“All around you people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don’t tiptoe.”
-Shane Claiborne
What to do when you’re totally stressed out
Work is piling up, you feel a cold coming on, you just missed a deadline, your car has decided to fall to pieces and you can no longer see the bottom of your bedroom floor. Whether you blame Mercury retrograde or just plain bad luck, we’ve all had days where the thought of spending a month in bed eating cookie dough, drinking wine, and watching The Vampire Diaries sounds pretty damn good (Just me?). If this is the case, it’s time to take action. Here are some simple things that help me get back into a centered, focused and happy place when I feel like life is spinning out of control:
* Meditation
* Journaling
* Making a To-Do List and crossing things off
* Reading inspirational books and blogs (see my sidebar for recommendations)
* Spending time in nature
* Getting a good night’s sleep
* Taking bubble baths (more than one a day is perfectly acceptable and etra points for scented candles and trashy magazines!)
* Exercising
* Volunteering
* Getting a massage
* Expressing gratitude
* Spending quality time with close friends
* Sipping tea
* Doing something crafty
* Cleaning
* Dancing
Remember, above all, to be compassionate to yourself. We are all being challenged in different ways at different times of our lives. It’s part of being human. The best thing you can do when you are in that icky stressed out place is to love yourself as much as possible, and take baby steps towards getting your life back in order. And a little cookie dough, white wine, and good-bad TV never hurts! Wishing you all lots of lovely peace and happiness this week!
xoxo
There is no reason not to follow your heart
“. . . almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
-Steve Jobs
Magic and Mystery…
“I believe that halloween is the perfect reminder that magic flows through us, mystery infuses every encounter of every day…isn’t magic what you’re performing when you create an authentic lifestyle for yourself and those you love? Aren’t you shaping unseen forces with your creativity and soul crafts, bringing into the physical world through passion what has only existed in the spiritual realm?”
-Sarah Ban Breathnach
Paris Je T’aime
“I don’t think anyone would dispute that the French are the masters of leisure and purveyors of refined hedonism. Meals, apéros, discussions, and strolls are all to be conducted tranquillement – without haste and with an utmost respect for life’s little pleasures.”
-Lindsey Tramuta, Hip Paris
Fall Foliage, Frat Boys and “Football”
Fall foliage, frat boys (*ahem* men) and “football” really only mean one thing to your average twenty-something meaning of life-pondering college grad: Homecoming. And last weekend I got to experience this delightful autumnal tradition anew as I road tripped to the College of William and Mary (attended by the likes of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Monroe, and my boyfriend). The weekend was full of long strolls through Colonial Williamsburg, a fireworks display (step it up Vandy), delicious food and plenty of mixing, and mingling. Here are a few photos I snapped:
The sun shining through the trees (stop rolling your eyes)
Charming old school soaps sold in a Williamsburg market
Candy displayed in the amazing sweet market. Still. Salivating.
Pretty sure I said I’d never return after first semester freshman year. Oops.
I was tad hungry and irritable when the boyfriend made me pose for this but it actually turned out pretty cute…(don’t tell him I said so and we’ll see if he really does read this as closely as he claims).
Hope you all have a fabulous week planning Halloween shenanigans for the upcoming weekend!
xoxo
R
The golden hours
Photo: Pinterest.
“You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip.”
-J.M. Barrie
Nashville Weekend Recap
Returned home last night from a delightful couple of days spent in Nashville, TN. The weekend jaunt for a close girlfriend’s wedding was just what I needed: fried food, fun and some good ole’ honkey tonk! Here are a few pics I snapped…
View from the hotel room at The Lowes
Balloons about to be released at the end of the wedding ceremony
The guy I picked up off the street turned out to be pretty a decent date 😉
M&Ms stamped with the bride and groom’s faces and names (kinda hard to see in this pic but so cute!)
<3 mason jars used as drinking glasses!
Vandy ladies posing at a photo booth during the wedding reception (I’m the blonde in front w/ the mustache!)
A few trip highlights…
* Taking Le Beau on a tour of Vanderbilt campus on Saturday (It was cool to share part of my college life with him)
* Delicious lunch at Jackson’s. Capri Torrado w/ Fries, you have been missed!
* Boutique browsing in charming Hillsborough village
* Sipping a yummy latte at Fido (It was quite nice to be there without a paper to write, I must say)
* Ginormous BBQ dinner and live blues music at BB Kings in downtown Nashville Saturday night
* LOTS of much-needed girl-bonding time
* Beautiful ceremony and reception at the exquisite Cheekwood plantation (complete with lovely fall foliage and crisp autumn weather)
*Final breakfast at The Pancake Pantry…still full…
Oh how I adore weekend getaways 🙂
Here’s to the crazy ones
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
~ Apple Computers
