I suppose it's all in our perspective huh? I have days where I think "Oh it would be so awesome to be able to get a massage every day or have a personal chef" because that's what I consider to be a 'luxury'.
But to others having enough money at the end of the month to buy something that isn't a 'necessity' for living is a luxury. And still there are others who have so much that the only thing they consider a luxury anymore is having 3 lake houses and a winter home instead of just 1!
Life has been hard these last few months. I've complained, whined, been hurt, hurt others, worried, been anxious and down right terrified of where in the world MY world is headed. More times than I can count I have thought the words "If only______". But that's not really productive thinking. Dreaming about winning the lottery and running away to Ireland (yes...I dream that) isn't going to get my life on track. It will only distract me from my woes for a moment.
I could say "If Only" until my face turns blue and Panera starts actually cooking their eggs all the way (less than impressed with my breakfast today...) but I'm not going to magically wake up and find my life to be all easy and peachy and princess-y. I have to remember to make my RIGHT NOW easy and peachy and princess-y.
Perspective.
I need to find me some!
God created this life for me to live and learn and grow in. I need to get to thanking Him for it and start ENJOYING IT!!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Monday, November 14, 2011
Wine vs. Whine.....
There are few things in life that are better than a wonderfully amazing glass of wine after a hard day of work.
VERY. FEW. THINGS.
Tonight I caught myself feeling guilty about indulging in one of my favorite Monday evening passtimes.
Why you might ask? Well the list started something like this...
How many calories are in a glass of wine?? How many dollars does a glass of wine cost?? It doesn't even really go that well with the meal...because you can't afford really great wine....because you are a working crazy lady.
And so on and so forth....
Until low and behold I logged into my own blog and remembered....Ahem....this is Happily Ever After...DUH.
So, I'm enjoying my wine in peace. White wine to be exact. To go with the wonderful dinner of a fish salad, prepared home made by the prince of my kingdom.
You know why I'm enjoying it? Because princesses get to drink whatever they want. Calories don't count. And we're rich (even if we're only rich in happiness...) :)
So if I'm feeling a bit worn and tired after a long day, I will enjoy a glass (or two) of amazing (and cheap...) wine.
For now and forever ever after!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Patience? Psh...
One of the biggest undertakings when trying to totally re-vamp one's way of thinking is being patient enough to actually do it.
As most of my minions (wonderfully patient people who put up with me on a regular basis...) would agree, patience is not a quality that the Good Lord granted me an abundance of. Of course, another popular theory is just that I am lazy and don't try to be patient. I'll leave that one out in the Universe...lazy is in the eye of the beholder...
BUT I digress, back to the issue at hand. Patience. The whole concept of patience has always eluded me. I mean, when you get down to it, having to wait for things to come to you or to happen to you goes against every particle of our selfish human nature. If I'm gonna work this hard then the reward should be instantaneous. Hence, the point of this blog.
The whole point is being SATISFIED with the right now, and making THE RIGHT NOW my Ever Ever After. Rather than sitting around on my tush teaching myself to be patient (at the ripe old age of 28 I'm still failing miserably at that...) and saying "it will happen...some day", I am actually just trying to embrace the here and now and love where I am.
I must confess, I totally watched The Little Mermaid a few days ago. Oh Disney...that is a rant in and of itself. Seriously, her dad had some huge rage issues and no 16 year old gets to go run off with a much older (albeit good looking) dude. Prince or not. And sea shell bras? Ummm...I can't even be confortable in an underwire for more than like 12 hours....no thanks.
But the biggest thing that stuck out at me at the end was the whole "happily ever after". I thought to myself "Really? So now what? Do they die on their honeymoon? Cause certainly that can't be the pinnacle of the very happiness of their beings for forever!! Tomorrow they are totally gonna wake up and be like ok, now what??"
Lately answering myself when I say "Now what??" has become a chore. I'm actually becoming impatient with MYSELF and how much I apparently suck at this whole finding happiness in the daily ins and outs. *sigh* If I was to allow myself to think on it then I'd probably come to the conclusion that what I really need to work on is patience....but where is the fun in that?? :) Kidding...kind of....being patient with oneself, much like being happy with oneself is fairly difficult.
In hindsight, when I started this blog I thought it was going to be really easy to catch myself in the act of complaint and finding ways to make a happy moment out of it. Looking back, I was pretty naive. It is REALLY easy to catch myself. Not as easy to derail the negativity without getting impatient with my shortcomings.
So the long and short of this random post is that today's "Now What" is unfortunately "Hey Princess....you have a patience problem....so now what are you gonna do about it??"
My answer? I'm not sure, but I'm almost positive that it lies in the act of thanking myself for correcting myself, and allowing myself to be patient with myself....
If there was any doubt up until that sentence that I am in fact, slightly crazy....well I hope that set everyone straight. The good news is:
My blog. My crazy ;) For now and Forever Ever After.
As most of my minions (wonderfully patient people who put up with me on a regular basis...) would agree, patience is not a quality that the Good Lord granted me an abundance of. Of course, another popular theory is just that I am lazy and don't try to be patient. I'll leave that one out in the Universe...lazy is in the eye of the beholder...
BUT I digress, back to the issue at hand. Patience. The whole concept of patience has always eluded me. I mean, when you get down to it, having to wait for things to come to you or to happen to you goes against every particle of our selfish human nature. If I'm gonna work this hard then the reward should be instantaneous. Hence, the point of this blog.
The whole point is being SATISFIED with the right now, and making THE RIGHT NOW my Ever Ever After. Rather than sitting around on my tush teaching myself to be patient (at the ripe old age of 28 I'm still failing miserably at that...) and saying "it will happen...some day", I am actually just trying to embrace the here and now and love where I am.
I must confess, I totally watched The Little Mermaid a few days ago. Oh Disney...that is a rant in and of itself. Seriously, her dad had some huge rage issues and no 16 year old gets to go run off with a much older (albeit good looking) dude. Prince or not. And sea shell bras? Ummm...I can't even be confortable in an underwire for more than like 12 hours....no thanks.
But the biggest thing that stuck out at me at the end was the whole "happily ever after". I thought to myself "Really? So now what? Do they die on their honeymoon? Cause certainly that can't be the pinnacle of the very happiness of their beings for forever!! Tomorrow they are totally gonna wake up and be like ok, now what??"
Lately answering myself when I say "Now what??" has become a chore. I'm actually becoming impatient with MYSELF and how much I apparently suck at this whole finding happiness in the daily ins and outs. *sigh* If I was to allow myself to think on it then I'd probably come to the conclusion that what I really need to work on is patience....but where is the fun in that?? :) Kidding...kind of....being patient with oneself, much like being happy with oneself is fairly difficult.
In hindsight, when I started this blog I thought it was going to be really easy to catch myself in the act of complaint and finding ways to make a happy moment out of it. Looking back, I was pretty naive. It is REALLY easy to catch myself. Not as easy to derail the negativity without getting impatient with my shortcomings.
So the long and short of this random post is that today's "Now What" is unfortunately "Hey Princess....you have a patience problem....so now what are you gonna do about it??"
My answer? I'm not sure, but I'm almost positive that it lies in the act of thanking myself for correcting myself, and allowing myself to be patient with myself....
If there was any doubt up until that sentence that I am in fact, slightly crazy....well I hope that set everyone straight. The good news is:
My blog. My crazy ;) For now and Forever Ever After.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Princesses Work?
I think the biggest hurdle in embracing this whole "this is my happily ever after" mentality so far is the fact that I have a lot of plans. I have a lot of dreams and activities and plans and plans and plans (I'm slightly neurotic about planning...) of things I want to do.
With each day that passes I have more and more things I want to do, and it seems less and less time to do them in. And at the end of the day the only culprit standing between me and everything I think I want is this one slightly major ordeal called WORK. A job. My job. Or should I say my JOBS.
This princess works 3 jobs right now. She has her big kid job that she went to college for, her part time job during the week, and her part time job on the weekends. It seems at times there is nothing to live for except for work.
But do I complain? Oh you bet your ass I do....which is a problem. Because the cool thing about embracing this reality as My Happily Ever After is you actually have to think about WHY you do things. Why you do or don't like things.
In the middle of a long shift this weekend I caught myself thinking "Good Lord what am I doing in here on such a beautiful day off??" And I was immediately depressed. I mean, I'm sure rich people (like princesses...) don't have to work like this. I am such a slave to this whole MONEY ordeal. Poor poor me.
And then, once again I caught myself mid-complaint. I had to remind myself WHY I was working so hard.
Lets list the benefits shall we?
-Extra money
-Paying bills on time
-Paying off debt faster (hello Dave Ramsey - which is another post all to itself)
-Feeling secure
-Being able to go out for a drink without GUILT (have I mentioned my love of red wine...)
-Emergency Fund (I also have a tendency to break things...)
-Gift money
And the list goes on and on and on.
Sure, someday when all my finances are in order I won't have to work AS hard. But that doesn't mean I'm ever going to get to stop working. Because that's not what princesses do. If I was ever blessed enough to be able to spend my days outside of an office or a job, I would be obligated to do something profound like find a cure for cancer. Which, by the way, qualifies as work!
So...work I will. And I will work to ENJOY the work and all that it brings to my life right now. Not the least of which is an understanding of the worth of my money and how many pizzas a gal has to deliver to fund a bottle of wine ;)
For now and for Ever Ever After.
With each day that passes I have more and more things I want to do, and it seems less and less time to do them in. And at the end of the day the only culprit standing between me and everything I think I want is this one slightly major ordeal called WORK. A job. My job. Or should I say my JOBS.
This princess works 3 jobs right now. She has her big kid job that she went to college for, her part time job during the week, and her part time job on the weekends. It seems at times there is nothing to live for except for work.
But do I complain? Oh you bet your ass I do....which is a problem. Because the cool thing about embracing this reality as My Happily Ever After is you actually have to think about WHY you do things. Why you do or don't like things.
In the middle of a long shift this weekend I caught myself thinking "Good Lord what am I doing in here on such a beautiful day off??" And I was immediately depressed. I mean, I'm sure rich people (like princesses...) don't have to work like this. I am such a slave to this whole MONEY ordeal. Poor poor me.
And then, once again I caught myself mid-complaint. I had to remind myself WHY I was working so hard.
Lets list the benefits shall we?
-Extra money
-Paying bills on time
-Paying off debt faster (hello Dave Ramsey - which is another post all to itself)
-Feeling secure
-Being able to go out for a drink without GUILT (have I mentioned my love of red wine...)
-Emergency Fund (I also have a tendency to break things...)
-Gift money
And the list goes on and on and on.
Sure, someday when all my finances are in order I won't have to work AS hard. But that doesn't mean I'm ever going to get to stop working. Because that's not what princesses do. If I was ever blessed enough to be able to spend my days outside of an office or a job, I would be obligated to do something profound like find a cure for cancer. Which, by the way, qualifies as work!
So...work I will. And I will work to ENJOY the work and all that it brings to my life right now. Not the least of which is an understanding of the worth of my money and how many pizzas a gal has to deliver to fund a bottle of wine ;)
For now and for Ever Ever After.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Princess On The Run
So, for the first time in about 2 weeks I actually have time to sit and ponder. Well, the sitting part is probably what I have missed the most!
I woke up this morning exhausted from my week. Crazy last minute business trips, running, teaching, hustling, working, playing...if there is something I didn't do or a role I didn't play I can't remember it! This princess is tired.
When I rolled over this morning and stretched I was sore. My wonderfully adorable dogs weren't being patient. The coffee pot was not going to automatically make me anything (I never remember to set that....). And the first thing that came out of my mouth was "Oh my God I am sooooooooooo tired." And it wasn't just an observation. Imagine channeling your own personal 5 year old version of yourself, and up the whiny voice a notch or two.
That was me this morning. Who am I kidding? That's me every morning.
But this morning I admonished myself and decided I needed an attitude change. Why, dear Princess, are you so tired? Because I'm so busy and I never get a chance to rest and the whole world needs things from me and I never have a minute to just breathe!!
Crickets....
I of course, was met by silence. Mostly because I was talking to myself (don't judge), but also because that whole lightbulb thing happened. I know why I am so busy and it's certainly not because someone is holding the proverbial gun to my head. It's because I CHOOSE to be busy. Do I have to work extra jobs to survive? Nope. I could probably squeeze by. I just really like the cushion (and wine money...). Do I have to workout so much? Nope. I could probably cut back on that and just improve my diet. And who wants to go all perfect on the diet front? Not this princess! I need my chocolate fix and that glass of red wine (cheap or not) is far too important to me.
So maybe, just for today, I will try and look at being tired as a good thing. Obviously I'm not happy with exhausted, but I can work on that too. I can get more sleep, and take rests when I am pushing too hard. But being tired is a good thing! It means I'm working hard. It means I am working towards my goals. It means that at the end of the day I am giving 100% and then some. It means that I am making a difference in my life!
I am chasing after that Happily Ever After and I am achieving it. Which is freaking awesome.
I am a tired Princess...because I am enjoying my life. For the now and for Ever Ever After.
I woke up this morning exhausted from my week. Crazy last minute business trips, running, teaching, hustling, working, playing...if there is something I didn't do or a role I didn't play I can't remember it! This princess is tired.
When I rolled over this morning and stretched I was sore. My wonderfully adorable dogs weren't being patient. The coffee pot was not going to automatically make me anything (I never remember to set that....). And the first thing that came out of my mouth was "Oh my God I am sooooooooooo tired." And it wasn't just an observation. Imagine channeling your own personal 5 year old version of yourself, and up the whiny voice a notch or two.
That was me this morning. Who am I kidding? That's me every morning.
But this morning I admonished myself and decided I needed an attitude change. Why, dear Princess, are you so tired? Because I'm so busy and I never get a chance to rest and the whole world needs things from me and I never have a minute to just breathe!!
Crickets....
I of course, was met by silence. Mostly because I was talking to myself (don't judge), but also because that whole lightbulb thing happened. I know why I am so busy and it's certainly not because someone is holding the proverbial gun to my head. It's because I CHOOSE to be busy. Do I have to work extra jobs to survive? Nope. I could probably squeeze by. I just really like the cushion (and wine money...). Do I have to workout so much? Nope. I could probably cut back on that and just improve my diet. And who wants to go all perfect on the diet front? Not this princess! I need my chocolate fix and that glass of red wine (cheap or not) is far too important to me.
So maybe, just for today, I will try and look at being tired as a good thing. Obviously I'm not happy with exhausted, but I can work on that too. I can get more sleep, and take rests when I am pushing too hard. But being tired is a good thing! It means I'm working hard. It means I am working towards my goals. It means that at the end of the day I am giving 100% and then some. It means that I am making a difference in my life!
I am chasing after that Happily Ever After and I am achieving it. Which is freaking awesome.
I am a tired Princess...because I am enjoying my life. For the now and for Ever Ever After.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Finding the Sunshine
As previously stated, I tend to be quite active. Not being blessed with a miracle metabolism I have to find a way to balance some of my favorite things (mexican food, chocolate, and wine to name a few) with my need to fit my hind parts in my jeans. And yes, if you're a female you most likely can relate to this sense of satisfaction when your ass looks great AND you know you eat things like cheesecake... :)
With this activity (and subsequent satisfaction) comes a fair amount of sweat, soreness, and sometimes a very tired body. And more often than not, I am usually complaining about it. "I'm sore today" "Man my legs are so tired" "Ugh I got up at 5am to run today!" and the list goes on and on and on.
It's safe to say that most of this complaining stems from my long standing view of Happily Ever After which mostly consisted of sitting down, laying down, and having my chocolate cake served to me in bed (by my ever so handsome prince). I mean, I've never seen Jasmine or Ariel throw down a 1/2 marathon or nurse (dare I say it...) inner thigh chafing! Needless to say in the past I have found this to be grossly unfair and it makes me want to throw rotten tomatoes at them when I watch their respective movies.
However, complaining is really obnoxious and lately I've become rather aware of it. UBER aware of it. And this last week I started really analyzing it and calling myself out on it with questions like the following:
"So, who made you get up this morning to run? Oh wait, wasn't that...YOU?"
"Well, I suppose you don't have to do these push-ups, but didn't you want to curl that glass of wine later?"
"Am I mistaken or are you the one that bought the bag of peanut butter chocolately goodness from the store?"
And lastly.."So aren't you like wearing size 4 pants when a year ago you were wearing a size 8?...."
And when you're honest with yourself (and brutally so...) you can't deny that your complaining is completely misplaced.
So instead today, while running one hell of a 10k race in the pouring rain, I tried to focus on the things I get back. The things that exercising does to make me feel more like a princess. I am healthier now than I was in high school. My booty looks wonderful in a great pair of jeans. I have bragging rights for my mileage and pace amongst my family and friends (I'm humble...but not THAT humble). I have lots of energy. And best of all...I can eat chocolate, drink wine, and enjoy an evening out without guilt.
I'll take it. I'm gonna keep reminding myself how good this feels, and I hope to keep being able to call myself a runner for Ever Ever After.
With this activity (and subsequent satisfaction) comes a fair amount of sweat, soreness, and sometimes a very tired body. And more often than not, I am usually complaining about it. "I'm sore today" "Man my legs are so tired" "Ugh I got up at 5am to run today!" and the list goes on and on and on.
It's safe to say that most of this complaining stems from my long standing view of Happily Ever After which mostly consisted of sitting down, laying down, and having my chocolate cake served to me in bed (by my ever so handsome prince). I mean, I've never seen Jasmine or Ariel throw down a 1/2 marathon or nurse (dare I say it...) inner thigh chafing! Needless to say in the past I have found this to be grossly unfair and it makes me want to throw rotten tomatoes at them when I watch their respective movies.
However, complaining is really obnoxious and lately I've become rather aware of it. UBER aware of it. And this last week I started really analyzing it and calling myself out on it with questions like the following:
"So, who made you get up this morning to run? Oh wait, wasn't that...YOU?"
"Well, I suppose you don't have to do these push-ups, but didn't you want to curl that glass of wine later?"
"Am I mistaken or are you the one that bought the bag of peanut butter chocolately goodness from the store?"
And lastly.."So aren't you like wearing size 4 pants when a year ago you were wearing a size 8?...."
And when you're honest with yourself (and brutally so...) you can't deny that your complaining is completely misplaced.
So instead today, while running one hell of a 10k race in the pouring rain, I tried to focus on the things I get back. The things that exercising does to make me feel more like a princess. I am healthier now than I was in high school. My booty looks wonderful in a great pair of jeans. I have bragging rights for my mileage and pace amongst my family and friends (I'm humble...but not THAT humble). I have lots of energy. And best of all...I can eat chocolate, drink wine, and enjoy an evening out without guilt.
I'll take it. I'm gonna keep reminding myself how good this feels, and I hope to keep being able to call myself a runner for Ever Ever After.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
A Bit of Pampering
The fact of the matter is this princess works her tush off. Because I haven't reached a place in my life where I have a personal trainer that comes to my house and a chef to cook me 3 to 5 healthy meals a day, I have to do it all by myself. Whoa is me (or so I thought...saving that for a future post).
So to keep myself feeling energized, in shape, and healthy I run and do classes and stay as active as any regular 9 to 5 -er can be.
A lot of the time though this leaves me feeling sore, and tired, and after a long day in that office chair - TENSE! My shoulders and back just screeeeeeeam at me some days. And well, once again I caught myself complaining. And once again to my wonderful surprise, I stopped mid negative thought.
I turned the thought back on myself and said, "well what are YOU doing to fix the problem??" In a perfect world (that oh so fantastical Happily Ever After I was working toward) I would have a personal massage therapist. Obviously, that person is not here.
But I thought on it, and there are little things I CAN do to stop feeling so tense all the time.
-I have access to as many free yoga classes I want
-I can stretch and drink more water
-There are these little wonderful places called massage studios where you hand people $39.95 and they hand you an hour's worth of heaven in return
And the list went on. So, I started with that last one there. Oh the massage was glorious! The therapist was strong and she knew just how to work out those tense shoulder muscles. She lectured me on stretching and water intake and overall wellness. Apparently, you can't just go run 10 miles and not stretch and rest afterward...who knew??
Anyway, after a bit of pampering I felt better. And I realized that just cause I can't have a massage everyday whenever I feel like it, doesn't mean I can't do something every once in awhile to make myself feel better!!
It's all in the effort...today...and Ever Ever After.
So to keep myself feeling energized, in shape, and healthy I run and do classes and stay as active as any regular 9 to 5 -er can be.
A lot of the time though this leaves me feeling sore, and tired, and after a long day in that office chair - TENSE! My shoulders and back just screeeeeeeam at me some days. And well, once again I caught myself complaining. And once again to my wonderful surprise, I stopped mid negative thought.
I turned the thought back on myself and said, "well what are YOU doing to fix the problem??" In a perfect world (that oh so fantastical Happily Ever After I was working toward) I would have a personal massage therapist. Obviously, that person is not here.
But I thought on it, and there are little things I CAN do to stop feeling so tense all the time.
-I have access to as many free yoga classes I want
-I can stretch and drink more water
-There are these little wonderful places called massage studios where you hand people $39.95 and they hand you an hour's worth of heaven in return
And the list went on. So, I started with that last one there. Oh the massage was glorious! The therapist was strong and she knew just how to work out those tense shoulder muscles. She lectured me on stretching and water intake and overall wellness. Apparently, you can't just go run 10 miles and not stretch and rest afterward...who knew??
Anyway, after a bit of pampering I felt better. And I realized that just cause I can't have a massage everyday whenever I feel like it, doesn't mean I can't do something every once in awhile to make myself feel better!!
It's all in the effort...today...and Ever Ever After.
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