The Musings of A Wandriously Flawed Introvert

Have you all ever read The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman? If you haven't, you should and if you are single, you should read The Five Love Languages for Singles. Anyway, my primary love languages are quality time and words of affirmation. About a month ago, two very important people in my life told me "You are good people, Jess." And immediately my love bucket was filled up. Because I, like a lot of us, often times think that I am a failure at life, friendships, job, etc. And if you are anything like me, I typically only hear feedback from the parts of life I am not doing well in and very seldom hear about the things I am doing well. Even friends are quick to point out the flaws but not acknowledge the good things. So when someone dares utter "I miss you. I'm excited to see (or hang out) with you. I enjoyed spending time with you. You've had a good heart change. I'm proud of you. I appreciate you. You are a good friend. I'm glad we're frie...

A few weeks ago, I was talking with my childhood friend and she asked me what I love about myself. At the time, I couldn't answer her. That's a tough question to answer. As the weekend came up, I did my normal grocery shopping trip and made some food for the week. You know what I noticed? I absolutely love grocery shopping, cooking and having good food in my refrigerator to eat. That is one of those things I love about myself and I love taking care of other people through feeding them. Want to know what I made? Well of course you do! 1) Paleo Sausage Gravy I actually made this recipe two weeks in row. The first week, I poured it over white potatoes. This week, I poured it over scrambled eggs. Either way is absolutely delicious! I also suggested doubling the recipe if you want to last for more than two meals. 2) Spicy Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry YUM! And so healthy. I would double it next time so I can freeze half of it! 3) Paleo Shepherd's Pie Very good. I would have n...

A few weeks ago, I wrote about not having internet . When I told a friend about this, she suggested we log out of Facebook for the month of June and spend more time being intentional in our lives. Needing to change some habits, I was in as my mental state needed a break from constant connection. Admittedly, I didn't know if I could do it. However, as the days passed, the easier it became to stay off and my mental state became better too. Here's why: 1) Comparison When scrolling through the highlight reels of my newsfeed, I always compared my life to the highlight reels of everyone else's lives. They have better, more fun jobs. They have so many more friends. They always did such fun things. They took better, more frequent vacations. They were never lonely and bored. They have more money to do fun things. You know what though?! We absolutely cannot compare our lives to others, especially with what we see on Facebook or Instagram. Everyone struggles with something. No o...

Welcome to the new 1st Monday of the month blog series where I discuss money from the previous month. I'll talk about good purchases, regrettable purchases, how much I was able to pay down in debt (if any) and other money talk. Join me on the ride! June was a slightly expensive month and I knew it would be so I put money away. I moved in June and spent $100 on that. I also did not own several important things needed for living so I had to purchase those (about $100). My close friend came into town and helped me decorate (she is so good at it. Definitely could be an interior designer). I absolutely love the way she took my decor and needed to buy some things (about $250). I was also asked to go to Chicago the first weekend in October and the thought of spending money stressed me out. I knew I was going to choose to go, just wasn't yet ready to pay for it. That's when I remembered my Delta SkyMiles ! I absolutely love Delta. My favorite airline and I got a huge mileage bo...