...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

....set sail....

Source: inspiredbycharm.tumblr.com via Michael on Pinterest

~ love this ~

...influenster...

So a few months ago I heard about influenster from Ruthy (fellow blogger and friend, she has disabled her blog for now while finishing up school, but I will link it when she returns).
Infuenster is a site that you can sign up for and randomly they choose people and send items to sample and review. I was not sure I would ever be chosen but to my surprise I was!
 This is the fun box I received...

Kiss nails~ I don't usually put stuff on my fingernails since it always comes off but I decided to try this.  I just put them on today and application was easy, I will update with how long they last.  It says up to 10 days.

I love this brush!
Nothing ever has worked with being able to curl my hair while I blowdry so I was really hoping this would work,  but it doesn't.  However, it is a great brush and I love the blue spongy things.  When the brush is cleaned out I think it helps maintain fly-aways.

The oatmeal was delicious.  It is fairly high in calories for a small breakfast snack but when you're in a hurry and hungry it does the trick.  And it was yummy!

I did not use this coupon to buy any shoes, but the shoes on the website looked cute and were good prices.

This stuff was not so good~ It tasted like cough syrup and was hard to chug down. I had high hopes for it.  I do not think it made me feel any more energetic.  Bummer!

OMG, I LOVED this mask!!! I don't really use masks ~ but this felt great.  Once you apply it you leave it on for about 10 minutes and then wash it off, and instantly my face felt tighter and smooth.  I never had any skin reactions or breakouts from using it.  I just love it and hope to find it on the shelves locally so that I can buy some!

A few weeks later they sent me an additional package containing this book~
I have yet to read it since I have been reading another large book and have more homework these days, but I will review when I do get to reading it! ** I started it and am about 30 pages in, so far so good!

@influenster