guest blogger: alexis laughs

hello my dears.

i have yet another LOVELY guest blogger today.

meet Alexis.

before i get too far into her guest post, i think you should know that this girl is hilarious, gorgeous, smart, funny, talented, a health nut (in a good way), and inspirational.

i have followed her blog for about a year now, and what can i say, she's an inspiration.

see for yourself...take it away Alexis!

Hey you guyyyyyyyssss! Goonies anyone? My name is Alexis. It would be impossible to introduce myself without telling you a few things first. One: I'm married to this handsome hunk of man.

Also, I'm a nutrition student at ASU. I love food and my best talent is eating. I like to shake my bon bon. I like dogs, babies, and anything that's yellow. I think life is really funny. My blog posts range from side splitting hilarity (to me at least) to heartfelt posts about things like body image, anxiety, and this beautiful messy thing called life. 

But today...since I'm new... I'm going to try to be on my best behavior. No bathroom humor or talk about embarrassing stories like that time I got my arm stuck in the water vending machine.

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Remember how recently you made a laundry list of New Year's resolutions that you've most likely forgotten about by now? I'm going to help you put those goals into action and, possibly most importantly, remember them.

Tip 1: Make reasonable goals. Actually think about how much time each thing is going to take and if it's doable. It cracks me up when I see goals like Walk the dog every day, workout for two hours every day, make a new recipe every day...and I add up the hours and wonder where all the time is going to come from. You going to quit school? You job? Replace sleep with IVs of caffine? nuh uh sista! Find goals that work with your schedule. These resolutions are meant to improve your quality of life, not flush it down the crapper. [shoot, does that count as bathroom humor?]

Tip 2: Reminders, reminders, reminders! Set alarms on your phone, write days on your calendar you're going to work on it, Write it in your planner, use sticky notes, etc. Tailor the reminders to the goal. If your goal is to watch less TV, cover the TV in garbage bag or hide the remote or post a reminder above the TV so that at least you have to think twice. If you want to eat more fruits and veggies, first BUY them, and remember what's in the fridge. Find recipes to use them before you buy them. Make it so you see them! Leave yourself notes of encouragement! It's allowed, I promise.

Tip 3: The more you stick with goals, the easier it becomes. The sense of pride and satisfaction you feel after accomplishing something fuels you into accomplishing the next goal. And it's okay to reward small progress too! If you want to lose 40 pounds, reward yourself with a new shirt after 10, a new movie after 15. Whenever you get the feeling you want to just give up, tell yourself outloud "I can do this!" I tell myself multiple times a day. It works. It also makes strangers think you're looney but that's beside the point.

If that doesn't work, tell yourself this.

Character is the discipline to follow through with goals long after the spirit in which they were made has passed.

That helps me. I want to have character.

Good luck with all those goals gals and possibly a few guys!

Thanks for having me Ashley! And readers, I'd love for you to come visit me sometime!