Risky Business

Taking risks.
Why doesn't have to be so scary?
Or at least to me it is.
You see, even though I have a pretty free mind and all, I still have an area that is set on safety, security.
By that I mean certainty.
Sometimes I don't like to do something that I don't the outcome of.
I don't always like the unknown or uncertainty, it scares me. I won't lie.
It gets even worse when there are several other factors involved.
When there is a chance of it being a fairly large failure as an outcome, and then you're stuck.
I don't like that.
And little miss pessimistic me, I let that part of it fester in my brain.
But then I think, aren't you supposed to take risks?

Via

Let me tell you what's even prompting this post.
To make a long story short, my brother is kind of newly unemployed at the moment.
And he is seriously considering taking a big risk that he's been thinking about for years now.
Starting/opening up a business.
So where do I come into this mix?
He has been asking me to go into business with him.
This is where my internal conflict lies....
One part of me says, "let's do this!" It's a good idea. He has most of a business plan thought out. I believe it needs more in depth work & some fine tuning to fully try to have certain things in order. It'd be a family business. And I kind of think, for the location that he's looking at, it might actually be successful. I think we have a good demographic to target around my little town. He's already checked on rent for a couple of store areas. He's already checked into permits to sell certain things. He's already got about 3 employees in mind (me being one of them), 4 counting him. I don't know...
The other part of me, the loud part, says, "not so fast!" As I said, the whole plan needs serious fine tuning. It's obviously in early stages of planning. The numbers need a good hard look taken at them. He's got a lot figured out, but I don't think he's thinking far enough ahead to make sure things can go smoothly for at least a set time (say at least 6 mo. to a year or what not). The biggest thing that's making me say no? The fact that Doug & I do not have our own home -living in the basement of my parents-. We're wanting to have a kid. We're a one income couple (granted opening the business would guarantee me a job, so long as it stays open and is successful.) Not even going to mention the other responsibilities my brother has to worry about. And that's a large loan to take out to not know whether or not it's going to work out. That's where my fear of uncertainty comes into play. I don't want to end up with a debt and then it not work out and then it be a situation where Doug & I are really struggling. And to be honest, I don't want to see my brother struggle either, should it not work out.
It's not that I don't have any faith in my brothers idea. He has an entrepreneur degree that he has never put to use, and I could always do some online business courses. My family has thrown around various business ideas for years. I think most of them have been good ideas. But no one is a place to do it. And now my brother kind of is. KIND OF. And I don't know if he'd try taking out a larger loan to do it on his own or not. I just don't know.
It would most definitely be a huge risk.
It's scary as fuck!
Even just thinking about it makes me a mixture of excited and sick.
But the thing is, you never know if it will work unless you just do it.

Via

via

So, do you see where my conflict lies?
I just don't think I can do it but, I'm scared that if I don't I'll always wonder "what if?"

So, what to all of y'all say, are you a risk taker, or a play-it-safe-er?
Anyone who has ever taken a large risk such as opening a business feel free to let me know about your experience.

Happy Monday!
Hope everyone has a great weekend. I sure did, not only was the weather amazing, I got to see my niece on Saturday & then Sunday I got to see my man start off this season of NASCAR the right way. Dale Jr. won the Daytona 500 and I had to fight tears, I was so happy that I cried. :-)

Lovins!!
♥♥♥
Brandy

Are you a new follower of mine?

According to my email over the past couple of weeks, I have some new followers.
If that's the case, let me just say....

Hello & Welcome to my little corner of the interwebs.
Since I have not updated much on my blog (which I honestly don't think there is much to really update..other than my design..) I'll tell you 5 things about me.

1. I'm 25 & I'm married. I've been with my husband for 10 years & about 8 months; since I was 14. We've only been married for the past 2 years & 8mo. We got married on our 8 year anniversary. We've been through a lot and still came out of it together. He drive me bat shit crazy at time, as I do him, but we love each other too much to let that mess with us.

2. I'm a housewife/home maker- that's my job. I've never had a "real" job. Which, while some people say "you're lucky, enjoy it while you can.." I say "I've been trying to find a job for years.." I have had no luck in that area pretty much since I was a teenager. It's actually a huge struggle for me internally, it messes with my head, a lot. But, for the sake of sanity, I do try to embrace being able to make sure things at home & bills for us are taken care of as my job. Speaking of home, since we are only a 1 income couple & do not want to jump in a pool of debt, we live at home. As in, in my parents basement. We have pretty much a 2 br/ 1 ba apartment. It works. We actually sort of like it, sometimes. But, we really long for the day we get total privacy.

3. If you haven't read back in any posts, or if you have clicked around, you may not have stumble upon my baby issues. Basically we've been TTC to no avail. I've done one round of treatment for ovulation, and may possibly do another soon if my doctor thinks I should. It sucks. I try not to let it get to me too much but that's easier said than done. I talk about it here periodically.

4. I'm a mixture of serious and funny. I sometimes have a dry sense of humor. A majority of the time I have an inappropriate sense of humor. I'm extremely random. I'm also extremely shy & I keep to myself a lot. I'm southern and proudly so. I'm a huge daydreamer.

5. Things I love include but are not limited to: my family, my friends, music, photography, animals, football, traveling, spring & fall, laughing, southern ways/the south, arts and crafts. I'm obsessed with music, and photography is not very far behind it.

Okay so that was a bit more than 5, whatever.
I just try to be the best Me I can be. So if you're new here, Welcome -again-! Look forward to having you around. Don't be shy.
If you have any questions, just ask.

Follow Me: Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Happy Friday!
Happy Valentines Day to EVERYONE!
Don't forget to show love to those you love everyday, not just today.

Head over to tell Jordan, Happy Birthday! She's pretty fucking awesome & she's 23 today! Happy Birthday, sweet girl!!

Lovins!
♥♥♥
Brandy

Also linking up with Whitney for #BackThatAzzUp Friday!
I first heard a snip of this on an NFL commercial. You know, the one with Colin Kaepernick. Anyway, I loved the sound of it & then when I heard the whole thing I loved it even more. So here it is..

 Aloe Blacc- The Man

 

 

 

30 Miles in 30 Days. Week 2.

Better late than never right? We've been enjoying the snow and being lazy today.

Feb. 6-8 :: 0
Feb. 9    :: 3.663
Feb. 10  :: 0
Feb. 11  :: 2.016
Feb. 12  :: 1.1

This week : 6.779
Feb total: 11.179 (or 11.2...whatever)

I'm pretty excited about that 3.7 miles though.
Usually I shoot for 30 minutes, sometimes 45.
Once I reached 30 I felt so good, I shot for 45, once to 45 I figure why not just get an hour out of & I'd get to see how long it would take for a 5k.
My 5k was 52 minutes I believe. I'm proud of that.

Again, I'm not sure I'll get to 30 miles in the next 2 weeks, but I'll be happy with whatever I get to. :-)

Sorry I got nothing else for ya today.
Happy Friday Eve.

♥♥♥
B

Zumba?

So...
any of you ladies do Zumba?
My bestest started it about a month ago and she is loving it. She's been urging me to try it because she knows that I love dancing as much as she does. Problem is, my confidence with dancing is zilch nowadays.
But, as I've mentioned before.
I have already bought 2 dance DVD's.
Well more than that, one of them is the Step Up Revolution DVD & the other is the Hip Hop Abs set.
Anywho...I have being thinking about Zumba.
I think I'm going to get a DVD and check into it more.

But the main reason I'm even talking about it is because I stumbled across a Facebook page that is a girl that posts video of her routines. They look like a lot of fun and a good workout & I just wanted to share it with all of y'all.
Go check out & "Like" her page HERE!
Her name is Jessica and she looks amazing! You can tell she put a lot into working out & she likes what she does. She's apparently been teaching Zumba for like 3 years. I kind of want to learn some of her dances/routines!
I like her "Timber" dance & her "Go Buck" dance.

I haven't weighed in on here in a bit,...
let's see where I am...
Last week & the week before I was at 154.1
Today I am at 152.6

Didn't expect that. At all. I won't even lie.

I feel like my endurance it pretty good, about time to challenge myself a little further, as far as cardio and how long I can do it.
I don't feel smaller or much better in terms of being in shape. I still have quite a few days of feeling bloated. Then every so often I have a "small day". I'm ready for those to be more frequent. I'm not pushing myself enough right now, other than on the treadmill. I really need to dive into more strength and toning.
Doug & I went to Dick's to checkout workout equipment like dumb bells and such & I need to go buy some more.  He's also back on the workout train again. & he's feelin' it. He's starting slow as well, I think that's key. Now I just have to help him get a handle on his portions again. Boy can eat, which, honestly...if I weren't watchin portions, I could too. Love food. lol

I haven't posted a playlist in a couple of weeks. Here is the first one I posted.
So here's another...
Let's go for POP this time...
(in no particular order)

1. Pitbull & Kesha- Timber
2. Ellie Goulding- Burn
3. Aloe Blacc- The Man (loooove this song!)
4. Ed Sheeran- You Need Me, I Don't Need You
5. Jessie J- Do It Like A Dude
6. Cher Lloyd- Swagger Jagger
7. Britney Spears- Work Bitch
8. Avicii- Wake Me Up
9. Little Mix- Move
10. Alex Clare- Too Close
11. Little Mix- Wings
12. Zendaya- Replay
13. Ollie Murs- Troublemaker
14. Demi Lovato- Neon Lights
15. Kesha- Blow


If you would like to suggests any songs, I'm always open to them. Any and all genres welcome here.

Welp, off to sit around and wait to go play in the snow.
Snowpocalypse for us in North GA. I'm gonna try to not snack my way throw the next couple of days. That's all I want to do. haha.
Lovins!
♥♥♥
Brandy

You say you want a revolution...

Did anyone what the Beatles Tribute Concert last night?
If not, you missed out.

Via

If you have been living under a rock and don't know what I'm talking about, it was a 2.5 hour concert paying tribute to and celebrating 50 years to the day -Feb.9 1964- of when The Beatles first appeared on "The Ed Sullivan" show. (aka, The Beatles were introduced to America, sparking the British Invasion.)

It really was so great. All of the artists involved did amazing renditions of The Beatles' songs and then Paul and Ringo performed which was the icing in the cake.

Via E! Online

The only thing that could have made it better would have been if George and John were still alive.
I think it was a great tribute & I loved that it told a bit of a backstory of not only the group but also about the guys individually. Left me with wanting to get all of their albums, which I sadly do not have. I was familiar with all the songs played though so, I wasn't lost or anything.
I can't help but think about how great it must have been to see them live back in the day.
Ahh, would have been so fun!

It'd be awesome if they released it on DVD. I'm gonna keep a look out for that. You should too!

So, my weekend...
was again, so good..

Friday was low key. I balanced my checkbook & Pre Ordered my "The Sum of Who We Are" package! The free song that you get to download instantly is so good! We did movie night at home. We watched 2 Guns and Last Vegas. Both were very good. 2 Guns stars Mark Wahlberg & Denzel Washington, they are two undercover agents working on a case together. It's a crime action/comedy. It's a really good movie. I don't want to describe it too much, I don't want to give anything away. Last Vegas stars Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, and Michael Douglas. It's a comedy about 60-something men take a trip to Las Vegas to for a bachelor party. I thought it was funny & I recommend it as well.

Saturday was a QT day for Doug and me. We slept in, he finally got me to wake up sometime after noon...oopsie. And then we headed out to do a little shopping. Our main mission was to go to Dicks and scope out their workout stuff. I need some heavier dumb bells and would like to have a medicine ball, but we were just checking out prices for now. He also hit up WalMart, Kohls and Old Navy. Our haul included some jeans for him, me some flip flops and house shoes. A new computer mouse (I had the touchpad thing & my mouse finally died) and some other random but needed things. We wanted to have a date night, we had Texas Roadhouse gift card, but uhh,..at 6:30 there were already people waiting outside the restaurant. Uhh, yea. Five Guys won that fight by a landslide. I loooove a good Five Guys burger!
Then it was home to relax.

Sunday- Went up to my ma-in-laws to check out the trail cam and refill the deer feeder and Doug ended up going to a movie with his mom & bro while I skipped out and came back home to try and help mom meal plan and make a grocery list. Sunday night ended with the Beatles Tribute on TV.
Oh & then this happened...

Sooo, so, so happy/proud about that! I'm also proud of the fact that I probably could have kept going. I didn't really tire, which tells me that my endurance is getting better. Usually I only go 30 to 45 minutes depending, but I just felt good enough to keep going.
Also the first time that I've gotten to and past 3 miles since I've really started to used the treadmill -seriously- again. (Nov.) Accomplishment for sure!

Family, good food, good music & quality time with my man! Pretty perfect weekend, to me. :-)


And then there's today, oh Monday...
It's actually not all bad. My patience is just nonexistent. We're supposed to get more snow over the next couple of days & that sends folks into a frenzy around these parts. So, while mom and I are trying to just to our weekly grocery shopping, everyone else is trying to "prepare" and ugh, it was just annoying. You can definitely tell the difference between the people who were there just doing typical grocery shopping and the people who were there because "omg, it's gonna snow". Ridiculous. And the same goes for people on the road. ASSHOLES. It's not even doing anyyyything yet, it was drizzling RAIN, and I mean barely & everyone was still in rush mode. And on top of all of that. I was just baffled by the amount of people who were at Wal Mart and Kroger in general, I mean, did they not have to be at work? It was morning & afternoon time....ri-damn-diculous. We're supposed to get at least 1-2", at most I think 3-6" of snow. However, that could end up being ice/sleet instead. So, shit...we'll see. Just pray our power stays on!

(Go ahead northerners, laugh it up, I know this is nothing compared to what you're dealing with. But just remember, this household pretty calmly prepares. My Dad's an Ohio-an, he's actually dealt with real winters before.)

How was your weekend?!

Happy Monday y'all!
♥♥♥
Brandy

Let's Get Fiscal!

Oh money...

So Erin and some of her gal pals posed a challenge: No Spend January.
Meaning, don't spend any (or too much) money on non-necessities.
And then link up with results. I'm a few days late, but luckily the link up is still open.

So, how did I do?
OK....Just OK.

My main goal was to recover from the sting of Christmas.
Somehow Christmas got us hard, so my account was too low for my comfort.

Did I achieve that?
If I'm being completely honest...not really.
Who am I kidding? NO.

No excuses, though.
I did budget out our bills, groceries, weekly cash and even my friends birthday because I knew I would spend money for it.

So where did I go wrong?
My organization.
100%. I was not as organized as I needed to be.

I will say, looking at my check register,...
There were only about 4 things I see right off the bat that would maybe be considered not necessary. All of which are food, 2 of them are from Doug grabbing lunch.
And then there is 1 that isn't really necessary, but I keep it there because it's part of a hobby I guess you could say. And then 1 thing that I budgeted out, but went over the amount I budgeted.
And then the money spent on the doctor and meds and recovery junk from my ear & sinus infection at he beginning of the month. Just was an unexpected expense.
And then there is Wal Mart. Ohh, Wal Mart. Such a money pit. In my defense, honestly most things bought were needed. Not all, but most.

So, I definitely know where our faults are. Which helps when saving money. You don't want to be oblivious.

My account is still only about 50% of what I'd like it to be. And that's just my "bottom dollar amount".
I would be more comfortable if it were about 150% to maybe 200% more than what it is.

Thank God it's tax time. That will maybe help at least get up back to "comfortable" levels.

I am proud that this year I have recommitted to keeping up with it all in my check register again. Call me a bit old fashioned, but I had always did that and it helped. I just fell off of doing it for a while...like a few years...

So, yeah. I won't say I failed at no-spend month, because I tried and held myself and my husband accountable. I do want to do it again. But I will have to wait a month or two. This month I am making myself go to the dentist to get that whole process started. Ugh. I'm scared and hate to see the amount that's goin to go out to that. We also have a couple of other things I'm sure we'll go ahead and do, or start, this month.
I did hold off on buying any concert tickets in January though. Do you know how hard that was? I'm dead serious. That was a good accomplishment on it's own. I am making a list though to see which ones I really do want to go to and to see if it's really possible. Which is no different from the way I was before.
I'm a saver anyway. So, this is nothing new to me. And if you read my post from last year, it's apparent. My daddy taught me how to be smart with money & I have always tried to harness that knowledge and I do pretty damn good at it.

Let's talk savings!
I saw where the 52 Week Saving Challenge has been going around like wildfire on Pinterest and FB.
Is anyone doing it this year?
I 100% recommend it.
Doug & I did it last year, and let me tell you. Come January, to have that amount of money to deposit in our savings account was such a great and proud feeling. As I just said, I'm a saver, so I was just so happy. Nerd alert. lol
And because I'm a saver, we had a little more than the amount that it says you will end up with at 52 weeks.
What we did was...
-The 52 Week Challenge envelope, then inside that envelope I had a "Double Down" Envelope with another print out of the plan. The DD envelope was a 2nd 52 week plan. So, we were doing 2 at the same time, only the DD wasn't a necessity...it was just for extra. We didn't complete it, I don't even think we reached the halfway mark but, it doesn't matter. Any money in that was extra to be added to the completed 52 wk amount.
and of course,
-Piggy Banks. I have a couple. We save change. Change adds up. I keep it, count it, roll it and deposit it. Again, it's a little extra.

This Year...
We are doing the 52 weeks + Double Down again. (& if I get a job maybe even a "triple" envelope), along with piggy banks and my other envelopes.
I'm telling you, I swear by the envelopes.
Apparently that's also some advice that Dave Ramsey gives? I honestly had no idea, but I love it. I've been telling people to do that for YEARS, so the fact that someone who advises people on how to slash debt and save money says to do the same thing makes me happy. Great minds think alike, Dave!

I know with two incomes the amounts that we save will be a little bigger, but no matter how big or small, I'm always proud that I am good at saving. There are so many people that are my age or younger (hell, even some older) that have so much trouble saving money. It's really easy if you just set your mind to it & DO IT.

Anyone can save money. I promise. You just have to keep a good mindset and a good handle on your finances.

So, what are your financial goals and are they going pretty well so far? Are you doing any savings plans to help you save money?!
I'd love to hear!

Happy Friday & Have a Great Weekend!
Lovins!
♥♥♥
Brandy

Pre-Order sure to be amazing Album..& 30 Miles in 30 Days.

So, you know what's been happening a lot lately? Post ideas.

But you know what happens when I sit down to type them out? They disappear.

To say I'm a bit unorganized lately is almost an understatement. So, since I can't remember what I was wanting to post about today....

I'm just gonna advertise for my favorite punk ass dudes from Nashville. Framing Hanley, that is.

Photo by: Krystl Vest

You're supposed to write what you're passionate about right? One of the things I am passionate about is them. So...
You've heard me mention them & will continue hearing about them around these parts.

They are in the home stretch of their album being released. It has been mastered and is pretty much complete. The release date is April 29th. Today they launched Pre-sale packages. Which are pretty sweet deals. I don't know how many of you like Alternative Rock, but I do (and always will) recommend you checking them out.
And if you like what you hear, and would like to support them, please do.
I can promise you that they are genuine guys. So nice & extremely appreciative of their fans. I know that from personal experience. They're amazing.
There is a little thing on the side of my page where you can listen to 3 of their new ones & even click to get them for FREE right now. All you do is follow the instructions and you get an email with them.
Here is the link for the PRE-ORDERS.
& Here is their Website, Website 2, FB, & Twitter.

& I'm going to attempt this link-up for February. Even though I started like 4 days later. I can't guarantee I'll make it to 30 but I'm going to try! :-)

 

Feb. 1-3: 0

Feb. 4: 2.2

Feb. 5: 2.2

 

Total: 4.4

 

 

Sorry loves, that's all I got today.

 

Lovins!

♥♥♥

Brandy

It was just...good.

Last weekend that is.

Weekend re-cap on Wednesday. Yeaauhhh.

Friday my PIC and I were supposed to go shopping.
Little did we know we would end up spending almost 4 hours at the Salon getting her hair done.
Oh well, we still went out to eat and hit up Wal Mart.

Saturday though, Saturday we for damn sure went shopping.
A good 5 hours worth.
And I needed it. Not the shopping, necessarily, but the hang time. The time away from home. The laughing. The silliness. And yes, the shopping was good-duh.
I didn't even get home til almost midnight. And I needed it.

Sunday. Sunday was supposed to be all about being at home.
However, we had a deer feeder that Doug wanted to take to his moms & we needed a few last minute things.
His mom and bro weren't home when we got there, and she had left her bigger dog (Cody) in the house. Big mistake. He has separation anxiety and lets just say he like to make a mess. (And lets be honest, Boomer the newest little puppy likes to chew too, if Cody gets it, Boomer will help destroy...)
I walked in the house to see 2 pans in the floor, a banana, a chewed up Ziploc bag, a chewed up measuring cup, dish sponge, a shredded pencil, pieces of a pen, a whole roll of paper towels on the floor and some of them scattered around the floor. Then there was a spot of pee and some poop. Those were more than likely Boomers gifts.
SO, I don't know what clicked in me, but I cleaned her house. After Doug picked up the poop. (Fun fact, I usually can't pick up dog poop unless I am the only one there -in other words unless I have to- I can't stand it.)
I cleaned the mess, vacuumed, swept, folded clothes and started a new load. & Was glad that she'd get to come home to a pretty much clean house.
We got home & got everything ready for the Super Bowl. By that I mean all the food was cooked.

Everyone knows how the Bowl went. I honestly don't even know what to say. I could have cried. I could have, if I hadn't been feeling so good thanks to Sarah's Super Bowl drinking game. I only got myself a six pack of Redd's (Strawberry) for the game. A SIX PACK. And by the time I was about 4ish in I was good, but I finished the whole 6 pack. Then a swig or two of 'shine sealed the deal. The loss didn't sting as bad at that point. And according to everyone at my house (which was just everyone that lives here anyway) I was quite comical. WHATEVA!
The halftime show was amazing. I wasn't really impressed by many the commercials. Some of my favorites were the Budweiser Puppy Love one (they always have the cutest commercials), the Dale Jr hunting one, The doritos time machine one was pretty good. And the Radio Shack one "The 80's called, they want their store back."...umm...that's all that's coming to mind at the moment.
Congratulations Seahawks and Seahawk fans!!

Pretty sure people expected me to sleep all day Monday, but I was awake by 9 and up and at 'em by 10. Booyah mothafuckas!

In short, this weekend was much needed.
It was good.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. From the posts I read it looks likes everyone did. :-)

♥♥♥
Brandy