I am in Love with Mark Zuckerberg!

Just look at that cute face!!! What's NOT to love? And the fact that he has a little money doesn't hurt either. So of course I'm in love with the guy! Ok, before you go teasing my sweet, handsome hubby, let me set the record straight and stop kidding around.

Yes, I do love Mark Zuckerberg...... for starting facebook. There, my secret's out. While I am definitely a people person, I'm not one to be all over every social activity there is. I've never even laid eyes on a single page of MySpace, I barely know how to tweet, I haven't started on Google Plus or LinkedIn yet, I don't read the gossip magazines or participate in live gossip, but oh do I love facebook!

Facebook has been around for quite a while. I'm not even sure when it launched. To me, it was just another one of those socializing sites that I felt too "old" for and couldn't care less about..... until about 2 years ago. I actually joined facebook for business purposes. I was told it was the fastest way to get the word out about businesses and totally free. So I signed up. I worked my business page but rarely did anything on my personal page. But, it kind of grew on me! I liked being able to chat with long lost friends! It's not like I get to see these people every day so it became very fun. Not to mention all of the great photos and funnies you get to see posted minute by minute if you choose to stay plugged in for any length of time.

But it wasn't until recently that it really hit me just how much I really am in love with facebook (and Mark)! It's because of the Southern Belle Magazine page. It brings me such great joy to share fun stuff with others who I get to call friends although I've never even met over 8500 of them! These friends leave comments that are complimenting, funny and even a few that make you go hmmm. Yes, I do get those mean comments but my man Mark even took care of that with the lovely little delete button! What's even more amazing is that So.Belle has fans/friends from not only all over the US but from other countries, such as Japan, the UK, New Zealand, Israel, Canada and Australia! It's truly humbling and such a treat to post something at 2 a.m. in the morning here in Alabama and to have a comment from someone who is halfway thru their day in another part of the world.

So, thank you cute Mark for your gift to the world. May we all use it wisely. After all, what would our world be like without friends, even the facebook kind.

Finding Family Time in a Overcrowded Schedule

As with most every aspect of my life, my work schedule is also on a constant roller coaster. I stay extremely busy, then get a bit frustrated or just plain ol' burnt out and take some time off, only to fall behind again and back to extremely busy. And when I say extremely busy, I mean sleeping only 4-5 hours per night for weeks and work filling the remaining 19-20 hours of the day. If I listed it all here, you'd probably have to take a Xanax yourself just from the pure anxiety of reading all about it. But, I bring it on myself, so to speak. Well, the getting behind part anyway. If I'd work non-stop continuously then maybe I'd stay in a maintenance mode instead of a catch up mode. Let me tell you, running an entire magazine along with a couple of other projects by yourself is just simply overwhelming most days, but I know it will all be worth it one day. And that day can't come soon enough!!!

So, how do I find the time to spend with my family? There is no time left to "find", I simply do it. After a week of hardly any sleep, I'll crash and sleep in on a Saturday morning (that's just for me.) But I do make sure I'm up in time to catch The Pioneer Woman's episode. LOVE HER! If there's nothing on TV at night to half pay attention to while I work, then hubs and I will turn on a movie and I'll put the computer down for that 2 hours. I occasionally stretch my legs by taking the dog out or doing a load of laundry or dishes. While cleaning the kitchen is usually when one my girls will walk in and chat for a few. My son comes home from college a couple of times per month, so usually I'm watching movies with him late at night while he's here (computer on my lap but still paying attention to him and the movie).

Occasionally, I get out and about with one or all of them. We may go out to eat dinner, hubs & I may go grocery shopping together, the occasional girls day of shopping, or I'll take 1 or 2 kids to a movie (love me some movie theater popcorn!). This past weekend, slammed with work and health not holding up so well, I managed to squeeze in a Friday night trip to college town to watch baby boy play a little flag football (his first  game of football he's played since high school). Loved it! Miss his sports days. Saturday was all day college football on TV with the girls in & out and my sister even stopped by. Sunday was a movie with my oldest girl, then Kardashians with the youngest. So yes, I am STILL up at 5 a.m. as I write this, trying to get some work caught up. If I don't pull some all nighters, I'm never going to get caught up. ~sigh~

Please make sure you "find time" for your family! They need it and so do you!

Let's Team Up!

HELP!!! I need help! YOU may need help! So let's team up! Anyone wanting or trying to lose weight? For me, it's a never-ending battle. It's ALWAYS on my to do list, always on my mind and always a failed attempt. If you're like me, we find some new "diet" or "program" that we get excited about and actually do well on... for a while. We even lose a little bit of weight too! But, in the end, I give up, make excuses and revert back to old ways.

I am TIRED OF IT! I am ready for a massive weight loss along with a complete lifestyle change that will last the rest of my life. Forest is right.... fat people have a higher risk of dying younger than those more fit. I don't know about you, but I don't want blubber to be what does me in.  So here's what I've concluded. I will continue to research all of the various plans, diets, programs, tips, etc. that are out there and try to combine things from lots of different programs to make it more realistic and easy for those of us who are emotional eaters or just love food! I'll be posting those tips & ideas for you soon.

In the meantime, will you join Team Holleywood? I need some accountability partners! I need some cheerleaders and a team of people who can help each other on this journey. I want us to be brutally honest about our weight and our eating habits. I know I will do better if I know that on a certain day every week that I will have to post my weight and admit to any cheating.  I need a group of friends who have my back (side) and will tell me like it is in order to get rid of the weight for good.

Are you willing to join this challenge with me?  If yes, you have to also be willing to post your exact weight and be completely honest on your progress each week. It's time to "get real" ladies. So are you up for the challenge?

Once we get a team going, I will start a group on facebook for easier tracking and commenting. But in the meantime,  post your comments below or email me at: holley4jody@aol.com to let me know you're joining my team! We can SO DO THIS TOGETHER!!!

Look on the Bright Side

Do you tend to focus on all of the things that went wrong during the day? The bad instead of the good? I think we all do that most days. Even if we try to maintain a happy, positive attitude, the things that go wrong simply dominate our thoughts on most days. With all of the heavy thinking and decision making I've been doing over the past few weeks, I decided that I would purposely point out to myself at least 3 things each day that went RIGHT! I have a lot on my plate and remaining focused and not letting the little stuff get me down is of utmost importance.

My 3 good things for today:
1) I was able to mark a few things off my to do list!
2) One of my favorite movies came on TV- Julie & Julia
3) I received several great emails for So.Belle mag that I am excited about!

There you have it! And you know, it's true- when you focus on the good things, the bad stuff isn't so easy to recall.  What 3 things went right for YOU today?

Guess I'm NOT Superwoman

I've been away from my blog for so long!!! Feels good to be back and hopefully I can get back into a routine with it! The past few months have been craaazy busy as usual with all of my ideas spewing from my brain. I think at one point I counted 19 little projects that I was either already involved with or had on my infamous "to-do" list. Yes, I know..... a bit ridiculous. SO, needless to say, it got a bit too much.... even for me- Superwoman. 

I guess I feel like I am SUPPOSED to be superwoman. Take care of the house, cook meals, run errands and still do my own "job(s)". Sound familiar all my super hero ladies? A lot of people THINK I'm superwoman because I am constantly juggling several things at once. I'm often told "I don't know how you do it all". Well, the honest answer is, I don't, not any of it very well anyway. Over the past few weeks, I've grown a bit tired of being so busy, especially with not a whole lot of progress actually being accomplished. So I've been trying to hone in on what I really want to do, what projects I really want to pursue and how to better balance my work time with my family time. 

Prayerfully seeking answers, the first thing was to narrow that list of 19 down to about 7-9, which is huge for me! This past week, that number had been whittled down to 5 1/2. And just today, I threw in the towel and finally admitted to myself that I am NOT Superwoman. Super powers are reserved for those way younger than me. At 42, it's time to just "be".  So now my real number of "jobs or projects" is at 3 1/2. Think that's about as low as I can get it. 

But let's keep this in perspective here. Those 3 1/2 consist of my blog and lots of new projects about to launch on this blog, my new job of being a Paparazzi $5 Jewelry consultant and my magazine work, which is a full-time job itself. Southern Belle Magazine has SO many new things going on and it's growing so fast I can hardly keep up. 

I realized today that if only I had listened to my hubby more along the "idea journey" that I wouldn't have made so many mistakes. There's a reason God put this dreamer with a realist. And as hard as it is to admit, hubby has been right about most things. 

Overall, as it always has been, it is my innermost dream to inspire women and be a friend to any who need one, so this blog will be my public forum to do just that. Please be sure to stop by often, join me on facebook (www.facebook.com/aehjustasoutherngirl) and get ready for all new projects coming your way. But just from Amy this time, not Superwoman. 

Animal Weekend

Well, this weekend was interesting. I shelled my first bucket of peas all by myself- lazy kids. That's ok. There will be plenty more buckets and they will be shellin'!


It's been raining a lot so it's been an inside kind of weekend. We did get little bit of rain free skies during which I tried to get in my daily walk (this fluffy girl's form of exercise). Our peek-a-poo, Marley, goes walking with me. Up the road a bit from our house is a large drainage pipe going underneath the road. So during our walk on Friday, as we approach that pipe, I hear something growling. Hmm, is that Thunder? Better walk faster Marley, rain is coming!


Then growling turns into a few barks. Sounds like it's off in the distance but it sure is loud. I turn and look behind us- no dog in sight. I look out across all of the fields that surround us- no dog. Yep, my heart is racing a bit. I have no stick to fiend off a big dog, I'm a bit of a big girl to try to outrun him and my poor little house dog would try to defend me to the death and my children would never forgive me if something happened to that dog. They would rather I pick him up and just try to run. 


I finally figure out that the barks are coming from inside that pipe as we walk over it. Ok, panicked now. We try to be quiet and speed up. I turn several times as we walk farther away from the pipe to make sure the dog that was behind that bark wasn't emerging and coming after us. He didn't. Whew. But guess what? We have to cross back over to go home. Uh-Oh. Could our luck hold out twice?


So, on the way back, I have my hubby's phone #  on my phone screen, ready to hit send, just in case he needed to come rescue us. And, I did manage to find a big stick along the roadside that I could use til my hero could rescue us. So, here we go... speeding over the pipe, trying to be quiet. Here comes the growls. I'm surprised I don't have whiplash as many times as I quickly turned my head back toward that pipe as we crossed over to make sure what I could only assume was a huge dog, wasn't chasing us. And it happened. He did emerge from the end of the pipe. A big, white and brown, German Shepard. 

I hit that send button on my phone so fast! Hubby! Get ready to save us!! No answer. You've got to be kidding me! He knows if I'm walking to be on standby with his phone in case some pyscho tries to kidnap me!!! Hero! Where are you? I look back again. Dog still sitting by the pipe entrance, just watching us. Yay! He's not foaming at the mouth ready to attack! 
Yep, that was a fast walk!


Then..... on Saturday, hubby was trimming limbs from the trees in our yard and came across one of our tree dwelling residents. Now, we have lots of squirrels that live in our trees. It's one of Marley's favorite things to do... chase squirrels. But that's not the resident that honey came across. He tugs at a limb and as it is falling to the ground, so does a white oak snake. Ewwwww! He says he likes them around because they help control our squirrel population, but lately we've seen bunches of squirrels so apparently this resident snake was a lazy one. So, hubby kills the snake. Finally, my hero again! I'd rather have a yard full of squirrels any day!

Later y'all!
amy

Getting Back to Farm Life

Hey y'all! Thought I'd give a re-cap of my week, but since it involves quite a bit of info, I decided I'd write it in list form.

1. Monday- deals day- Thanks to my hubby buying a Sunday paper for the 1st time in months I decided to buy a few groceries with coupons and the BOGO deals. (thanks hunny, I think) I had to split my transaction at Winn Dixie to utilize my coupons best. CONFUSING! Much Respect to you extreme couponers out there! But I did score some great deals! So maybe I'll get back into it just a little! ;)   

2. Also decided to buy myself a cowboy hat to wear to the BamaJam Music Fest next week. I've never been a hat girl. They just don't look cute on me. I brilliantly decided that the reason the cowgirl hats didn't look cute was because they are made small and I have a big head. (no, it's not from ego) So I bought a men's cowboy hat that looks just like the girl's version. I thought it looked pretty darn cute. My 16 yr old daughter laughed hysterically, my son said it looked pretty cute and my hubby said uh-uh. SO, I will carry on and get a few more opinions.... from OUTSIDE my family! 

3. If you've followed this blog or my many facebook pages, then you know that I am on a mission to get back to the "farm life". I miss it terribly and don't like that my children live in the South and haven't had as much experience with all things southern like I was able to while growing up. SO, we will be a pea picking, clothesline hanging, chicken raisin', gather our own eggs, crafting, cookin' southern recipes family before summer is over. I did go pick a bucket of peas by myself the other day. Boy, forgot what a job that was! But loved it! Kids get ready- goin pea-pickin and then shellin' em!

4.This week was also my 3rd week on the Visalus 90 Day Challenge. I must say, I am usually pretty skeptical about most things, especially when it involves having enough will power to stick to something long enough to lose any weight. I AM REALLY IMPRESSED with this stuff y'all. I am still loving my 2 shakes per day. I actually look forward to them! Can't wait to post some results for you in a week or so!! I feel amazing! You owe it to yourself to check this product out! www.amyeholley.bodybyvi.com

5. AND last but not least, will update you on my brain activity. I have been trying SO hard to just concentrate on 1 or 2 things, especially since I'm so far behind in EVERYTHING! But, I'm not having very much success with that. Just when I thought I may could just do 1 or 2 things, new ideas pop in. Someone please create a pill to fix that! So here's my new list of things I want to do... all at once of course: So.Belle Mag, bring jody mag back (website first, maybe print later), this blog of course (new site coming soon- going to be SO CUTE & have giveaways!), creating a "southern life" for my family (including some house improvements and redecorating projects), some crafts, my online shop (& maybe open a small store back up), write more (my book and a couple of e-booklets), read more, paint some furniture to re-sell and build my Visalus Challenge team! I know right- WHEW! Just can't seem to tear myself away from that Wonder Woman title. Even tho I know I'm not, still tryin' for it!

Yep, that's a fluffy Wonder Woman, cause I'm fluffy! 


Enjoy your weekend!
amy