July

I have lived pain, and my life can tell: I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July and the song of crickets on summer humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives. ~ Ann Voskamp

I know it’s the coming towards the end of July, but I found this quote last night and wanted to share it with all of you.  Ann Voskamp is the author of One Thousand Gifts:  A Dare To Live Fully Right Where You Are which spent 60 weeks on the NY Times Best Seller’s List.  Although I had never heard of her before, nor have I read her books, I may be reading them soon!

Don’t neglect the perfume of wild roses, the song of crickets, the stars and rain and all that July brings.

Shine On!

xo

Shine On!

If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you made me smile, the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand. – Unknown

Is there someone you could say this to?  Do you know someone who would say it to you?  I saw this quote and had to make it a card today because I loved it so much.  It’s Friday ~ isn’t today the perfect day to say this to your loved one?  Come on, you know it would totally make their day!

In the meantime, just know this one’s for you ~ from me!

Because YOU make me smile!

My hands are full of stars!

Shine On!

xo

P.S.  Do you like this quote?  Want to make your own card?  Click here and be my guest!

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:

**********

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

Shining Soul

Pick a star up in the sky and pretend that star is me.

Shining bright with love for you, so all the world can see…

Yesterday I told you a bit about my life and how it feels to be a woman without breasts because they were taken due to breast cancer.  This is my 3rd foray into trying to have breasts again and I am blessed to have found such an amazing doctor who has changed my life with her dedication to women who have endured more than their share of heartache, pain and emotional/physical anguish.

I will honestly tell you that the road to the ‘new normal’ after having breast cancer and multiple surgeries (10th breast cancer related surgery scheduled for December, but #14 in my life) with one more for 2013, is not an easy road to endure.  It’s a road full of pot holes, disappointments, pain and yet triumph as well.  It’s a road that is best when shared with others ~ easier to share with those of us who have traveled it or are traveling it with you.  It’s not for the faint of heart although I am still known to faint at the sight of a needle even after all of the needles I’ve endured over the years.

It’s no different than life for everyone else for we are all on this journey together.  None of us escape heartache, pain and sorrow.  Perhaps you’ve not had breast cancer, but you’ve been shouldering an illness, abuse, depression, a different type of cancer or some other difficulty.  It may not be the same, but the choice is ~ you can endure it and keep taking baby steps forward or you can allow it to rule your life and not move forward.

It’s your choice my friends.  What I’ve learned though is that it’s a choice that I make everyday. 

I can choose to allow my situation bring me down and epitomize the victim role/attitude by feeling sorry for myself, by crawling inside and not taking the helping hands which are offered to me.  Or I can choose to rise from it and shine like a star!  I can use my experiences (there are many beyond breast cancer but that’s for another day) to help others, to be kind, to be understanding, to have patience…to help, to support and to guide by what I know and have gleamed from my own life.

Learning to love your own body is a lesson we all need to learn, breast cancer or not! 

Learning to love yourself for me is a life-long process.

As I thought about my post yesterday, I realized that I have old tapes playing in my head of not being enough and perhaps that’s why I’ve been having such a terrible time lately ~ and perhaps that’s why Dr. Phil and Oprah’s magazine struck such a chord in me yesterday.  My inner voice, you know, that inner strength broke free yesterday from the bonds that I’d imposed on it.  Today I feel freer, I feel more like the girl I love to be ~ the one that may give you TMI (Too Much Information), but will do so willingly if it helps even one other person because that’s my goal here on my blog.

If I can touch just one of you, help one other person to feel that they are not alone, that yes, I have experienced the same as you and I am still here…inspire you to keep taking baby steps…then I feel like I am living according to my divine purpose.  Because that’s why we are all here ~ to help each other on this journey of life.  Helping hands can be found everywhere.  We all have a story to tell…it’s up to you how you write your story!

Breasts or not, I am still a woman who can say she is blessed to have seen the darkness of life and has chosen to search for the light and found it! 

You can’t appreciate the stars if you’ve never endured the darkness! 

Shine on my friends!  Shine on!

xo

Reach for the Stars…Follow your Dreams.

Reach for the Stars…Follow your Dreams.

With all of this goal talking lately, I thought this was a great card to use for the start of the week.  What a way to begin a Monday…reaching for the stars and following my dreams!  I hope that you can palpably feel the rush of enthusiasm for the week through my post…how exciting to begin the week with such exuberance!

Perhaps you are not feeling this way this morning…or perhaps you’ve caught my goal bug and are enjoying the endless possibilities and opportunities which come with life!

If you are not feeling the adrenaline rush of dreaming big, then let me help you…take a moment and just breathe.  Stop where you are (in a safe place please) and just breathe…think about how many times a day you breathe…and do you think about it?  Probably not…yet without your breathing, you would not be here…it’s a simple task that we take for granted.  We hardly give thought to it and yet it is one of the most important things we do each and everyday, many, many times a day.

Now look up to the sky and back down to our beautiful Earth…with this amazing weather, Spring has Sprung all over early!  Marvel at the green in the blades of grass and at the beautiful buds on the trees, bushes and flowers which are beginning to grow and open to the sunshine of Spring.

Sit back, get quiet and close your eyes for a moment, let your mind drift to nothing and concentrate on your breathing.  What images and thoughts come to your head?   Daydream for a moment…what’s your ideal life like?  Imagine it, feel it, smell it, let that feeling of utter happiness envelope your brain and your being…can you feel it?

When you open your eyes, take a moment to smile and to write down your experience…now you have a start of your dream and your path to the stars…

Everything is a possibility for you…all you have to do is to believe…and you can succeed!

No grumbling about Mondays…it’s the start of a spectacular week of possibility!

Change your attitude and all about you changes…

you vibrate to a different level…

and allow your dreams come true!

xo