Wednesday, January 4

Loving Life with a Vision



Vision boards are common goal-attaining tools.  I love to spend time cutting out pictures, images, and words that represent who I am and who I aspire to be.  Pulling out my rubber cement and making a collage from all the pretty images is both sticky and fun.  This year, when thinking about making a vision board for “Falling Madly in Love with Life” I hit a bit of a snag.  If the goal is to embrace and see the best in everything I already have and am, then how can I make a board of what I aspire to be?

Here is what I came up with:

I will have two vision boards.  The first board is the “Falling Madly in Love with Life” board and it is a celebration of my life now.  The board contains not only images of my current life, but also images and words that evoke gratitude and a sense of awe.  Anything that helps me feel like an incredibly talented, beautiful, blessed woman goes on this board.  This board is a reminder to embrace all that is fabulous in the moment. 

When life feels sluggish or downright difficult, this board can bring a smile to my face.  When I’m annoyed and feeling less-tha-luminous, my board can remind me of all the amazing parts of life.

The second board is a traditional vision board and it exemplifies all the wonderful places my current fabulous life will lead.  I know that as I appreciate my body and all the wonderful work it does for me, I will want to take better care of it by eating healthier and exercising it.  This natural evolution leads to the lovely, healthy lean physique on my traditional vision board.

The two boards work together.  One evokes gratitude, joy, and the importance of tending to what matters.  The other lifts and inspires when I’m feeling lazy or lethargic.  It helps me remember where I am going and how I’ll get there.

Try the two vision board route!  Again, it doesn’t matter if they are on canvas, paper, or in an electronic file.  The important part is finding visual images that stir and excite!


Monday, January 2

Falling Madly in Love with Life



Happy Happy New Year! 

I love starting a fresh new year and 2012 is going to be a fantastic one.  The luminous theme for this year is “Falling Madly in Love with Life”.  Life, like people, isn’t perfect.  Life will always come with ups and downs.  Some moments are magical and some we wish would pass quickly.  However, there is always a choice on how we view our lives.  We can focus on what is wrong with life (and there ALWAYS will be something wrong) or we can focus on the magic in life.

In 2012 we will be focusing on the magic of life and those moments that take our collective breaths away.  I’ve been lucky enough to have some truly magical moments in life- the kind that hit you over the head in amazement.  I’ve fallen perfectly in love.  I’ve lived across the streets from a castle and literally wandered some of the most gorgeous parts of the world.  I’ve studied in amazing places and swam in perfect seas.  But those are the exceptions and not the norm of daily life.

In 2010, I returned home to the U.S. after living in Europe for two years.  It was an adjustment!!!  It was a huge adjustment.  In Prague, if I was having a bad day, I could jump on a tram and ride by the castle or the Charles Bridge.  It never failed to snap me back to my wonderful reality.  Here in Tampa, FL I don’t have magical fairytale castles around the corner.  2011 was a year of discovering the beauty of a seemingly mundane life.  I’d like to share what I’ve discovered for myself this past year with all my lovely readers.
I also want to take it to the next level.  

This year, my goal for each of us is to fall in love with our lives RIGHT NOW!  Not after losing 20 pounds, landing the perfect jobs and finding Mr. Right , but RIGHT NOW!  Loving life right now might mean facing the reality of dirty dishes in the sink and a screaming baby in the next room.  Loving life with all the imperfections isn’t always easy, but it is do able.

Loving life right now is also one of the crucial pieces in creating a gorgeous future.  Happiness and gratitude will always attract more happiness and gratitude.  Looking for the magic in ordinary moments will stir something surprising up in life.  It stirs up more magic and more joy than you thought possible.  Falling in love with life means more moments of laughing through tears and pushing through the hard times and move into the bright and beautiful future around the corner.

Are you ready to fall madly in love?

image via

Monday, December 5

Wednesday, November 30

Happy Holidays





Happy Holidays Friends!

I love that it's December and finally time to pull out the decorations and blast the holiday songs.  This time of year, everyone softens and focuses on what is most important in life.
Isn't it wonderful?

Thursday, November 17

Anyone Else???



Anyone else seeing this tonight?

Tuesday, November 15

Happy Monday!




Happy Monday! 

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend.  The weather here in Florida was perfect.  After our afternoon of service -which turned out to be less helping sick children and more scrubbing toilets- I had the chance to attend a gorgeous wedding and then a singles event (so that I can start working towards a gorgeous wedding of my own).

Alas, the wedding of the friend was beautiful but my singles conference was not.  Such is the life of a single woman.  However things are looking up for me!  I got hit on in Target this morning before work.  He told me how beautiful I was and then gave me his number and email.  I'm not planning on acting on it, but what a lovely boost to my morning.

With Thanksgiving coming up soon I wanted to share a few things I'm grateful for . . .

*  I have the best family in the world (I know I'm biased)!

*  I live in such a gorgeous place.  The weather is absolutely perfect this time of the year.  I want to pinch myself!

*  My new place is looking prettier and prettier every day.  I know I haven't posted pictures yet.  I'll do a full reveal when it's all together.  Beauty is something that I value and living in a lovely place feels magical to me.

*  Yesterday while I wrote a paper and took a final, my little dog just sat next to me smiling at me like I'm the greatest human in the world.  It's pretty hard not to feel special after a moment like that.

Here's to a lovely week!

p.s- my scheduled post didn't work right, so this is technically showing up on Tuesday . . . sorry.