Keeping It Real: More Happy

I'm not usually one for resolutions. If you've read Gretchen Rubin's Book (or heard about it), The Four Tendencies, then you know when I say "I'm an upholder" that I don't need resolutions. Upholders respond readily to inner and outer expectations, so if I say I'm going to do something, I do it, and it can be any time of the year.

Anyway, to the point of this post....I started the year off with a nine hour drive from Sun Valley back to Portland. During that time I couldn't help but think about the year ahead and goals I have for myself, so I started writing them down in categories. Ironically I came up with nine.

1. Parenting
2. Sleep
3. Meditation
4. Hyrdration
5. Reading
6. Posture
7. Marriage
8. Connection with friends
9. Cooking

I thought about dedicating a month to each category, but I only had nine things on my list, and I didn't want to come up with three more. That seemed too much like a "resolution", and as I said...I don't really do resolutions. Since all of the categories are important to me, I don't want to prioritize them. Instead I'm being mindful of as many as I can on a daily basis. It's simply a list of things that I want to focus on in order to bring greater happiness and fulfillment to my life, and every little bit counts.

Over the next few months I'll be writing about each category, how I'm focusing on it, any challenges that arise and anything else that comes to mind.

Today I'm starting with #8. Connection with friends.

Friendship is something I have been thinking a lot about over the last year.  Like so many things in life, friendships change with time. Over the past year, there have been times when I don't feel fulfilled by my friendships, when I feel like they are failing me, when I miss what they used to be.

I'm a people person. I'm a connector. I'm a networker, and I have a big network. I have a lot of "friends", but what I've found is that this group of "friends" isn't always meeting my friendship needs. Many of the friendships are superficial, they are fleeting, they are unfulfilling and in some cases they feel one sided. This is not necessarily a reflection of the friend. More than anything it's a result of overly busy lives. I've learned that if your life doesn't run in parallel to your friend's, it makes consistent, meaningful interactions very challenging, almost impossible in some cases.

Someone recently posted this to Facebook, and it really resonated with me.

So, this year I'm focusing on nurturing and cultivating the friendships that mean the most to me, the ones that make me happiest and the ones that I care the most about. For my far away friends, that means writing more emails, sending texts, picking up the phone and even sending letters. For the friends in Portland, it means making a conscious effort to see the people that matter most to me on a regular basis. It means prioritizing a girl's night out, lunch, a walk or whatever it takes to make it fit in our busy lives.  It means putting my friendships higher on my priority list. I'm happiest when I connect with my friends. They build me up. They feed my soul. They make me happy.

I consider myself an already happy person, but there can never be too much personal satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness in one's life. So it seems like my theme for 2018 is finding more "happy" and focusing on #8 on my list will surely do that.

Copying: "Do" or "Don't"?

My friend JM has these boots on over the weekend, and I have major boot envy. And they are so much more amazing in person than in this photo. The picture does them no justice. 

TOMS GREY FELT SHINE BOUCLE WOMEN'S LEILA BOOTIES $98

What are your thoughts on buying the same things as your friends? Truth be told I already copied her once this year on a pair of Toms shoes. Remember when I blogged about these (post here)? 

So, is copying a "do" or a "don't"? 

Products We Love

About a month ago my mother-in-law was at Coscto where two University of Oregon alumni were selling their almond butter. She bought me a jar, and it was love at first bite!

Meet Keeley and Erika, the founders of Wild Friends Nut Butter!

These ladies found themselves in their college apartment scraping the bottom of a peanut butter jar with a spoon. In a quest to extend the life of the jar,  they emptied their cabinets of all their favorite things, like cinnamon, chocolate chips and coconut, into a food processor to create their first nut butter. 

And as they say...the rest is history. Wild Friends Nut Butter now sells six flavors of nut butters including the first jar I received, the Chocolate Sunflower Seed Almond Butter! A-MAZING!

The other flavors include Sesame Cranberry Peanut Butter, Vanilla Espresso Almond Butter, Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter, Honey Pretzel Peanut Butter and Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter! 

You really can't go wrong with any of the flavors. And, they sell them in individual servings which are great for your a snack in the car, on an airplane, for hiking or for a late night snack! 

Wild Friends Nut Butters are sold at Coscto and other stores all over Portland! If you don't live in Portland, you can buy the products on the Wild Friends website and on Amazon, and it's PRIME eligible!

If you want to follow along with the adventures of these "Wild Friends" check out their blog!  

Striving for Perfection

A dear friend of mine emailed me last week concerned by the fact that I have been cutting my head out of my blog posts. Case in point...

Her words, "You have started to crop your face, which makes me sad. You might feel the camera does not love your face, but I do. Your face, it is a reflection of your heart for all to see and to adore you all the more" 

First, thank you dear friend. You are so right.  I have been putting myself down by claiming my face isn't good enough to make the photo.  My photos are quickly taken by me or my husband. and usually my eyes are closed or I have a funny look on my face, so I just crop it out.  Because it is the outfit I am trying to capture, I've never really considered it a big deal. But it is, and thank you for bringing it to my attention. 

Many of the blogs I follow have professional photographers taking their photos, and my photos seem amateur in comparison, which they are. But I didn't start this blog to take perfect photos of myself. I started this blog to share my love for fashion and for life. 

As a mother of a girl, never in a million years would I want to teach her to hide her face, for any reason. Blogs, pinterest, magazines, television, and every other form of media encourage women and girls to strive for perfection: perfection in their clothes, their body, their skin, their hair, their home decor, their cooking, etc. But as we all know, no one is perfect. 

So, from now on, you will see less headless shots and more closed eyes, messy hair and awkward smiles, because that is me and that is my life, and there is no better way to teach the Mini Fashionista this lesson than practicing it and believing it myself.