Category Archives: positive living

Love and Light

Posted in exercise, happily ever after, Happiness, intention, Love, love and light, nature, positive living, rooted, simple living, spark joy by

These are my favorite words right now. I love them as a blessing to others and I love experiencing both. I love the thought of love and light and focusing our attention on all that is good. What we focus on, is what we create and I choose love and light. They’re kinda like my BFFs.

Today I loved finishing the second to last day of my 30 day challenge, completing 240 squats, 38 push-ups and 95 leg lifts!! This makes me very happy. What challenge should I accept next, Yaya?

I decided to complete today’s challenge before dinner. The only thing that’s been consistent with this challenge is completing the daily challenge. Some days I’ve worked out in the morning and others at lunch, mid-afternoon, before dinner and at least before bed. Those ones were the hardest!

Tonight I finished the challenge right around 7pm and decided to shower before dinner. I loved the late afternoon sunlight coming through my bathroom window and didn’t want to leave until sunset.


Love and light. May it surround you and be part of your every day.

namaste

Memory Collection

Posted in connection, Cooking, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, memories, Mindfulness, positive living, simple living by

What memories did you create and collect today?

Are you holding them secret, just for you? Did you take a picture or write about your moment(s) to remember?

Today I baked Aunt Debbie’s King Ranch Chicken casserole for dinner. It brought back great memories of visiting with her in Colorado probably when Christian was a baby. I liked seeing her handwriting on the recipe card I still carry and enjoyed thinking of her while I cooked and we enjoyed dinner.

I love food, family, tradition and making memories!

And I love that you choose to share this wonderful life with me, by reading and reflecting, connecting and sometimes sharing a like or a comment with me. Thank you!  I hope you enjoyed your weekend and have a great week!

xo

Taste of Summer

Posted in best friends, family, food, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, joy, Love, motherhood, parenting, positive living, simple living, spark joy by

I tricked her. I went in her room while she was studying and said, 

“Come out here and be with me, …and unload the dishwasher.”

Luckily she wants to spend time with me. She didn’t however like the idea of doing the dishes, but she did it anyway. I was getting ready to prepare dinner and wanted her company.

She retorted, “Let’s empty it together.”

Deal.

She unloaded and handed them to me while I put them in their place. Then we switched without exchanging words because she was closer to the place the dishes belonged.  We danced and flowed from dishes to conversations about our day, while we began to cut up fruit and prep dinner.

She cut. I boiled. She stirred. I chopped. She drained the noodles. I spiralized the zucchini and carrots. We go well together.


Afterwards, I sat down to relax. She followed me. We read and worked side by side. 

She got up and decided she wanted to bake. I followed her back into the kitchen.

She baked. I admired. She shared. I tasted.


We all gathered in the small space together and I called for a group hug. They thought I was crazy. I know they are growing up but they’re still all my babies. So we hugged. In that moment. For a second, because they know their mom is crazy!


Summer is almost here. I can almost taste it.

Can’t wait!

🙂 

Sparked Joy!

Posted in Gratitude, happily ever after, joy, positive living, simple living, spark joy by


I went shopping with my BFF this weekend and we had so much fun, browsing and trying on shoes and makeup and clothes together. I never take the time to do this and the hours just passed by before we knew it. 

We joked together and enjoyed people watching and told each other what looked good and what didn’t, laughing along the way. She has great taste and helped me to pick out a new summery outfit, and I helped her pick out a fun new top and belt.  She really picked out her own and I just validated her choice. I had the easy part! 🙂

I was going to save my new outfit for a special occasion and then decided today was a special occasion for no reason, well actually, because I’m living my happily ever after today and that’s a good enough reason. I loved the feeling of dressing up a bit and feeling fun and cuter than usual. It sparked joy and made me happy.

The little things…and who knew?

What little things spark joyed in your life today on this magnificent Monday?

Have a great week, hot stuff!!

Mindful and Intentional

Posted in Gratitude, Happiness, positive living, simple living by

What if you are intentional and mindful through out your day?  I think you then have SuPeR pOwErS!!

ML reminded me to stay intentional today and to make my list for the day after we got back from our walk.  She said that she liked my blog the other day and was practicing being intentional too and felt so good getting so many things done.  I took her advice and made a list as soon as I walked in the door.  THIS little practice is AMAZING!!

By being intentional with my 2 extra bonus hours, I got so much done and was really efficient, which made me very happy.  I didn’t waste any time and my house was clean, errands were run and dinner was in the crockpot, all before work.

I’ve taught my kids to live in the moment and to enjoy what life brings and to not be too busy to play, despite our workloads. So when I found our missing Spikeball game and had it displayed in our living room when they came home, they decided it was time to go outside and play. I was instructed to log off my computer and to take a break. They’re teaching me what I’ve taught them, which means I think they’re learning. 😉 Of course, I went outside and enjoyed my big kids, thankful that they still want to go outside and play and with me!  After we were done playing, I  went back inside to finish up work for the day. Luckily dinner was ready for them in the crockpot and they’re becoming more and more independent.  I’m liking this new stage of life.

I’ll share one more mindful moment that made my day wonderful. I took a shower later this evening before dinner. The sun was shining perfectly through the window and lit up the bathroom. The lighting was glorious and I remembered my college psychology teacher, telling us to try to be present in the moment and the example of when you’re showering, to be fully present in the shower. She said to feel the water hitting your body. Listen to the water sounds. Feel the warmth and enjoy the entire experience of showering without thinking of anything else. I practiced this and loved it, closing my eyes and seeing the brightness through my closed eyes and feeling grateful. Being mindful and enjoying the present moment in the shower set the tone for the rest of my evening. The stress washed away and made for a great night.

How are you practicing setting intentions and being mindful? You have Super Powers! Are you using them too?

nAMaste and wishing you peace.

 

 

 

 

 

May You Be Intentional

Posted in Happiness, intention, Mindfulness, positive living, simple living by

Project Happiness has a #MayYouBe challenge going on right now and today’s challenge is focused on intention.  I woke up this morning and took the challenge and thought about setting an intention for the day.

This really gave structure and peace to my day because I knew exactly what I wanted to do and I was prepared and the day flowed, just like magic.

Because I was intentional with my thoughts, I created the day I wanted. I made the time for the things that were important to me and I chose to do what was in my head. 

It’s Monday and I wanted to start the week off with an uncluttered house. I began picking up and doing laundry and sweeping the floors. I knew what I was making for dinner and I knew that I wanted to work out and shower before working today. And I wanted straight hair today instead of curly because I like that look a lot more these days. 

Those were my intentions. And guess what? My intentions became my reality and my expectations were in alignment with my day and there weren’t any gaps. THIS is my definition of happiness. I created happiness for me in these simple ways.

I challenge you to wake up and breathe and think about what you want for your day to look like. Then set out and do the work it takes to make your dreams come true, just for tomorrow. And then do it again the next day. It’s magical and oh so simple.

If you want to learn more about Project Happiness, you can check it out here: Project Happiness

🙂

nAMaste

Office After Hours

Posted in Gratitude, Happiness, Love, positive living, simple living, space by

This is my small, home office, viewed from my couch after work, where I work from home.

  
I am enjoying seeing it from a different perspective, after dinner and dishes, just relaxing and doing nothing while the day light turns to night. I haven’t turned on the lights yet and like watching and feeling the transition of time changing and passing, but now it’s starting to get too dark and it feels weird to sit in the darkness.

 Let there be light.

 
When I illuminated my messy desk, I noticed that love surrounds me that I didn’t notice before. There is a heart shaped stand that holds a picture of my family. There is a glass blown heart that I received on a trip to Cabo with my BFF and there is a heart shaped frame holding a picture of me and my honey. I like this space, and like it even more now that I am seeing it from a different perspective.

What does your space look and feel like? Do you like the place where you spend many of your waking hours? What can you do to make it enjoyable? 

nAMaste BeLoveRs

Gifts Not Gaps, Connection vs. Conflict

Posted in family, Happiness, Mindfulness, one love, parenting, positive living, rooted, simple living by

These are the words that I repeat daily in my mind and out loud with my family. 

Today my husband said the words, as if they were his original thoughts. This is a huge compliment. They stuck and mean something to him too and I loved this moment.

I sometimes have a tendency to focus on the gaps, the little things that frustrate me, instead of the gifts that my family bring to my life. I want to stay in the space of creating connections and happiness and seeing the gifted moments and living happily ever after, day by day. When I focus on the gaps, I get stuck in a negative place and I don’t like that. So this is a daily practice to overlook the gaps, to let go, and to get back to joy as quickly as possible.

When my kids are arguing with each other, I ask them if they are creating connections or conflict with one another and if they don’t answer with connections, I ask them what they can do to create a connection instead of a conflict. It empowers them to choose and to take ownership of their actions and to focus on creating peace, just as soon as possible. Our goal is to create happiness and to take care of each other, all the time. 

This is how we find and create happiness day by day.

  
Choose peace.

Choose love.

Choose gifts.

Choose connections.

We get to choose every day!!

What will you choose tomorrow?

nAMaste