Coincidence vs. Fate

...I thought this was funny. Coincidence versus fate... when certain things happen, do you believe it's chance, planned or perhaps a little of both?

Either way, the surprises in life make it just a little more fun.

image via sweetsoutherncharmtumblr

Deep Warm Walls

I grew up in a house with the lightest shades of paint. We had faint yellows, pinks and creams on the walls and it was/is beautiful. I tend to gravitate towards light-colored walls even now. But when I saw this deeper shade, I thought instead of feeling drab and dark, the walls feel warm to me. What do you think?? Would you ever paint your walls a deep shade such as this one? I kinda love it.

Images via House&Home

Birthday Weekend

It was my bff's bday on Thursday and I have been busy celebrating ever since, so I apologize for the radio silence! I hope all of you are enjoying your weekend. I found myself a moment of quiet this morning, while people are either working, skiing or sleeping, so I thought I would write a little to catch everyone up. I was thinking this morning about what it means to allow people into your life. My best friend Jane, would often "point out" that I have a hard time opening up and letting people into my life. She says that even as my best friend, it took awhile to really get to know me. She on the other hand is very open, and I would say is almost the opposite of me in that way. She has taught me a lot over the years of our friendship and I am so grateful to have someone so wonderful in my life! I read this excerpt, this morning and I thought it was pretty fitting...

Opening our hearts is not something we do once or twice. It is a way of life. How quickly life does things that make us want to close off, wall off, shut down, go away. But our commitment to staying open has little to do with what life does to us. It has to do with how we decide to live. Open. Loving. Safe. We're safe because we know our ability and our willingness to love comes from within us. It is the ultimate form of learning to embrace our power.

A long time ago, when you were young, you may have told yourself it was risky to love, to trust, to feel. You told yourself that everyone you trusted would in the end betray your trust. Your belief has many times been proven true. But it's time now to believe something else. It time to believe the opposite is true. It is risky to not love, not trust, not feel. -Melody Beattie, Journey to the Heart

I found this excerpt to be very true for me! And what I have learned over the years through life bringing wonderful people, teachers, and family to me, is that it is riskier to hold back. I have many times not allowed myself to be open and stay open, thinking it was "safer" to shut off parts of myself, but lately I've been realizing that I don't want to miss out on my life and love because I was too afraid to feel it. So, I encourage everyone to stay open, and feel it all. :)

For the Love of...

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yes, these are probably one of my favorite cookies to make. I use this recipe, believe it or not from the top of the Old Fashioned Quaker Oat Oatmeal container... I just substitute the raisins for chocolate chips and there you have it!

P.S. I am not a skilled cook/baker and these are always pretty perfect (except when in high altitude...)!

Happy Wednesday

It's a beautiful day here in CO. There isn't a cloud in the sky and I'm taking the day to enjoy the sunshine. Wishing you all a lovely day. ;)

images via pretty stuff

Letting go of the Ego

I was given this book a week ago, and last night I couldn't put it down. I started thinking about the desires of human nature. Why some people connect and and some people don't, and what happens when we let our ego/fears take over our thoughts. In Broken Open, there is a chapter written about Ram Dass. If you have never heard of him, he was an infamous professor at Harvard who got fired for the research he was doing with Timothy Leary. He's written many books on the relationship between psychological well being, staying present in your life, and reaching a higher understanding of the human process. He had a stroke and when asked by a friend about his life before and after the stroke, he said "Before...- happy grace... love grace... good things kept happening to me. Then the stroke... lose things..." and when asked what he lost he said, "Ego. Ego gone Nothing more to lose. Ego breaks open- then you see who you really are." This stopped me in my tracks because I believe it is so true. I can get wrapped up into my own ego-- I believe everyone can. Ego is often driven by fear. In relationships, careers, family... when we get into our ego we stop being authentic to who we are and start trying to prove something. In my yoga class, my teacher often tells us to leave our egos at the door before stepping onto our mat, because the minute we get into our egos, we stop being ourselves on the mat, and that's when you get hurt. In relationships, I often talk myself out of them, because my ego starts to tell me "don't get hurt, don't get hurt." In my career, I often get fearful of the rejection, so therefore I stop myself before I ever really get involved. It's terrible and it's not a way to really be in life. But, as soon as you are aware of how you let your ego control you, you can choose not to give into it and make a conscious effort to shut it up! You can't be so afraid of letting people really see you, that you never show them who you are. After all, people just want to be seen and really seen and loved anyway, despite their scars, flaws and fears. Because after all that is the best thing, when someone sees you for everything you are and loves you anyway. There's safety in that. The other day, my mom told me that she was having a conversation with a friend here in Colorado and she asked the question, "What would love do?" My mom told me about this question, and I thought, love certainly wouldn't be moving out of fear. No, when moving from a standpoint of love and only love your fears subside and there's only room to whole-heartedly give of yourself, without expectation, without fear of rejection, and without trying to create a certain outcome. There is freedom in letting go of the outcome and again, this applies to all aspects of life! When you aren't trying to make something happen and you move from your heart, often everything falls into place.

I just wanted to share that with all of you! Because, it definitely made me think about things from a different standpoint.
When you move from love, not from your ego it becomes very simple. Love is simple. It just is.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Good {Monday} Morning

Plum Jam from www.carlpendle.com on Vimeo.

Good Morning my dears! I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was wonderful! We had quite a bit of snow in the mountains, which made for some great skiing! Today, I've got to do some cleaning, writing and maybe some cooking... : )
My best friend, Jane is coming in town from San Francisco for her 26th birthday on Thursday. I am so excited to celebrate! And am very thankful that we get to see each other often, even though we live in different cities.

I thought I would leave you all with this delicious/dreamy video found on Kate's Tumblr: Soul Food

Hope you all have a great one!

Enjoy the day.

Winter Getaway...

Good morning and happy friday! It's time for the mountains, again. I can't seem to stay away too long, if you all haven't noticed. They are finally starting to open up some of my favorite runs, and I'm pretty excited about it!! I hope all of you have a great weekend! A winter getaway is probably my favorite kind of getaway of all... give me mountains and skiing, any day!

P.S. I put this bar in the picture, because I love it and want one in my house (when I grow up...)

Lots of love to you all!!

images via modernhephburn, rue magazine, classyinthecity

Lovin' this song

"Oooh my God..." I think I've listened to this at least 100 times in the past two days!

Enjoy!

Wednesday Eye Candy

Good (early) morning, my dears! I thought I would give you all a little eye candy today.
Often during these months, I get into an awkward period with my wardrobe...
Today is supposed to be a little cooler in Houston (62), freezing, right? At least we all won't be sweating in our sweaters today! Hope you all have a great one! ;)

images via streetpeeper, marionwd, prettystuff, habitualbliss

True Story

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is having a great week...

I stumbled upon this sweet quote and thought it might be pretty true. Just thought I would share it. Some people say that love like this doesn't really exist. I am going to beg to differ. It just might. You just have to really hold out for it and have some faith, that at the right time, it will come.

Wow, sorry to get so lovey-dovey. It happens.

{Happy Weekend}

I hope all of you have a great weekend!

Lots of love,
Sarah

P.S. Here are a few older posts just in case ya missed them...
-Feel It
-Take your time...
-An Afternoon Yoga Class
-Trust the Experience
-All the Right Angles
-Delightful
-A weekend at home...


image via Haute Mama's Favourites

Make me Swoon...

Anyone who has been reading this blog, knows that I have a strong love for kitchens. Especially ones that are light, airy and have an open feel. I love the white subway tile along the walls, and the old worn wooden kitchen table against the countertop. It adds a really nice, cozy feel!

(image via pretty stuff)

A favorite.

The other day I went to the bookstore to pick up a few books (shocking, I know). I read this my senior year of high school and when I was looking through it, I couldn't help but to fall in love with it all over again.

This is one of my favorite quotes from the book: "The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in." (52) - Morrie

The quote probably didn't resonate with me as much then, as it does now. But, I really find it to be so true. Sometimes it's very hard to receive love and to receive good things in our lives. It's can be scary. Therefore, we can get into a habit of rejecting it because we either don't feel as if we deserve it or have earned it. It's necessary in life to feel joy and love from others, without earning it, without asking for it and without questioning it. You just have to let go, stop thinking about it, and feel it.

If you haven't read this book, you definitely should! It will always be one of my favorites.

Advice

This is pretty true, eh? I was talking to one of my girlfriends yesterday about decisions. How do you know which way to go? Sometimes it can be pretty hard, especially when your head and your heart are saying two different things. When I saw this print, I thought... that's true. Where does your mind go when it wanders? What do you think about, daydream about...? Most of the time it can reveal some pretty nice revelations. Usually, we find that we already have the answer.

image via Symphony

Apple & Mint

Good morning my dears. I mentioned on a Monday... or two ago about doing a detox. Well, that week I got a little distracted and instead of detoxing, I enjoyed a lot of pizza, beer and wine, so scratch that. Let's try a re-do shall we? Since my mom has a juicer, I am going to take full advantage.

Usually, I juice up some kale, apple, ginger, lemon and spinach, but I think I might try this recipe... Apple and Mint Juice.

A little Wanderlust

Around this time of year I always start daydreaming of summer travel. I have a serious case of wanderlust going on and when I came across this photo shoot from the Neiman Marcus book, I believe I started drooling. Italy anyone?

images via dustjacketattic

For the Soul...

I came across this print earlier this morning. I found it a long time ago while perusing a store in Denver with my friend Jane and we both loved it, so I was happy when I stumbled across it again today. The artist who made it is Kristin Jongen. She has tons of great work. I actually wrote about her, HERE a couple years ago.

I found this print to be so sweet and perhaps, true so I thought I would share it...

but how will I know? she asked
...you'll know, her mother replied
but how? she persisted
because her mother smiled
your heart will sing new songs
...your spirit will dance
and your life... she whispered
will never be the same...

To see more prints, visit her site: My Soul Soup

Love a good rainy day.

Good Morning, all! I hope you're having a great week so far. Sorry for the missed post yesterday. I was traveling and couldn't make one quick enough! I am in Arkansas at the moment and it's a rainy day here. Sweaters, boots and a cup of tea are in order. Hope you all enjoy the day!

Delicious Ambiguity...

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
Delicious Ambiguity.”
― Gilda Radner

image via musings in femininity

A life that Sizzles and Pops

Sometimes I get really caught up in my own head. I am often my own worst critic- whether it's about all the things I should be doing, how I should look or how I should live my life. When I take my nose off of the grind stone, I quickly realize that all the work, relationships and everything else can be really fun when you allow yourself to enjoy it. A really big part of that... ? Letting go of all the ideas you had about your life, and all the pressures telling you that you had to be "perfect." My dears, there is no such thing. Life surprises us all the time. 2011 was the year of changes, and I feel like in some ways, my life turned upside down. However, for the first time... probably, ever, I allowed myself to not have all the answers and ohhh, how good that felt. Life is constantly teaching. The lessons we encounter often don't go away until we learn from them, and as soon as we do, new lessons show up. How fun, eh? Perhaps not all the time, but we can learn to lean on people, not take ourselves so seriously, and give up all the ideas that tell us we should be something, because most of the time they are ideas of our own made up bullshit (pardon, my swearing). For 2012, I'm going to allow my life to sizzle and pop and enjoy...

”Don’t listen to anyone. Trust what gives you pleasure. Trust the emotions. If you love something but can’t explain why, that’s enough.“

-Calice Becker

Random Favorites:

Happy Wednesday! I feel like this week is flying...
I wish it would s-l-o-w down...

(images via prettystuff)

Walk on the Sunny side of the Street...

musingsinfemininity

Back to Basics

I don't know about you all, but being from the south, the holidays are filled with rich comfort foods. We eat a lot of sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, meats... and BUTTER. Oh, and I won't forget to mention multiple glasses of wine every night. :)
And yes, while I love the holidays, I also love the time after the holidays when everything quiets down and you get to get back into your own rhythm.

I always love the Whole Living "action plans." The really clean recipes are perfect for getting your body back into balance. Click HERE, if you'd like to check it out. It's great!

Hello, 2012

Hello 2012, it's very nice to see you. Let's do this...