“You wouldn’t worry about what other people think about you so much if you realized how little they actually did.”

I think all of us can be guilty of worrying too much about what other people think. But, remember, no matter what you do or what you say there will always be someone that disagrees, you can’t please everyone. And while you are wasting your time trying to please others, you are moving further away from being yourself. The you that makes you so original! The you that the world grows to know and love.

So, who cares, why does it matter what others think about us? They don’t have to live our lives we don’t have to live theirs. So be yourself and be proud of it. You have one life to live so you should live it how you want, as eccentric as you need to to feel complete!

This is something I was VERY guilty of in high school. You couldn’t pay me to go back to those days. I look back, and I think, really?!? Why did I care what people thought. I was so young and hadn’t even begun to truly understanding who I really was and what I wanted to accomplish. Since college I have made a huge effort to be me and not worry so much about what other people think, only worry about making myself happy and content (although I know this is hard and I am still guilty). Honestly, the people you think judge you and worry about you, probably don’t at all. So why waste your thoughts thinking about them when they could truly care less about you. Harsh but true, and a little relieving don’t you think?

So here’s a little hint, everyone, I DON’T CARE! 🙂 You have to click on this picture. I compiled it and the Batman one is my FAVE! Love me some Batman!

“As you grow up, you will have your heart broken more than once and it’s harder every time. You’ll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You’ll fight with your best friend. You’ll cry because time is passing too fast. And you’ll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures. Laugh too much and love like you’ve never been hurt. Because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you’ll never get back.”

I don’t have anything to say about this…it speaks for itself!

Happy birthday to two of my dearest friends today, Stacy Olson and Anne Brannen! Love you guys!

This quote reminds me of one of my favorite songs….”Life is a Highway”!

“Behind my smile is everything you’ll never understand.”

This post isn’t intended to be sad, so I hope no one gets the wrong idea. I just think it is very important for all of us to be reminded that sometimes our friends and families, and even strangers for that matter, want to be asked how they’re doing. I think our society has changed for the worse when it comes to talking about emotions, crying, etc. For example, boys are taught that it is not “manly” to cry, when we are sad, we are told to stay strong and too often told, “Please don’t cry.”  But I disagree with all of the above. I think that we too often are scared of the awkwardness WE will be in if someone gets sad around us, when it really isn’t about us. So much so, that we don’t ask anymore how someone is doing. We believe the smile on the face that holds back so much.

Like this quote says, behind a smile is everything people think we won’t understand because we don’t give them the chance to express what’s inside. Are we afraid we will be uncomfortable? That’s selfish. Are we ashamed to cry and show emotion? I really hope not, that’s sad to me. When did we become so hard? So unhuman? I think that we need those close to us to realize that they can come to us whenever and that even when we put on a smile, that our friends know the true meaning of that smile.  A GOOD friend said something to me that I think we forget to realize, “You don’t have to always be strong.” Thanks, Marc!

It’s true, we can’t get through the roller coaster of life alone, and we don’t have to! So, what’s behind YOUR smile? Help others to understand!

I know I’ve linked the song below before, but it just means a lot to me and I dedicate it to ALL of my friends, and especially reminds me of you girl 😉

“It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.” – Chinese Proverb 

I know I’m not the only person who gets overwhelmed and look at my TO DO list thinking, how on earth do I get this all done? Where do I start? Sometimes it defeats me and I find myself doing nothing on the list. That is not good, and I have to remind myself that when I’m faced with an enormous task,  it helps if I can stop myself before I’m overwhelmed. I try instead to chip away at it one smallish piece at a time. I often surprise myself with what I, just one  person, can do when I work slowly but steadily.

This quote reminds me of the movie “What About Bob?’ And his therapist gives him the book Baby Steps. I have linked a clip below to that scene. What a FUNNY movie! I had totally forgotten about it.

Feeling overwhelmed getting back to life after the holidays? Baby steps today. Baby steps.

“Family faces are magic mirrors looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.” – Gail Lumet Buckley

Isn’t it funny how when you return to the home you grew up in you are overcome with a feeling of comfort and belonging? That’s how it feels to me at least. There is something about sitting in my dad’s recliner, watching my mom run all over the house like everything is the most important thing in the world with a Christmas movie or music playing in the background, the Christmas tree in the same spot as always with the same ever-familiar ornaments and photos of our past hung on the walls, that makes me feel complete.

Memories of my father hug my heart in the most bitter sweet way possible the last few years. The memories of my brother and I as children waiting patiently as my Dad comes down from the loft with the video camera to capture our faces as we opened our gifts remind me of how close Nate and I actually are. Well, this year, I got to see him again and laugh until it hurt, and, even if just for a few short hours, my family was together again for the first time in ages. Family is what Christmas means to me. Traditions.Laughs.Love.Home!

Tomorrow I will get to see more of my “family” when my friends come over for brunch. My family has grown miles wide over the years with new faces and personalities adding on each year. So, to ALL of you in my “FAMILY,” I wish you and yours the merriest of Christmases this year. You are the mirrors through which I see my past, my present and my future. Thank you for that! I hope that you get to spend time with whatever extension of your family you can, that your traditions carry on and grow, that you laugh until it hurts and that you are surrounded by love and memories of home! I have linked my favorite Christmas song to my family photo below, sung by two of my favorites. From my heart to all of yours, Feliz Navidad!

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.”  – Edmund Burke.

Many of you don’t know, but I started working part time with a company called CORE – Children of Restaurant Employees. It’s an amazing non-profit organization that is a Make a Wish type group for children of restaurant employees. With help from benefactors from the hospitality operator and supplier industries we are able to make the dreams and wishes of sick children come true. Founded in 2004, CORE™ has raised in excess of $500,000 from food and beverage suppliers and hospitality operators and those dollars have granted support to over 15 wonderful and deserving children!

I have come on as the planner of trips/gifts, so to speak, along with other duties. I just completed my first gift for the family of a 6 year old boy with a terminal bone debilitating disease. I got to plan, organize and gift out a 7 day Western Caribbean Disney Cruise to this family TODAY. The parents, their 3 children and the grandmother get to go on a vacation they never would have been able to afford, make memories that will last long after the child passes and a child gets to spend 7 days with his hero, Mickey Mouse. Well, you know what? He is my hero. As a smart woman once said: “While we try to teach our children all about life, Our children teach us what life is all about.”- Angela Schwindt.

I am so grateful to have been offered this position and am honored to work for this wonderful organization. This Christmas present to the young boy’s family is the best gift I could ask for for myself! Give your service to others. Service is your rent paid for your stay here on Earth.  Check out the CORE website linked below. If you’d like to get involved or know of any company in the industry that might like to work with us, please feel free to have them reach out.

“May the lights of Hanukkah usher in a better world for all humankind.”  – Author Unknown

I’m not Jewish, but this quote spreads across the religious and non-religious alike.

May this holiday season and New Year usher in a better world for all humankind. Do your part, that’s all you can do. And, if you’re lucky, others will follow your lead.

Like Adam Sandler says so well in his famous Hanukkah song……”Put on you yamaka, its time for Hanukkah.” (Obviously linked below!)

“Some people are settling down, some people are settling and some people refuse to settle for anything less than butterflies.” – Carrie, Sex and the City

When you have a dog you get to know your neighbors and their dogs pretty well. Sadly, you usually know the names of the dogs better than you know the name of their owners, but that’s alright, you are bonded regardless. I tell you this because in the following story, sadly, I don’t know my neighbor’s name.

One of the couples that lives down the street from my building had an older golden when I moved in a year and a half ago.  Soon after, he passed away due to old age after a fabulous doggy life. They ended up getting another golden puppy named Napa. He is the cutest bundle of joy you have ever seen. I guess he is about 8 months old now. Well, on top of having a new puppy they recently had a baby boy (a baby and a puppy, what a handful!)

Well, this past Saturday Napa and Bailey had an impromptu play date in the snow. While they ran around, Napa’s mother and I got to talking about her new baby boy, Flynn. Somehow the conversation got to her age. She was telling me how she waited to get married until she was 45 and then had Flynn at 47. It was then that she said the quote above to me. Following that she said, “My husband is my butterflies! It was well worth the wait.” My heart just melted. How sweet!

Many days I know that myself and some of my single friends feel the pressure from society about meeting someone and starting a life together with them, but why rush? I’m holding out for my butterflies! And he will be well worth the wait 🙂

Suglarland sings a song about this. “Settlin'” is linked the the butterfly below.

“Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.” – Federich Buechner

I found out a couple days ago that someone close to someone whom is very close to me lost their mother. The girl is very young, only about 20/21 years old. She is the best friend of my boss’s daughter. Like many, she was lost to cancer. EVERY time I hear about someone losing a parent it eats me up. I mourn for someone I never even knew and for people I’ve never met, but I can’t help but have compassion.

Compassion is a funny thing, by definition it is “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.” As human beings, well most of us at least, we feel this naturally and have an urge to be able to take away the pain of others. Although we all know we will never succeed, we still want to try and do what we can. How comforting to know that others feel for you, try their best to know how it feels to live inside your skin and to not be personally at peace until you yourself are there.

I like to tell myself that others can feel my compassion from any distance, even though they may not know me. I hope that this family and their friends see an extra smile today, feel a little warmer or a little bit stronger due to the compassion and warm thoughts I am sending their way. The song linked to the picture below defines compassion for me…We are NEVER alone in our pain!

“There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I’m going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.”          

– Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

First of all, if you haven’t read this book or seen this movie, you are missing out. I’ve heard that some people maybe don’t enjoy it as much as I do, but I’m okay with that. I have read it three times and have watched the movie more times than I can count. About a third of my quote book is made up of quotes from this book. This is one of my favorites.

We all have a choice over so many things. Yes, fate controls many aspects of our lives, and some of them are hard and trying, so why not make the best out of the things you can choose. I know that I have. I have chosen to spend my time and life with the most amazing people. I have chosen to spend my money on my home, my baby Bailey, my friends and family. I have chosen to read inspirational and inspiring books and articles and have chosen to study the areas that interest me in school. What I MUST remember and remind myself to choose more wisely, every day, are my words, my tone of voice when speaking with others and my thoughts! We not only have the freedom to choose these things, we have an obligation to choose the things that make us better, make us happier, make us healthier, make us stronger and make this world a better place.