Friends, Haters, Lovers

 "Friends, haters, lovers, everyone has a right to their own opinion; what's important here is not what people are writing or saying, but how you react to what you see. Someone says something negative? I could care less! I have no problems with random negative comments; these people don't know me, they are merely reacting to something that has been triggered within them. It has nothing to do with me. If something I do angers you, that's okay. Know that what you see in me is a reflection of yourself -I can never upset you. You upset you. There is a lack of love in that reaction, and I can only invite you to look deeper within to find what it is about this situation that you need to work with. Observing our reactions and emotions is the most healing, and can lead to a lot of self discovery.
 We have so much love inside. Find it. Use it. No one is ever mean to another, unless they are suffering their own personal hell. If you have love to give, give it. The people it's the hardest to give it to need it the absolute most. -Haters- thank you for reminding us to love more! I hope you have a beautiful day and a blessed life. Love and light to all."

 This is so dead on for what I strive to do. Rachel Brathen took the words out of my mouth, hence why I am sharing them with you. I think we have all been on the hater side at some point. And you know, we always will have moments where we have to gather ourselves and search our own feelings when something gets triggered. This applies to everything.

 Choose love. Even when you don't want to, choose love.

If you don't know who Rachel Brathen is, go check her out. She is an amazing yoga goddess who just so happens to also be an incredibly beautiful person. She is a yoga teacher in Aruba. She's on instagram too.

Throw It On The Ground

  I'm collecting inspiration and collaborating my shopping list for when we move. The style we are going for is very beachy/minimalistic/airy/lightly romantic.

 I lucked out in many ways when it comes to Cody, and in this case, he is totally on board with letting me create a home we both love.  Who wouldn't want their house to feel a little like a vacation?

 I've been looking at several options for the bedroom. Like wood headboards or sheer curtains. But there is something that's intriguing me. A floor bed. Bed on the floor. I don't know what it is, it just looks super cozy and effortlessly stylish.

Here is my inspiration:

 Via (unknown)

Via

Via photo by Rikki Snyder

Via (unknown)

Via

Via If you know the original source, please let me know

Via If you know original source, let me know

What do you guys think? Do you like the floor bed? Do you think it would go with the feel I am trying to achieve? 

*Disclaimer: I always do my best to track the source of any images I use on this blog, but sometimes I am unable to find its original source. If you see an image that is yous, or that you know, please inform me. I will also happily remove any content that you own if you are uncomfortable with it being shared here. Or simply credit you for your image. Thank you!

Sweet Spot

 I feel such a variety of emotions. At times, I can feel such deep meaningful connections to people and ideas. Ones that I swear will change my life. and then there are periods that I feel so relaxed and completely happy with letting life take me where it does. I'm happy to soak up the moments as they come.  This is probably the best explanation for what I strive fore. A middle ground between the two extremes. Happy and relaxed to live as each day comes, yet connected and driven by the feelings and people around me. Throw motherhood in there too and there is this sweet spot. The best thing about it -that spot- is that it stretches. It reaches and glides  Ebbs and flows. It follows me with each day; allowing me to learn and grow with the moments and experiences.

 I'm thankful to be learning that. A sweet spot is not stationary. It's always there, it just adjusts to exactly what you need it to be in that moment. In that day. Each day we are given a choice. We choose to see our sweet spot, or we don't. The days that we choose to look away, those are the hard days. The ones that leave us a frustrated whirl wind of emotions. The ones that make us throw our hands up and say "What am I doing? What is this?". We often cry on those days. Sometimes hard; like those choked-throat sobs or fiery blasts that pour down your cheeks. Sometimes it's the kind that make your heart physically ache, while you tell yourself all the things there are to cry about. Then, there are the times we choose to see our sweet spot. We run up and hug it; just like you would a dear friend who you haven't seen in too long. We dance with it, soaking up the laughter-filled stories it has for us. those are the good days. The really good ones.

 When we choose to see it on the hard days, even just give it a glance. It changes those hard times. It's always there; just waiting for us to move toward it. On the days where we look for it, we reach. We stretch our frantic fingers begging for it to grab us and pull us in. It does. Every time, because it looks for us more often than we look for it. It's ready, and the moment it sees you it pulls you in. With strong arms it wraps you in it's warmth and dries you.

 The days are no less hard, just changed. We see them differently. Approaching them with a gentle outstretched hand. Instead of fighting them with everything we have, we embrace them. We begin to learn that the hardest days, the biggest and scariest feelings, just need our love. They need our sweet spot.

 It's not easy. This world would be very different if it was. It's possible though, and like any new habit or challenge, it takes time to build. We are learning to work with muscles that we don't typically engage. We feel their new soreness, but it's that good kind of sore. The kind that tells you you are working hard and making a change. And we can't do it all on our own. We need each other to lift one another up. To cheer and listen and wipe tears. To extend the hand of whatever we need in that moment.

We are lifted and we lift.

 We have this amazing opportunity each day, to make things so much more than average. To live life with purpose and with tender hearts. We will never be perfect. Perfection is not what this is about, and being imperfect is the point. To be okay with the imperfections; of life and of self.

If we get to know our sweet spot, to know that it moves with us and is there to help teach and grow us, the hard days begin to dissolve. Instead, days are replaced with lessons. Some that teach us the things that root us deep into the earth, and others that allow us to soar higher with each breath.

Via (unknown, if you know or this is yours, please let me know)

Become very best friends with your sweet spot. Choose love. 

Friday

 I liked last Friday's post, so I'm going to do another one. maybe I'll make it a thing.

Here are some things I enjoyed this week: 

* This equinox video of acro yoga is incredibly stunning. You may recognize Briohny Smyth from her first equinox video.You can watch that here. It's just as amazing. 

* While we are watching videos, episode two of convos with my two year old is out. It's equally hilarious with a  healthy dose of awkward. (You can see episode one here.)

* This article from prevention.com on how to loose weight like a guy. If you know me, you know i'm not really a fan of 'loose weight like this!' types of things, but this is actually really true and really good. Sometimes us ladies get too caught up in all the information flying at us and forget that simple often works best!

* These evil eye bracelets from ReemandI. She makes child and parent bracelets that are super cute! Evil eye bracelets are worn for protection and to ward off negative energy. I love things that match with the parents. I think I might get one for each of us.

I hope you all have a great weekend everyone! 

Get Up and Get Out!

 Its so beautiful outside! We have been soaking up lots of vitamin D, but not nearly as much as I would like us to. It's been raining lots here, but we have periods in the afternoons between rain that look like this. Warm, sunny and everything smells like fresh dirt. I love that rain smell.

 I started to kick my butt back into gear in the cardio department. I do lots of things like yoga, and specific body area workouts, but I know my cardio has not been where it needs to be. So I started running a bit, doing Zumba again, and jumping rope. <--- I turn on an entertaining show or movie and go. I find I do so much better with a good distraction. The workout becomes sort of mechanical for me.

 Funny how I find myself saying "man I need more energy." or "I want some more hours in the day!" and then I realise that the solution to those is getting up early and working out every.damn.day.

******

This little girl is getting so big. I have found myself slightly panicked to get on top of all the things I want to start with her. Well, more accurately, she is so darn smart and hungry for knowledge that I wasn't/am not quite prepared to feed her desires how i would like to. I think I will have to just let this one work into our days though. She is young still and ensuring that I stop and turn things into a learning opportunity, will give her exactly what she needs before her school years. I do want to step it up a little though.

 I don't think rigid pre-school plans are the right fit for our family, but I want to find something a little more structured than unschooling I think. Do I have any home schoolers here? Feel free to give me some pointers, i'm always open for new information.

 I love that summer is filled with lots of opportunities to explore. We were frog hunting yesterday evening and it was absolutely perfect.

A few things for Friday

Happy Friday everyone!

I feel like sharing things today, so I'm ending the week with some things that I very much enjoy.

* One of my favorite blogs, Enjoying the small things. Kelle writes and shares her story so beautifully. I want to share This post though. You don't need to know her, or her friend to let this post sink to all the places you need. I love this quote from her post  as she is talking about how their friendship is so good, despite them being 'so different'.  She hits that nail on the head, a good reminder for us all. 

 "I think most of our "I bet they think they're better than me" assumptions have nothing to do with them and everything to do with us.  And no one can make us feel crappy about the way we parent, what we eat, how we tend to our marriage, where we shop, how we spend our money or what kind of person we are--no one but ourselves."

Check her out. She`s the bomb

*This video is hilarious. From Huffingtonpost.com: "Matthew Clarke has launched a new series called "Convos With My 2-Year-Old" where he takes actual conversations he's had with his daughter and reenacts them with an adult man standing in for her. The result is hilariously creepy. Watch episode one above."

* And just because, HERE are some great tips on how to clean your house in 2 hours and keep it like that. I found the idea of moving from room to room so that you don't get carried away in one spot really helpful.

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend! Feel free to share some of the things that you enjoy :)

12/52

"A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Spotting zebras. The zoo is one of her favorite places.