Category Archives: Motivational

Just Checking In!

Good morning!

I am running behind this morning, as it seems I am most mornings nowadays!! So, this is going to be a quick post!

This morning, I am being fiscally responsible, paying bills, getting organized, etc. etc. Last night I filed our taxes and found out that we are getting a nice refund back – enough to finally push us completely out of debt!!

YEAH!!

My husband and I have been actively working on getting out of debt (non-mortgage debt) since September 2012, and we are SOOOOO CLOSE that I can almost taste it!!! 🙂

We have been following Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, and it has literally changed the way we deal with money and credit!!!

Being debt free is not something we are going to take lightly.

It is going to change the way we do everything!!!

I really can’t wait!!

I do not ever want to be in debt EVER again!!!! Dave Ramsey says, “You become a slave to the lender.” and man, do I believe him!!

I will keep you posted! Now back to getting on with my morning!

Here is to a FABULOUS day! 🙂

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

California Vacation, Day 3!

Good morning!

Here are the pictures from the third day of our California vacation! I had planned on sharing these with you last week, but I have had a bit of a crazy past few days – I am sure you can understand!! 🙂 We spent this day at California Adventures, which neither my sweetie nor I had ever been there before, and if we had to do it all over again, we would DEFINITELY go to this park first, and Disneyland second! 🙂 Our feet were pretty worn out from the day before, but we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss ANYTHING! 🙂

So without further ado, here are those pics! 🙂

This is us ready to start a really fun day!! If you look really closely, you will see that Christopher has poked his little head into the middle of this pic – matter of fact, I do not have one single solitary picture of Jason and together on this day where Christopher did not “photo bomb” us. Grrrr!! I will make sure that his butt-kicking is swift and just!! 😉

Of course the “boys” had to have their picture taken with this sweet car!! Boys will be boys!! 🙂

Another photo bomb!

Lynette and Jason!

I really love the magic that runs through this place!

It made us both feel like kids again! 🙂

We had to remind Morgan not to “stretch” her too much!! “We don’t stretch people, it’s not nice!” LOL!! Still makes me smile!! 🙂

This Hollywood back drop was sooooo cool!! 🙂

This was the ride that we were all soooo excited to get on!! So, it was the first one of the day!!! 🙂

We were scared!!! 🙂

Megan and Mom! How cute! 🙂

Morgan getting ready to do the fun buggy bumper cars!! 🙂

He also got a big kick out of the fact that the lights were also the bugs behinds!!! 😉

It was funny to see Jason and Chris in a kiddie ride – they seemed to be enjoying themselves! 🙂

Morgan was having the BEST day! 🙂

My sweetie and Megan!! I just love these two!!! 😉

Radiator Springs! I LOVED how we felt like we were literally walking right into the Cars movie here!! 🙂

I think this was called Bear Mountain??

Jason in car heaven!! 🙂

I’ve never seen a man get sooooo excited about tires before!!! I love you, papa!! 🙂

I can’t remember what this ride was called, but we waited in line for SOOOOOO long!!! It was upwards of 2 hours, if not a bit longer!!! We were seriously needing a place to sit and take a break!! 🙂

This picture sums it up! This is EXACTLY the moment you know you have been waiting in line too long!!! 🙂

This ride was so fun that we went down it twice!! The first time down, Christopher got doused…and I mean from HEAD TO TOE!!! It was AWESOME fun!!! 🙂

O-M-G!!! This is how to make brownie points!!! I really do LOVE this man!!

Our feet were hurting, we were tired, but we really didn’t want this vacation to never end!! Jason and I are already talking about going back again, just the two of us!! I can NOT wait!!! 🙂

Here is to making a lifetime of some really FUN memories!! 😉

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

Living Out Loud!

Good 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?

Be willing to constantly learn!
Do the things that make you happy – every day!
There is nothing as valuable as friends!
Your home should be a reflection of who YOU truly are!
Travel! You have such a tiny view of the world if you only stay in your own backyard.
Dress FABULOUSLY at all times – you never know who you might run in to!
When times get tough, that is the perfect time for thinking outside of the box!
When you love, love with all of your being!
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!)!
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!! 🙂

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

Adventures in Photography!

Good afternoon!

This past Saturday, it was such a beautiful day that my sweetie and I packed up my new camera, remote control, and tripod, and headed out for a few hours to practice taking photos with my new camera! I had had my heart set out on going to the Union Street Railroad Bridge, which is an old river-crossing train trestle that was converted to a nice pedestrian bridge just a few years ago!

We knew that this was an old bridge, but were surprised to see that it was originally built in 1912. We were literally walking across history! 🙂

This is my lovely assistant, AKA my sweetie! He was happy to just people watch and soak up the sun on this absolutely GORGEOUS day!! 🙂

There were actually a lot of people out enjoying this morning, but we got lucky and I almost got a free and clear shot of the walking bridge without pedestrians! 🙂

The outside of the trestle.

I just love the way the metal crisscrosses and all of the details of the rivets! Industrial chic?? 🙂

This is the old wooden foundation. You can tell that there have been many recent repairs, but it is just so cool to look at!

The Willamette River.

I am soooo in love with the curve here!

Thanks to my new remote control and tripod – I now actually have the ability to show up in some of my own pictures!! 🙂 Jason has a way of just keeping me laughing!! 🙂

I really do love this man!! 🙂

I know that I still have a loooooong way to go on learning how to use all of my settings on a my new camera, but I am determined to figure them all out!! ISO, white balance, timing, flash vs no flash, etc, etc! In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed these pictures and hopefully, over the next year or so, I can keep growing and learning as a photographer and continue to share my progress pics with you! 🙂

Here is to a FABULOUS day! 🙂

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

Bliss List Friday!

Good afternoon!

I find that when I get the opportunity to write my Bliss List for Friday, just the simple act of doing that causes me so much Bliss!! Isn’t that awesome???

Here is my Friday Bliss List:

This is my sweetie holding our newest nephew, Liam!! Aren’t they just the cutest??? I wonder what they were both thinking about each other in that exact moment!! 🙂

As I was enjoying a quiet afternoon, snuggling on the couch, under a blanket, while reading a good book, this is what I looked down to see!! I just love these two little girls!! Faye and Sophie!!! Sleeping away next to mama!!! 😉

I can NOT forget to mention craft time in my little art studio!!! I am having such an ECSTATIC time just getting creatively messy in this space! It is soooooo good for my soul!! 😉 OH, and yes, those ARE mini M&M’s sitting under my tripod. One of my previous art instructors told me that you should always ALWAYS have chocolate on standby when you are arting!! See teach, I listened!! 🙂

and who knew the box of randomly shaped wood would make a girls so happy??? Well, apparently my sweetie did, because he was the one who got these for me!!! Oh the potential of some new words of encouragement to go out into the world!! More to come! 🙂

There is so very much to be blissful about!! What would you add to your own Friday Bliss List?? 😉

Here is to a very happy & BLISSFUL Friday!! 🙂

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

You Are Going to Be Okay!

Good afternoon!

Now, I have already said that 2014 is going to be a HUGE year of changes for my sweetie and myself!

By 2015, all areas of our life will have drastically changed: where we live, where we work, how we look at the world, how we attain our goals, and how we take care of our bodies are all things under my mind’s telescope, going through intense scrutiny of trying to decide what’s next?

As I have been going through this process, I must confess that I have been going through some heavy boughts of OMG!!

Things like:

What the heck am I doing???
People are going to think I am freakin’ INSANE!!What if I completely fail and land on my booty!???What if we lose EVERYTHING??What if I get sued?What if I have to pay for a house that we don’t even live in anymore??What if I completely ruin our lives?What am I going to do? What am I going to do?? What am I going to do???

Over the past few years, I have adopted a mentor. Her name is Melody Ross. Melody Ross is a co-creator of the AWESOME & AWE-INSPIRING site/movement called Brave Girls Club. Now, Melody, yes, we are on a first name basis :-), and I have become fast friends, in my head!! We have never met! I am sure she has NO IDEA who I am, but Melody has walked with me these past 3 or 4 years, as I have been going through a lot of joys and struggles in different areas of my life. I have been listening to her cheer me on, from afar, through her online classes, her daily truth e-mails that arrive in my inbox faithfully every morning, and I am happy to say I will FINALLY be able to actually meet her, IN PERSON, in March! I am going to attend my FIRST EVER BRAVE GIRLS’ CAMP!!!

HAIEEEEEEEE!!!!
(Yes, I may have actually just squealed!!!) 😉

As awesome as that news is, that is not what I wanted to share today. Not only is Melody an extremely talented artist, speaker, and motivator, she is an author, and she has written the most INSPIRING small book, called “You Are Going to be Okay”! Not only that, but she actually reads it to all of us via video. I know that I have listened to this AMAZINGLY simple but OH SO POWERFUL reading countless times! and I KNOW that someone out there needs to hear this, maybe it is you??? 🙂

So, without further ado, I hope that this sweetly simple, but much needed message touches and inspires you as much as it has touched and inspired me.

Here is to a day knowing that we are all going to be Okay!! 🙂

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

Friday’s Bliss List!

Good afternoon!

Friday is the day that I am trying to focus all of my energies on what has blessed me this week, and what generally just makes me happy when I think about!!

Here is this Friday’s Bliss List! 🙂

My sweetie! I know he is on my list every week, but he works so very hard for us, and this week he did the dishes and took out all of the garbage without being asked on top of working crazy hours, like the wild man of Borneo!!!! WHAT A MAN!!! 😉
My niece Megan! It was her birthday this Wednesday, and my sweetie and I are going to her birthday party this evening!! She is such a ray of sunshine in my life!! I AM SO THANKFUL FOR THIS LITTLE GIRL!!! 😉
Girl friends, both old and new! It is such a great feeling to know that there are amazing women who’ve got my back, no matter what!! I LOVE MY GIRLS!!!
My art studio! I am so thankful for a space to call my own, where I can make a creatively beautiful mess and leave it all until I can come back to it again to art some more!
My two, four-legged girls, Faye and Sophie!! They are just so much fun to watch play every evening – especially on the rare occasion when they get to hang out in bed with my sweetie and I before bed!! They are filled with SOOOOO MUCH JOY!! 😉
My 2014 planner. Is a planner a weird thing to have on a Bliss List??? Naw! I really am thankful for it. It is really helping me stay focused on what is important to me. With it’s help, I can see that where I am going is really possible!
The movie soundtrack of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty! I am currently rocking that music in my car, and I have decided, that for now, it might be the soundtrack of my life!! I LOVE THIS MUSIC!!! 😉
Our new doggie stroller! Yes, I know, I know, I AM one of THOSE WOMEN!!! But since we have gotten this doggie stroller, I have been able to get my booty out on my walks because I know I am not leaving my sweet Faye and Sophie at home for another hour a day, by themselves!! That’s not spoiled, is it??? 😉
Goodwill! I am so thankful to have a place, close to home, that does good for others with the donations I have been giving them! It has given me an easy and safe way to donate our extras out of our home, as we have been working on simplifying our lives! 🙂
Finally, I am so very thankful for the early hours of the morning, the ones where I can get up before anyone else, and just take time to be quiet, and take care of what’s going on in my head! I feel like I am able to seriously focus on creating a healthy relationship with myself. I think it is about time!! 🙂

My Focus for This Next Week:

I am hoping that this next week brings me wisdom and clarity in what steps to take next, not only in my daily life, but in my dream life!
I want to be brave and keep reaching out to my girl friends, I know that I need a lot of time alone to re-energize, but just the couple of times this week that I have made a concerted effort to hang out with my girl friends, and have really made my week really fun!
I need to keep cleaning out the clutter! Cleaning out a condo that you have lived in for 7 years, is not as easy as I thought it would be, or as quick either, but through baby steps I have been making my way through it. I want to make sure to continue on to my path of “Live simply so others may simply live”!
I need to get my booty moving more consistently! I am doing a good job taking those baby steps, I am so fond of – making sure my running shoes are close at hand, avoiding all elevators, parking farther away from the office. I can tell that it is time to add more!!
and finally I want to focus on staying positive in my work life. My job is very stressful and we are going through change after change after change (isn’t that true everywhere??). I need to remain focused on what is positive there, and how it is helping me get to my financial goals so I will finally be able to step out and try something new!

I hope anyone reading this might be inspired to try out there own Friday Bliss List!! If you do, please feel free to share in the comments! I would love to hear from you! Oh, and if you haven’t had a chance to follow my blog, please do so by clicking on the follow button on the upper right-hand column of this page! 🙂

Hear is to a Friday of BLESSINGS! 🙂

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!! 🙂

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!!! 🙂

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

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty!

Good afternoon!

My sweetie and I have been working on trying to have a date night most every Friday evening of the week, and this past Friday, we chose to go to the movies and see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty!

I have to tell you, I LOVED IT!!

For those of you who don’t know, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is actually a remake of the movie, by the same name, that starred Danny Kay, and came out in 1947.

This movie is about a quiet but sweet man, named Walter Mitty, played by the loveable Ben Stiller, who was living a very ho-hum, non-remarkable life, and because of this he had quite the imagination and could be found zoning out into some seriously adventurous, and exciting daydreams. Well, when his job, and the job of most of the people at the company he is working for, and had been for the past 15 or so years, find that their jobs are in danger, Walter Mitty has to take a real life adventure to locate a famous photographer, someone he has been working with since his start at the business, to track down a missing photograph; and what an adventure he takes!! Jumping out of a helicopter flown by a drunken pilot, shark attack, erupting volcano, and some serious long-boarding, are just a few of the amazing adventures he finds himself on.

I found this movie to be visually exciting, and very inspiring. The imagery is beautiful, and there is a lot of CGI going on, but because I too am someone with quite an imagination, I did not find it distracting! I loved the overall message of:

“To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer,
to find each other and feel. That is the purpose of life.”
– The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

This message really resonated with me.

I think I find myself relating to Walter Mitty. I haven’t really gone anywhere, haven’t really done anything terribly noteworthy, and I know that if I wasn’t consciously making changes to rebuild my life, every day, then my life would still be a cycle of get up, go to work (AKA, my golden handcuffs), come home, crash and burn, get up and do it all again tomorrow! I know I am not alone in this – I am starting to begin that this is what “normal” people do, which is why “normal” is nowhere that I want to be any longer!

Thankfully I have made the decision that 2014 is the year that all of that monotony ends, but this movie just reinforced what I am just now learning – there really is life out there if you are willing to stop dreaming and go out and live it!!! 🙂

Here is to an ADVENTUROUS Monday!! 🙂

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

Happiness Friday!

Good afternoon!!

Since it is Friday – YEAH FRIDAY!!! I thought I would dub Fridays “Happiness Fridays”!! This will be the day that I share with you all of the things, both big and small, that make me happy!! My hope is that maybe it might inspire you to think about what might make you happy too!! 😉

My Friday Happiness List:

My sweetie – what an AWESOMELY supportive man he is!
Laughter!!! I truly believe that laughter is the best medicine!
Luxurious bedding! Who doesn’t love to squiddle down into FABULOUSLY soft sheets, and plush, yummy, comforter and pillows!! Now I can’t wait to get back to bed!!! 😉
A new shiny magazine in the mail! Ok, this might be one of those areas in my life where I may need you to schedule an intervention – because I have WAAAAAAY too many magazines, but there is just something about seeing that new periodical arrive in my little mailbox that really makes for a happy girl!!
The kiddos in my life! I am so fortunate to have such a wealth of children in my life!!! I have nieces and nephews that both my sweetie and I have the best time hanging out with!
A really good long nature walk!!
My peeps at work! I may not relish my day job, but I do LOVE the people I work with!! They truly make every day SOOOOO worth it!! 🙂
Lindor Truffles. Ok, this one had to be said! Their ooey-gooey-slowly-melt-in-your-mouth-goodness!! Oh yeah! Now I have to go see if I have one of these anywhere!!
Washi tape!! These come in every conceivable design and they are so easy to use EVERYWHERE!! I am a sucker for Washi tape!!
Being ALIVE!!!

Life is just so good, and there is really SO MUCH to be happy about!!

Here is to a truly HAPPY Friday!! 🙂

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

Beautiful Creatives

Empowering your juicy life!

Category Archives: Motivational

Just Checking In!

California Vacation, Day 3!

Living Out Loud!

Adventures in Photography!

Bliss List Friday!

You Are Going to Be Okay!

Friday’s Bliss List!

My Word for 2014!

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty!

Happiness Friday!