just write: because of you.

there's power in believing
the world can change because of you,
but it can be overwhelming
when you're not sure what to do.

and so you sit and talk about
the things that break your heart,
but you never try to change them
because you don't know where to start.

and while the thought of failure
is enough to make us all a little shy,
is there any good in thinking things can change
if you never even try?

Celebrate Life.

I'm a sucker for any holiday that comes with decorations. St. Patrick's Day? Time to break out the green. Cinco de Mayo? Time for taco night! Easter? Better get a new dress to wear to church.

The first March that Chris and I were married, he came home to find me making green drinks. They were disgusting, by the way. Some weird mix of mint and powdered sugar. But it was before I knew that not every recipe on Pinterest was fail-proof.

He didn't really understand why we needed to have green drinks. Granted, this is coming from someone who didn't even really like to celebrate Christmas before me, so obviously he had a lot to learn. I told him we didn't need green drinks, but that any reason to celebrate is a good one.

It should come as no surprise, then, that I love Valentine's Day. A holiday that is celebrated with way too much pink and chocolate and champagne and love?! Sign me up.

I know that when it comes to Valentine's Day, a lot of people are in the camp of, "It's holiday that Hallmark has exploited to trick us into thinking it's an opportunity to celebrate something we should already celebrate everyday."

And to that I say: Of course it is. 

But why not just go with it?

Now, if you're really celebrating every day with chocolates and love letters, than by all means, carry on. But since I doubt very many of us do that, why not take Valentine's Day as an opportunity to celebrate life? After all, you should be in love with your life, if nothing else.

So this week, celebrate. Make chocolate-covered strawberries. Give a cheesy card. Get sucked into buying something pink and love-themed. Make dinner reservations for Sunday night. Or stay in and cook something special. Buy overpriced candy and flowers. Just celebrate the day of love.

And when that's over, keep celebrating. Celebrate life. The Mondays and the Thursdays that may feel mundane, but are really reminders that you are alive, and are opportunities to celebrate that.

Celebrate your marriage, your friends, yourself. Celebrate that it's Tuesday and the sun is shining. That your car started and you made it to work on time. Celebrate the cheesy holidays with the decorations and cards and presents. Celebrate that you're alive, that you're happy.

This is life. It's your only one. It should be celebrated. 

A Cup of Coffee and A Blank Page.

Most anything I write ends up in some sort of digital format. Blog posts and poems and stories and ideas...they all end up either displayed on the internet or living in a Word document on my computer. But almost everything is written down in a notebook first. Good old-fashioned pen and paper just inspire me in a way that a glowing screen can't quite do.

There are few things I love more than having a quiet moment with a cup of coffee and a blank page. Cozying up with a warm mug and looking at a story that hasn't been told yet, a to-do list that hasn't been planned, a blog post that has yet to be written. Blank pages hold so much promise because you can fill them with whatever you want. They hold the potential of every single word that has ever lived inside of you.

A jolt of caffeine and a blank page make me feel refreshed. Like I can do anything.

I hope today is a cup of coffee and a blank page for you. That instead of begrudgingly making your way through the day, you see it for the wealth of promise and potential that it is. That you feel electrified and inspired and know that you can do just about anything.

Happy Monday, friends. Let's do this.

30 Things to Say Yes to For The Best Year of Your Life.

1. Waking up 15 minutes earlier to enjoy a cup of coffee. 

2. Actually listening to the answer when you ask, "How are you?" 

3. Saying what you want. In the mood for mexican food? Say so, instead of saying, "Oh, whatever is good with me."

4. Chasing your small dreams, even if you think they're silly. 

5. Getting rid of anything you don't love. 

6. Drinking more water. 

7. Unwinding at the end of a busy day. Too often we go from a busy day at work -> running errands -> knocking things off our to-do list at home -> responding to emails in bed -> passing out for a few hours before repeating the whole thing. Take a little break and unwind, instead. Take a walk, have a glass of wine, take a bubble bath. 

8. Being present. 

9. Wearing whatever the heck you want. Is it in style? Who cares! Are you standing out? Who cares! Not you, because you're too busy looking fantastic. 

10. A second cup of coffee. And sometimes a third.

11. Saying "I love you" more often. 

12. Cleaning out your car every once in a while.

13. Bringing up what you're upset about as soon as it upsets you instead of letting it fester for weeks. 

14. Choosing to love your life how it is, right now, right where you are. 

15. Making kindness your first reaction. 

16. Staying up late sometimes, just to talk about life. 

17. Going to bed early sometimes to catch up on sleep. 

18. Finding a lipstick you think you look great in and wearing it all the time.

19. Getting dressed up for work. Or a trip to the grocery store. Or wherever it is you're heading on any given Tuesday.

20. Anything that makes you feel like you've found the reason why you're alive.

21. Trying new things. 

22. Getting outside more. 

23. Being content with what you have.

24. Being unapologetic about how you choose to spend your time. 

25. Shopping your own closet.

26. Changing the things you don't like about your life. 

27. Trying to live a healthy lifestyle.

28. Leaving your phone behind every now and then. 

29. Being thankful every single day. 

30. Being unafraid to just be who you are.

What have you said yes to that has made your life better?

How Do You Measure What's Really Important?

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon on the rooftop, hanging out with Jack. We pulled some seats close to each other, wrapped Jack up in a blanket, and just soaked up the warmer weather. And it felt so, so important.

We weren't doing anything that any to-do list would have classified as important. We weren't discussing our rank list for match (which is due in like two weeks, so expect the panic attack any day now), we weren't cleaning or studying or working or replying to emails or any of that other grownup stuff...we were just hanging out. We were enjoying warm sunshine and sipping cold drinks and looking up funny things on the internet and hanging out with our new babe and just being a family.

And it was important. I needed to just sit there and do nothing. To enjoy the fresh air and relax with the love of my life. To take a few deep breaths and snuggle my little man in the sunshine.

Jen Hatmaker posted this on her instagram a few weeks ago, and it's been bouncing around in my head ever since:

"As you move into 2016 hoping for a saner schedule that prioritizes your actual life and keeps you focused on the things that matter the most, let me share the decision-making filter my agent Curtis always gives me: "If it's not a HELL YES, then it's a no." So that medium yes, that I-feel-like-should yes, that guilty yes, that coerced yes, that I-actually-hate-this-thing yes, that I-guess-so yes, that who-else-will-do-it yes, that careless yes, that default yes, that resentful yes, that I-probably-shouldn't-but-struggle-with-boundaries yes? 

NO. Nope. 

No thank you. I am unable to commit to that this year. Thank you so much for asking, but any new yes I give right now means a no to my family and sanity. I am so flattered you asked and count on my prayers, but I am at my maximum bandwidth right now. I appreciate your work so much, but I've already committed my time and energy this year. I've loved being a part of this, but I am no longer able to continue. We are aggressively focused on x, y, and z this year, so as a family we've agreed on no new commitments. This is what I can give but won't be able to do more right now. 

Now, the things that make your heart race, your blood pump, the fire in your belly burn, your gifts to leap to life, and keep your family and home healthy and strong...the hell yeses? ALL IN, BABY."

Would it have made sense to anyone else if I had told them yesterday that sitting on a rooftop was the most important thing I did all day? Probably not. But that doesn't matter. 

Maybe it's becoming a mom, or maybe I'm just growing up and caring less what people think, but I've been thinking a lot about just how much we do because we feel like we should, like it's supposed to be important, and how much we miss out on because of it. 

So here's to saying no more often. To saying no to a mundane life that you just don't want, or to saying no to the life that has become too fast-paced for you. Here's to saying no to spending time with people just because you feel like you should. Here's to saying no to all the responsibilities you've taken on that aren't yours at all, you've just made yourself feel like they are. 

And here's to saying yes more. To saying yes to spending your time with your favorite people. To ordering pizza for dinner when you're too tired to cook. To going on spontaneous adventures and shutting the laptop off while you do so. To saying yes to the important things. 

Sometimes, the most important thing you will do with your day will be big and life-changing and you will remember it forever.

And sometimes, the most important thing you will do is sit on a rooftop, doing nothing with the loves of your life.

Only you know what's really important right now. And only you can say yes and no to the right things to make the important things happen. So do that! 

Wishing you a month full of no thank you's and many, many big, important, strong, passionate yeses.

Sometimes, You're Closer Than You Think.

A failure. That's what I felt like when it came to writing in 2015.

To be clear: I do not feel like I was a failure in 2015. I spent most of the year growing a tiny human who already means more than anything I have ever done or will ever do. But when it comes to writing, I felt like 2015 was a giant fail.

There were no late nights or early mornings spent hunched over a computer, excitedly typing like in years before. There was no marking off word count milestones on a color-coded list. There was no trip to Target to stock up on notebooks and binders and new pens for NaNoWriMo. There was no novel.

Now, to be fair, I spent most of 2015 very pregnant and very sick. But I still had high expectations for writing in 2015. I had dreams and goals that went unmet.

Or so I thought.

77,857. That's the number of words I actually wrote in 2015.

Yesterday, I added up the word count of blog posts and poems and ideas jotted down in 2015. And as the number kept getting bigger, I was shocked. That's a lot of words.

77,857 is not the word count of a failure. It is the word count of a writer. A writer who had a different kind of year than she was expecting, maybe, but a writer nonetheless.

Those 77,857 words may not have been written into a novel, but I wrote them. And that has to put me one or two steps closer to my dreams. In fact, I'd say it puts me 77,857 steps closer.

So this is just a reminder that sometimes, you're closer than you think. Even if the dream you have for your life seems incredibly far away. Even if it seems like you'll never even get the chance to try for it, since you're too busy doing things like making sure rent gets paid or taking care of your family or just surviving...chances are, if it's a dream in your heart, you're a step or two or seventy-seven thousand, eight hundred and fifty-seven closer than you think you are.

They just might be steps that look different than you thought they would, and that's okay.

Spending February: A To-Do List for Adventuring Through the Month.

There are two types of people in February: Those who acknowledge that Valentine's Day is a date on the calendar in February, and those who try their best to make the entire month about Valentine's Day. Clearly, I am the latter. 

There are 29 days this month! I hope you spend them well. As always, I have some suggestions for how to do that. 

1. Take a look at your New Years goals. It's been a month...how are you doing?

2. Make chocolate covered strawberries. 

3. Sit down with your planner and calendar and get organized. Just because it didn't happen in January doesn't mean the whole year is a wash!

4. Buy yourself flowers. 

5. Go through your closet. The stores are starting to fill up with spring clothes, but before you spend any money, go through what you already have. You never know what forgotten treasures you'll find hidden in the back of your closet!

6. Go check out the dollar spot at Target, filled with pink V-day goodness.

7. Distance yourself from your phone. You should be able to set your phone down (or even better, turn it off) for a few minutes or hours without it ruining your day. Especially if you're spending time with other people. 

8. Make Valentine's crafts. 

9. Get outside! Chances are, you spent most of January indoors, so treat yourself to some fresh air. 

10. Celebrate Valentine's Day at home. 

11. Find an at-home workout you love. 

12. Mail some Valentine's cards. 

13. Wish your lady friends a happy Galentine's Day. 

14. Celebrate Valentine's Day! Make it an all-day affair!

15. Clean out your bathroom drawers. Throw away the lipgloss you bought four years ago and are saving just in case you ever get tan enough to be able to pull off that shade of pink. 

16. Write your significant other a love letter. The cheesier, the better. 

17. Go through your emails and unsubscribe from all of the lists you mysteriously ended up on. 

18. Surprise someone with chocolates. 

19. Start thinking about who you might be voting for in November. 

20. Make an effort to smile at everyone you come in contact with for a whole day. 

21. Go the month without buying coffee outside of your house. Learn to make a really good cup at home, it's life-changing.

22. Spend some time thinking about what's really important to you. Being at home with Jack for the past two weeks has taught me that life is short, but we also do get so much time...we just have to decide how to spend it. So think about the most important things to you, and make sure the way you're spending your time reflects that. 

23. Laugh more. Lose the self-imposed pressure to be serious all the time. 

24. Think about your words. They're important and should be treated like they are. A good rule to use when you're not sure if you should speak up is to ask yourself: Does this need to be said? Does this need to be said by me? Does this need to be said by me right now? 

25. Make a workout playlist. 

26. Throw away your mugs. Do you find yourself reaching for the same few mugs every morning, but keeping 20 others "just in case you need them?" Toss 'em.

27. Re-watch the pilot (or finale!) of your favorite show.

28. Throw a "favorite things" party. Like Oprah, but better. PS: this would be a really fun date night. 

29. Spend your extra day! We have an extra day we won't get again for four years...spend it doing something fun!

How will you be spending your February?