Category Archives: Self Improvement

Finding My Creativity!

I have just gotten home from a super-fun, and super-nerdy book store evening!! At this point, does this shock ANYONE??? LOL!!! I could sit amongst a huge pile of books and just pore of all of the pages, stories, and pictures and just soak them all in. Well, tonight I was surrounded by books on capturing and tapping into my creativity!! I texted Jason, who just happened to be sitting right next to me (LOL), that I dream about being an artist – I have this need to create something FABULOUS!! He just texted back, of course – as if that is what he has known all along, which might just be the case!!!

Anyway, I came home with a book called The Crafter’s Devotional: 365 Days of Tips, Tricks, and Techniques for Unlocking Your Creative Spirit. This book was written by Barbara R. Call, and I am just itching to get started in this book!!! On day 1 (which they have set up for a Monday), the book guides you in getting started in journaling.  So, the idea of getting started has really gotten me motivated to get my office space back up and running! I want a creative place that is set up to inspire, and feed my creativity!!! YEAH!!! I will make sure to take pictures tomorrow to post as I get things in order!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Thursday Night Update!

I am enjoying a nice quiet evening with my husband. There is soft music playing in the background. Our sis and niece stopped by and had a healthy dinner with us and we played some rounds of Bananagrams – still one of our FAVORITE games!!! I love you sistah!!! 😉

Jason and I have had a little bit of a health scare here today. I will not go into any details, but I think my husband is finally on board with getting fit and healthy! I have been following the calorie guide from Livestrong.com, and have lost almost 9 pounds in a week and a half. I am really thankful that I stumbled upon this site. My husband, sis, and one of girlfriends have all joined up because of my progress so far. I am telling you – try it for one week, and if you don’t lose any weight, then quit – but it is free. So, what do you have to lose??? Except some unwanted lbs that you know have been bothering you!! 😉 Ok, commercial is over! Let me know if you have any success!!

Anyway, tomorrow is Friday – YEAH!!! Jason and I are heading out on a date tomorrow night – we are actually planning on watching the new Harry Potter movie. The 7th of 8. I have high hopes that it will be entertaining, not as good as the books mind you, but good just the same! I think it is going to be odd to watch one of these movies without Dumbledore – he has been so integral to the story. I also think that this movie will be scarier than I am used to. I am a big chicken when it comes to these things – my imagination has a tendency to get too out of control! I know, but now you know why I watch so many light and fluffy romances, and comedies.

Jason is asking that we go for a walk, and I am going to take him up on it!! So until next time!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 🙂

Format Change!

Today is a good day to change things up a bit.

This has been a GREAT weekend, although I really haven’t see n too much

of my Sweetie this weekend, which is a little sad!

HOWEVER, I got to spend some quality time with some of my girls yesterday!! First shopping for treasures with my sis-in-law; later out to coffee and then dinner with my girlfriend! It was a VERY good day!!

I even had a chance to check out a new little chic boutique downtown and picked up this sweet little two-sided pillow. Isn’t it darling?

Anyway, I thought it was the PERFECT start to my Christmas season this year, and my Sweetie first thought was that it was a new pillow for the bedroom – Go figure!!! 😉

Have I told you that I am officially brainstorming starting a small business? I am passionate about helping women live the life of their dreams, and I feel that the foundation for living the life of your dreams is creating a home that truly represents your innermost self.

You should be surrounded by treasures that remind you of special people, places, memories, and all that represents the very best of you. That is what I LOVE hunting for those one of a kind treasures, and HONEY you have to know that I have ABSOLUTELY run out of room to store ALL of those treasures in my place, so I want to share them with you!! More news to come – but my next step is trying to figure out a business name!!! 🙂

I am off to go enjoy the rest of my afternoon!

Have a FABULOUS evening!

 

Blackberry Monday!

I would love to tell you that I am being proactive, and spending my evening exercising, planning for tomorrow and all that jazz, but really? I am pretty much just wasting my time playing with my new Blackberry!! I got it from work today, and I am trying to figure out how to work all of the features, and actually having fun doing it!!

You know, working in an IT department, it is really easy to stay up on all of the latest gadgets and techie goodies!! and yes, I am ashamed to say that have become quite a gadget junkie!! But you know, it is very common that I find myself sitting in a meeting on any given day, and all around me I see my co-workers sitting with i-pads, laptops, cell phones, pagers, and all kinds of other assorted electronics. It is amazing how difficult it is to talk to an actual person face-to-face now a days, I sometimes worry about upgrading my electronics because I feel like I am just feeding into the electronics as people/relationships/entertainment/life. Ok, wait – this posting just got heavy, really heavy all of the sudden!! Anyone seen the people in Wall-E???? Ok, I’m done! I will just have to make sure that I remember to disconnect as often as possible!! 🙂

Anyway, I am off to go sneak as much sleep as possible before I have to slip off to work again tomorrow morning!!

Before I go for the evening, I want to give a shout out to my dad – he took me and my little sister out for lunch yesterday to celebrate our October birthdays and we really did have such a good time!!! I love getting to spend time with my dad!! and he is so sweet! When I hugged him I just didn’t want to let him go because he smelled like home!!! Thank you for lunch – I love you, Daddy!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Swimming with the Kiddos!

I just got done swimming with family!!! I LOVE doing that, especially since playing with the kids is THE BEST DISGUISE for exercising!!! WHEW!! These kiddos REALLY WORK ME OUT!!!! Man, I am soooo sore, but so HAPPY!!!

Anyway, I heard a Bible verse in the car on the way to the office this morning, and it has been running through my mind all day. The verse was:

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

Proverbs 27:17 (New Living Translation)

All day, I was thinking I think this is a verse that I have to share with my husband because somehow it meant he was lacking something and I was going to be able to share this verse to help open his eyes, and I would be the hero that helps “fix” him. Well, as the day went on, I realized that this verse was really presented to me this morning to open my eyes to my own flaws. I need to learn to lean on my girlfriends more. I sometimes have a tendency to shut myself off from people for fear of getting hurt, and this verse tells me that if I have faith and let people in, they can actually “sharpen” me and make me a better person. What a great lesson! Thanks, I needed to hear that!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Wednesday Update!

I LOST 6.6 POUNDS!!! YEAH!!! OH HAPPY DAY!!!

I am not sure what to say about that but I am really proud that my hard work is paying off!! 😉

Anyway, I am tired, I have been working out like a fiend today. I have incorporated mini walks throughout my day, I didn’t you use the elevator at all today, and I spent a rambunctiously fun time swimming with family this evening!!! WHEW!!! 😉

I received a new/old book in the mail yesterday. It is a book that Diane von Furstenburg wrote in 1976, and it is about beauty, style and being your sensual self! So far I am loving it!!! I am hoping to get this read quickly!!! The advice is very sensible and is still applicable to today’s woman!!! It is really GREAT to hear her thoughts, she seems like a kindred spirit, or a long lost sister or something!!

Anyway, I am heading off to bed!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

God Bless Oprah!!

On my way home tonight I decided to pick up salads, and baked chicken for dinner, that way my sweetie could take the evening off from cooking tonight! So, after I got home and we had our dinner, I decided to watch some episodes of Oprah, I have 3 on my DVR!!! So, I watch the season premier and honey, I tell you that, I am sitting here with a big roll of toilet paper blubbering like a big ol’ baby! I would like to tell you that I haven’t slipped into the ugly cry yet, but that might not be true!! I just LOVE Oprah Winfrey! I remember my mom watching her when I was little, and myself watching her on and off throughout the years. I am sad to see that she will be leaving her television show this year, but she’s not dying y’all!!! I can’t wait to see what she does next. My life has been blessed because of Oprah, and if each of us could have just a smidge of her compassion for the world around us, and enough gumtpion to make change happen this world would be a much better place.

If not me, who? if not now, when?

Alright so most of you may know that I am working on getting healthy, and what you may not know is that I have been doing HORRIBLY!!! I am an all or nothing kinda girl, and that is probably my biggest downfall in my quest to get fit! I spend a lot of time beating myself up and then just quitting! So I am trying to have a change in my mindset. I want to do at least one thing better today, then I did yesterday.

So today:

  • I visited our hospital’s community health library and checked out two educational programs to watch
  • I had baked chicken instead of fried for dinner
  • I have eaten 6 servings of fruits and vegetables today
  • Watched Oprah, always uplifiting, inspiring, or educational
  • I cleaned out my car
  • Drank water all evening
  • I have put my laundry away (thank you, Jason for folding all of that!)

I have one quote that I wanted to share today. This is a quote that I heard while watching a movie called The Answer Man earlier this week, and ever since I’ve heard it, it has been repeating over and over in my head. The lines of this movie are:

Kris Lucas: Why can’t I do the things I want to do? There’s so much I know I’m capable of that I never actually do. Why is that?
Arlen Faber: The trick is to realize that you’re always doing what you want to do… always. Nobody’s making you do anything. Once you get that, you see that you’re free and that life is really just a series of choices. Nothing happens to you. You choose.

Isn’t that deep??? I am not sure why, but these lines really created an Ah-Ha moment for me!!! I am working on remembering this! It is all a choice, no one is forcing me to do anything!!

Deep!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Just Checking In!!!

I know that I should be posting SOMETHING!!! I could always tell you about what a great time we had camping this last weekend; you know, all about our canoe outing where we literally dumped into the water in our street clothes within 30 seconds, or the dune buggy/bus tour that we took that was supposed to be nice and peaceful but ended up making me want to pee myself, while I was screaming like a little girl calling for her mommy because I was sure that we were all going to die! Or maybe you would like to hear about my escapade hiking up and down on this monster trail that I was sure was going to cause my death, and someone would have to send several big men to come pick my fat, dead, ass up, and drag my back to my campsite!!! LOL!!! 😉 But I am tired, and today is an anniversary of something sad that happened in my family’s life 11 years ago, so I am going to keep that short.

However, we really did have a lot of fun camping, and I can’t wait to do it again next year, but next time with 2 campsites – we all were a little too on top of each other all weekend!!!

Anyway, here is my thought for the day:

The kind of image that you have of yourself will limit what you are able to do. When you don’t glorify , or revel in who you are, you are denying a part of yourself. I have been denying my whole adventurous spirit because I don’t have the right weight, I don’t have the right look, I can’t do something because what will people think? You know what? SCREW THAT!!!! I can do ANYTHING I WANT!!!! I don’t want to wait for anybody anymore! I am not waiting to become what I want to be! I am not waiting do anything anymore! Hell, if I want to do something, it is time for me to step up and do it; nobody is going to do it for me and once I decide that something is right for me, that these are the things that I want to do then I will also enable the people around me to do the same thing, which is what I am here for after all!!!

I don’t want to be ordinary any more. I want to be extraordinary. I want to have a fabulous life where everything I believe I should have, I can have. I am fearless, you know absolutely fearless, what can stop that? (I am hoping that if I keep saying it then it will just HAVE to become the TRUTH!!!)

Well it is late, and my husband and I are heading out tomorrow on a road trip down to Monteray, California, which should be a lot of fun!! I am telling you right now, that this is 3 weeks in a row away from home!! Next weekend, I am turning off my phone and squirreling away all weekend!! Reading, walks in the park, swimming, dinners with my sweetie!! I am a homebody that seems to never be home!!! 😉

I will try and blog some times this weekend, and keep you posted of our adventure!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

P.S. I will always love and miss you, Momma!!! 😉

Daily Post!

I know that it is only Tuesday, but I am soooo looking forward to this weekend. I know that I just got back from camping, but my sweetie and I are going with my sis, Nette, Michael and all of their kiddos. I think we are going to Florence, but I have to call tonight and find out where for sure!! I am excited! If we have as much fun as we had this last weekend, then it will be a great time!!

Ok, so a little more about this last weekend. Jason and I really had a lot of fun. Jason was totally in his element, running from campsite, to campsite, helping anyone who asked – that is what he lives for, he is my happy-helper man!! I had the most fun getting to know more of my family members, and playing with my nephews. Aaron and Gavin were in our campsite, and I just had SOOOO MUCH FUN playing mom! Ok, well honestly I was totally part-time mom because I didn’t feed them or sleep with them, ok – so I guess that is called being AUNTIE!! YEAH!!!

You can probably can tell, I am soooo distracted tonight – I am watching On the Road with Austin & Santino. I am trying really hard to get through my DVR before we leave town again! and I just LOVE this show! They are soooo sweet, some of their designs are a little ‘different’,  but they are ingenious that they are able to make the dresses that that they are able to with a limited amount of resources and a limited amount of time!!! I would LOVE to let them make something GORGEOUS for me!!! Today they are making a wedding dress. Ok, so CONFESSION TIME!! I am soooo damn hormonal!!! They just showed the bride her dress for the first time, and I actually just starting tearing up!!! Ok, I am pulling it together!!! 😉 This dress is pretty, and frilly, and girly, and just beautiful! Austin and Santino just come across as so sincere, and they really treat their client du jour as the most important woman, and she really gets their absolute best. I LOVE THIS SHOW!!

Alright, so I am going to go spend some time with my sweetie before bed!

Thought of the Day:

“People love to tell you that you can’t do it, if you have a feeling inside that you really want to do something, you just go do it, you just do it, that is all there is to it!” ~ Danny Devito

I am still struggling to figure out what I am supposed to be when I grow up, but I am just looking for the signs! Opportunities for growth, improvement, and all around happiness, and fitting with my natural talents and personalities!!! In the mean time I am just going to live, live, live, and make as many memories as possibles on the way!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Wednesday’s Update!

Today is Day 5, no shampoo, no hairbrush, and my hair is still rockin’! Ok, I realize that I am having a moment of SEVERE VANITY, but really when do I EVER have something that I can say looks good on me!?!?!?!? But, do you know the scary thing??? I swam in my overly chlorinated pool last night for a really long time, and NORMALLY that would have left me with poofy frizzed out hair for days, and look at this pic, this is my hair TODAY!!! WOW!!! I am a believer!!! I want to tell every curly girl of this new power that I have discovered! THEY SHOULD HAVE THIS POWER TOO!!! HAHAHA! Ok, that was a little evil, like I want to take over the world laugh, but I digress!! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments section, I would be happy to tell you exactly what I am and have been doing to make my hair look the best it may have ever looked!!!

Anyway, today is Wednesday, and I am soooo ready for the weekend!! Jason and I are meeting our family at Beverly Beach to go camping for the weekend! We are going to have soooo much fun! and I am planning on taking A LOT of pictures!! We are having a fun family cookoff on Saturday evening, I can’t wait!! Jason is biting at the but to cook our meal that night, and I can’t wait to taste everyone’s dishes, you see we are all sharing whatever it is that we make, so that should be SOOO MUCH FUN!!!

Anyway, I am going to go spend some undivided time with my sweetie!!! I look forward to hearing from you!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉