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Showing posts with label happy to be alive because. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happy to be alive because. Show all posts

Friday, January 2, 2015

Happy to be Alive, Because: 5 Ways to be Happy in 2015.

Ready or not, 2015 is here! And no matter what your resolutions or goals or dreams for this year are, there's a pretty good chance that wanting to be happy is involved.


1. Think about the moments in 2014 when you were the happiest. Then do more of those things. If going to the pool made you happy, spend more days by the pool. If you were happiest when you were planning your best friend's wedding shower, then throw more parties. Sometimes being happy isn't as hard as we make it out to be.

2. Read more books. It's my opinion that if you don't like to read, you simply haven't found a book you like yet. One of my best friends hated reading until she tried The Fault in Our Stars, and now she's a reading machine.

So if you like to read, do more of it this year. Branch out and read books you've never heard of. Re-read old favorites. Just read. If you don't like to read, keep trying until you find a book that hooks you. This is your year to become a reader, I just know it.

3. Have clear priorities about your year. Nothing sucks the happiness out of the year like setting yourself up for failure. If you want to spend this year relaxing and having fun, great! Go for it. But don't have the idea that this is going to be the year that you chase your dreams and make big changes, and then spend the year just relaxing and having fun. Because then at some point in July, you'll wake up super frustrated at your lack of progress and convince yourself you have to wait until January to change anything.

Don't get crazy, but make a few priorities for your year, and review them every now and then.

4. Get rid of stuff you don't like.  If you don't use it or love it, get rid of it. Don't surround yourself with stuff that's not going to make you happy.

5. Take care of yourself. There's a reason that health resolutions always land on our New Year's list. I think there are two really simple ways to take care of yourself: Be more active than you were last year, and drink more water. I swear, drinking more water fixes all kinds of problems. Magic, I tell you.

Don't forget to enter the New Year giveaway!


How are you working on being happier in 2015?

Friday, December 12, 2014

Happy to be Alive, Because: Hot Cocoa Bars & Elf.


1. Christmas memories. We went to see the tree lighting last week, but ended up getting caught standing in the rain.While that normally would have been frustrating, it's hard to get mad about something when there's a gorgeous Christmas-tree all lit up like magic in front of you.

2. Hot Cocoa Bars. 


My mom and I set up a hot coco bar for a Christmas party on Tuesday, and it was adorable. And delicious.

3. Elf.


This is how we ended our weekend--with the greatest movie ever. Have you watched it this season yet?!

4. These pens. You need them. You'll love them. Buy them immediately. I got a brand new pack on Tuesday, and I can't stop journaling and making to-do lists, simply because these pens are so fantastic.

5. Christmas in love. I wrote about it yesterday, but MAN...I love spending Christmas with my partner in life. Sneaking around to hide presents from each other, having someone to share the late night drive home from Christmas parties with, and a billion other things that make my heart feel like it's just going to explode with love. Spending Christmas with my best friend is just my favorite thing in the world.

What made you happy to be alive this week?

Friday, December 5, 2014

Happy to be Alive, Because: Good Books & Christmas Trees.

1. CHRISTMAS! We're in full-blown Christmas mode over here, people! The tree is up, some presents are wrapped, Harry Connick Jr. is singing Christmas songs to me, and my penguin mug is full of peppermint mocha coffee. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

2. The Downtown Orlando tree lighting ceremony is tonight! Along with food trucks and Christmas music. Excuse me while I find my new happy place.

3. This book. I read Even in Paradise last week (because my library delivered it to my apartment, hollllaaa), and it was SO GOOD. It had a very Great Gatsby-esque feel about it, which we all know I love.

4. The song of the year mashup. I love these! I love hearing what was popular that year, and seeing the music videos all mashed together is SO cool.

5. Christmas shopping. Buying presents is one of my favorite things ever. I love it all--making lists and searching for deals and wrapping them up and trying to keep them a secret until Christmas--I just love it!

What made you happy to be alive this week?

Friday, November 21, 2014

Happy to be Alive, Because: Best. Week. Ever.


This week starts my favorite month of the entire year. I've been giddy (<--I erased that and tried to think of a different word that maybe didn't sound like a child in an early 1900's novel, but it's true--I've been straight up giddy, yo) since waking up yesterday morning because this week is going to be the best!

1. Mockingjay Tonight. This needs no explanation. I'm just really, really excited about it. 

2. THANKSGIVING. Chris and I celebrate Thanksgiving, just the two of us, on Wednesday, and it is one of my favorite days ever. Then we go see family on Thursday! So basically my heart feels as if it's going to explode for about 24 straight hours. And my stomach too, because turkey. 

3. Black Friday. I know there are a lot of opinions about black friday shopping, so if that offends you, just skip to the next one. I had never been black friday shopping until Chris took me two years ago, and I was instantly hooked. It's so much fun to drive around like crazy people together, listening to Christmas music and chugging peppermint mochas. And it's really nice when you have a tight budget--we pretty much knocked out most of our shopping in 24 hours last year!

4. I found out that my library will deliver books to your door. Megan told me about this, and it is life-changing. 

5. This morning, while watching the sunrise and drinking peppermint mochas, my word count crept over 37,000. NaNoWriMo, you've been good to me this year. 

What are your Thanksgiving plans for the week? 

Friday, November 7, 2014

Happy to be Alive, Because: Tiny Pumpkins + High Word Counts.

1. Gatsby has his own tiny pumpkin. He thinks it's the greatest thing that has ever happened to him and is carrying it around with him. I melt.


2. Toy Story 4 is happening. Buzz + Woody forever.

3. I've started planning my Christmas list and there are few things that make me happier than getting to buy other people presents. It's so exciting!

4. We carved pumpkins this week! Fall activities are approximately one billion times better when you're in love with the person you're doing them with.


However, my pumpkin was so incredibly terrible that the internet shall never ever see it.


5. I'm pretty on track with NaNoWriMo so far! I've got a little over 8,000 words done right now. If you're participating, tell me your word count! I want to know how everyone's doing!

Why are you happy to be alive this week?


Friday, October 24, 2014

Why I'm Happy to be Alive This Week.

1. This new blog design. Can we just talk about this for a second? I'm in love. It's perfect. I'm never going to stop looking at it. Sarah is an absolute genius.

2. Photo adventures with Megan.  She was supposed to do a winter-themed photo shoot for a magazine, so we drove around the sunshine state and made it look like it was winter.  So, so fun. So, so hot. I'm so thankful for adventurous friends!




3. Helene opened an Etsy shop...and it has Friday Night Lights Shirts in it. Okay, so it has Texas shirts in it. But I, along with everyone else who has watched fallen in love with FNL knows that Texas is not just a state, it's the home of Jason Street and Matt Saracen and Tami Taylor.

Now you can wear "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose" or "Texas Forever" all day long. Riggins would be proud.

4. Pumpkin carving is happening this weekend. I'm so excited!

5. It's Friday. I'm just going to leave you with this.



Friday, October 17, 2014

Oh Hey, Friday! 5 Reasons I'm Happy to be Alive This Week.


linking up with Karli for Oh Hey, Friday!

1. I had no idea so many of you would be participating in NaNoWriMo this year! I'm so excited to see how everyone does! There's really just something about trying to reach a goal while knowing so many people around you are doing the same. It's motivating!

2. This is a weekend that is really, truly off. No deadlines, no projects, just a weekend off! 

3. I finally found the pumpkin spice creamer. My no-creamer diet was going great, but then...October. We can revisit this in January.

4. Cool(er) mornings and nights. Hey, when you live in Florida, you take what you can get.

5. Feeling inspired. Which has a lot to do with it being October and NaNoWriMo coming up! And the cooler weather..and the pumpkin spice coffee..fall is just inspiring all the way around!

Why are you happy to be alive this week?

Friday, October 3, 2014

Oh Hey, Friday! 5 Reasons I'm Just Happy to be Alive Today.

today is a happy day

1. It's October. The best month ever. Coming soon: November and December. We're on the up and up, guys.

2. It's the weekend. This really needs no explanation.

3. I have a puppy (fox?) who likes to watch the sunrise. And it's just the sweetest thing. My heart is happy.

shiba inu puppy

4. I'm spending my morning under the covers, drinking coffee and making to-do lists.  If you're a to-do list junkie like me, you need to go download these immediately. If you need some ideas for your to-do list this month, click here.

5. In a few hours, the love of my life will be home. And I don't want that to ever stop being something I get excited about. We dated long distance for a long time, and I would be so incredibly happy whenever he came home or came to visit me. And I'm still happy--I'm happy that I have a person who will come home, exhausted from working, and will sit and have coffee with me and pretend he cares about the to-do lists I'm showing him. That's pretty lucky.



Why are you happy to be alive this week? Link up with Karli to talk about it!

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Happy to be Alive, Because: Dog Days & Fall Candles.


1. ^^That was the view I had while drinking my coffee yesterday morning. Not too shabby. 

2. This. Gatsby had a sleepover with his best friend, Goose, and they clearly had a lot to talk about. Gatsby thinks he weighs about 100 pounds, and Goose thinks he weighs about five. They make a good little team. 


3. This tweet:


It seriously made my day. Thanks, Jenna! 

4. It's been a really long few weeks.  Life has been really good, but I also feel like there's just been bad news after bad news after bad news. So this morning, I'm having an extra cup of coffee and spending extra time snuggling with this guy before I tackle my to-do list. It's the little things. 


5. Fall Candles are burning. My pumpkin decorations are going out today. And I may even squeeze in a trip to Hobby Lobby. Life is good in the fall, my friends. 

What made you happy to be alive this week?

Friday, August 22, 2014

Happy to be Alive, Because: FRIDAY.

I know that Fridays are meant for being happy and thankful, but this week is most definitely a contender for the worst week ever I've had in a while.

A car wreck (that I cannot wait to write about), a ticket (my first ever), a stolen credit card (Target, I love you, but you're killing me here), a 4:00 wake up call every. single. morning. (which I realize is normal for some people, but yo..I'm tired), and what I feel like are a thousand other things that have gone wrong since last Friday.

But weeks like this one are the exact reason I list out five reasons I'm happy to be alive every week.  So let's do this.

1. Friday is here. And I've never been so happy to see it. 

2. My family came to visit!



3. The pumpkin spice latte comes back into our lives on MONDAY. I know a lot of you are griping about this because you just can't be bothered to have pumpkin interrupt your summer.  To you I say:


4. On that note, I played this on repeat approximately seventeen thousand times yesterday to combat the horrible day I was having. #adultlife

5. New headbands are here! And they are super colorful.


On that note, I'm off to drown my sorrows in buckets of sunshine. It's just so much harder to have a bad day when you're tan, yes?

Linking up with karliamy to celebrate how we're all just really happy to see Friday.

Why are you happy to be alive this week?

Friday, August 8, 2014

H A P P Y F R I D A Y : vacation + new blogs.



1. After today, Chris is off for an entire week! When he normally only takes an hour or two off every day, a whole week feels like an eternity.  I am so excited!

2. I found the picture I was talking about in this post. 

so tiny and snuggly!


3. The new Pretty Lovely Littles goodies will be out in ten days! I've been finishing everything up this week, and let me tell you...I have never been so excited about new products before. These are, hands down, my favorite that have ever been in the shop.  Pssst: keep an eye out, because there may be a few pre-order items listed this weekend!

4.  Megan has started a NEW BLOG in addition to her photography blog.  She is a beautiful writer and I highly recommend following along. If not for her writing, then for the hilarious pictures she posts of her 101 pound dog who thinks he's the size of Gatsby.

5. It's Friday.  I'm drinking a cup of coffee.  The laundry is going and there are candles burning.  Sometimes it's the littlest things that make you happy to be alive.

What made you happy to be alive this week?


Friday, July 11, 2014

Happy to be Alive, Because: The Office & Coconut Coffee.


1.  Holidays that fall on Friday mean days spent on the water.  



If holidays could fall on Fridays all the time, that would be fantastic.

2.  We've started watching The Office again.  This is my first time watching the show all the way through a second time, and I had really forgotten how perfect it was.  And how the whole show is made up of really good one-liners.

The office quotes

3.  My grandparents were talking about what kind of coffee I liked, and my grandpa said, "I bet she likes coconut coffee, because that's the kind of coffee that's in her book."  To know my grandpa actually read my book just warms my heart; the fact that he remembered the coconut coffee detail just melted me.

4.  I mailed out more headbands this week than I've ever mailed in a single week before.  That makes me really happy because it means I have an excuse to keep making more.  {psst...this code is still good.}

5.  For the first time in forever, I have zero plans this weekend.  And I could not be more excited about it.

What made you happy to be alive this week?

Friday, June 27, 2014

Happy to be Alive, Because: You're Mine For Life.

23 years ago today, my favorite human being was born.  Happy birthday to my babe!


1.  I have someone to take these types of pictures with:



And these types of pictures with: 



2.  I get to wake up and see my best friend every morning.  Cliche?  Duh.  Absolutely true?  You bet.  And he brings me coffee every morning.  Boom.

3.  No matter how many times I tried to imagine what this season of life would be like (a lot of times, by the way), I never thought it would look like being married to the hardest worker who is just as passionate about my dreams as his own, living 17 stories in the sky downtown, and spending nights adventuring and then coming home to a little fox.  It's nothing like I thought it would be, in all the best ways.

4.  I get to do life with someone who knows me, pushes me, makes me laugh, brings me flowers, knows just when to bring home pizza and wine, and walks my sissy dog.  That, my friends, makes a good life.

5.  I am about to have the best weekend ever celebrating the love of my life.

Cheers to 23, my love!  It's gonna be a good one.

What made you happy to be alive this week? 

Friday, June 13, 2014

Happy to be Alive, Because: Stars, Summer, & Coffee.

1.  I saw The Fault in Our Stars.  It was beautiful.  If you're on the fence about seeing it, read this.

2.  We now live in a tiny studio apartment.  This means when I wake up, my entire apartment smells like coffee.  Which is a beautiful thing.

3.  It's officially summer.   And by that, I mean it has been officially summer to me since May.  I have no idea when summer technically starts, but since I am now an adult with no summer break, any day that is warm and free is dubbed summer.

4.  The entire fourth season of Pretty Little Liars was released on Netflix on Tuesday.  In other news, I have four episodes of Pretty Little Liars left. . .this pretty much covers my reaction to every single episode:


5.  Days of creativity.  I made a necklace this week of my favorite summer colors.


Why are you happy to be alive this week?

Thursday, June 5, 2014

The Beauty of Fiction: A Response to Criticism.

Remember when I talked about peaches and criticism?

Well, I saw my first negative review.  And since I'm writing this post, I think we can all agree that I'm not quite as far along with the whole being okay with negative feedback as I would like to be.  But, the reason this person hated my book was because it wasn't realistic enough.

And you know what?  I'm not upset about that.

Fiction is beautiful because it allows you to escape to a place where everything isn't exactly as it is in your current life.  When you read a fiction book, you're able to escape from where you are without ever leaving your couch.  And that's pretty spectacular.

Reality has a place in fiction, absolutely.  But the precise amount of reality that belongs in any given story?  I don't think that amount exists.  And truthfully, I don't think I want it to exist.

I love getting lost in a story.  And more times than not, it's a fiction book that I get lost in.  Okay, all the time.  I'm not educational enough to get lost in reading non-fiction.  And do you know why it's easy to get lost in reading fiction?  Because you know it's not true.  And somehow, by knowing that, you give yourself permission to get lost in it, and maybe even believe in it.

The book that I wrote may not be is not one-hundred percent realistic.  And I like it that way.  That is why I love fiction, and that is why I wrote fiction.

While I was writing my novel, I had the chance to speak to an accomplished novelist that I really admired.  I asked her what her biggest advice for writing a book was, and she responded, "Read.  A lot.  And then write something that you would want to read."  Such simple advice, but it struck me as genius.  I love reading fiction, I love reading YA fiction, and I love reading YA fiction that I can get lost in without it being so realistic that I stop and fact-check the story.  So that's what I wrote.

Sure, I could write a story about a girl who drools on her pillow and who wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom because she drank too much water before bed.  I could include every time she washes her clothes or changes the sheets.  I could write about a girl who doesn't go to dinner with a guy she just met, because that's not very realistic.  Yeah, I could write a book like that.

But it wouldn't be a book I would want to read.

With contemporary YA fiction, I think there's a line between reality and the magical mystery of fate that you need to land just a little on either side of.  It's different for every book, but I'm proud of how I landed on that line.  I'm proud of the balance of my story.

Because it's one I would want to read.

Do you read fiction?  Do you prefer it to be more realistic or more fictitious? 

Friday, May 23, 2014

Happy to be Alive: Books, Headbands, and Peaches.



1.  Tomorrow is moving day!  While this means that today will be crazy, I'm so looking forward to waking up in our new home on Sunday.

2.  I mailed out 58 of my books to reviewers this week!  The blog tour for my book is starting in two weeks...this means that 58 book bloggers I have never met will read and post about my book.  This is both insanely terrifying and thrilling, and I'm so excited to see what they think!


3. I made these headbands for my shop and asked Chris to take pictures of me so I could list them.  He was actually really good at it and I got to laugh a lot while listening to someone say I was pretty.  Hello, win-win.



4.  I'm working really hard on being okay with the fact that not everyone is going to like me.  This has a lot to do with the fact that I just sent 58 copies of my book to strangers.  To them, it will be 304 pages of words.  To me, it is 304 pages of three years filled with dreams and emotions and time and tears.  I'm working on being okay with the realization that there are going to be people who just don't like my book.  I was looking on pinterest (because duh, where else else do you turn when you're trying to learn a big life lesson?) and saw a quote I've heard so many times:

I'm pretty sure it's going to be a lifelong journey, but I'm going to try to remember this every are of my life.  Way easier said than done.

5.  Let us end on a wonderful note...it's a three-day weekend.  I wish you immense amounts of pool time with way too much sunshine and guacamole.

Why are you happy to be alive this week?

w h i l e   y o u ' r e   h e r e :

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Because I want to remember every single second.


Blogging is cool for a whole lot of reasons, but one of my favorite reasons is that it's pretty much an online journal that catalogs weeks and months and years.  If you have a blog, you'll be able to look back at it years later and see how your interests changed, how your dreams changed, how you changed.

Chances are, if something is big or important to you, you blog about it.  And I just really like the idea of one day being able to type in an address and see the past years of my life--pictures, emotions, gifs, and all.

This week, I have been overwhelmed by the fact that people are actually reading my book.  That's crazy to me! I mean, obviously that was the goal, but it's one thing to hope and pray and cross your fingers that something is going to happen, and a completely different thing to see something actually happen.

So here are a few texts and tweets from this week that made me stop what I was doing and just soak in the fact that this is real life.  










w h i l e   y o u ' r e   h e r e :

Monday, April 21, 2014

Because this has been the craziest week of my life.

As of today, my book has been out for a week.

My mom was at my house when my author copy came in the mail, and it was the most surreal feeling to see her flip it open to random page, because the first thing that came to my mind was, "Oh, I wrote that by the pool last year."  These are my words that I wrote down over the past few years of my life, and now anyone can buy them and hold them and put them on a shelf.

Words truly cannot express how that feels, so instead of trying--and failing--I thought we could talk about how I will forever be indebted to you if you feel inclined to support my book through any of the following ways.

R A T I N G S.  Did you buy my book?  First of all, THANK YOU.  I owe you a cupcake.  Second of all, it would be awesome if you could leave a rating on whatever site you bought it.  See those little stars next to my book?  They're just waiting on you to click on them.  Unless you hated it.  Just kidding.  But not really. 

S O C I A L.  Are we friends on twitter and instagram?  We should be.  Use #happytobealive2014 to talk about my book!  Take a picture of it, tweet a quote from it, or just say hello!  I think it's going to be super cool to be able to search that hashtag and see my book's journey.

G O O D R E A D S.  Do you have a Goodreads account?  Add my book to your to-read shelf!  And if you've read it, leave me a review on there!

R E V I E W S.  Do you talk about books on your blog?  Because that would be awesome.  Email me and we can talk about getting a book in your hands!

It's a wild and crazy and scary time.  But I'm following my dreams, and that's worth more than I know how to put into words.

Have you ever jumped all in and followed a dream of yours?


Monday, April 14, 2014

TODAY IS THE DAY: Birthday & Book Launch!

Today is the day!  After three and a half years of writing, seven months of querying, a few weeks of agonizing decision making before deciding to just go with my gut, four months of planning and changing and editing...today is the day my novel is released.  And it's also my birthday!

I am simultaneously thrilled and terrified.  I'm a whole bunch of other things too, but I think those two words sum it up best.  It is absolutely insane to me that the words I wrote that make up the story I created are now bound together in a book that anyone in the world can buy and read.  INSANE. 

I cannot see what happens with this and where this road leads.  I am so incredibly thankful for this journey, and if nothing ever comes of it, I am still so proud to have gotten to this point. 

If you have been following along on my blog, thank you.  If you've left encouraging comments or congratulatory emails, you have no idea how much that means.  If you have supported me in any way, whether that's by reading this blog or buying something from my shop or pre-ordering my book, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  You will never know how much that support means to me. 

I'm off to celebrate with the people I love more than anything in this world.  First, though, here's a giveaway of my new book!  I'll write you a special little note and mail it to you myself!

Have some cake or an extra cup of coffee today for me.  It's a good day to celebrate.