One of my new favorite addictions is the online pinboard, Pinterest. One of my new favorite people is my perfect, beautiful, baby niece that was born today, 11.22.11.
When I got home from visiting the baby girl and her parents in the hospital naturally I logged onto Pinterest, and this was the first pin I saw, "Nothing in the past or future ever will feel like today." I couldn't have said it better myself!
Welcome to the world Mackenzie Rain!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Work It Out
LoveItAll was created when I became inspired during the Lent season this year to acknowledge and celebrate being healthy and happy. And I have to say (and high-five myself) that I think I've done a relatively good job sticking with that theme. Of course there have been months I've slacked on posting, but I'm revamping my dedication to LoveItAll and will be posting more! (I was going to write 'will try to be posting more' but my fiance's favorite quote stopped me from typing 'try.' The quote is from Yoda from Star Wars, "Do or do not. There is no try.") So I WILL be posting more.
Looking at previous entries, I find it hard to believe that I've only mentioned my favorite workout of all time once or twice when talking about health and happiness. After high school when my basketball and volleyball days ended, I struggled with finding ways to stay in shape. Before college my workouts were structured, scheduled, and not optional. In college they were trying this and that (yoga to abs classes) and were few and far between. I can honestly say until I found TITLE Boxing Club, I was in a work out rutttt (One 't' didn't make the five year rut seem long enough so I added a few extra).
My whole point is not how awesome TITLE is and how I don't know how I functioned before without my kickboxing classes since they have improved every area of my life from fitness, to sleeping, to diet, to happiness, although I could go on and on. My point and advice is to find something you ENJOY doing and work it out. Let's face it- working out is hard, as it should be. You simply will not stick with something challenging if you don't enjoy it. So go find your work out niche. Whether it's running or walking or an at home video like P90X or old school Tae-Bo, just work it out and have fun. The ripple effects of enjoying yourself while getting in shape will pleasantly surprise you!
Looking at previous entries, I find it hard to believe that I've only mentioned my favorite workout of all time once or twice when talking about health and happiness. After high school when my basketball and volleyball days ended, I struggled with finding ways to stay in shape. Before college my workouts were structured, scheduled, and not optional. In college they were trying this and that (yoga to abs classes) and were few and far between. I can honestly say until I found TITLE Boxing Club, I was in a work out rutttt (One 't' didn't make the five year rut seem long enough so I added a few extra).
My whole point is not how awesome TITLE is and how I don't know how I functioned before without my kickboxing classes since they have improved every area of my life from fitness, to sleeping, to diet, to happiness, although I could go on and on. My point and advice is to find something you ENJOY doing and work it out. Let's face it- working out is hard, as it should be. You simply will not stick with something challenging if you don't enjoy it. So go find your work out niche. Whether it's running or walking or an at home video like P90X or old school Tae-Bo, just work it out and have fun. The ripple effects of enjoying yourself while getting in shape will pleasantly surprise you!
Friday, October 14, 2011
You gotta have faith
I've been thinking a lot about faith lately. One of my favorite real life examples of someone who walks by faith is my amazing soon-to-be sister-in-law, who has also become one of my great friends.
She is weeks away from giving birth to her first baby- a perfect little girl named Mackenzie. Rewind nine months to when she and her husband first found out she was pregnant: it was just days after they received news that one of her surgeries to remove cancerous lymph nodes was not successful. Rewind a couple years back and see that she has been battling Thyroid cancer and all the effects of surgeries, radiation, and healing on her body. Rewind even further and see her husband surviving life threatening melanoma, and going through chemotherapy for over a year. Because of these and other factors, the pregnancy was diagnosed as high risk early on.
When I asked her if she was scared, and how she was feeling about everything, she just looked at me and said, "You know, for me it's a total faith walk." And that's been her mentality her entire journey- from cancer, to pregnancy, and all of life's challenges, she has continued to keep the faith. Which has inspired me to not only continue to keep the faith in God, but in others, and in myself. After all if we view life as one great faith walk, there really is nothing to be scared about.
She is weeks away from giving birth to her first baby- a perfect little girl named Mackenzie. Rewind nine months to when she and her husband first found out she was pregnant: it was just days after they received news that one of her surgeries to remove cancerous lymph nodes was not successful. Rewind a couple years back and see that she has been battling Thyroid cancer and all the effects of surgeries, radiation, and healing on her body. Rewind even further and see her husband surviving life threatening melanoma, and going through chemotherapy for over a year. Because of these and other factors, the pregnancy was diagnosed as high risk early on.
When I asked her if she was scared, and how she was feeling about everything, she just looked at me and said, "You know, for me it's a total faith walk." And that's been her mentality her entire journey- from cancer, to pregnancy, and all of life's challenges, she has continued to keep the faith. Which has inspired me to not only continue to keep the faith in God, but in others, and in myself. After all if we view life as one great faith walk, there really is nothing to be scared about.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Blame It On The Block
In all the books about writing I've read, (On Writing by Stephen King tops my favorites list), I inevitably come across a chapter on writer's block. As an on and off, okay more off than on, creative writer and blogger, I never experienced what is referred to as writer's block. Not until recently. And only recently have I realized that the frustrating, headaching, curse of writer's block and more importantly, the desire to get over it's hump and untangle the knot that forms in the mind and stomach of those who suffer from it, can actually be experienced in a bigger, meaner form: life's block.
As a naturally happy, positive, let's face it, Love-It-All-type of person, I can make sense of difficult events and trying periods. I find gratefulness and lessons in sorrowful events, and am genetically empathetic to a fault. These statements I would have sworn true two months ago. Lately I seem to repeat them as some sort of affirmations.
I know I'm happy, truly truly blessed, and am grateful every day for my life. I just find myself wondering sometimes why I can say those words without feeling or applying them the way I used to. And the most difficult part has been that I acknowledge the block I've put on my mind and heart, but true to reputation, neither writer's nor your life's block goes away when you beg it to. Day by day, ideas, feelings, sentences, and memories appear and with each one the knots are loosened. Before you know it, you can breathe deeper and truer than you have in weeks, and you start to recognize your mind and heart back in your control. Day by day. And on the great days the happy, positive, gratefulness returns. And so does the writing.
As a naturally happy, positive, let's face it, Love-It-All-type of person, I can make sense of difficult events and trying periods. I find gratefulness and lessons in sorrowful events, and am genetically empathetic to a fault. These statements I would have sworn true two months ago. Lately I seem to repeat them as some sort of affirmations.
I know I'm happy, truly truly blessed, and am grateful every day for my life. I just find myself wondering sometimes why I can say those words without feeling or applying them the way I used to. And the most difficult part has been that I acknowledge the block I've put on my mind and heart, but true to reputation, neither writer's nor your life's block goes away when you beg it to. Day by day, ideas, feelings, sentences, and memories appear and with each one the knots are loosened. Before you know it, you can breathe deeper and truer than you have in weeks, and you start to recognize your mind and heart back in your control. Day by day. And on the great days the happy, positive, gratefulness returns. And so does the writing.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Get Your Gwapes
I love clean jokes: the cheesey, play-on-word jokes you can tell around children or your pastor without being inappropriate. One of my all-time favorites is ultimately about persistence, and knowing what you want. It's also just plain cute.
A duck walked into a bar and said to the bartender, "Hey, got any gwapes?"
The bartender said no, so the duck left.
The next day, the duck walked into the same bar and asked the bartender, "Hey, got any gwapes?"
The bartender said just shook his head, and said, "Nope." So the duck left.
Still determined the next day, the duck walked into the bar, and asked the bartender, "Hey, got any gwapes?"
Visibly annoyed, the bartender said, "No, we don't have any grapes, and if you come in here and ask me that one more time, I'm going to staple your beak shut."
So the duck put his head down and waddled out of the bar.
The next day, the duck walked into the bar, right up to the bartender, and said, "Hey, got any staples?"
The bartender, fed up, said, "No, we don't have any staples."
So the duck looked around, then back to the bartender, and said, "Okay.... Got any gwapes?"
A duck walked into a bar and said to the bartender, "Hey, got any gwapes?"
The bartender said no, so the duck left.
The next day, the duck walked into the same bar and asked the bartender, "Hey, got any gwapes?"
The bartender said just shook his head, and said, "Nope." So the duck left.
Still determined the next day, the duck walked into the bar, and asked the bartender, "Hey, got any gwapes?"
Visibly annoyed, the bartender said, "No, we don't have any grapes, and if you come in here and ask me that one more time, I'm going to staple your beak shut."
So the duck put his head down and waddled out of the bar.
The next day, the duck walked into the bar, right up to the bartender, and said, "Hey, got any staples?"
The bartender, fed up, said, "No, we don't have any staples."
So the duck looked around, then back to the bartender, and said, "Okay.... Got any gwapes?"
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
A Week
It’s been a week.
It’s been a week in which happiness doesn’t feel quite as happy.
It’s been a week of cliché songs on the radio about life not sounding so cliché anymore.
It’s been a week of finding ourselves thinking over and over, “I wish it was this time this many days ago.”
It’s been a week to be grateful for the many thoughtless actions we’ve walked away from unscathed.
It’s been a week of being reminded of loyalty, trust, and friendship.
It’s been a week where many lives have been forever changed.
It’s been a week full of prayer.
It’s only been a week.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Songs to Share
I love music, and am guilty of playing a song I find that I like on repeat for weeks. I’m talking one song, non-stop, at work, at home, in the car, a cappella. And when the obsession hits me it’s typically not when the songs are brand new, it’s when I happen to hear them in a new way, and just at the right time they strike a certain chord in me. Here are a few that, after hearing dozens of times now, I still can’t get enough of!
Dog Days – Florence and the Machine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOyfLBYtuU
Fugitive – David Gray http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utLCu-Mpnqo
Fix You- Coldplay http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI-o25K6B-E
No Surprise – Daughtry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyl24HRGgSU
Save Me San Francisco - Train http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zftcZYdOl3Y
Save Me San Francisco - Train http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zftcZYdOl3Y
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