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Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Family Photos: Lazy Labor Day!

Trying to beat the Monday-on-a-Tuesday blues?? You’re most definitely NOT alone! I’m sitting here in the waiting room of the hospital, nervously awaiting a blood test to re-check my cholesterol, and I’m missing the weekend already.

Le sigh.

We had such a relaxing Labor Day weekend, and it was certainly a great way to end the summer. We met my aunt and uncle for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch and I logged some quality time browsing Walgreens in my quest to become a verified Beauty Guru! #GoodTimes

Then yesterday, we finally took that summer walk we’d been planning on since, umm, June…haha! Gosh, I love the Midwest!

We ventured up to the gas station for some fountain drinks and classic snacks. Because potato skins and Little Debbie Zebra cakes are required purchases in such places, right?? It was nice to get out on such a nice and sunny day. The blue skies! The green trees and grass!!

I hope you all had a wonderful last day of summer!! Here’s to the fall and plenty of new beginnings!! xoxo

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2 Comments Filed Under: family, family photos, food, Photographs, simple joys, summer 2016, summer pleasures, Uncategorized

Monday, June 6, 2016

Transitions: Are They Our Friend or Our Foe?

It was so nice of Melissa to ask me to guest blog this week. I was thinking about topics to do and the first one I came up with is…drum roll, please…

Transitions.

Some people don’t seem to have any trouble with transitions. They just flit seamlessly from one activity or life stage to another. Me? Not so much!
I got to thinking about this yesterday when Janelle and I were stopping by McDonald’s to get her a decaf and me a lemonade (warning: don’t get in the afternoon beverage habit because it can get pricey!). Anyway, after the cashier gave us our order, I was taken back to my daily morning decaf on the way to work. It was a lovely morning ritual, stopping by McDonald’s and taking my decaf out to the back of the school to drink it as I greeted the students at 7:15 in the morning. I am happy to be on summer vacation, but that smell of the decaf made me long for those fun school days of yore (OK, of just two days ago, but you get my point!). And, it’s not like I retired or something; I’ll be back at it in no time.

So, I started to think about other transitions in my life and realized I have always been this way. Going to college required an entire semester for me to adjust. I shed tears on my wedding day, not just of happiness, but of nostalgia for my old life. As the kids got older, I would fret about what I would do when they got out of this stage or that stage. Nevermind that it always worked out. I just couldn’t help myself and got nostalgic.

So, one topic for me to examine this summer is my newly discovered aversion to transitions. After all, isn’t each ending a new beginning?


Are transitions hard for you? What life transitions do you remember the most? Which ones made the biggest impact on you?

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5 Comments Filed Under: Advice Column, Awesome Advice, family, family photos, guest post, motherhood, Ms. Bear advice, Ms. Bear Guest Post, simple joys, summer 2016, summer pleasures, Uncategorized

Friday, January 29, 2016

What Literary Passages Do You Love?

Last summer, Thought Catalog published a collection of beautiful passages from literature. The selections — everything from Ernest Hemingway to Pooh — were inspiring, thought-provoking and the kind of words you want to hang on your refrigerator. They also got me thinking about my favorite literary passages over the years. Here are 12 of my must-reads…
____________

“Just because somebody’s dead, you don’t just stop liking them-especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that’re alive and all.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye


“Certain things, they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye


“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter–tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…And one fine morning– So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby


“Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o-er wrought heart and bids it break.”
― William Shakespeare, Macbeth

“Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet


“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina


“Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina


“I think…if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

“It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made, or only just happened- Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened; I judged it would have took too long to make so many.”
― Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars


“I’m in love with you,” he said quietly.


“Augustus,” I said.


“I am,” he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. “I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

Do you have any passages, friends? Are there ones that hold special meaning for you — ones that you find yourself reading and re-reading again and again? I’d love for you to share them in the comments! xoxo

P.S. Great beach reads, how finding love is like finding a good book, Better Book Titles, libraries before Google and wise words on fairy tales!

[Photo via We Heart It]

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2 Comments Filed Under: art, books, Inspiration, Love Lessons, round-up, simple joys, Uncategorized

Friday, October 2, 2015

Tip: On Slow Living

Remember when we talked about the business of being busy? That was a few years ago, and I’d love to be able to say that I’ve come so far in that time — you know, that I’ve grown by leaps and bounds, have found the perfect balance and now, since I’ve got it all figured out, have some life-altering, earth-shattering, blow-your-mind advice to share. I wish I did, but honestly, I don’t. I sometimes wonder how far I’ve even come since that first post.

But we all try, don’t we? We all try as hard as we can to tone down the busy, crazy schedule. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. It seems like there are always things that need to be done, places we need to go and things just generally pulling at our attention. Everything demands attention NOW. I mean, we live in such a NOW culture and this idea of instant gratification has quickly become the norm. In a sense, we don’t know how to wait and the term “slow down” has all but been expelled from our vocabulary. My mom, for example, is incapable of slowing down. She’ll be on the go from sunrise to sunset — even on the weekends!

It boggles my mind, actually. But to paraphrase Miss Miley, she can’t stop. So I was pretty relieved when I came across Julia’s post on slow living. Not only is she an amazing writer, but she also manages to find the zen even with three kids running around (AND she lives in a seaside town, which I’m pretty jealous of…). Her words just ring so true for me…

For a while I wondered whether slow living was an indulgence for those who don’t have the constant companionship of a very chatty three year old until it occurred to me that maybe I am confusing slow with quiet and we could all learn a lot from a chatty three year old. By which I mean she stops and notices everything. She has no concept of time and is certainly incapable of rushing. When she finds pleasure in something she will repeat it indefinitely, whether that be stacking wooden blocks to knock them over, picking daisies from the lawn to cram into her favourite plastic cup or rolling down the slope in our garden again and again. And again. Perhaps for me this thing called slow living is not necessarily about sitting in a chair but more about taking pleasure in the simple things.

‘Slow’ is something to be deliberately chosen and slotted in to ‘busy’. Taking pleasure in the moment rather than planning the next. Slowing the thought process perhaps? I’m not sure but definitely a conscious decision to pause a while. Quite literally stopping to smell the roses, to admire the view, to enjoy the simplest of things in a way long forgotten as time and task take over.

So what can we do? Maybe this business of slowing down is such an individual choice and one that each person has to make for themselves. After all, what is calming and relaxing to one person might just be plain and boring to someone else. The key, I’m starting to realize, is finding that thing — that teeny, tiny spark — that brings you such joy that you can barely contain it. Those little moments that, yes, seem so little at the time, but turn out to make a huge difference in your life. For me, some of those things include: Blogging, reading magazines, ’80s sitcoms, playing games, hoarding lip balms and spending time with my family. As cliche as it sounds, maybe it really is all about the little things in life. Maybe in the end, it’s really just about grabbing all those happy moments you can.

Does this ring true for you, friends? Have you found yourself craving an escape from the busy, frantic pace? What are some little things you do to “stop and smell the roses”? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share? xoxo

[Photos via We Heart It]

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1 Comment Filed Under: A Woman's Word, Awesome Advice, Happiness, How To Live A Happy Life, simple joys, Tips, tips & tricks, Tips series, Uncategorized

Friday, July 3, 2015

Happy Fourth of July: 11 Patriotic Pinterest Finds

Fireworks! Barbecues! Red, white and blue! You know what those three things have in common, friends! It’s the Fourth of July weekend. How are you going to celebrate? Picnic in the park? Lazy afternoon at the beach? We’re FINALLY seeing Jurassic World at long last, and I’m just as giddy as my 11-year-old self was when I saw the first movie. Instead of our usual Friday link list, I’m signing off early this week to enjoy some holiday relaxation, but I thought it would be fun to continue our yearly tradition with a round-up of patriotic Pinterest finds, starting with this wall-size American flag…

Decorated mason jar…

Patriotic picnic at sea…

Retro fashion…

Flag cake (from Food52)…

Star confetti balloons (from Etsy shop BalloonUp)…

Sparkly sparklers…

Puppy love…

Relaxing lounge chairs…

July 4th Bingo…

Pretty burlap banner…

Have a good one, and I’ll see you all on Monday! And as always, feel free to connect with me on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube! See you there!


P.S. More patriotic pins from 2013 and 2014.

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Leave a Comment Filed Under: birthday, family, found: the perfect, holidays, pinterest finds, simple joys, summer 2015, summer fashion trends 2015, summer pleasures, Uncategorized, wish list

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So About What I Said is a daily blog that covers relationships, disabilities, lifestyle and pop culture. I love to laugh and have been known to overshare. I also have an unabashed obsession with pop music, polo shirts, and PEZ dispensers. Read more...

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