Am I A Big Girl Now?

Its the first day of May. It may sounds a bit conceited, but I love May because it is my birthday month. I love my birthday – always have. Its is a day of celebration, presents, spending time with loved ones, and seeing a new Marvel movie (for the last seven years there has been one that opens in theaters on my birthday weekend!) This year, I am using May as a time of reflection as well.

I am turning 24. I’m not sure what it is, but this year feels like I’ve finally transitioned to adulthood. I think maybe its because I bought a fridge in cash. That feels really adult to me. I know I’m not even near knowing everything. I like to say “I’m not where I want to be, but I’m also not where I was and I’m glad I’ve made it this far.”

As I reflect on this last year, here are some things I learned:

I hate being a slave to my money.

Ugh. Money is the worst, amirite? Kidding…mostly. I did the typical “turn 18, get a credit card, rack up debt buying stupid stuff (mostly food,)” thing. When Tony and I got married, we would use our credit card under the notion that we would “pay it off next paycheck.” We didn’t. And we didn’t. And we didn’t. $5,000 later and we couldn’t.

I know $5,000 isn’t an insurmountable amount of money, but it had us by the throats. So, we buckled down. We budgeted, we sought mentor-ship and counsel, and we paid every single penny of it off in six months. Now, I’m cannot claim to be a money expert, but I am excited about the freedom that this gives us going forward –  the freedom to save for new adventures, make smart and long lasting financial decisions, have zero guilt about our spending, and give even more generously.

I won’t be content with the “promise,” until I learn to be content with the wilderness.

There’s a story in the Bible about a guy named Moses leading the nation of Israel and wandering in the wilderness for forty years. Check it out in the books of Exodus and Numbers. Basically, God delivers his people from slavery and takes them on a journey to a new home – the “Promised Land.” On the way there, they spent time in the wilderness. They whined, complained, turned from God, didn’t trust Him, and were overall just kind of angry.

I spent a season this year as a whiny, complaining Israelite. I wasn’t satisfied with where I was in my life and I made sure people knew it. In the midst of that season, I felt God say to me – “Ariel, if you can’t learn to be happy wherever I ask you to be – you will never be happy in where I’ve destined you to be.” Ouch. Talk about a Holy Spirit gut punch.

The same week that I decided to choose joy instead of self-inflicted suffering – things in my life started to shift. Incredible and new opportunities rose and I stopped wandering and started walking towards the “promise.” I’m deciding that even if my season is unfavorable, I will choose joy.

My personal growth is MY choice.

We’ve all heard that saying “you get out of it what you decide to put into it.” Well, I’m learning that for my life. I will get out of life as much as I choose to. I can choose to veg out and watch teenie-bopper TV shows (and trust me, I still do that sometimes,) or I can choose to invest time in loved ones, a good edifying book, and time outdoors! I get to choose whether to eat fast food, or plan ahead to cook a decent meal. I choose.

For the first half of this year, I chose poorly (cue the old Knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.) I binged a bunch of Netflix shows, spent frivolously, ate ice cream almost every day, and was just overall unmotivated. In January, Tony and I decided to set new goals for this year, and some five year goals as well. Since then I have read seven books, paid off our credit card debt, and lost ten pounds! I started this blog, spend time with friends and family regularly, and am more consistent in spending daily time with Jesus.

I’m not where I want to be, but I’m also not where I was and I’m glad I’ve made it this far. I choose to grow, or I am choosing to wither.

So here’s to 24 – to saving for a magnificent trip to Europe, moving towards my dreams, and choosing to grow closer to Jesus everyday.

 

 

Top 5 of my Favorite Places to Explore in the PNW

Exploring places near where I live is probably my favorite thing to do. The outdoors is therapeutic. I’m going to share with you my favorite places that I have been to. If you live in the PNW, and haven’t visited these places, you are missing out. 

All photo credit goes to my amazing fiancé, Ryan Eger.

Mt. Rainier – WA

There are so many things to see on Mt. Rainier!! Snow is my favorite, so I especially like to visit here in the winter.

This is literally a view from the car

Yes, that is a bird. There are multiple waterfalls on Mt. Rainier. Once you get to the second waterfall, all you do is put out your hand and they will land. It’s pretty spectacular. They’re so used to people doing it, that it doesn’t take long for them to come to you.

Lake Cushman – WA

Honestly, the most beautiful lake I have ever been to. Any time of the year. It’s also a great place to get engaged, but I might be biased because that’s where I was proposed to 😉

Sunrise is the best time to explore. And I am not a morning person.

In the summer, bring a swim suit because jumping off this rock is irresistible.

Cape Disappointment – WA

So many things to see in one place!!

It’s a little tough to get down here. Just bring your hiking shoes!

It is so secluded down here. Make a fire, bring a picnic and some good company. You won’t be disappointed.

Seabrook – WA

Cutest little vintage town with a beautiful beach! So beautiful, that it is actually my wedding venue.

They have the best old fashioned buildings. It’s like traveling back in time.

Columbia River Gorge – OR

It’s like a mile of different gorgeous rivers!

 

I hope this inspired you to get out and explore. So many times we get so complacent and don’t try new things. But I challenge you to get outside and find the beauty in the outdoors. There are beautiful places to see that are so close to your city, you just have to find them.

Subscription Box Review – Which Ones A Worth Your Money?

The subscription box fad looks like it might be here to stay, at least for a while longer. From beauty products to food products – you can order just about anything for a monthly subscription. Out of curiosity, I went ahead and ordered a few boxes just to try them out.

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HelloFresh – hellofresh.com

I was a little bit skeptical of this, if I’m being honest. What if I didn’t like the flavors? Would they really send me enough food for two people? How does it stay fresh? Well I have to say, I was completely floored by this box. They sent us three meals, Wasabi Lime Salmon, Pan Seared Chicken with Herbs De Provence, and Rustic Beef Ragu. All the meals were packaged in dry ice and insulated to keep them cool until we got home to open the box.

Highs:

The first two were completely amazing. I can’t stop singing their praises and we are definitely adding these recipes to our repertoire.  The third was our least favorite, but still pretty good! All of the meals take only 30-40 minutes to make and are super easy to follow. The ingredients are pieced out in exact increments, so there is less measuring to do. When HelloFresh says that it sends you “everything,” for a meal, they MEAN it. Spices, vinegars, seasoning, little tiny jars of mayo, soy sauce in a cute fish shaped container, literally everything. You only need to have salt, pepper, water, and olive oil on hand.  We seriously loved this box.

Lows:

You do need to eat the meals within the week. They are not designed to last because of the fresh produce and meats. Cost is also a factor – the box is $60.00 a week ($10 per person/per meal.) We got our first box for $20.00 – which you can too with our referral code. For $20.00 this was the most “worth it,” thing I’ve purchased in a long time. There are not any clear “lows” here; its just a matter of how you want to spend your meal budget!

Cost per week: $60.00

Value of Box: ~ 93.00*

• Wasabi Lime Salmon ~ $32.00
• Pan Seared Chicken with Herbs De Provence ~ 33.00
• Rustic Beef Ragu ~ 28.00

*Approximate value determined by if you had no items on hand and had to buy a full size of all ingredients. You could potentially make multiple batches of these recipes with store bought ingredients.

Discounts: Use our referral code: ARIEMATTA for $40.00 off your first box!

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Datebox – getdatebox.com

This is exactly what it says – its a date in a box. For those of you who know Tony and I, we have a weekly date night scheduled into our calendar. Sometimes, planning an activity together is hard. DateBox sends you a fully planned date that you can do from home. If you have kids, this would be a total win when it comes to cost!

Our box was inspired by Japan! It included a sushi making kit, complete with bamboo rolling mat, recipes, rice, and chopsticks. Also included were sheets to do origami and two sudoku puzzles.

Highs:

I loved that the box came with food and an activity – both are important for a date! It changed up our dating habits a bit and got us out of our comfort zone – big plus! Also – it was fun that the box had a theme to the night – it even had a Japanese inspired playlist for us, which was odd but super fun!

Lows:

We like to keep our date nights to about $25.00 a week, so this as a monthly expense is about $15.00 over budget. Also – the box didn’t (more like, couldn’t,) include the fish for the sushi. So that was an added $15.00 expense. If you’re a family with kids, that $25.00 is probably less than (or equal to) what you would pay a babysitter, so it might be a great option for you!

Cost per month: $39.00

Value of box: $50.00

• Sushi for 2 – $30
• Origami Kit – $10.00
• Sushi prep materials – $10.00

Discounts: Use our referral code: d8P6x for $10.00 off your first box!

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BarkBox – barkbox.com

This subscription is for your pupper! We love our dog and love to spoil him with toys and treats. This box comes monthly and includes two toys, treats, and a bone. This month’s theme was New York City. He got the cutest statue of liberty ball and a pretzel chew toy. It was actually super cute to watch him try to decide which toy he liked best!

Highs:

This box is customized to your dog. Ours has a wheat allergy, so we were able to get treats to accommodate that. They also have toys and bones for strong chewers, and different toys depending on the size of your dog. Samson was a big fan and took everything out of the box on his own!

Lows: 

We just don’t need that many toys for our dog at this point. He has a whole bin full and its sort of a mess. There are no real “lows,” to this box if you are wanting to lump a few of your puppy costs together instead of buying things as needed!

Cost per month: $30.00

Value of Box: $41.00

• Lady Liberty Ball: $12.00
• Pretzel Rope Toy: $12.00
• Treats: $13.00
• Deer Chew: $4.00

Discounts: Sign up for their mailing list – they send out promo codes for $1.00 and $5.00 boxes for first timers!

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fabfitfun – fabfitfun.com

My Experience on the Atkins Diet

Since my wedding is coming up fast, I needed a fast acting diet. So American of me wanting a NOW fix, right?

My mom had always done the Atkins diet when I was growing up and it worked quickly! So I decided to try it.

**Don’t do this diet if you are not planning on making a lifestyle change.

In the past, I pretty much lived off of only pasta. I am definitely trying to make a lifestyle change because I want to be healthier, and stay at a good weight. If you do this diet, and go back to old eating habits, you will gain the weight right back.

How does it work?

You can have up to 25 carbs per day. Since your body is used to burning off carbs, when you cut them out, your body will start to burn fat instead. This makes you lose around 1/2lb – 1lb a day.

**Sugar Alcohols do not count as carbs. For example, if something you are about to eat/buy has 12 carbs, but 10 sugar alcohols, you are going to subtract them from the carbs. So now you’re eating something with only 2 carbs.

Now, this is not the most healthy diet, nor is it a diet that you want to stay on for a long period of time. But it does work!

What food can I have?

Fruits & Veggies- 

Surprisingly, most fruits and some veggies have carbs. So cutting out most of them is best. Personally, I cut out all fruit except for half an apple a day and watermelon -since it’s basically just water. With veggies, the general rule is if it’s not green, it’s high in carbs (carrots, corn, etc.) So try to stay away from the high carb fruits and veggies even though they’re good for you.

Meats-

Eat all the meat you want!! Eggs, beef, chicken, fish. All of it. This helps a lot with the feeling of being hungry all the time. Without carbs, your body feels hungry. Protein helps with that!

Cheese-

Yep, eat it! All you want.

Atkins bars-

You can find them at most grocery stores. They are labeled “Atkins” so they’re hard to miss. I usually eat one for breakfast or just as a snack.

Always check the nutrition facts. If it is high in carbs, then it’s a no-no. Eat your carbs wisely because you have to go throughout the whole day.

Cheating without actually cheating

I have found a few loopholes that have helped me immensely! Some have very few carbs, but again, it’s choosing your carbs wisely!

Low carb tortillas–

You can buy these at almost any grocery store. It is 6 carbs for one tortilla. I use them for tacos, quesadillas, and even pizza (you can have a small amount of tomato sauce, just read the back of the jar)

Sugar-free sweets

We all get a sweet tooth every now and then. These definitely help! Don’t eat a lot of them in a day, or you’ll get sick from the sugar substitutes. My favorite are the sugar free fudgsicles!

Crystal Light-

It has no sugar! I use this in a couple ways;

-Normal lemonade, of course.

-Sparkling water, with crystal light and a little bit of lime is a great substitute if you enjoy carbonated drinks!

-Popsicles! Get a popsicle mold, make the crystal light like normal, and freeze it. Super easy and super yummy.

 

It’s a pretty simple diet when you get the hang of it. Figuring out what you can/cannot have is hard at first, but you will catch on fast. Just make sure to always read the nutrition facts.

In 2 weeks of doing this diet (with one cheat day on a holiday) I have lost 11lbs. So worth it! Give it a try if you’re wanting to lose weight fast.

Drowning in Cake Batter – Mini Individual Sized Naked Cakes

This June, we are heading to La Paz, Mexico for a missions trip. We will be serving alongside of a church there and loving on the community. With great missions opportunity comes much fundraising responsibility! So, for our annual Easter egg hunt at Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm in Snohomish, WA, I helped host a bake sale. Baking is not my strongest suit. I can hold my own in a kitchen, for sure, but the science to baking has sometimes bit me in the behind.

I decided to opt in for something easy, yet cute and fun to sell – Mini Individual Naked Cakes!

Frosting on cake, for me, is often a downfall. There’s too much of it to eat, and it’s really hard to get the sides to look pretty and even. But with naked cakes, I only had to frost the middle! Yay!

Ten boxes of cake mix and eight cans of frosting later – I capped the event off selling 32 naked cakes alongside, DOZENS (if not over a hundred) other baked goods. With the entire event hosting around 4,000 people – we sold out of every last treat!

Check out some pictures from the event and the details on how to duplicate these super easy naked cakes!

 

Excuse the mess – but making 10+ cakes in four hours DESTROYED my kitchen! I started off with boxed cake mix. When baking for a fundraiser you want to keep your cost low, so that profit is high! This box mix only needed eggs and veggie oil and cost $1.00 per box. Each box of cake makes approximately three mini naked cakes.

Tricks of the trade when baking these: don’t fill the pan like you would with a normal cake. You want thinner layers, not super thick. It will cook faster, cut easier, and stack better. I learned this towards the end of the process and it would have saved me a lot of hassle had I figured it out sooner.

After you’ve baked your cakes and let them cool a bit, use a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to get these mini round layers.

I was going for consistency in height, which means that some cakes got three layers, and others got two, depending on the thickness of the cake pieces. I piped the frosting in the middle layer instead of spreading it –  this is MUCH easier! An easy frosting “piping” trick is to use a plastic sandwich bag and cut off a small piece of the bottom corner. This allows you to fill it with frosting and have a small tip for frosting the cake.

TADA! All the layers are done – time to let them refrigerate overnight. This helped the frosting to set so that the cakes were stable when decorating the tops!

I did four different flavors of cake and three different frosting flavor combos. These ones were my “party” cakes! Funfetti cake, vanilla frosting, sprinkles and a topper for decoration!

I used the “Funfetti” cake as a bit of inspiration for the bake sale theme! Bright whites with pops of color made this confetti theme a success. Presentation matters – when people walk by they notice how something looks and hit will help you sell better.

I designed the banners and signs to go with the theme courtesy of a confetti graphic by freepik.com. You can snag these to use for your event too:

BAKE*SALE Banner (print each letter and cut!)

BAKE*SALE Banner (2nd option, print each pennant and cut!)

Bake Sale Sign 11×14

I am entirely obsessed with these confetti balloons! Great at attention drawing and super fun to play with. We snagged these from Target for about $6.00 a piece.

Here’s the finished product of two more flavors of cake! Vanilla with peony toppers and chocolate with confetti colored hydrangeas!

 

It wouldn’t be a bake sale without incredible volunteers! Our students are raising money to head out on this missions trip and they’re doing it with joy and hardworking attitudes! Can’t wait to head to Mexico with all of you! 

 

xoxo -A