5 Things I Learned in 2014.

1. People aren’t as excited about black bean brownies as I am.

I still haven’t sold out of black bean brownies mixes, which is a bummer. I was so excited about the product, but it doesn’t seem like the world shared my enthusiasm lol. I’m still glad we went through the process. Learned a lot. But I’ll probably stick to blogging and ebooks for the foreseeable future…those seem to produce the greatest return. Brownie mixes are currently 50% off, use the discount code: newyear.

2. Tripods and dry shampoo are the best.

I fell in love with these 2 things this year.

With a tripod you can set the shutter speed on your camera so slow (letting more light in), which is great for shooting in cloudy weather. I’m using my dad’s 10 year old tripod. Nothing fancy, but I feel like it’s REALLY helping my photography!

Okay, and dry shampoo?! What a miracle!! Occasionally I get a little carried away and my hair looks grey in spots (see the grey spot in the picture below?)…but overall it’s such a life saver when I go to the gym and don’t have time to shampoo my hair afterwards.

3. That whole “clean 5 minutes a day” idea is a really good idea.

I grew up in a house where being tidy wasn’t that important to us. Andrew grew up in a very tidy home. So my innate tendencies to leave piles of clothes around the house isn’t Andrew’s favorite thing about me. I’ve found that picking something to clean for 5 minutes a day really helps keep the house looking tidy. This 5 minutes doesn’t include daily chores like doing the dishes, but yesterday I cleaned the toilets and today I’m planning to take the ornaments off our Christmas tree. And sometimes the 5 minutes turns into 20 minutes, which is for the best.

These pictures show minor changes…more tidying up rather than cleaning. But still, picking up clutter can make the house look so much better!

Here are some posts that inspired my “5 minute a day” cleaning routine:

• Keeping your Bathroom Company Clean in 5 minutes a day via The Kitchn
• 20 minute/30 day cleaning via The Kitchn (not five minutes…but same idea of picking one thing to clean each day)

4. I love being married.

I’m not sure at what point you stop feeling like a newlywed…and this isn’t to say Andrew and I never get annoyed with one another, but I feel like I was made to be married. I’ve always struggled with feeling like an outsider, and since being married I feel like I’ve found where I fit. He gives me more confidence than I’ve ever had and he eats all the trial recipes that don’t turn out so great. That’s love.

5. Maggie is the best thing I’ve ever bought.

I’ve never seen Andrew interact with a baby (except for once for about 1 hour). It’s fun to see how much he loves Maggie. I know she’s just a dog, but if you own dogs then you know she’s not JUST a dog.

Happy New Year to you! May your day be filled with black-eyed peas, cornbread, greens and pork!

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