Category Archives: Positive

Chunky Dunker’s Night!

Good evening!

Welcome back to Chunky Dunker’s Club! A club for people from all walks of life to get together online to support one another in their health and fitness goals, whether it be to lose a few pounds, or to do one situp; I am very happy to welcome you here every Wednesday evening, where we “meet” in the comments section to catch up, share hints, tips, and ideas and to just encourage each other as we go through our health &  fitness path together!!

Tonight, I thought I would talk about Not Giving Up!

I may have talked about this before, but I feel that now more than ever, I have kind of given up on my fitness goals. I have let them and regular life overwhelm me to the point of not caring! A friend reminded me today, that God put us here to support each other, and when she told me that I realized, that I wasn’t on this journey alone.

That is pretty powerful!

Maybe that is for you too!

This week I want you to recommit to your goals and to reach out to one friend that you trust and tell them what you have recommitted to. They do not have to hold you accountable, but just reaching out to someone, telling them what you are going for helps solidify the fact within yourself.

That you are gonna do it.

Little by little.

Step by step!

I am here for you!!!

We are in this TOGETHER!!! 😉

So, tonight I start my journey over. Having had a bad day of eating not-so-good-for-me-foods, having no idea how much I weigh this evening, but knowing that NOW is exactly the PERFECT time for change.

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

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

Randomness Tuesday!

Good evening!

I thought I would share with you some random thoughts on this randomness Tuesday!

I woke up this morning, with my first alarm, which is not something I have a tendency to do. I usually let the first alarm wake me up, but the second one, that goes off a half an hour later is the one that says, “Ok, you have been lazing around in bed long enough – get up!!” Well, today I got up with the first one. You see, I had this thought that was running over and over through my mind, and it was saying:

“If you want a different life, live differently.”

Simple, sweet, and powerfully true!!

This was a message that apparently my subconscious thought I needed to hear, and my conscious self has been taking it to heart all day today!!

So, I got up with the first alarm, because it was different then I normally do, hopped in the shower first thing, and I was ready, having eaten a healthy breakfast and all, and I got to work a little over half an hour earlier than normal. I concentrated on staying focused at work, and trying to find the very little things to do better than I normally do. It made for a pretty good day! I even got a 15 minute walk in, which may not sound impressive, but when you sit confined like veal in a small cubicle all day, every day, a 15 minute walk, out in nature, with one of my girlfriends really means a lot!!

Anyway, after work today, I knew I had to head over to Nordstroms to pick up some more of my facial products, which I did, and then I picked up two eye shadows that the old me would not have tried before!!

Jason sent my camera off to Texas to be fixed or replaced. I don’t care which as long as my baby returns to me in one piece and in working order!!! I really miss taking pictures!!!

Tonight would have been a great time to have my camera, because in my quest to have a different life by living differently, when my sweetie called me while at work and asked if we could have a spontaneous dinner, I jumped at the chance. I am sooo glad that I did!! Dinner was delicious, and I haven’t had a chance to hang out with my sis, Nette and her kids in AGES!! Megan had basketball practice tonight, and she asked me if I could go watch, normally I would have made excuses, because I knew that my to-do list for this evening was just so long, but again, if I want a different life, I have to live differently. So, you guessed it, I agreed to go with her and Nette to her practice. Nette is one of her coaches. It was so much fun to watch Megan!! She is really growing up so fast, and she is such a girly-girl, and yet still such a sporty girl that she is such a hoot!!! I really love her so much, and sometimes I feel like I am missing all of these special moments with the kiddos, so I am really so thankful for my new attitude about living!! AND I can’t wait to have my camera back because I would have had SOOOO MANY GREAT pics of the girls practicing!!!

I am finally home for the evening, a little later than I had expected, but feeling really blessed! I still have a little time to get a couple of chores crossed off of the to-do list before I crawl into bed early this evening and get some reading done before bed!!

What a good life. I am very thankful for new beginnings. I know it is still early, but it is looking like 2012 is really going to be a GREAT year!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

My Kindle Touch Review!

Kindle Touch

Good evening!

I am soooo excited to be on the eve of a FOUR-DAY WEEKEND!!! Seriously, I really am needing a break! 😉 Jason and I just got back from a big grocery shopping trip, and as fun as it is to shop together – it is, it is not so fun to put it all away – it isn’t, but it is such a HUGE weight off my shoulders not having to worry about what are we having for lunches, or dinners all week – it is!! 😉 Anyway, God bless my sweetie, he is in the kitchen right now putting the rest of the food away so I can spend some quiet time in my living room blogging away!! I really do LOVE that man!!

With that said, I think that is a GREAT segue for what I was really wanting to talk about this evening! My new Kindle Touch!

But first, let me back up a bit…

All season I have been telling Santa that “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”.

He would say to me, “Wouldn’t you like one of these?”, and I would respond, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”.

“Or how about one of these things?” he would say, and I would reply, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”

It has been said so many times, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”, since October that I might have saved myself quite a bit of talk time if I would have just been able to push a button to let it say, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”.

Now, my hubby, being the great man that he is, ordered my special gift from Amazon and there it sat wrapped under our lovely Christmas tree, weeks before Christmas. I was soooo excited, I was soooo dazzled that I was sure that Jason had not only gotten me exactly what I wanted, he even got it early!!! YEAH!!! WHATTA-MAN!!! 😉

Oh, did I mention I bought Jason the EXACT same thing that I wanted???? I was thinking we could replace both of our old, first-generation Kindles in one fell swoop.

Well, Christmas came and I was just ITCHING to get to that package – you know me I LOVE TO READ!!! Anyway, I remained patient and when I finally got to this package, I opened it and realized that Jason had gotten me the wrong thing.

Wahw-waaaahw!!

EEEEK!! I was devestated, he had ordered a Kindle Fire, which I am sure ANYONE else would have LOVED, but I want to read, and the Kindle Fire is great for watching NetFlix, and Hulu, and playing games, but I WANTED TO READ!!!!

What happened to my audio recording of  “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”???

Am I invisible???

Kindle Fire

After taking a chill-pill, thanking my sweetie, while continuing to smile. I gave my new Kindle Fire a tryout. I played games, (FYI: Angry Birds really is fun – REALLY!), I watched television on Hulu, and watched a couple of shows from my Netflix queue, I ordered a magazine subscription, and spent some time going through an entire Marie Claire magazine from cover to cover, and when I did get around to trying to read an actual book on the Kindle Fire, I realized where my problem was. You see, it was the day after Christmas, and I was in the car going home. I was trying to read a book, but the glare from the overcast sky was so harsh that it made it nearly impossible to read my page. By the time I got home, I had decided it was time to fess up…

“Honey, I really love you, and I LOVE that you got me such an AWESOME gift, but I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads. Can we trade gifts!?!? Well, he was very sweet, and laid back, which of course is TOTALLY him, and said sure Baby, whatever you want!

Well, since then I have been reading up a storm, and Jason is now soooo addicted to his new Kindle Fire that we may have to enroll him in a 12-step program!! I swear, I am dreaming about the Angry Birds game, I can hear him playing it so much!! 😉

We are such a perfect couple!! Thank you, Baby, I love you!! 😉

Now on to my Kindle Touch review!

Hmmm…how should I put this??

IT’S AWESOME!!!

It is small, sleek, extremely light, and easily fits into any of my bags! The pages turn so quickly, faster than if I were reading one of my paper books. There is almost ZERO glare from the lights, the sky, sunshine, etc! The e-ink is just soooo gentle on my eyes, which is such a positive thing because I am on a computer for more than 8 hours a day for my day job, and my eyes get REALLY tired!!

Anyway, the Kindle was a little tricky to figure out how to maneuver at first since there really aren’t any directions to speak of, and it is not as intuitive to use as our original first-Generation Kindle was to use, but there are great tutorials on the Amazon website! I also find that Amazon really does have a great book selection, but some of my favorite books are just not available in Kindle’s bookstore. However, probably my biggest complaint, is that I have hardback library, that I LOVE growing, and a new Kindle book, oftentimes cost just a few dollars less than a brand new hardback copy, so a lot of times, if it is a series, or an author that I happily familiar with, I have a tendency to purchase the hardback instead of purchasing an electronic copy for my Kindle.

Even with those minor downsides, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives! and this new Kindle really makes my old Kindle seem archaic, which I guess it kind of is, but seeing that it is only a few years old, that is a little odd.

I LOVE my new Kindle Touch!!

Hmmmm…now if only I can find a cute cover for it…well, I guess that will have to be a different post!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

PS. Just for those who might be curious, I don’t receive any kind of compensation from Kindle for saying any of this! 😉

Last Minute Prep!

Good evening!

Whew! I am taking a break from listening to Christmas cartoons while wrapping about 1,000 little stocking stuffers for my family. Ok, maybe 1,000 might be a SLIGHT exaggeration, but I am sure that it is only by an exaggeration by a tiny bit!! 😉

After I get all of those done, I then have to get last minute packing done, finish straightening the house (I have a rule about making sure the house is spotless before I go out of town, so that when I get home, I just get to unpack my suitcase, and NOTHING ELSE!). I then have to make sure the dogs get bathed so they are clean and comfortable while we are away (thankfully our friend, Don will be watching the girls while we are out, as always!!)! After all of that, I have the task of making sure that we all get into bed and get some sleep before we get up in the morning, pack the car, and then I get to work, hopefully on time!!! Mamma is gonna need some serious caffeine to make it through the day!! 😉

I have been working long days this week, so that Jason and I can leave for Roseburg for the Christmas weekend tomorrow at 1:30, and I am hoping to be on the road straight away!! I SERIOUSLY can’t wait!! 😉

I always have such a fun time hanging out with my family, I just can NOT wait to get there!! We have a full weekend planned of Christmas light seeing, church services, breakfasts, dinners, present opening, manicures, antiquing, and just all around hanging out with the family!! I am planning on taking a ton of pics all weekend, and I will do my best to share them all with you!! 😉

WHEW!! Now, that I have said all of that, I realize I am just SOOOO BEAT!!! As I zip off to get more of my to-do list done this evening…

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

 

Ta-Dat-Dat-Daaah!!

Good evening!

Tonight is my 365th post in a row!! YEAH!!!! I had set a goal for myself that I would blog every day for one year, and I am very happy to announce that I HAVE MET THIS GOAL!!! 😉

You know, I have learned a lot about myself and of life while blogging this past year, and I thought I would share some of those things that I have learned with you!

  1. If you don’t live your life, you don’t have a life!
  2. Experiences are waaaay more important than material things!
  3. It is ok to ask for help!
  4. Even when you think you are all alone, there is someone out there who is willing to lend you some encouragement!
  5. Even the scariest goals can be accomplished if you are determined enough to make the needed sacrifices!
  6. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you want to do something you should, just doing it feels great!
  7. There is a whole world of people, ideas, and places right outside the door of my little world!
  8. I only know what I know, and I still have a LOT left to learn!
  9. There is a whole community of creative people who are willing to cheer you on!
  10. No matter what you are going through, there is always someone who is going through the same thing themselves!
  11. Kindness and sincerity is always a fan pleaser!
  12. Taking a leap of faith may be scary, but landing further than you expected is always worth it!
  13. You can always do one more thing!
  14. Taking time to do nothing is medicine for the soul!
  15. So is laughter!
  16. You attract to you what you send out!
  17. Even after 17 years my sweetie can still dazzle me!
  18. It is ok to pick and choose your family!
  19. You can’t please everyone at all times!
  20. Learning to say no is so difficult, but once you say it once, it becomes a lifesaver!
  21. Children grow so quickly, but are great at keeping you feeling young!
  22. There isn’t such a thing as being too sparkly!
  23. Sexy doesn’t just come in one size!
  24. You are never too old to begin again!
  25. You really only do get one life!
  26. Just because the corporation owns your job doesn’t mean you don’t still own your career!
  27. It is therapeutic to often let your inner child out to play!
  28. It is ok to have a bad day every once in a while, you are human after all!
  29. People are more precious than gold!
  30. It is ok to listen to my intuition, she knows what she is talking about!!

I hope you have enjoyed following my blog for the past year!! By no means do I plan on stopping now, but I may not be quite so hard on myself if I don’t blog EVERY SINGLE DAY!! I will continue to share my stories with you to hopefully provide encouragement to someone to try something new, or to let someone else know that they are not alone, or to even just share something inspiring!!  Thank you so much to those of you who stop by every day to see what is going on, those who comments and offer words of encouragement! I hope that I have given to you even a small slice of what you have given to me, I appreciate you!! 😉

In the next coming weeks I have some ideas to give my blog a fresh new take that I have been toying with, and I hope that as I start to implement some of these ideas that you will continue to give me your honest feedback, and encouragement! I always look forward to hearing from you! 🙂 I am so very excited to see what this next year brings!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Package In the Mail!

Good evening!

Do you ever get excited whenever you get a package in the mail???

or is that just me???

Well, tonight, after I got home from work, I found a package in my mail!! YEAH!!! 😉

Yes, I really do get that excited!!

In it, was my new 2012 Curly Girl calendar. I am not sure if you know who Curly Girl is, but she is one of my FAVORITE artists. She is a collage artist specializing in uplifting and girl power type artwork!! I am sooooo excited for the new year so that I can put it up in my office!!

I also received a new book called, The Right-Brain Business Plan. This book is by Jennifer Lee, and I have been drooling over this book seemingly FOREVER!!! I finally decided it was time to break down and treat myself to this little book! It is basically a book that helps visual people, like myself, visually map out a plan of action to get to where they want to be. I have needed this kind of help for a while now, because for some reason I seem to get all excited about something, get overwhelmed and then sabotage myself and end up back at the beginning of my progress!! So, I am at least hoping that this book will have some fun, and creative ideas for getting inspired!!!

There was one more thing in this package I received, but I am not at liberty to share what it was, because it was a Christmas gift for my sweetie, and he reads my blog faithfully!! I am SOOO NOT going to spoil that surprise!! 😉

What else happened today? Well, we had our Christmas luncheon at work today. It is always such a nice treat to have a delicious meal, served by our administration!! Plus, we usually take a bit of a longer lunch so we can just take some time to catch up on how everyone is doing. It was really quite a treat!!

I realized today that it is only one week from tomorrow until we are traveling down to Roseburg to see family for Christmas. I am just so excited to get there, and just hang out and have some fun!!! I will have to see if we can have our friend come over and babysit our girls while we are gone. I really do hate leaving them, but they really need to stay in there own habitat!! It is just safer for them!! I am hoping to someday have an RV where we can have a mini home away from home and then they could easily travel with us, but until then, a dog-sitter it is!!! 😉

Alright, that is enough rambling for one night!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Oh Hugo, I Think I’m In Love!

Good evening!

My sweetie and I just got home after watching the movie Hugo, with our friend Errin! Let me just start out by saying what a FABULOUS movie!!!!

This movie is adapted from the children’s book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick, which I can honestly say is one of my all-time favorite books. When I first discovered it, I couldn’t afford a copy, so I literally stayed in the bookstore all day so that I could read this enchanting story. It is filled with half words, and half pictures that are done so beautifully you almost feel as if you are already watching a movie. So, needless to say, I had high hopes for this movie going into this evening.

So, for my thoughts on this movie…

This movie, Hugo, although marketed towards children, in my opinion is a movie for grown ups! I can see children getting bored with it because the story is rather complex, which as an adult just adds to the mystery of this magical story. With that said, let me also tell you that the movie is also inspiring, hopeful, visually rich, and is very true to the book, which I JUST LOVE!!!


Hugo is set in Paris, in the 30’s, so the scenery, the hair, makeup, and fashions are a feast for the eyes! And the 3-D, which is oftentimes seemingly an afterthought in most 3-D movies only enhanced the story as it was artfully done and helped whisk you right into the story alongside Hugo!  It also has a very strong positive message about family, not running away from your past even if you have had difficulties in life, and a reminder to us all the we all have a purpose here on earth, and that it is up to each one of us to discover what that is, and to decide whether or not we will strive to live up to that purpose.


So, I said it when I started tonight’s post, and I will say it again, what a FABULOUS movie!! This will be one that I will be adding to our collection, and already look forward to seeing it again! If any of you have already, or are planning on seeing this film, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Setting Up Shop!

Good evening!

So, my sweetie and I made it to Roseburg! WHEW!!! We headed straight to my sister’s house, picked her up, and long story short, Jennifer, Trina, Sweetie, and myself all ended up at the Douglas County fairgrounds so we could set up our booth! Of course I forgot my camera, so I will be taking pics of our booth first thing in the morning, but I have to admit that we were all pleasantly surprised that we were able to make it look so nice, PLUS fill up a double booth!!! My sisters have been hard at work creating handicrafts all year to make this weekend possible!

I had the opportunity to pull all of my old jewelry out to sell in the booth too, which really made me nostalgic for creating jewelry again! I will make sure to take pics of those too!

I wanted to especially share one thing that happened this evening that has really made this trip worthwhile already and that is, after we had finished setting up the booth, Austin met us at Denny’s and we all sat down for dinner. As we all held hand so my sweetie could pray over our dinner, in that moment, as I was holding Jennifer and Trina’s hand, I had great feeling of being blessed that I was able to be in that moment with my family. It was a priceless feeling that I have really been missing lately! God is good!! 😉

With that, it has been a long day, and we have got to get up very early tomorrow to go finish any last minute preparations, so I am going to call it a night and get some much needed sleep!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

A Flurry of Activity!

Good evening!

This evening has been a FLURRY of activity!! My sweetie and I are frantically getting everything ready to go down to Roseburg for the weekend. My sisters and I have rented two booths down at the Douglas County Christmas Fair, and we are going to be selling all sorts of hand made goodies! I will make sure to take plenty of pictures all weekend of everything and anything! Our good friend, Don is going to be coming over and babysitting our two little girls – thanks, Don!!! So, I know they will be in good hands!

We still have some more housekeeping to do before we go, and I need to make sure we get EVERYTHING packed into the minivan, because I am leaving work at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon to head out, and we are leaving straight from there.

I am not exactly sure what to expect from this Christmas bazaar, but I am excited to be getting to spend some time with my sissies, and to be able to sell some of my hand made bead and wire jewelry. It has been sitting in the house, some of it for up to five years, I have got to sell it, and make room for new creativity!

Back in 2007, I had opened my own jewelry business, and I did pretty well at making a nice selection of treasures, but because of some health problems that my sweetie was having, I decided that I needed to focus my attention on getting him better, so I put all of my jewelry-making supplies away. I get a little sad whenever I see them now, because I really do enjoy making jewelry, but really haven’t given myself permission to get back into making my little baubles! I think that after this weekend, that is going to really change! I would love to see myself start making jewelry again, with a focus on soldering, mini collages, ephemera, personalized memorabilia, and inspirational and sassy thoughts! 🙂 That sounds like SO MUCH FUN!!! 😉

Anyway, as much as I am enjoying my view of our lovely Christmas tree, and part of my book collection (see picture above), I have got to get going and get the rest of my to-do done for the evening, so I can go to bed before midnight!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

Treasure Hunting!

Good evening!
The other day, I had the opportunity to go treasure hunting, and I thought today that I would share two of my finds with you!

I found these two spectacular pieces at Aunt Bee’s here in town! I was absolutely flabbergasted when I first laid eyes on them, I just KNEW they had to come home with me! They were a little spendier than I am used to spending on a whim, but I knew that they would be a great investment and a great addition to my ever growing art collection. That sounds so cool to me! 😉

These pictures make me long to visit Europe. I dream of what it would be like if I could live there someday. Maybe live in the countryside of France, or the hustle and bustle of an Italian Villa, or maybe even live on a remote and isolated  emerald isle of Ireland. DREAMY!

I can imagine myself walking endlessly, just enjoying the scenery, or holding hands with my sweetie as we enjoy the sights of Europe together. Reading on a blanket under a shady tree, or sloshing in puddles while wearing my wellies, and the rain is coming down pitter-patting on my umbrella, that of course I would have right on hand! I would love to see the magnificent architecture, and learn about the vast history, and I would be proficient in every language – ok that may be pushing it, but I think you get what I mean. I would love to be blend in with the locals, and live the culture the way that they really live it. Living life, loving life, enjoying my friends and family! That would be AMAZING!!!

Someday, you will see. I am not sure how, and I am not sure when, but it will happen!! And when it does maybe I will be able to see these actual scenes first hand. For now, I will settle with enjoying my European view through these small paintings that I will truly treasure! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉