Be Nice to Yourself

So, I used to think that if I wasn't struggling, running around like a chicken with my head cut off, accomplishing, accomplishing, accomplishing, then I somehow didn't deserve anything good. After years of this kind of thinking, I still struggle with the ability to "be kind to myself." Just the other day my mom even pointed out to me, that I am actually the meanest person to myself. When she said this, I looked at her and thought... hmm...  I am. I am actually harder on myself than anyone else actually ever could be on me.

I think a lot of us probably are. The truth is, at some point, it's okay to really enjoy yourself, your life and all the things in it.

You don't have to "earn" the right to be happy.

Just remember that.

Wishing you all a wonderful Tuesday.

P.S. During my yoga teacher training we had to pick a population that we would want to teach. I chose people in recovery. Here's an interview with Tommy Rosen that I quite enjoyed.... Recovery can be anything from addiction, to eating disorders... basically any type of self-destructive behavior. It's pretty interesting. I'll probably do a post on the topic in a few days!

image via pinterest

{Happy Friday}

Happy Friday! I can't believe it's already here. My weekend will be spent doing yoga, studying yoga, working on a presentation and writing. If I didn't have yoga though, I'd be hitting the lake with my fam, for sure! But, we only have a week until we graduate and our final is on Tuesday, so I figure I'll buckle in until then. I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. I always feel like Memorial Day is the kickoff to summer. Enjoy! :)

images via MarionWD and pretty stuff

Life Advice for the Day:

Amen to that! 

image via pretty stuff

Inspiration: Color

In the summer, I love to wear all white. White jeans, white dresses, white floaty tops, but lately these colorful looks have been making me swoon for all things brighter. I especially love the long maxi from Atlantic-Pacific. The girl can do no wrong!

I hope you all have a wonderful day. I am back to the regular schedule... for now!

image via pinterest and atlantic-pacific

Maybe that's enough for now...

Happy Tuesday everyone! Sorry for the missed post yesterday. My mom is still in town and we have been filling our time with yoga, lunches, shopping and doing all of those extremely wonderful things that are special to the time mom's and daughter's get when it's just the two of them. Although, seeing my mom, talking about what I want to do with my life, showing her my life here has stirred up some interesting emotions. There's a very large part of me that would so badly like to share with her all the time. There's a part of me that wants to have a life closer to home, but there's another part of me that says, what if I stayed? What would my life be like? Here or there... I'm hoping one day, I'll just know what to do. Ohh the trials and tribulations of trying to figure out what to do with my life. Hopefully, I'll just be led because right now, all I'm sure about is that I am a writer, and I love yoga and want to share it with as many as I can. It has changed my life in so many ways, which I will save for another post...

I was reading an excerpt this morning and I thought I would share,"Trust and act on the guidance you have now. Some parts of our lives appear like a long, paved highway. We can see exactly where we want to go; we have a panoramic view. Other times, it may feel like we're driving in the dark only with one headlight on a winding road through fog. We can only see a few feet in front of the car. Don't worry if you can't see that far ahead, if only have a glimmer of light to guide your path. Slow down. Listen to your heart. Guidance will come. Trust what you hear. Do the small thing. Take one step. Go as far as you can see. Then go back to your heart, and you'll hear the next step. It may be a step of immediate action, or deliberate action. Sometimes you may have to quiet down, wait, and prepare yourself to hear what you're to do next."- Melody Beattie

Wishing you all a wonderful day! :)

image via pinterest

Have A Wonderful Weekend

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. My mom gets in town late this afternoon, which means the evening/weekend will probably be spent with lots wine and cheese... and talking about all the things you forget to talk about over the phone. I can't wait! 

Hope you all have a great one!

Weekender

I know it isn't the weekend quite yet, but my mom is coming to visit and in light of it, I thought I would share these sweet tips for making guests feel at home. I don't have a guest room, but if I did, I would be sure to add these things for a nice little touch when people come to stay. Is there anything you do special when guests come to visit? I always think fresh flowers in the house and in the bedrooms add for such a nice touch. I'm so excited to take her to my yoga studio, have lunch dates, see movies and go shopping. Nothing is better than mama coming to visit!

images via the aestate and pretty stuff

I will, I will, I will

I stumbled across this yesterday and I absolutely love it. Such a nice reminder to believe in and get to know yourself. To learn that you deserve the best and to walk away when it isn't working... It's necessary to recognize what your heart needs and wants, as well as how it wants to share with others. It's important to know your body, it's wounds, it's scars and to take care of yourself.

Most of all it's important to be honest. With all of your heart, be honest.

Lots of love and light to all of you!

And thanks for stopping by.

image via pinterest

...Allowing...

Lately, I have been thinking about what it means to come from a place of "allowing." Allowing life to happen to us and being open to it, instead of feeling like we have to fight to get what we want. There are so many things that we want... a better job, a great relationship... when it comes down to it, all we can do is put ourselves in situations for good things to happen to us, but overall we really don't make anything happen. We "allow" it to happen. It's natural to want to control things and often we make decisions about things before they can even happen. For instance, when we meet someone and want to date them we automatically make it up in our minds that it should work out. I was talking to my brother the other day about relationships and sometimes we meet someone we like and we think, "oh I want to date them," without even really knowing them. The relationship is coming from a place of "getting," and in turn the relationship can become an unhealthy version of trying to please the other person, or a constant fight to show them how great you are. If we come from a sense of allowing, we aren't trying to make it happen, it just happens. We don't have to prove ourselves. We don't have to try to be something we might not be. There's no worry because when you allow, you're authentic. I was reading Baron Baptiste's book this morning, and he says, "When we control things that we are not meant to control, we are interfering with our natural success and potential... Trying to control all the instability and uncertainty is crazy-making and exhausting, and it creates disease. No matter what the circumstances happen to be, the way of the universe is for all things to move in the direction of healing, that is wholeness. The body wants to heal itself, our emotional body is seeking balance; however we need to get ourselves out of the way in order for our natural health to shine through. We need to totally lose control, and this scares the heaven out of us....
We are always fighting. We are fighting for the job, we're fighting for the relationship, we're fighting our partner or parents to be a certain way, we're fighting to maintain our fixed agendas. We're fighting to get people to understand us, we're fighting to get our body a certain way, we're fighting to make money, we're fighting to avoid failure, we're fighting for the next success, we're fighting to be what we think we should be. All this fighting hardens us, contracts us and makes us sick. Fighting has to do with getting. And a get state of mind is not a healthy state of mind. When we put out a get mentality, we'll be got. But when we relax, we receive."

I think sometimes the best things in life are the things we weren't planning on... from relationships, to jobs, to life's process in general. When we allow for the universe to take care of things, often things happen that we would have never planned on, but they end up being exactly what we need. For this Tuesday, allow life to happen. Open up to all the possibilities, because most of the time I think life has a plan, and it's better than anything we could have ever dreamed of ourselves.

If your interested Baron Baptiste teaches a power vinyasa flow and has a great book, 40 Days to Personal Revolution, I highly suggest checking it out! It has so many great insights. 

Berries & Greens

 

Good Morning all! Happy Monday! I'm excited for the new week. This morning I took a que from The Healthy Ginger for my breakfast smoothie. I used coconut water, banana, blueberries and spirulina. I think it's a great start for the day. Do you all have any favorite smoothie recipes? I typically like every kind... mangos, yogurt, agave and peaches is a great one for an afternoon treat. 

Wishing you all a great Monday!

Really looking forward to...

Summer. I can't wait for outdoor dining, lazy summer days in the sun, reading an extra amount of books, the lake, naps, and hopefully many adventures. While I was perusing blogs, I came across the Kinfolk dinner series in Austin on a bobo mess. I can't help but to drool over the photos. You can see more on Kate's website, here. Hope you all have a lovely weekend. :)

Thursday Inspirations

Hello all! I hope everyone is enjoying their Thursday. Woohooo for the week coming to an end and for the weekend almost being here!

I wish I was able to spend it with my mom, however I just sent her a necklace and some bracelets. Not as wonderful as being able to hand-deliver them, but I hope she likes them! Do you all live close to your family? Sometimes I definitely wish I did. However, living far away does make you appreciate the time that you do get to spend with them. But still, I think about lunch dates with my mom, being able to go shopping with her, doing all of those things that I don't get to do often and it makes me miss her! This weekend, if you live close to your mom, take advantage and plan something wonderful! If you don't live close, send her some love!

images via pretty stuff 

Trust Yourself

Sometimes, I wish there was a clear path- something that tells you that what you're doing, and where you're going, even that the decisions you're making, are the right ones. Every day that I take a yoga class, I come in most of the time, with one or more things on my mind, in my head or weighing heavy on my heart. After I have rinsed out, sweated out, sighed out and most of all surrendered to my own self, I leave somehow feeling more clear. Probably because the only thing I think about is drinking water, taking a shower, hanging out with my doggie and going to sleep (all of these things are in the present moment). Things become simple. The only other time I have felt this way, is when I'm backpacking. Everything becomes so simple. I eat when I'm hungry. I put on a coat when I'm cold. I drink water when I'm thirsty and it's wonderful. There is definitely a created sense of what it's like to live in the moment. Each time I am in a yoga class, and each time I walk out of one it is very much the same experience. I can't very well be in a pose if I'm thinking about the next one. I also can't compare myself to anyone else because I have no idea what kind of day they've had, what their body is like, or how long they've been doing yoga.   I notice in life that it is only when I'm not in the here and now that I allow myself to get scared and worry. When I start thinking about all of these things that don't even matter for a single second, I automatically become someone I don't want to be. I was reading last night about the power of letting go, becoming detached from the outcome. As soon as we let go of having, wanting or needing a certain result to happen in order to fulfill who we are or have a sense of self, we can let go and relax. As soon as we can trust ourselves, trust the process as well as the experience, we can let go.

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday! If you find yourself worrying about the future, or not being in the present moment, just remember to "Let it go." You are exactly where you're supposed to be.

image via pinterest

Busy as a Bee...

Hello my dears! Happy Tuesday! I've got a ton of things to catch up on. I've had a friend in town all weekend + a few days, which means, I haven't gotten a whole lot done!

However, I wish I could squeeze in time to go to J.Crew. I am loving all of these looks! Especially the one in the middle... blouse, boyfriend jeans... sounds perfect!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

images via jcrewing

She has lovely taste...

Some people just have good taste and Emily Schuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere is one of those people. I love how she decorates, dresses, even what she chooses for her wedding china...

I've had the same apartment furniture since I was a junior in college. It's been everywhere with me, from Colorado, New York all the way here to Texas. I love it and it's been great, but sometimes I dream of what I would do if I could really decorate.

I would probably take a few tips from these photos.

all images via cupcakes and cashmere 

Cookies for Breakfast

I stumbled across this recipe a few days ago on Tasty Yummies, and couldn't wait to try it. Cookies for breakfast? Sounds pretty good to me. I whipped these up this morning, and for one thing, I could have eaten the batter raw. It is delicious, and it would even be great with a little bit of yogurt. However, when cooked, these vegan, strawberry, coconut cookies are little delights. Not kidding. They are yummy and easy to make! I highly suggest making + consuming any time of day: breakfast, snack, dessert...

Strawberry Coconut Breakfast Cookies – Vegan
makes 18-24 cookies

2 cups of rolled oats (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1/4 cup certified oat flour (or just process some gluten-free rolled oats into a fine powder)
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
2 tablespoons ground chia seeds or ground flaxseeds
1/2 cup almonds, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 organic bananas, mashed
2 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup fresh organic strawberries, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a baking sheet or two with unbleached parchment paper. In a large bowl combine oats, oat flour, coconut, chia seeds, almonds and salt. Stir in bananas, strawberries, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla. I use my clean bare hands to mix it all up so I can really get in there and get everything well mixed. You can of course just use a large spoon or spatula.

Form the dough into 2 1/2 inch balls/discs with your hands and place into even rows with just a little room in between them. Press them down very gently to flatten them a bit.

Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until fragrant and golden. Cool on pan for a few minutes than transfer to a cooking rack. Enjoy for breakfast, dessert or an anytime snack.

Hello, May

Happy Wednesday! I hope you all have a lovely day today. Lately, I have been feeling a little disjointed. I'm not even completely sure why. Needless to say, I am happy to welcome this new month. Hoping that everything I have questions about, everything I worry about, will somehow be a little relieved soon. Do you ever have those moments in life? When everything is seemingly good, but there are just a few things you worry about that somehow make everything less great? For this month, I am going to try to worry a little less and maybe have a little more fun. Tonight, I'm going to see Florence + The Machine. And yes, I'm excited!! :)

I hope you all take time out this month, to have a little more fun.
Mantra for May: "Don't worry, be happy."

images via pinterest