I’ve been a little bit on a philosophical kick lately. Not sure where the feelings are coming from but I’m riding the waves, which coming from a Type A planner is so not the norm. But I’m doing it and seeing where it leads me. I’ve been contemplating exercise, or lack thereof, productivity, and all around happiness and how it fits into my life. I look around to my yoga friends and see how genuiely happy they are. They are able to roll with the punches and take things into perspective, deal with it and move on.

I want that.

I don’t want their lives and be exactly who they are rather I want their happiness. I want their inner peace. I want their unconditional love. And I want it to fit me. So I decided to sign up for 30 Days of Yoga, a program designed by Marianne to help you achieve your yoga goals. And it’s done online! Weird, I know, but times have changed and everything can be done online, right? So beginning in a few weeks I’ll be working with Marianne and learning to incorporate yoga into my daily routine. And not only will I be working on achieving my goals, all the money paid for October’s 30 Days of Yoga will go directly to helping people in South Africa living with HIV/AIDS.

So this is step one in fulfilling my personal mission. I’m really looking forward to becoming a better woman, wife, mother, daughter, and sister. I finally realized you can’t do it all at once. (believe me, I tried) It only sets you up for failure. So I’m breaking it down and tackling each area one by one. I know I’ll never become a perfect person because one doesn’t exist here on earth, but I can strive to be the best that I can be. My mission will be dynamic and ever-changing. I truly believe not one single person can have one manifesto. People change as they go through experiences such as education, having a family, career switches – just to name a few.

So in the coming months, I’ll share my personal mission with you because I’d like to take this blog in a different direction. I’d like to share myself with you – who I am, what I do, and who I want to be. How does that sound?

But first, I’d like to get to know you. Leave a comment and tell me about yourself and maybe why you read my blog because I want to get to know you too.

xo,
B

I’ve always been a fan of Leo Babauta’s blog, Zen Habits. I even blogged about his routine of being an early riser to get the most important task of the day done. Sadly, I’ve gotten so busy with life that I’ve steered away from reading his words. But after seeing a link on Brigitte’s blog I found myself engulfed in Zen Habits once again.

I purchased his e-book, The Zen Habits Handbook for Life, which gives you suggestions on making life simpler and more productive. One of his topics that really stuck a chord with me was his point of view on television. He says:

“Watch less TV. For me, television doesn’t relax me, although it might seem that vegging in front of the TV is good for relaxation. TV fills your head with noise, without the redeeming qualities of music or reading or good conversation. Watch less TV, and you’ll notice your mind begin to quieten.”

So I did that. This weekend I barely watched TV and rather filled my day reading e-books, meeting a sweet newborn, and enjoy the day with the family at the fair. And boy did it feel great! I never knew how much “white noise” was filling my brain and zapping my energy until I eliminated it. I was constantly stressed, worrying about what needed to be done next, and had complete lack of focus. My old habit was to come home and turn the TV on, just to have it on. But what was the point? I was never fully engaged in television or what I was doing. My mind was straddling two activities, which most of you might call multi-tasking, but it was draining. I never understood why I had such lack of concentration until I read Leo’s e-book and turned the TV off.

I feel more in tune with myself, my family, and my work. It was scary at first, silly as this may sound, but the TV was my security blanket. See, Wayne travels a lot for work and having the TV on comforted me. So I confronted it head on and eliminated it. Basically just ripped the band-aid off.

Now don’t get me wrong, I still love and watch my shows like True Blood, Amazing Race and Survivor. It’s a more conscious effort of making time to watch the show and do just that. Forget about work and just enjoy it. Have you ever tried that, just sit and enjoy a show or movie without trying to scratch off one more thing off your to-do list? Try it and notice how more productive you’ll be when you do need to work.

I’m taking baby steps with his book and trying to make it work for me. Next up is mastering the Art of Doing Nothing. Allisa actually talks about this topic after she started to read Eat Pray Love. Funny how different mediums, topics, and experiences all intertwine, huh?

It’s about that time for our annual family portraits and I have a tendency to go all out. Last year we coordinated around the colors yellow and gray and this year we’re pulling inspiration from Jack Purcell’s black sneakers. Envision black + white pictures and diners.

Cannot.wait.

These past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of rush orders and tight deadlines. It makes me so happy knowing people are anxiously waiting for our favor bags to help complete a birthday party or baby shower.

But you got to know when to say when. So this week, after going back and forth many times, I’ve decided to close up shop to finish up my current orders and, for the first time in a really long time, enjoy a work-free weekend. I’m looking forward to beautiful fall weather, corn mazes, and maybe some apple picking. I’m sure I’ll still be working on my holiday line and launching our new placemats, but hey you can’t go cold turkey, right?

So in the meantime, I’ll be enjoying my Coconut Five Spice White Chocolate cookies from my favorite duo Jenna + Mark. But be sure you receive our newsletter because when we re-open next Monday, there will be a treat only for our subscribers.

Image courtesy of Whimsy & Spice

One thing I love about my birthday is that it marks the first of many consecutive birthdays on both mine and my husbands side. My sister’s birthday is next week; happy birthday Brandi! And then comes Kendall’s, with someone’s birthday each month all the way through February. Neat, huh?!

Coming up for a theme for Kendall’s birthday was tricky. So I created a few ideas and asked Kendall (and my lovely Facebook fans) which one she liked best and she picked, pink! So off I ran combining her love of pink and sweets and came up with Kendall’s Sweet Shoppe. Her party will be full of candy, fun activities, and lots of pink and green! And now that the invitations are out, I can really start with the party planning.

The picture included on the invitation was taken by our wonderful family photographer, Jennifer Langdon Photography.