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.