The Road Back + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

I'd like to think that people who are meant to be associated with one another will always find a way to keep in touch. I have lost touch with so many people over the years and many times I wonder what happened to them. In today's fast-paced, text-filled, trans-continental world, it's hard to keep track of how many encounters you actually have. Yet the ones that are meant to be will stick with you and find their way back into your life!
Some people are meant to have many friends and others are happy with just a few. The older I get, the more good friends and quality time spent with them means!

Image - Jim Sands

Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!) 

Choosing Happy + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

I am in quite a quandary right now. I enjoyed the best summer vacation--I got to blog, travel, relax, enjoy family, get creative, and develop myself as a person. Then the school year began and although I like my job, I don't love it. And when things get hard, like when one of our staff is gone and we have to do double duty, then I really don't love it. (In fact, it approaches intense dislike) That is why I've been absent here for awhile. When work gets stressful, my routine suffers. I neglect my health more because I don't take the time to plan my eating routine and work out, etc. My husband starts acting really needy because I don't have time or energy to give him the attention he seems to crave. And my blogging suffers because I am tired and am basically in survival mode. 
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Right now, I need to make sure that I have the right mindset because the most important thing for me is that I am happy during stressful times. If it means I need a pint of Haagen-Daas chocolate ice cream, (which I did "need" today) in order to survive and feel like I am happy, then that is what I'm going to do. However, if over the course of a week, my pants start feeling uncomfortably snug, am I doing a myself a favor? I think not. But are these stupid little stresses even worth worrying about? 

#MyPostMonday Link-Up #27 The Week's Best Original Content

I used to think that once I met my husband and got married, that my life would be set and I would achieve my happily-ever-after. Wow, was that delusional or what? I had so much living yet to do and so many experiences that would make me the awesome, cynical, sometimes-depressed, introverted, and opinionated person that I am. And I know that I'm not even close to done yet! I love the photo below because it really illustrates that one may have done quite a bit to be where they are at an exact moment, but we are certainly not ever done! I believe in continuous movement. Whether that is going backwards or forwards, it is constant. I am the one that will choose which way I want to go!!

Image - Colleen Awsumb

Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)

#MyPostMonday Link-Up #26 The Week's Best Original Content

Along The Extra Mile
Suffice it to say that a picture can speak a thousand words and leave it at that! This is one of the many shots my son got while he was hiking in the back country of Wyoming with his college roommates. We have a great working partnership, he and I. He gets all these amazing shots of places that I can't get to 'cause I don't own a helicopter. Then I put nifty captions on them and sometimes put in my two cents worth. Not a bad deal, eh?

image - Ed Whitmore

Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)

#MyPostMonday Link-Up #25 The Week's Best Original Content

In The Middle Of Nowhere
The school year has begun and I'm saying a fond good-bye to my summer! I enjoyed it so much! I feel rested and energized. 
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As I walked into the high school early this morning. it was still practically deserted. A few students were sitting in the hallways and on the stairs, probably dropped off by parents who needed to get to work early. They were still rubbing sleep from their eyes, just like I was. Eventually the students that are assigned to my charge arrived on the bus or were dropped off. They seemed happy to see me. One of them offered to buy me a treat from the snack machine! We continued down the hall to breakfast, where I greeted my friends there. Lisa, the head of the cafeteria, one of the nicest women I know, greeted me warmly. There was Steve, the maintenance guy, wearing his familiar kilt. He was high on a ladder, seemingly oblivious to the fact that people who walked underneath might get an eyeful. Maybe someday I just may do that, walk underneath out of sheer curiosity! I'm almost sure he must wear shorts or something underneath, unlike the original Scottish men, who.....didn't! My only question would be, why wear a kilt if you need to wear shorts underneath? Wouldn't it be more comfortable to just wear shorts minus kilt? 

Some people may wonder why I continue to work as a learning assistant, commuting over 30 miles each way, when I have a degree in Special Education. It's easy. I tried the teaching route and I don't like it. I don't like the hours, the paperwork, the meetings, the answering to several groups of superiors--parents, administrators, district officials, psychologists, and the school Special Ed coordinator. Each of them has a specific agenda, each of them has an idea how your classroom needs to be run. However, I love working with the students and my co-workers. We have become really comfortable and we understand the philosophy of our teacher, Troy, who will be retiring this coming year. I'll miss him when he leaves. He has dealt with everything so well, but he leaves a little disappointed in the whole system and the seeming lack of appreciation for all that he has done over the years. I hope that when he leaves that he will be able to get a sense of how much good he has really done during his tenure! 

Because of his and our efforts, there are a few kids who actually will have a chance in life. They have learned things that they may never have otherwise learned. Possibly not things like reading, writing, or math, although that has been a huge part of the day. But more likely things like learning responsibility, how to work for what you have, what to expect when you don't have someone to catch you every time you fall, how to act when you are on the job, how to talk properly to people in public, that you're stronger than you think, and other important life lessons you can't learn in a textbook! It reminds me that no matter what background you come from, there are those who will always find a way to thrive with just a little nourishment!

image - Scott Morgan

Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)

 

#MyPostMonday Link-Up #24 The Week's Best Original Content

What The Meteor Showers Taught Me
The Perseid Meteor Shower happened last week. We love to watch cosmic displays when possible.  One year we took our blankets, pillows, and pet to a well-attended park to see the phenomena! It was going to be an amazing time!!! It started out so great--people laughing, talking, oohing, and ahhing when a meteor was spotted! And then, two hours into it, all the sprinklers came on, dousing us and everyone else. I'm not going to lie, it also kind of doused our own enthusiasm and we left in a hurry.
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We hadn't tried to go again until last Thursday, the 11th of August, because this time it was going to be an "outburst"--meteors showing at double the rate!  I said something like, "Let's go! We are so much more experienced than before and have our acts together. We're seasoned and will be able to navigate this. We won't hit a park, no siree, we're going up to the heights of the mountain, out of the light pollution, to see it in as much glory as we can possibly see it, without traveling hundreds of miles." (After all, this was very spontaneous.) So again, we gathered our supplies--the anti-gravity chairs, the tarp, the sleeping bags, blankets, some snacks, and headed up the mountain to Alta! Our destination was the Albion Basin Campground, high above Salt Lake Valley.

We set everything up out in a meadow, near the parking lot. It was a cool crisp evening, almost 25 degrees cooler than where we live below. But I was fine, I had a blanket and a sleeping bag to snuggle in on my own anti-gravity recliner! But soon I felt the need to keep my entire face covered because it became uncomfortably cold, not the ideal position to be in if you want to see a few meteors whizzing by! I must have fallen asleep because my husband patted my head and asked if I was O.K. I said "yes, but I'm freezing!" Apparently he was too, because he wanted to pack it up and go. He wasn't dressed as warmly as I was, having worn cargo shorts. So once again, a rather anti-climatic end to a rare show in the night sky. That's OK, I saw a few meteors and they were beautiful. I just didn't experience the deluge of falling light that I had envisioned. But, all it takes is one shooting star to make a wish come true! I also love the quote below, along with a beautiful image by someone who planned much better than we did!

Image by Ryan Jones

 Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)

#MyPostMonday Link-Up #23--The Week's Best Original Content

Waiting For Perfection
The wisdom in the image below applies to everyone except for Olympic Athletes! "Don't wait for everything to be perfect before deciding to enjoy your life."  
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Yay Team U.S.A, off to an amazing start with Women's Gymnastics, Swimming, and more! For an Olympic Athlete, everything has to be as physically perfect as possible in order to bring home the Gold! This saying is wrong for them, because they can't wait for everything to be perfect, they have to work for everything to be perfect! No waiting about it! For the rest of us, we should neither wait nor work for everything to be perfect before we find ways to enjoy life while doing both! 
Things are definitely not perfect right now for me, I'm going through some issues that aren't fun. But I'm sure you are too. If picked apart with a fine-tooth comb, pulling aside the curation of Instagram, Pinterest, and blog posts, you would see that there is no one in ideal circumstances. That's life, there's no refunds. But does that mean I don't enjoy many aspects of my life? Absolutely not! I have found just a few things that I truly enjoy no matter what is going on, that won't make me regret it in the morning! One of those is my love of nature. If you haven't noticed, most of  'My Post Monday' installments will have a nature shot, and more specifically a nature shot from Utah, the state where I live. That's because I love it, and it puts me in a better place! If  I can get out into nature once a day, I can handle just about anything. Thank goodness, every place that I have lived has had some sort of out of the way place I can go where I feel at one with nature. 

If you can find just a couple of things that you truly enjoy, preferably that don't set you back mentally, physically, or spiritually, you can always default to them when things just aren't going your way! Anyway, nothing heavy here, just know that we deserve to be happy. We deserve moments of pure pleasure, no matter what is going on around us!

Image by Ed Whitmore

 Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)

#MyPostMonday Link-Up--The Week's Best Original Content

Dreaming Vs. Living
Which of the following two philosophies do you subscribe to? 1) Dreaming is essential in order for you to visualize what you want in life. Imagining what life might or could be like gives someone motivation to eventually achieve their goals. Life without dreaming is not life at all. OR...
2) Don't waste your time daydreaming and live the good life that's right in front of you! A dreamer will never accomplish what a doer always will! 
Do you see the difference in these two philosophies? One of them comes from good authority, Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling!

Image by Rochelle Chee

Can these two life ideals live peacefully side by side? I think it definitely depends on the situation.  

Philosophy #1 - Dream. It is so important to dream, to visualize, to ponder what it is that you want in life. Without it, one would never figure out what to aspire to, what you are capable of achieving, and what you need to look for if you indeed want to attain a certain goal. There is definitely a time and place to dream. But when and how much? My definite feeling would be to do that sometime at the start of the day and also at the end of the day, like a planning session in the morning and a debriefing session at night, leaving it all behind until the next day. During those moments, incorporate those powerful positive affirmations, prayers, meditation, list-making, and list check-offs. I think it is essential to do that. And it takes about 60 minutes total.

Philosophy #2 - Live. The rest of the 23 hours in your day are for you to live, to grab life and make it yours! We're here on this planet called earth, there's nothing we can do about it but relish it. Acknowledge our shortcomings, our inabilities, our abilities, our handicaps, and our misgivings. Take it all and live it because it will be gone before you know it! And that is where we get stuck a lot of the time, because we are afraid to live! 

I don't think living means that we are active and going full speed 24 hours of the day. Sometimes it means enduring things like waiting for others, doing less-than-exciting tasks, resting our bodies, strengthening our minds, and learning new things. That's OK! It's part of life and sometimes part of living means finding satisfaction and enjoyment in the most menial of tasks. 

But if we can find a balance between dreaming and living, I believe we have just found the sweet spot in life and are on the road to true happiness! Have you found the perfect balance between dreaming and living? 

 Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)

Clear Vision + #MyPostMonday Link-Up

It has been a really hard few months for everyone and I'm not just talking Americans. With the advent of the internet, we are painfully aware of many of the world's tragedies unfolding before our eyes. And since it is so easy to hop on a plane, and be in another country in a matter of a few hours, we feel more connected than ever to our brothers and sisters overseas. There is anger and outrage, no matter what side you're on, and either side feels they have the monopoly on being right. There seems to be no shortage of those who will take matters into their own hands and wield out punishments they feel are deserved for injustices caused, not even to them personally, but done to others who may be similar in circumstances, beliefs, color, religion, politics, etc. The list goes on and on. 

Personally, I feel like crawling in a little hole and just letting it all pass by, hoping I somehow won't be affected by it all. Not saying I'm doing that--I am very tuned in to Social Media, like everyone else. I get the news. I get at least several reports per day on the things that are going down. It is disturbing. Those who do nothing are as bad as those who go against the cause.

A Masterpiece + #MyPostMonday Link-up

Sometimes things happen and it just seems wrong! Long story short--if the beauty of nature is formed under duress, I guess we can assume that as humans we take similar patterns. Here's my thought--
Our untold potential lays dormant, waiting for us to make of ourselves what we have the potential to do. We have the power within to mold something spectacular. No excuses. It doesn't happen overnight. But we are eternal beings of intelligence and light. We have the ages on our sides. Each stage of life holds an opportunity if we but take hold of it. Just as beauty is created from opposing forces of nature, so is the soul. Take the things that happen which are painful, cataclysmic, and searing to render a masterpiece!

Image by Kris Moffitt

The Waiting Game + #MyPostMonday Link-Up

Can you imagine saying to yourself, "I'll work on my marriage/relationship when things improve." Hello.....that's why we work on our relationships...so things will get better!!! But that's exactly what is going on in so many relationships! Two people in a relationship are waiting until the other one makes the move to improve the relationship. And guess what happens? Bingo! They end up parting ways because they are each waiting for the other person to make the relationship better! Waiting until everything is just right may not be the right thing to do. If possible, maybe you should do it now, and not wait until you are sure what the end result will be. Of course, it's always best to go with your good, well-served intuition! Practice first on small things. Get that beautiful blouse, even though you may not know of anything that will go with it. Chances are, you will find that you do have things that will go with it because you love it! Who knows your tastes better than you? Buy that flat of gorgeous spring flowers. You won't regret it, even if you never get them planted! Sign up for that 5k, even though you can't even run a 1.5k. Just signing up will motivate you to train harder! And so what if you end up walking the last mile. Who even cares? You did it! Once you have practiced with small things, you realize that more ambitious projects can be implemented in the same way. Watch your confidence grow and grow! But in relationships, don't wait to be the first one to act. It may never happen if you don't, and you may miss out on some amazing experiences!

  Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)