What a year! Bye 2020, not sorry to see you go ? Here are some of my favorite photos from this year. I’m not big on “resolutions”, but I do love goal setting. I created some good habits this year that I want to keep going with, and want to create new ones and re-establish some others. 1) My top goal for 2021 is continuing with my mostly daily Bible study time and make it more consistent and maybe try to do some scripture memorization as well ? 2) Spend more quality time with friends and family and better separate my work time and “off hours” time 3) Get outside more! 4) Stay consistent with my exercise routine. 5) Create more videos for my website and social channels. These are pretty general and not super specific (breaking the cardinal rules of goal setting already ?), but the details go into my editorial calendar and weekly schedule. I set plans but stay flexible, like my posting plan the past couple years has been 2x week posts on Tuesday and Thursday, but this year threw everything off kilter and I didn’t stick with that schedule this year as much as I did in 2019. And that’s ok! ? My blog is a business, but I’m also in it for the long haul and don’t want this to be all consuming, so I try to balance consistency, discipline, and flexibility. That has helped out a lot this year with everything being so unpredictable. What are some of your goals for 2021?

Can you believe the New Year is just next week? ? This Monty has flown by. If you’re ready to welcome 2021 and celebrate New Years, we have a recipe roundup of mocktails for you!? These are all gluten free, dairy free, and kid-friendly, and some are healthy, too ?? Check out our roundup here:

Merry Christmas friends! Even though this day is probably a lot different than last year, I hope you still have a very peaceful time connecting with loved ones ? “The word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” ~ John 1:14 ?

One of my favorite Christmas cookies as a kid: chocolate no bake cookies (no stove required either!). These are kind of addicting and hard to stop at just one ? We used to call these Eskimo cookies because they are chilled and covered in powdered sugar “snow” ❄️ These were a favorite when I was growing up, and I remade this recipe to be dairy free and gluten free! Almost forgot: happy winter solstice! Grab the recipe here:

We posted a new recipe today! ☕️ If you want some warm gingerbread but don’t have time to bake, make a dairy free Gingerbread Latte! It’s also gluten free and lower in sugar than the Starbucks version. You don’t need an espresso maker or special syrups for this one either ?? Grab the recipe on our site, click on our link in profile! ??

We’re hosting another fitness challenge in January! ? We hosted one in April and it was a lot of fun and just what we needed to help us get through the early quarantine. So we decided to kick off 2021 on the right foot with another 30/31 challenge! The aim is simple: try to do 30 minutes or more of exercise as many days as you can in January. It can be anything you want as long as it gets you moving: walking, hiking, skiing, Zumba, weight lifting, cycling, swimming,... anything! Our latest blog post has the rules and info for joining, it’s free! Our challenge sponsor is @nowfoodsofficial who is generously sponsoring our weekly prize drawings! Check out the details here and how to join:

Is 2020 over yet (please)?? ? We’re not quite there yet, but I wanted to share my Instagram top posts now anyway, cuz why not? ? Really happy to see a couple of our hiking posts were in the top posts! ?

Like a little something crunchy, smooth, salty, and sweet? Make some of our gluten free pretzel chocolate bark! It’s dairy free and peanut free, too, and perfect for homemade Christmas gifts? Grab the recipe here:

It’s been a while since I posted a workout update! I’m struggling to stay consistent with my workouts this year (I bet a lot of people are!) but my hip and knee are doing really well. It’s been over 1-1/2 years since my hip and knee surgery and my kneecap is finally tracking properly! It only took a year ?? My endurance is not where I want it to be these days ? I’d love to do races again next year and I want to get my speed back up too. But I need to be consistent to build my speed and endurance back up after surgeries and my kneecap taking so long to correct itself after surgery ? Consistency is the name of the game! I’m going to host another fitness challenge in January, stay tuned for details!

Our newest addition to our Etsy shop: our black and gold Holly Jolly tote bag for Christmas! ? ?? Grab the tote bags in our Etsy shop here: