Category Archives: Brave

Where The Heck Have I Been?

Year of Yes by Shonda RhimesGood afternoon, my peeps!!

I realize it has been quite a while since I have blogged, and instead of going through everything that has happened between then and now, I thought I would just one thing with you from this hiatus that is making a lot of difference in my life right now. I read a book, yes, I know shocking right??? I read the book, Year of Yes, How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person, by Shonda Rhimes, and I can honestly say, that for me, it is a GAME CHANGER!!! 🙂

Rhonda Rhimes is a television producer and writer. She is the creator, head writer, executive producer and showrunner of the medical drama television series Grey’s Anatomy, its spin-off Private Practice, and the political thriller series Scandall, She is also the executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder. As amazing as these shows are, I really have never seen any of them. I can’t remember where I had originally heard about her or her book, but I think I heard about it a couple of times before I broke down and picked up my own copy!

When I finally sat down to start reading this book, I couldn’t put it down, and I read it in one sitting! Quickly after starting the book, I knew that I was in love! Rhonda’s style of writing is very much like you are sitting down and having some tea with a really good girlfriend!! She is extremely funny, and she seems like someone I would LOVE to be friends with! 🙂

I could really relate to Shonda’s story of being such an introverted homebody, and the way that she loved to play as a child in her pantry cupboards, in her make believe world, with her cans of peas, and creamed corn! I knew exactly what she was saying, because I have always been that person too! More comfortable in my head, in my safe make believe world that I always use as my safety net to shield me from anything scary in life. I related to the way that she found that she was always very quick to say no to so many things that came her way, and when she decided to dedicate the next year of her life to saying Yes to the things that she wanted to do, but scared the hell out of her, it inspired me to do the same thing.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Man Yes is so much harder than I thought it was going to be, but so far this year, I have gotten promoted at work, with a nice raise and I took a road trip to California (that old Chrissie would NEVER have said yes to)! I am now signed up to go to the Brave Girl Symposium in Boise, Idaho in July, and I am currently working my way through Marie Forleo’s B-School course!! WHEW!!!

How do I know what to say Yes to? Well, I have personally decided that I will say yes to anything that my gut tells me would be fun, or awesome, or something that I would really love to do, but my heads reaction is, “You can’t do that!”, “OMG, have you lost your EVER-LOVING mind?”, or “ARE YOU CRAZY????

So, there you go! I am excited to see where my Year of Yes takes me, and I am committing to doing a better job of keeping you abreast of what is going on with all of that! If I can inspire even one single solitary person to step out of there comfort zone and live the life that they so passionately want to live, than my sharing is completely and totally worth it!!

Here is to saying “Yes” to life!!! 😉

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If you want to have a different life, you must live differently! 

Taking Action!

Crown HeaderI have a dream…

No really, I do!

I have a very vivid dream that I can see in my head of the life that I long to live. I won’t go into all of the specifics right now, but I will tell you that it involves color, paint, connecting and empowering women, the Oregon coast, and being a part of something far greater than myself.

When I close my eyes and see my dream, in rich, vibrant, & scrumptious colors, I must confess, I get a big ol’ lump in my chest because I cannot possibly fathom how I get from where I am standing now, to standing in this new amazingly exciting place.

I have a tendency to coddle this lump, and love it, and coo it, and let it know that is all going to be ok, but then I don’t ever step around this lump and do something to make my dream my reality. This lump, this fear, unconsciously becomes a welcome friend – like if I am feeling the fear than I know that I am still alive. I hear myself say this and think, “Man, that is crazy!” and it is, but it is a truth I have been living for a long time, and I think that just acknowledging this truth, and saying it out loud is going to be how I go about not letting this lump of fear hold me back any longer.

I have a natural tendency to dwell in that place of fear for a really long time…I think that there must be others who do the same. I have dwelt in that place of fear for so long that there are times when I feel that I should just get realistic, get my head out of the clouds, give up on my dreams, and just be satisfied where I am at. now. here.

BUT…

I realize that I choose.

Every day I choose.

I choose.

Today, I will consciously choose to acknowledge my lump of fear, that even as I type is faithfully sitting in my chest. I will thank it for trying to watch out for me – for trying to keep me from disappointment and pain, and I will give it the rest of the day off. It has been working too hard. 🙂

Today, I choose to take one small step toward that dream life, as daunting as that may be, and pray that I have the courage to do it again tomorrow, and the next, and the next.

Here is to feeling the fear and doing it anyway! 🙂

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If you want to have a different life, live differently!

Jumping Back In!

Crown HeaderGood afternoon!

There has been so much that has happened between when I last posted, and today, that I am a little bit overwhelmed with where to begin, so I just thought I would take a deep breathe and just jump back in!

As previously promised, big, BIG changes have been going on around in my world!!

The summed up version…well… I have left my job, hopped into the world of consulting, and in July am preparing to leave my field of work in it’s entirety!

YEAH!!!

and OMG! What the heck are you doing you crazy person???

At least that is what my inner critic is saying to myself!

Listen you! I have got important work to do, so back off!!

Whew! Now I feel better! 😉

Well, last time we spoke was in February. Since then:

  • My sweetie and I have gotten ourselves out of debt.
  • I went to Brave Girls Camp, which deserves a post all on its own.
  • I have left my job that I had been at for almost 14 years
  • I started a consulting job that requires me to commute almost 5 hours every day but pays more than I ever dreamed possible
  • My sweetie is happily, and very successfully, if I might add, helping his brother grow his home remodeling business
  • I am in love with that man of mine more now than I thought was humanly possible – I think we have hit the bliss stage of marriage
  • I have gained almost 20 pounds since starting this job, 2 months ago (didn’t know that was possible), which is about 35 pounds more than my lowest weight, which means mama’s got some serious work to do
  • I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and will be able to start putting my own wants and needs back on my radar again; and that has been a long, loooong time coming!! 😉

My official plan right now is that after, July3 (my last day as a consultant), I am taking one entire month off!

No guilt!

No obligations!

No shame!

No blame!

This will be my time to get to know me again.

What do I really want?

No, I mean, what do I really, REALLY want?

How much sleep do I need to feel awake?

Which foods agree with me and which don’t?

What do I really, REALLY want to be when I grow up?

Do I want to go back to school?

Do I want to be an artist? If so, what does that look like?

Is now the time to start my business? What would that look like?

The list goes on and on and on and on and…well, you get the idea!

This is such a luxury to be able to take this break, and I truly feel blessed to finally be in a situation where this is possible. After that month off? I am not exactly sure what is going to happen, I am just going to be playing life by ear.

My purpose is to find my joy and then get out there and go live it!!

My husband and I have agreed that I will be taking a 6 month to 1 year sabbatical from a “J-O-B”, which isn’t to say that I am not going to be working, but it is not going to be a typical 9 to 5.

What am I looking for?

Joy

Vitality

Creativity every day

Authenticity in the work that I am doing

Freedom to do what I want, when I want, how I want

Opportunities to work with dynamic and creative women who inspire me

Beauty all around me as a habit

Peace

Work/Life balance

A sense of contribution

A sense that I am know, that I am loved, and that I matter!!!

That’s not too much to ask for, is it?? 🙂

I know it will be a lot of hard work, but I am certain that I am well on my way! I can feel it down to my very core of who I am.

This is all going to be a very good thing!!!

Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated!!! 🙂

Here is to a FABULOUS day! 🙂

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If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

 

 

Living Out Loud!

Living Out LoudGood afternoon!

This post is a reminder to live out loud.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Mame. It is about an glamorously eccentric woman who is just all around fabulous, and never seems to have any problems living out loud.

My favorite quote of all time came from that movie, and that is:

“Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are staving to death!” – Auntie Mame

Auntie Mame had the ability to roll with the punches, not caring what others thought of her. She was a friend to everyone, open-minded (an anti “braces on the brain” type); willing to try all sorts of new things whether it was completely redecorating her home in every conceivable style, or camel riding through Egypt.

I love that Auntie Mame always lived out loud. That is my desire too!! Living out loud has never been easy for me! I have always lived my life with caution. Constantly worried about the consequences for every action I take, what people will think of me, who I could possibly disappoint, who could turn their backs on me, etc. Even as I write this, I can see how absurd all of that has been in my life. I have passed up opportunities because I am afraid that someone else might not like my opportunity? Maybe it is true that others are too busy worrying about themselves to also have time to be worrying about you too!!

What would my life look like if I were willing to adopt a  few of Auntie Mame’s living out loud philosophies?

  1. Be willing to constantly learn!
  2. Do the things that make you happy  – every day!
  3. There is nothing as valuable as friends!
  4. Your home should be a reflection of who YOU truly are!
  5. Travel! You have such a tiny view of the world if you only stay in your own backyard.
  6. Dress FABULOUSLY at all times – you never know who you might run in to!
  7. When times get tough, that is the perfect time for thinking outside of the box!
  8. When you love, love with all of your being!
  9. Honey, when you are feeling blue, throw yourself a HUGE bash and invite every artist, intellectual, guru, and eccentric to make it a SMASHING success! That will cheer yourself right up (just don’t forget to ask for help with the dishes!)!
  10. LIVE OUT LOUD! Don’t give a fig about what people think about how you look, where you live, how you live, what you believe in, etc. This is your life, and you only have one chance to live it!!

Wow!! How much different my life would be if I lived like this every single day???

Well, there is only one way to find out!!

Wish me luck!! 😉

Here is to LIVING OUT LOUD today!! 🙂

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If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Girls’ Night In – Getting Arty!

Crafting Life Books with MaryGood afternoon!

I wanted to share with you how my arting night with my girl friend, Mary, went last night!!

Let’s just start out by saying, it really is SOOOOOO MUCH MORE FUN when you art with someone than when you always art by yourself!!

Well, as you may remember from yesterday’s post, I met a very lovely girl on Saturday. Her name is Mary! Well, Mary came over last night so we could get our art on!!!

YEAH!!

We met up at my place of work, (on a side note, we have agreed that we are both SERIOUSLY directionally challenged, so she was pretty proud of herself that she found me, and I have to admit I was pretty impressed too!! ;-)) and we made the trek across town to my place!!

I was kind of worried, because you know like most people, there are things about my place that I find rather embarrassing, but like Melody Ross says, ” She felt (blank), but she did it anyway!” So, in we went! I gave her a quick tour, introduced her to our doggies, Faye and Sophie, and headed straight to my art studio to get to playing!!

We didn’t really have a plan for what we were going to do, but I had a fall back plan of creating our own life/dream/smash books, which is what we ended up deciding to do!!

Paper, pens, paint, scissors, Mary even brought over her Cricut machine (SO COOL!!), some happy music in the background, and stories back and forth mixed in with a bunch of giggling, add some funkily cut pizza (BTW pizza should NEVER EVER come in squares!!), and you end up with a night that was OH SO FUN!!!

My sweetie got home, and ended up being our chauffeur to drive Mary home, which in and of itself ended up contributing to the fun of the evening! You see, I am currently rocking the Frozen soundtrack in my car at the moment, which my sweetie just loves!! Well, we both have a few favorite songs, so as Mary and I are continuing to chat it up in the back of the car, Jason is blasting this Disney music, swaying to the beat of the music, and singing!! TOO HILARIOUS!!! I hadn’t realized that we were going to be entertained by a cute floor show during our travels across town!! LOL!! Thanks for that Love!!! 🙂

Anyway, I am calling last night a HUGE SUCCESS, and I am hoping we get the chance to do it again real soon!! If anything, I can’t wait to see what kind of progress she makes on her life/dream/smash book!! Yeah, we really do have to decide what we are going to actually call those things!! Well, whatever they are called, we really did have a GREAT TIME!!

Friends are good!

Art is fun!

and I am feeling UBER BLESSED!! 🙂

Here is to another day filled with HAPPINESS & CREATIVITY!! 🙂

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If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

My Word for 2014!

Being BRAVE brings new friends in your path!! :-)

Being BRAVE brings new friends in your path!! 🙂

Good afternoon!

Back in December of 2013, when I was sitting down to think about what I wanted to have happen in 2014, I thought about the usual suspects when it came to trying to decide my New Year’s resolutions: exercise more, eat better, lost weight, get more sleep, do a better job at uncluttering the house, etc, etc.

After mulling it over for quite some time, I decided that I didn’t want to just focus on or two goals, I wanted this year to be different, so instead of doing any New Years resolutions, that this year I would focus on a word for the year. A word that epitomize the overall goal/feeling/mood that I had for myself, and the word I chose was Brave.Brave is the word that I focus on when I am making any kind of decisions in my life in 2014.

What will I wear?
How will I move?How will I spend my time?
Who will I spend my time with?
Where will I spend my time?I think you get the idea!! 🙂

Well, I had my first big BRAVE moment Friday evening, when I was out at the movie theatre with my sweetie. After we watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, we had started to leave the theatre, and on the way out my sweetie had to stop and use the loo, which meant I was going to wait patiently outside in the hallway for him, and people watch! Well, as I was doing so, I noticed this woman who had the cutest outfit on!! It was something right up my alley, you know, right along the lines of adorable dress, leggings, boots, cardigan!! LOVE!!! 😉

So far seems pretty benign, right?

Well, here is where my “BRAVE” kicked in. You see, I had 2 pairs of boots that I ABSOLUTELY loved, but having recently lost 100 pounds, and in turn losing 2 shoe sizes!! YEAH, no body prepares you for that!!! Anyway, these boots have been staring at me from a corner in my house for well over 6 months, and I knew that I needed to find a new home for them (like they are puppies or something!! Ha! Ha!) When I saw this girl, I just KNEW That she could TOTALLY ROCK those boots!!!

I went up to her, like a crazy person, I must admit, and said, “Excuse me, what size shoe do you wear?” She told me, and WHOO! HOO!! I knew that I had found a potential home for these boots!! I continued on, “I am sorry, I know I must sound like a crazy person, but you have the cutest style, and I have these two pair of boots that need a good home! Here is my number. Call or text me tomorrow if you would like to meet somewhere where I can give those to you!” I may have even added something like, “they need a good home, someplace where someone will love them, and treat them right, pair them with just the right outfits!!” – you know, crazy-person-speak!!! 🙂

Well, I left her there, and she was very sweet, but kept looking at me like I was a crazy person – which, in a way, I guess I was – isn’t crazy what being BRAVE is all about?? My sweetie even asked me something, like “Have you lost your ever-loving mind??” In only the loving way that he can, as we laughed about it the whole way to the car – and then all the way home!!!

That really REALLY was so out of character for me!!! 🙂

Anyway, lo and behold, I got a text from her the next morning!! YEAH!!! 🙂 and because I realized how insane I must’ve sounded the night before, I told her, that if we wanted to meet up at Starbucks downtown to get the boots, I would treat her to coffee!!

We met up, I gave her my boots, *SNIFF*!! It’s ok, I know it was for the best!! 😉 and we proceeded to talk for a little over an hour!!My new friends name is Mary, and she is What will I wear? We have A LOT of the same taste in fashion, boots, & books, and are both creative!

I LOVE THAT!!!

SOOOOO, because I was brave, and acted on my word for 2014, BRAVE, I have not only gotten rid of 2 more things cluttering up my house – to a really sweet girl who LOVES them, and will take good care of them! I made a new friend, and a new creative partner-in-crime! Yes, that is right!! Mary is coming over this evening to have our first session of Creative Girls’ Night!! Doesn’t that sound FUN????

I SOOOOO CANNOT WAIT!!! 😉

I will keep you posted!! 🙂

Here is to a very VERY BRAVE 2014!!! 🙂

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If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!