Monday Communiqué: 05/08/2017
Welcome to a New Week!
I hope you had a fabulous weekend and are excited about the upcoming week! This weekend is Mother's Day in the United States and Canada. Check out this article I posted yesterday on "Gifts for Mom" for some gift giving ideas for your beautiful Mother!
We're gearing up for a busy week. We have my cousin and his stunning girlfriend coming to visit us for a couple of days and Amelia's 1st Birthday party on Sunday! Planning, organizing and preparing are in full swing at our home!
On the Blog this Week
A bit of a quieter week on my blog. With so much happening and some final touches I want to get done before guests arrive I'll be running around a little bit!
Wednesday: This Wednesday I'm sharing a post all about Amelia's new little space in her nursery!
Friday: The second post in my series "Becoming Organized" will go live on Friday morning! I've had such an awesome time working on this series, I hope you enjoy the next post!
Video's of the Week
Beginners Guide to Adobe Illustrator - This Youtube Video is a great jumping off point for anyone interested in learning the Adobe Illustrator program. This program is how I design everything in our home - templates, printables, stickers, labels, gift tags... literally everything. If you're thinking about purchasing it and want to learn more check this video out!
30 Day Yoga Challenge - We're still going strong for the 30 day yoga challenge! If you're interested in joining in just start doing yoga! Email me if you want to be added to the Instagram message thread or a Facebook message thread. If you're looking for some Youtube inspiration check out 'Yoga with Adriene'!
Congratulations!
Huge Congratulations to Stephanie from @mygreigehouse on the arrival of her beautiful baby girl Charlotte at the end of last month!
Monday Musings
Recently I have been thinking a lot about the comparisons people make. How people get down on themselves when they look at their Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest feeds. I know you hear it all the time "you shouldn't compare yourself to others" or be #authentic, but I'm going to tell you the same thing. You are not them, and they are not you. There shouldn't be any comparison.
The people that you're looking at on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest etc. are not you. Your experiences, past, interests, passions, feelings, thoughts, values, skills, education are not the same as theirs and vice versa. You are truly unique, as are they.
When you're looking at someone's feed who has beautifully displayed flowers on a table, don't feel badly and think "oh, I could never do that". That person may have spent years learning and perfecting their skill of flower arranging where as you may have just started developing this passion of arrangements. How could you compare your beginning to this person's present? Everyone is on a different path and everyone is at a different stage on that journey.
I'm going to be honest with you and say that I don't think I've ever gotten down on myself, or thought poorly of myself, based on someone else's pictures or posts they share. I don't see these social media sharing sites as something to feel sad or threatened about. I see them as a massive index of inspiration! For example, when I'm making a dish I haven't made before and I want an idea on how to plate it, I search on Instagram to see how other people have creatively found a way to display their food. I find chefs who share their finished products, amature chefs who have fantastic plating ideas or just people sharing a post of their lunch and dinner. I use that to inspire me to create my own version of that dish.
This week I challenge you to step back and examine your emotions when you see an image that makes you feel badly about yourself. Ask yourself:
- Why do I feel this way? What about this picture is making me feel badly? Is it the person posting it? is it the image itself?
- Looking at the picture imagine the person's life before that picture took place. If it's a beautifully decorated cake has this person been crafting cake decoration for a long time? Is this their passion? Did they take courses or go to school for it? How long did it take them to learn this skill?
- After Working through the first two questions, just take a minute and appreciate the image for what it is: someone else's life. Can you take some inspiration from that image to curate a passion in our own life? Celebrate the unending resources we have at discovering and cultivating what truly excites us!
Yours in self love,
Lauren
Our little family enjoyed a lovely walk through nature on the weekend!
A little treat from Saturday night!
I took some time out this weekend to wash down Amelia's play mats - I scrubbed each with Mr. Clean and hot water, and then dunked them in cold water to get rid of the residue. Then left them on the deck to dry in the sun!
Prepaired some frozen yogurt dots for Amelia! Spoon yogurt into a ziploc bag and seal. Then, take out a platter or cookie sheet and line with waxed paper. Taking scissors, snip a small bottom corner off the ziploc bag and squeeze small dots of yogurt onto the sheet. Place in freezer and freeze (takes about 3 hours). Then pop off and store in a container in the freezer!
Enjoying some evening light before shutting down Sunday night. I hope you had a wonderful weekend!