Looking Forward.

Last year, I was talking to my dad in the middle of a BAD month. It felt like the world was falling apart and nothing was going right and I couldn't catch a break. He had a lot of good advice, but the simplest thing he said is something I've held onto and used ever since. 
Find something to look forward to. Think about that and how good it will be, and all of the sudden, your day won't seem as hard. 
He's right! Now, every week, whether it's a bad week or I'm having the best week ever, I think about all the things I'm looking forward to. And seriously, it's an instant mood booster. Not to mention a really fast way to see all you have to be thankful for. 
So, a few things I am currently looking forward to. . .
Going to see Walker Hayes tomorrow night. He's one of my favorites! First concert of the year, and I'm so excited. 
S U M M E R. I love fall. I love Christmas. But summer has my whole heart. Pool days and watermelon and the ocean and cutoffs and bikinis...be still my heart. 
More days at Universal. The older Jack gets, the more fun it is to take him to Universal.  
Beach days. Hopefully lots of them.
Getting Jack new clothes. I noticed this week that Jack is growing out of most of his clothes, and I'm so excited to get him new stuff. Toddler clothes are the cutest thing in the whole world. I bought him a bunch of new stuff last summer and it made me entirely too happy. 
The library books waiting on me to read them. My passenger seat is currently full of about ten library books that I'm so excited to dig into.
The sushi I'm going to eat on Saturday. I've been craving sushi all week, and Saturday is my day. Is there anything better than satisfying a food craving? 
More walks. Jack & I went on a walk with our neighbors the other night and it was SO nice. It'll start staying light later and that means more evening walks and sunset walks. 
Tell me something you're looking forward to right now, big or small. 

Give The Good Some Airtime.

I'd venture to say last week was a heavy week for almost everyone. The damage this hurricane has caused is truly awful. The political climate is  r o u g h. Just lots of heavy, hard things. 
I posted on instagram a little while ago about giving the good airtime. The general gist being that if you're going to call out the bad, call out the good, too. 
I used to think that focusing on little happy things when big bad things were happening meant you were being insensitive, or naive. Now, I think it means you're trying your best to survive the hard things. 
You know how when you spend time with a friend who is negative, you leave and just feel exhausted? Like when someone only says the bad things out loud over and over, it's so draining? I think we (unintentionally) create that environment for ourselves sometimes. 
We do a realllllly good job of giving the bad airtime. We complain (out loud) about things as simple as getting caught by red lights, our alarm not going off, the grocery store being out of something we needed. We say things like I'm so tired and longest day ever over and over. And you know, that's fine! That's life. But if we're gonna give the small, not so great things so much airtime, we owe the small good things the same. 
So, in the spirit of giving the good some airtime: 
It was 53 degrees when I woke up on Saturday. MAGICAL.
Fall TV is back on. Has anyone watched Manifest?! It's so good! 
I have some really, really good friends. A close friend of mine texted me on Thursday that she was having a bad day and just wanted to come over and sit in my backyard. So we did, and it was the best afternoon. And it reminded me of how much of a blessing it is to have people in my life that I can just sit outside with and talk about life and it fill me up so much.
It's pumpkin patch season.  AKA I'm in tears over how much I love Jack because he is SO DANG CUTE and something about kids around pumpkins just melts me. 
I'm in the middle of a hilarious good book. Like, I want to skip all my responsibilities today and just read it. That's how you know it's a good one. 
Your turn! Tell me one good thing (or seven good things or every good thing - just give them some airtime!)  

Life is Far Too Short to Be Anything Other Than Deliriously Happy.

shirt Some of my favorite blog comments are when someone mentions my positivity. I'm an eternal optimist and always have been, but I still try really hard to make sure my life is a happy place. I think making an effort to be a positive person is something that can make your life exponentially better. Every now and then I'll get someone asking how or why I'm so positive, and ever so often I'll get an email saying my blog would feel a bit more authentic if I didn't include happiness in every post. 
I know I've talked a lot about Jack and being tired, but I really like writing about real life, and that's where we're at right now. Anyway, he had a rough morning a few days ago, waking up at 4:00 and just screaming and screaming no matter what. Chris was up with him for an hour before I tagged in, and as I sat in the dark with him in his nursery, I felt so tired and frustrated and a little bit helpless. When your babe who can't use words yet just screams and screams and you can't figure out what's wrong, it can push you right to the edge of crazy. 
But then, he slowly calmed down, and his little body collapsed against mine as I rocked him to sleep, and he let out this tiny, sweet little yawn and snuggled his head into my neck. And in a single moment, such pure, straight up happiness just overcame me. 
I thought it was the perfect metephor for the rest of life, too. Sometimes it's hard and can make you a little crazy, but underneath all of that, there's happiness. 
We get this one life..and it's filled with good and bad and heartbreak and love and ups and downs, but at the end of the day (or first thing in the morning), there is so much to be happy about. There is so much happiness. Pure, wonderful, delirious happiness. 
So to answer your questions about being positive: I think life is too short to not be happy. If you're alive right now, I guarantee you have reasons to be happy. Mine are named Jack and Chris. Mine are good books and sunshine and backyards and pumpkin creamer. Mine are too many to name. What are yours? 

Be Someone's Cheerleader.

There's not much that feels better than knowing you have someone on your team. Better yet, knowing that you have someone on your team no matter what. That's one of my favorite things about marriage-knowing that no matter what happens and no matter what I do or if I fail or anything else, Chris is going to be on my team.

If you had the privilege of growing up in a good family, or you have a group of friends that have become your family, you know what I mean. They're your team, and they aren't going to turn on you when you make a mistake.

There's something about that knowledge that gives you so much confidence. It's a beautiful gift. And it's a gift I think we should give to others whenever possible.

Sure, you can't give everyone you meet the gift of having a permanent teammate who's always going to be on their side (although, if it's someone in your life for the long-haul, you definitely should), but you can give them the gift of being encouraging. Of being their cheerleader.

Your friends, your family, your acquaintances...I doubt there's anyone in your life who wouldn't benefit from being told that they can do it, that you do believe in them, that you think they're amazing.

Because really, doesn't it feel great when someone does that for you?

So be someone's cheerleader today. This week. This month. Choose to tell someone how great they are, how successful they're going to be, how much you admire their efforts. Choose to silence the negative and yell out the positive. It truly can make the biggest difference.

Ps: Please understand I may be a bit slow in getting back to you as I'm either about to have a baby//currently having a baby//have just had a baby. I wanted to keep things going on my blog, but it may take a bit to get back into the swing of things since I'm, you know, bringing a human into the world and all. xo

lemons + lemonade.

Life is going to throw you days that really suck. 

I pride myself in being a really positive person and always focusing on the good in things. 

But sometimes, there are going to be days, or weeks, or months that just totally suck. 

You heard it here, from the girl laid up in bed with her face and neck covered in Benadryl cream due to some mystery sickness.

And that's okay. 

I'm learning it doesn't make you any less of a positive person to look at a day or week or month and just think, "yeah, that was terrible." 

Because that's life. 

But I'm also learning to be really thankful for all the good days and weeks and months, because there are a heck a lot of those, and they blow the bad days totally out of the water. 

This month has been so bad at times that I've wanted to scream "ARE YOU KIDDING ME SEPTEMBER?!" on quite a few occasions, but it's also been freaking fantastic. 

I've spent a lot of time up here, and learned that it's a really cool place to hang out right before it storms:

I've spent a lot of time snuggling with this guy:

And really, any month where this happened can't be classified as a bad month:

There's been a lot of blurry car-selfies:

And a lot of late nights trying our best to act our age instead of going to sleep at 8:30 like our bodies are desperately telling us to do: 

So yeah, this month has kind of sucked. It's been full of car wrecks and sickness and crazy unexpected bills and broken down vehicles and mean people and crappy days that you just have to cry about.

But it's also been full of family and friends and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. It's been full of squeezing in date nights with the love of my life and early mornings laughing together about how deliriously tired we are. It's been full of sunsets and sunrises and cheers and dancing and remembering just how much of a privilege it is to be alive.

Sometimes life gives you lemons. And when that happens, it's really important to stop and remember all the times that life gave you lemonade. 

So bring it on. The lemons and the lemonade. Because life, no matter how full of days that make you want to scream, is really, really, really freaking beautiful. And that's worth remembering.

Has your month been full of lemons or lemonade?