If you often find yourself letting out a deep agonizing sigh over the cost of your auto insurance, you’re not alone.

There’s a reason why reading is among the first things we’re taught to do. Whether you’re an avid reader or an infrequent reader, there’s no denying that books have the power to teach us new skills, change our perspective, and completely transform our lives. A good book can help you master your finances, start a business, find or maintain healthy relationships, improve your health, and achieve your goals. If you’re looking to change your life in 2023,

About Basic Invite:
Basic Invite is a stationery website that allows customers to create customized stationery invitations for any special occasion. On the website, customers can choose from many designs and over 180 colors to achieve that extra personalized look they’re going for. This unique invitation company has a card for every major life moment including weddings, showers, birth announcements, first birthdays, graduations, holidays, and more. Whether you’re wanting to create cool Christmas cards featuring your newest and cutest four-legged family member or holiday cards with candid family photos,

About The Weekly Gratitude Project
Publisher: Zondervan; Illustrated edition (November 10, 2020)
Hardcover: 144 pages
It’s time to start a project that will grow a grateful heart. The Weekly Gratitude Project is a 52-week guided gratitude journal that offers a life-changing journey through reflection prompts and inviting questions to guide you into a deeper relationship with God. This yearly gratitude journal features beautifully illustrated journaling pages that will help you discover more intimacy and joy in your spiritual life.

About The Tiny Book of Big Manifesting:
You create every waking minute of every day—in fact, every second. Even more specifically, with every word you utter, you create. Once you realize and internalize this fact you will be on the path to fulfillment. The Tiny Book of Big Manifesting is for anyone looking to create the life they want. It provides easy-to-understand manifestation techniques, along with a Code of Life by which to live.

Photo by Ann Danilina on Unsplash
This is a sponsored blog post, but as always, the opinions expressed below are my own.
Insomnia is bad enough on its own but when you throw anxiety into the mix, it’s really difficult to get a good night’s sleep. If anxiety is the source of your insomnia, it’s always a good idea to treat the problem before it occurs rather than as it’s occurring.

Photo by Rinck Content Studio on Unsplash
To anyone who exists in today’s world, it’s pretty obvious that technology has changed the way we communicate. Email, text, and social networking sites have quickly become a few of our main methods of communication, but they shouldn’t be our only way to communicate. While it’s great that we have many effortless ways to communicate, we shouldn’t forget the value of sending and receiving handwritten notes.

About Who Are You Following? Pursuing Jesus in a Social Media Obsessed World
Author: Sadie Robertson Huff
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (February 1, 2022)
Hardcover: 224 pages
If influencers have power over us, who are you allowing to influence you?
In an online world obsessed with follows and likes, it’s important to consider what you’re really searching for. When you follow someone, it’s typically because you want to be like them or live like they do.

About Undistracted:
Through his pithy and inspiring storytelling that has endeared him to millions, New York Times bestselling author Bob Goff reassures readers that they can harness today’s distractions, follow Jesus’ example, and find focus, purpose, and joy.
You probably know what it’s like to be driving down the road when you suddenly feel the vibration and hear the guh-guh-guh–guh-guh of the rumble strips–those groves in the pavement–warning you that you’ve drifted out of your lane.

I’m not a doctor nor do I play one on TV, but I do sometimes play one on Google. And due to recent events, I feel like my Ph.D. in Googling just changed and possibly saved my life.
In honor of rare disease day, I’m finally sharing my story of something I’ve been going through for over a year now. I’ve never been someone who likes sharing what they’re going through while they’re going through it.

About Fierce Love: Creating a Love that Lasts–One Conversation at a time
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (January 11, 2022)
Hardcover: 240 pages
Often in our romantic relationships, we long for deep connection, but we don’t know how to communicate well and sometimes withhold what we’re really thinking and feeling. This can lead to fighting, resentment, or, worse, complacency–where you are just going through the motions, more like roommates than two people in love.

About Getting Good with Money: Pay Off Your Debt and Find a Life of Freedom—Without Losing Your Mind
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (January 18, 2022)
Paperback: 224 pages
Certified financial coach and mom Jessi Fearon leads the way for overwhelmed readers struggling to get a handle on their finances and lays out the doable steps her family underwent to pay off all their debts–even their mortgage!–and pursue their dreams,

About Euphoric: Ditch Alcohol and Gain a Happier, More Confident You
Publisher: Harper Horizon
Hardcover: 272 pages
Euphoric is your eight-week plan for an alcohol-free lifestyle that can lead to more happiness, well-being, and self-love. It’s the modern woman’s guide to relax without alcohol, find freedom from cravings and fitting in, and create the life you want – along with the audacity to go after it.

About The Flirtation Experiment: Putting Magic, Mystery, and Spark Into Your Everyday Marriage
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (December 7, 2021)
Hardcover: 224 pages
From popular Christian voices Lisa Jacobson and Phylicia Masonheimer, The Flirtation Experiment inspires you to strengthen your marriage with a fun, unexpected approach that leads to the depth, richness, and closeness you desire.
Romance novels, Hallmark movies . . . the immense demand for romantic stories reveals a deep,

The Genome Odyssey
If you’re a Grey’s Anatomy fan, The Genome Odyssey takes you on the real-life adventure of solving medical mysteries. In his new book, Dr. Euan Ashley, Stanford professor of medicine and genetics, shares his journey of diagnosing rare and unusual medical conditions through the use of genetic sequencing.
In The Genome Odyssey, readers are taken into the world of medicine and introduced to one of medical science’s newest innovations: the genome.

On Adulting by Katina Mountanos is an encouraging, inspirational, and enlightening book that deals with the real struggles within adulthood. For most of us, adulthood isn’t anything like we thought it would be. But, just because our current adult lives aren’t meeting our expectations, that doesn’t mean that they never will.
Creating Your Dream Life
In On Adulting, it’s Katina’s mission to help us live the life we always dreamed of.

The Dilemma is the second poetry book by Danielle Holian. This collection of poetry discusses three different stages of relationships; loving, breaking, and healing. In The Loving chapter, Danielle’s poems are optimistic, passionate, and romantic as she shares her inner thoughts of the man she adores. However, there’s a change of tone in the second chapter. In The Breaking, Danielle’s poems reflect her realization that the love she was giving wasn’t being returned.

About Dream Big
From New York Times bestselling author Bob Goff, the creator of the popular Dream Big conferences, a wildly inspiring yet utterly practical blueprint for helping readers find and reach their biggest dreams.
Bob Goff is on a mission to shake people into the version of their lives they dreamt about before someone told them it was impossible or incorrect. He wants people to reconnect with the seat of their passion and their person.

Join us for this tour from Jun 8 to Jun 26, 2020!
Book Details:
Book Title: Signs in the Rearview Mirror: Leaving a Toxic Relationship Behind by Kelly Smith
Category: Adult Non-Fiction, 214 pages
Genre: Self-Help, Memoir
Publisher: Sunny Day Publishing
Release date: April 2018
Content Rating:
PG + M. This non-fiction self-help book has very mild if any swearing.

This post is brought to you by my sponsor, “Always Eat After 7 PM”. As always, the opinions expressed below are my own.
Week Four Update
It’s week four of following Joel Marion’s Always Eat After 7 PM: The Revolutionary Rule-Breaking Diet That Lets You Enjoy Huge Dinners, Desserts, and Indulgent Snacks—While Burning Fat Overnight! If you’ve been with me since the beginning,

This post is brought to you by my sponsor, “Always Eat After 7 PM”. As always, the opinions expressed below are my own.
For the past few weeks I’ve been altering my diet and changing my lifestyle habits with help from Always Eat After 7 PM: The Revolutionary Rule-Breaking Diet That Lets You Enjoy Huge Dinners, Desserts, and Indulgent Snacks—While Burning Fat Overnight by Joel Marion.
As I’ve discussed in my first post,
Explore how to live a life of joy and fullness, especially in the midst of disappointment and broken dreams.
How do you live a full life? Perhaps the better question is, how do you really live when life throws you sucker punches, when you face obstacles that seem to snuff out your faith, when you lose something or someone precious to you? In The Fight to Flourish,

About The Opposite of Certainty:
What happens when we can no longer pretend that the ground underfoot is bedrock and the sky above predictable?
All Janine Urbaniak Reid ever wanted was for everyone she loved to be okay so she might relax and maybe be happy. Her life strategy was simple: do everything right. This included trying to be the perfect mother to her three kids so they would never experience the kind of pain she pretended not to feel growing up.

Keep Moving by Maggie Smith is a book full of quotes, essays, and affirmations. In Keep Moving, Maggie touches on many topics such as healing, creativity, acceptance, and starting anew. Taken from her personal experiences, she shares profound wisdom about divorce, change, loss, and life’s curveballs. Maggie’s words are words that you want to carry around with you, reminding you to live, forgive, and accept change.
Many of her passages I want to write on post-it notes and put them on my wall,

About Frances Mayes Always Italy
• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic (March 31, 2020)
The world’s favorite expert on la dolce vita (Under the Tuscan Sun author) guides readers through Italy’s iconic regions, replete with lavish National Geographic images.
This lush guide, featuring more than 350 glorious photographs from National Geographic, showcases the best Italy has to offer from the perspective of two women who have spent their lives reveling in its unique joys.

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic (March 3, 2020)
Buckle up for the road trip of a lifetime: 100 epic journeys through all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces offering thousands of sites and roadside attractions along the way. A sequel to the best-selling 50 States, 5,000 Ideas.
From a vineyard route through Northwest wine country to a winter wonderland on Alberta’s Icefields Parkway,

About Complete National Parks of Europe
• Paperback: 536 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic (February 25, 2020)
Discover European wilderness–from Croatia’s coastline to Scotland’s highlands–in this comprehensive guide to pristine parks and wild spaces, full of photos, maps, and tips.
In these rich and informative pages, the travel pros at National Geographic bring you the premier guide to 460 national parks of Europe. Find your way to Snowdonia in Wales,

“Who listens to you?” NYT contributor Kate Murphy asked people on five continents this question and the typical response was a long pause. In her new book, You’re Not Listening, Kate shares her two years of research and insight related to listening.
While you may think listening is a straightforward subject, Kate Murphy approaches it from every possible angle. Her book is full of knowledge on why we have the tendency to tune others out and how that’s affecting us on an individual and societal level.

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (February 25, 2020)
“An important reminder of simple everyday practices to improve how we all work together, which will lead to greater team and individual happiness and performance. Great results will follow.”—Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square
“With just 30 changes, you can transform your work experience from bland and boring (or worse) to fulfilling,

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor nor do I play one on tv. Any health advice here is merely a suggestion. You should always consult your doctor before making any major changes to your diet or fitness routine.
With the new year fully in motion, new health trends are circulating everywhere. There’s no better time to shake up your routine than in a new decade, but not all trends are worth following.

1) Thank you for taking the time to do an interview with me. As someone who struggles with anxiety myself, I’m very interested in learning about your book. How does your approach to anxiety in Deconstructing Anxiety differ from other approaches to anxiety?
Love this question because it lets me summarize my own life story in a nutshell. As a young adolescent, I began asking all the usual,

About Groomed
Someone in your past sold you a false story about who you are and what you’re worth. It has been holding you back for too long. Take control of your future.
A staggering one out of three women in America was a victim of sexual abuse at some point in her childhood. No matter how many years it’s been, if that’s your story, those scars are probably still with you.

Book Details:
Book Title: The Permanent Weight Loss Plan: A 10-Step Approach To Ending Yo-Yo Dieting by Dr. Janice Asher; Jae Rivera
Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 308 pages
Genre: How-To
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Release date: January 2020
Tour dates: January 7 to February 3, 2020
Content Rating: PG
Book Description:
Diets come and go, and the scale needle swings as you drop pounds and then
gain them back.
Read More »

Now that most people have a smartphone with a camera, they often rely on friends or relatives to take photos for them at an event. Or, they may even do it for free for themselves. Amateur smartphone photography is likely one of the main contributors to the decline in the photography industry. However, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports that its prediction of a 6 percent decline from 2018 to 2028 is at least partially due to companies deciding to contract with freelancers rather than hire their own.

Beautifully Chaotic is the debut poetry book by writer Danielle Holian. The collection is divided into four segments: Destruction, Purpose, Mourning, and Healing. Each section moves the reader through the painful yet important process of healing from heartache and trauma. These poems are full of raw emotion and powerfully discuss sensitive topics such as r*pe, and physical and emotional abuse, so read at your own discretion.

•Hardcover: 240 pages
•Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (July 16, 2019)
The “mesmerizing . . . daring and important”* story of a risk-taking girlhood spent in a working-class prison town —Andre Dubus III
For Maureen Stanton’s proper Catholic mother, the town’s maximum-security prison was a way to keep her seven children in line (“If you don’t behave, I’ll put you in Walpole Prison!”).

As a society, we like teasing men when they have a cold. I’m not going to lie, I’ve been one to poke fun at men and their “man colds“. But, due to unfortunate circumstances, I now see things in a new light.
It’s no secret that when men are sick, they are far less likely to go to the doctor than women. In fact, 60% of men avoid doctor visits.

Lang Leav is back at healing our hearts and enlightening our souls through the power of her poetry. Her latest and sixth poetry book, Love Looks Pretty on You is full of poems that both your mind and heart need to hear.
Lang’s new poetry collection focuses on all things love; self-love, as well as the beauty, blindness, complexity, and acceptance of love. Love Looks Pretty on You contains 224 pages of poems.

The mid-twenties to early-thirties is a confusing time. Some of us may be looking for homes in Indianapolis, while the rest of us don’t exactly know what we’re looking for. If you fall into the latter category, you may be suffering from a quarter-life crisis.
I’m possibly the least qualified person ever to give advice on quarter-life crises seeing as I’ve been going through one for the last year or so.

Note: I am not a psychiatrist nor do I play one on t.v. so please remember that my advice is just advice and should be followed at your discretion. If your feelings of sadness go beyond just a funk and at all resemble depression, please seek out professional help.
No one is happy 100% of the time. And really, it’s delusional to expect yourself to be because sometimes life just SUCKS.

While your first instinct after being ghosted is to blow up Casper’s phone demanding answers, it’s healthier and wiser to take the high road and cut your losses.

The Nick Box is a quarterly subscription service full of all things Nick nostalgia. Whether it be a plush of your favorite 90’s Nick character, apparel that allows you to cosplay them, or coasters in the shape of Rugrats, The Nick Box is full of fun, nostalgic, and sometimes useful items.
The Nick Box first debuted in the summer of 2016 and has created four fun-filled boxes since.

When most people think of Chippendales, they think of attractive men mindlessly dancing around wearing nothing more than briefs and a collar bow tie. But, the Chippendales experience is sooo much more than that! After attending a Chippendales show in Indianapolis earlier this month, I have newfound respect and admiration for the Chippendales men. Don’t get me wrong, I love eye candy just as much as the next girl, but the men who make up Chippendales have a lot more to offer than a pretty face and perfectly sculpted abs.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only recommend products I personally use and love, or think my readers will find useful.
Hello and welcome back to my thoughts!
Today, I have a new makeup review to share with you brought to you by Covergirl! As a CoverGirl Insider member, I was given the opportunity to try CoverGirl’s newest product,

If someone told you that you could make extra money online, what are the chances you would believe them? Naturally, you would probably be a bit skeptical and/or fearful that you would fall into a scheme. And while there are many schemes out there that you should be wary of, there are also some easy and safe ways to earn money online. Unlike most schemes, none of these methods I’m about to reveal to you require your credit card number or other super confidential information.

If you’re the type of person who loves The Walking Dead and/or would celebrate Halloween year-round, Zombie Burger + Drink Lab is your kind of food joint! Although I’ve visited Zombie Burger once before, I recently made another visit that reminded me why I love this restaurant so much!
Other than the food, one of the best things about Zombie Burger +Drink Lab is the ambiance. When you arrive at the restaurant in Des Moines,

Once, I shamelessly sent a text to a guy that said, “Show me your soul instead of your selfies.”
As expected, he quickly replied with a confused “Lol…what?!”
Although my text might have been worded strangely, or maybe was just plain weird, my underlying message still stands. I wanted to see more of him, but what I wanted to see had nothing to do with his looks.
I wanted to know his biggest secrets,
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