Confidently Katie

Book Club 2018

When I was in the 6th grade, I was wandering a store with my mom.  She told us we could pick out a book, so I did.  At the time, I wasn’t all that into reading for fun.  In fact I didn’t really enjoy reading at all.  It had always been sort of difficult for me and I hadn’t really read anything that I liked enough to justify my struggle.  But it all changed after I read that book.

That year I read maybe 10 or 11 books.  Over the summer I spent my days in the library.  In 7th grade I read a book every day.  Literally every day.  I was basically Matilda.  But as time has gone by, reading has faded into the background.  7th grade was a long time ago and I’m a parent now.  No time for reading.

That’s about to change.

I’ve decided to start a book club beginning in 2018.  As it turns out, I’m an obliger and I need external forces to keep me accountable.  And a book club is how I’m going to do that.

So here’s how the book club works:

You can be a part of the book club whether you live near by or you’re reading remote.  If you’re near by we’ll be setting up one day or night each month where we can get together, eat snacks, and geek out about our favorite parts of the book.

If you’re remote, we’ll have comment threads in the Facebook group to do the same thing.  What I love about this is that we can talk throughout the month as we read and not just one time a month.

I’m putting together a list of 20 or so books that I’ll post in the group and we’ll vote on which ones we want to read throughout the year.

Join the group to get started!

Autumn Leaves

A few weeks ago, I was blessed with the gift of a new camera.  Well, new to me.  And it wasn’t really a gift.  I bought it, but how it ended up in my hands, it seems like it was a gift.

I had just decided that it was time to take the leap and buy myself a DSLR camera when a friend of mine posted hers on Instagram for sale.  Of course I knew it was meant to be.  So I messaged her and a couple days later, it was mine.

I had been preparing by studying Pinterest graphics on how to set up in manual exposure and all that, but let me tell you…It is hard.  Getting it just right for the setting and the light you’re in is a real skill. I’m still working on it but I thought I’d share some photos that I’ve taken since I got it.

I haven’t really ventured into the world of presets yet in Lightroom, so all of these photos were manually edited based on the light I took them in…So please be gentle. I’m learning!  Can you tell that my baby girl loves the camera?

They’re not perfect, and to be honest, I shot most of the pictures on auto…But I’ll get there! Hope you enjoyed these pictures of my adorable little girl.

Finally Fall

I never thought I’d be saying this, but I’m so happy that it’s fall.  Today I turned the heat on at the house.  There’s something about the smell of turning your heat on for the first time in months…I’ve also put in all my Fall Scentsy wax melts and put up my adorable fall wreath.

Today I’m celebrating fall by watching Gilmore Girls, having soup for lunch, and wearing a cozy sweatshirt.  There is so much family fun to be had during the fall season in Utah.  If you’re looking for me this fall, here’s where I’ll be:

1// The Mabey’s Pumpkin Patch

Every year my family does an annual pumpkin carving contest.  We stroll through the Mabey’s Pumpkin Patch, fill up our wheel barrel with pumpkins and run home to carve them. The Mabey’s also have an adorable set up with hay bales and picture perfect pumpkins to take fall photos in their yard.  It’s adorable and we hope they never stop growing pumpkins. 

Clara clearly loved the pumpkin patch her first year and our pumpkins turned out looking pretty great.

2// Gardner Village Witch Fest

Gardner Village is a cute little historic village in West Jordan, UT.  Every fall they have “Witch Fest” coupled with lots of different events like scavenger hunts, kid-friendly obstacle courses, plenty of photo ops with the witches, dinner theatre, a 5k, breakfast with witches, and all kinds of other fun things.  I want to look into basically all of them for my family.

3// Canyon Drives

Corey isn’t from Utah, so last year when we drove up to Oktoberfest (that’s at Snowbird and is also a great fall activity) he was mesmerized by the changing leaves.  There are so many canyons to choose from too that all have different things to see.  I like to drive up Big Cotton Wood Canyon personally.

4// Heber Valley Railroad Pumpkin Train

Our family did this last year and we had a pretty good time.  The ride up to Heber is beautiful and so is the town.  It would probably be best for kids ages 3-7. They also do a Christmas event that is a longer train ride and I think there is dinner involved, but don’t quote me.

5// Corn mazes and haunted houses

Okay so you will NOT find me in the maze or the haunted house, but most Corn mazes have other activities too like petting zoos, giant slides, and other fun photo ops.  There are all kinds of them around here. The one we’ve been to was Cornbelly’s.  I’ll be honest, we were in that maze for a long time.  It was cold and my arm was broken…But I’m sure it’s fun for other people!

One of the best things about today being the first day of fall, is that I’m doing a giveaway!  I’m teaming up with two Scentsy consultants Alexis & Jessica and I’m giving away a warmer, three Fall wax melts, and a full LipSense Starter kit. (P.S. If already has a starter kit and you want a different gloss we can do that!) The giveaway will close at Midnight on September 30th.

Here’s how you enter, the first one gets you in, and all the rest are extra chances to win!

  1.  Head over to my Instagram page and follow me @confidentlykatie
  2. Like the photo for this giveaway
  3. Tag a friend! Each one you tag is an additional entry.
  4. Join my LipSense group  (If you’re already in, you’re automatically entered!)
  5. Join Alexis’s VIP Scentsy Group
  6. Comment on this blog post with your favorite fall activities no matter where you live.
  7. Make a purchase! If you make a Scentsy or LipSense purchase before the 9/30 you will earn 1/2 the dollar amount in giveaway entries!

 

Achieving Work Life Balance

As you may know, my full-time gig involves me sitting behind a desk all day.  I work in the managed care industry for a start up that is growing like crazy. I like to think I’ve had something to do with that growth.  However it has also meant learning some hard lessons about work life balance.  Being a young professional with no degree, I feel really lucky to have landed this role, and for a while, I was on a mission to prove that I deserved it.  Because of that, it was like I never stopped working and you can assume that didn’t end well.

Today is all about how I quit allowing work to run my life and became more present in my home and really in my life.

1// Realize that you cannot fix everything

A lot of my late nights at the office, or even late night at home working on various projects were caused by a desire to save the world.  Our company is growing fast and there are some growing pains associated with that.  I wasn’t going to single handedly fix it all, and 90% of the work I was doing overtime and after hours could have waited until I got into work the next day.

2// Get rid of your email notifications

If you can, don’t allow your email on your phone to send you push notifications unless you have to! It changed my life not to see those “urgent” emails that couldn’t wait.  Newsflash.  They could wait.  There was the occasional emergency, but generally if it’s a big enough issue, people will just call you.  So cut them out!

3// Get organized and work so that it doesn’t have to come home with you

Getting organized at work is a major challenge for me.  My workflow gets interrupted all day long due to the nature of my job, so I had to figure out someway to deal with that.  I started making to-do lists and tracking my daily tasks so that I would complete what needed to be done and I didn’t have to stay at work late or take those tasks home.  There are still time when things get away from me and I do have to do them at home, but those nights are so fewer and further between since I began focusing task management.

4// Be honest with your leadership about your family situation

I know that this can be a bit of a sticky topic.  With the mommy tax and all…I know that a mom is less likely to get hired than a dad or a childless woman…But we’re past hiring.  We’re in the role.  We’re doing the work.  Make sure your boss knows that you have a family at home and they’re a priority to you.  If someone calls during dinner you can answer and say “I’m having dinner with my family.  Would you mind if I call you back later?”  or “Can you send me an email about that and I can work on that after I have dinner with my family?”  Make it clear that you have boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed when we can help it.

5// Consider how this time will be remembered

I love Corey and Clara with all of my heart.  I’ll really cherish these memories that we’ve made together…but one day I was thinking about what Clara would remember about her childhood, or what Corey and I would reminisce about when she gets older.  I thought “I wonder if Clara will remember me working this much?”  and “I wonder if Corey will just remember, Clara started crawling while Katie was answering emails on her phone.”  That was a wake up call for me.  I didn’t want work to be what we remembered about this amazing time in our lives.

It can be a struggle, but it really helps me to do these things and to consider how I want these days to be remembered. How do you maintain work life balance?

5 on Friday: Katie Lately

This week has been a busy one!  The company I work for is undergoing some serious growth and because of that the work week is flying by every. Single. Week.  It’s nice to sit down at my computer and slow things down for a second while I blog.

Today I’m sharing 5 on Friday.  5 on Friday posts will vary, but today I’m sharing 5 things about me.

1//  I just started doing Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide (BBG). 

It’s so hard! I started up a few weeks ago and I fell out of the pattern due to things being so busy at work and with Clara’s first birthday plans, but I’m back at week one and I am dying.  It’s amazing though and I definitely plan to share more about it here as I go.

2//  I have recently discovered a love for cooking and baking.

I have never hated cooking, but I mostly saw it as a necessity.  It wasn’t something I regarded as fun.  But recently I’ve been loving putting together a new recipe, putting my own spin on the things I find on Pinterest, and force feeding those concoctions to my family and co-workers.  If you follow me on IG (@confidentlykatie) , you probably already know this!

3//  I recently became a Dave Ramsey listener…

Ya’ll this is changing my life.  Changing my life.  I previous read Anna Newel Jones’s book about her Spending Fast and I was pretty motivated then, but Dave Ramsey provides a whole new dimension to money and budgeting.  I’m currently working on a zero balance budge for Corey and I.  I’d also be happy to share this later, provided I can get my life together.

4// In January I started going to a non-denominational church

Growing up in Utah and being raised mostly LDS, churches like mine were a completely foreign concept to me.  Since my family has started going to The Well, I’ve seen remarkable changes in my life and I have been so very blessed by the community I have found there.  I’m surprised too. If you’re local to Utah and you’re interested in checking it out, I highly recommend it.

5//   I have never obsessed about fall….that is until this year.

For some reason I am dying for it to get cold enough for my boots and scarves.  I swear I have never been like this before.  I’m a spring and summer kind of girl.  To be honest, though, this is a pleasant surprise.  It’s great to be looking forward to the seasons ahead.

10 Things You Need to Know Before Joining an MLM

I decided it’s time to address the elephant in the room.  I joined an MLM company.  That stands for “multi-level marketing”.  This is also called direct sales.

Personally it surprised me too.  I did it sort of on a whim really. But I haven’t really regretted it. I’ve had to learn some lessons along the way, but I really don’t believe that MLMs should be demonized like they are. I do, however think that they can be a very slippery slope and all sales and recruiting strategies should be approached with caution.  To help educate people a little bitter I want to share 10 things you need to know before you join an MLM.  This post is jam packed with information that can really help you if you’re looking to “join the team” for any mul

So you have more background.  I am an independent SeneGence Distributor. That’s the company that sells LipSense.  It’s an extremely popular liquid lip color.  The company has been around since the 80s, but it has really picked up traction in the last year or so and has grown immensely.  They carry a full line of cosmetics and skin care with an emphasis on anti aging products.  If you want to learn more visit Lost in the Gloss (that’s a page in my blog, not my Facebook Group!)

 

1 // MLMs all have different compensations structures.  Know yours before you join!

It may seem like a great gig when you see people making $20,000 a month.  Yes I say a month.  But not everyone is making that! Make sure you understand what type of work is required for you to get to that point and how much time you may have to invest in growing you sales and your team.

2 // MLMs have rules! Breaking the Compliance Policies can get you kicked right out!

While posting your inventory on Ebay might be good for your sales, it’s more than likely a good way to get banned from your MLM.  There could be other rules too like, you can’t name your group the company name, or you can’t price products lower than a certain amount.  These compliance rules help you. They’re intended to help you make the most profit and level the playing field with other distributors.

3 // Recruiting is hard

Seriously you guys.  Recruiting is not easy.  Talking to your friends and family about joining can be really awkward.  You have to be willing to really put yourself out there.  I personally haven’t recruited anyone, but I’m mostly focusing on sales.  If I put the work in, I’d more than likely see the reward. Which is a prefect segue into my next point.

4 // MLMs take serious work to make money

It looks really dreamy, I know. The person who recruited you said it would be easy and they are rolling in the dough.  What they might have left out is that they had to work their tail off to get to that point. That’s not a bad thing at all.  Just know that making money in direct sales isn’t automatic.  You have to sell and you have to recruit.  Period.

5 // You don’t need hundreds of dollars worth of stock to get going

You guys.  Please please please do not believe you need a huge stock to start up!  Your upline wants you to order more product because it helps them.  But do not order more than you can sell.  I repeat.  DO NOT order more than you can sell! Yes, maybe order a larger volume order will give you a better discount, but if you’re order more than you can sell it is literally null.  It means NOTHING. If you have some disposable income and you can wait a while to make some money on it, go ahead.  But if not, just start small! Order a few products for yourself to show off and get to selling.  Order AFTER you have those invoices paid and you will see a profit right then.

6 // It can take some time to pick up the pace

I joined my MLM in April. It’s August and I have just started making some money off my sales.  Part of that is because I started to sell a little more aggressively.  It’s amazing, the more work I put in, the better I do.

7// The people at the top are there because they hustled

MLMs have a bad reputation. They are constantly compared to “pyramid schemes” which have a similar business model, but result in no real products or gain for the seller or the consumer.  The intent in a pyramid scheme is to get you to spend a large amount of money on nothing and give you none of that back.

That is not the case with MLMs.  Yes there are people above you making money off your sales or your purchases, but they are making money off your sales because they brought you into the business.  Maybe the mentored you and helped you learn how to sell or to recruit.  And they did that with many others.  So they got to the top by selling, recruiting and hard work.

8// You can just join for the discount

Some MLMs are designed so that you can get the products that you love at a less expensive price.  Do your research and figure out what will get you the most bang for your buck.  If the cost to sign up and the amount you plan to order will save you in the end, then go for it.  You do NOT have to sell the products in all MLMs.

9// LOTS of people have opinions about MLMs and you need to be prepared for them.

Kind of like I said in number 7, there are a lot of people who don’t believe that MLMs work.  People will probably want to tell you their opinion and you have to decide how you want to react.  Personally I just say “it just depends on how you look at it.”  and I stop there.  It’s best to make up your own mind about them and jump in if you want.

10// Not everyone is cut out for MLMs

Seriously. This.  If it isn’t working out for you, you don’t have to keep at it.  And if you do want it to work, ask for help! There are LOTS of people above you who have had success that will be willing to help you. If they aren’t willing to help you, you may have joined the wrong MLM and it’s probably best to get out anyway.

How Podcasts Changed My Life

I discovered podcasts, I kid you not, about a month ago.  I knew they existed, but I just didn’t understand why people listened to them.  I pictured all podcasts being like NPR (which is fine, but I just figured it was all so serious).  I didn’t even know where to find them!

If you’re like me and you’re thinking “what’s the deal with podcasts…?”  Keep reading.  This one’s for you.

Let’s start with where to find them:

I found my first podcast on Spotify (aka the best $15 I spend every month).  I was getting ready to do some cleaning and realized there was a podcast option on there and I decided to give it a click. In case you’re unaware, this is how you find your podcasts on Spotify 

If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can also access them by going into one of those built in apps called “Podcasts”  and you can access podcasts for free. I literally didn’t even know they were free!

You can also find podcasts on some of your favorite websites if they happen to have a podcast.

When I discovered podcasts, I did what any millennial does:  I asked my Facebook friends for suggestions.  They all gave me tons of great ones to listen to.  I listened to at least one or two episodes of everyone’s suggestions.  Some I liked a lot more than others and I totally binged on those…

I’m sure you’re thinking, “okay, Katie, that’s cool, but like…how did that discovery change your life?”  To show you how, I’m going to share some of my favorite podcasts and how they have had a positive impact on my life.

++ 99% Invisible

This was my first podcast.  If you haven’t listened, I highly recommend you go download an episode now.  Listening to Roman Mars speak is one of my favorite parts of each week. But how did 99PI change my life?  It’s all about the thought that goes into the things we never think about.  It really makes me appreciate the little things.  It brings up forgotten parts of our society and the small things that make up all the bigs things in our life.  When I look around I see the things that are 99% invisible and I like that.

++ Stuff Mom Never Told You 

If you’re a woman and you haven’t listened to this podcast, stop what you’re doing and go listen.  I have never considered myself a feminist, but Emilie and Bridget make me really think about why we need feminism.  They help me to recognize some of the completely absurd things that occur around me.  Because of this podcast, I pay attention to the world trying to disadvantage me because I’m a woman and I don’t let it happen to me. It’s not all about feminism, but it’s definitely all about being aware of who we are in today’s society.

++The Influencer Podcast

If you’re a blogger, a brand, or just a person who wants to be better at interacting with people in the online world, you need to listen to this podcast.  Julie Solomon has changed me!  They way I think about influencing others is forever altered because of what she and some of the guests on her show have shared. She is truly what inspired me to get back into blogging and share my heart.  She preaches authenticity and that is definitely what I’m going for.

So if you haven’t ventured into the world of podcasts, I recommend that you give it a shot.  You might just change your life.

I Tried Fabletics and This is What Happened

A few months ago, I started getting serious about my work out routine.  Being in the military it’s my job to be in shape, but my postpartum body has been struggling with it.   Believe it or not, a huge part of my struggle was that I didn’t have a lot of  work out clothes that fit me well enough to work out in.  Enter Fabletics.

I had seen the ads over and over and I decided that I wanted to give it a shot. If you’re considering giving Fabletics a shot, check out this post…

What is Fabletics?

Fabletics is an online athletic wear shop.  Or so it seems.  It’s actually an athletic wear subscription site although it really doesn’t look like it on the surface.  In fact, I didn’t even know it was until well after I made my first purchase. When you’re creating your VIP account, there are no disclaimers that pop up that tell you that your card will be charged monthly and you have to physically click on “how it works” for this to be explained.  Even then, the explanation is more than half way down the page.

The VIP membership charges your card $50 every month unless you cancel it.  Before I wrote this post, I checked my bank account, and I’ll be damned, I was charged that $50 for an outfit. I didn’t even know.  I attribute this to a few things:

  1. I made my purchase on my phone.  There were no pop ups that explained this and when I was putting in my card information, it appeared to be for only that purchase.
  2. I didn’t receive any outfits, so even when I had figured out that it was a subscription site I figured that because I hadn’t gotten any outfits, it must not have subscribed me.  I did it right.

Wrong.

You have to go on the site and opt out by the 5th of the month if you want to “skip” that month and not be charged. And canceling cannot be done on the site. You have to make a phone call or start a live chat (I tried the live chat option and the people didn’t respond fast enough and I had to leave). Never the less, I made the purchase and tried the products.

 

The Buying Experience

It was pretty easy to choose the outfits that I wanted.  It was the same as any e-commerce site.  You select what you want and add it to your cart.  Once I got to check out though, I had to try 5 or 6 times to actually make the purchase.  The point of sale system wasn’t working right and I had to start over 3 times.  I almost canceled my transaction I was so frustrated. Eventually though, I was able to check out and my outfits were on their way.

Shipping and packaging

My outfits came in inexpensive clear packaging and it took the full 10 business days to receive them.  At one point I got an email that said it would take a little longer to get my outfits.  Then I actually forgot that I had ordered them until they came.  This isn’t a huge complaint though.  I’m not the type to pay extra for faster shipping so waiting a while comes with the territory.

The Fit

I set up my profile as a M size 8 which is what consistent with most of my currently clothes which some exceptions.  I read a few articles about the fit of Fabletics and most things said that they were true to size, so I went with this.

My gray pants fit perfectly, but the bra was a little bit awkward.  The elastic on the bottom is very wide and the fit was a little bit different than I was used to, but after I wore it for a while it grew on me.

The flower outfit fit pretty well and was very comfortable. I think I ordered the right size for this.  It seems that different outfits may be from different manufacturers, so the fit may not always be quite perfect, however that’s true with most online retailers.

I think the most important thing to mention about the fit though is that I felt so confident in these.  I’m not super thin and I often feel self conscious when I’m showing off more than I’m used to, but I didn’t feel that way in these.  I actual went outside to take photos in them because I felt quite good about myself.

The Quality

In general I’d say the quality is an 8 out of 10.

I have only worn the flower shorts twice and they look like they’re pulling a little at the seam in the crotch, and it’s wearing a hole. However this could very well be because of the size.  Maybe I need a slightly larger bottom for these.

I’d say the quality was pretty okay for what I ordered.

The Price Tag

The total cost ended up being $57.67 after tax and shipping.  I think it was fairly reasonable for two outfits at fairly good quality.  I can justify paying nearly $60 for it. I’ll more than likely end up making at least 1 more purchase.  I have a credit for another outfit because I didn’t know it was a subscription…

Overall Impression

Pros: Pricing was fair and I did like the products I purchased.  They are definitely stylish and with the athletic wear trends of week.  I’d say the biggest pro is that I felt great in both of these outfits.  They put me a little bit outside of my comfort zone and it really seemed to work out well for me.  I should also note that I did work out in them and they performed well there too.

Cons: The site isn’t clear about what you’re signing up for.  I intended to only make one purchase and ended paying another $50 by accident. I just ordered another outfit to take advantage of my accidental subscribing…

Overall, I won’t keep the subscription, because I don’t need $50 worth of work out clothes every month, but I might pop in from time to time and buy some very stylish work out gear.

New Blog Who Dis?

I’ve been one of those inconsistent hobby blogger for years.  I started my first blog at 18 and never found my groove.   I’ve always struggled to find my niche and I couldn’t ever really figure out why.

Well I now I know.  Because I was trying WAY too hard to write content that everyone and their dog could relate to instead of writing content that I could relate to.  And seems how it’s my blog, I should probably be able to relate to the content I write, huh?

And so was born Confidently Katie.  Here you can expect to see a pretty wide variety of things, but I think you could generally fit most things into these categories:

Health and wellness posts about my fitness journey

Parenting (and how I rarely have any idea what I’m doing)

Professional success and happiness

Saving money, paying of a mountain of debt, & how it’s changing my life

And how I’ve fought against all odds and chosen happiness for myself, my daughter, and my relationship.  I hope you’ll take a second to Follow my blog with Bloglovin, subscribe to my monthly newsletter, and join me on social media.

Wedding Planning: Building Your Budget

Even before I got engaged, I, like many other women, was planning my hypothetical wedding. I would pin beautiful, dreamy photos all over my Pinterest boards and dream of my amazing and extravagant wedding.  I’m still doing it, but now I’m thinking much more realistically.  I’m focused.  I’m only pinning things that I think have real potential for my wedding day. 

As I started to get more serious with my Pins, I figured it would probably be a good idea to get a little more serious with the big details that really matter when you plan a wedding:  Budget.

Some people can pretty easily determine their budget.  They’ll do what all the blogs and wedding pros tell them to do:  Take the average cost of a wedding in your area, split it up into the expected percentages and plan to spend about that much.  Period.

While that might be nice I know that the average cost of a wedding in Utah is WAY more than I plan to spend on our wedding.  Then I went to work looking for other ways to design a budget.  I thought about giving myself a set limit of what I thought I could afford and running with that, but I didn’t even really know what that was going to be.  So I started searching high and low for other great tools to help me set my budget.

When I realized they don’t exist, I decided to make my own.  I designed this process and spreadsheet after endless research and a lot of listening to wedding pro podcasts.

1//  Sit down and discuss what is most important to you and your Fiance

This is the most important step to determining your budget.  This will help give you an idea where you’d like to spend a little more money, and where you’d be okay with trimming the fat.  Check out my post about each wedding element and how they contribute to the big day.

2// Write your guest list

All the pros will tell you, guest list determines your budget. 3 big factors rely on guest list:  Venue, catering, and stationary & postage.  

I started with writing our “A-List”.  The A-List consists of all of the people who absolutely must be invited to our wedding.  It has the bridal party and their significant others, the bride and groom’s immediate family, closest friends, and others who we feel are “essential” guests at our wedding.  We also have a “B-list” for “No” RSVPS, and if we have some wiggle room in our budget once everything is all priced out.

3// Find your top 4 or 5 favorite Venues and get an average cost

Personally, I reviewed their pricing before I added them to my list.  If I felt like any part of their prices was outrageous, they didn’t make the list.  I also tried to pay attention to the fact that some of the vendors are full service and have a lot more included for the price.  This means a few of the more expensive venues made the list if they offered linens, set-up & tear-down, coordinators etc. Remember, you will need to make sure all of your venue options can hold the number of invitees!

4//  Find your top 4 or 5 favorite caterers and get an average cost

In doing my research I have found that not all catering services are created equal. Some provide full service, others drop of trays with little to no set up or clean up.  This made the pricing vary quite a bit.  Remember to use that guest list number here when making your estimates and getting quotes.

5//