Positive Energy for a Good Day

I truly believe that your surroundings impact your attitude and outlook. Think about it, if you hang out in a dark place or with really negative people don't you eventually start thinking negative as well and even feel more negative and down....

Create your positive space

Majority of my day is spent in my office working. Sure it would be nice sitting on a beach somewhere being a lazy beach bum, but let's face it that doesn't exactly pay the bills and the winning lottery ticket has not found it's way to me yet. I wanted to make my office a happy, fun, positive, place to go into every morning. I started filling it with things that make me smile and also motivate me. I put motivational sayings on my screen saver, and absolutely love when I catch my coworkers reading them and enjoying. 

A few of my screen savers...some inspire and some just make me smile

When I think of my happiest times, it's when I am with my family and especially my nieces. Those 2 little girls bring so much joy into my life, so of course I had to put pictures of them around my office and I included some of their art work. I fully admit there are times on busy days I love just being able to take a breather and look at my pictures, I feel happier and calmer. 

Ashley and Kaitlyn
Yep, they took a selfie

Recently my sister's family went to Florida and when they got back my nieces presented me with some beautfiful shells they had collected for me on the beach. They were so proud to show me the different shells and colors and tell me all about how they picked them; I really wanted to do something special with them. Then it hit me, I had the perfect idea!!

These girls have great taste in shells!
Thank you to my sister for sending me the pictures of them digging and searching in Florida

A few months back my dad and I participated in our first 5k event and we did it together. It was a truly wonderful experience I will never forget. The event took place at a winery and at the end we all received a wine glass. I felt the same way about the wine glass as I did with the shells, I wanted to do something special with it...You see where I am going with this...

Dad and me completing our first 5k.
Could you tell I am a little excited?

I put the shells inside the wine glass, rearranged them about a million times and now they sit on the window sill in my office. Looking at that wine glass makes me feel motivated and encouraged remembering how I got the glass and the shells make me feel loved inside thinking of the girls telling me about the shells. 

I absolutely love how my wine glass and
beach shell creation came out..made with love

Fill your place with joy, whether it be your office or home, find things that make you smile and feel good inside. It really helps make the days happier and more fun. 

Views from inside my office
Pictures and items throughout, all come with happy memories!

Time For a Regroup!

It's easy to get caught up in the daily grind of life. Work, errands, cleaning, bills, relationships, being healthy and the list goes on and on. I can often relate to how a hamster feels running in the wheel thing, especially when I am on the treadmill (ha ha). I also find it all to easy to get caught up in worrying about all the things listed above. What's going on at work, what does the future hold. Running errands from one side of the state to the other. Bills...well do I really need to elaborate on those. Cleaning...yeah because that is what I want to do in my free time. Relationships, I love spending time with my family and friends and being part of everything going on, but I also enjoy me time, and what about dating and wondering if I will ever meet my Prince Charming. Being healthy is a job in itself, writing the grocery list, making meals for the week, planning workouts. Well I think you get the hint. This is just my list, everyone's list is different and everyone's struggles are unique and important to them.

Sometimes when I feel myself spinning on that wheel of life I realize that I am missing out on fun things. I don't dance and sing to music as much because I am in my head. I may not take the time to appreciate the flowers that I walk past going to my next store. At the end of the day I know inside I am missing something. Life should include happiness and enjoyment. This is the time I like to remind myself to REGROUP. Take a step back and breathe. Most of the time I will actually say out loud "Cindy you need a regroup". Stop and smell the roses. Whatever term you want to use, remember it and when you feel yourself getting stuck on your wheel of life remind yourself what is important. I know sometimes that is easier said than done, but it really does help, and it really does help you appreciate what you have. I love waking up and  instead of instantly jumping out of bed I will look over and see my cats snuggled up. I love thinking of the smiles on my nieces faces when I see them on the weekend. Having coffee with my mom and sister. Walks with my dad. Meeting up with my best friend Debbie and laughing over anything and everything. Loving the fact that I live close to work and can go home for lunch.

Having fun with my nieces, Ashley and Kaitlyn
I workout so I can keep up with them

The way I see it is the cleaning will always be there, do a little at a time. There will always be bills to pay, try not to add to them. Remember that being healthy benefits you and everyone that loves you and makes you feel great and is definitely worth all the time and effort! Running errands helps you get everything you need to stay on track and hey you never know who you will meet or what adventures you could encounter along the way.Wondering what the future holds, doesn't actually change the outcome, but living your life does so make it a happy one.

My best friend Debbie
Always encouraging me to be healthy, workout, and smile

I truly believe that happiness should always be a priority. And in case you are wondering, on days or weeks when I am on my wheel of life I will go back and read everything I just wrote as a reminder.

Change of Scenery

Weekdays for me are pretty routine. Get up and get ready for work. Go to work. Go to gym. Then usually home with the occasionally meeting or drill at the firehouse on Tuesday. Weekends are my random. Anything is possible on the weekend. But my favorite random is when I get up a little earlier and go for a walk outside. Fresh air, sunshine, room to breathe and enjoy the air, squirrels and birds.

The last few weeks have been crazy, nonstop. Some fun stuff and some not so fun stuff, but either way I was starting to noticed all the noise in my head. What noise am I talking about you ask? The noise of always thinking, thinking, thinking, planning, wondering...okay you get the point. By last night I was torn between going to bed and pulling the covers over my head and sleeping late since it was going to be Saturday or wanting to change up my day. Maybe changing things was just what I needed to clear the noise. But how was I going to do it? I mentioned it to my dad who suggested I try a park path he likes to ride his bike on. My dad rides anywhere between 20-30 miles a day on his bicycle, and has found so many neat areas, paths, and adventures. I loved the idea, but had never been there before; usually I just walk around my town in a big circle. I googled the park and found a map of the are, and thought to myself "I need to go there". My dad knew I was a little nervous since I didn't know the area; he offered to go with me and skip his bike ride for a day. I felt bad he was going to miss his daily ride, but he assured me it was good for him to switch up his routine too and he wanted to go. Outside, I played it cool, inside I was more excited than a kid on their birthday!

Pic from one of my dad's rides. 

We love to see where he goes!

Saturday morning I woke up even before my alarm, my dad came and picked me up and off we went!! We started walking and I can't even explain the sense of freedom that came over me. Everything bothering me, the noise included was gone. It was just my dad and me walking along a beautiful trail, the sun shining, the birds chirping, he and I catching up. He showed me where he likes to go on his bicycle rides and gave me some tips about the area. We also talked about his new iphone app called Cyclemeter. The app tracks his location on rides and even does his calories, speed, distance, all of that neat stuff. In addition, the app sends out an email or text every 30 min to let my mom, my sister, and me know where he is. This way we can't lose him. I checked it out when I got home and the app also syncs with my calorie counting app/program called myfitnesspal. Since I'm looking to explore more I thought this would be a great app to use. I downloaded it and will be using it on my next walk around town or out on a new adventure. 

Park views and 9/11 Memorial in the park

We finished up and I am already thinking about when I get back there again. It's amazing how a change of sceanery and good company can totally help you regroup, refocus, and feel relief from the daily grind and noise. I told my dad how much I enjoyed the walk, but I don't think he really knows how much he helped me today and how just by him offering to go with me made my day! 

Views from along the path. I told the deer to smile, but he didn't listen

Just One of Those Weeks

You know those days where before 9 am you already know it's going to be a rough one. The day starts with you fumbling through your morning routine. You get to work and realize you left a bag at home you needed and have to run home. You spill your coffee. You make it through the day and drag yourself to the gym and then find out your trainer resigned and now you have to start with someone new. Well that was my Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty similar. Now I am not writing all this to complain or make you feel bad for me, but I am writing this because of the outcome.

I woke up this morning and felt like a kid, I don't want to get out of bed. You can't make me...who am I trying to kid I am going to work. The good news is I like my job so it didn't take much to talk myself to get moving. I had some coffee, a good breakfast, packed my snacks and gym bag for later and off I went. Let's just say the week was being consistent. By the afternoon I was sitting at my desk thinking I need my couch, I am going to skip the gym tonight and just go home and relax and do nothing. The more I thought about it, the more I realized by not going to the gym later I was hurting myself more. I knew I would sit on the couch all night thinking about how I let myself down by not working out. I thought about how great it felt to get dressed for an event the other day and I didn't have to suck in my gut to feel good. I thought that it is just a bad week, but it's going to get better and when it's better I still want to feel good in my skin. Around the time I was thinking this my coworker came in and we ended up laughing about some silly stuff. I mean full on belly laughs, it felt great. My entire body enjoyed the feeling of laughter. I held onto that and my determination and went to the gym.  I didn't do weights but I did a great cardio workout and treated myself to some fresh fruit from the farmers market on my way home.

As I was enjoying my fresh fruit I got to thinking that a month ago a week like this would have brought me to me knees, well couch. I would have skipped the gym, picked up a bag of Doritos, a chocolate bar and regretted it all the next day. Now I know the week isn't over, but I feel stronger than I have in the past and confident in myself and that is a great feeling. Life happens, for the first time I think I might be onto something, how to deal with the good times and the not so good. So in sticking with the positive thinking I will say that I am hopeful the rest of the week is full of way more laughter and fun!