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Sunday Gratitude-It's The Little Things

Right now I am sitting at a fairly clean craft space writing this post, thinking about what I am going to do for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  I am enjoying a hot cup of tea, a fire in my woodstove, and listening to the sound of the rain.  I am not particularly fond of the rain, but it does remind me of my early childhood living in North Bend, right on the Oregon Coast. 

I am also sitting here reflecting on the past week, because that is what Sunday is for me.  It is the day I think about how the week went, and how I can improve on the upcoming one, and even though I try to be grateful everyday, I try to sum it up on Sundays and do a post dedicated to that.

The week went well.  I worked out everyday and met most of the goals I set for myself.  Work was busy, and was stressful, but I did not let the stress get to me as I had been doing in the past.  I feel really good!  I got to play soccer in which I made the first goal of the game!  I spent time with Bryan, even though now it is getting harder to see each other (more on that in another post!).  I hung out with my kiddos, and we all have the day off tomorrow, even Bryan, so we will have some great family time.  I did brunches at Goldys with friends, and dinner and live music also.  I am enjoying this afternoon just by thinking about the good stuff and being thankful for those moments!

These are the little everyday things that make life so wonderful.  Family, friends, food, days off, rainy days.  It does not get much better than this.  These are the blessings that make up life.  These are the things that make life worth living.  There is a quote that really sums this all up:

The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
Henry Miller

Hope everyone has a fabulous and grateful Sunday!

Sunday Gratitude-Thank You Life

I was headed to brunch at Goldy's with one of my besties and while we were walking this wall outside of City Hall totally caught my eye.  I thought to myself, "Is this not what I am focused on for 2011??  Perfect!"  So then we both snapped a picture.

We then went and enjoyed a perfect brunch, and kept each other positive and motivated.   We talked about all the great things that happened to us this week, along with the not-so-great.   But as always, the good stuff far outweighed the bad, which makes me once again incredibly grateful for the life I have. 

I do not need or want for anything really, aside from wanting to enjoy and live more this year than last.  My first week of meeting my goals went really well.  I met all of them, and enjoyed every minute of it.  I didn't work too hard and I didn't play too hard.  It was a good mix of all the things I needed and wanted to do.  I balanced pretty well, which people that are close to me know I strive for, but struggle with.  I am looking forward to Monday to see how this week turns out. 

I want to say, Thank you, life.  You are good to me.  I will honor you this week by living and enjoying you.

These Feet...

These feet are the first thing I am seeing at 5:00 every morning.

These feet have carried me 13 miles this week towards my goal.

These feet have survived those 13 miles.

These feet have 358 days left to meet my goal.

These are good feet.

Happy Yellow Thursday!

Happy FIRST Yellow Thursday for 2011!!  This is so exciting!  I think Thursdays are one of the best days of the week because I am so close to the weekend I can almost taste it!

This morning I posted my usual status update for Thurdays that is basically just what I wrote in the title, "Happy Yellow Thursday", and someone asked me what Yellow Thursday was.  I almost always get people that ask about it so I thought I would pretty much just copy and paste exactly what I wrote in my answer to her, right here on my blog!

JEN: So, what's "Yellow Thursday"? Is it to support something or just for the hell of it? I personally have Dress Wednesday, just for the hell of it. :O)

ME: I started doing that because I work in such a stressful environment that we needed SOMETHING to change it up so I started telling people to wear yellow because really how can you be grumpy when surrounded by such a bright cheery color!! Even the 'BIG' Boss asked his wife for a yellow tie, shirt, & sweater so he would have stuff to wear! I am trying to inspire people to remember that attitude is half the battle! :)

Hopefully I can inspire you to gain a new attitude, throw on some yellow, and bring some sunshine into your life and others at least once a week!

The Happy Box Arrives-Project Life

Tomorrow I will tell you all about my whole philosophy on this exciting box of "Happy", because right now I am going to finish putting it together and head to bed.  (You can thank Mozilla Firefox for crashing and losing my entire post for making you wait!) Grrrrrr.

The Photo Says It All

I came home to a crockpot full of the most amazing ham and beans for dinner that had been cooking all day.  Now today was a good day, as have been the last few, so when I  went to grab a soup bowl and this one was staring right at me, I knew why my first 4 days of the New Year have been so great!  Can't beat that!  If I keep this up, January may just end up being a pretty fabulous month!

Date Day

Having four kids so close together can sometimes make it very difficult to give them individual time.  I try to carve out some time for each of them.  Special.  Just us.  It is usually something they choose to do, and sometimes I choose, but always special.  We call it our "date".

Yesterday was Curty's "date" day.  We decided to walk downtown to go see Gulliver's Travel.  It was brisk, but sunny and beautiful.  Quite an adventure!  I of course brought my camera, and I was taking it out to get a picture of us, when I noticed him taking out his too!  He was taking a picture of a really interestingly cool metal sculpture at one of the coffee shops.  I am duly impressed that he is taking a liking to photography like his parents!  YAY!!  Anyway, my budding photographer and I ran along and enjoyed our time at a silly kid movie picked out just for Curtis.

Snuggie'd

I think this picture of the kids watching movies over their Christmas Break is super cute.  They got "Snuggies" with their traditional Christmas Eve pajamas this year.  I am not gonna lie either, they are awesome!  I seriously want one for my birthday...haha!

Live.

What is in this picture is one of the things I "Live" for.  I unexpectedly changed course around March, so unfortunately for most of 2010 I simply moved through the motions.  It was pretty much a blur as I worked day after day, and struggled to get through those days because of my poor inability to balance.  I did not thrive, I merely survived.  Sure, I got a promotion, and earned respect at work, but that was all.  It did very little for my soul.  This is not what I want to do in 2011.  I know it is cliche to say that with a new year comes a new start.  I do not care.  It is was it is, and this is a perfect starting point for me, and that is what matters. 

If you read my blog, then you may have read this post from March.  Today I feel I am at a similar point.  Either I change direction, or I will not really be "living", I will just be surviving a life that has no meaning and no fun!  Not going to let that happen.  Writing on my blog for the first time since May, is a step in the right direction.  Writing and taking photos about my family and about our life used to be one of my favorite parts of my day.  This is something I will do for myself.  Check back often.  Leave me a message if you don't see something new posted!  Make me accountable!

I will also be making updates on my Craft Blog which means I actually have to craft!  Again, something I greatly enjoy and miss a great deal because it feeds my soul!

"Live" is my word for 2011, and I am going to enjoy and be grateful for every minute of it!  My 5 goals are written, I have begun the preparations, and I will "Live" the days with a positive attitude and hopefully a continued forward momentum.