears you.

Law School

Today I have got to brag on my husband! After years of dedication, commitment and sacrifice, Josh is graduating from Law School! I am so incredibly proud of him.

His journey through school has been wonderful to watch and it’s has been fun to see how everything falls into place.

When we were seniors in high school and Josh got into his accident, he went through a period where he did not care about school at all. Which I imagine is a normal behavior when you go through something incredibly traumatic. I remember conversations where he would share with me how little he cared about graduating, going to college, or much of anything really.

After we graduated high school, Josh went to community college and pursued classes in different areas of study, but ultimately didn’t really have a firm direction.

His next step after graduating community college, was to attend Illinois State to get his Bachelor’s Degree. There he pursued sports writing but the deeper he dove into it, the more he realized that it wasn’t for him.

And then he took a negotiation class.

Next thing I know, Law School is on the table and he is studying for the LSAT. He worked so hard to get into one of the top schools and I remember each phone call when the admission letters rolled in. I was so excited for him.

Josh chose the University of Wisconsin Law School and for the last 3 years he has put in so much effort and commitment. Today is the day all of his classes end and he begins prepping for his finals. In just over a week, he will graduate and already has accepted a job offer.

I’ve said it more than once in this post, but I am so proud of how far Josh has come. He deserves all of the good things that are coming to him as a result of his diligence and hard work. He is going to make a fantastic lawyer and be blessing to many.

Bad fish

Yesterday was the first time I destroyed dinner. Up until this point, everything I have cooked has turned out. Of course, some things were delicious and some things were just OK, but yesterday was just bad.

I decided to make salmon, like I have many times before. Several months back I found a recipe on Pinterest to make it in the oven and it has been fool proof.

Unfortunately, last night I misjudged the size/thickness of our fish and when the buzzer went off on the stove I got to pull out some shriveled filets. That was not the plan.

Technically they were still edible, but when you had visions of a delicious piece of salmon, the dried out version I had to serve was not even close to living up to expectations.

Thankfully everything else I cooked turned out exactly as it should have, and it kind of made up for the disappointing fish.

This fish story kind of seems like a metaphor for my life right now. I can go forward with all the right intentions and there is always going to be room for things to not live up to expectations. Mistakes will happen and failures are an inevitable part of life. 

The beautiful thing is that just because something doesn’t work out according to plan, doesn’t mean everything is a no good. There are still good things going on and a mishap shouldn’t take away from them. Much like the quality of our salmon didn’t take away from the side dishes. 

Sometimes you just have to push forward and find the good amongst the bad.

Visualization

Over the weekend I got to hear from one of the top income earners in my company. He flew into town from Miami to do a weekend training and work with the leaders in the area. I love when he comes into town and I get to hear him train. He is incredibly dynamic and able to touch base on several facets of life, not just business.

One of the first things he had us do on Saturday was close our eyes and visualize the way we want our life to look. To be honest, I find that kind of stuff cook-y but I played along. Then once we had begun picturing the way we wanted things to be he shifted gears and asked us to imagine that the things we wanted were already a part of our life.

He wanted to us to experience how we would feel debt free, spending more time with family, living in better areas, driving nicer cars. He wanted this because when you have a clear vision of where you are going, putting in the work to get there never seems like it isn’t worth it.

He encouraged us to hold onto the way we would feel, and implement this practice into our morning routine. It was amazing. The first ½ hour of his talk was strictly about dreaming and finding a positive perspective.

That really hit home and I don’t know if I could explain anything else he said that day because his first 30 minutes were powerful.

It’s not every day that you are reminded that each day you wake up is gift that should be appreciated. And we certainly are not encouraged to dream big and then go out and chase those dreams.

We forget that we are the designers of our life. We get caught up in who we think we should be, the mistakes we have made, and the life we have fallen into. But every single day we are given an opportunity to go after bigger and better things, to change the way we see the world, and to change who we are.

No one has a thumb over you preventing you from growing and getting the life you want. The only one preventing it is yourself. So decide what you want, where you want to be. Live gratefully and go achieve the dreams you have been wishing for.

One less thing to move...

Josh and I have moved twice in the last year and are soon to be embarking on our third. I’ve noticed that as the dreaded time to pack gets closer and closer, I find a great deal of joy in purging our things. As far as we are concerned, it’s one less thing to have to pack and carry.

Last weekend, Josh and I did some serious work on purging. Together, the two of us filled the pack of our SUV with stuff to donate. We parted with things like shoes, clothes, décor, and much more.

As the stack of donate-able items got bigger and bigger, it seemed like we were more OK with letting things go. Pretty soon we were adding items to the donate pile that we refused to donate during the last move. I think we realized we didn’t use them like we thought we would and did not want to move it again.

This thought process has even carried into other areas of the house. For example, I am now obsessed with emptying containers. If something is almost empty in our home, you can bet that it will be completely used up before the move. I would rather use everything up here and re-stock once the move is complete than move almost empty containers.

Josh has had a more comical take on this… A few weeks back he dropped one of our glasses and it broke. As we cleaned up the broken glass he said, “One less thing to move!” To which I insisted that was not the way we should be thinking about our dishware. 

Stay tuned! I’m sure as the move continues to get closer, you will be treated to more stories of packing and tackling our relocation. 

DIY Ready

When Josh and I move into our new place, there are many things that I am looking forward to. There are obvious perks like, him working and our income level going up, double the living space we currently have, and our own garage. But there are some other things that have also got me excited about this move.

If you follow me on Pinterest you may notice that I like to pin things about repurposing old furniture or design elements. Prior to getting married, repurposing became one of my hobbies, it especially helped as we planned our wedding décor as it enabled us to have things that were one of a kind and could be reused.

Since our wedding I have not had the luxury of repurposing. A tiny one-bedroom apartment, on the 11^th floor, downtown Madison does not exactly allow for painting, sanding, or rehab projects. Plus, even if I took a chance, made the mess, and got creative, there was nowhere for me to store incomplete projects, or even finished ones.

Thankfully, in just a few short weeks I will be able to get back into the swing of things. It will be prime garage sale season and it’s always easy to find something unique that can be redone.

Besides, with all that extra space Josh and I are going to have to add to our furniture collection. Maybe a re-purposed dining room table is in our future… (We haven’t had a table since we got married, courtesy of a lack of space).

Here are some of my former DIY projects:

Old coffee table given new life with paint, kept original hardware

Headboard created from Cabinet Doors

Headboard after adding padding and fabric covering

Top: old fishing bucket re-purposed for floral arrangement
Old stand repainted for cupcakes at wedding

Running

If you have been following my posts, you may recall that Josh and I have been making an effort to get healthy and improve our level of fitness.

Since we began Josh is now running upwards of 3 miles, and I have been able to incorporate weights into my routine. (I always hated weights, so this is a big deal for me!) The improvements we have made are fun to see and I look forward to watching each other continue to improve.

Last night Josh and I got to talking about our fitness goals and the different things we like and dislike about working out.

For example, I love to run outside and yesterday I finally was able to take a run by the lake. Josh on the other hand doesn’t care for running outside and is content being on the treadmill.

I thought this was interesting because there is nothing more annoying to me than running and not getting anywhere, so we dove in a little deeper trying to figure out why we had a difference in opinions, especially since we both enjoy running.

It turns out that Josh is content with running on the treadmill because he can focus on one thing which allows him to get into a meditative state. He doesn’t think about anything when he runs, and just pushes to break his own personal bests.

For me running is therapeutic. I constantly have a million thoughts going through my head and when I run I am able to work through the different them and release myself from continually thinking about them. I have always loved to just throw on my running shoes and hit the road when I get stressed out or overwhelmed. Running helps me get things in perspective and feel better about what I have to tackle.

It’s interesting to see the different effects running has on Josh and myself. And while the physical act of running is of course good for you, the mental effects are great too! It’s a simple (and inexpensive) way to escape from the stresses of your day and one I highly recommend! 

Spring Time

Spring has officially sprung in Southern, WI! For those of you who live in consistently warm climates, I cannot even begin to describe how incredible it is to have the windows open and a cool breeze flow throughout our apartment. After having the windows closed for roughly 7 months, it’s wonderful to have fresh air.

I love when the weather finally turns for the better. Buds are starting to sprout on the trees, the grass is an incredible shade of green, birds are flying past our window (often times frighteningly close), and we can start enjoying the great outdoors again.

With all of the changes that are going to be knocking on our door it the next few weeks, we have decided to really make the effort to enjoy the quiet and slow moments.

This weekend was a prime example of that. Madison offers a beautiful and expansive farmers market on Saturday’s, so Josh and I spent the morning wandering downtown and checking out what the local farmers/bakers/craftsmen are selling. It was relaxing and a great excuse to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

I love seeing what the local population produces. There were vegetables, flowers, honey, hand-made jewelry, Madison memorabilia, meat (of all kinds), and other interesting things being sold directly by the people who grew/made/raised them. If you are near the area, I highly recommend swinging through on your next available Saturday.

The rest of our weekend was even more low key. We took a few walks, and made most of our meals together. That is another one of my favorite things Josh and I do. When we aren’t crazy busy, we take the time to cook together. We turn on Motown, grab a recipe and sing/dance our way through the cooking process. Three of the things we made were: toasted ravioli, home-made tostadas, and home-made empanadas. (Here are the links for the ravioli and empanadas, the tostadas are my dad’s recipe: http://numstheword.com/easy-beef-empanadas/ http://www.plainchicken.com/2012/06/oven-toasted-ravioli.html)

I hope that as the weather just continues to improve, you are able to make time to enjoy the simpler things that you love!

Your best

Last night Josh went out to play basketball with some of his friends and I opted to stay in and have some “me time.” My week has been pretty crazy since getting back from conference. Between my business, Josh and I trying to nail down an apartment, and being available for my family (my aunt was in town with her daughter and my mom for a surgery), things have been moving at full speed and I was spent.

I lit some candles, turned on some trashy TV, and settled in to scroll through Pinterest.

As I scrolled I stumbled across this quote, “Always strive to give your spouse the very best of yourself; not what’s left over after you have given your best to everyone else.”

That quote really hit me right in between the eyes and moments from my week came flashing back.

Like I said, I was spent from the different things pulling at me all week and there were moments that I was shorter with Josh. He didn’t deserve it and was simply on the receiving end of me being worn out and unable to balance.

I had never thought about how important it is for me to give Josh the very best I have to offer instead of giving him whatever was left.

When he got home last night and we were sitting around eating dinner, I apologized.

I no longer want everything going on around us to dictate how we interact. I want to do my best to always separate my feelings towards outstanding circumstance from our relationship. I want my husband to be receive my absolute best, not my leftovers.

Last minute dinner

It’s been a while since I share a recipe with you and last night’s dinner is completely worthy of being shared.

My day was long, working, visiting my aunt who just had surgery, and preparing anything for dinner was the last thing on my priority list. So I figured I would just make grilled cheese sandwiches because they are quick and easy.

Then I remembered that I recently pinned a grilled cheese spin-off, so I decided to run with that. Plus, it gave us an excuse to break out the panini press we received for our wedding.

Ingredients:

-          Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

-          Bread (we used regular sandwich bread)

-          Olive oil

-          Pesto

-          Chicken

-          Garlic powder

-          Salt and Pepper

The first thing I did was preheat the oven (325 degrees) so that I could cook the chicken. I then took a defrosted chicken breast and sliced it in half so that it would be thinner and fit a sandwich better. I brushed the chicken with olive oil and then sprinkled on salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Then I cooked it in the oven for 25 minutes.

While the chicken was cooking I prepped the rest of the sandwich. I brushed olive oil on the outer side of the bread for both the top and bottom slices of bread. Then I spread a generous amount of pesto on one of the slices and sprinkled some cheese on top of the pesto.

Once the chicken was done I put it on the slice with cheese and pesto, added more cheese on top of the chicken and then put the sandwich on the panini press and let it do the work.

I didn’t honestly have high expectations for the sandwich, but it was phenomenal! So if you are looking for something for dinner tonight, I highly recommend it!

I wish I had taken pics, but we were starving and ate quickly!

When the going is tough...

A telling time in any relationship is when you have to be there for your significant other/spouse. When things are sad, scary, frustrating, or uncertain, it is not the most glamorous time to be present. If you are with someone who doesn’t understand they have to take the good with the bad, you may end up even more upset, rather than feeling better.

I am so blessed that Josh understands there will be times in our relationship when things aren’t great. When I will need him to be there to dry my tears and help me to see the big picture. I am so thankful for his ability to do that too.

When things go crazy, I have the tendency to completely submerge myself in the situation and almost drown in it. I get caught up in feeling helpless or stretching myself thin trying to make every other area of my life perfect in order to make up for the not perfect parts.

There are numerous situations I could talk about in our relationship where Josh stepped up and helped me to see the light at the end of the tunnel. He has been there for me in ways that I honestly didn’t know I would ever need.

For example, when my aunt was battling breast cancer. That was of course a difficult time for me and my family. There was no preparing for what it would be like when she left us.

Then there is the fact that my grandparent’s health is declining. In a matter of what seemed like days, one ended up in the hospital and the other moved in with my family, and then later ended up in a different hospital. It was chaos. For about 7 days my grandparents were at hospitals in different counties and when it came time for their release, they had to move into a rehab facility.

Situations like these are not things you plan on and each one had its own effect on me. They shake up your day to day life and can be difficult to cope with.

Having a spouse that I can count on to not ditch when the going gets tough is a blessing. No one wants to deal with tough situations, but they are a part of life and when you love someone, you stick it out and stand beside them. 

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Recharging

Happy Monday!

Have you ever had one of those weekends that you need a weekend from? That is exactly the boat I am in today. I am still wiped out from everything we had going on over the last several days.

I spent a few days in St. Louis, MO for my companies Spring Conference. That in and of itself is a ton to take in. It is roughly 8 hours a day of non-stop training and announcements followed by a lot of time connecting with people across the country. It may sound like a lot of work, but it really is a big party most of the time. This conference was especially awesome because we unleashed a new instant eye cream, a customer loyalty program, and enhancements to our compensation plan. It was an awesome couple of days. 

On top of that, Josh and I went apartment hunting literally 15 minutes after I walked in the door from St. Louis. We drove out to Manitowoc and did several showings. Thankfully we ended the day filling out an application for a place we both really loved and fit our criteria. (Prayers over that would be much appreciated).

By the time Josh and I got in the door after our tours, I was well past spent. I had accomplished a ton in a short amount of time and was ready for some much needed relaxation and sleep.

And that is exactly how we spent our Sunday. Since I overslept, Josh and I attended “church for shut-ins” (that’s what we call it when we watch the sermon online). After busting my butt for the previous few days, it was great to bring it full circle and have time with my husband and God.

In this fast paced, get things done, instant gratification world, it’s refreshing to take a moment (or a day) to recharge and focus on what’s important. Because of the day we had yesterday, I am ready to face this week fresh-faced and ready to work.

Little "thinking of you" surprises

This weekend is going to be a whirlwind for Josh and I, more specifically me I guess. Tomorrow I am leaving to go back to my parents so that on Thursday morning I can take off with my mom for our companies St. Louis Convention.

I will spend two days at conference and then I am booking home Saturday so that Josh and I can go do a few apartment showings in our future new town. (Please pray we find a place we love and can sign a lease!)

Traveling like that isn’t my favorite thing in the world, but it’s a crazy time for Josh and I, as well as my family, so we have to fit it all in.

One thing I do like about travelling is that I get to leave surprises around for Josh. (You may have seen the notes I left around for him the last time I was gone in a previous post).

I love doing little things for him that let him know I am thinking about him, and this quick trip is no exception. For the last few days I have been coming up with things I can do for him and I am pretty excited!

Now, since he is busy with school, I know he hasn’t been keeping up on my blog so I can share some of what I will be doing with you.

My first priority is cooking for him. Since I cook every night when I am home, I don’t want to skip a beat. So I have come up with meals I can prepare ahead of time and all he will have to do is pop them in the oven. For example, I will make him pre-prepped salads for lunches, taco meat for nachos/tacos, and chicken.

Another thing I want to do is bring back the love notes. Today I will write out a bunch of cute little notes and tomorrow I will hide them all around the apartment for him to find throughout the next few days.

The last thing I want to do is restart a fun thing we did while we were dating. We would have a lip-sync battle. One of us would pick a song and video tape ourselves lip-syncing it to send to the other person. And this would go back and forth. It’s super fun and an easy way to make the person you love laugh. Of course if you are up for it, you can all-out perform your song. (Maybe one of these days I will post one of the old recordings...)

I hope he likes my surprises!

It's in the moments

It’s a special moment in your life when you realize you have found the person you want to spend forever with. When you know beyond a shadow of doubt that this person is the only one you want to let in to the complexity of who you are, good, bad, or indifferent.

I had that moment with Josh several months before we even started dating. In fact, I think our entire relationship leading up to us dating primed me to know early on that he was the one for me.

There are countless examples of moments in my life when Josh stepped up and was there for me in ways that I never asked for or expected. Our relationship, from the beginning, was close and unwavering. He seemed to always have my best interest at heart and he was truly the best friend I had ever had (and will ever have).

I think that deep relationships are formed in the small moments. When there are two choices to be made and you consistently choose the one that may not be easy, but brings you closer together.

When Josh and I were Seniors in high school and our friendship was still fairly new, I suffered a big loss. One of my closest friend’s moms died suddenly of an aneurysm. This woman was a close family friend and like a second mom. It really shook me up. I had a lot of hang ups because of it and it was something that I held on to for a long time. In fact, for about a month I wasn’t great. I would walk out of class in tears if it was quiet for too long, my appetite was diminished, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I distinctly remember being unable to fall asleep one night because of it and instead of blowing me off and leaving me to deal alone, Josh stayed up on the phone with me until I fell asleep.

That was just one example of countless moments in our relationship, where Josh or I have chosen each other, and been present even when it may have been difficult.

Like I said above, deep relationships are built in the small moments, when you think things may not make a difference. But those moments stack up and can really create something amazing.

Post Senior Year- a pic from one of our "moments" that led us to where we are

Multi-tasking and Relationships

Multi-tasking. It’s something that everyone seems to be doing, and unfortunately, they aren’t doing it very well.

I have found myself recently becoming more and more of a multi-tasker. For example, I may get dinner started while I am in the middle of cleaning our apartment. Something like that isn’t a terribly big deal because most of the time in the early stages of cooking, it isn’t completely hands on.

However, an area that I have also been multi-tasking in is doing things while I am on the phone. At first it started off as just doing mindless stuff like folding while I was mid-conversation, but lately I have been catching myself on the phone with someone and checking my emails. Both of those activities require complete attention, you can’t retain what you read while you listen to what someone is saying. It just doesn’t happen.

I’ve found that when I start doing that, I am no longer respecting the person I am on the phone with. I am choosing to do a task that can wait over giving someone my full attention. And that’s just not very polite. Especially since it’s completely obvious when someone is no longer paying attention.

Of course that scenario can also be replicated when you are actually with people. How many times have you been spending time with friends or family to notice they are all on their phones? (Maybe they are checking social media or texting). It’s kind of gotten out of hand.

This behavior started to creep up in my marriage too. I will admit to being the biggest culprit because I work from home so if my phone rings I have myself trained to react. Josh and I could be mid-conversation and if my phone goes off, I lose my train of thought because I have this knee-jerk reaction to check it.

Since we didn’t want technology or “multi-tasking” to get in the way of our relationship, we developed a no phone zone. So starting at about 7:30, we put away our phones and computers and enjoy the evening together. More often than not we sit around and talk about things that we normally would not have if we were both distracted. It has really benefited our marriage to take that time for just us.

I know that multi-tasking is a way of life and something that is not likely to go away anytime soon, but I have decided I am going to continue to make a conscious effort to not multi-task my time with other people.