For Andy...

This Saturday I proudly watched you cross the finish line of your first half marathon~ I want you to know how proud I am of you!! Your strength and dedication is such an inspiration to me.
It just goes to show that we are all capable of things we have yet dreamed of doing...
I cannot wait to see what you will take on next! Congratulations on such an amazing accomplishment sweet friend!

Brain Cancer Walk 2013

It is that time of year again.
Time to join together to help raise awareness in the fight to end brain cancer.
The walk is on Monday May 27th, Memorial day~
If you go to sign up make sure to "register for an event" instead of making a donation so that you actually get set up to run/walk it. And sign up for the team Rena's dragonflies :)
If you are not able to walk with us and would like to donate just click "make a donation" next to our team name.
Brain Cancer Walk registration

We walk for our beautiful mom, Rena...
We love you mom!!

...cherish this life...

About three years ago I started this blog as a place to keep myself accountable to continue living after the death of my beautiful mom. That time in my life was devastating to say the least and thanks to the support of my wonderful family and friends I was reminded of why we live even when times feel so very hard. This blog helped me share some of the things I was doing in order to remain alive in every sense of the word. From the little things like learning to cook, taking a sewing class, running my first 5k, to the bigger things, spending more time with the people I love, setting some bigger goals like running the half marathon, to traveling more and experiencing the world. I want to apologize for the past few months and my posts that show more of an inner struggle. My intention with this blog is to be able to be myself and share things from my heart so I felt ok about sharing some of the dark stuff too.
Though I know in the beginning it was maybe more a place that people came to see good, happy, positive posts on life. The past few months I know it has not been a place of inspiration. Part of who I want to be and the journey that I long for is to be a person that inspires. Life is short and we all have so many struggles that we deal with in our lives. I vow to share more positivity and less inner struggle so that this becomes a place that you can come to for little reminders of how amazing this beautiful life really is. Thank you for sticking through with me if there are any of you that still come around here. Thank you for your support over the past three years, it means so very much to me.

Source: sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net via Tiffany on Pinterest

Dear funk....

Dear Funk~
I am letting you go now. You have been around for too long and while I am sure I needed to take a step back and look at things in my life, I am done with the funk part. You kept me warm this winter by keeping me from leaving my bed if I did not need to. I appreciate your comfort at times, but I am ready to move forward without you, dear funk, and get myself back to who I long to be, back to where I need myself to be~
So thank you for your time, Funk.
The sun is ready to shine and I am moving on.
No longer yours,
Tiffany

(cell phone photos)

Music sharing...

It's time to share some more great music. A good friend of mine introduced me to Nick Drake recently ~ thought I would share him with you~



He reminds me so much of one of my other favorites...
Alexi Murdoch...
I had not seen this exact video before, but oh how I love this song....

Another one just because I love his voice and lyrics sooooo much, it gives me chills.....

....welcome March....

I am welcoming March with open arms this year. I feel like I am ready for Spring and sunshine more than ever before. This Winter proved to be a difficult one for me. Lots of snow and freezing cold days, inversion and sunless months, long days and sleepless nights....I seemed to be wearing a cloak of sorrow for a few months that I simply could not shake. The past ten days or so have seemed to lighten a lot. This morning I could see the sunlight peeking though my blinds ~ The warm light was a welcomed sight and I got out of bed with a new outlook. A familiar one that seemed to be hidden in some darkness. Today I put my running shoes on, unzipped and removed my heavy coat of excuses and ran! I ran to the park where I met my friend Rachelle and we walked and talked for a while, then I ran back home. It felt great. So liberating to be able to feel like myself in a small way again. It is strange how sometimes you can feel so lost, so sad and down and almost not even realize how low you had been until you have a few days that feel good again.
Spring is coming and I am ecstatic for the change...
In the weather and inside my heart and mind~

This photo may not look like much but I have not seen ground without snow for so long that even dead grass and dirt looks amazing right now...

Somedays....

I just need a kick in the butt ~ Today was that day. The beginning of the week was one of the roughest I have had in a long time. Work was so incredibly frustrating, I cried more times that day than I care to admit. I started the day feeling down and ended it feeling even worse. I think I have been having a pity party lately. I did not originally see it as that because it has felt as heavy as the earth on my chest. I have struggled to motivate and struggled even harder to want to get out of my bed or not crawl right back in it the moment I step foot in the front door. Some days I have failed at this, some days I have succeeded~ Today I was gently reminded that I have something more in me than to sit here and watch my life pass by while I wallow in sadness...There is a world out there to see, people to spend more time with, a life to live to the fullest ~ Sometimes a little "tough love" in the kindest of ways is all one needs to be reminded of what they are missing...
Andy, Thank you for your gentle reminders ~ I needed it more than you can ever know....

Source: Uploaded by user via Michael on Pinterest