Category Archives: Positive

Motivated!

Good evening!

This morning I stumbled across this quote that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind all day.

“What you can do or dream you can do, begin it, boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
~Johann von Goethe

There are so many odd projects laying around the house that seriously need my attention, and I know that I need to spend time crossing each one off of my list! But, right now, the big project is Jason and I are participating in a large garage sale this Saturday. This is the perfect opportunity to clear out a lot of the miscellaneous stuff that in all honesty Jason and I haven’t seen in years!! We spent a few hours this evening going through boxes, and it was so energizing to let go of all of that old stuff. It is true what they say about stuff literally weighing you down, mentally! I am learning to believe that is true.

Ok, confession time!! I might be just a bit of a shop-a-holic (ok, Jay, stop laughing!!). Ok, I’ve said it!! I don’t think I go too crazy money-wise because I pay myself first, pay all of my bills, I have a nice retirement fund and a savings account, but where I think it is really starting to hurt me is in my living space. We live in such a small condo, and it seems that no matter how much stuff I have leaving this place, I just seem to fill the new space with almost twice as much stuff! (That might be a slight exaggeration, but I am sure not by much!)

My biggest areas I have problems with this is books, and fashion!! I can’t pass up a good book, ESPECIALLY if I can find it for a FABULOUS price! and ANYTIME I find a cute dress, or other clothing item that makes me feel good, I just snatch it up – and sometimes in multiple colors!!! This is really starting to become a problem! I would like to tell you that I could stop anytime I want too, but I find that I use shopping to sometimes fill a void that I can sometimes feel in myself. Like something I am needing and I am hoping a certain book, or a certain top will somehow fill it. Crazy, I know! I hear myself saying it, and just think,

“SNAP OUT OF IT GIRL!!!”

Sad, I know!! I am hoping that our garage sale this weekend will really help me make a serious dent in all of the “STUFF”!! I am a little nervous that I am going to be making my hubbies head spin by how fast and how much stuff is leaving this house! I am being seriously RUTHLESS in what goes and what stays!! If we haven’t even seen in since we moved in here 5 years ago, why the heck do we have it still!! Now, there are some memorabilia that I have a different set of rules for, but for the most part, that only pertains to things like cards, and photos, which don’t take up a lot of room in this house!! Thankfully!!

And, if my sweetie and I are going to stay in this condo a few more years, then I owe it to the both of us to make every effort to turn it into our home, and not just a stopping point – like a sad hotel!! Now, a GLAMOROUS HOTEL??? I am SOOO there for that, but not what we have been living in up to this point!!

Also, I have realized today, that I have so much extra home decor and what nots that I could actually start an online home boutique. Don’t think I am not seriously contemplating that either!! That has always been one of my dreams, and this quote above is making me thinking that I just need to get brave, and open my own boutique!! How cool would that be??!!

Oh to dream out loud!!

That would be BLISS!!!

Anyway, I am going to head up to bed for the night, and dream of my new clutter free home!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

Chunky Dunker Night!

Good evening!

I am the type of person that has always been on the lookout for signs. I am a firm believer that there are signs all over the place telling you what direction to go next, you just have to know how to spot them. Well, today, I have been noticing signs all over the place about not giving up on your goals. I really needed to hear that today! Today I recommit myself to focusing on my top 4 goals, one of which is getting fit and healthy, which is why I bring this up tonight – on Chunky Dunker night!

Chunky Dunker, for those of you who may not know is a weekly weight loss/get fit support group that meet here online every Wednesday evening to get the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

As always, everyone and anyone is welcome to join us, or you may feel free to just quietly follow along. I look forward to hearing about all of your successes!

As for my week, I have done alright – not as good as I did last week, but I have been nursing a slight knee injury that seems to have knocked me for a little bit of a loop. Not to worry, I am going to get back into the swing of things by hitting the pool a couple of more times this week, especially since the thermostat is rising, and ANY way to keep cool, is good enough reason for me!! I haven’t actually lost any more weight, but I am dropping inches; and besides occasionally burning my candle at both ends, so to speak, I am feeling pretty peppy!! 😉

Well, that is enough about me this evening! I can’t wait to hear how all of you are doing! I will meet you in the comments section!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Random Sunday!

Good evening!

I have come to the point in my book-loving life that I have too many books, and not enough time to read them all! Not to mention, some of them were given to me and I have NO idea what they are even about. I need to get two comfortable reading chairs and place them in my living room so that I can get some more reading time squeezed into my days! All of my friends and family think that I read all of the time, but really, I only read about 1/2 an hour before bed every evening. I wonder if that fact would surprise any of them??

Well, Jason and I are getting ready for our association’s annual garage sale, which is coming up this weekend, so I am doing my part to help get rid of any miscellaneous things in the house. Apparently Jason is going to be placing a whole TON of his things from his storage unit out for sale, which will be good, I think! When Jason and I lived in the old house, we used to hold 2 or 3 garage sales every Summer, so keep the plethora of belongings at bay was much easier than it is now!!

I have been dreaming about our farm that we hope to have some day. I have made an appointment with my mortgage broker for this Tuesday to find out what kind of options I have for either getting out of our condo, or refinancing so that we can pay a lower mortgage payments every month. I haven’t refinanced for the last three years, and I know my credit score has gone up, and interested rates have gone down. SO, hopefully I will hear SOMETHING good!! just as long as she doesn’t tell me that we will be stuck in this condo for the next 10 years – UGH!!! 😉

As for today? Well, Jason and I started early this morning, with the stereo playing some happy music to make our chores a little more fun!! I just LOVE having a clean house!! Then I had pulled out my mother’s no-bake cookie recipe that I had misplaced, but found this week, and decided to surprise Jason by making him a batch of those. They are so much easier than I remember, and still DELICIOUS!! Needless to say he was PLEASANTLY surprised!!! 😉

So, tonight, I am going to finish going through some of my books, set out an outfit for tomorrow. Oh, on a side note, I have to text Chris (one of my co-workers) every morning to make sure that she and I are not wearing the same thing – it happens a lot!!! 😉 So, I have started to setting out my clothes every evening, so that I am ready at a moments notice if I have to change anything!! LOL!! What we do for our friends!! 😉 and then I am going to climb into my freshly made bed this evening and catch up on a little reading before I fall to sleep!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

PS: By the way, all of these pictures were taken by me while my sweetie and I were having our morning breakfast of steel cut oats – YUM!! 😉

Drive in the Country!

Good afternoon!

My sweetie and I had the very fun excursion out today!

Well, where to begin? I woke up early this morning, and I spent some quiet time reading my favorite blogger magazine. It got me inspired to go out and take some pictures, and so I talked to my sweetie and we rounded up the girls, and we all went out for a ride out through the countryside.

I thought it would be fun to share some pictures of our outing with you!

The first thing we did was that we decided to head out towards farmland so that we could day dream about our little farm that we hope to have someday!! I think Jason is thinking actual farm, and I am thinking a large cottage with a small plot of land to go with it, but this drive helped use verbalize some of each of our dreams and wishes for our dream home!

This farm was my absolute FAVORITE of the day! I could completely see us refurbishing this one and moving right in. Well, minus the two bulls that were in the front yard – EEK!! 😉 If we ever have any animals, besides dogs, we agree that we could handle chickens – WE THINK! 😉

One of my favorite things about the country is all of the different textures that nature has to offer! It is like an amazingly intricate quilt! I am just in awe of God’s amazing-ness!!

I love that these homes are all tucked far from the road, and a distance from each other! I bet you could run around naked outside here in the evening, and no one would even know it. Ok, maybe not me, I am neon white after all. I am sure that I would look like a crazy, fat beacon running like a crazy-person in the night!!! Wouldn’t that be a sight??? LOL! 😉

Isn’t this vineyard just lovely? The Pacific Northwest is becoming known for their wineries!! and even though this isn’t the berry orchard that Jason and I dream of, there is a small part of us that think a little vineyard would be very romantic too!! 😉

Aren’t the cherries just picture perfect??? I picked these up at a little farmer’s market while we were out on our drive!

Here is one of those bulls I was telling you about earlier. My sweetie was brave enough to take a picture of for me. (I ran back and locked myself into the car!!) I was sure that if I got too close to the fence that it would somehow break through the fence and bite me or something!! LOL!! Jason and I both got a good laugh over that one!!! (but secretly I’m still a little sacred!) 😉 I didn’t want the bulls to get angry, thinking we were stalker-paparazzi or something!! 😉

This wheat wasn’t swaying in the breeze AT ALL!! I have never seen wheat hold SO STILL before!! I had a moment of, “Wouldn’t it be fun to run through this wheat field?” Until Jason reminded me of snakes. “Hmmmmm….no thank you!!” (How exactly am I going to make it out in the country??? 😉

The day was hot, clear, and absolutely BEAUTIFUL! 😉 These small purple flowers practically sparkled under the noon-day sky! I just HAD to stop and snap a picture!! 🙂

Here was my second favorite farm house of the day!! It looks like it needs some love, and I am sure it is haunted!! My friend, Chris, swears that all old buildings are haunted, and I am SURE she MUST be right about this one!!! 😉 Even though, it is still a very pretty haunted house!!! 😉

These colors are just so vivid, this rich, lush green against this deep blue sky. It was quite spectacular!!

Oh, and to top of our lovely drive, Jason took me to this little farmer’s market, that I had never been to before, and they had the most delectable strawberry shortcakes! They were sinfully delicious, made with ice cream. I had never had a strawberry shortcake made with ice cream before! and the fresh strawberries just finished this perfect desert off! They were pure goodness!! YUM!!

Man, what a GREAT day!! I had so much fun visiting with my sweetie, seeing the great outdoors, all while hanging with my girls!! I can’t wait to see what we do tomorrow to beat the heat!! I will keep you posted!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Chunky Dunker’s Night!

Good evening!

Tonight is Chunky Dunker night, and I have been looking forward to this night all week!! I post a new Chunky Dunker’s post every Wednesday evening, and you will have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

I am happy to report that I have been working out, eating MOSTLY healthy, drinking my water, and am working on getting my sleeping back in check again! I did hit a small patch of roughness today, when I had a pretty stressful day at work, so I had asked my sweetie to make me some comfort food this evening, but IT WAS SO WORTH IT!!! Yum! 😉

I am just plugging along on my posts, and I even have an idea on putting up some random tutorials on how to do all different kinds of things like beauty, fashion, gardening, decorating, and other miscellaneous hints to help you, and me, turn your house into a home! I would love to hear your thoughts on that, in the comments section above!!

Anyway, let’s get this show on the road, and I will see you in the comments section for Chunky Dunker’s night!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

 

 

Gotta Dance!

Good evening!

I have gotten home from my belly dancing class this evening, and I am still really jazzed!! I have to tell you, it is such a happy class! It is hard for me to go there and not have an absolutely great time!! I know you must be sick of hearing me say it EVERY SINGLE WEEK, but I just LOVE BELLY DANCING!! and you know what, I think it isn’t just belly dancing anymore, I think I just love to dance!!!

Who knew??

I have never been a terribly physical person, I have always excelled at things that involve your mind, and thinking, or a talent like music, or the arts. Dance, which yes, I realize is also an art, I had just never thought it was something that was ever going to be in my repertoire, and I SO LOVE IT!!

Dancing has literally changed me.

It changes the way I see myself.

It changes the way I think about the future and what I now think is possible as opposed to what limitations I had previously placed on myself!

For the first time in my life, and I mean EVER, my inside and outside are starting to become more congruent!! They both are finally HAPPY!! I mean truly, unadulterated, no facade H-A-P-P-Y!!!

I wish that I had the opportunity to provide every single person out there to have this euphoric feeling that I am feeling now. I am convinced, now more than ever, that this feeling is the feeling of joy that is placed upon you when you are doing ANYTHING that honors your authentic self!! For me, right now, that is dancing, for you that might be cooking, singing, drawing, writing, sewing, walking, or whatever!!

My challenge to you this evening and for the rest of the week is to get out there and find an activity, ANY ACTIVITY that honors who you are on the inside – the best of who you are capable of being, and if you feel like sharing, please fee free to let me know in the comment section what that activity might be for you! You’ll never know who might come along and read what you have written – you just might inspire someone to get out there and find THERE OWN PERSONAL activity too!!

I look forward to chatting with you some more tomorrow! Until then…

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

The Many Faces of Happy!

Good evening!

Man, WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND WE HAVE HAD!! Whew! Sorry for shouting, I just had to get that out of my system!!!

Well starting at the beginning, Friday Jason and I went over to our friends’ Rachel and Kevin’s, who we hadn’t seen in the LONGEST TIME!!! We met up, and the guys cooked us girls a very healthy barbecue dinner of grilled chicken and vegetables! YUM!! (YOU GUYS ROCK!!!)  After dinner, Jason and I had fun playing with their adorable daughter, Alyson, the four of us spent the next few hours catching up and playing a very competitive, and comical game of Apples to Apples. I am happy to announce that although Kevin won first place, I am very happy to announce that I came in from last place to snatch up second place!!! We had the most AMAZING fun, and I can’t wait to get together to do that again soon!!! 😉

Saturday I met up with my girlfriend, Dawn to do some second hand shopping, at a place called Big Gals Consignment, why the heck haven’t I been shopping in that place for years!?!?!? It is AMAZING!! Clean, high quality clothes at a REALLY, REALLY great price!!

Anyway, after our trip there, we went to another place to see if we could find the perfect wedding dress for Dawn, and we weren’t having too much luck, that is until we finally decided to go to Nordstroms! It was not 5 minutes after describing her dream dress to me, that the sales lady brought in EXACTLY what Dawn was looking for!! It looks stunning on her, and made her light up with happiness, AND it was the BEST PRICE!!! WIN! WIN! WIN!! – I was VERY GLAD to be a part of that!!!

Before we left Nordy’s, I had to head over to the MAC counter to pic up something, you know me and how much I am a MAC girl!!! The lady who was helping me there had the most stunning eye make-up complete with gold glitter, and the most amazing false lashes, so Dawn and I decided to make an appointment to come back the next day and have a makeover ourselves with an emphasis on a smokey-eyed wedding look for Dawn, and a diva-like dramatic eye look for myself, both looks including learning how to apply false lashes!

We then met back up with the guys downtown for a nice lunch over at the Wild Pear, which has THE BEST FOOD!!! I had to mention that, because I am going to share pics of that place later in the week – their decor is STUNNING!! If we doubled the width of the place, I could just live there!! I am just sayin’! 😉

So, today was the day of that appointment and Dawn and I headed over there to get our new looks done, we were so excited, and Sammy was there to entertain us and take all sorts of pictures for us!!! I would like to say that everything went perfectly, but that would be too perfect wouldn’t it. Let’s just say that Dawn and I both had two different people doing our makeovers, and mine was phenomenal and Dawn’s was, well…let’s just say that we are going to schedule another makeover for Dawn again, but this time with my sales lady – Lacey!!

Even though things didn’t go exactly as we had planned, we had a lot of fun, and after getting back to Dawn’s place, where both Errin and Jason were busy visiting and watching movies (oh, did I mention, our makeovers took a little over 2 hours???) We fixed Dawn’s makeup, applied makeup to Sammy, which, by the way, made her look like she was 25, so that was kinda freaky – but you’ve gotta know that Sam LOVED it!! 😉

After begrudgingly leaving Errin and Dawn’s so we could head home and get some laundry done so that I didn’t have to go to work naked tomorrow (you are welcome Chris and Julie!!!) Jason and I picked up a little something for dinner, rented and watched Red Riding Hood, which was a little lackluster in all honesty. All-in-all I think that has been one pretty GREAT two and a half days!!! We have had a ton of fun, and Jason and I are really blessed with really great friends, and even more blessed that we get the opportunity to spend some quality time with them!!!

Anyway, Jason and I are getting ready to head upstairs for some quiet time before going to bed this evening!! If only EVERY weekend could be filled with as much friends and fun as this one has been, I think our lives would just BUST AT THE SEAMS with JOY!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

An Evening at the Arbor!

Good evening!

I am in the middle of a very lovely weekend, and instead of spending too much time telling you all about it so far, since I can tell you about my weekend in it’s entirety, with tomorrow’s post. I thought I would just share some pictures of this little shop that I visited today in downtown Salem. This place is called The Arbor.

When I walked in they were playing some of my favorite music that just makes you want to be all things Parisian!! After listening to the music for a few minutes, I finally realized why it sounded so familiar, it was the soundtrack to Somethings Gotta Give – I just love that movie!!

Anyway, this shop is a feast for the senses, and although I can’t share the scents, or sounds to you, I can share some of the beautifully imagery!

Enjoy!

I told you this place was FANTASTIC!!! If you are ever in the area, feel free to visit. You will be so glad you did!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 🙂

A New Personality!

Good evening!

You may not know this, but I LOVE taking personality tests!! Psychoanalyzing myself and seeing what makes myself really tick!

Well, today, we had a new one distributed out at work to take – it uses the Jung methodology, which I have taken in the past, however this one seemed to really fit where I am in my life right now, which is pretty awesome!!

Anyway, instead of doing a “normal” post tonight, I thought I would share this link with you and let you take it yourself to find out a little more about your own personality!!

Take your own Personality Test now! 🙂

Oh, and in case you are curious, I am an ENFJ!

  ENFJ – “Persuader”. Outstanding leader of groups. Can be aggressive at helping others to be the best that they can be. 2.5% of total population.

Extroverted (E) 52.94% Introverted (I) 47.06%
Intuitive (N) 60.53% Sensing (S) 39.47%
Feeling (F) 73.53% Thinking (T) 26.47%
Judging (J) 57.89% Perceiving (P) 42.11%

Outgoing, social, attention seeking, emotional, loving, organized, comfortable around others, involved, open, hyperactive, complimentary, punctual, considerate, altruistic, easily hurt, religious, neat, content, positive, affectionate, image conscious, good at getting people to have fun, easily excited, perfectionist, assertive, ambitious, leader, hard-working, seductive, touchy, group oriented, anti-tattoos

 Favored Careers:

Casting directory, film critic, wedding planner, work in the performing arts, teacher (art, preschool, elementary), actor, fashion designer, news anchor, fashion merchandiser, school psychologist, broadcaster, stylist, interior designer, event coordinator, restaurant owner, childcare worker, hair stylist, film director, counselor, dancer

 Disfavored Careers:

Race car driver, scientist, computer specialist, airline pilot, computer programmer, financial manager, epidemiologist, truck driver, electrical engineer, software designer, web designer, business consultant, dj, bookseller

These results are pretty spot-on for me, however I don’t think I am anti-tattoo!! 😉

Anyway, I would LOVE to hear your results, in the comments section below!! I am on my way out the door to nourish my social-side – We are on our way to dinner and games with friends!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉