Trying to Feel Like a Human

There was a tragic death in my family recently.

Bueller? Bueller?

Making Some Noise for Mike

How long did it take you to learn how to spell the word, MISSISSIPPI?

The 3 A's of Awesome

Neil Pasricha takes the idea of appreciating the small things to another level.  His 1000 Awesome Things blog, which he started to help cope with grief, has turned into a best-selling book.  And started an international optimism movement.

Let The Dust Settle

There has been a lot of talk in the minimalist world about the fad of simplicity.

Lord, I need patience and I want it right now!

I knew it was a bad sign when I pulled up behind this on Sunday.

7 Benefits of Being Spontaneous

I am a planner, a scheduler, a live and die by the calendar freakazoid.

Something to Share

I just read a great post by Josh Becker @ becoming minimalist.

Grab a tissue and get ready to be challenged

I had the pleasure of indulging in my favorite past time over Christmas vacation, cuddled up with a book. During the break I read an amazing novel:

Random Thursday: Snail Mail

Tammy at Rowdy Kittens posted a great segment on "The Lost Art of Letter Writing". It is a beautiful thing to receive a piece of mail with your name on it (especially handwritten) that isn't a bill. You are overcome with that anxious, excited tingling in your spine, making you feel like a kid again.

Love is Synonymous with Giving

We are on the road again, traveling around visiting family and friends in our beautiful home state. It's been wonderful to dine in our favorite restaurants, play in the mounds of snow, and linger in familiar surroundings.

Simple Christmas

Here is a beautiful story of a simple Christmas.

Living each moment, your bucket list

For some weird reason I've been thinking a lot about death recently. Okay not so much about death but a lot about life.

Poor Rich People

I am currently reading this book called "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. It's really challenging and eye-opening. I recently read a section called Poor Rich People, which included some eye-opening facts.

"If one hundred people represented the world's population 53 of those would live on less than $2 a day."

Random Thursday

This is a little more serious than usual for Random Thursday, but the poem was so moving for me I just had to share it. I found this on my parents refrigerator while home for the holidays. I hope today we can all take a moment to realize the brevity of life.

Homeland for the Holidays

This year begins the travel stage of our life.  Since we've moved away from our families we are now like the 42 million Americans hitting the road for the holidays.

It's very difficult living away from family. Although it's only been a short time for us, I constantly find myself yearning to just go home.

So to say the least my better half and I are very excited about heading home, even just for a long weekend. As I was reflecting on going home I realized there is a simple life lesson in going home for the holidays.

When we lived close to our families it was easy to take people for granted and always visit with them next time.  Now we are headed home for just that. To hug necks, kiss cheeks, and sit down around the kitchen table just being together.  It's a great lesson in learning how to keep my priorities straight.  Going home focuses me.

I know the holidays can sometimes be stressful, and traveling is usually difficult.  But maybe this season you will find yourself in the perfect situation to spend quality time with family and friends.

As for me, I am heading home and focusing on togetherness.  To help me with that, I've decided to take a digital break this holiday weekend.  No Blogs.  No Facebook.  No Internet.  No checking my phone a million times for text messages.  Just quality time spent in deep conversation with family and friends, really listening.

I hope your holidays are filled with laughter, love, and a break from societies pull.

Little Victories

I've realized this simplifying journey needs rest stops. Times for self-reflection and opportunities to rejoice in little victories. If I'm not careful I'll be back with the society masses, always looking beyond today and seeing where I still have to go.  It's an uphill slope I constantly have to climb.

Career vs. Life Success

So I fell off of the simplifying train for a little bit last week.  After spending some much need downtime this weekend I've been able to pick out a few things that are drawing me back into the status quo.

B-List Simple Living

I'm disciplined and some would say a little bit crazy, but I don't think extreme fits into the adjectives that describe me.  Unless you ask my better half.  This comes up when I'm asking him, on Friday night, to help me clean the entire house just so we can do yard-work over the weekend.

Do people ever get tired of talking?

I asked my better half this question the other night. You see I work in a field of talkers.