Thoughtful Thursday [wk.12]

This quote is inspired by the birthdays of two people very dear to me: my father and my only niece. This weekend I'll be driving [almost] the entire width of Idaho celebrating with my loved ones. It's going to be crammed, it's going to be a little hectic, my bum might get a little sore, but I'm so happy I can be with my family! Einstein said it best:

"Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!"

~Albert Einstein

And rejoice I will! My family definitely lifts my spirits and makes me so grateful, every single day. I have to give them credit for keeping me as happy as I am!


My niece is the sweetest thing in the world. I'll come home from work to find pictures she drew and colored just for me! Drawings of tigers, lions, and jaguars; drawings of honey bees and butterflies; drawings of owls, and even dinosaurs with babies! I started putting them up on my wall and she was so happy and proud when she saw them up there! Her smile instantly makes me happy.

My niece and one of her quick drawings of the Count from Sesame Street.
(I showed her the censored Count video, hence the "beeep")

And where would I be without my dad?! I've been a daddy's girl for as long as I can remember. It's been hard these past few years being so far away from him and having to share our lives through phone calls and email. But this year I get to spend his birthday weekend with him! Maybe we'll go back out to Shoshone Falls and I can get some nice shots with my DSLR. Or maybe we'll just sit around chatting, eating veggie chips and watching movies. I don't really care what we do as long as I can share his birthday with him.

May Commitments

I'm seriously considering making this a monthly thing.

April is over and I have to admit that I fell a bit short on my commitments for the month. I managed to clear out and organize some things, and that was nice. I also kept my stress in check! Which is my biggest challenge in life, so I can't beat myself up if I fell a little short in other areas. And I think I only had one cup of coffee the whole month (that must be some sort of personal record). Easter screwed up the sugar cutback, but thankfully all of the candy is gone now!

Blossoms on a tree in my boyfriend's backyard

In May I will:
Exercise more: For real this time. I'm considering buying a bike so I have something fun to do in the afternoons (or even the mornings, if I'm feeling ambitious!) I think I'll shoot for 2-3 days a week at the local fitness club.

Be more food conscious: This can tie back into cutting back on sugar, but I want to implement overall consciousness in all of my food choices. I want to buy more local produce because the farmers markets are going to start up again soon. I'm also going to cut WAY back on my soy intake. I found this article the other day and it blew me away. I'm all about sustainability and soy is definitely NOT sustainable. I do have my own organic seeds, and I'm okay with planting and eating those, but for the most part I'm going to read labels like crazy. And use skim milk from the local dairy in my protein shakes instead of soy milk. (Speaking of protein shakes, this stuff is awesome!!)

Read more books: Self-explanitory. I had two books that I had been leisurely reading for almost a year and I finally worked through them. I didn't want to start anything new knowing I had books that needed to be finished. But now they're read and I can move on to new treasures.

Blooming bluebells

I think I'll leave it at that for now. I find that if I give myself too long of a list I won't get any of it done. I need to work on sprouting new habits instead of tackling issues all at once. And I think these things go well together. The first two do anyway. Reading just makes me insanely happy. If I think of anything else that might fit, I'll add it later on in the month!

I hope your May starts out fantastic!