Birth wasn’t at all what I anticipated it to be. In fact, it was surprisingly better than I ever could have imagined.

The moment I found out I was pregnant, thus began anxiety about giving birth. The pain, the sweat, the tears, and I began to panic of what could or may not ever happen.

Kevin and I “secretly” planned an elective induction. The mass amounts of anxiety I had, in the beginning, sent me to a heart doctor at around 17 weeks due to chronic palpitations. After discussing with my doctor she brought up the idea of having an elective induction. The moment she told me it was an option I began to think of all the people who were going to criticize me. Terrible, right? Who cares what people think!

Nevertheless, she sent me on my way and I began to ponder on this idea and what it would be like to have a “planned” birth. I loved the idea for a few reasons:

1. I wanted my doctor to deliver Brooklyn. I was comfortable with her and if I went naturally, there was a 50% chance a male doctor would deliver her. Hated, hated, hated that idea. I’ve never liked male doctors.
2. Kevin’s job was super demanding and I was nervous that he might not be able to get away when I needed him. This was uber important seeing as how we lived in Texas without any family around us.
3. I think half my anxiety was anticipating when it would happen, where would I be when my water broke, how much laboring at home I’d have to do, would I be able to drive myself to the hospital if Kevin couldn’t leave in time, etc.

After two weeks of thinking about it, and asking crucial questions about the risks and rewards of inducing, I signed myself up for the exact date I knew Brooklyn would be born. I’d check myself into the hospital on October 3rd at 9:30 PM. I told very few people for judgment from others was still a factor for me. The last thing I needed was for people to tell me I was doing the wrong thing.

Surprisingly, knowing when this was going to happen calmed me and gave me a sense of peace. Kevin would be there and I could feel somewhat in control. Also, my palpitations began to slow down, which was a huge bonus!

After my last massive cleaning spree, we watched an episode of The Office, I ate my last meal, and we drove to the hospital. I said a prayer in the car and I walked in feeling confident; scared, but confident.

The process was quick, the receptionist checked us in, I changed into one of those awful gowns, got comfy on the semi-comfortable bed and two nurses began to hook me up to all sorts of machines. As I was getting poked and prodded, I thanked heaven above that this was all almost over. They asked if I wanted to keep the placenta, Kevin and I both in unison said “NO!” The nurse’s response? “Oh thank God.” They asked if I wanted a mirror, I said nope. Didn’t want to remember it, didn’t want to see it.

After they set me up and had me and my belly attached to every machine possible, they inserted something (I really don’t know what it was) to soften the cervix, they gave me the remote, turned off the lights and my husband when to sleep right away. Lucky duck.

I, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep at all. I began to feel mild discomfort but nothing too crazy. Throughout the night the same nurse came in to check how dilated I was and let me tell you, that was the worst part of the entire process! I’m not sure if it was that nurse specifically or what, but it was so painful I couldn’t breathe.

At some point during the early morning, I started to feel mild contractions but still was only 2 cm dilated so one of the nurses asked if I wanted something. You know, drugs…

Another hot topic during labor, drugs. I will tell you this, I went in to labor with one thing on my birth plan. I wanted drugs. I wanted to have a labor that was simple and as pain-free as the event came so I could remember the experience as a good one. One that wouldn’t give me PTSD like how Youtube and other birth stories described the situation going down.

So I accepted this drug which the nurse described it feeling like I would have just had a margarita. I remember her inserting it into my IV and I told her, “Whoa, it feels like I just had 5 margaritas.” Her response? “Enjoy it!” It made me somewhat sleepy, but I never actually fell asleep.

Morning came, more excruciating dilation checks, and my husband woke up! Poor thing didn’t want to eat as I wasn’t allowed to (didn’t matter as I didn’t have an appetite due to nerves.) He eventually gave in as the nurse and myself practically demanded that he eat something.

They asked when I wanted my epidural and I kept saying how I was worried it would wear off. They promised me it wouldn’t so I said, “You know what, I want it before my Dr. breaks my water.” I always heard while you’re on Pitocin and after the water breaks, that’s when contractions get strong and I honestly didn’t want to feel what it was like.

At this point, I was 3 cm dilated, and I was getting nervous. They called for the anesthesiologist and when he came in that’s when I lost it. Nerves, not sleeping, and excitement took over. The nurse and Kevin held on to me while he inserted the epidural and surprisingly, it was practically painless! Nevertheless, I was bawling my eyes out. I kept apologizing saying, “I don’t know why I’m crying.” Thankfully I had a super nice nurse, an awesome anesthesiologist, and a supporting husband.

The epidural was amazing, I didn’t feel a thing. More dilation checks and I couldn’t feel it, which was awesome! My Dr. came in, broke my water around 8:30 AM. Another weird feeling, not as terrible as I thought it would be. I ate more ice as I was getting thirsty and about lunchtime, I felt a weird pressure as if she was going to come out. I had the nurse check and I went from a 3 cm to a 9 cm within a few hours! More tears and I had pain on the right side of my body. Remembering that I didn’t want the epidural to run out, my nurse called for another dose of the epidural and then I just remember saying, “I feel so heavy.”

The nurse said some doctor things I don’t understand, she took a lunch break, and when she came back she said it’s time to practice pushing! The crew was called at that point, I practice pushed to the point where she had me stop because she said, and I quote, “I don’t get paid to catch the baby.”

My Dr. arrived, about 5 people showed up in the room, and I tell you what, all sense of modesty goes out the door in this situation. They were worried with the extra dose of epidural I had that I wouldn’t feel the pressure to push. I surprised them! I felt all the pressure and knew exactly what to do almost right off the bat.

Kevin said some things to make me laugh and the pushing part was so comfortable that I said, “I’ll do this again, this isn’t so bad.” Working out during pregnancy definitely helped with pushing, I can tell you that. Regardless if you have an epidural or not, it’s hard work and I was still slightly sweaty.

25 minutes of pushing and then everybody in the room told me she was coming! My favorite nurse asked if I was ready to be a mom and before I knew it, they placed her on me. I didn’t realize the heavy amount of relief that came with her coming out! It surprised me and overwhelmed me to tears. It’s something I’ll never forget.

Kevin had to walk away as he was tearing up, I was crying and we immediately told our Facebook group that she was here! Just like that, it was over. All the sickness in the beginning of pregnancy, the uncomfortableness, the anxiety, the nervousness, the 3-hour sugar test I fret over, it was all totally and 100% worth it, hands down.

I will never forget the two things my Dr. said. As soon as she was coming out, she said, “For your next one you better be close to a hospital because that didn’t take long at all!” NEXT ONE?! This one is barely born, thank you very much. She also found it fascinating that I could keep my wedding bands on throughout my pregnancy. (Another conversation we had while pushing.) I don’t know why, but it made me giggle on the inside.

The birth I wanted, came true! I wanted a painless experience and that’s what I got. She is perfect, and I couldn’t have imagined it going any differently. Praises!

The entire situation was completely worth it, and I will definitely do it again. Regardless of what you chose, regardless of your opinions on elective inducing, or your thoughts on drugs and epidurals, no longer matter to me like it once did.

Each person is entitled to their thoughts, their opinions, and their own birth plan. Birth is incredible and life changing! Becoming a Mama was a lifelong dream of mine and the whole situation couldn’t have gone any better. I thank The Lord for an easy labor and a precious little person of my own.

Stay tuned for my posts on post-partum, pregnancy, Brooklyn’s infant jaundice, depression, and thoughts on Motherhood. In the meantime, if you have questions, ask away!

xoxo,

Ashlyn

The post Brooklyn’s Birth Story appeared first on The Blissful Mrs..

This is not an ad.

Heya guys! I’m dropping this post to brag about something really cool that’s going on in my sis’s life and I love it so much I just have to share.

Those of you who blog understand the value of writing a post promoting a product without being paid and those of you who don’t blog, please know this is a big deal and I wouldn’t post about it if I didn’t absolutely love the product.

Some of you may have seen my Instagram story from a while ago showing off my new t-shirt titled “Mama Bear” with this adorable little bear underneath the wording. Haven’t seen it? Let me show you! In fact, let me show you a LOT of pictures, but before we get to that let’s talk about Nilyn Boutique itself. (Psssstttt…there’s a code for 15% off within this post!)

Nilyn Boutique is all about women and mamas. Please read a few words taken directly from their site:

“Nilyn Boutique offers high quality and affordable products by women for women. Our products are made for all women that are striving to make it through the day and need that little spark of joy to keep them going. Our collections are curated for women that are looking for a way to express themselves through words and fashion with a little sass to boot. So whether it’s the adorable tee that makes you feel good about yourself, the cutest home decor pillow which will inevitably end up with a spill on it from the kids (don’t worry, we’ve been there too), or the overflowing coffee cup cupboard that needs just ONE more additional coffee mug, whatever it may be, you’ll find it here. So sit back, relax, and raise your cold coffee or wine (we won’t tell), and cheers to all you hot messes (just like us) out there! This boutique is designed specifically for you. XoXo”

I currently own two of Nilyn’s comfy tees; Mama Bear and Mama Llama. If you can’t already tell from my social media accounts that I am completely obsessed with my little girl, Brooklyn, then these tees will surely make it known.

I love tees like this because it creates a statement which I wear proudly. Of course the cute llama and little bear make it a thousand times more adorable. (Not to mention comfy!) With plenty of colors to choose from and tons of wordings which every mama is sure to love, why not take a look?! (Did I mention there’s a coupon code exclusively from my blog? Check out the bottom of this post!)

Also, there are some cute makeup bags, tote bags, and mugs on there as well with promises of future items. Unfortunately, I can’t talk about those right now, but make sure you follow their Instagram or Facebook for all the latest coming from Nilyn Boutique.

Check out a few of my favorites on the site right now!

Isn’t She Lovely

The Love Mug

Thick Thighs, Thin Patience (Can I get an Amen!)

Just a few I own (for now, soon to be more) below:

Mama Bear

Mama Llama

Mom Fuel

Okay, okay ready for the code?! Use code theblissfulmrs at checkout to receive 15% off plus FREE SHIPPING On orders over $50 within North America!

Lots of products are on sale right now too. If you have any questions about this post, Nilyn Boutique’s items or just a general question feel free to reach out. I’d be happy to put you in touch with someone who can help you.

xoxo
Ashlyn

The post Nilyn Boutique appeared first on The Blissful Mrs..

Note: I wrote this on Thursday, May 16th but instead of posting it I thought you guys might prefer an edited version rather than just having words spewed out on the internet. So it took a few days, but here we go!

Writing is a type of therapy for me. Some writers blog for fun, for a source of income, to improve themselves, some write to be heard, but for me, it’s therapy. It relaxes me, calms me down, creates a sense of self-awareness. Kind of like journalling but a little more modest, if you will.

Let’s start at the beginning of today. I did 40 minutes of blood pumping yoga this morning so normally that would be enough to satisfy my daily exercise, but after today I needed something more. Something to relieve the tension starting in my shoulders and slowly creeping its way down my back.

Nevertheless, I ignored the creepy crawly feeling. I had responsibilities to attend to after all so grabbed one of my girly White Claws, ate dinner, and went back to work. Then the baby cried for my attention so I closed my laptop and did my best to make her my priority. My mood spiraled and got worse and worse as the hours passed.

Today sucked. Work sucked. Mommy-ing sucked. Brooklyn hit her head on my head while I was trying to hold her and type for work. Then tonight while I was bathing her she hit her head AGAIN. That time I broke down and cried.

After I put Brooklyn to bed I was tired of feeling sorry for myself so I threw on my workout gear and ran the stairs for a good 20 minutes. Naturally, afterward, I felt better. My heart was pounding and I was getting some of the tension and anger out with every step. Alas, endorphins only last so long so here I am writing a post to try and get myself through my thoughts while they’re still fresh.

Lately, I’ve been feeling like a complete and utter failure. I’m mad. So mad and no matter how hard I try to make life seem flawless, to fake it, to do my best, to make my life seem easier, I end up in the same place. Broken. Feeling useless.

Life at this very moment is hard. There’s a million and one things I want to do and the baby is holding me back. I don’t mean to be rude but we can’t travel to Europe anymore, I can’t horseback ride, I can’t just leave anytime I want nor can I do whatever I want like it was pre-baby life.

And of course just as any other mother would say, I wouldn’t trade my current life for anything (no, it’s not cliché it’s something I can’t really explain as it just happens when you become a mother), yet I still have a sliver of sadness when I get that travel itch or I have to decline outings with my girlfriends.

Kids take all your freedom, all your attention, all your time and it’s exhausting. Within the last 7 months, I’ve realized that I cannot be the best at my job, I cannot be the perfect wife, and I cannot be a superstar mom. I cannot, I just cannot. I am only one person who can literally only complete one monumental task at a time.

I’m going to have to come to terms that cooking dinner might take an hour because of Brooklyn, or my job might require that I work after hours because Brooklyn needed my attention (the beauty of working from home), or that the pile of laundry or clean dishes sitting in the dishwasher will have to wait another day or two.

It’s just how it’s going to have to be. After I worked my way through my “angry workout” I decided that I needed to let the anger and hopelessness of not being able to give 100% to everything I do go, but that wasn’t going to happen overnight.

Mostly my thoughts are self-inflicting. My work isn’t demanding more from me, Brooklyn is a baby with an attention span of a gnat so she can’t tell the difference (quick side note: She has been doing this thing where I’ll be working and she starts fussing until I look at her and then a huge smile spreads across her face. Then when I go back to work she fusses again, so maybe she does want more attention…hmmm this calls for another post for another time), and Kevin isn’t demanding a spotless house or a hot meal every night. All the stress I’m putting on myself to be “perfect” is all on me.

Being a mommy is hard and then adding 40 hours+ of work on top of that makes it that much harder. Let me just pause my rant for a moment to applaud the single mommies, because let me tell you, I couldn’t do it. Our “baby duties” are something Kevin and I split as much as possible whenever possible. Kids are a 24/7 job, not to mention you can’t forget that somebody in the family has to be the chef, maid, comforter, phycologist, etc. and then to add your job on top of that (whether you work from home or outside of the home) I’d lose my mind. Way to go single moms! I give you so many props because you have to do it ALL BY YOURSELF. That’s more working in a day than I ever thought could be possible.

Continue rant: Tthe problem is I always want to be the BEST at everything I do. I’m motivated, determined, self-disciplined and I consistently want to pour 110% into everything I do. Having a baby was a total wake up call. Because now I am always being pulled into 100 different directions, I feel as if everything I do is only done at about a 50% rate anymore. I do my best to put all my effort into everything I do, but it never works out. I end up feeling tired, unproductive, and above all sad.

For example, I end up getting irritated because I’ll be 100% focused on my job then the dogs need to go outside, Brooklyn starts getting fussy, or heaven forbid I get hungry and have to stop for lunch. Another example, when I’m 100% focused on Miss B, my job starts hounding me or there’s dinner to be cooked or laundry to fold. It’s a never-ending cycle and it is exhausting.

I don’t know how to manage it. I don’t know how to be a superstar wife, to have time to work out, create meal plans, get my errands done, keep my house clean, give my all to Brooklyn and let alone make time for myself. Life is consistently moving at a supersonic speed and it’s depressing because I don’t know how to make time for everything I want to do.

As I said, I don’t have an answer to this rant other than everything isn’t always rainbows and sunshine like social media makes it out to be. All I can say is this, to every Mama out there struggling to make it through the day, or wishing time would slow down, or feeling like a failure, or constantly finding themselves overwhelmed, or pulled into too many directions, you are not alone.

Being a wife, a mom, basically the glue within your family is a hard job and I no longer silently judge the non-working stay at home moms for being tired or those who walk into Target with their pj’s on because you know what? Life is hard, it’s messy, it’s raw, organic, painful, emotional, and sometimes you just have to take it easy on yourself. Even if that means walking into Target to get a tub of ice cream with PJs on, then so be it. You do you, Mama.

Kevin asked me why I put all this pressure on myself because he’s never once asked me to be anything but myself without judgment and since I’ve had time to think about it, I found my answer.

It’s because I desire and strive to be that trophy wife, the rockstar mom, the talented cook, to be the best of the best at my job, and to have the cleanest house on the block. I want all those things, but unfortunately, as time goes by I’m realizing that I can’t do it all.

Instead of thinking of it as being a failure, I somehow have to come up with a way to handle all of it, but also be content with the fact that I may not be the best of the best in the eyes of the world, but that I am the best of the best to the people who matter most to me and maybe, just maybe that is enough.

P.S. While it may seem that Brooklyn is to blame for how I’m feeling at the moment, it isn’t the case at all. I am over the moon in love with being a mom and my daughter. However, sometimes I get so far lost in my mom duties or my job that I forget who I even am or where I’m going. I love all these jobs I have, I just am having a hard time figuring out how to smoothly transition from one job to the next without feeling completely overwhelmed. Maybe in a few years I will know what to do and post some miraculous post about how great everything is, but for now, I’m drowning and it’s nobody’s fault but my own.

The post An Impulse Post of My Woes appeared first on The Blissful Mrs..

I’m not going to go into too much detail as to what happened as we prefer to keep some things to ourselves, but there again a little insight never hurt anybody. In short, after having Brooklyn, we discovered that we’d much rather be closer to family and friends because, as they say, “It takes a village to raise a child.”

That statement couldn’t be further from the truth. We found ourselves just wanting a day to ourselves from time to time and It was getting harder and harder not having family around. With me trying to juggle a full-time job plus a baby (also, a full-time job, I don’t care what anybody says) and Kevin working at least 50 hours a week, we were becoming disgruntled. Luckily, Kevin found a career opportunity and so we thought it would be in our best interest to take a leap of faith and come back home.

There was definitely a lot of good that came out of Texas and while we thought it would be our forever home, turns out it was just another chapter in our book. I plan on writing a few posts on some of our awesome Texas findings, good places to eat, and even better things to do while in the Dallas area so look for those coming soon!

We also made some lasting friendships and they are already planning a visit to Orlando! Along with that, we learned a lot about ourselves, Kevin gained an abundance of information that he took away from his job, our marriage became stronger, and after a while, we were financially ready to grow our family. As sad as I was in Texas when I look back at the good which came out of that situation, I can’t help but be grateful for our two-year story that unfolded in Dallas.

What else is new? Brooklyn turned 4 months hold on February 4th! We’re currently living graciously in my parents’ house while we look for a home. Yes, a HOME! No more apartments, hooray!

Look for my upcoming posts about a new business that’s in the works, our Prague trip, Brooklyn’s birth story, and much more.

As always, thank you for reading!

xoxo,
Ashlyn

The post Home Is Where the Heart Is appeared first on The Blissful Mrs..

It’s been awhile would be an understatement. I haven’t sat down to write in what seems like ages. 14 months to be exact. I definitely miss having the luxury of sitting down with a cup of coffee in my pj’s worrying about nothing but what to cook for dinner and timing it just right so hubby would have a hot meal to come home to.

Something I’ve realized within these last 14 months is that life moves in stages and it’s more like I’m writing my life story as each day passes. Whether it be a good chapter or a chapter you’re trying to hurry through because you just can’t wait for it to be over, it doesn’t matter. Life doesn’t slow down because you’re enjoying a certain stage nor does it hurry along when you can’t wait for the particular season of your life to pass.

So while my homemaker life came to a close shortly after we arrived in Dallas, my heavy workload season came to a close as well but we’ll touch on that in a minute.

So where have I been? Good question! I’ve been so busy I barely have time to sit down and eat a meal or finish a load of laundry. For a few months I was working full time as an event coordinator at Main Event and then shortly after I received an offer to work online as a virtual assistant. I debated on what to do for a few days, and I had a gut feeling that I should take the job for some odd reason (because I really needed more work). 

Life was completely hectic for a few short months. This is how my days went:

• Wake up, make breakfast
• Squeeze in an hour or two of online work
• Get ready for my other job
• Make us breakfast and pack my lunch
• Work 8 hours
• Come home, make dinner
• Put in another hour or so of online work
• Do something that needed to be done around the house
• Get ready for bed

And so on and so forth. That routine lasted only a few months because I was working 6 days a week and very quickly became burned out. I ended up making the tough decision to cut back at Main Event to part-time so between both jobs I was working an easy 50 hours per week. I was managing, tired, but managing.

Between all of this, we decided to move into a two bedroom apartment. We were going to stay in our one bedroom but again, I had that gut feeling that we needed to move. We moved in at the end of February and it’s a good thing we did because on February 7th we received a huge surprise.

Just like most couples we were reaching a point to where we didn’t want to try for babies, we wanted to just let whatever happens, happen. We were finally in a good position, had great jobs, had been married for over two years and decided that adding an addition was something we wanted.

I remember it very clearly. We went to a Superbowl party and our friend who was hosting the event had this adorable little girl who we thought was the most precious baby. We left the party thinking how excited we were about the idea of having one of our own maybe sometime soon.

Three days later I woke up from a dream around 6:00 AM. In that dream, I was told by somebody to take a pregnancy test. I tossed and turned but by 7:00 AM my heart was beating out of my chest so I went ahead and took a test not thinking that it would be true.

The three minutes it took to show up seemed like an hour. I was shaking, I’m not sure if I was nervous, excited, or scared.

On the morning of February 7th, I knew my life was about to change. The test said YES! I immediately woke Kevin up and with a grin on his face and chuckling he said, “I knew it.”

I’m over here thinking it’ll take about a year, enough to give my mind time to adjust to the idea of becoming a mother, but clearly, God had other plans.

Fast forward almost a year, and here we are! Please welcome Brooklyn Christine Long. Born on Thursday, October 4th, 2018 at 3:52 PM. Weighing 7lbs. 10oz. and 20 inches long.

In short, this is why I think it’s so important to go with that gut feeling. If I wouldn’t have listened to it, we would have been stuck in our one bedroom apartment with a baby and two dogs and had I not quit Main Event (as sad as it was), I’d be stuck at home, jobless.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to stay home with our baby and earn a paycheck in the process and trust me, I know how lucky I am. I think about it each day and do my best to not take it for granted.

So what’s happened since my last post?

• We had a BABY GIRL
• My work from home, virtual assistance job turned into a full-time gig 
• I was promoted to an Operations Manager and flew out to Arizona to meet the crew I work for
• I’ve been back to Florida a few times to see my friends and family
• My husband and I took a babymoon to Tennessee

Those are just some of the things that have happened since my last post. I have so much to catch you up on. I’m hoping to carve some time out and post every once in a while as it’s something I am passionate about, it just isn’t my main focus anymore.

So what can you look forward to within my upcoming posts?

• How my pregnancy went
• Our Tennessee babymoon
• Labor
• Postpartum
• Baby Brooklyn
• Prague Updates
• Future travel plans
• Life in Texas
• My career

And much much more. Thank you for reading! I look forward to updating you guys throughout this busy, crazy, beautiful life I am living. 

xoxo

Ashlyn 

The post Let’s Catch Up appeared first on The Blissful Mrs..

If you’ve been reading my blog since I first started this little diary of mine, you will remember our plans of honeymooning in Brussels, wandering through the Christmas markets, eye googling the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and trekking through historic Germany. If you haven’t been reading with me since then, I’ll quickly catch you up; travel warnings arose about one month from our departure date and ever since then we haven’t made it a point to make those dreams a reality.

At that time we didn’t feel it was safe to be traveling internationally. While we’re still a little gun-shy, we decided to get our feet wet by first venturing to Canada, this December we’ll be in Prague, and possibly this upcoming year we’ll make our way through some of the most iconic places on this earth. For now, I’ll be thankful for the opportunity I have to travel with my husband.

For most traveling is a luxury. And while I agree, I also believe that traveling can be a priority. To put it simply, you have to first prioritize what’s important to you and decide what can be pushed to the back burner. As a couple, we have agreed that vacations are important to us but I will tell you that it’s not easy to wait all year to have an elaborate trip. In fact, it can actually be quite miserable at times.

Below I’m going to share a few things that Kevin and I do which helps us be able to live like a king and queen for 11 days out of the year.

Prioritizing

• First, you must decide if traveling is something you really want and I mean really truly want. Taking elaborate trips are very expensive. Like I said, it takes us a full year of saving in order to have 11 days spent roaming around in a new country. So make sure this is something you want over everything else and of course make sure you can pay your bills first.

Budgeting

• Sticking to a budget will be your best friend. We sacrifice fancy date nights, eating out, we don’t own new clothing, and we rarely buy things for ourselves. Instead of seeing movies on Friday nights, we will go on a Tuesday evening (check with your movie theater, sometimes they offer special deals for seeing a movie during an off-peak time) or we’ll go to the dollar theater. Instead of having a sit-down meal, we’ll grab Chipotle. Instead of getting manicures, I paint my own nails. Instead of shopping at Target, we’ll get all our groceries at Aldi. Our date nights mainly consist of grabbing a $7 bottle of wine and catching up with each other in our apartment’s hot tub. Don’t get me wrong, occasionally we’ll cave and go on a nice date but for the most part, we spend our time finding free things to occupy our time with. We keep a budget and we’re extremely strict with it. Trust me it’s not fun but in the long run, a little saving each week comes with a huge reward at the end of the year.

Disciplining

• Every now and then one of us will feel like caving and naturally it’s going to happen when you save all year. Kevin will want to purchase a new Xbox game and I’ll find a new purse I really want or instead of hanging out at the pool, we’ll feel like going to Dave and Buster’s to blow our money on arcade games. However, we’ve worked out a system to where we keep each other in check. We both allow ourselves a certain amount of money to spend on luxurious things per week and if we don’t use it we put our cash together and spend it on a fun night out.

So, we’ve prioritized, budgeted, and we’ve been disciplining ourselves for over 300 days and FINALLY, in just a few short weeks we will be taking off on our long-awaited journey. On that note, has anybody ever been to Czechoslovakia?! If so, email me about the things we cannot miss out on or the absolute must-sees.

Have any travel saving tips to add to my list? Comment down below! Make sure to keep up with my Instagram and Snapchat (Snapcode on my home page) as I’ll share the most updated happenings through those accounts.

xoxo

Ashlyn

The post How to Plan an Elaborate Vacation on a Small Budget appeared first on The Blissful Mrs..

 Finally! The last post of this series is coming to an end. A few days ago I was reading through my Canadian series and I quickly realized it wasn’t written how I would have preferred. It didn’t keep my interest. I’ve been blogging for almost two years now and I am STILL learning how to keep things professional, interesting, and unique. After much thought and consideration, I’ve decided I’m going to change up a few things. That being said, I think a game changer is coming soon as I plan on writing our next travel adventures out in a completely new style that I think y’all will love!

Now, back to the meaning of this post…

Our last day in Canada was spent at Fort Saint-Jean and getting a bit too tipsy at the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac (highly recommended place to visit by the way!).

While we didn’t tour the museum, we did find our tracks in, out, and all around the entire fort. Which is quite a treck might I add, so once again, have your walking shoes on!

Be careful where you step! You can suddenly find yourself knee deep in snow around this area.

The Mcdonald’s in Quebec had waffle fries! They’re not quite up to Chick-fil-A standards but they were a delectable treat especially after walking another 5 miles.

Our hotel room! Our room was small yet cozy. Remember when I first started this series I was going into how our hotel experience was? If not, you can find it here: Hotel Acadia 

The hotel was nice especially the rooftop hot tub plus, it was in a convenient spot right in the heart of Old Quebec. Despite that, we had our first run in with natives who knew we were tourists and ripped us off. We were told that breakfast was free and the concierge did everything he could to “sweeten us up” for a tip. Which I’m fine with but the lying, I’m not okay with. They ended up charging us for breakfast and we quickly found out that all the stuff he was “throwing in for free” came with our room. Needless to say, if we ever do go back to Canada, we will never stay at that hotel again.

Despite the employees from Hotel Acadia, we loved the uniqueness of the quaint hotel and the way everybody decorated was just lovely and it really gave off that homey feel.

The wine in the 1608 – WINE & CHEESE BAR in Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac hotel was incredible! We spent two nights sitting in front of a fire chatting away while sipping on some fancy drinks. The staff was above and beyond exceptional. They noticed we weren’t touching the nuts sitting on our table, they inquired as to why and hubby told them about my allergies. It was one of the very few times I felt like my allergies weren’t an inconvenience. They immediately took the bowl of peanuts away and came back with a huge brand new bag of sweet potato crisps. This kind of hospitality made our decision to go back exceptionally easy. Pssst…tip them during your time there and you just might receive free drinks on the house.

I could go on and on about this quaint bar, between the people and atmosphere it was easily one of the best parts of our stay.

Overall, Quebec is amazing and I honestly recommend for those to visit especially during their off-peak time!

If you have any questions about Quebec or need some travel tips, please feel free to email me at blissfulmrs@gmail.com. I sincerely hope you enjoyed this series! I look forward to sharing our next travel adventure with you all soon!

xoxo

Ashlyn

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One of my most favorite things to do whenever I visit a new place is to see the aquarium native to the particular city, state, or country we happen to be in. So naturally, when Kevin offered to take me to the Quebec aquarium I happily agreed. It was definitely a unique experience as I’ve never been immersed in a place where the polar bears, walruses, seals, etc. could be outside and not have to be fully enclosed due to the heat of a particular state (such as Florida). The polar bears that you see below are enclosed apart from the ceiling which was left completely open.

The arctic foxes were absolutely adorable and if you are following my Snapchat I’m sure you heard my over-the-top cooing going on in the videos.

The inside part of the aquarium was the only place we could find warmth and to my disbelief, I enjoyed the outside exhibits more so than the inside. It was probably the smallest aquarium I had ever been to so I was a tad bit disappointed. Either way, it was an experience!

The seal show was nothing compared to Sea World and naturally, it was all in French, so we left half way through.  

Kevin has never “pet” a sting ray before and it must have taken him close to 20 minutes before he would even stick his hand in the water.

As soon as Kevin finally put his hand in the water to touch the sting ray, this bird squawked like you wouldn’t believe. It scared us half to death! I about dropped my phone in the water. We scurried out of there so fast I’m not even sure if Kevin got to experience the full effect of petting a stingray. Oh well, at least it gave us a few laughs.

Our next stop was the Laurier Quebec Mall. We loved this mall so much that we went twice during our week in Quebec. There was an entire theme park inside including an ice skating rink and even a good old fashioned Walmart. Highly recommended!

If you look closely, you can see the roller coaster track which went around the ice skating rink.

Naturally we found the bowling section. This is when we discovered that duck pin bowling is extremely popular and rather common in Canada. In fact we found this little arcade bowling set up which peaked our interest in finding an authentic duck pin bowling alley and given our background in bowling, we were pretty excited to have found this type of alley.

Duck pins are attached to strings. It was a lot quieter than a normal bowling alley and every time I rolled the ball, it felt more like I was playing skee-ball than bowling.

Fun fact, did you know that Quebecers are obsessed with mayonnaise? Just about every restaurant we visited had their own unique mayo. Les Trois Garcons was one of my favorite dinner restaurants we visited. If you don’t get to do anything I’m recommending during a trip to Quebec, you must try their chicken. I’m not sure what it is, but Canadians really know how to cook their chicken.

I’m not a fan of mayonnaise but I have to admit house-made mayo is actually pretty good.

To be continued…

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You can find my other Canadian chapters below.

• Our Canadian Adventure Part 1
• Our Canadian Adventure Part 2

Going through all of our pictures again is making me long for the snow and peacefulness that Canada has to offer. It truly is a wonderful place to visit especially during December. The next few days of our trip were filled with relaxation and wandering around Quebec but before we get into too much detail, I must begin this post by telling you about our daily trip to a special place.

There was this little hot chocolate cafe called Baguette & Chocolat. It became our all time favorite place to go. In fact, we ended up there every day once after breakfast and then once after dinner as well. We went there so much, we became familiar faces and made “friends” with the employees. One woman, in particular, we got to know really well and found out she had been to Disney before and knew where our old jobs were. It really is a small world after all!

This is where I fell in love with Kusmi Tea. Hot tea was the perfect match with 25-degree weather.

Kevin really enjoyed their hot chocolate and we’re not sure if we loved what we were drinking or if it was more so the atmosphere and coziness of this adorable cafe that brought us there every day.

After getting our fix of chocolate and tea, we started to wander around again enjoying the brisk weather that we never get to experience in Florida.

Word of advice; unless you’re looking for fresh seafood, wine and cheese, or a plethora of spices then the Marché du Vieux-Port de Québec probably won’t be too much of an interest to a traveler. Yet to the residents, that particular market is a huge deal.

After exploring the market, we purposely got ourselves lost within the winding roads again and stopped in all the tiny shops along the way. The murals in Quebec were absolutely beautiful and so intricate that we stopped to stare at them for countless minutes.

We found this little Mexican restaurant called Zolé and while it definitely didn’t par up to Chipotle, it hit the spot after walking around and exploring for another 5 miles or so.

After dinner, we made our way to this Christmas store called La Boutique de Noël de Québec. We spent a good hour in there mesmerized by all the Christmas decor. It definitely gave us all the warm and fuzzies and I highly recommend stopping in.

If you can’t tell, I was obsessed with Santa and Rudolph. 

It was definitely a very merry Christmas night as we found the German Christmas Market in Québec City right after telling Santa what we wanted for Christmas. Kevin, having been to Germany, found the Christmas market in Quebec to be slightly disappointing but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Either way, we ended up grabbing hot chocolate and tea to make our rounds through the market just about every night we were there.

Can’t forget about our nightly tea and hot chocolate fix before bed!

Just as a little warning, this screenshot describes just how much walking and hiking we completed about every day. Having lived in a huge city all our lives, it was refreshing to be able to have the luxury of walking everywhere. However, as you could probably imagine, we were extremely exhausted by the end of each day.

To be continued…

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Ever since we moved to Texas I’ve got some sort of up and down mental thing going on. Homesickness? Maybe, I don’t know. Call it whatever you like but some days it takes a lot of effort to get things done. As if getting up at 6:00AM with my husband isn’t’ hard enough, add in some, “I don’t know what I’m doing with my life” or “What’s my purpose in life?” and you’ve got a recipe for a mental disaster with a side of emotional heartbreak.

I’ve found a lot of joy through blogging.  Whether I deemed my writing accurate or not, I thoroughly enjoyed typing out my thoughts, meal plans, wife duties, travel plans, cleaning ideas, etc. And now I just feel stuck or as I prefer to say, I’ve got the blogging blues. I have a few ideas written down and things I must add to my blog but I haven’t regained that drive of making time to sit down and write a few hours a day like I normally would have done.

Let’s play catch up before I tell you all about our Texas adventures. I have been working pretty close to full time being a virtual assistant to a few clients and that has taken up a lot of my time. It’s great because I really enjoy the extra paycheck and freedom, but the job requires hours of sitting at a desk staring at a screen so by the time I clock out I no longer feel like typing away at my keyboard for another four hours or so. A valid excuse don’t you think?

I have started a new exercise plan that I have surprisingly stuck to for a few months now and I intend to keep that going. I have polished my meal planning skills and overall I would say I’m much less stressed here than when I was in Orlando. Ooo, and we finally have insurance! So dentist, chiropractor and doctor visits have all been in order. It may not be fun but it has been a much-needed necessity.

We definitely feel better, like we’re headed in an all new direction and it’s been insanely refreshing. One of the downsides of working from home and having a husband who works a ton is that it makes for a lonely wife. But we expected that he’d be working more, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Rather grateful that I have a husband who works and I must say, he works hard for us.

Even though it’s been extremely tough, this entire move has been a great decision. We can do things we couldn’t do while we were in Florida. We both have agreed that Texas isn’t our forever home, but it definitely is where we’re supposed to be for the time being.

Anyways, enough “blues” talk, let’s move forward. Work has slowed down recently which would be the reason as to why I’m writing posts in the middle of a weekday. This means I’ll be gathering my thoughts and hopefully, I’ll be back to publishing on a regular basis.

For those of you who actually read my blog, thank you! I’m finding that I’m gaining new followers every week even though I haven’t been posting. You guys are awesome! Thank you for that.

What’s something you’d like for me to blog about? What gives you inspiration to write? What kind of “blues” are you currently tackling? I’d love to know more about you so please comment down below!

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