Quotation Wednesday {27th ed.}

This is actually a print from an Etsy shop and I just copied it, but I really like it. My yoga teacher from Seattle, Terilynn said something like this often and I just think it is a really good reminder, particularly in our goal oriented society. Sometimes it is good to remember that right where you are is perfectly lovely!

via here

Love wins!

This article made me cry this monday morning, but it was a good cry, so I wanted to share!
This is love people...

Phyllis 77 and Connie 85; the first couple to be married in NY

To all the marriage equality protesters, this is what you are fighting against!

Equality and love will always prevail in the end. Everyone go out and hug the one you love  :)

ps: check this page out too, you can listen to couples' comments as they come out of city hall

Happy Monday {41st Ed.}

Happy Happy Monday Everyone!! I am back on track with blogging finally and here is what is making me smile...

Bookcase cocoon
aka: heaven! I need to be reading in this right now.

This print
My time in Seattle made me realize how much I need water in my life. This quote sums up exactly how I feel when sitting by the water...like life is somehow "reset."

I love this entire Etsy shop actually

and This Print

I think I need her to go with my owl girl print (which I am still in love with by the way!)....maybe I just need everything this shop has!

These votive holders
The look on their faces just cracks me up!

get them here

That is all for me this week, what is making you happy?

Paddle board yoga

I just found out about this and really really want to do it! Does anyone know of any resources and/or classes?

Doesn't it look awesome?! Plus, its probably the perfect core workout! Who wants to do it with me? :)

Just an update...

...cause we are still unloading and life is a bit crazy! :) My family (dad, gram, and aunt) came to help us and we definitely put them to work!

Ok, so that picture doesn't show it, but we did I promise :) We made an Ikea trip, got everything unpacked, dealt with the damn heat! What is with this heat, MN?! Meanwhile, back in Seattle, my mom was dealing with the crazy Goodwill pile that we left and cleaning the old place. 

how do we collect so much stuff?!

Isn't my family amazing?! Poor Domino was having a difficult time with the heat, so we decided to shave him...

...and left him a mohawk! :) We also got them a kiddie pool and tried to lure them in, no luck yet.

My grandma treated us all to this amazing dessert after unloading.

...and then (finally!) a relaxing moment on the front porch, which is going to be one of my new favorite places.

There is my photo update, I will be back to my regularly scheduled blogging soon!

Moved!

Ugh, we are finally in St. Paul! The trip was interesting, 1700 miles with 1 Uhaul, 1 car, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 gecko, and 2 very tired and sore drivers! Luckily the scenery was beautiful because that was far too much monotonous sitting.

Now for the unpacking...

Quotation Wednesday {26th ed.}

Learning, growing, and thriving from your pain; this is something I feel strongly about. This quote states that beautifully.

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls;
the most massive characters are seared with scars."
-Kahlil Gibran

Happy Monday {40th ed.}

Well I took a holiday break, so its Monday joys on a Tuesday! Here is what is making me smile...

Purple chandalier
Damnit, I just fell in love with this chandelier....don't even bother looking at how much it is!

ok, if you must...here it is

This dress

from here

...with These Shoes!

Ahhh, gorgeous!! :)

Four-eyed cat
He is too cute for words!

Alliums

I love these flowers! Not only are they purple, but they remind me of Horton Hears a Who :)

find out more here

Pinterest

Do you guys know about this website? Its awesome! All of today's happiness can be seen here as well. You should all join and we can follow each other's smile inducing items all week long :)

That is all for me, what is making you happy this week?

Love

I keep coming back to the idea of this post and for some reason the lyric from Hallelujah has been in my head all day, so I finally decided to get it down on...well not paper, screen I guess.

"Love is not a victory march, its a cold and its a broken Hallelujah"

First, I adore this song even though it makes me cry every time I hear it! I have always been drawn to this line for some reason. I take it as a "weathered" look at love, like someone who has been broken and hurt, but still finds the small hallelujahs in love and life. I feel like we all start out with this romanticized version of love, that we will find our perfect soul mate, fall in love, and live happily ever after. Then we get hurt. We cry. We vow to never love again, to never hurt again. And we do it all over. Love and relationships are really really hard work! I take this line as a statement of that. 

But that is just me. When searching for the lyrics to be sure I was quoting it right, I found some very opposite veiwpoints. One woman stated that the song is "largely a disillusioned point of view about love....a bitter realization that can only break you forever." Im not going to say that I disagree with her, basically that is the feeling of the song. Its depressing, like I said, makes me cry every time. But, I don't think that singing about or looking at the depressing parts of love makes it a "disillusioned point of view." I think it honors the fact that love can hurt, it can hurt like hell actually, and still be love. The pain is just as much a part of it as the absolute joy and embracing love's entirety is what makes it so unique and amazing, and well, worth it! What do you guys think? Am I just being emotionally dramatic, true to my Pisces, introverted, psychologically minded self?! (Its ok to say yes to that!)

Anyways, this gets to the post that has been brewing in my mind about love. I believe that love can have a multitude of forms, both within an individual and throughout people in general. Personally, I use the word love to indicate many things; a strong bond with my friends, the feeling that oozes out of me when I see my pets, when I like something so much that the word "like" or even "really really like" just doesn't seem to cover it (most things purple!), the warm and comfortable love I have for my family, and of course romantic love. These feelings are infinitely different, and yet all are encompassed by the word love. I would say that there needs to be different words for each form of love, but I don't really believe that. I think that the feeling you get when you say your own versions of love are enough. Just watch someone say "I love you" to their partner and then watch someone say "Look at my new shoes, I absolutely love them!" You can see the difference in the words, you can feel it. That doesn't mean that it each isn't it's own version of love. 

I have heard many people become irritated or uncomfortable when friends say "I love you" or when someone says "that singer is amazing, I just love her" and I never know how to react to that. I agree that saying you love someone who is not really close to you, or who you don't even know may make some people feel like you are discounting the idea of love. I disagree, but I understand it. Maybe we do need more words to describe the different forms. Maybe that would honor the love that people feel for shoes, movies, singers, whatever, while still honoring the profound feeling of love for family, friends, and partners. I don't know, I prefer to see it and feel it in people's use of the word, I think the minute differences are what make the word love so beautiful. What do you guys think? Would a language be better if there were different words for different types of love? Do you think that is even possible? Does it bother you when people use the word love in so many different forms? 

Quotation Wednesday {25th ed.}

This quote is whimsical and yet motivating at the same time. I love the idea of telling the dreamer to dare to dream big, just remember to build the foundations that hold the gravity of such amazing goals!

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost;
that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."
-Thoreau

Love is a battlefield!

This performance is absolutely, ridiculously, be-still-my-beating-heart-because-I-love-you-Vicci!!! amazing!!!

Seriously, how amazing is she?! She makes everyone adore her right? Its not just me and my fanatical attraction to adorable lesbians who ooze emotion...right?!

Moving is annoying!!

That about covers it, Im annoyed! The moving companies are all about money. Can't they just stop and think about the people behind those boxes? I don't want to pay an extra $500 just so I don't have to sleep on a blow up mattress for an indeterminate amount of time waiting for my stuff that would likely just be sitting in a storage facility in the middle of Montana on the basis that I didn't pay extra money!!

Arghh...I bet rich people hire someone to take care of all this crap. I bet they just sit on their butts while someone finds them a wonderful place to live, deals with the landlords/sellers, packs their crap, decides what to keep and what to give away, figures out the logistics of getting it there, cancels their cable, gets them to their new home without them even knowing it, cleans the old place (I hate that the most!), unpacks all their crap, and then says "hey, just so you know, you are now moved!" Im pouting...

Happy Monday {39th ed.}

Happy Monday everyone!! Here is what is making me smile...

Im not entirely sure what these are, but they are cute!

via here

Pedal Pub

We saw this strolling down the streets of downtown St. Paul, how awesome is it?! Im pretty excited to give it a try once we get there!

Pride pictures

I didn't go this year, but just looking at pictures even never fails to make me smile! There is just something so wonderful about thousands of people celebrating being exactly who they are. If you have never been to a Pride parade (regardless if you are gay) you definitely need to make it to one!

Naked bikers...you may not want to zoom in! :)

Porch swings

I am so excited about the front porch on the place we found! I can't wait to get a porch swing, how amazing are these ones...

via here

I want to live in this one!! (from here)

That is all for me this week, what is making my lovely readers smile?!

Thank you New York!!

We are getting there, slowly but surely....

Oh, and happy Pride everyone!! :)

Companion Animal Grief

Hi everyone! Well, as I have mentioned (and complained and fretted!), I am working on that pesky dissertation and am finally to the research collection portion! So here is my plea for help. If you or anyone you know fits the critera and wouldn't mind taking my 15-20 minute survey, I would greatly appreciate it!! (Using Survey Monkey does keep it completely anonymous) Here is the info...

COMPANION ANIMAL GRIEF STUDY

 I am a doctoral student at Argosy University in Clinical Psychology and am seeking participants for my dissertation examining grief following the loss of a companion animal.

 You may qualify if you meet the following criteria;

·      You have experienced the death of a companion dog within the past 5 years.

·      You have attended therapy following that loss.

·      You are over the age of 18.

 Participation is completely anonymous and is conducted strictly online. It will only take about 20-30 minutes of your time. Participation will include a chance at winning one of 2 $50 gift cards of your choice from giftcertificates.com!

*Please contact CAgrief@gmail.com*

Thank you in advance for your time.