2014 JOURNAL

 New Years Eve is finally upon us and I am so excited to share with you my new journal for the coming year. The past two months I have been hard at work practicing positive thinking and gratefulness, manifesting a new way of thinking is hard! Nate and I started in November with small journals recorded in (almost) every night of grateful thoughts and I loved how it was a positive reflection at the end of the day. So it got me thinking on how I could roll this into a daily practice and how to take it one step farther (I do love a challenge).

The process is simple, buy a journal and allot two pages a day. One to reflect on all the good things that have happened that day, thankful thoughts for another day accomplished and the other page to use as a place to write the positive thoughts I am currently trying to manifest. I do visualization when I can but sometimes writing out an affirmation helps me solidify and strengthen that thought within myself.

I am excited to see how this helps my practice of changing my thought patterns and I think it will be really fun to look back a year from now and see all the positive things that happened to me over the year in black and white!

I hope everyone is having an amazing last day of 2013- our is simple and mostly at home, just the way I like it. Besides getting an oil change (responsible adult thing to do) and picking up soup for lunch (Gee, I love Panera) we are hanging out at home cleaning out desks, prepping our new calendars and spending lots of QT on the couch. I love a quiet NYE. Tonight is take out and champagne, what are your plans?

I hope no matter what you do, you have a safe and wonderful night .... HAPPY NEW YEAR! ♥

DREAM IT. BELIEVE IT. ACHIEVE IT. MAKING GOALS FOR 2014

On Friday I shared the idea of making a list of all the goals, accomplishments, blessings that happened to you in 2013. This was a practice I did to help me appreciate the past year and not worry myself over the loose ends and give myself a jumping off point for 2014. Hopefully this inspired you to take note of what an amazing year you had too!

So today is the fun part (or at least, I think it is) and its to start building a goal list for the coming year. I know, I know, resolutions are for suckers and only last on average 2 months blah blah blah. But what kinds of resolutions are you setting for yourself? Are they fun, are you passionate about them? What is the end result going to do for you/change for you? Are you choosing to lose weight because that is what our culture tells us to do on January first and its something you should do but you don't really want to do? If your health is a concern what is something you might want to do to improve your situation? Go on a hike once a week? Eat more greens everyday? Try being vegetarian for a month? All of those and more could contribute to weight loss but it makes you explore more of your passion than just get you to the gym to sign up for a year of walking in place on a treadmill. Lets live life in 2014!

This tee by Sincerely Jules was most perfect for my state of mind these days!

Sincerely Jules tee // Forever 21 Sweater and Leggings // Aldo wedge sneakers

My goal list keeps growing because I am super pumped for 2014! I had to put a cap on it but I keep writing ideas down in my journal to inspire me later in the year too. I split my list into Mind, Body, and Soul because ... well that's how I roll ;) I will give you examples for a few of each to help you start dreaming up ideas for yourself ...

Mind
Make time to read
Accept more opportunities/challenges and defy inhibitions

Body
Practice yoga daily
purchase more local/handmade clothing
Eat more raw
Create a vitamin regimen

Soul
Meditate on positive thinking daily
have more faith

The next step is action plans. Since some of these goals take less time than others while others require daily practice these action steps will vary. For example, I already purchased and have my vitamins ready to start my new regimen but to meditate on positive thinking I have a few tools I want to put together to help me with this (I will be sharing tomorrow!) and this is something I will be doing 365 days. My methods may have to change throughout the year as I grow and change on the long term goals.

So take some time today and tomorrow- clear your mind and listen to yourself and what you want 2014 to hold for you. Anything is possible- we are our only obstacle. So dare to dream for what you want most and go for it!

Happy goal making ♥

12 BEFORE 28

For the last 4 years Nate and I have both created lists every year on our birthdays of things we want to accomplish in the upcoming year. I love goal making- I chalk it up to my love of list making and the sense of accomplishment of crossing things off. This worked for awhile but this past year my list looked pretty sad with only a handful of items crossed off. After looking over my goals I realized that most of them seemed important and worthwhile a year ago when I created them, but I had lost interest in them as time went on. So this year I wanted to create a system that I felt I could complete and stay motivated about- this is what I decided to do ...

I decided to split my year into 4 sections and limit it to 12 goals instead of the 27 before 28. Its not that I don't think I could complete 27 goals ... its just I don't want to lose steam and a lot of my goals are more time consuming these days. So every 3 months I will choose 3 more goals so that I am making them throughout the year and they stay in line with my interests! I am pretty excited about the coming months- my first three goals are to:

1. Practice yoga 6 days a week (78 days total): I want to seriously improve my yoga practice so by committing 6 days a week for three months I want to manifest this habit into my daily routine. Obviously I wan to continue this beyond the three months but I want to focus here in the beginning on honing my practice, see what works for me and my schedule, and study the poses and broaden my knowledge.
2. Make special Holiday moments and traditions: I have worked retail for the past decade so this is my first holiday season that I won't have to work really hard to keep my spirits high in the midst of late night shifts, Black Friday madness, and the stress of crazy customers. I can breath this year! I am so excited to be home on Christmas eve, not work New Years and in general have less stress in my life this time of year so I want to celebrate it with taking more time to really capture moments.
3. Study the Macrobiotic Path to Total Health by Michio Kushi: I found a copy of this book for $7 at the half price book store a month or so ago and have yet to crack it open despite my interest in it. I have heard such amazing things about the Macrobiotic diet that I really want to learn about this way of eating.

So there are my first set of goals all in black and white for you. I am sure I will mention them again from time to time here. What are some of your current goals? ♥

LETS MAKE A LIST: WANDERLUST

As I am sitting here, large box of kleenex and cough drops nearby, it seems a little torturous to myself to be thinking of fun destinations to travel to but maybe its a little therapeutic? I am hoping thinking about these destinations will then lead to them infiltrating my cold-medicine-induced-crazy-dreams and take me far far away ...

Today I am listin' my top 7 dream destinations, in no particular order because if you handed me a ticket to any of them I would hop right on that plane!

1. Paris ... duh.
2. Palm Springs where I would laze around a pool in a 'just for looks' swimsuit drinking cocktails.
3. Italy second most romantic city, perhaps?
4. Sweden I have a weird fascination with anything and everything Swedish.
5. Pacific North West (USA edition) I would love to road trip along this coast line.
6. Bali for the ultimate Eat Pray Love experience, obviously.
7. United Kingdom I am sucker for a good accent and green pastures.

What would you put on your wanderlust list? ♥

LETS MAKE A LIST

I love making lists. Love Love Love. So I was kind of surprised and disappointed with myself when I realize I never list on here. Lists are fun, motivating, and great for brainstorming. There is nothing better than crossing something off a list- I find it very satisfying.

Today I wanted to share a list that has been growing- it started on my phone one day as I was sitting in grid lock traffic (I am comfortable to admit this because I was not moving an inch, I promise) and its been growing ever since. And I expect this one to keep on growing as I learn new things I want to try!

My Be Better List : A list of things to better my life and the lives around me.
1. Change to non-toxic eco friendly cosmetics and beauty products
2. Make homemade cleaning supplies
3. Take old cleaning supplies to a toxic waste drop-off
4. No more shampoo! (We will discuss this one later, promise)
5. Practice meditation
6. Create own mantra
7. Buy reusable produce and grain bags
8. Visit a Sanctuary Farm
9. Actually learn Yoga
10. Embrace Veganism
11. Join a group for a cause I believe in

Some of these items will be easier than others, changing out my cosmetics? Easy, I think I will start this weekend. Visit a Sanctuary Farm? Surprisingly not so easy, the nearest is over 3 hours away- I am kind of ashamed Ohio doesn't have more?! And hunkering down to really learn about veganism will just take will power and carving out time for this priority. What would be on your 'Be Better' list?

I am so happy it is Friday- I have been feeling under the weather today but tonight proved cozy and just what I needed. A long nap, take out with the mister, new episodes of the New Girl and it has been constantly raining since 6:00 and I couldn't be happier about that. I am anticipating waking up to a much cooler day after our heat wave (I'm really pulling for fall here, over the 80 degrees!) and we have fun activities planned.

So cheers to rainy Friday nights and cozy blankets- a perfect start to a beautiful weekend ♥