February Intention || Celebrating Love

This month was a challenge.

February always seems to be tough for me. The weather, spring-fever, school stress and general life woes seem to be at the forefront of my mind. This year was no different.

This month I set an intention to celebrate love — to celebrate the little things and the big things that make my heart full.

To be honest, the road was rocky, but I believe I did this. My marriage was challenged, my passion for my work was challenged and to be honest, I felt a hopelessness and desire to give up at one point.

I am certainly glad I didn’t.

I look back on the short month of February; first, I am thrilled it is over. Second, I am proud of where I stand now. I feel my relationships are stronger. Their roots grew stronger and deeper after the storm. They’ve been tested and rewarded with love.

This month Jon and I showed love to our humble, little home. We tackled a hefty list of projects that have been put off for months, and boy does it feel good. It is wonderful to see our hard work pay off. More importantly, I love to work together on projects. It brings us close, builds our skills as a team and makes sitting back and looking at a beautiful room that much sweeter.

We showed love to our friends (who are really more of family) as we moved them into our home as they start a new chapter of their lives. It is hard not to feel love with a home full of their three beautiful, little boys running around.

We showed love to each other by practicing patience, forgiveness and strength for one another when we felt defeated.

Twenty-eight days of February seems so short in theory, but it was a crazy month. I am glad to be waving goodbye to one of my least favorite times of the year, but I plan to keep my mind focused on celebrating love as I move into my March intention: celebrate possibility.

Snow Days

It’s been pouring down snow out here for a few days. Typically I am a fan of the fluffy stuff, but this year I am crossing my fingers that each storm is the last.

I am feeling a little cooped up (and as you can see we may be getting a tad loopy).

For all of you relishing in the pre-Spring warmth elsewhere, I suggest you just keep that joy to yourself. I am cold, cranky and packing an ice-scraper.

One Little Word || Vision Board

For those of you who don’t know, I am participating in Ali Edwards’ One Little Word Challenge for 2013. For the month of February, I was prompted to make a vision board.

I have to say, I have never made a vision board before. I actually never knew how complex (in a really simple sort of way) they are. Contrary to my ignorance, they aren’t just a random pile of pictures glued to a board that is supposed to magically inspire me to lose 10 pounds, write a novel and be the best wife in the world.

They are more of an exercise in embracing the things in life that whisper to you and make you feel something…even if you don’t know why. For more about how they work, check out this article by Martha Beck. She goes much more in depth on the technique and her personal experiences with making vision boards.

I really enjoyed the process. It came at a time in my life where things were chaos — more than my usual chaos. I was deflated, dare I say — uninspired.

I couldn’t tell you what these photos mean for me now, for the future or if they ever will mean anything more than what they do as pretty magazine clippings on a simple canvas. They make me smile when I see them.

To me — that’s enough.

Bootcamp Update #3

I am finally starting to slowly get back into a routine. I am still really struggling with coughing when my heart rate gets up too high, so I have been focused on body weight exercises and some lifting.

It feels good to get to do a little something, but I am really ready to get back into my full schedule and getting some cardio in there. I have noticed my strength and stamina depleting and I hate to see that! I suppose it is par for the course when you spend the majority of a month battling various illnesses. It is safe to say Spring Fever is in full force around here and I am ready for cold/flu season to be far, FAR, FARRRRRR away.

I haven’t taken any measurements or completed any fit tests to see where I have come from the beginning of the boot camp, because honestly, I don’t think I will have much progress. Due to my cold(s), I think I will be disappointed by what I see. So…knowing how I can become overwhelmed by things like this, I am trying to just consciously move forward and test myself after I feel like I am performing at my best. Is that cheating?

How are you handling this nasty flu season and keeping active? I sure hope I am not the only one having a tough time.

Changes || January Intentions

For the month of January I told myself to celebrate change. I anticipated the big changes, such as the change from my maiden name to that of my husband’s. I also anticipated small changes — going back to school, getting more organized, pulling my life together a bit.

Just as is true in any other thing I seem to do, I couldn’t plan for what the month had in store for me. It was a wild ride at times, picking us up right at the end of the winter holidays and thrusting us into wedding chaos, only to return home with a few things on our plate we wished weren’t there. However, I can safely say, it was the most perfect, though miserable at times (thank you flu season), first month of my new, married life.

I am so happy to be a wife. I am thrilled to be at the beginning of the end of my college career. I am anxious in anticipation of what my business future holds.

This month has forced me to be patient — to celebrate the changes day by day and know in the back of my mind that big things are to come.

Some of my “changes” didn’t happen the way I planned. But many things happened that I didn’t plan. Some bad. Many good. For a girl that always has a plan (plus a backup plan and a backup to said backup plan) it feels good to start a new chapter of my life with a casual, not so rigid, as close as this girl can get to flying by the seat of her pants “plan.”

I look forward to next months intention: to celebrate love.

February is shaping up to be a crazy month around here, and is always a difficult month for me because of the seasons here in big, beautiful (cold, miserable) Wyoming. It will be a month where I need to celebrate love — love for myself, love for my family, love for the quiet moments and longer days, and of course, love for my darling, love of my life.

What are your intentions for February?

Today I Have the Mean Reds

Today I am feeling a little down, for no reason, really.

Well, that’s a lie. I have a few reasons.

How’s your Wednesday? Hopefully your not fighting the mean reds like me.

The Cake

Today I wanted to shared with you an introduction to a story I wrote a few months back that is especially close to my heart. All of us have our “cake.” Our one little thing that floods in memories good and bad. I encourage you to think about what your piece of cake is.

I remember parties. Parties with plates piled high, full of homemade, American fare: pulled pork, potato salad, baked beans. Tetherball and grass stains on my polka dot tights—and the cake.

I remember holidays. Grandma’s sweater vests, mince meat pie, blessings of family, the good china—and the cake.

I remember funerals. Heavy hearts, blood shot eyes, a lifetime of memories scattered across a card table—and the cake.

Twenty-three years of the good and the bad flash before my eyes the moment I sink my fork into a helping of the rich, chocolate cake, gracefully robed in fudge icing. As the sumptuous bite melts in my mouth, the sounds of laughter around a table overpower any stresses from my day and flood my heart with joy.

I am reminded of the years spent hunting for the recipe and my own adventures in bringing the cake to life from my own kitchen.

Every time I sit down with a piece of the cake, it is sure to be an important day, a day for nostalgia.  I am reminded of where I came from, what I love and who I want to be.

“It’s just a piece of cake,” you’re probably thinking.

Well, you are right. It is just a piece of cake.

But it is also a piece of history. A piece of family. A piece of my heart.

And for that, it is so much more than just a piece of chocolate cake. It is the cake.

Days Like Today

You know those days where you feel like you will rise from your bed and conquer the world?

Or those days where you feel like you will rise from your bed, fall back on your pillow and watch a marathon of Keeping up with the Kardashians in your pajamas?

Yeah, that’s where I am at too.

I have so many goals, bucket lists and dreams for my life, and sometimes I lose sight. I was recently challenged to seek out an individual with a career that I hoped for, which really got me thinking.

While my peers thought of television news anchors, Hollywood PR reps and infamous investigative reporters, I thought of this gal.

I want to be her.

I want to have a successful blog where I share my stories — stories about food, life, the norm.

I want to have a book. Desperately. What about? Hell, I dont know. I just want a book. I have since I learned to write.

I want to have the freedom to create.

You think I can do it?

Maybe not until The Kardashians are over…but I sure hope so.

While I am trying to figure that out, check out this awesome video about Joy the Baker that makes me so desperately want to be her.

Bootcamp Update #2

This week I started out strong on my bootcamp schedule. I got through all the workouts and was loving it! Unfortunately I woke up on Thursday with a chest cold. Usually I would try to work through my ailments, but I have had a fever and troubles breathing so I figured it was best that I didn’t push it.

I have been taking it easy through the weekend and crossing my fingers that I can be back on track for the new week. I am hating all this time I have had to take off from being active. My body definitely craves the challenge and the release from sweating it out every day.

While I am stuck on the couch dreaming of dumbbells and sandbags, here are some of my favorite fitspiration photos from none other than Pinterest!

Source: resistingadulthood.com via Sweets on Pinterest

Source: itsfitnessbaby.com via Sweets on Pinterest

Source: fitgirlslookbetternaked.tumblr.com via Sweets on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Sweets on Pinterest

Source: fitfabcities.com via Sweets on Pinterest

Source: postteenageliving.com via Sweets on Pinterest