20 things.

love this. hope it's not too tiny. couldn't find a source. had to copy directly from pinterest. ;)

live life fully.

stumbled across this today and thought i would share. it's been a while since i've done quotes. have lots of inspiring words, at least to me, on my pinterest accounts. think i should share more here. ;)
can't link a source. says it's forbidden. i tried. forgive my plagiarism.

2013. embrace.

2012's post on this topic. which includes linkies to previous years as well.

i think last year's word was a great choice. i still find myself making more conscious decisions. hoping that it sticks with me this year and doesn't get lost because i'm choosing a new one. :)

at first, i wasn't too sure of this word. but over the last week, it's really grown on me. so i'm hoping it is the right choice. well, i guess there is no wrong answer to this, right?

embrace. {thank you webster.}

Definition of EMBRACE

transitive verb

1

a : to clasp in the arms : hug

b : cherish, love

2

: encircle, enclose

3

a : to take up especially readily or gladly <embrace a cause>

b : to avail oneself of : welcome <embraced the opportunity to study further>

4

a : to take in or include as a part, item, or element of a more inclusive whole <charity embraces all acts that contribute to human welfare>

b : to be equal or equivalent to <his assets embraced $10>

3 is the one that really hits home for me. 'to accept gladly or readily'. this is so not me.  i'm not a big fan of change.

so in 2013, to embrace my role as a parent, wife, nurse, daughter, friend, and all those titles i've forgotten.  i hope to embrace change. and of course any sorts of hugs from loved ones is always appreciated. especially two cute boys. :)

some pretties to go with my word. {i love pinterest.}

i think i need this print. source.  love that it has just be. be was my word a few years ago.

source.

source.

desiderata

i am in love with this poem.

found this awesome typography poster. it's amazing. seriously, want to buy it and have it in my home... somewhere, somehow. and maybe at work too.

sorry that it's so tiny. {source.}

and the whole text so it's a bit easier on the eyes.

Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its shams, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.  - Max Ehrmann

'don't stress, that's dumb'

my new favorite lyrics.
need to check out this band {ball park music}. totally digging this song right now....

he and i.

{source.} thank you pinterest.

he and i were born on this date 19 years ago. <3 it started with two little words... 'i guess'. yup, that was my response when he 'asked me out.' and yes, that was my response when he proposed almost ten years later.

i asked him if he knew what today was and he totally did! xo. was actually going to be our wedding date but we would have had to wait for a few more years. {save that for random nick and shan trivia day! want one more piece of trivia? it happened at band camp. yes, we are those dorks.}
 
we are not perfect and we have had some bumpy rides but i love him and he loves me and that's all that matters.

happy birthday babe.

being kind.

try to remember it daily. sometimes it's just so hard. and i know some of you are going to laugh at this. especially since i complain about the 'being nice is all that matters' that has been going around for a few months. but i'm gonna try. i hope. maybe. ;P

advice from a tree.

saw this on pinterest.

the link goes to a facebook page, so i'm unsure of the actual source... but... i loved it too much not to share.

and i found this little beauty when i was searching. apparently, it is just a smidge of a whole poem!

Advice from a Tree
By Ilan Shamir
Dear Friend,
Stand Tall and Proud
Sink your roots deeply into the Earth
Reflect the light of a greater source
Think long term
Go out on a limb
Remember your place among all living beings
Embrace with joy the changing seasons
For each yields its own abundance
The Energy and Birth of Spring
The Growth and Contentment of Summer
The Wisdom to let go of leaves in the Fall
The Rest and Quiet Renewal of Winter
Feel the wind and the sun
And delight in their presence
Look up at the moon that shines down upon you
And the mystery of the stars at night.
Seek nourishment from the good things in life
Simple pleasures
Earth, fresh air, light
Be content with your natural beauty
Drink plenty of water
Let your limbs sway and dance in the breezes
Be flexible
Remember your roots
Enjoy the view!

notebook doodles revisted.

posted some doodles ages ago. and i'm feeling quite lazy and won't be going back to post a linky of the ones i have shared before. sorry.

here's a link to the her blog.

just spent some time on her site, apparently she's been away for a while. ;(

here are a few that caught my attention. in no particular order.

quotes. april 2012

because it's been a while and i my collection has grown.
i swear, i want to print out and make a poster of some of my favorites. some of them are just really hitting home right now. ;)

~ generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. - kahul gibran

~ most people see what they want to, or at least what they expect to. - martha grimes

~ one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. - virginia woolf

~ in the end, what affects your life most deeply are things too simple to talk about. - nell blaine

~ for every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness. - ralph waldo emerson

~ i've never had a humble opinion. if you've got an opinion, why be humble about it? - joan baez

~ you're never fully dressed without a smile. - martin chamin

~ no day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap. - carrie snow

~ sooner or later we will all quote our mothers. - bern williams

~ i am not a glutton - i am an explorer of food. - erma bombeck

~ a cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition. - william arthur ward

~ don't be afraid to go out on a limb. that's where the fruit is. - h. jackson browne

~ we cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh. - agnes repplier

~ the time to relax is when you don't have time for it. - sydney j. harris

~ logic will get you from A to B. imagination will take you everywhere. - albert einstein

~ kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echos are truly endless. - mother teresa

~ childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons. - anonymous

~ each day comes bearing its own gifts. untie the ribbons. - ruth ann schabacker

~ i am thankful for the mess to clean after a party because it means i have been surrounded by friends. - nanice j. carmody

~ time is strange. a moment can be as short as a breath, or as long as eternity. - cornell woolrich

~ it isn't the great big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones. - jean webster

~ you can't build a reputation on what you're going to do. - henry ford

ten on tuesday. 11.8.11

- the hot chocolate this weekend was crowded. like almost too crowded to run. but the chocolate was yummy. and i did it. ran the entire way. well, except when some family member lovingly pulled my pony to get my attention... then we chatted and i walked for a few moments. then i was off. i think it was just over a 13 minute mile. so a little over 40 minutes for the total. and i'm beyond happy with that. ;)
- i love fleet feet. they totally let me return my shoes that i bought three weeks ago. never wore them running. just to work and on the elliptical and trick or treating... ended up with red marks on my pinky toes after the race. got me some shiny new kicks for an even exchange. awesome!
- signed up for another run. this one is in december! can't decide if i want it to snow or not! i think this one might just be the two of us. we'll see.
- ben will actually watch another cartoon. cars has been his go to favorite. we were able to convince him to watch toy story for a bit tonight instead and i think he liked it. we tried ice age and he hated it. got scared when the baby was all alone. and he tolerated madagascar.
- i miss sunshine. i know we're back on 'regular' time. but i so don't like going to work when it's dark. or coming home when it's dark.
- am in the mood to read, but i cannot decide on what to read. sucks.
- 'people generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.' - said by judge taylor in to kill a mockingbird. one of my favorite books. and so totally true. {note to self: please stop doing that!}
- and speaking of favorites, one of my all time favorite movies was on pw's website. check it out.
- i feel like this post is way link heavy.
- love that my hubby is a geek. totally figured out what was wrong with my itunes and apps after upgrading to the new operating system. love him. i so do not have the patience for that sort of stuff.

words wednesday. expectations.

some pinterest words of wisdom...

{source}

{source}

less depressing post tomorrow! promise. ;-)

quotes: june 2011 edition

- if you aren't your nuturing yourself, what kind of mother can you be, anyway? ~ sandra scofield
- the only causes of regret are laziness, outburts of temper, hurting others, prejudice, jealousy, and envy. ~ germaine greer
- nothing passes. everything stays with us. everything makes it's mark. ~ shelagh delaney
- just because we were related doesn't mean we were any good at understand each other. ~ anne tyler
- don't compromise yourself. you are all you've got. ~ janis joplin
- happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy. ~ gretta brooker palmer
- put a little fun into your life. try dancing. ~ kathryn murray
- you do too much. go and do nothing for a while. nothing. ~ lillian hellman
- thus, learning to understand our dreams is a matter of learning to understand our heart's language. ~ ann farady
- if i had a flower for everytime i thought of you... i could walk through my garden forever. ~ alfred lord tennyson
- dress to please yourself... forget you are what you wear... wear what you are. ~ elizabeth hawkes
- in my view, nineteen pounds of old books are at least nineteen times as delicious as one pound of fresh caviar. ~ anne fadiman
- it's not what i was thinking, it's that i wasn't thinking. ~ spring mae selby
- one can lie, but the truth is more interesting. ~ enid bagnold
- flattery is so necessary to us that we flatter one another just to be flattered in return. ~ marjorie bowen
- all you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt. ~ charles m. schulz
- in youth we learn, in age we understand. ~ marie von ebner-eschenbach
- it takes a long time to grow an old friend. ~ john leonard
- did you ever meet a mother who complained that her child called her too often? me neither. ~ maureen lipman
- animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. ~ george eliot

quotes. may 2011 edition.

- cultivate your curves - they may be dangerous but they won't be avoided.  ~ mae west.
- advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. ~ erica jong
- what you will do matters. all you need to do is do it. ~ judy grahn
- love is an irrestable desire to be irresitably desired. ~ robert frost
- admitting error clears the score and proves you wiser than before. ~ arthur guiterman
- life is short and it's up to you to make it sweet. ~ sadie delaney
- man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them. ~ adlai stevenson
- early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. ~ benjamin franklin
- never hurry, and never worry! ~ e.b. white
- one of the oddest things in life, i think, is the things one remembers. ~ agatha christie
- nothing great was every achieved without enthusiasm. ~ ralph waldo emerson
- an unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth. ~ bonnie friedman
- the length of our life is less important than its depth. ~ mary david fisher
- then the spring came, and all over the country there will little blossoms and little birds. ~ oscar wilde
- laughter is by definition healthy. ~ doris lessing

quotes. april 2011 edition.

~ be pretty if you can, witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you. - elsie de wolf
~ i must govern the clock, not be governed by it. - golda mier
~ don't waste your time hating failure. failure is a greater teacher than success. - clarissa pinkola estes
~ you are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. - c.s. lewis
~ service to others is the rent you pay for living on this planet. - marian wright edelman
~ i truly believe there is nothing larger than life. - uta hagen
~ love wasn't meant to be rational. it was meant to be experienced and felt. - s.l. naeole
~ you can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. - c.s. lewis
~ all endings are also beginnings. we just don't know it at the time. - mitch albom
~ we don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. - anais nin
~ reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it. - lily tomlin
~ one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. - virginia woolf
~ people who keep journals have life twice. - jessalyn west
~ no one has ever become poor by giving. - anne frank
~ being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. - laozi
~ if you judge people then you have no time to love them. - mother teresa
~ be yourself. who else is better qualified? - frank j. giblin II
~ tomorrow is often the busiest day of the year. - spanish proverb
~ if there's no struggle, there is no progress. - rachel robinson
~ for every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness. - ralph waldo emerson
~ what a difference it makes to come home to a child! - margaret fuller
~ a room without books is like a body without a soul. - marcus tullius cicero
~ you can observe a lot by watching. - yogi berra
~ things do not change; we change.  - henry david thoreau
~ what do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other? - george elliot

quotes. march 2011 edition.

~ no doubt about it, solitude is improved by being voluntary. - barbara holland

~ a successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. - mignon mclaughlin

~ if you risk nothing, then you risk everything. - geena davis

~ in the end, what affects your life most deeply are things too simple to talk about.  - nell blaine

~ just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier. - kathleen norris

~ cooking is like love. it should be entered into with abandon or not at all. - harriet van horne

~ we may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated. - maya angelou

~ to love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others. - anne-sophie swetchine

~ most people see what they want to, or at least what they expect to. - martha grimes

~ a little superstition is a good thing to keep in one's bag of precautions. - gertrude atherton

~ patience is bitter, but the fruit is sweet. - lida clarkson

~ styles, like everything else, change. style doesn't. - linda ellerbee

~ a daydreamer is prepared for most things. - joyce carol oates

~ nothing in life is to be feared. it is only to be understood. - marie curie

quotes. february 2011 edition.

~ curiosity is one of those insatiable passions that grow by gratification. - sarah scott.

~ it is an amazing thing, the difference to one's powers of concentration a pair of comfortable shoes can make. - laurie r. king.

~ each moment in time we have it all, even when we think we don't. - melody beattie

~ courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point. - c.s. lewis

~ wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants. - esther de waal

~ if you're going to play the game properly you'd better know every rule.  - barbara jordan {this one's for nick! ;P}

~ reclaiming the belly laugh can cure a world of woes. - jamie sams

~ when nothing is sure everything is possible. - margaret drabble

~ it is easier to know man in general than to know one man in particular. - duc de la rochefoucauld

~ people need joy quite as much as clothing. some of them need it far more. - margaret collier graham

~ they know enough who know how to learn. - henry adams

~ growth is the only evidence of life. - john henry newman

~ keep a thing seven years and it's bound to come in handy. - russian proverb

~ sooner or later we will all quote our mothers. - bern williams

quotes. january 2011 edition.

- if you have to make mistakes, make them good and big, don't be middling in anything if you can help it. ~hildegard knef

- i have no faith in a human critter who hasn't one or two bad habits. ~ margaret deland

- life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. ~ anais nin

- there will come a time when you believe everything is finished. that will be the beginning. ~ louis l'amour

- do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ~ theodore roosevelt

- the manner of giving is worth more than the gift. ~ pierre corneille

- charity begins at home but should not end there. ~ thomas fuller

- there is nothing like staying at home for true comfort. ~ jane austen

- nothing is so burdensome as a secret. ~ french proverb

- is not amusement the very soul of life? ~ frances milton trollope

- true friendship is a plant of slow growth. ~ george washington

- i've never had a humble opinion. if you've got an opinion why be humble about it? ~ joan beaz

- fiction reveals truths that reality obscures. ~ jessamyn west

- there is still vitality under the winter snow, even though to the casual eye it seems to be dead. ~ agnes sligh turnbull

- i will honor christmas in my heart, and to keep it all the year. ~ charles dickens

december 2010 edition.

of quotes that i've collected over the past month.
most come from daily emails. thank you for my old yahoo account... it would drive me nuts to save them in gmail. my type a self in full effect. ;)

~ resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. you can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good.  -elizabeth edwards, resilience

~ a hunch is creativity trying to tell you something. -frank capra

~ things are beautiful if you love them. -jean anouilh

~ anything you're good at contributes to happiness. -bertrand russell

~the most exhausting thing in life, i have discovered, is being insincere. -ann morrow lindbergh

~ a ruffled mind makes a restless pillow. -charlotte bronte

~gratitude is the sign of noble souls. -aesop

~ call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. -jane howard

~ life is a series of surprises. -ralph waldo emerson

~ there must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but i don't know many of them. -sylvia plath

~ no entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. -lady mary wortley montagu

~ people always call it luck when you have acted more sensibly than they have.  -anne tyler

~ life is like a mirror. smile at it and it smiles back at you. -peace pilgrim

~ too much of a good thing can be wonderful. -mae west

more quotes.

think this might be a monthly installment kinda thing!

- the only thing you can control is your own effort.  ~ theodora van den beld

- the interest in good meals is universal. ~ louise m neuschtz  {totally seems to be ringing true with all my new recipes as of late.}

- a child is not a vase to be filled, but a fire to be lit. ~ francios rabelais

- friends are the family we chose for ourselves. ~ edna buchanan

- everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn. ~ elizabeth lawrence

- fear not those who argue but those who dodge. ~ marie von ebner-eschenbach

- the older i get the more of my mother i see in myself. ~ nancy friday

- chaos is a friend of mine. ~ bob dylan

- to be happy, it first takes being comfortable in your own shoes. the rest can work up from there. ~ sophia bush

- curiousity is one of those insatiable passions that grow by gratification. ~ sarah scott

- well done is better than well said. ~ benjamin franklin

-be careful of your thoughts, they may become words at any moment. ~ iara gassen

- laughter is inner jogging. ~ norman cousins

- perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while, so that we can see life with a clearer view again. ~ alex tan

- always do what you are afraid to do. - ralph waldo emerson