Friday Favorites

TGIF!

It's been such a great week! Due to the holiday, my company gave us off Thursday + Friday and there have been so many awesome birthday wishes and celebrations!

With the rainy weather today, I'm wishing I was at any of these top Florida swimming holes. Bucket list!

Found these 4 keys to responding instead of reacting super helpful. Deep breaths are always the best!

This Chris Farley documentary looks so good. I just watched a SNL marathon for a bit yesterday and it reminded me how talented he was (so much physical comedy skills for a heavy guy)!

This kitten video is precious. Wait for the surprise, it's worth it!

Check out some of the last photos taken of Frida Kahlo. She was so magnificent.

Can reading make you happier? I knew there was a reason I enjoyed it so much. 

"Reading has been shown to put our brains into a pleasurable trance-like state, similar to meditation, and it brings the same health benefits of deep relaxation and inner calm. Regular readers sleep better, have lower stress levels, higher self-esteem, and lower rates of depression than non-readers. "

Hope you have an awesome holiday weekend and get outside as much as possible!

xo

Wise Words Wednesday: Amy Poehler

I finally finished the Amy Poehler book "Yes Please" a few weekends ago and I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes. It's such a great book filled with funny stories, emotional insights, and inspirational ideas.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“People are their most beautiful when they are laughing, crying, dancing, playing, telling the truth, and being chased in a fun way.” 

“I want to be around people that do things. I don’t want to be around people anymore that judge or talk about what people do. I want to be around people that dream and support and do things.” 

“Telling me to relax or smile when I’m angry is like bringing a birthday cake into an ape sanctuary. You’re just asking to get your nose and genitals bitten off.”

“I think we should stop asking people in their twenties what they “want to do” and start asking them what they don’t want to do.” 

“Hopefully as you get older, you start to learn how to live with your demon. It’s hard at first. Some people give their demon so much room that there is no space in their head or bed for love. They feed their demon and it gets really strong and then it makes them stay in abusive relationships or starve their beautiful bodies. But sometimes, you get a little older and get a little bored of the demon. Through good therapy and friends and self-love you can practice treating the demon like a hacky, annoying cousin. Maybe a day even comes when you are getting dressed for a fancy event and it whispers, “You aren’t pretty,” and you go, “I know, I know, now let me find my earrings.” Sometimes you say, “Demon, I promise you I will let you remind me of my ugliness, but right now I am having hot sex so I will check in later.” 

“Change is the only constant. Your ability to navigate and tolerate change and its painful uncomfortableness directly correlates to your happiness and general well-being. See what I just did there? I saved you thousands of dollars on self-help books. If you can surf your life rather than plant your feet, you will be happier. Maybe I should have called this book Surf Your Life. The cover could feature a picture of me on a giant wave wearing a wizard hat. I wonder if it’s too late. I’ll make a call.” 

“Treat your career like a bad boyfriend. Here's the thing. Your career won't take care of you. It won't call you back or introduce you to its parents.Your career will openly flirt with other people while you are around. It will forget you birthday and wreck your car. Your career will blow you off if you call it too much. It's never going to leave its wife.Your career is fucking other people and everyone knows but you. Your career will never marry you. (...) If your career is a bad boyfriend, it is healthy to remember you can always leave and go sleep with somebody else” 

Do yourself a favor and read this book NOW. You will enjoy every second of it, I promise! I'm sure you'll be like me and wish that Amy was your best friend after this and feel like she would agree if only you got to meet her...a girl can dream! ;)

xo

Friday Favorites

Happy happy Friday!

How incredible are these 11 beautiful bodies of water? I'd be happy to see all of them in my lifetime.

This article describes what your pet says about your personality. Pretty interesting! Apparently you can even tell if someone is liberal vs. conservative based on their breed of dog. 

This Thai butternut squash, sweet potato, and carrot soup with roasted honey siracha seeds recipe looks incredible! Definitely on the meal list for next week! 

A quote that hits hard for me. I always say that I feel the pain of the world, but I just started reading  a book, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, and it is a necessary, but hard read regarding the fate of our Earth. Stay tuned for more on that.

 Interesting article about how to lose a woman for good. Men, take note. These 9 tips are pretty spot on.

Google Fiber is coming to Decatur! Such amazing news for Atlanta and the surrounding cities. 

This new Netflix series, naturally!

This weekend will be spent having a sleep over with my niece Natalie and most likely going to the zoo (her request and who am I to deny a little girl who loves animal a trip to the zoo?) and doing crafts.

Despite not being a football fan, we'll probably watch the Super Bowl since J has requested that I make his favorite spinach + artichoke dip!

What's on your radar for the weekend? 

xo

Wise Words

Some days, a really good quote serves as a perfect reminder that we are all human. Fighting the good fight together.

I recently started reading The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World by HH the Dalai Lama. One of the focuses in the book is that despite close encounters with hardship, disappointment, and failure, one must maintain a belief in the value of optimism and resiliency.

I've been really focusing on my positivity to help focus more on the good things and less on all the hurt in life.

It's always worth the effort to find strength to keep going and seek out those rare moments of beauty and peace.

American Afterlife

A few months ago, while driving into work, I heard Kate Sweeney on WABE (listen to the interview here) discussing her new book American Afterlife. 

I was so fascinated by the overall topic regarding how people deal with death and why they choose certain rituals and memorials. The book even discusses how the way we handle death and funerals has evolved. For instance, historically people held funerals in their homes (in the parlor room), but eventually funerals moved outside the home and the parlor was replaced with the name "living room." Kind of crazy, isn't it?

This past Saturday, J + I went to our local book store, Tall Tales, to meet Kate and hear her discuss the book. It was an intimate group with a really great discussion. Kate even did a brief reading and talked more about her experiences while writing the book.

I'm so excited to read it and I'll keep you all posted once I'm finished.

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new" - Steve Jobs

The Visit 2013

It's pretty incredible to live less than 1 mile from an university [Emory] that has a close relationship to His Holiness the XVI Dalai Lama. 

The last time he visited Emory was in 2010. It was an amazing lecture that I will remember for the rest of my life (having Richard Gere and author Alice Walker speak in the lecture was also incredible)! 

Last March, while we were in Costa Rica, I read HH Dalai Lama's book Beyond Religion that focused on his suggested approach to ethics based on universal rather than religious principles. The concept of embracing the notion of common humanity was so simple, yet so profound.

When we got the recent email that the Dalai Lama will be back again this October to give a public talk, we knew we couldn't miss it. His visit "will focus on the fundamental human values that are the building blocks of an engaged and compassionate world. The Dalai Lama will outline his comprehensive vision of secular ethics, its underlying principles, and the urgent need to embrace such a system in today’s increasingly connected and globalized society." 

The tickets cover the public talk and a panel discussion.

"A panel discussion featuring His Holiness with top scientists and educators. The panel will examine the applicability of secular ethics in modern education through the lens of evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and educational policy and curricula. Discussion will include the implications of secular ethics for the U.S. education system, strategies of implementation, and potential benefits."

I'm so excited that his topics focus around the main topic of his book "Beyond Religion." Hopefully his book and his talk will encourage people to remember that we are all human beings who strive for happiness and try to avoid pain.

J + I already purchased our tickets! Buy your tickets here! 

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” - Dalai Lama XIV

♥

[photo]

all there is

i am a huge storycorps fan (read proof here and here) so the fact that they are publishing a book compiled with love stories makes me so happy!

"In All There Is, StoryCorps founder Dave Isay shares "stories of love and marriage, revealing the many and remarkable paths that relationships can take.

From the excitement and anticipation of courtship to the deep connection of lifelong commitment, we discover that love is found in the most unexpected of places—a New York toll booth, a military base in Iraq, an airport lounge. These stories are a testament to love’s remarkable endurance."

sounds beautiful, doesn't it? being as lucky as we are to have a storycorps location in atlanta, i still hope to record a story with someone special in my life one of these days. i would love to work for storycorps because i love their cause of preserving the human voice!

the "in all there is" book is available for pre-order now and will be released on february 2, 2012! this would make a wonderful valentine's day gift for those you love! ♥

hope y'all have a wonderful weekend. we'll be spending time with family and hoping to get in some hiking between the rain showers.

first giveaway!

hey guys!

so i know that i just got back into the world of blogging, but i am enjoying sharing the things that bring a smile to my face and documenting my life. i am still struggling with finding my true purpose and goal for this life of mine, but i came upon a book recently, 5: Where Will You Be Five Years from Today?, that may help me get to where i want to be. i bought this book for j a few years ago and ended up buying 2 copies (i figured one may make a great gift) from cb2.





so in order to hopefully inspire someone else and see who is stopping by and reading my blog (thank you!), i wanted to do this giveaway. to win a free copy of this book, please just leave a comment below and let me know what you like reading about on my blog. that's it!



i will pick a winner randomly on friday (10/14) at 5:00 PM EST. good luck and thanks again for reading! xo

***UPDATE: Jen won the giveaway! Thanks to the 3 of you for commenting!

is everyone hanging out without me?

today i had the pleasure of reading some excerpts of mindy kaling's (i.e., kelly from the office and my great friend divya's doppleganger) new book is everyone hanging out without me?. the chapters are so funny and i feel like i want to be best friends with her. my favorite chapter is below:

"do these things, part 2

some more stuff to do that will make your life better.

1. sneakers that "tone your butt as you walk" are shams.

nobody buy these. a brilliant charlatan invented them and is making a ton of money off innocent, desperate fatties. i tried these. They don’t do anything but make you look insecure. also, only chubby people wear them. Fit people don’t because they know you need to actually exercise to be in shape.

2. don't use the word "retarded."
it is just so totally uncool to use the word “retarded” anymore to describe something you think is stupid. it is barely acceptable when uninformed small children say it (and reflects so poorly on parenting), and is completely offensive for adults. How inarticulate are you if you have to use this word? How confident are you that no one you talk to would be offended by it, or worse, have someone in his or her life that has a mental disability? a pretty funny writer with a great spec script came into The Office to meet with producers about staffing. He was a friend of two other writers on staff. i thought he was cool initially, becausehe didn’t seem to take himself seriously and knew a lot about the Lakers. Then, in describing a Kobe Bryant–Shaq altercation, he used the word “retarded,” and kept repeating it, the way I say “like.” It waslike a tiny knife stabbing me every time he used it. When our bossasked us what we thought of him, I said I liked him, but I thought his liberal use of the word “retarded” was embarrassing and off-putting. I don’t know how much I affected the outcome, but he didn’t get hired.

3. don't kiss your dog on the lips in public.
it is horrifying.

4. never have pancakes for breakfast.
Pancakes are a dead end. If I looked back on my life and saw thenumber of days that were a total wash because I had pancakes for breakfast, it would shock you. Sure, they taste about a thousand times better than the boring “Iron Man Health Scramble” you should be eating, but it is so not worth it, ever. Eating pancakes forbreakfast leads to an immediate post-breakfast nap, followed by waking up in the middle of the afternoon feeling disgusted withmyself, but still unable to motivate to do anything. Pancakes lead tolost weekends, like Trainspotting".

every chapter i read made me laugh out loud which is definitely needed mid-week while at work. so now i just have to find time to make it to the book store and pick up this new book and tina fey's new book before the beach!

who are some of your favorite female comedian authors? any that i am missing out on?

book love

to keep with the theme of books and how important it is to keep reading fun, check out this awesome enchanted book garland from martha. how cute would this be in a little girl's room or for a birthday party theme? it'd be cute to have kids write their own stories and then exhibit them on a garland, but then again i think garlands make everything cuter, right?



we have a long weekend trip to the beach planned in the next few weeks and books continue to be on the brain. i can't wait to be sitting on the beach with my boys and books.

what are some of your favorite beach reads?

everybody wins!

this year i was lucky enough to be connected to the everybody wins non-profit organization. when an email was sent out at work about needing volunteers, some coworkers and i signed up immediately and couldn't wait to get involved with the power lunch program at a local elementary school. power lunch is "a lunchtime literacy and mentoring program that brings groups of adult volunteers into low-income elementary schools for one-on-one read aloud sessions with students".

i got paired with a 5th grade boy and i would go each week during my lunch break to read books with him. the kids that are chosen for the program usually have to meet the following requirements: they need help with reading, they need to improve reading comprehension, and/ or they need a good mentor. my kid and i hit it off immediately and have had such a great time together. his reading has really improved and based on the smile on his face when he sees me (while trying to still act cool in front of his peers), i think the program was really successful for us both! since the year is almost up and he's a 5th grader, it's almost time to say goodbye which breaks my heart. tomorrow is the lunch to celebrate the end of the year and i really will miss him.

it shocked me to learn that most of the kids in the program had probably never had an adult sit with them and take time to read to them one-on-one. it is said that children are made readers on the lap of their parents. it's so easy to forget that not all kids have parents that can give them the attention and time to sit down and read. i don't even have any children yet but i have a huge children's book collection already (granted my best friend was a child's librarian for years)! my best friend was telling me a while back that there is a phenomenon where once children can read on his/her own, parents stop taking the time to sit down and read together which makes reading less fun so kids start to dislike reading. that makes me so sad. i hope that when we have kids, we always take time to read together (in living room forts preferably) and enjoy storytelling. this hopefully shouldn't be too hard since i enjoy reading so much and it is a big part of my life.

anyways, i hope that if there is a child in your life that you take the time to read with them. next year i'll be paired with a new child and hope that i can maybe brighten his/ her day and future through reading together. i really am going to miss kc - he's been an inspiration to me and i feel lucky to know him.