What is giving you life right now??

I went to a special taping of an upcoming Oprah Super Soul Saturday event in September and so grateful for the chance to go. This event came a week after Chris left for Spain and a few days after I lost my part time job of 8 years! It wasn't that easiest week for me, so this event couldn't have come at a better time. I spent that day with special people at my side attentively listening to the amazing guest speakers Oprah had put together for us- Brene Brown, Elizabeth Gilbert, Michael Beckwith and some other new favorites for sure. They each had a different and inspiring theme to talk about but which all resonated with me one way or another. Some of those themes included:

• Living your life with Intention- Oprah
• Marble Jar Friendships, vulnerability and what BRAVING really means- Brene Brown
• The Science of Happiness- Its a choice people
• How following your curiosity will lead you to your passion- Elizabeth Gilbert
• How failure is just information to change your course- Oprah's wise words

And there were so many other motivational themes of self awareness to swallow up and process...and so many necessary for me to hear at this time in my life.

I was ready and took notes in this special little book I had received from the Oprah website a few years back. I had never used it waiting for the right moment and this was it. So each speaker had its page as I transcribed every possible word I could that I wanted to remember. 

I have been trying to process and take all this information since that day and find a way to implement it in to my present life. I have also since that day, been 'TVOing' Oprah's show "Super Soul Sundays" in which she talks to other motivational people. And I was so inspired to take notes at the live event that I am now also taking notes as I watch these shows to continue to take in any information I can use to help me live a wholehearted life.

One of her Super Soul Sunday guests was Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor. An American Episcopal priest, professor, author and theologian. She spoke on many things regarding spirituality and what it means to her but she also spoke on embracing your darkness. Your darkness could be anything to you, as big or as little of a situation or state of being you might be in. This concept peaked my interest especially because she mentioned how much we are socialized to avoid darkness in our life. She felt that when we embrace those "dark moments in our life we need to take 3 breaths and learn to sit in this darkness" because these are the moments in which we can learn the most about ourselves. The dark doesn't necessarily have to be bad.  Talk about a change in perspective...Wow!

Anyways, so I started to think- I could have always considered this time in my life a possible moment of darkness- my first born is out of the house, an empty nest beginning, and I was also now looking for a new job- Uggh!  However, as she said that I realized that these are the moments in which I have already began to embrace to learn and grow from.

She asked the viewers at one point a question that inspired me to write this post:
"What is giving you life right now?? and What is saving you at this moment?"

I have to say that as I heard her ask the question, I felt like it was directed right at me and I immediately began to write my answers:

The things that are giving me life right now are:

• Finding a way to send Chris away to school and to Spain is giving me life. I know that we're not supposed to necessarily live through our kids, but hey, I can't deny that yes I am and it fills my heart. I may not be there with him to him experience any of it, but just knowing that we are giving him that chance to experience people, places and things that we never had a chance to do gives me immense life. It really is giving me purpose to live and work really hard and in turn to enjoy and appreciate my own life.

• Finding (or re-finding) my career path. Its funny how things work. I was lucky enough to have been able to work from home for the past 8 years, but it was time to move on and the universe knew it. So it closed my doors in one area and its proving to be opening up a few more for me in areas I hadn't even thought of pursuing until now.  In the last few month I've found a few new opportunities to get back into the accounting field which is what I actually graduated in. I've found a few freelance positions as a bookkeeper and I've jumped in head first and I'm loving it.  

•  Working again is actually giving me a chance to get fully reacquainted with my accounting education and skills that have laid somewhat untapped for the last few years and at the same time expand my knowledge as technology has become an integral part of the accounting process these days. Its giving me life because with each passing day I am regaining confidence in my capabilities and skills and its helping me to "Dare Greatly" by pursuing some new ventures that I would have never considered if I didn't try and put myself out there like this.   I'm very excited!

• The chance to feel comfortable in truly trusting God. It has not been easy to let go and let God when it comes to giving my boys wings and independence. But having no choice but to hand that faith over has been a big lesson for me the last few months. I am learning to be more comfortable in my faith and more importantly feeling very grateful for that trust in God that has been the cornerstone to how I've been able to deal with all these changes. 

 In regards to "what is saving my life at the moment?"

• Working outside of the home- Again, I have a new purpose and something to keep me busy, mentally active and even grateful for the tiredness its producing, and something to look forward to doing. I realize now that I was getting a little too comfortable working from home and wasting more time than being productive.
• Slowing down- Its kind of an oxymoron, but now that I am actually a bit busier because of work, I have actually had to slow down in others to plan out our days, our lunches, dinners, grocery shopping, etc. It in turn has somehow given me more energy and time to do a few other things because I have to make every minute of free time count- aka.a lot of multi-tasking and it still feels crazy sometimes, but I'm getting things done. Its amazing to see how your home life figures itself out just when you think it will be out of control.
• My friendships - All my friendships lately, especially the ones who are going through similar changes, have truly been there for me right now to hear me out, to understand my tears, to encourage and support me when I need that the most. They've made for some quality coffee times together!!
• My family- I can't begin to express just how much Jerry and my boys are my rock right now. When I miss Chris the most, feel sad or the most tired they're the ones who are there to lift me and feed my soul and keep me going.

Anyway, its been a few months and I haven't really had a chance to write, but I felt like I had to get this down for me to remember. The last few months have been emotionally and spiritually impactful all in their own good way and its a point in time in our lives I will never forget. I feel like these last few months have come with their own sense of smell, touch and feelings and have produced their own group of memories to recall in the future. I truly appreciated the way Rev. Barbara Brown helped me change my perspective that night. I feel like I've been able to make a moment of possible darkness" into a moment of much "light" and that has felt like its own kind of accomplishment for me.

Have yourselves a wonderful weekend.

Foto Friday- Katarina's 2nd Birthday

Well my baby niece, Katarina, has turned 2 and it was time to celebrate once again. Casandra planned a Doc McStuffin theme this year which gave us plenty of room to implement many a cute thing to go with it.

Last year I had mentioned that Casandra's creative side was blossoming, but let me tell you, this year it has fully bloomed. She was in full control of what she wanted and her vision for her baby girl's b-day party. The truth is she has party planning gene, but is now truly inspired to use it.  I really loved her ideas, and I added more of the smaller DIY details to her vision via signs and little homemade extras. It was a lot of fun!

All the added details were DIY ideas we got from either Pinterest or things we've seen before. I ventured into making sugar cookies in the shapes of band aids and mini thermometers that Casandra felt she really wanted instead of cupcakes this year. I found these cute paper straws at the Target $1 section and hot glued on some cute felt flowers to match the flowers that Casandra cut out to decorate her super cute Doc McStuffin headbands for the girls. Even us big girls got to don these headbands to add to the day's fun.  I had a great time making sparkly tongue depressors and painting signs for the table centerpieces and the buffet bar.

 

It always works in Katarina's favor that her birthday lands right around Valentines day because the candy assortment and heart shaped marshmallows made available are so easy to gather and then place into pretty mason jars or candy kabobs. And fruit kabobs are always an easy and healthy addition to any table scape.

For food- 
Casandra had set up a hot dog and sausage bar with all kinds of fixings and variety of breads (even pretzel bread rolls- omg!). She also had this amazing homemade Mac-N-Cheese recipe that was the absolute bomb even for the adults along with Soup Plantation broccoli salad. Yumm!






 After all the set up was done it was time to take pictures of the birthday girl...

 She was a little overwhelmed with all the fuss so the smiles were not readily available, 

but she's as cute serious as she is when she's not.

These are my favorites...

All in all, she had a lot of fun playing in her jumpy with her little friends and that's all that mattered to us. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon for this beautiful 2 year old little girl who continues to steal our hearts.

Happy Birthday Katarina! We Love You!

Thank you for stopping by.

From my corner to yours...Have a nice weekend.

Foto Friday- Updated Christmas Card books

Christmas is over and its time to put away all the decorations. Thankfully, I took it all down earlier this week with the help of my boys in record time of under an hour! It was so great... Aaah! As much as I was loving my garland this year, it was nice to see the house all back in order.

But the one thing I don't just throw away are the Christmas cards I love getting throughout the holidays. They usually hang on the back of our front doors during the holidays for everyone to look when they come over, but I hate the thought of throwing them out just because. So I used to put them into an album, but as of 2012 I found this idea and started putting them into my own Christmas Foto Card books. Its was a super easy idea and it was a practical way to bring them back out every year to look at just because.

So I wanted to share with you my updated version of those books just in case you were looking for a new way to store and keep your Christmas cards.

For many years,  I've ordered our Xmas cards through Costco because they've offered some great options and are priced just right. The last 3 years they have given customers the choice to order 4 free calendar picture cards with your order and I took them up on it each time. They came in handy and I always kept one for ourselves. So as I was putting our cards away this year, I found all 3 years worth of calendars and decided to use them as the title card covers for my books.


Once again: Super easy.  All I had to do was update the book I had made books for 2012 since it didn't have a cover yet. And since I hadn't done a book for 2013 yet, I pulled out those cards and this years cards, punched holes at the top instead (for a flip book effect), and put the calendars as the covers with the colored rings (available at the dollar store). And I did it all in less than 30 minutes. Perfect!




I also added to the end of each book our Xmas card for that particular year to make sure we remember what we sent out.

For 2014 I wanted something very different for our Xmas cards from what we had done before. I wanted a smaller card, simple and crafty so I made them myself by using my own computer graphics, craft paper and good old scrapbooking skills.  I loved it and will probably do it again.  But because I didn't order our cards this means I will not have a picture calendar to use for our 2015 book. Oh well, it just means I'll just have to come up with something new. Can't wait to see what else I can discover to do.

You can also add anything extra you'd like to them. For 2012 I added a Christmas card that Mikey had hand drawn for the family and it was too special not to include.  This year I included the envelope our SIL's family card came in because it was so cleverly and beautifully addressed. She has great writing anyway, but I loved the idea and the detail involved.

 There's 3 more years to add to the collection. 

I'm going to have to get a bigger basket next year, but they look really nice on display.

 

Ready to preserve your Christmas cards?

From my little corner to yours...Have yourself a crafty weekend!

Foto Friday...Mateo

This past weekend we were invited to baby Mateo's baptism/1-st birthday party. I have had Mateo as a guest on my blog before at a much younger age, but he is one of those baby's that I've also been taking pictures of since he was born.  So I had the the opportunity to take a few pictures of him at his party while he was still in a good mood, and I wanted to share those with you today. It was a warm day and this little guy really did well considering all the commotion happening around him. 

His mom, Nana, says you'll know if Mateo doesn't like you right away because he won't smile or even look at you, but I was lucky enough to have him at least look at me and occasionally smile big for me as I caught these pictures even as he sat upclose on my lap.

I have a thing about shoes!

Angie is Mateo's Auntie, and you should recognize Angie from some of my past Foto Friday posts and who always has her own amazing homemade parties. So knowing her they probably made these beautiful table centerpieces themselves.  I loved the colors and the set up...always perfect for the occasion. And speaking of perfect, Angie, Nana and friends came up with an even more incredible dessert table theme to match Mateo's already favorite TV character- Sponge Bob! And they made themselves an incredible version of a Bikini Bottom dessert land with all home made desserts of course. I loved this pineapple fruit island!!

 

 

 

Mateo's family went all out to make this a special celebration (as this family usually does), and  they had some fun balloon structures as extra decorations. Always inspiring, and they truly know how to throw a party. It was all too cute!

It was a wonderful party as would be expected, and we had a really nice afternoon. Taking his pictures was just an added bonus. Mateo was such a good sport for me, and also so curious about this camera thing pointing at him, lol.


Thank you Nana and family for letting us share in his special day. 



Thank you all for stopping by!


From my corner to yours...Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!!

XO

Foto Friday...why its important to me

 Its Foto Friday, but I haven't taken any serious pictures lately so I have no pictures to share today.

I'm taking pictures with my phone, but I realized this morning that I miss getting 

behind my Canon dslr every so often. 

I've been really busy lately, and it seems like I'm going to get a bit busier as I'll be doing a 

little extra tax season work, but I'll get the "good camera" out soon.

So I found these words on Pinterest that reminded me why taking pictures is so important to me.

Words to live by...Soo true!

From my corner to yours...

Happy Foto Friday!

The Oscars...my favorite quotes

The Oscars...I don't know about you, but I loved them! I know its been a few days, but they're still being talked about and I have to say I personally truly, truly enjoyed watching them.

I don't know if it was because they landed on my birthday or what, but it was the first time

 I could say I watched them just how I wanted to: 

I was super cozy, comfortable, no stress, little distractions,

 dessert (and a drink) in hand and feeling very happy! ;)

It gave me a chance to really pay attention to details- the beautiful stars, beautiful outfits, 

the makeup and hair, where people were sitting and with who. But more importantly I was able to really listen to those acceptance speeches and realize just how great they were this year. 

So I've picked some of my favorite bits and pieces of some quotes I wanted to remember and share because I feel like they resonated with me one way or another.

Lupita Nyong'o- 

She couldn't have reminded us in a more beautiful way...

 "When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from, 
your dreams are valid. "

Yes they are!!

      

Jared Leto

Loved his speech, and this part about his mom reminded me that kids do remember and listen and inspires me to always encourage my boys to do the same...

"She encouraged her kids to be creative, to work hard and to do something special."

   

 
Matthew McConaughey
I've never heard gratitude be put in this context. So powerful!


"God...He has shown me that. Its a scientific fact- That gratitude reciprocates."


Oooh..love that!





Cate Blanchett
And I always love a little bit of girl power...

 “Those in the industry who are foolishly clinging to the idea that female films, with women in the centre are niche experiences. They are not...The world is round people.” 



  And this selfie just kind of rekindled my hope that actors are really just like us.
They can be silly and just want to have fun with their friends.
That's what life is about!


There were plenty of other great moments as we've seen been re-posted over and over again, 
and I honestly thought Ellen did a great job hosting. My hubby would beg to differ, but he doesn't quite get Ellen's sense of humor like I do, but that's ok. 

It was a great Oscar night and I'm looking forward to next years.

From my corner to yours...Happy Hump day!