Today is National Matchmaker Day. While my husband and I did not use a matchmaker, we did meet online. For two busy, working adults it was a good way to meet someone new that had shared interests and values.

Before I met my husband I made a list of what traits and values I wanted in a partner. It was not a list of physical traits but rather personality and skills such as aspects of responsibility. I was looking for someone I wanted to be with the rest of my life. 

Each date I went on I came home and reviewed my list. I love people and I tend to see the best in them so the list helped keep me grounded. Yes, this young man was polite and funny but did he have the other aspects that would make him a good life partner. After many dates with not the right one, I met him. He was quite literally the man from my dream.

I'm so grateful for my husband. I'm grateful for the website that allowed us to find each other. I'm grateful for my list to help me find a good life partner. And I'm so grateful for the life we are building together. I'm grateful for a love that grows. I'm grateful for the support we give each other in reaching our goals. I'm grateful to live each day building a stronger relationship with him.

Who is your match? What aspects were you looking for and which were a happy bonus?

May today remind us that everything is a choice. May we see the power we have in building strong relationships together. May we cherish the love we have each and every day. Have a beautiful day!

I have never identified with the term "runner". I am not a runner. I do a 5K or two each year because of the event they raise money for and to feel the accomplishment of finishing. I do not race other than racing my own time. 

As I "train" for my first 5K since my daughter being born (or being pregnant for that matter), I find myself focusing on one foot in front of the other. I give myself goals, knowing that I will push it when I reach them.

Last night as I jogged a new route I found this very helpful. I told myself I would jog one lap and then allow myself to walk a short distance before running the second lap. When I reached the point I had mentally plotted, I told myself to just jog a few more steps and then I could walk. "To the next mailbox," I decided. "To the next driveway...well I might as well go those couple extra steps to their mailbox..." I continued this way focusing on just a few steps at a time until I realized I was nearly finished with the second lap already. 

One foot in front of the other, the rhythmic thumps on the blacktop and it became like a meditation that last quarter of a lap. The feelings upon completion ranged from pride to confidence to yes, exhaustion. 

This morning as I face some tasks that seem overwhelming I think back to last night and the feeling I had upon completing my run. I can do this. I just have to focus on one foot in front of the other. I have to give myself little goals and then push the mark. I also have to know when to celebrate reaching a goal. 

I'm grateful for a good jog last night. I'm grateful to be pushing myself to go a little farther each time. I'm grateful for the confidence and pride I feel with each goal met. I'm grateful to put one foot in front of the other as I tackle my tasks today. I'm grateful to have confidence in my abilities to manage what is on my plate. And I'm grateful to know it will be worth celebrating when it is done.

What is on your to do list today? How can you break it down and focus on short goals and each successful step along the way?

May today remind us that we are more capable that we realize. May we find the confidence to give it our all. And may we celebrate the success we find at the end of each step. Have a beautiful day!

Now that sleep is becoming a little more regular with our daughter, and in return for me, I am noticing the return of my creativity. I have always had a strong creative nature and a great imagination. Over the last month I have had many great ideas.

This morning another great possibility popped into my head. I love sitting and rolling it around in my mind. The logistics, the location, and picturing myself in the role are all part of the expansion to see if it is plausible. More and more I have had plausible ideas lately. This is my favorite thing about my job. I gather plausible ideas and then when the signs or opportunity presents itself, I am ready to bring that idea to life.

I'm so grateful for the return of creativity. I'm grateful for the creative energy and how energizing it is for me. I'm grateful for the playful way I can roll ideas around to see their plausibility. I'm grateful to cherish this aspect of myself. I'm grateful for the ideas that come to fruition and those that remain on a page in my journal. I'm grateful to be getting some sleep and the return of feeling a little more balanced. I'm grateful for the joy I feel this morning.

What brings you joy? What are some of the budding ideas you have had and what became of them?

May today remind us that we all hold creative energy. May we choose to create positive ideas for this world and find joy in their fruition. Have a beautiful day!

This weekend family and friends poured in to celebrate my daughter's first birthday. It was such a beautiful reminder of how blessed we are to have so many loving, supportive people in our lives. My daughter is truly blessed to have these people in her life. And I am so very blessed as well!

There are times as a new mom this year that it has felt lonely. There are times motherhood felt overwhelming. And there were many times that I felt I did not recognize myself through the exhaustion and changes. I'm sure moving forward there will still be occasions where I question if the decisions I make in raising my daughter are right. But this weekend I was reminded that through it all there is a whole team of people behind me. A big, beautiful, loving and supportive team that is here for me and my family. 

I'm so grateful to be reminded of my blessings. I'm grateful for all the wonderful family and friends that came out to celebrate. I'm grateful to know that we have even more family and friends in our support system that could not make this event. I'm so grateful to feel so truly blessed and supported. I'm grateful for all the wonderful presents my daughter received. (Yes, including the drums and ball pit.) But I'm even more grateful for the wonderful Presence she has in these people being a part of her life. 

What blessings are you grateful for this morning? Who is your support system. Who makes you feel so blessed?

May today remind us of all our blessings. May we cherish the people who give their presence to our lives. Have a beautiful day!

Today is my rainbow baby's FIRST birthday! I cannot believe it has been a year already. And while motherhood has thrown me more curveballs and challenges than I anticipated, I would not change a single moment.

I'm so grateful to have finally gotten the opportunity to hold my sweet child after so many years of waiting. I'm so grateful for the last year, watching her grow. I'm grateful to look back at the pictures of the day she was born, so bitty in her preemie clothes. 

I'm grateful for her sunny disposition. I'm grateful for how she can bring a smile to my face or make me laugh no matter what is going on. I'm grateful to witness how she can bring smiles to anyone, even to strangers at the store. I'm grateful for her high pitch little "Hi!" that she proclaims happily. I'm grateful to have a little social butterfly.

I'm grateful for how smart and observant my daughter is, even when it means her figuring out things I wish she wouldn't yet. I'm grateful to watch as her personality continues to blossom. I'm grateful to see both my husband and myself in her while still being one hundred percent and perfectly herself. I'm grateful for the blessing that is this child and I'm excited to see how she will impact the world by her presence in it as she grows.

My heart is overflowing this morning with gratitude for this sweet child. What makes your heart overflow? Who are you grateful for today?

May today remind us all the blessings around us. May we cherish the people we love and tell them each and every day! Have a beautiful day!

As the wise Yoda said, "Do or do not, there is no try." My daughter's birthday party is two days away and there is plenty still to be done (and cleaned). As I look at my list, I think about Yoda's words n a different way. 

Rather than stress over what will get done or how I will try to get it all done in the window of time I have, I will do my best and let the rest go. Tomorrow is my daughter's birthday and I will not spend it focusing on cleaning. It is her day and we will be playing and doing what she wants.

I'm grateful for these words of wisdom. I'm grateful to look at them in this positive way. I'm grateful for my husband's Yoda impersonation. I'm grateful for my beautiful, smart lil girl. And I'm grateful to put priorities in place to what is most important.

What will you "do or do not" today? How can you prioritize and release what isn't important?

May today remind us who is important in our lives. May we use the time we have to reflect our values. Have a beautiful day!

I woke up cranky this morning. To be honest I was fairly cranky yesterday too. Perhaps it is the ever changing hormones, but more likely it is lack of sleep paired with stress. Either way, I woke way too early and cranky about it. 

Usually I would take some time to myself and re-center my thoughts on gratitude before writing. Today I decided F* it, this blog is about authenticity and sometimes people wake cranky. So instead, I decided to write out the process of my return to gratitude. 

I look at the calendar and it shows a full schedule but also that today is National Ride the Wind Day. Sometimes I wonder who comes up with these things. But I do find some humor in this as I am basically riding out my feeling this morning. It's fitting. I give a little laugh. It is fake. 

I try again. It is nice that I have a light to turn on so that I can type my blog at this early hour. Nope. That doesn't feel grateful because it brings back my frustration at being awake. But at least the sun is rising now which makes it feel like daytime at least. It's a start. I'm grateful for the sun. 

I pause to add a picture to this blog. I get a little giggle when I see the picture of the snake. A bear would be more fitting but I don't have a picture of a bear. I would like to see a bear and get a picture but given the only real chance for that would be while I am camping... I'm grateful I don't have an up close picture of a bear.  I give a little laugh. It is genuine but small.

As I laugh I notice my jaw is sore. I must have had it clenched over night. Stress can do that to me and I make a mental note that I really need to do more stress reducing techniques throughout my day today. I'm grateful that I know a smorgasbord of techniques. I'm grateful I was able to use the word smorgasbord today. I'm grateful that one of the things on my agenda today is teaching a Stress Reduction Class. I'm grateful to know I will have time before that to relax too, because my mom is coming to watch the baby. I'm grateful for all my mom's help. And really, my kid is pretty great too...I'm grateful for her. 

I realize my jaw isn't sore anymore. I am smiling. I laugh because this was kind of fun narrating my process to you. The laugh is genuine so I do a couple goofy Laughter Yoga type laughs. Now I laugh because I can picture my friends saying I am crazy. I don't mind. I'm good with crazy if it is happy-crazy. And just like that I am back to my cheerful self. Today will be a good day.

What do you do to help pull yourself out of a funk? What do you do to "ride the wind" of different emotions?

May today remind us that being human isn't so bad. May we find some humor within the day and embrace a little bit of happy-crazy. Have a beautiful day and thank you for allowing me this space to be authentic.

I am excited to be on a camping trip with my family in preparation for the solar eclipse today. We are lucky enough to have been not far from the line of totality as it was and, with the help of some friends, found a place to camp on private land.

There is the possibility of cloud coverage obstructing our view yet anticipation has its grip on me anyway. I am like a kid waiting for the gates to open at Disneyland. I love natural phenomena but especially ones dealing with the moon or sun.

I'm grateful for this time with my family. I'm grateful for my friends and family and their generosity to let us camp on their land. I'm grateful to get to witness the eclipse in totality. I'm grateful to get to share this experience with my daughter. I'm grateful for the ability to pre-post this blog knowing that there is slim chance of having service to post from where I actually am as this posts. I'm grateful for what today will bring and the excitement of anticipation.

What is something you are excited about today? Are you able to witness the eclipse first hand?

May today remind us to enjoy the moment. May we allow ourselves the joys of anticipation as we did in youth. Have a beautiful day!

Last night my dog's eye began to swell. The white of her eye bulged passed the brown and the whole area got puffy. After finally having gotten her snout back down to regular size after an allergic she had that morning; we were concerned.

The research said it was most likely an allergic reaction so she once again got dosed with Benadryl. We sat up watching her for a while but eventually reached the point we knew we needed sleep. It has been a long week and we weren't sure what the night would bring. 

As I lay down in bed I prayed. I asked for an angel to watch over my sweet Pippin. I asked to gain understanding on what it is she keeps getting into that may be causing this reaction. And I asked for the medicine to help and allow her to keep her sight. 

I checked on her three times over night and each time it was a little better. This morning her face and eye are back to normal. Gobbling down her breakfast further reassured me that she is on the mend.

I'm so grateful for angels watching over my sweet dog. I'm grateful for medicine that can help relieve this reaction. I'm grateful for my husband and his research on what would cause her eye to swell. I'm grateful Pippin got her appetite back. I'm grateful for the ability to pray and trust. I'm grateful for all the joy my dog brings into my life and I'm grateful to do my best in taking care of her.

When was a time that you prayed and had to trust that things would work out? When was the last time you felt angels watching over you or a loved one?

May today remind us we are not alone. May we find comfort in our faith, no matter what that form that faith takes. Have a beautiful day!