Hello! My name is Janette and I'm a lifestyle blogger at Janette Lane Blog. I live in California and lead a quiet and simple life with my husband, Lovey (Not his real name. Wish it was.). Aubrey asked if I could share something today on her lovely blog about simplifying for the New Year. I'm an easy going girl and I like to keep things simple. So this post is right up my alley! Today I want to share about how I simplified my planner for 2015.

About 3 months ago, I decided to start keeping a planner to organize my daily life. I devoted a lot of time to decorating it because work was kind of slow then. I had the time and kind of went crazy with it. I decorated it with affordable DIY stickers, washi, and die cuts of all kinds. Here are some snapshots of what my planner looked like.

The beginning of the new year is always a good time to make changes. Also, it's one of the busiest times of the year for me. So I decided to change my planner, mostly because I knew I wouldn't have time to maintain it. I got a new (and much smaller) planner from Target from the Sugar Paper line. I try and keep the decorations to a minimum and mostly use it to write my daily tasks and for reminders. Here's what looks like:

Such a difference from the other planner, right??? Now I know this might not seem like such a huge change, but I'll be honest, it has saved me tons of time (and glue). Now I can devote my creative energies to other projects.

Maybe there's an area of your life where you can cut back. Try to determine where you can better invest your time, and make that change. Could be something big, like giving up Netflix marathons to exercise more, or it could be something as easy as downsizing your planner! Simplify your life! Make the change :)

Happy New Year and thanks for reading!

Lovely Blog Award

Welcome back to 528 Square Feet, and boy am I so glad you stopped by! Before we get into Janette's AWESOME planner post on Thursday, (and I mean you WILL want to see this!) I have some MAJOR news to tell you!

I have been nominated for the "Lovely Blog Award"

This is kind of a big deal for me, seeing as I started my blog on a complete whim! <3 I'm so thankful for the nomination by Maureen over at Happily Embellished! She is literally one of the nicest and most supportive person I have met here in the planner and blogger world. I'm so happy to me making such positive friends throughout my simplified journey.

Here's how this blog award works:

The One Lovely Blog Award nominations are chosen by bloggers for newer or up-and-coming fellow bloggers. The goal is to help give recognition and to also help the new blogger reach more viewers. It also recognizes blogs that are considered to be “lovely” by the blogger who chose them.  In order to “accept” the award the nominated blogger must follow several guidelines.

The rules for accepting the award are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who nominated you!
2. Share 7 things about yourself!
3. Nominate 15 or so other bloggers and comment on their blogs to let them know! 

I also am only nominating a hand full of people to illustrate my sincerity in my nominations!

My nominations are as followed:

CREATEYOU86

Lastly, my blogger, planner, and youtube idol:

Vienna, MY PLANNER!

Once again I am so incredibly grateful to Maureen for nominating me, and want to thank all my nominations for being an inspiration to me!

Now the harder part - my 7 facts!

1. My absolutely favorite thing to do when going on dates with my husband is to go fishing! 
2. I LOVE the new television series "Alaskan Bush People!"
3. Before we downsized and I decided to simplify my life, I was a cluttered mess and had an overwhelming amount of craft supplies....you literally couldn't even walk in my office.
4. I am currently on a weight loss journey, and my weight has always been a constant struggle. 
5. I was once a vegetarian until I worked in my local butcher shop where I was converted because of bacon. 
6. I've only ever been in a hospital twice in my life - once for my birth, and the other for a dislocated pinky.
7. I'm also a youth pastor and going back to school in February to get my teaching license.

I'm so excited to have been nominated for this award, and I can't wait to see all the other nominations that will come pouring in! I'm so thankful for my readers, and all the support I've received this far in my blogging journey! You guys are the best!!!

Simplify something this week!!!

LOVE,

Aubrey

Kelly's Fab Fitness - Simplifying your Health (Pt. 2)

One of the hardest parts of losing weight is figuring out what is and what isn’t healthy to eat. 

How you should be eating through the day and what you should be fueling your body with. Honestly, it isn’t simple in the beginning with cravings and temptations, but if you plan properly, and eat when you should, those feelings of a hollow stomach will dissipate quickly.

When creating a healthy lifestyle plan, there are a few things you need to understand:

Set a weekly goal – Every Sunday I set my goals for the week.  For example: how many days I want to make it to the gym, what I am going to eat for the week and how many pounds would I like to lose. I also like to add in other goals for myself like making it to 6 miles in 50 minutes on the stairmaster, or to add in sprinting intervals for 20 minutes on the treadmill. Something that will push me physically for the week as I LOVE a challenge.

Plan ahead – When you plan your meals ahead, it makes it a lot harder to cheat.  On Sundays I prep for the week.  I do all of my grocery shopping for lunches and dinners and then I spend a couple hours prepping my lunches for the week. I can get sick of the same thing every day for lunch so I like to mix it up for dinner.

Ask yourself if it is worth it – Every time temptation gets in my way, I ask myself if the calories are worth it.  I think about how far I have come and how hard I have worked and if it is still worth it, I eat it.  And let me tell you, afterwards I generally feel like it is not worth it. If saying no is hard, I pop in sugar free gum, or drink a liter of water, or a cup of green tea to curb my craving.

Track everything you do – I use myfitnesspal.  I track everything that I eat and drink in a day.  I set my nutrition to 45% protein, 30% carbs and 25% healthy fats. While I plan my meals, I make sure that my nutrition fits into those calories.

Cut out sugar – Sugar is one of the biggest causes of belly fat. Cutting out sugar really helps with your energy level, weight loss and overall health.  Even eating too much fruit is bad for you.  Try to cut your fruit intake to 1 – 2 servings per day and don’t consume anything with more than 10 grams of sugar.

Eat Dark Chocolate once a day – I eat one square of 70% cocoa dark chocolate per day. It helps with the sugar cravings and gives me that little something sweet.  After a while, when you eat real chocolate or sugar, you will find that those food items are TOO sweet.

Give yourself a cheat meal – if you need one. – If you feel that you need a cheat meal once a week, then give yourself a cheat meal. The reason that people fail is that they never give themselves a break. If you are being consistent and doing what you should, having a cheat meal isn’t going to kill you. Honestly, after a while you won’t need one as you will realize that your cheat meal doesn’t make you feel as great as a clean meal would.

Overall weightloss is about consistency, so make the change and you will see results!

An example of a day for me looks like this:

Breakfast:

Protein Shake with 1 serving of fruit, 2 egg whites, protein powder, almond milk and spinach

Snack:

15 Raw Almonds

Lunch:

Grilled Chicken

Broccoli

Brown rice or roasted sweet potatoes

Snack:

Chocolate Milk OR apple with almond butter

Dinner:

Homemade Extra-Lean Ground Turkey Vegetable Soup

Total Calories: Roughly 1750

Total Calories Burned: Roughly 800

To learn more about keeping it simple and clean eating, go to my blog :www.kellysfabfitness.com.

Looking for my soup recipe? Check it out HERE!

Kelly's Fab Fitness - Simplify your HEALTH!

"Weighing in at 239lbs, I realized that this weight, the weight I thought I would never see in my lifetime, was a choice."

Sitting with my doctor and him telling me that I won’t be able to have kids if I don’t lose weight was a big wake up call.  I sat there thinking about how I stopped weighing myself at 220.. saying, oh it will come off.  I just have to eat an extra salad a week. Take the stairs once in a while… it will come off.  I chose to stop weighing myself, I chose to continue to drink a lot and often, I chose to eat poorly and not work out. I made that choice.

Now, at 239lbs, I had to make a choice to either continue down that path or make a change.  The thing that the doctor didn’t tell me till later is that now that I wanted to lose weight, it would be that much harder because my hormones were completely off track and losing weight with high estrogen means that I have to try harder than most people.

It took me about 4 months and an embarrassing video where my stomach was hanging over a chair to realize that I had to make a real change. It’s not easy, but it’s a choice that I had to make.  I started small, the elliptical machine for 15 minutes and 20 crunches 3 times a week.  I also did Pilates at home with my then boyfriend, now husband.  I quickly dropped 10lbs. 

Thinking that I was doing it right, I kept up with the work out, except for when I was traveling…. Which was every other week for 5 days. I ate OK most of the time, except for when I was traveling. Again, a choice that I was making to not really give it everything that I had.  So I hired a trainer at my gym.  I am not going to lie to you, I cancelled a lot in the beginning as it was hard and it was really early in the morning.  But when I started kickboxing with my trainer, working out became fun. I started to see a huge difference in my body and energy.  I realized that the food that I was eating was actually making me sluggish and not helping my work out.  So I decided to make more of a conscious effort to eat better, even when I was traveling.  At this point working out while traveling still wasn’t my thing.  But my eating better consisted of actually eating breakfast, oatmeal every day. Actually making a point to eat lunch every day and to try to make a healthy dinner, like homemade vegetable soup or salmon salad instead of Turkey Lasagna. (Which by the way sounds healthier than regular Lasagna, but really packs 1,100 calories per serving) I used to skip breakfast, sometimes have lunch and gorge on dinner and snacks all night.  I lost 30lbs. I felt great, confident, and was getting compliments all the time.

But then life happened.  I got a new project that was time consuming, I put work first and me second.  I started traveling more than I did before. And where I was able to continue to try and eat healthy, and I even worked out a bit while traveling, I gained 10lbs back.  I didn’t make my health my priority. Something that you need to do when losing weight.

In March I got engaged.  I was so excited.  I knew that I wanted to lose 20lbs before the wedding but I STILL wasn’t motivated enough to make the real change. The kind of change you need to make to live a healthy lifestyle.  Finally mid-May I got back to working out a few times a week, and eating a bit better.  Still couldn’t kick the drinking on the weekends but I was doing better.  I lost 10lbs pretty quickly and I knew that if I stayed on this track, I could potentially lose more weight than I had hoped. I was pretty excited.  However then my bridal shower and bachelorette party happened.  2 days of bad food, drinking and being EXTREMELY hung over.  I gained 15lbs over the weekend.  Now, for those of you that don’t know, it is physically impossible to gain that much weight in a weekend.  It is generally just being bloated and water weight.

I was devastated. I knew that I would never get to where I needed to be if I kept making exceptions for special occasions. 

Because in reality, every weekend was a special occasion, there were weddings, drinks with friends we haven’t seen in a while, new restaurant openings, red carpet events, birthdays, concerts, etc.  EVERYTHING WAS A SPECIAL OCCASION!!

So I quit drinking… for 1 month… to see how I would do.  I cut carbs to only whole grains and no carbs after 3pm.  I took snacks like almonds and ½ of an apple to work for when I got hungry.  I drank twice as much water to fill up my stomach and I packed on the lean protein throughout the day.  OH and a big one… I cut out most sugar.  If something had more than 10grams of sugar per serving, I couldn’t have it. You would be surprised at how much sugar is in a bottle of natural green tea – 35grams. I even cut my fruit intake to one serving of fruit a day.

It was hard.  I was hungry for a while, but I knew that I was just eating before because I was bored or stressed. 

At the gym I incorporated weight lifting and the stairmaster.  I loved the challenge every day that I was there. Every day I pushed myself a little harder and instead of food being my addiction, working out became my addiction. My before and after photos became my daily motivation. Making connections at the gym became my support group, and writing my blog held me accountable.  I found what I needed to keep me going. So after 5 months of working my butt off, fueling by body with the right kind of food, (Clean eating) I lost 47lbs, (total of 67lbs) went from a size 18 to a size 8, and lost 20% body fat. I went from only being able to be on the stair master for 8 minutes at a level 3 to doing 60 minutes at a level 12, which is 6 miles on the stairmaster.  I went from hating every inch of my body to learning how to love myself.  Even though the failures. I learned how to navigate life with having this new body, one that is smaller, more agile, and gets cold a lot faster!

But that’s the thing about weight loss, it’s a daily choice, it’s a struggle and it’s an accomplishment. 

It’s something that doesn't ever stop. You have to keep going and make the life change to stay healthy.  I still have a ways to go to get to where I want to be. Even with life changing I am making time for my goals and I am ready to face those changes head on.  Who knows, before I get to where I want to be I might get pregnant, and have a whole new struggle to face.  But what I know now is that I can do it, and what it feels like to get to where you want to be and I know that I definitely never want to feel any different!

Come back this Thursday for more information on Kelly's Diet and a delicious recipe! In the mean time you can go check out her blog by clicking on the image below!

Simplifying Your Wardrobe!

Hello 528 Square Feet readers! The oh so lovely Aubrey has graciously asked me to write a guest post for you all, and I happily obliged. Since her adorable blog is all about organizing and minimizing clutter in life, that's exactly what I'm going to be writing about, except in relation to the wardrobe! First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Ash, and a few key things I'm passionate about are reading, writing, beauty and fashion. Upon realizing that blogging can contain all of these things, I  promptly started my own little sliver of the web, Blush and Bling. Luckily when the sweet host of this site asked me to write about cleaning up closets, it was something I had already gone through myself when I first started blogging. Limiting clothes, and building a mix and match wardrobe is not something that is too hard to do, and just a few things are needed. Here are some of my favorite tips and tricks to get onto this pathway!

To start with, get rid of anything you haven't worn in the last year or so. (This is including jewelry!) Chances are, you haven't worn that lumpy sweater hidden in the back of your closet that makes you look slightly sickly for a reason. Someitmes it can be hard to get rid of that piece of clothing you have been stubbornly clinging on to for a tad too long, so do anything necessary to get into the frame of mind where you're ready to let that sucker go to another home. Pump some music, drink some wine, whatever floats your boat. I like to give away my clothes to Good Will or other places where you know they will be appreciated. Hey, who hasn't gone thrifting to find an ugly Christmas sweater or random cat print shirt? So rest easy knowing your clothes are going to a better place, and not clogging up your closet.

Next is the best part. Go shopping!!! Not the all at once splurge your heart out so you can't afford rent this month type, but collect things slowly and surely. If you can splurge however, more power to you, and go for it! Whether you are shopping in store or online, look for basic pieces that you can match with other clothes in your closet easily. This includes some basic colours. I know, it can be kind of boring compared to that bright pink mini dress you are itching to rock on a Saturday night. However, if you have a closet full of these kinds of clothes, you won't have anything to wear during the week, or anything that is a basic color to match these pieces! Go for white, grey, beige, black or navy blue. Plus, on top of matching those crazy pieces you allow yourself to keep, they can match each other and compose a plethora of different outfits together. Some of the neutral things I bought when first starting out (and still hunt for) were classic nude pumps, a grey handbag, awesome dark + light jeans and black pointy flats. These matched everything in my closet, and will match many more things to come. When you're debating whether or not to purchase something, think about anything it will match in your closet. If you absolutely can't think of a way to put it together as an outfit, don't buy it, because chances are, it will be the same once you get home!

Now comes the trickier portion, incorporating your individuality. Not everyone just loves beige or white along with minimal jewelry, and lots of people let the light of their personality shine through by wearing bright colours. Find these pieces through accessories. Hot pink shoes, neon necklaces, big bangle bracelets, furry purse, you name it. Once you have those basic pieces like nice jeans to wear or a white shirt, you can pop it with those bright colours and it isn't too much! It's easy to even combine a few of these bright babies together and it doesn't look like a rainbow threw up all over your clothes. (Sorry for that awesome imagery!)

One more point to add.. once you stop buying all those random things that are a waste of time and money, you will have a little extra moolah to spend once you find a brilliant staple to add to the growing collection of one kick-ass wardrobe.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope these little tidbits help you in some small way!

Xoxo,
Ash

Planning for the New Year (pt. 3)

Hey planner addicts, simple life advocates, and newbies! I'm so happy you're here to see what I have planned for you today! As promised, I wanted to finish up the tour of my planner before getting into the good stuff!

Let's get started!

Alright, so I'm hoping these pictures show up just a smidgen better for you all! I retook them in better, natural lighting! Anyways, that picture above is my third divider! It's exactly where we left off, right behind my weekly calendar inserts. If you're a newbie, WELCOME, you can get caught up by checking out the first and second post to this series! This divider marks my lists and notes section.

The first page in this section has all of my New Year's Resolutions, and all of the notes I took while watching Vienna's (My_Planner) interactive goal video! 

The next thing you'll notice is this page marker that came with the Filofax planner. I covered it with silver sparkly washi tape, and it marks the first open note page that I have. I did this so that when I'm in a hurry or standing in the check out line, I can easily locate and flip right to an open page.

The second page marker I have in this section is a Project Life Divider. This marks the beginning of my lists. 

As you can see my lists are just pieces of paper that I continually add onto. I currently have four running lists in my planner - Home Projects, Wish Lists, Blog Ideas, Ethan (my husband) Gifts.

Now we're moving on my next major divider. This section is my financial section.

In my financial section I have this little envelope that I DIY'd, in which I put important receipts! Then on the right, you'll notice a check book balance. I didn't really feel like my check registry was something you needed to see, which is why I pixelated the amounts. However, most of the time I use this section to check and monitor our account balances weekly just so I have a good idea of what's in our account at all times. 

If you'd like to download this check registry which I edited myself, you can do that HERE.

This is my next divider which marks the beginning of my "health" section.

In this section I have my weekly workout routine, which you can see a blown up copy below, if you're interested. 

This page is marked with a flair button paperclip that I DIY'd! 

Isn't it cute? I really like having these top tabs for quick reference!

Right after my workout schedule, I have my vitamin and supplement list. I keep a running lists of things I'm taking, and things I want to try taking so that when I go to my next Doctor's appointment I don't have to remember everything! After this page, I have a similar list for Symptoms - also for my Dr. appointments!

And here's my last and final divider, marking my puppy's section!

The first thing I have in this section is a small project life card that has Olivia's (my puppy's), routine. If you don't know this already, it is absolutely essential to have a consistent food and potty schedule in order to potty train your dog. 

Next I have an insert I designed myself that is designated to Olivia's vaccinations - which vaccines she needs, when, and if she's received them!

Last in my planner is a top loading envelope in which I keep TONS of stickers and dew drops!

___________________________END OF PLANNER TOUR_______________________________

I hope you've enjoyed this tour throughout my planner! I have one more surprise for you all! 

Since posting pictures on my Instagram of my DIY flair paper clips, I've gotten SO many comments and emails asking for a tutorial! Well here it is!

These are the supplies you'll need in order to make one of these clips! You'll need a hot glue gun, a pair of scissors, a paper clip, a flair, a project life card, and a pencil or pen (not pictured). 

This is just a picture of the flair I chose! I thought it would be PERFECT for my planner!

Your first step in this project is to trace around your flair onto your project life card! (I flipped mine over on the journaling side to see my marks better!) This is also a great time to plug in that hot glue gun so it's nice and warm by the time you're ready to use it!

Here is what it looked like when I was finished! As you can see, it's not a perfect circle, and I'm not a perfectionist! However, this paper clip still turned out great!

Your next step is to just cut the circle out. For a better fit, cut inside of the line. (not on or around it)

You may have to trim your circle down a little bit for a better fit, but I didn't have to do that too much. 

This may be an extra step for some, but I found it easier in the long run! I like to line my paper clip up and hot glue it FIRST to the flair. In doing this first, I can be absolutely positive that the clip is centered and double check I have the two rounded edges pointed down. Also notice that I glued the clip almost directly in the center of the flair. (not on the very edge of the flair) I found it looks nicer, sits lower in my planner, and is also way more sturdier than if I put it higher up. 

Once that glue is cool, I lather the back side with hot glue one more time!

Then I simply place the paper on the back, adjust as needed, and press down. WARNING: If you're like me (an OVER-gluer), hot glue WILL seep out! An easy fix for this is using the edge of your project life card to scrape around the sides. This will not only smooth your edges, but it will also get rid of any excess glue! 

Final product!

Here it is in my planner! I love the look AND functionality of these! They serve as such a great decoration and page marker! 

Now I have one more surprise for you! 

Some of you may be thinking, "where the heck do I get a flair?" Well, I purchased mine from a little etsy shop called:

Every single one of my flairs was purchased from her shop! Her prices are great and she literally has hundreds to chose from! She was also so inspired by this DIY, that she created two entire sets dedicated to the planner lover!

Here is just ONE example of her work! Now, if you're planning to order from her to DIY some paperclips yourself, be sure you specify that you want the FLATBACK flairs in your purchase! 

Oh,and it wouldn't be a good tutorial if I didn't supply you with this:

CLIPS2015

After Shelley, the own over at "AFlairForButtons" found out I was going to be doing a tutorial and mentioning her flairs, she so kindly offered this coupon code for 10% off your next purchase! 

This offer will last to the END of JANUARY! 

_________________________END OF TUTORIAL_____________________________________

Now that we have all that business taken care of I'm so excited to talk to you about the upcoming series called 

"Whole-Life Simplified"

My collaborators have been working so hard, in the midst of vacations, family crises, and more to get this series to you! I couldn't be more grateful! This Thursday we're going to kick off with Ash, from Blush and Bling, and she's going to be talking about simplifying your wardrobe!

Then get ready for TONS of motivation for all you who made a New Year's Resolution to get healthy. Kelly over at Kelly's Fab Fitness is going to be sharing her story with us and giving us tips and tricks to make health a constant and consistent habit. 

Then, we'll close with a simplified planner post by Janette Lane! All the while I'll be talking about how I'm taking these bloggers tips and tricks and applying them to my own life. 

So excited to start this year with you! 

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram - @Aubrey.Eastway 

I'm hosting a sweepstakes where you can win TONS of planner goodies along with a few flair paper clips! See you there!

Do something to simplify yo' life this week!

Love,

Aubrey

Planning for the New Year (Pt. 2)

Hey ya'll! Welcome back to 528squarefeet, a blog dedicated to the simple life. Can you believe that it's been a year since I last posted?? Okay, that was quite a cheesy joke I just couldn't resist!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

When we last spoke, I showed you my pretty little planner Zesty! If you're visiting for the first time today, you can check that post out here, before we continue! A lot of you have been asking me what type of planner Zesty is, and I feel like such a ditz for not mentioning it!

Zesty is a Filofax Finsbury in yellow. She is a discontinued planner that I purchased from an amazing woman off the buy/sell Filofax Facebook Page. There are TONS of facebook pages that you can find where fellow planners/filofaxers can buy and sell their used planners! It's a beautiful thing...at least to me. :)

In my last post I promised to give you guys a special tour through my planner so that you can see my set up, and how I use it!

So, without further ado. Let's get to it!

I love the color of this fins! It changes depending on the light, but it's so bright and cheerful I can't help but want it within reach at all times!

This is the side view so that you can see how thick it is! It's not too chunky, but it's got some bulk to it! Oh, and sorry about my phone, you'll see it a lot since my finsbury isn't trained to lay all the way flat just yet! (PS. I love the Little Mermaid!)

I absolutely love the top of my planner! It has so many tabs and page markers giving it such an eclectic vibe. If you don't know already, I did a black, white, and yellow theme throughout the entire thing! Let's open her up!

Nothing special on the inside dashboard, I just mounted some Target DollarSpot page flags onto a homemade divider, and used a star paperclip to keep a Project Life Card on the front as well! Once again, aren't those top tabs the best? I also love the little bit of sparkle I get from my washi taped divider tabs, and my cute crystal pen! I scored that pen at Michael's for $2!!

Immediately behind my dashboard I keep a stocked page full of page flags and sticky notes! Every last one of those sticky notes were RAK'D (Random Acts of Kindness, aka, given), to me by the same awesome lady who I purchased the planner from! My next divider marks my CALENDAR section. The first thing I have in there is MsWenduhh's 2015 yearly overview calendar! The image below is a clickable link to download it yourself for FREE!

I use this basically to have a quick reference for work breaks and school vacations! 

I want to apologize for my poor lighting, however, using my phone for pictures is the best I can do at the moment! Saving up for a better camera, ya'll! Anyways, immediately behind my yearly overview I have my "month at a glance" section. These inserts are a part of the "Amazing Life" collection by DIYFish on Etsy! Here is where I quickly pencil in any appointments, special days, events, paydays, bill due dates, etc. I use these pages as a reference point to fill out my next section a week on two pages.

I would love to show you how it looks like sitting in my planner, however, once again, my lighting tonight was terrible! These inserts are from whatshewas on Etsy! They are an instant download and a printable you cut and punch yourself! I love these printables because of the graph paper on the right! I write so much neater with gridlines, and I can make more even lists on them! 

Here is an example on how I've been using these inserts! I use a project life card for to do lists, the left dated side for important happenings/reminders, and then I use the grid to jot notes, write my daily Bible Readings, decorate, draw, etc. Since this is the first week of the year, I decided to use the grid to write my New Year's Resolution. 

See I used to make New Year Resolutions every year, and I NEVER, EVER, EVER stuck to it. That is until last year when I happened on a website dedicated to "One Little Word." One little word is about New Year's Resolutions. The only difference is that instead of dedicating your year to one specific goal, you dedicate your year to one specific word. 

Last year I chose the word "Conscious", which spurred this whole simple living journey to begin with. I made it a personal goal to become more health conscious, spiritually conscious, conscious of who I am, conscious of what I using, buying, eat, drinking, etc. etc. It was a huge success! I am healthier, more in tune with God, and downsized from a 1500 square foot home to a 528 square foot home. 

So - this year I have decided to dedicate my year to the word "SIMPLE". 

I want to

• Simplify my Life even more by
• dowsizing my wardrobe
• simplifying my idea of "healthy"
• I want to begin noticing and documenting the "little things"
• I want to spend more time for me
• spiritually
• physically
• etc.

In essence I want things to be simple, more simple.

Which brings me to my BIG NEWS!

I am starting a NEW COLLABORATION with some of the most amazing women ever! I currently am working with 

Each of these ladies are so inspiring in their own way! And each are going to be guest posting here at 528squarefeet to share their experiences and expertise in "simplifying" different section's in our lives! 

I HIGHLY recommend you go check out their blogs to see the super awesome things they have going on over there! Ash, over at Blush and Bling is an up and coming fashion blogger that is going to be showing us how we can simplify our wardrobe but still maintain our style! 

Janette is a super crafty wonder woman, that is going to be discussing how we can simplify and downsize our planner obsessions.

And last but DEFINITELY not least, Kelly is going to be stopping to talk about her INCREDIBLE weight loss journey with tips and tricks on how not to over complicate the process! She's going to be simplifying our health ya'll!

I hope you're just as excited as I am about this blog series because I'm going to leave you guys with that! I hope you come visit me on Monday to see the rest of my planner and how I've been setting unique goals and check points to reach a more simplified lifestyle by next year! 

Here's to the simple life!

Love,

Aubrey