One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to fill my free time with things that are going to enlighten me, inspire me and bring me happiness.
That means indulging in books, podcasts, music and a little retail therapy!
So every month I’m going to put together my monthly picks! And of course, if you have any, please share them in the comments below! I am always looking for new recommendations to add to my list! 🙂
This is what my January looked like:
Books:
An interactive book with tons of tips and tricks from everything related to relationships and kiddos to channeling your inner purpose and how to maximize your time. It has pages for you to fill in your own answers and offers some thought provoking questions.
I would recommend this book for the ladies only–single, married, kids or not!
The author tells us right away that it’s not that she’s not happy, she just wants to see what she can do to become more happy. Every chapter is a different month which she uses to try out a new resolution and in December she attempts to do them all at once.
There are so many great insights in this book on ways to improve your overall happiness and productivity level. She creates these 12 Commandments and a list of the Secrets of Adulthood and I’ve applied so many of them to my everyday life.
I would recommend this book for anyone! It’s light, fun, and will definitely have you applying some of her concepts to your own life.
I was lucky enough to find this one in a neighborhood library box 🙂
If this is any indication on how good the book is, I finished it in 5 days! It goes over the logic of habit formation, how to create new positive habits and break bad ones. It offered useful tips for designing an environment for success and how to overcome lack of motivation.
I would recommend this book for anyone interested in wanting to change their own behaviors/habits.
Podcasts:
My church: Radiant Church Podcast
For mindset and motivation: Mindset Mentor, On Purpose with Jay Shetty and Made for More; a leadership podcast with my pastor Aaron Burke
For confidence and inspiration: She by Jordan Lee Dooley, The Rachel Hollis Podcast, and Her Rising by Kodie Talley
If your married: The Naked Marriage Podcast, Deadass with K&D
Music:
-Oh course, Sweet Cream by my ever-so-talented husband, featuring DAN.G. 🙂
BUT lucky for you by the time this blog releases, the whole album, Nomad Coffee, will be out NOW!!! and it’s amazing! (I may be a little biased but I promise, just make a cup of coffee and have a listen!) You can click HERE to get to it.
-Drivers License by Olivia Rodrigo (of course because even if you’re in a happy relationship and have had your drivers license for like 10 years, this song still hits different.)
-Anyone by Justin Bieber
…also I’m still jamming to Folklore and Evermore by Taylor Swift …just me?…
Also, my friend Layne told me about this artist Alana Springsteen the other day and I’m hooked! I’ve listened to every song she has at least 4 times! She’s got some old school Taylor Swift vibes and I’m here for it 🙂
Purchases:
Hunter Green Rain Boots:
–because A. I live in Seattle right now and it rains all the time B. because this color is me C. I love rain boots
Starbucks Been There Cup:
–I visited the first ever Starbucks so it only made sense that I get a souvenir cup to remember the day 🙂 But since I love this cup so much I’m thinking I’m going to need to collect them along our adventures to different states. Do you have something that you collect?
Flowers:
–because they make me happy. period. Get yourself some flowers and watch how your mood changes.
Greeting card box
–new blog coming soon explaining why
Books:
–because you can never have too many books and I’m a book hoarder 🙂 I picked up the three I read this month which I tagged the link so you can easily get to them and my next book Live by Sadie Robertson. I decided that I will never feel bad for spending money on books because there is so much you can take away from books and such a good way to spend any free time.
3 pack of notebooks from Opal House by Target:
–I use one for my daily journaling, one for my weekly devotional and the other as my reading journal where I write down my favorite concepts and quotes.
Let me know how you like these monthly picks or what you’d like me add to it 🙂 and drop some recommendations for me!
thanks for reading,
kea