Despite the hot temperatures there has been plenty of wildlife for me to watch around our yard and area. There have been a number of turtles making their journey up through the trail in our backyard. I have seen deer out roaming and grazing around. And of course, there's always plenty of birds to observe. 

This morning I walked outside and found a little rabbit hopping along our trail. Luckily I saw this and was able to keep the dogs inside so there wasn't a chase involved. But it was a nice, refreshing way to start the morning. Just observing the rabbit hopping along, making his or her way through the woods. 

A few days ago I saw, in the evening, a groundhog out playing with some prairie grass down the street. It was cute to watch how it stood there grabbing at the grass. And while I know there are quite a few groundhogs around this area it is always a treat to see them. 

I love nature. There is no question that I love to be with the trees or out observing the wildlife. But for some reason it is even more special when I am at home, in the city, and that wildlife comes to me. It is a special gift when I get to be witness at home. 

I'm grateful for all the wildlife in our yard. I'm grateful to have a larger yard, despite the populous of the neighborhood, that invites wildlife. I'm even grateful for it's wild overgrowth that allows a natural habitat for these critters. I'm grateful to get to see some of the animals in their natural relaxed state of play or feeding. And I'm grateful to observe others just as they pass through. I'm grateful that for the most part the dogs and the wildlife have been kept separate. And I'm grateful to start the morning with the viewing of a little rabbit.

When was the last time you paused to observe the wildlife near you? What is your favorite wildlife to view?

May today bless us with a connection to nature. May we find safe and beautiful ways to observe the wildlife in our areas. Have a beautiful day!

It has been a while since I have been up before 4 am for the day. It's been awhile since I reached a level of frustration and exhaustion that I just wanted to curl up and cry yet didn't. It's been a while since I sat in the dark to blog my gratitude. It's been awhile since I have blogged without a picture.

Today is starting out in that fashion. I have been awake most the night and up since 3:50 am. I have a headache and my blog and photo editor, after weeks of issues, has finally reached the stage of incompatible for the moment. I am worrying about a friend, I am running through the to do list in my head, and mostly I am trying to remind myself that it is ok whether I hold it together or not. 

So what would I like to create out of this rough start today? Gratitude. I want to build this day from this moment forward as the beautiful day it has the potential to be. I may weep in release but I choose to build from joy. Today is back to the basics of gratitude.

I'm grateful to have the opportunity to interview a pediatrician today. I'm grateful for the advice I have received on what questions to ask so I can determine if this doctor can support my child in the ways my husband and I choose. I'm grateful to take this step, one step closer to having my beautiful little girl here in my arms.

I'm grateful for the journal I keep by my bed to record dreams that can also record reminders and thoughts that come up when I cannot sleep. I'm grateful to get it down on paper so I can let it go until it is time to wake... most the time, anyway. 

I'm grateful for my heart that makes me who I am. I'm grateful for the role it plays in my friendships, even when that means my heart breaks with those friends' hearts. I'm grateful for the role it plays in who I am as a coach. I'm grateful for living my life with love.

I'm grateful for a world that is always awake somewhere. I'm grateful for all the beautiful things going on in this world that we may not be hearing about every day but are happening all the same. And I'm grateful for those who are making a stand to make it a better world.

What are you grateful for today? How can you build today in gratitude? What can you do to make your corner of the world a little brighter today?

May today bless us all with the love and light to shine from our hearts. May we find gratitude in any situation and may our hearts heal from the wounds they have felt. May we all come together in love. Have a beautiful day!

For a couple days the meteorologists have been predicting rain. Friday there was and eighty percent chance but I didn't hear of anyone in the area getting it. Yesterday there was a sixty percent chance. About three miles from here it poured. My husband was at work and said his Jeep had been power washed. 

Meanwhile I was seeing my trees, flowers, and blackberry bushes struggle despite my attempts to water them every few days in this heat. And yesterday when the rumble of thunder went on for two hours while the rain seemed to all be passing south I thought perhaps something more needed done. 

My husband, ever the problem-solver, decided to turn on the sprinkler and give the yard some rain himself. While I went out to the back deck and asked Mother Nature to share a bit of that moisture. Despite the radar saying it was all passing to the south, about twenty minutes later it began to rain.

The rain was light enough at first that my husband and I were still able to sit on the deck under the trees and not get wet. It was so peaceful and beautiful sitting there watching Mother Nature's blessing raining around us and hearing the low rumbles of thunder above. As the rain picked up we gave our gratitude, turned off the sprinkler, and went inside. All in all we got about an eighth of an inch. 

Do I know that my request or my husband's guidance with the sprinkler made any difference? Perhaps not. But in my heart it reminds me of that core connection to nature. It reminds me to ask for what I need and it reminds me I am blessed and supported. Abundance is all around me.

I'm grateful to ask and have my request answered. I'm grateful for methods of watering when Mother Nature is providing somewhere else. I'm grateful the clouds shifted last night and brought some rain our way. I'm grateful to see the droplets still sitting on leaves. And I'm grateful for the serene and beautiful time spent out on the deck with my husband just listening to the blessings all around us. I am nature's child and I'm so grateful for this connection.

What have you been needing lately? Have you allowed yourself to ask for it? What abundance has showed up in your life recently?

May today bless us all with the ability to see the gifts around us. May we feel the connection to Mother Nature. Have a beautiful day!

Generosity is a word most people recognize as positive. Most of us try to be generous in one way or another. Some do this through volunteering, others through donating money, and others by giving discounts or choosing a job that fulfills this need within them. 

Yesterday I was at a business networking lunch and they had one of the top people of the chapter come speak to the topic of generosity. He shared a beautiful story about his wife, about business partners he had met along the way that had showed generosity, and about how he tries to exhibit this trait as well. It was an inspiring speech.

It got me thinking, how can I be more generous in my business and in life? This blog is not a place for me to list the things I feel I do or could do that are generous. It is a place for me to express my gratitude and hopefully give those who read an uplifting moment in their day. But I will say that this speech inspired me to take another look at where generosity could so easily fit into my life.

I'm so grateful for this topic and the speech I had the pleasure of listening to yesterday. I'm grateful to have taken the time to attend. I'm grateful for a topic that stayed on my mind, inspiring me to reach for more. And I'm grateful for all the light it shined on seeing the little gestures of generosity that occur every day around me. I'm grateful for reminders that generosity is not tied to money but instead can come in the forms of service, talents, and even small kindnesses. I'm grateful to survey my talents and see there are many ways to be generous within my talents and also within the person I naturally am today. I'm grateful for the generous message that inspired me, and hopefully a room full of people, to be more generous.

How can you share your generosity today? How can you think outside the box and use your unique talents and personality to give to your community?

May today bless us all with the creative power to give in unique ways. May we find ways to be generous and may that generosity spread. Have a beautiful day!

When I woke up this morning I had a very different topic in mind to write about. It had layers of meaning and depth. But by the time I made it to my computer, my dogs had stolen the show with their amazing way of simultaneously impressing and disgusting me. There certainly is never a dull moment with dogs.

It started with the usual simple things, like Pippin getting up with my alarm to go in and lay on the rug in front of my bathroom sink. She does this often and then two minutes later when I inevitably ask her to move so I can get ready she sighs and huffs about it as she walks back to her still warm bed. This is different than Austin, who feels she is human and only uses the dog bed as a head pillow... a gigantic head pillow. 

Coming downstairs we went through our normal routine of going out to potty and breakfast served. Over the last few days I have noticed Pippin going into the bathroom after she eats. We keep the toilet seats down and the last couple days on seeing her do this I checked their bowl and found that they did still have water. In the bathroom I had noticed nothing out of place. Well today I happened to be in the bathroom when she finished eating. As usual she pushed the door open and let herself in. She proceeded to wipe her drool, food spittled mouth on the large towel under the hand towel and then walked back out. Equal parts impressed and disgusted. There are just not words.

I come back out of the bathroom in time to hear Austin let out a loud fart from where she is laying next to my workstation at the table. She whips her head around to look at her behind as if it is someone else's then lets out a dramatic sigh, flopping her head back to the floor and covering it with her paw. Her backside has thoroughly disgusted her apparently. And then the smell hits. She stands up snorting and sneezing the air and shoots me a look of disgust as she walks away, leaving me to remain in her stink to begin this blog. So here I am... what am I grateful for today?!

I'm going to have to start with humor. I'm grateful for the humor that my dogs bring to my life. I'm grateful for all the personality and character that bursts out of them at every turn. I'm grateful for the intelligence they have even when it is, by my standards, ill-used. I'm grateful to admit that pregnancy brain is real and the distraction and humor the dogs provided me today has completely erased the deep and meaningful content from my mind that I had planned to share today. I'm grateful for fans that help air out my space and I'm grateful that today is most likely going to be laundry day and towels will be top of the list. Most of all, I'm grateful for laughter and to love these two unique dogs so very much!

What keeps you on your toes? What brings unexpected gratitude into your mornings?

May today bless us with humor and the ability to laugh at the absurd. May we find joy and gratitude in the little things. Have a beautiful day!

Some days it is the littlest things that make the day. When there are frustrations knocking, websites glitching, and demands coming from different directions sometimes I just have to stop and look at the little things. It could be the fresh banana I have in front of me or the sonogram picture nearby, but I need to take the time to pause and focus on the positive.

Last night the little things were as "simple" as having dinner with my grandpa or having extra garlic on my toast. Going to bed last night the air conditioner was high on my list of gratitude. Yet waking up in the morning, in a rush to get to work, it can be a little more challenging to pause and take in the little things. This is my pause.

I'm grateful for a commitment to write this blog that helps me stop each morning and refocus on gratitude. I'm grateful for the ready made breakfast I had prepared to make this morning a little smoother. I'm grateful for the lightning bugs that have been creating beautiful displays each night and I'm grateful to wake to sunshine each morning. I'm grateful for the house still having the faint smell of fresh baked cookies courtesy of my husband last night. And I'm grateful that most of those cookies have been taken to his work so there is less temptation to eat them all myself. I'm grateful for this new day and this pause to kick it off on a positive note.

What are you grateful for today? What are the littlest things happening around you right now that are positive or spark gratitude? How can you use these things to start your day on a positive note?

May today support us all through the ever shifting energies. May we find beauty and gratitude in these littlest things. Have a beautiful day!

Something rare and beautiful occurred last night; did you see it? Last night's Strawberry Moon, the Full Moon, fell on Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. This double event hasn't happened since 1967 and won't happen again until 2062. 

Many of those who notice the effects of the full moon and nature's cycles were caught by feelings of overwhelm or found themselves on an emotional roller coaster. Yet what we know is that this too shall pass and with its passing there will be great breakthroughs in the challenges we have been working through. I am one of those people who notice. And I'm grateful to say that celebrating last night with friends made all the difference in pinpointing the fears I have been struggling with; going a long way toward moving forward and release. 

This morning I feel much lighter. I am more in tune with the birds chirping and the train whistle blowing outside. I'm more in tune with the balance inside me and feeling much more at peace with the intentions I set last night. I have shifted and grown over the last decade and with that my dreams and ideas have shifted and grown. I have not lost anything but rather gained so much in what I have chosen to keep and what I have chosen to release.

I'm so grateful for my amazing friends and support network. I'm grateful to reach out during these times and know I am not the only one traveling this path. I'm grateful that in finally vocalizing these fears I can see the light of truth peaking through the holes, coaxing me back to balance. I'm grateful for the beautiful wreath I made last night and the symbolism in each piece of adornment. I'm grateful for the boost of knowledge and spiritual guidance provided by a friend that always nourishes my soul. And I'm grateful for the upbeat attitude and essential oil support of another friend that is so refreshing. I'm grateful to start this new day. I'm grateful to release the old fears and welcome the empowerment and love that flows in now. 

How have you been feeling lately? Is there anything you would like to set the intention to release while the energies are still high and supportive? What would you like to create in its place?

​May today support us in the creation of our goals and intentions. May we find peace in the exhale of release. Have a beautiful day!

It takes more than just biology and some genetic material to make a real dad. In fact, those two components aren't even always required. Sometimes these things are supplied by someone else and a true father steps in later. 

Yesterday was Father's Day but I would like to continue the love today. Dads have a pretty tough role, often trying to balance teaching opportunities, discipline, and nurturing their children. In an ideal situation moms and dads can work together to find this balance. Other times one parent acts as both, juggling all these tasks. 

I'm grateful that our society is moving away from the father as authoritarian that leaves home in the morning and returns to meat out any discipline that was needed from the day. Fathers are so much more than that and capable of teaching future generations about love, balance, and that the stereotypes of men no longer fit in our society. 

I'm grateful for an amazing dad that taught me about the importance of family and putting family first while still taking care of yourself. I'm grateful for the moments of teaching and the moments of play that were so important in the balance of growing up. I'm grateful for my amazing husband who will be a great dad to our little bundle of joy. I'm grateful for all the dads that stepped up for children that were not their own but became their own. I'm grateful for all the dads that admit they cry, that change diapers, and that nurture their children's spirits. I'm grateful for the beauty I see when I watch a child gaze at their father adoringly. And I'm grateful for the beauty of a father watching his children with pride and love. 

Who holds the role of dad in your life? How can you celebrate him this week?

May today remind us of all the beauty in this world. May we find love to nurture and strength to receive love in return. Have a beautiful day!


(As a sidenote: I am so grateful for these super cute cloth diapers! I can't wait to test it out on my little bundle of joy's bum!)