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.