I have put a lot of thought into this and I have decided to finally open up some space on With Faith & Grace for advertising. As you can see in the right hand column, there is space for sponsors just below my Twitter feed. It’s a prominent location, with space for 5 ads that will rotate with each pageview for maximum exposure.

I recently discovered Passionfruit which will help organize and manage my ads. I haven’t put it into action just yet, but the start-up process was incredibly easy and free. The only cost comes once someone purchases an ad — Passionfruit will take $1 from the price and then there is a percentage taken as fees for the processing. Passionfruit takes all the ads and organizes and rotates them automatically, so I don’t have to worry about any sizing or coding issues. I’m really excited to see how it all works out. Luckily, you don’t have to wait. Passionfruit is automatic so you can get your first ad rotating for 30 days starting today!

Although With Faith & Grace is a relatively new blog, I have 2,000+ visitors a month, plus almost 3,000 Twitter followers and 420 Pinterest followers. Returning sponsors will also have special discounted rates. Sponsors will also be included in a monthly round-up to have more opportunities to share about yourself and what you’re all about.

I’m specifically interested in hosting other twentysomething bloggers, life coaches and authors, and Etsy businesses. I’ll also accept diabetes bloggers, although I will be opening ad space up at The Blood Sugar Whisperer soon.

Have questions? Leave a comment or drop me a note and we can sort out any issues!

For the past few months, I’ve been fairly single-minded when it comes to my dreams and aspirations: get into nursing school and become a diabetes educator. But that’s not the only thing I’m looking forward to. I thought I’d take a break from all the school talk and share some of my other hopes and dreams.

Traveling to Europe -

I’ve been to Europe twice, to France in 2003 and England in 2008. I would love to go back again before we have children. A few countries on my list to see include Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden and Norway. I don’t think we’ll see all of those before having kids, but I would love to see them eventually!

Being a Mother –

Another huge diabetes goal is to have a successful pregnancy and have a baby. I’ve written a bit about this in the past, and I’m sure I’ll be writing about it in the future. With nursing school on the horizon, motherhood is not an immediate plan but it’s definitely something I hope to do soon!

Writing a Book -

I’m currently working on my first book right now and I’m really excited to get it into the hands of other young adults with diabetes. I never thought I would write a book, mostly because I could never decide what to write about! It’s a daunting task, but I’m really enjoying it so far and I can’t wait to publish it!

Running a Marathon -

I’ve only been running for a few months (and not so much lately because I’ve had some frustrating mid-run lows), but one of my dreams is to run a full-length marathon. The marathon I really want to run is the one in Portland, OR. I think it would be great to have my first marathon be in my hometown, although that would mean traveling pretty far! I would be fine running a local one here in the Northeast, but I definitely want to run one in Oregon eventually.

Meeting More Twentysomething Bloggers -

I really want to meet more twentysomething bloggers! I have only met a handful, and most of them were so long ago that I doubt most of them even remember me. I don’t think I was very memorable back then because I was so shy and not really comfortable as a “twentysomething blogger.” Nowadays I feel like I’ve made more connections, so I’m looking forward to building more IRL relationships. If anyone wants to meet me, let me know!

Becoming Debt Free –

I’ve been in debt practically forever. We have almost paid off my personal credit card (only $900 to go!) but we have several thousand dollars on our credit card, and it’s only going to get worse with me going back to school. I would love to be debt-free and then never, ever go back into it! (Except for a mortgage.)

Creating a Hospitality-Focused Home -

I love having people over to our apartment. Hosting parties is one of my favorite things to do and I think my guests have a pretty good time too! We’re not in the financial place to buy a nice big house, but someday I would love to have a home with an open-concept space so that it’s easier to entertain. People really do love to congregate in the kitchen and ours is so tiny!

What are some of your hopes and dreams?

Spaghetti? You ask. But I thought this was a Paleo recipe!

It is, my friend. Oh it is. It also happens to be the best spaghetti bolognese ever, minus the grains, of course. The Spaghetti Bolognese from the cookbook Practical Paleo has become a mainstay in our culinary repetoire, and I’m very excited to share it with you today. For anyone who is looking for some Italian deliciousness without sacrificing blood sugars or waistlines, this is for you.

The two best features of this recipe are the spaghetti squash, which takes place of the traditional pasta, and the bacon. The bacon adds a little “somethin’ somethin’” to the Paleo bolognese, which includes ground turkey and beef, carrots, onions, celery, and garlic along with tomato paste and coconut milk.

Spaghetti squash is incredibly easy to make. Although we started off microwaving it, we found that the squash is much softer and more pasta-like if you slice it in half and then roast it for about 40 minutes while you cook up the bolognese sauce. The sauce is also very easy. All you need to do is sauté the chopped veggies, toss in the meat until browned, pour in the milk and spoon in the sauce and then let it sit for about twenty minutes.

What’s your favorite healthy substitution?

Have you tried the 7-minute workout?

It’s that time of year — spring cleaning hacks for your apartment

Check out these crazy fast food items served around the world

I found this video because the Duggars are in it, but I thought it was an interesting look at childfree couples

65 Books You Need to Read in Your 20s

The funniest video about two men who experiencing the pain of labor

Doniree gives some insight into those “free content” pitches us bloggers receive

An older blog I stumbled upon about women who are obsessed with Mormon lifestyle bloggers

New Spock vs. Old Spock

Apparently loneliness is not just bad for your mental health, it’s bad for your physical health!

This weekend, Erik and I are going to the Gardiner Cupcake Festival with our downstairs neighbors. Yep – a cupcake festival! I went last year when Erik was in Minnesota for a wedding, and I have to tell you, I am so excited to go again! Afterward we are going to see the new Star Trek movie. Woot!

Watching… the last bit of television that I can get my hands on. In an effort to save some more money, Erik and I are ditching our cable. I have never gone without regular TV since I was in college so this is going to be so weird. But all my favorite TV shows are available online so there’s really no reason to spend so much money on it. Has anyone else ever ditched their cable?

Waiting… to hear about nursing schools. I have been waitlisted to one school, and I haven’t heard back from the other one. The anxiety is driving me crazy!

Thankful… that I had a chance to hang out with my dad last weekend. We had a lot of fun eating seafood along the Sound and then we went to the city to walk around Tribeca and saw the World Trade Center. Erik and my dad went inside to the grounds to see the memorial, but I had a low blood sugar so I skipped out. Anyone want to go with me? I’m also thankful that Spring term is over! It was so hard and I’m looking forward to relaxing before I have to start summer term (I have a few more pre-reqs I have to finish).

Excited… that Erik and I are going to Boston for Memorial Day weekend! We haven’t gone anywhere just the two of us since our one year anniversary trip last July. We got a good deal on a hotel from Hotwire, although it’s just a Holiday Inn. We’re planning on checking out some museums, hang out in Boston Commons, and, of course, get some of my beloved Peet’s coffee!

Working… on my book again! I’m so excited to finally have some more flexibility to work on it again. There are several more interviews I want to conduct but it’s been hard with such a rigid school schedule. It can’t accommodate the busy schedules of most physicians. I’m also thinking about how I want to publish it next year. I’m thinking I might release it as an ebook and a downloadable PDF for people to print off their own if they want. I want to make it as easy and affordable for people, and since so many people have said that people don’t really buy books anymore, I’m wondering what my best options are. So we’ll see!

Loving… sunflower butter; country music; ice cream; our new headboard; spring weather; my continuous glucose monitor; reading new awesome blogs; Candy Crush (no matter how aggravating it really is).

I just finished finals and my brain is fried. So you get another Tuesday Wisdom even though I just did one last week.

Happy Tuesday!

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For a few weeks, I’ve been thinking about launching a new blog about diabetes called The Blood Sugar Whisperer.

I know what you’re thinking: Why do you need to start a new blog about diabetes? Don’t you already talk about diabetes here?

Well, yes and no. Although I’ve tried for many months (years, even) to incorporate the two sides of my life, I’ve come to the realization that there are just some things that the average non-diabetic doesn’t give two hoots about and those are things that I’d like the freedom to talk about a little more frequently. I don’t necessarily want to talk about diabetes every day, but I’d like the option to post my thoughts about what’s going on in the D-community without wondering if I’m totally going to bore everyone else. Diabetes is so highly specialized that I sometimes feel awkward trying to explain what I’m saying to my non-D readers while simultaneously trying to help my D-readers. It’s just complicated and I want to try something new to see if it gets better.

In addition, I’m also working on a book and am also trying to ramp up my freelancing career, and I feel like having a place that is specifically devoted to diabetes will make my “marketability” a little better. I guess everything really does come down to branding, huh?

Of course, I’m not going to give up With Faith & Grace. Heavens no! If anything, this will help me focus a little bit more on topics on this end of the Allison spectrum. Nothing will change, actually, you just might see more things along the lines of health and fitness, personal development, and relationships with significant others, friends and family. Sound good? Good.

So if you haven’t already checked out, you can head on over. I’d love to hear what you think!

There’s more to weight loss than the scale

I love this woman’s take on why she doesn’t “eat Paleo” — or any other diet

This is a beautiful letter from the founder of Shabby Apple to her daughter

Wallpaper for renters!

I’m not a big reader of The Bloggess, but I adore her Rules for Life

Ashley Wilhite shares these great free resources for young women

A time lapse of various locations around the world — the Amazon, Dubai, the glaciers — from 1984 until now!

How do straight people respond when asked if heterosexuality is a choice?

Elizabeth Smart fights against the purity obsession

This weekend my dad is in town! Every few months he’ll come out here for a business trip, so we take advantage of him being in the area. This weekend also marks one years since I was last in Oregon and last saw my mom. Hopefully she and my dad will be out here this summer to visit!

The title of this post was a recent search term for this blog. Can I say Wow? Obviously, the searcher landed here because of Stephany’s amazing post on being a messy Christian, but I thought this was a perfect prompt for today because it’s certainly something I’ve struggled with on and off for the better part of my life as a Christ-follower.

I think it’s almost become a bit of a cliche to say “I’m a messy Christian.” I’m not sure I’ve ever actually met someone who didn’t think that, but what strikes me as ironic is the fact that we always think we are the only ones. We think we are the only ones who have doubts or anger-issues or lustful thoughts or that nasty habit of trying to anticipate and control every freaking thing in our life. When I first became a Christian and was finally spending some quality time around other Christians in college, it was amazing how often I didn’t hear people say “I’m a messy Christian.” What I saw — and heard — were a lot of people praising Jesus, committing to a life of purity, to calling every freaking thing a blessing. Lots of hands-raised, eyes-closed, soul-singing worship that I just couldn’t wrap my head around.

The older I’ve gotten and the more time I’ve spent around Christians, the more I’ve realized that although we might not be talking about our dirty little secrets, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

A few months ago, my pastor got really sick. Like really sick. Hospital ridden kind of sick and the doctors had no clue what was wrong with him. Then, finally, on Easter Sunday, our pastor was back. It was a bit of a miracle and we were so grateful to have him back. One of the things that really struck me though was that during his sermon, he started talking about his doubts in God. Not that he didn’t believe in God, but he started to wonder where He was. Why was this happening? When would it end? And I remember thinking how awesome it was that here is our pastor, the man who we trust to guide us in our walks with Christ, telling us that even he has doubts and concerns about God’s plan and that doesn’t make us a bad Christian. It makes us normal!

How refreshing to have these concerns and questions be a normal, integral part of our existence.

I think my college experience as a Christian was sort of a sanitized version of what life with Christ would really be like. I think that a lot of what Campus Crusade for Christ and the Navigators wanted to do was to make sure they kept us safe from the “evils” of the world, almost like they were our college parents trying to keep us out of trouble. But the problem is that when you try to stop someone from doing something, you can intentionally or unintentionally brand that act as something evil or unworthy or whatever. And so when you end up doing XYZ or believing XYZ, somehow you might think that you’re broken. Whether you’ve had pre-marital sex or you think homosexuality is just fine or whether you’re just not sure that God is actually listening, all of these various “non-Christian” behaviors can make you feel pretty lousy. Like it’s not even worth trying.

Every so often, over the past 10 years or so since I became a Christian, I’ve thought that I just don’t belong in this club. It’s too much work, I’d think. The Christian culture isn’t my style. The standards are way too high. I mean, have you read the Bible? And even those who supposedly are amongst the highest of the leaders, pastors and authors and teachers who are famous for telling us about God and the Bible, don’t seem to be doing the best job at being a Christian, or if they are doing a good job at being a Christian, then being a Christian just isn’t for me.

But along the way I’ve picked up a few additional thoughts on being a messy Christian, and it starts with what I talked about at the beginning of the post. First, that being a messy Christian is okay. That being human is messy and being a Christian doesn’t take away your humanity. It enriches our experience, but it doesn’t make us mindless robots who can’t think — and doubt, and worry, and wonder — for themselves. The second thing is that there is no one way to do this. Each of Jesus’s disciples were unique in their own way, and they had their own struggles in their beliefs. And they actually knew the guy! So it’s not impossible or inconceivable for us to be the same.

Lastly: being a Christian is about following Christ, not about following other people. Other people may have an opinion on what you should do and how you should act and what you should believe, but at the end of the day, this is your relationship with God. There are plenty of examples in the Bible of God loving messy but wonderfully human people. There’s no reason to think He would love me too. Messiness and all.

This is always how it goes. I start off strong with exercise. I get into my groove with something that I think I like. A week goes by. Then another. Maybe a month. Possibly two. But then something happens. Something always happens that stops me in my tracks and completely derails my efforts.

This time it’s finals week, which means I haven’t put in an appearance at the gym or laced up my sneakers in at least a week. I don’t know why I always let a busy schedule get in the way of exercising. I’ve found plenty of time to (attempt to) conquer Candy Crush on Facebook. But run? Weight train? No way, no how.

My husband keeps asking me when I’m going to go back to the gym. I keep saying soon. Or next week. Or whatever. And it’s funny because I do miss running and I feel badly that I’ve completely slacked on the Best Body Bootcamp, something I’ve spent so much time hyping up. I don’t really know why I get so easily side tracked with exercise when I know that it is one of the biggest priorities I have for myself right now.

I know I’m not the only one who goes through this. And I suppose sometimes a break is good because you don’t want to get stressed out and burnt out on anything. I just wish that I was at the point where running was the thing that I wanted to do when I’m stressed out and frustrated about school and money, but it isn’t. Reruns of House Hunters and crushing candy are the things that bring me comfort and I sort of feel pathetic about that.

I suppose I should pat myself on the back for not retreating to candy or ice cream (I guess something from Paleo has stuck). Although last night after dinner I asked Erik if we had any dessert in the house and he was (obviously) all “No…” and so I started whining. And then he asked me if I was trying to eat my feelings.

Maaaaybe.

Did you know my husband signed up for a marathon? I don’t think I’ve written about it, and I don’t even think he’s announced it on Facebook. Well, he is. In October in Upstate New York. There’s a half-marathon attached to it that we talked about having me run. I thought it would be cool to run a half-marathon. The course looks really pretty and flat. Of course, given my track record of not going more than 3 miles without having a low blood sugar, I’m not entirely sure how feasible that is just yet. But I suppose it’s good to have something to work towards.

Running a half marathon, huh? I suppose that means I should start running again.