Today is Your Day to Twinkle Sparkle Glow and Shine

Today is Your Day to Twinkle Sparkle Glow Shine

Officially it’s January 1st, 2013, and with the dawn, a new year is heralded in today and officially closes the door on 2012….at least in my book.  I awoke this morning with the little ditty of Rabbit Rabbit in my head (and out my mouth) before my first sip of coffee.  I’m not taking any chances on the first day of the month AND new year!  Are you scratching your head and wondering why?  Here’s the answer!  https://misifusa.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/rabbit-rabbit/

In the meantime, I thought this was a great card to begin the new year with ~ Don’t you love the optimism of this card ~ it has the ability to make you smile and to increase your desire to continue to SHINE ON!  This is yet another year to shine for all of us!  Are you ready?  On your mark, get set and let’s Twinkle Sparkle Glow and Shine On this year!

It’s only a matter of attitude ~ a shift if you will ~ and like any habit, it’s one that you can acquire easily without much extra effort…you just have to remember that you are a shining star.  That’s it!

You shine on with your attitude, your words, your expressions and by being yourself!  Even the brightest stars may have days when we feel less than sparkly, but our light is always shining in our souls!  I would love to see us all twinkling, sparkling, glowing and shining this year!  Imagine if as a connected community we allowed our inner lights to blossom and ignite the lights in others!  We could be a fireball of enthusiastic bloggers who connect like the amazing twinkly lights of the New Year’s Ball in Times Square!  Imagine the world cheering us on as we descend next New Year’s Eve on a year filled with every type of shining moment imaginable!  Imagine the power of a community filled with love, light and individuals who’ve come together with enthusiasm, optimism and in inspiration!

So please join me this year as we travel on our Journey of Endurance ~

Igniting our inner stars to

Twinkle,

Sparkle,

Glow

and Shine On! 

Happy 2013!

xo

I Feel the LOVE ~ Blog of the Year 2012 Award!

With my surgery coming up quickly, I apologize for putting both of my stars into one post, but I would be remiss in not sending my heartfelt thanks to my dear ShareChair at  http://sharechair.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/long-overdue-award-post/ and also to sweet Marcia aka Who’s Your Granny? at http://mmeara.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/an-award-for-wyg-wow/  for nominating me for the Blog of the Year 2012 Award!  I am so honored and I appreciate their kind words about my blog!  Please make sure you get on over to see their blogs!

Now as to the award.  This is slightly different from the others as you can add extra stars to it every time someone nominates you for it.  That’s a fun variation.  Here are the rules, as explained by the creator of the award, and my nominations for other bloggers, as well.

The ‘rules’ for this award are simple:

1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award

2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.

3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)

4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them

5 You can now also join our Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience

6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

 

 

Yes – that’s right – there are stars to collect!  Unlike other awards which you can only add to your blog once – this award is different.  When you begin you will receive the ‘1 star’ award – and every time you are given this award by another blog – you can add another star!

 

There are a total of 6 stars to collect.  Which means that you can check out your favorite blogs – and even if they have already been given the award by someone else – you can still bestow it on them again and help them to reach the maximum 6 stars!

Need to know more? Check out our FAQ page

And Congratulations! on being chosen for the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award.

Nominees: Here are the 6 awards in thumbnail size for your sidebar – feel free to Right Click and save any of the images on this page:

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Okay, now to fulfill the only real rule for receiving the award–my nominations for Blog of the Year.  Hope you have time to collect all six stars before the year is up! I am sure you will because these are awesome bloggers! Hugs to all of you! 

http://deepandwonderfulthoughts.wordpress.com/

http://womenswindow.com/

http://inspired2ignite.com/

http://enchantedseashells.com/

http://sharingmemyselfandi.wordpress.com/

http://momentumofjoy.com/

http://evatenter.wordpress.com/

http://sharechair.wordpress.com/

http://marciameara.wordpress.com/

http://letlifeinpractices.com/

http://russtowne.com/

http://thoughtsfromanamericanwoman.wordpress.com/

http://elisacashiola.com/

http://help-me-rhonda.com/

http://russelrayphotos2.com/

http://davidkanigan.com/

http://brainsnorts.wordpress.com/

Please check them out as they are sure to become favorites in your Reader!

Shine On my friends!

Congratulations to YOU!

xo

Gratitude Day 5

You are a real treasure in my life. A constant source of Joy and Happiness.

To My Dearest Son,

I cannot believe that today is your 14th birthday.  It seems like just yesterday you were born and our lives changed for the better in an instant!  You are an amazing young man and we feel so blessed to know and to love you.  We are so very proud of you and we are so proud to be your parents!  You are everything we ever wanted in a son and more!  My heart fills with happiness every morning when I hug you good morning and I love watching you as you go about your day ~ I love how kind, loving, caring and beautiful you are both inside and out ~ you are handsome, intelligent, compassionate and athletic.  Your gracefulness in how you treat others and how you move throughout your day is astounding to me.  With such amazing ease, you travel your days and nights and I am so blessed to watch as you live your life in such a loving way.   I love to hear about your day when you get home from school and I am grateful that we can chat like friends and like Mom and Son…I love that you share your day with me and that we can talk about anything.  I love that you have built friendships with many different people and that you are friendly to everyone.  I love that every night when we kiss and hug goodnight, I now have to put my head on your shoulder…I am amazed how fast you’ve grown up and I am proud of who you are!  I was so happy to make your favorite meal last night which was one of my meals…I was so happy that you like my cooking!  I am very excited today to celebrate your birthday with you ~ and have our entire family together to celebrate YOU!  What a beautiful day it is today!  The sun is shining, the weather is perfect ~ all is as it should be in order to celebrate YOU!  You continue to make us so proud of you in everything that you do…thank you for being our perfect son!   We love you with all of our hearts for always and forever!  xoxo

I hope this says it all…I always believed in praising my children and disciplining them as well…but I always want them to know how special they are to me and how much they can make a difference in life by being kind.  I am very blessed to have such amazing children and during this period of time, I thought it appropriate to be grateful for them!  So here it is!

Have you told your family how grateful you are for them?  Perhaps today’s the day?

Have a grateful Sunday!

xo

100 Posts ~ Gratitude Goal!

Thank You!

Today celebrates my 100th post on my blog and I want to begin by thanking all of my readers.  I started this blog to reach out to others, to inspire, to be of service and to spread the knowledge I’ve gained through my life experiences.  Using cards as my springboard, I’ve tried to bring an inspiring message to you with every post.

I’ve had a bit of time to think lately as I’ve been recuperating and I’ve come up with a goal that I am hoping you might want to participate in.  I’ve been talking a lot about gratitude these days and I’ve got a lot to be grateful for in my life…and I’ve a lot of people to be grateful for in my life.  I’ve written a ton of thank you notes recently as many people have come to the aid of my family and me by bringing dinner over, sending flowers, sending little gifts in the mail, sending prayer cards and even just sending ‘thinking of you’ cards which have brightened my every day.  Truly I am blessed.  I loved getting that unexpected card in the mail among the bills and junk mail.  My eyes lit up every time someone brought me an envelope with my name on it because to me, it was like a little piece of Heaven…you thought of me enough to pick out a card, write a heartfelt message, address, stamp and mail it to me so that I could have something special to open…how fantastic is that!

There are many books out now, like The Magic, which reiterate that we should be grateful, be cognizant of the blessings we have already and as you concentrate on those multitude of blessings that you already have, more come your way.  I agree with counting your blessings and living a life of gratitude.  I’ve kept a gratitude journal a la Oprah which has helped to keep my positivity in check…and has grown my blessings and miracles enormously.

But I’m finding that I want to do more, globally and reach out to others with that gratitude.  A smile, a polite thank you in our daily lives to those who show us kindnesses is one way to show gratitude, but what if we were to take it a step further and say it…say thank you with a card…a heartfelt message to someone to whom you are grateful?  Imagine the amazing benefits to you and to the recipient if you were to write a heartfelt message of gratitude to a friend and the priceless feelings it would give that person when they opened a special card from you saying thank you.

Maya Angelou wrote,

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

My goal is to send a heartfelt card a day to someone whom I am grateful for ~ I’m going to do it for 30 days ~ a card a day.   I will post my journey each day so that you come along with me.  I’d love for you to join me as my goal is to get 100 people to send a card a day for 30 days.  Imagine what we could do by sending out love & gratitude  everyday for 30 days to 30 different people?  Imagine the impact it would make on our little world…of course, my mind races with what if’s…what if 1000 people did it for 30 days and so on…

If you’re interested in joining me, let me know…it’ll cost about $1 a day, you can do it from you computer and you may even change your life…what if we started a movement of gratitude?  A wave of gratitude which knows no bounds…

Join me on this journey…let’s change the world, one card at a time…

Thank you for reading my blog…I am grateful to all of you!

xo

The Key to Success…

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. ~Bill Cosby

I just liked this one today so I thought I’d share…let this quote sink in a bit.  Isn’t it amazing that sometimes when you are desperately trying to please everyone (and not yourself) that you find that you’re not pleasing anyone at all ~ even when you’re giving your best?

I think it’s interesting how we sometimes put others’ needs and wants ahead of our own…and end up with the short end of the stick so to say…and yet, when we do put our needs first, sometimes we’re labeled selfish or uncaring.   I think it’s just what others are used to when you’ve been a certain way for most of your life…or when they think they know you, but they really don’t.

To me, Success is…being the best me I can be by being kind to others, being happy and being present in my life…I enjoy spreading sunshine with my business as well.

What is success for you?

xo

Happy Birthday…

A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words

Are you wondering what this is a picture of?  Wondering why it is Truly Beautiful?  Can you tell it’s significance? 3 18?

I made this card from the picture of the arm of a young woman I met recently.  Her tattoo intrigued me and I asked her the significance of it.  She told me that it is the birthday of her Mom ~ March 18th ~ and that she had it tattooed on her arm because her Mom is so important to her in her life.

As you know I love to connect with others and when I saw her unusual tattoo, I was astounded that it was my birthday that she had across her forearm.  I found it so interesting that I asked if I could take a picture and post it on my blog.  Thanks KAngel!

I always enjoy listening to others and their stories…and their reasons for their tattoos.  I don’t have any of my own, but it doesn’t change the fact that if I see your interesting one, I won’t stop myself from asking you about it as I feel that if you’ve felt it’s important enough to tattoo on yourself, then it’s important enough and perhaps you’d like to share.

Which brings me to birthdays…I love my birthday!  Truly I do!  I think that it’s important to celebrate every year that you are here!  I enjoy quiet reflection for what’s happened the past year, making personal goals for the coming year and I give thanks for all that has happened in my life since my last birthday to bring me to this day.  Usually my goals are simple and as the year progresses, they evolve as circumstances pop up.  I re-evaluate my life and what I’d like to do with it ~ what I really want and how I can better serve and connect with my family, friends, loved ones and others.

One year gives you 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes ,and 31,536,000 seconds ~ imagine what you can accomplish with all that time on your hands?  Even minusing sleep time in a year ~ 8 hrs a night?  Still gives you 5,840 hours in which to live what you’ve been dreaming of…and what is that?  What are you dreaming of?

I am working on my goals for the coming year ~ my inner self-goals which I think are separate from the New Year’s Resolutions.  I’ve got a few I can share ~ I’d love to hold a seminar (or two!) and pursue the power point presentations that I did last year when I was dreaming of teaching what I’ve learned…I’d love to return to my beloved Spain to tap back into my fluency again…I’d love to connect with others on an even wider scale with my business and spread a skyful of sunshine with my SendOutCards ~  I have a ton of ideas, but I do not have the necessary connections…yet!

I want to inspire survivors and others who need to know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and that they’re not alone…I want to continue to passionately pursue being a better wife, mom, sister, daughter and friend.

Just to name a few…of course, there are many more, but they are private…

So when I blow out my candles on my birthday,

I will make my wishes…

and one of them will be that WE ALL make our wishes come true this year!

xo

I Believe in You!

It’s not how many doors are opened to you that counts,

it’s how many you’re brave enough to walk through.

As in anything in life, it’s about courage…belief in oneself, feeling that strength of someone’s belief in you, only fuel courage.

I find that as I still get tested for cancer periodically, I still battle the fear of re-occurrence.   It takes courage to go alone to the doctor’s and face the possibility of cancer, but for a few years now, I have walked in with the knowledge deep in my soul that I’ve already endured this and if I have to, I can do it again.

But it’s not so easy as you know to endure cancer or any of the situations in life that we have endured.  It takes immense self-love, patience, strength, courage, wisdom, hope and the ability to realize that we are all connected so that you can ask for help.  Because regardless of what you think, you are not alone.

I found that those who had endured a similar cancer diagnosis ‘got’ what I was talking about and with them (some of whom were complete strangers) I felt that connection immediately ~ somebody understood…but I also learned a lesson for myself.  One that I am still learning everyday.

SELF – LOVE.  I don’t mean the kind that makes your ego pump up, nor the type which keeps you self-absorbed…but the kind that allows you to treat yourself as you would your best friend, saying kind words, being hopeful and hand-holding instead of criticizing, degrading and being just plain mean to yourself.

For me, it’s a vigilance to keep that criticizing voice out of my head.  I am normally a positive person, but I can be hard on myself at times and I am working on changing that aspect.

This is a growing year for me and I am embracing the changes that it is heralding…and I hope you will as well!

The door is open my friends

Let’s walk through that door together!

xo

Have an Udderly Wonderful Day!

Have an Udderly Wonderful Day!

Sometimes I just feel silly and this is one of those days!  So bear with me if you will as I share ~

Happy MOOday!

You see SendOutCards is not just for motivational cards or cards that send heartfelt messages…it’s also about funny, happy, joyful cards that can make you laugh.  That is why I love sharing my job with you…because in these times, we can all benefit from a morning giggle…

So grab yourself a MILKshake today and let’s toast to MOOday today…

May you have the BEST WEEK!

xo

Retreat ~Relax ~Release ~Renew ~Revive ~Repeat!

There are times that I need to relax, retreat and renew…I believe that we all have these moments where we just need to ‘be’ in order to regroup, refresh and be able to return to our daily lives in order to be the best we can be…

Life flies by so quickly and at times, we get sucked up into that vortex of busy-ness and have to’s and should do’s…and we miss out on the preciousness of life.

We need to just look up and notice life, the clouds, the sun, nature…to just take a moment to breathe, to inhale the freshness of the moment and to accept that we are here, be PRESENT with the PRESENTS of Life that we are blessed with in order to receive the gifts that we deserve.

Being PRESENT is so important and I am so grateful for all of the blessings, both big and small, that I enjoy.   So I am going on a retreat…to relax, release, renew, revive and repeat…and I will not be blogging while I go tech-less for a few days…and I will return with a renewed sense of romance, research, relaxation, revival, release…

I wish you a beautiful Valentine’s Day…one where you learn to love yourself and to love all those in your life.  Renew your relationships, release your frustrations, revive your romance, relax your mind, body and soul and enjoy the Presents of Presence…

We only have today…take care to enjoy it!

xo

I LOVE YOU!

I Love You!

Happy pre-Valentine’s Day!

Make sure that in addition to telling those special people in your life that you love them,

tell YOURSELF ~ I LOVE YOU!

And know that you are loved by me as well.

xo