Category Archives: Living

What Matters Most Right Now?

In nature after fog

Good morning, Beautiful Creatives!

What matters most right now?

This is a question that has been a constant friend over the past few days! When I hear it, in my head, I try to not only answer it, but I am trying to make it my practice to actually take action on it!

What matters most right now?

The answer to that question has varied quite a bit, but it has been everything from:

  • Go brush your teeth!
  • Schedule your bills!
  • Clean the kitchen!
  • Go journal!
  • It is time for a meditation!
  • Early to bed, please!
  • Go hug your sweetie!
  • Turn off the telly, it is time to get to work!
  • etc!

I think the Universe is trying to get me to really stay focused on what really needs my attention right now, and you know what? It is really making me feel more accomplished! Little baby-step kind of things that really matter to me. Doing this consistently over the past few days have left me feeling mentally, much better than I have in quite a while!

YAY!!

So…

What matters most right now?

Is there something that you can stop and take immediate action on?

If there is anything I can encourage you to do today, it is that!

GO DO THAT!!!

Here is to a Beautiful Creative day!

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

Just Another Manic Tuesday!

Bitsy & Gracie sleeping!! Sisters and Besties Forever!! 🙂

Good morning, Beautiful Creatives!

Okay, so maybe it is not quite a manic Tuesday, but the Manic Monday song ran through my head as I was trying to figure out what to title this post…so there ya go! 🙂

My day of taking micro baby steps to be a better me than I was the day before was a success! If I may say so myself!

I’ve decided to keep track of my baby steps in a small, pocket-sized, notebook. That way I have no excuse not to write it down. I thought that this way would also give me an easy, electronic-free way to look back and see how far I have come in my progress!

I just counted and I ended up with 39 things on my list, and a few of those things were:

  • Lunch with Papa Jay and Crystal
  • An afternoon walk
  • Play with the puppies
  • When they did something they are not supposed to, I stopped to remember that they are still puppies!
  • I had a healthy breakfast
  • Purchased enough slim hangers to replace every regular one we have in the house – project closet purge is well on it’s way
  • and climbed in bed early to read…a quick note on this one, I was soon interrupted by pre-bedtime-spazzy-puppies, and reading did not commence. It is dang near impossible to ready with these 2 little hooligans around!! 😉

So, that is just a sampling of how I did yesterday. I think I did a lot of things really, really right, and I still did a lot of things that I can still improve on. As for today, I am going to keep tracking my micro successes, one thing at a time!

HOWEVER, the thing I am most excited about today is that today is the first day of our girls’ puppy training classes!!

YAAAAAAY!!!

and whew, I thought this day would never come!

For the most part Gracie and Bitsy are well behaved girls! Okay, that might be a lie, but I think they try!

Gracie is super friendly, social, and just loves E-V-E-R-Y-B-O-D-Y!!!!

Bitsy, well, let’s just say she has other attributes!! 😉

She is a spazz, is terrified of anyone and everyone, gets really vicious when she plays, and once out of the house she is loooooooooong gone!! She is a wild child that just can not be tamed!! Which is really cool, but also has caused a lot of extra WTF??? commentary in our little household!

I am really hoping that puppy training will help, because we cannot afford to have Cesar Milan come to our home and show us how to let Bitsy know that we are the pack leaders, not her!

She does have her awwwwww moments too, mind you – she is the best car passenger! She loves watching everything happening outside, which is awesome!!

Ooh! My alarm to head out to work just went off, so I have got to zippity-do!! I will let you know how puppy school goes!! Until then…

Here is to a Beautiful Creative Day!

If you want to have a Beautiful Creative life, you have to take beautiful and creative actions!

Starting Anew!

Good morning, Beautiful Creatives!

I have decided that I may be the world’s worst blogger. I never seem to get around to updating my blog, so, instead of dwelling on that, I’ve decided that this morning I will start anew!

I have been asking myself, “how can I improve myself?” This question is something that seems to be following me everywhere I go. I am not sure why, but last night I had a bit of an ah-ha moment when, out of the blue, I reheard something that I have known for a long looooong time! You can improve yourself by taking baby steps every single day to do something – anything – better than you did the day before!

So, that is what I am doing, starting this morning!!

I woke to go pee – now come on, I am pretty dang sure that is the first thing you do every day too!! 😉

The difference for me this morning, is that I told myself I could not play on my phone until I had done two things, brushed my teeth, and did my face skincare routine (which is I guess technically has to be done on a regular basis to be considered a routine!)

I am not sure if this is true for you, but my phone can seriously be a major time-suck in my life!! I great avoidance measure for getting anything of actual great importance done in my day!!

Anyway, I have decided today is the day to change all of that!

So, this morning, so far,

I have…

  1. brushed my hair (working from home, this is not always a requirement, since no-one by my sweetie usually ever sees me)
  2. Brushed my teeth
  3. Flossed
  4. Tongue scraped
  5. Mouthwashed
  6. Washed my face (with more than just water)
  7. Used facial toner (I am not sure I have done that in years!!!) Oh, and this is where I should probably tell you that I have recently gotten new skin care products, because EWWWWWW-GROSS to something I might have used years ago!!!)
  8. Moisturized, down to my neck – yes, something that doesn’t happen too often either, so I am feel rather proud of myself!
  9. Let my sweetie and the girls sleep in a little bit, we all are a little sleep deprived, and anything I can do to help us all stay grump-mode-free is always a good thing!
  10. and now I am blogging!

Did I mention that I have done all of this before 5:30 AM this morning?

Well, yeah, I did! 😉

I am trying to figure out how I want to track my progress, do I want to carry a mini notebook, something that could fit in my pocket, or do I want to track my baby steps electronically? I do not yet know, but I will keep you posted!

I am hoping that I can take just a few moments every morning to journal/blog! I figure I can kill two birds with one stone (man, I really hate that phrase!) and maybe I might be able to share some helpful ideas, insights, or maybe even just give people a reason to smile every morning!

Alright, so there you have it, short and sweet!!

Here is to a BEAUTIFULLY CREATIVE day!

 

 

If you want a beautiful creative life, you have to take beautiful creative actions!

Soul Book Club #4!

Good morning!

I hope you are enjoying my weekly Soul Book Club series! This week, I am happy to announce that week 4 is ready for your enjoyment!

I a really having a lot of fun recording these sessions, I think it is getting a little bit easier. I have been doing this process for a few years, but I am experimenting with how to go about teaching others how to play in your Soul Book, as well as how use your Soul Book as a tool to help you get from where you are to where you want to be, and to ultimately live an authentically creative life, in your own manner!

This week’s Soul Book journaling prompts:

  1. I feel happy when…
  2. I feel sad when…
  3. I feel peaceful when…
  4. I feel most myself when…
  5. My favorite childhood memory…
  6. My favorite memory as a teenager…
  7. My favorite memory as an adult…
  8. What is one area of my life needing attention?
  9. What is one area of my life that is doing amazingly? How did you make it amazing? Can you translate that to other areas of your life?
  10. If there is something that you have putting off, but you know you really should do it, what is that thing? What can you do within the next 10 minutes to take action on that thing?

Please feel free to copy and paste into Word or Pages, and then you will then have the ability to change the fonts style, colors, size, etc. I give you permission to use this list however you would like, including removing prompts, adding prompts, or even just wiping the entire list out and starting over!

I really do hope you are getting some goodness out of my weekly Soul Book Club videos!!

Thanks so much for watching!

Soul Book Club #2!

Good evening!

I am very happy to announce that I have finally kicked off my Soul Book Club over on YouTube!

YEAH!!! 😉

I wanted to make sure that I was able to easily get you the list of journaling prompts that I am using this week. Please feel free to copy and paste into Word or Pages, and then you will then have the ability to change the fonts style, colors, size, etc. I give you permission to use this list however you would like, including removing prompts, adding prompts, or even just wiping the entire list out and starting over!

I am very happy to be able to share this with you!

Here are those journaling prompts:

  • What are my strengths?
  • What are my short-term goals?
  • What are my long-term goals?
  • Who matters most to me?
  • Who are my support people?
  • What am I ashamed of?
  • How can I turn these moments/decisions into life lessons?
  • What do I like to do for fun?
  • What new activities am I interested in or willing to try?
  • What am I worried about?
  • What is my favorite house chore?
  • What is my least favorite house chore?
  • Describe your home in as much detail as possible?
  • What are my values?
  • What do I believe in?
  • If I could have one wish, it would be…
  • Where do I feel safest?
  • What or who gives me comfort?
  • If I wasn’t afraid, I would…
  • What is my proudest accomplishment?
  • What is my biggest failure?
  • Am I a night owl or an early bird?
  • How can I arrange my life to better suit this part of my nature?
  • What do I like about my job? What do I dislike?
  • What does my inner critic tell me?
  • What do I do to show myself self-compassion and self-care?
  • What am I passionate about?
  • What is my happiest memory?
  • Write out the details of a dream you’ve dream this year. Be as vivid as possible.
  • What am I listening to?
  • What I watching on the tele?
  • What am I reading?
  • What movie did I watch last?
  • What movie did you last watch in the theatre?
  • What am I grateful for?
  • What songs are on my favorite playlist?
  • When I’m feeling down I like to…
  • I know I’m stressed when I…
  • Describe yourself as a child.

As always, if you have any questions about any of the techniques that I’ve used, please do not hesitate to reach out to me! I would be VERY happy to be of service! 😉

 

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

 

My Perfect Kind of Day!

Good afternoon!

I am dreaming of my absolute perfect kind of day!! I could so use one of those, right about now!!!

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Oh my gosh…doesn’t this just feel dreamy??? Yeah! I think it will be a while before I get to savor a day like this, but I know it is coming soon, and I CAN NOT WAIT!!!

Here is to a comfy, rainy, reading a good book, hanging out in your jammy’s all day, kind of day!
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Thursday, November 10, 2016

Good morning, world!

I have so much to do today!! Already my brain is on overdrive, trying to figure out how to go about getting it all done!! EEK!!

I have to go take my car into the auto body shop – I was backed into in my local grocery store parking lot. The damage doesn’t appear to be very bad, but mama still needs it fixed!

I then have to run over to the employment office, where I have to meet with one of their staff members, to finish the process for qualifying for unemployment. Side note: unemployment is such a cool thing! I never once thought I would ever need it, and now that I do, I am just so thankful that that service is there!! YEAH!!

I then have to prep a video for my YouTube channel, to post tomorrow. In all honesty, I have no idea what I am going to vlog about yet. I was in a little bit of a funk all day yesterday, and didn’t take the time to do any of my normal prep work, like I usually do. I had a couple of appointments, had lunch with a girlfriend, and pretty much sat around, the rest of the day, watching the telly, and avoiding social media as much as possible! Not my proudest moment of wallowing & self-pity, but today is a new day!

Moving on…I then need to get my scooty booty home and pack like a crazy person!! I only have 7 days until my sister, from AZ, gets here, and I DO NOT want to have to pack while she is in town!!! So, let’s just say I am going to have to get my hustle on!!! 🙂

Oh man, so much to do, and only 24 hours in which to do it in. How do you people get all of this stuff done!?!?!?!?

I am going to have pull out my Super Woman cape, and get a crackin’!!!

Here is to an AMAZINGLY productive day!
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Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Good morning, world!

Well, I awoke this morning to learn who the new US president is going to be. I am surprised, and saddened by it all. Today is a very scary turning point for this country, but I pray that with love as our focus, we will be okay.

As I look to the future of this great nation, I pray that we continue to stand united. I pray that we continue to fight hate, bigotry, misogyny, and segregation, and I pray that we can, somehow, make love the foundation of this great nation. I am firmly standing by what I said yesterday. We need love more today than ever, and it is up to each of us as individuals to share that love with all those around us.

I am signing off early today to go spend time with those that I love.

No matter what, here is to a love-filled day,
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Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Good morning, world!

Well, I am not sure how your day is going, but here in the United States it is voting day. I am never one to share my political beliefs because 1) I can see both sides to every story, that is part of my supah-powahs as an empath 2) everyone has an opinion, why do you care about mine?and 3) I find that when I share my opinions, no matter what those are, I find that a lot of negative Nancies come out of the word work to tell you why you are wrong, which is not so much fun for someone who is such a strong empath!!

I am not going to tell you who I am voting for, but I will tell you that no matter how this election turns out, I am going to keep my number 1 priority as loving others. Why is that such a hard concept for people to understand? Loving others is not such a difficult task, matter of fact, it is actually quite easy to love others.

In case, you are one of those people who feel that this can be a daunting task, I have decided to give you a little bit of help, and share 101 simple ways you can love others, every single day!

101 Simple Way You Can Love Others

  1. Smile at others
  2. Say a heart felt “Good morning!”
  3. Open the door for someone
  4. Let someone else go first
  5. Give someone a genuine compliment
  6. Listen to your mama, and use your manners – “please” and “thank you” go a long way
  7. Leave a post-it not of encouragement on a public mirror
  8. Leave a small piece of art with an encouraging sentiment on it, in a public location
  9. Call someone you’ve been meaning to call
  10. Invite someone for a quick walk
  11. Invite someone for coffee
  12. Invite someone to have lunch with you
  13. Bake a batch of cookies and share them with a neighbor
  14. Cut some wild flowers, arrange them in an inexpensive, thrift store, vase, and give to someone who would enjoy them
  15. Donate something of value that you no longer need to a place that gives back to your community
  16. Donate some money to a place that gives back to your community
  17. Better still, donate your time to a place that gives back to your community
  18. Go to a park filled with children, and sit down and read a few children books to anyone who would like to listen
  19. Share your talent on a street corner, sing, dance, paint, whatever, and don’t expect anything in return
  20. Wear a sign offering free hugs
  21. Pick up some trash as you take a walk through your neighborhood
  22. Drop in on an elderly person, who might not ever get a lot of visitors, and just spend some time listening to their stories. You’ll never know what you just might learn
  23. Write a love letter and share it with someone you love.
  24. If that is too scary, write a love letter and share it online, anonymously
  25. Collect soda bottles for recycling, and give the proceeds to a homeless person
  26. Give a homeless person all the change you have in your wallet. If you are anything like me, that will be A LOT of change!
  27. Next time you are at a restaurant, find one waitress who is doing an amazing job and give him or her an extra big tip!
  28. Bonus points if it is on a crazy busy night, and he or she is hopping, and possibly a little bit haggard!
  29. Write a thank you note, along with a story of greatness (a great product, service, staff, etc) of one of your favorite businesses, and send a copy in to the company, as well as your local news station, or newspaper, to help spread the word on this business’ awesomeness
  30. Go to a friends house and help him or her with a chore that he or she has been dreading doing
  31. Go on social media and invite anyone who would like to join, to come to a bubble blowing party at your city park. BYOB
  32. Host a potluck gathering for your neighbors
  33. Help mow someone’s yard who doesn’t have the ability, or health, or time to do it any longer
  34. Give someone a small, prettily wrapped present for no reason whatsoever!
  35. Volunteer at your local church, stuffing envelopes, or answering phones
  36. Organize a, once a week, walking group, where you can get to know some others from your community
  37. Teach something you know to someone who doesn’t know it, for free
  38. Always be prepared for one extra guest whenever you are making a meal for your family, in case someone in need comes to your door
  39. Pack up a few brown paper bag lunches, and take them around town, handing them out to homeless people
  40. Pack up some gallon ziplock bags with things like a pair of socks, a comb, some granola bars, a stick of deodorant, maybe some feminine hygiene products, a pack of baby wipes, and a $5 bill. You can pass these out to any homeless people you may come across. I would call these blessing bags!!
  41. Volunteer to read, to children, at your local library
  42. Volunteer to read, to senior citizens, at your local assisted living facility
  43. Spend some time at an assisted living facility, just visiting with the residents
  44. If you see an injustice, speak up about it, try to fix it
  45. If you see something broken, see if you can find a way to fix it
  46. If you see something dirty, clean it up
  47. Offer to pressure wash someone’s driveway, for free
  48. Offer to wash your neighbor’d car, for free
  49. Find someone who might be suffering from a serious illness, and offer to help prep a meal for them, do a load of laundry, or possible some other house chore that needs to be done
  50.  Gather up as many spare blankets you can find, and share them with anyone who is sleeping on the street (bonus points if you provide an easily cartable bag for them to store their new blanket in)
  51. Gather a group of people to make blankets for the foster kids in your town
  52. Gather a group of people to make premie baby clothes, for those babies born early
  53. Rake someone’s leaves from their yard without them knowing
  54. Invite someone over to share a meal with you and your family
  55. Invite someone over to share your favorite movie with them
  56. Volunteer at your local hospital
  57. Donate your read, but well taken care of, magazines to your local hospital, or doctor’s office
  58. Find a need and fill it
  59. Share your knowledge of something you love with others
  60. Do you have a Salvation Army, or a Boys and Girls Club? They can always use volunteers to help with their youth programs
  61. Donate some books to your local library
  62. Send someone a quick note, via email, to let them know that you are thinking good thoughts about them
  63. When getting a coffee, pay for the person behind you too
  64. When you see someone at a cash register, and they are a little short, cover it for them
  65. When you are at a cash register, and you see someone with a small set of groceries behind you, pay for it
  66. Go spend some time down at your local animal shelter taking care of the animals there
  67. Find a single parent, and offer to watch their child for the day, so they can go run errands by themselves, or better yet spend some time doing something that they want to do
  68. Pack a holiday meal and deliver it to a family you know is in need
  69. Find a family who might not being too well financially and surprise them with Christmas presents
  70. Let someone cut you in line, if you are the last in line
  71. Clean up someone else’s mess
  72. Take a child, from a large family, and spend the day paying attention to them, and listening to them
  73. Bake a cake and deliver it, with a card of thank you for your service to your local fire department, or police department
  74. Shop for someone who is ill, or unable to get out of the house
  75. Create some simple craft kits that can be taken to your local children’s hospital
  76. Write a sincere job referral for someone
  77. Donate blood
  78. Donate plasma
  79. Start a blog, or YouTube channel that can share information to help someone
  80. Forgive someone who has wronged you, even if it is forgiving them just to yourself
  81. Look for the goodness in people, every has a gem of goodness
  82. Do your best to keep your word
  83. Share a funny joke with some
  84. Wear clothing that make you happy, you will be happier, and that will automatically rub off on others
  85. Spend an hour just visiting with someone who might need your attention
  86. Share your favorite book with someone, bonus points if you buy them their own copy to have
  87. Share your favorite cup of tea with someone
  88. Write an actual, hand held letter to someone who could use some cheering up
  89. Start writing to a pen pal
  90. Reduce, reuse, recycle
  91. Start a community garden. Share the bounty
  92. Teach someone how to cook a recipe that has been passed down through your family
  93. Share one of your family’s tradition with someone you care about
  94. Adopt a grandparent, figuratively speaking
  95. Adopt a child, figuratively speaking
  96. Invite some of the neighborhood kids to play on your video game console, with their parents’ permission, of course (don’t be that creepy neighbor) 😉
  97. Make someone else’s dream come true
  98. Teach a craft project to a much of children
  99. Wave to people, whenever you get the opportunity. My favorite is waving to kids who are riding in the back of a school bus. They make me smile so hard
  100. Start a knitting/crochet club. Even if you don’t know how, this would be a great way to learn!
  101. Start a book club, and be willing to let everyone take turns choosing your group’s reading selections

See? That shouldn’t be so hard to choose at least a handful of these to incorporate into your life! I know that I am now inspired to see how many of these that I can tick off. This will be a fun way to make new friends, after our move to Portland!

Here is to a world full of people who go out of their way to love each other,

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Monday, November 7, 2016

Good morning, world!!

It is hard to believe that our weekend is over. It is actually kind of hard to believe we had a weekend! We did SOOOO MUCH stuff in the past 2 days.

I put out videos, we did a bunch house chores, ran some errands, and we packed a bunch of boxes. So many that I am concerned that we are going to be run out of the house because of just how many boxes we have taking up space! 😉

We have so much more packing to go, and my sister from Arizona is coming in in 10 days, so I have to have the majority of our packing done before then so I can feel free to play to my heart’s content while she is in town!!

I just can’t wait to move. I can’t wait for this whole process to be over, but I am thinking that this process is actually going to take us a few tedious months to get through. You see, moving to Portland is only one part of what we are doing. We then have to finish fixing up some minor details in the condo, and go through the process of selling it. I have never sold a home before, so I am not exactly sure what all that will entail!! All the while, I will have to keep working with our mortgage company, because we are still upside down in our condo, by about $20,000. Not my proudest moment, but there you go! I am hoping that my mortgage company will let us do a short-sale on it. My husband works in Portland, I just lost my job, and we can’t afford to keep it – it costs too much to live here, and there is no way we would be able to rent it out, without having to shell out a fortune more on miscellaneous costs that we would not be able to get covered in the amount we can rent it for. And, who am I kidding? I honestly, deep down to my toes, just don’t want to keep it, even if that means my credit is going to have to take a hit for it.

We haven’t been happy here since we first moved in.

When we did initially move in, I knew it was a mistake at the get go. It was the first time I really heard the message of “it is so important to follow your intuition, it will not lead you astray.” Well, I didn’t listen, and because of that, we have had 10 long years in a place where we have not been able to entertain friends or family because there is really no parking to speak of, we live on a busy street and have to deal with an HOA that really doesn’t know what it is doing, which means we have not really had much peace being here. It has been good for being a place in which I can hide from the world. Now that I say it out loud, I am not sure what took me so long to make the decision to move. Somehow I felt I was being irresponsible because the mortgage was not payed off yet, but really, our quality of life is suffering because it has never really felt like a home.

That is what I am longing for, a real, honest to goodness, home!

People do have those right?

It is not just some hooey that you see in movies, right???

That is what I want, a home. I think that is why my YouTube videos are starting to lean to home decorating, DIY projects, cooking, and entertaining, because that is what I want in my own life. I have a psychology friend who is always telling me, you become what you need in your own life. Yep, she is right. This is what I need. Someone who can show me how to turn my house into a home, a place of love, friendship, and daily creativity, and turn my existence into a life, and who better to do that for oneself than your own self!??

I just pray that my videos can, not only help me, but help someone out there who might be watching, who might be longing for a home of their own too. Then all of my efforts will definitely be worth it!!

I have so much more to do today, so I had better get on it!!

Here is to creating the future of my dreams,
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