moving madness on Mondays: week 1: dreams

A new series begins on the blog today. 

Moving Madness on Mondays

See, about every second thought that runs through my head right now has something to do with our upcoming move back to Minnesota from Scotland.  I know I'm not the first -or the last- person to move, and this is far from being my first dance with the experience, but I thought, "hey, I should share my thoughts on the blog, maybe someone else who is moving can benefit from it".  Or, sometimes even if you aren't moving, you could benefit from it.

* * *

Since this is the beginning of the series, seems only appropriate to show you where my head is at a bit.  And I had a dream this morning that is a perfect representation of the typical worries thoughts I have right now. 

A little background: last night my husband and I had a conversation about Windows 8 (Microsoft's newest operating system), and the fact that they are bringing the "start" button back.  A few things occurred to me as we were talking about that: 

1. I didn't even know they had removed the start button
2. He had to remind me where it was since I've only been using Apple computers since our move
3. I promptly started worrying that I wouldn't know how to run my computer when I start working again, because the chances are pretty good I'll have a pc. 

Fast forward to this morning, and the dream that Kanye West woke me from {my alarm is his Stronger song}.  

I'm in my new office {at my old company, so sounds like my subconscious is hoping to be back there} and for some reason there is a cartoon on. Why do I have a t.v. in my office?  I have no idea.  A few of my co-workers are in the office with me, waiting for our meeting to start. 

But guess what?  I hadn't even turned my computer on yet {probably because I don't know how to work it, right?}, so I didn't know what we are meeting about.  Then, as my boss helps me turn on my computer, I realize that somehow I forgot to get daycare set up for the kiddos.  

So I wonder, since J#1 took care of drop off that morning, where did he take them?  

Then I woke up.  

Probably a good thing, since it sounds like it was turning a bit more into a nightmare than a dream. 

* * *

So tell me below in the comments or on the Facebook page...

What sort of topics would like to hear about in the Moving Madness on Mondays series? 

"Shift Happens"

Turns out the most recent book I've been reading works in perfectly with my word for 2013 {enough}.

No amount of self-improvement can make up for a lack of self-acceptance.

Self-acceptance = enough.  

More on this:

Self-acceptance is your number one goal in life.  Why?  Because for as long as you believe that there is something unacceptable about you, you will push away love, you will sabotage success, you will unconsciously conspire against joy, you will struggle, and you will never really find out who you are or what you are really capable of.                                             

With self-acceptance, you fear you will lose something, but really you lose nothing that is real and gain everything that is. For instance, with self-acceptance, you lose your fear of lack and gain wholeness, you lose your guilt and gain innocence, you lose your self-criticism and gain great creativity, and you lose your ego and you regain your Unconditioned Self.                                                                                                                        

(Shift Happens: How to live an Inspired Life...Starting right now! pg 95)

 

So expect a little less self-improvement around here.

And my goal is to replace the self-improvement with giving.  Because the author Robert Holden has some life-altering things to mention about giving of ourselves as well:

You are a gift-bearer, blessed with gifts of God, and you are here on earth to live fully and give fully--not just things, but who you are.  You are the gift. My work has shown me over and over again that when people do not give themselves fully they experience lack, struggle with discontent, emptiness, isolation and illness. Do not sit on your gifts. 

The truth is giving is a treasure in itself.  For instance, when you offer your smile, it is your body that produces more immunity-enhancing "T" cells; when you give love, it is your heart that gets the message; and when you give praise to someone , it is your consciousness that is raised.  What you give to others, you affirm for yourself.  Giving is receiving.  There is not loss. 

                            (Shift Happens: How to live an Inspired Life...Starting right now! pg 84) 

So being lazy on the couch and getting nothing done?  Doesn't make me feel any better, and definitely doesn't benefit anyone else. Although I do need to figure out how watching my favorite t.v. shows is giving {ratings, perhaps? helping people with their careers?} because that I can't give up.

But as much as I can, I want to create scenes like this one of J#3 and me with our (according to him) "roofs" on:

Those are the types of moments that give me enough happiness to last all day.

fork in the road

I'm at a fork in the road of life.

We are on the crux of a move back to the U.S. after almost three years of living abroad, with two children instead of one, setting a life back up there, and dealing with a health issue that I wasn't expecting.

There is a split in the path, and I have a few different routes to consider.

1. Continue feeling sorry for myself, and wallow in the fact that there are a lot of "hard" parts of life right now. 
2. Work up the courage to start each day with positivity; remembering all the good that can happen instead of fearing the bad. Make a habit of being productive and accomplished instead of being stagnant. 

Being truthful, for about the last month or so, number one seemed to be the path I was taking.  It was easier.  The path well traveled, I guess a person could say.  But where does that path get a person?  

No where I want to be at this point in my life. 

Have you had these moments?  What have you done to send yourself on the narrow path?  The harder, but more beneficial, path of living positively and making your future bright instead of letting it find its own way. 

I like to think of myself as a positive person, but when things get me down... well, I'm down.  I want to be a person that chooses joy no matter the circumstances.  

I have been keeping a list of things to be grateful for since the beginning of the year, along with a photo for each day on the app Gratitude365.  129 days into the year and I have 439 gratitudes.

It's a lot to be grateful for.  And the fact is, each day for the rest of the year I'll find things to be grateful for as well.

So really...why not be positive about what life has left to bring me this year? 

I am beautiful: a link-up

Today I'm excited to be part of a huge event hosted by Speak Now. 

From their site:

Speak Now has been established as an online and hands on community designed specifically to empower, join, and love as a group of women who believe in themselves. 

And specifically the goal of this group is to empower and support young women, high school and college age girls who are looking for and learning confidence.

Did you know:

Source: wespeaknow.org via Jenny on Pinterest

So instead of letting this be a never ending cycle Ellie at Speak Now has put together an event today where 25 bloggers are sharing their stories of empowerment. Read on (below my post) to learn more about today's event.  Plus...shh... a surprise.  There is a giveaway!

Here's my story.

# #

"Do you dye your eyebrows?"  I've wrote in this space before how that one question helped to begin the cycle of worrying about what other people thought of me, at the ripe old age of six or so.  

I look back at photos from those days, and as a Mom now, can see that I was a cute kid.  What was I worried about?  Who cares if someone thought I had dyed my eyebrows? 

But isn't that what we all do?  From a young age, we learn that we need to be worried about what everyone else thinks.  I'm not even sure how to prevent that cycle from continuing with my daughter, but I'm going to try.

 

Here's the issue though.  As much as I try, there is a good likelihood that I'll be defeated because of the messages that media and society in general put out there about women.  I'm sure my mother did all she could to let me know that I was a pretty girl, that I was smart and loveable.  In fact, I know she did.  I can remember the notes in birthday cards, the mentions of proud moments and just random comments throughout our days.

Why do we let the naysayers take over and outshine the positive?

The one thing I'm teaching my kids to do now, that I hope will have an impact on the future:  when they get a compliment, I am trying to teach them to say "thank you".

"Thank you." And then I need to teach them to file that in the good pile.

Of course parenting is all about leading by example.  I've (somewhat successfully) been doing the same thing.  When someone tells me it looks like I've lost weight and look good, I'll say "thank you", instead of coming up with an excuse for it, or saying, "eh it was only five pounds."

The trick now is to remember those compliments.  I'm at a point in life right now where I don't actually get many (if any) disparaging or judgmental comments about my outside appearance--or personality for that matter.

And lets be real.  I  never got a ton either.  Well, except for that knobby knee song that a boy wrote me on the bus...but I digress.

With all of that in mind, I'm going to give myself a challenge.  At the end of the day, instead of focusing on the negative inputs into our day (if there are any), let's make a list of compliments.  We can list all of the nice things people said about us, right there with our gratitude lists--because they are definitely something to be grateful for.

Are you with me?

# # #

Ellie Coburn // elliecoburn.com | Ashly Griffith // After nine to five |  Keri-Anne Pink // Gingerlilytea | Franchesca Cox // So this is love | Kristine Foley // The Foley Fam | Lena Baird // Lena B. Actually | Emily // Dashboard Diaries | Cristine // Life with a side of Coffee | Shane Prather // Whispering Sweet Nothings | Shantel Cannon // Our Funny Little Family | Heather // Finding Beauty in the Ordinary | Ady // When in Doubt, just add Glitter | Beth Lewis // Through the eyes of the Mrs. | Brooklyn // This Little Blonde | Cassie Yielding // Live. Laugh. Love | Tamika Rybinski // No Time for Tea | Torie Jochims // Lattes and Love | Laurel Martinez // Heart of Wanderer  | Laura Williams // Lulu's Little Wonderland | Kayli // Truly Lovely | Ali Mills // Our Happily Ever After |  Jean // What Jean Likes | Hannah Stocker // All of My days with you | Jen Hallquist // Living a Listful Life | Jill Wilhelm // I know the plans I have for you | 

  Happy May Speak Now friends, both new and old! 

Today is an exciting day for Speak Now

Today, some fabulous ladies have teamed up to link up and tell you that you're beautiful. 

Speak Now is all about beauty from the inside out.

We believe in your dreams + passions. We believe in you. 

Today we want you to look in the mirror and tell yourself that you're beautiful.

Identify what makes you feel beautiful. Make this feeling an obligation in your life.

Today we are here to remind you that you can do anything.

Today and everyday, you are lovely, you are perfect, you are bold, you are unique.

Today and every day- you are beautiful!

Speak Now is a women empowerment organization 

built around the philosophy that self-love, self-respect, + self-confidence will make you beautiful.

We empower. We create. We educate. We inspire.

Link your blog up to connect with other bloggers who believe in the empowerment of women and help us spread awareness about the importance of women empowerment!

Once you link up, no community experience would be complete without a little welcome gift!  We are giving away a $100 visa gift card and any piece of beautiful jewelry from the Speak Now shop!

So link up, enter our giveaway, take a look at some of our blogging friends, and share our mission with your friends, family, and fellow blogging community. 

We are an online community designed to believe in you.

Today, we want you to join our movement. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

HOW TO ENTER OUR GIVEAWAY 

&  win a $100 visa gift card and a custom jewelry piece from our jewelry store

MANDATORY TO ENTER:

****MUST FOLLOW SPEAK NOW ON EITHER FACEBOOK, TWITTER, OR INSTAGRAM TO ENTER*****

*****MUST LINK UP BLOG BELOW TO ENTER*****

 ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:  +1 for each // Follow Speak Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram - COMMENT FOR EACH + 1 for each // Follow via GFC, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for any of our co-hosts - COMMENT FOR EACH + 1 // Share Speak Now's I AM BEAUTIFUL May link up with your FB or twitter friends - COMMENT FOR EACH +1 // Spreading the word via status/tweet/instagram post- COMMENT FOR EACH COMMENTS ARE OFF ON ALL WEBSITE'S CO-HOSTING THE EVENT SO YOU CAN HEAD ON OVER TO SPEAK NOW'S WEBSITE AND COMMENT TO ENTER!  { WWW.WESPEAKNOW.ORG }

A very special thanks to  Aunie of Aunie Sauce, Casey Wiegand,  Keri-Anne Pink, and Salena Lee  for sponsoring our link up!

revisiting: enough

At the beginning of the year, instead of choosing a new year's resolution, I chose a word.  The funny thing is...life happens.  I honestly forgot about my word until I saw someone post about their's just a few days ago.

My word for 2013 was enough.

When I think of that word now, five months into the year, it begins to take on a different meaning than I had originally intended.

It started out as being about "enough excuses, enough of thinking too much, enough of being too hard on myself." Huh.  Well, I guess it hasn't changed all that much.  Although, frankly I haven't made a ton of progress on those items.

So here's to reigniting a dedication to my word: enough.

The original intent was actually the idea that I am enough. I don't need the opinions of others to make me feel better about myself.  I don't need to keep trying to improve myself.

I am enough just the way I am.

You know what that means?  Anything else is just an improvement.

* * * 

How about you? Did you pick a word for the year?  Or tackle any new year's resolutions?  

Tell me how they are going.  

Getting Blog Fit

See?  Told you I'd be back really soon.

Now that I've decided to get back into this fun blogging game, I figured I need to exercise my writing muscles a bit.  Get them back in to shape, get 'blog fit' you could say.  I have SO many things I could and want to be writing about.  It leaves me not knowing where to start.

That means today I'm going to be a copycat.  Over at Living in Yellow Erin answered some questions and invited people to join her.  What better way to get back into 'it' then with pre-set questions to spur my thoughts.

###

1. If you could do one thing differently in your life, what would it be?
There was this one house we bought several years ago.  It was a split entry, and we knew we didn't like split entries.  But we bought it anyways, since we were in what we thought was a crunch situation.  And sold it five months later.  I wouldn't have bought that house in the first place.  

That's about it.  Everything else in life has made sense at some point or another.  I guess there are a few late college nights that may have not been a good idea at the time, but that's all part of the experience.  

And I'm a firm believer in everything happening for a reason (as cliche as that is), so I'm good with everything else and the fact that everything that has happened is part of some bigger, master plan that I'm not privy to. 

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
In Minnesota. 
With a (gulp) 9 year old and 7 year old. 
Working. Married.  
Surrounded by family and friends just cities away. 
In a home. Our home.  Hopefully our forever home. 

3. Do you honestly want kids?
Skipping this one; because obviously that ship has sailed.  And it's a cruise that I surely enjoy. 

4. What has been the best moment of your life so far?
The summer before my senior year of college I was working at an office in my home town.  I saw a guy that I had known in high school and been friends with on and off through high school (ending with the 'off').  I called his name as he walked by my co-worker and friend's cubicle (she encouraged me to do it).  That is probably the best moment of my life so far. 

Fourteen years later, that guy has been my husband for 12, the father of my two precious children and the best friend and supporter a girl could have, among other things.  

Yeah.  That was definitely the best moment.  I don't take many risks, but that was surely a good one.

5. What is your life theme song?
Foo Fighters: Wheels

"When the wheels come down; When the wheels touch ground; And you feel like it's all over; There's another round for you"

6. What is one thing you have yet to accomplish that you want to do before you die?
To figure out my "dream" and work towards it.  I realized just the other day I don't really have a "dream"; that one thing that people work for in life.  I have a few ideas, but I need to figure out something solid. 

Although I'm leaning towards it being this:  I want to make a difference in at least one (hopefully many more) young woman's life.  Girls who are in the pre-teen and teen years, who need support and encouragement.  I want more girls to grow up with a confidence that can't be shaken and positive self images, so we aren't faced with a generation of woman (again) who are fighting to: learn how to be healthy, find themselves and learn to be strong and confident well in their 30s.  

7. If you could choose one thing to be known for, what would it be?
Being a good friend and a kind person. 

Oops.  That's two. 

8. If you could do anything you wanted right in this very moment (no consequences, no fear, etc), what would it be?
Move to the north shore of Minnesota and buy a resort.  

9. What has been the most challenging moment in your life?
How about the most challenging years?  That would be the last two and a half years. As a wise woman and friend of mine that I had lunch with a few weeks ago said, "I imagine its been the highest of highs and the lowest of lows".  And truer words had never been spoken.

The life of an expat is just that.  The highest of highs (traveling to countries and locations I never thought I'd see in my lifetime) to the lowest of lows (being away from friends and family when things are rough for them...and honestly when things are rough for me too). 

10. Summarize yourself in one word.
In general?  Thoughtful (sometimes too much so)
Today?  Unsettled. 


So if you are curious what how some other random strangers answered these questions...head on over to Living in Yellow!

I'm back?! And Bloglovin.

Hey there!  It's been awhile, huh?  Well, I'm back.

I've got a little bit of stuff going on in life right now, so I figure I might as well just add to it.  Busy bee, just call me.  Although its not so much all busyness as it is thinking and deciding {and frankly, trying to not worry about everything}.

While I was away, there was this big dealio with the google reader going away.  SO, if that is how you read this here blog {now that I'm finally back!}, then may I ask you to head over to bloglovin & follow me there?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Muchas Gracias amigas.  Talk more soon. Really soon.