by Sarah | Jan 29, 2019 | All About Family, All of Us, Blogging Life, Redefining Perfect, Top Ten Tuesday
I’ve visited this topic before, but it was in one brief post. I wanted to broaden the stretch of my top tens, to address each answer and give it its own worth. So, without further ado:
#10 on my list is California.
Not a specific location in the state, but California.
When I was in middle school, my parents arranged and took my brother and I on a trip to California. We started in Fresno, drove down the coast, then back up through the state. We visited Monterey, Yosemite, Redwood Forest, San Francisco, and many others. Though boring at times (so much driving), and we never did Disneyland, I still remember that trip with much love and happy memories.
From the sites in Yosemite, the giants of the Redwoods, to the ocean views, and the oddities on display around Fisherman’s Wharf. There was never a shortage of cool things to see.
I would love to be able to give my kids a chance to see the state like that. I’ve always said I never wanted to live there, but I loved to visit California, and it still holds true. There is so much beauty and fun to be had.
I’m thinking a two week road trip, north to south like we did back then, but making it to the original house of mouse unlike my first trip. With so much to see and do, it would take a ton of vacation time, but be so worth it in the end.
Have you been to California? What were your favorite parts?
by Sarah | Jan 28, 2019 | All About Family, All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, Pour Your Heart Out, Random, Redefining Perfect
We all know the phrase. We use it all the time when we have little ones, “It takes a village to raise a child.”
I think it goes farther than that – It takes a village…period.
We ALL need a village…or a tribe…we need people.
We need each other.
So why do we resist our village when they rise to help us?
I have a friend, a good friend, who has come to mean a lot to me in the past couple of years. Six months ago they moved many miles so her husband could take a very exciting job that suited him perfectly. After years of being self-employed, they would have regular checks coming in…and he would be doing a job that was pretty darn amazing.
He is now one of the hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed because of the shutdown over the asinine wall.
We’ve had a lot of talks over the past month as she’s grappled with the existence. I made a comment to her that she should put it out there to ask for help from those she’s helped and taught. She’s resisted, and resisted, stating they’re okay right now.
When I went to send her money for an item I’d purchased, I sent her extra.
“What did you do?” Was her response, “You’re saving for Florida!” I reassured her we’d talked about it and were fine with our decision…and she relented and we continued our discussion…and it struck me hard.
It’s long been proven in so many studies and just general truth…we are STRONGER in a community. When we rely on each other.
So why do resist?
We often are afraid to ask, or we feel like a failure or inadequate, so we are too embarrassed to ask.
It also doesn’t help that in today’s society we are full of Judgy McJudgersons ready to tell us how we should have been prepared, we should have done this, or done that…who are super eager to sit behind the anonymity of their computer screens and tell us why you should do it YOURSELF…
But you can’t. Not always.
Friendship is about love and caring and support.
The next time you see someone you know struggling…
Be their village. Not their judge and jury.
Be their village.
They’re going to resist. So stick with something small. A silly card, something you know they’ve wanted off the wall, or just sitting with them and letting them vent without commisserating (i.e. telling them your story of woe to match).
Remember, in a village, it’s not always about YOU. Sometimes it’s about them.
Be their village.
Because one day, you’re gonna need them to be yours.
by Sarah | Jan 27, 2019 | All of Us, Blogging Life, Gratitude, Redefining Perfect
So much has happened, yet so little. There’s much to be grateful for, both big and little…
I am grateful…
Our Christmas tree is down and put away.
Molly is going out with friends to ball games.
Erik got a call from a company in Florida after sending a mere THREE resumes.
For friends that always have my back.
That we are in a good enough place that we could send a little help to a furloughed family I know.
For the light in the darkness – the outpouring of love and support that shines out through the hate in the world right now.
That I’ve written words again.
For the world of blogging that has reappeared in my life.
That this cold is finally passing me by so I can workout again.
That we are free of the burden of the old car finally (thanks, oldest child for taking care of it.)
That I…I am now the parent of a full-fledged adult. Denver is now 21 years old. (Gratitude and feeling very old)
For overtime and pretty paychecks.
For creativity.
For a husband that supports me even when I think maybe I’ve gone off the deep end sometimes.
For anti-depressants.
For every single sunrise.
by Sarah | Jan 25, 2019 | All About Erik, All About Family, All About Me, All of Us, Oola, Personal, Redefining Perfect, Story of Me
I’ve been carrying on for a while now about this Oola stuff, I know. So, I thought I would share a little about how I came to find it, what it is, and what it means to me/us.
One day about a year and a half ago I was perusing netgalley (as I love to do) and saw the cover over there <—.
I was intrigued, but saw it was self-help/non-fic and thought maybe it was too crunchy crazy for me because of the VW bus on the cover and moved on past.
About a month later one of my local friends on twitter posted something with the hashtag #oola. For some reason, the word had stuck with me from that cover and I immediately tackled her on it, asking what she knew of it. Her response is lost to the twitter gods…but it was along the lines of “It’s amazing.” I said I remembered seeing an oola book on Netgalley and I’d go see if it was still available.
It WAS! I snatched it up immediately – and then promptly forgot about it for probably five or six months.
One weekend after I’d quit the job I hated, I took a chance to run some surveys at a local movie theater. I was only to survey people coming out of a couple of particular movies. Not sure if you know this, but movie theaters run movies in chunks. So everything goes in and releases within a half hour span every couple of hours. That left a LOT of time sitting around staring at this –>.
While sitting on a bench during one of the lulls, I opened the kindle app on my phone, pondering what to read.
I’m not sure what called me to it, but as soon as I saw Oola, I downloaded and began to read.
Within an hour I was sending my husband screen captures saying “Read this! And this! and this! This is amazing!”
Whether it was the right timing, or the right words, the book spoke to me. Some of the stories didn’t speak to me, but many left me in tears. It inspired me, uplifted me, and made me look at EVERYTHING in my life differently. It changed my life.
I know, I know…I’m using the words “It was LIFE-CHANGING.” The thing is…I don’t say this lightly. I’ve read my share of self-help books that didn’t do anything for me. Again. I don’t know if it was the timing, the words, or the simple complexity of the whole theory…but it struck me. It didn’t hit my husband in the same way…at first. Now? He’s fully on board. We’ve both read an Oola book (There are currently 2 versions with a 3rd to be released soon and a 4th planned) at least twice. I’m on my third go right now.
Okay, so what is it?
From the Oola website:
oo-la (noun): That state of awesomeness. It is when your life is balanced and growing in the seven key areas of life – the 7 F’s of Oola (fitness, finance, family, field (career), faith, friends and fun).
It’s a book that guides you on how to find balance in the 7 key areas of your life. (Heads up, the authors are deeply Christian and as someone who isn’t this could have easily turned me off…but in the Faith section they admit they’re Christian and say “but you do you.” Which, for me, made them a-ok in my book).
The book leads you through every one of the key areas, talking about how you can attain Oola in each, or what it means to attain Oola in each.
They break down what are called “Oola blockers” – like Fear, Guilt, Anger, etc. Then, they talk about my favorite – the “Oola accelerators” like Gratitude, Love, and Passion.
You are given quizzes to see where you are in each area so that you might create your Oola Wheel and see what you need to work on. You’re also given steps to find three daily tasks that take you closer to your Oola goals. By working on one area of your life, the Oola spreads to other areas so you see a general lift in each area. I’ve experienced it, I’ve seen it have a huge impact on our lives. It sounds hokey, but it works.
I met the Oola guys
In June I got to head to a local Barnes & Noble to get my Oola books signed by the authors.
I even got to put my own Oola goal on the Dream bus…on the layer of stickers covering the VW. (My dream is not in this picture…it must have been before I placed it…but it was to move to Florida – weeks before we made the decision to do just that).
I kid you not, I was like a kid at Disney World when I walked around the corner and saw that bus outside. It was real, and I was adding MY dream to the bus.
I know I keep saying it, but it’s made a big change in our lives. We keep each other in check by reminding each other “Oola” when things get rough. We have open discussion about Oola Blockers and Accelerators. We’ve taken steps to better our lives using the principles and are seeing positive changes.
We stumble, sure. Of course we do. Lately, my biggest struggle has been in the fitness aspect and it’s bringing me down everywhere. So, I’ve quit smoking finally (over 2 months now), and I’ve gotten back on a healthier diet, I’ve been working on quitting pop, and am doing exercise program that worked for me in the past. My goals don’t involve a number on a scale, but a general return to the healthy level and excellent shape I was in almost 2 years ago.
We are living the #oolalife as best we can – and knocking out our Oola goals as we can.
I know, I’m one of THOSE people…never thought I would be, but I SO am.
Come on in, the water’s GREAT.
by Sarah | Jan 23, 2019 | All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, Book Reviews, I'm A Reader, Redefining Perfect, Wordy Wednesday
I thought about doing one book per recommendation post – but then changed my mind.
I’m going to recommend One, one, and one every month. The genres may change, but it lends some variety.
This week we’re going to look at One Poetry/YA, One Non-fiction, and One Graphic Novel.
All of these I read in my year of big reading, 2017, and they still stick out to me as books I’d recommend.
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[easyazon_link identifier=”0062118765″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]One by Sarah Crossan[/easyazon_link]
This is a young adult book, but it’s so wonderfully unique. A story told through poetry that captures your heart with it’s lyrical words and deeply real characters even in their almost surreal existence.
Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins who have lived their whole lives as one. Now sixteen years old, they’ve defied odds and formed a bond like no other.
A health scare makes them make the most difficult choice of their lives…and it will change everything.
I was in tears at the end of this one.
I read it because I had a challenge to read a book of poetry – and I’m so glad I did. This was a beautiful story and I’d recommend it to anyone.
[easyazon_link identifier=”1594634726″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert[/easyazon_link]
Yes, this is written by the lady that wrote Eat, Pray, Love.
Once again, I started reading this because of those challenges I set for myself in 2017 to read things outside of my comfort zone…including Non-fiction, which I’d always tried, and failed, to read.
This had also been plastered all over my social media feed read with glowing reviews. Once I started reading, I found out why.
This book spoke to me deeply on many layers. I’d had a rough year in 2016 that left me not writing at all. Years of being in the industry left me with big doubts and second-guessing myself with every word I wrote.
This frank exploration of the fears we face in any creative endeavor shook loose many of my cobwebs and helped get me writing again. I’m about to re-read it because I feel the need for another push.
I recommend it to anyone that wants to live creatively (and I don’t mean with the arts…I mean with LIFE)
[easyazon_link identifier=”1442465964″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]Through the Woods by Emily Carroll[/easyazon_link]
This is a spine-tinglingly fun graphic novel that tells five different creepy fairy-tale sort of stories.
The artwork makes bold plays between stark black/white then great swaths of color to achieve emotional impact.
This was one of my first graphic novels, and the creepy tales were right up my alley, without being too horrifying.
It’s a fun little read that gives you some feel for the way fairy tales were before we softened them up.
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Those are my recommendations for this month! Hope you enjoyed.
What are some of your favorite books? I love adding to my TBR.
#10 on my list is California.
