This past weekend, I was able to spend some the day with one of my childhood friends. We went to grade school and high school together. We were inseparable during our grade school years. Our sixth grade teacher gave us the nickname of the three stooges (me, Ronda and our friend, Mary). If I remember correctly Ronda was Moe, I was Larry and Mary was Curly. I’m pretty confident we liked to chitty-chat and giggle during class.

I’ve always loved being creative and last week I had the chance to be part of an on-line art class within a membership site. When I added the event to my calendar I had no idea what the class would be creating even though I had an inkling it had to do with self-love.

How many times have you said the words, “I have to ________(fill in the blank)?” Believe me, I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve said that in my life. “I have to go grocery shopping” or “I have to go to work.” Imagine all the times you’ve said that in a day. Over the last few months, every time those words have left my mouth, I made an effort to exchange them from “I have to” to “I get to.” Doesn’t that have a lighter and happier feeling in your body?

I am a gal that loves symbolism and signs and often look for them. It could be birds, animals, repeating numbers on a clock such as 11:11 or 3:33. It could also be a word or picture on a billboard, license plate or even an image in a cloud. To me signs are a reminder loved ones are near or something is trying to get my attention.

Words can lift us up or tear us down. They can cause damage that lasts a lifetime or change the trajectory of our life for the better. Words can shape our beliefs, drive our behavior, and create our world whether they are true or not. Sometimes it’s hard to separate fact from fiction. Simply stated, words hold so much weight.

In addition to remembering earlier farm memories, Jeff mentioned a friend that always calls him a “Fancy Farmer.” We started laughing again and realized at the exact same time, our Dad could have been called a “Fancy Farmer” too. Not for the same reasons but a fancy farmer indeed.

I’ve been dancing while cleaning the kitchen, folding clothes, making my bed, or dancing just to be dancing. I’ve been cranking up the music and then getting down with my bad self……LOL. In my mind I used to have some good moves and desire to get somewhere in the badass vicinity again…Haha. I’ve got mad goals!

A young sunflower faces east at dawn and greets the sun, then slowly turns toward the west as the sun moves across the sky. During the night, the sunflower makes its way back facing east to begin again the next morning. The sunshine helps the flower blossom and grow.

Do you ever catch yourself saying, “One of these days I’ll……?” Do have a written or mental list in your head of the crazy and sometimes wacky ideas you dream of checking off? One of my mentors calls it the Someday List. We all have them, the littles, mediums and bigs. If you are one of those people that say, “Someday I’ll get to ______”(fill in the blank), what’s stopping you?

This week one of my yoga classes was held at the instructor’s family horse farm. When Krissy, my friend and instructor had announced she’d be having a yoga class with the horses I wanted some of that. I had no idea what to expect but being a farm girl, I felt it would be special. I was right!

I remember wanting to be like my older, and much cooler brother, Greg. I wanted to prove to my Dad I was just as capable and as awesome as he was. I had no fear of putting the gas pedal to the floor to show just how amazing I was.

Try maintaining practices that keep you grounded and you’re able to come back into your heart space, when the ego wants to take you in another direction. Our heart space radiates our energy.

It’s hard to believe that more than half of the year is already in the rear view mirror. Have you taken time in the first half to create new practices, live new dreams, try new things, or even get rid of old patterns that don’t serve your best life? There’s still time this year to make things happen.

Recently, my family and I headed north for our yearly, 4th of July tradition of spending time at my brother and sister-in-law’s cabin in the deep woods of Wisconsin. We’ve been vacationing there for as long as I can remember with the exception of a few years. It’s a tradition my children never want to miss. They love it as much as I do.

At the beginning of the year my brothers, sister-in-laws and I worked for weeks organizing, packing, discarding, saving and donating items from my parents home once my Mom decided to sell. During the time, my Mom had already been staying at my sister’s 900 miles away so we had to communicate with her by texting pictures and video-chatting to determine which items she wanted to keep and those she no longer needed.

Over the last several years of practicing yoga, I’ve learned how to consciously breathe throughout the entire hour. It keeps me focused, calm and stress free … well except during the plank series … HA! Even though the instructor is constantly reminding the class to breathe, it’s becoming second nature for me. So why then don’t I apply these same breathing rules in my every day life?

I’ve only recently considered myself a sushi fan. I was never able to get past the green layer of seaweed (a.k.a. nori). The problem was I tried to eat the piece of sushi in more than one bite and I could never get the nori to rip apart. It usually ended in a chewy sea-weedy mess. I finally understood I needed to put the whole damn thing in my mouth.

The ride started out slow and steady until Richard decided to pick up speed, but because it was chilly, Hannah had asked him to slow down. He decided to turn off the boat so we could just hang out in the middle of the lake. We were just talking and laughing when Richard announced there was a dog. A dog?