The past year I’ve thought a lot about living a beautiful life. That sounds so incredibly vague…what does that even mean?? I’ve read posts here and there that reference a beautiful life, and I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about what that means.
I’m starting to realize that what a beautiful life means for me is surrounding myself with things that I love, things that inspire me and make me happy. This sounds so simple, but it’s actually a lot more challenging than it seems. I am a very thrifty person. I don’t like spending lots of money of frivolous things and most of the time will only make purchases if something is on sale. (I do make exceptions for things that I absolutely love.) I’m known for being great at making things work or making the most of what I have. In turn, I tend to use things that I already have rather than buying new versions that I may like better. After all, if it works just fine, why would you replace it??
When I envision living a beautiful life, I think about having a few specific non-important items that I think are beautiful. As a matter of fact, I think of simple things like a pretty ironing board cover, fun towels, beautiful coffee mugs, and the softest and prettiest throw blankets. 
Reality is that I’ve kept the same, not-so-pretty and definitely not my style ironing board cover because nothing was wrong with it. However, I swoon over the pretty ones every time I walk by them at Target. I often find patterned towels that I love, but I registered for solid khaki ones when we got married because they would match almost anything if I changed the bathroom decor. I haven’t purchased any of the beautiful coffee mugs that I’ve ran across, because the promotional ones (you know, the ones with logos that your insurance agent gave you) I have in the cabinet work just fine. I also never buy those furry and fabulously soft throw blankets that match my decor because I have 10 blankets that will still keep me warm…I just have to keep them tucked away when someone comes over.
When I sit and think about it, it’s crazy to think that not buying new versions of these things are what’s standing between me and what I’d consider a beautiful life. Reality is that I could replace all of these things for $50-75 and my mental image of a beautiful life would have manifested itself. Sometimes you have to really stop and think about things like this. You may be stuck on something that would only cost you $5 or $10 to fix. Sometimes, a $20 purchase can really make a huge difference in your life. After spending months of thinking about it, I finally realized that a new ironing board cover and coffee mugs were what I needed to feel like I was surrounding myself with beautiful things. That’s so simple! 
Of course, I’m not saying that I have a terrible life because I drink my hot chocolate from a North Monroe Baptist Church mug. However, as I’ve spent so much time thinking about what a beautiful life means to me, I’ve decided that beauty is found the little things for me. It means surrounding myself with only things that I love…not just things that I already have. It means buying a $5 coffee mug because I love it, rather than continue to use one that I don’t love. It means making cloth napkins like these and using them for daily life instead of a paper towel just because I can throw them away. (Her post talks about making average things feel more extravagant which really echoes what I’m saying here.)
Since coming to this conclusion, I’ve decided to make it my mission to replace the bland items in my life with things that I love. Since we don’t have a “for fabulous things” budget, this will be something I do over time. (By the way, since I’ve made this decision, I haven’t found a single coffee cup that I like. Go figure.) This mission doesn’t have to be something that costs a ton of money. You can buy little things here and there that are only a few dollars each. In turn, you end up surrounding yourself with things you love. To me, that’s what a beautiful life is all about.
What does a beautiful life mean to you? It can certainly be different than mine, so please share anyway! I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about this, so I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Category Archives: Inspiration & Thoughts
We could all use a little encouragement every now and then!
That day I took a bath at 4:00
If you’ve never taken a random bubble bath at 4:00 in the afternoon, you should. I did, and it was fantastic.
Why share this on the blog, you ask? Let me tell you! This random afternoon bubble bath symbolized something far greater. I allowed myself to do something I wanted to do, just because I wanted to do it. I’ve alluded to my struggle with guilt in the past, and I’ve certainly gotten better with it. (There’s some discussion of it here). Today was another milestone because I had no reason to take a bath at 4:00 in the afternoon. However, I just wanted to, so I did. Then, I finished responding to the day’s emails from my bed in my bathrobe. It was simply amazing! (If you haven’t ever considered a career in real estate, we should talk. You can do things like this, and it’s wonderful!)
Back to the point. I write this post for two reasons.
- If you struggle with self-guilt like I do, know that you can start to break that cycle. Do something fun just because you want to and then celebrate your accomplishment. You deserve it!
- Even if you don’t deal with guilt, you deserve to do something for yourself today. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is….do something to celebrate your fabulousness. It doesn’t have to take long. It can even be as short as a few minutes. Nonetheless, doing something just for yourself, just because you want to can have a profound impact on your day. Both your mind and body will thank you.
Usually my challenges revolve around going out and doing something nice for other people. Today, I want you to do something nice for yourself! After all, you’re a spectacular person and you deserve it!
P.S. Don’t forget to try a bubble bath in the middle of the day. You can thank me later. 🙂
“Good Morning”
It’s been a little quiet around My Neck of the Woods lately. I have/had 14 transactions set to close in May, which in the world of real estate means I’ve been working A LOT. (I certainly appreciate everyone sending clients my way, so I’m definitely not complaining….keep them coming!) When you’re working as much as I have been, some things have to fall to the wayside. That’s ok though because I’m here today!
I posted something last weekend about being grateful. I’d had somewhat of a tough week between struggles at work and a rough experience with a dental implant. I went for a walk on Saturday morning because I finally felt somewhat normal. Going for that walk really turned my outlook around. You’d think I would have been expecting it, because I always get a dose of inspiration when I take walks down the levee.
However, today was a little different. As I was strolling along (rather easily because I still wasn’t 100%), a couple jogging by made a point to say “Good Morning” to me. As I was walking, I’d been thinking over the various challenges from the week, wishing I felt like riding my bike, wanting to go and do things that I wasn’t able to because of work…so on and so forth. Basically, even though I was enjoying the walk in the sunshine, I was still allowing a lot of negativity into my mind without even realizing it. Then, a simple ‘good morning’ turned that all around.
I’ve blogged about this before, but here’s what I took away from this little experience — There are a million simple things you can do to change someone’s day…or life! The people that ran by me on the levee have no idea what they did for me last Saturday. However, it made a huge difference. From that point on, I made a point to say ‘good morning’ to everyone that I passed, only hoping that I could pass on a little bit of what those joggers gave me. Were some people shocked? Certainly. Do you think it made a difference to at least one of them? I can bet that it did.
Every day that you wake up, you have a chance to make someone’s day better. When you focus your attention on bettering the days of others, you’re bound to make a monumental difference sooner or later. In turn, you’ll make a huge difference within yourself. Of course, it’s difficult to look outside of your own problems/struggles sometimes, but DO IT! Every single person that you pass is dealing with some issue of their own that is at least equal to or worse than yours. And sometimes, something as simple as whispering ‘good morning’ or ‘hello’ can make a world of difference to them.
The moral of this story is that we all have the ability to change the world, and that doesn’t require large donations to charities or adopting every hungry child. Often times it’s the simplest things that make the biggest differences. Don’t waste your opportunities to make change. Go out and search for ways to make a difference. Say ‘good morning’ to people. Wish them a good day. Compliment someone’s hair or outfit. Look for opportunities to say positive and encouraging things to the people you come in contact with. You’ll not only influence their day but yours too. Let’s go make this world a happier place…it all starts with you and it starts today!
Joyce’s Journey: Post Surgery Update
If you’ve been following along with my facebook updates, you know that Mom’s surgery was completed on Tuesday of last week. It was roughly a three hour procedure, and everything seemed to go smoothly. As with any major surgery, she’s had ups and downs along the way, but overall she’s doing well.
Here’s where we stand as of today…
The surgeon assured us that they removed the entire tumor. Pathology reports did show Stage 1 cancer cells around the area that was removed, so there’s a chance we’ll have to do more chemo. We will know more about that strategy once we meet with her oncologist back in Monroe. However, the report showed that her lymph nodes were clear, so that’s wonderful news.
The staff seems to think that she may get to go home tomorrow. We’ll meet with the post-op staff before leaving to discuss her new care routine. She should be able to care for herself once we leave, but they’re considering having home health come by periodically for a bit. We won’t know for sure until the doctor comes back by in the morning, but keep your fingers crossed that we get the green light!
All in all, she’s done really well. She seems to be in pretty high spirits, and her mood is conducive to a speedy recovery. The facility and staff at Willis Knighton Pierremont have been wonderful. The room is nice and spacious. We even have a couch for us to sleep on when we stay overnight with her! This was reason to celebrate in itself, especially if you saw what we had to sleep in during her last hospital stay. The staff is so very caring and helpful, and Mom has been very appreciative of the good care she’s received.
For now, we’re going to camp out and see what the doctor says in the morning. Thank you to everyone who’s messaged and/or called to check in or send well wishes. We’ve appreciated each and every word of encouragement, and my siblings and I feel so lucky to have such great friends and family. We love you all!
You can read more about our journey here. You can also follow along with the #JoycesJourney on facebook, instagram, and twitter.
One Little Word – February
I simply cannot believe January is over already. January is my birthday month, so I’m always a little sad to see it go. They say that time passes more quickly as you get older. If that’s the case, I dread to see how fast it goes later in life! Nonetheless, I’ll stop complaining and welcome February with open arms. As a matter of fact, I’m planning to make the most of this month!
When 2014 rolled around, I tried really hard to pick “one little word” to live by this year. One of my favorite bloggers has been choosing a word for a couple of years now, and I thought it would be a fun exercise. I made a list of options but I just couldn’t commit to one. I’ve learned over the years that asking me to commit to something firmly for a long period of time is just not good idea. I can’t do it. My husband is probably quite nervous about that, but he hides it well. Actually, when we were shopping for wedding rings, I asked him if we could buy another one later if I decided I didn’t like the one we bought anymore. I had such anxiety about committing to one ring that I’d wear every day for the rest of my life. For the record, I absolutely love the ring he bought me and I can’t imagine ever wearing a different one. Funny how that happens, huh?
As I was reading this post the other day, I had the idea to have “one little word” each month. This way, I wouldn’t have to commit to one word for the whole year, and I could tailor each month’s word to fit my goals or needs for that month. With February upon us, I thought this would be the perfect time to start.
For February, my one little word will be DETERMINED.
I am determined to be productive this month. I plan to push ferociously harder towards my goals this month. I plan to use these 28 short days to make serious headway in my plans, so as to set myself up for success this year.
I am determined to let myself breathe this month. I plan to end each day feeling accomplished and proud of my work. I plan to remind myself to relax every evening and to only say nice things to myself. It’s time to cut myself a little slack.
I am determined to block out the negative this month. All too often, I let the negative actions and attitudes of others bring me down. This month, I plan to tune out any and all things that threaten my positivity. There’s no room for negativity in this beautiful life, and I’m putting my foot down this month.
As I prepare for the month of February, I’m excited about being serious about this journey. I’m excited about setting goals for myself both personally and professionally. I’m excited about taking control of my life and steering it in the direction I want it to go. I am also excited that you’ll want to follow along with my journey.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Petrus.
Valentine’s Day Inspiration
I’ve rekindled my love affair with Pinterest lately, and I decided to share some of my latest favorites. Is it just me or is Pinterest the best place to look when you need a hefty dose of inspiration?? With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite finds.
These nails are what started my Valentine’s Day pin collection. The pins of elaborate art on nails are fascinating, but I’d never attempt such a feat. However, I think I can handle this one!
I think this pillow is adorable! I recently ordered some wall art for my office from Michelle, and this pillow is on my wish list. It’s great for year round decor, but I think it’s perfect for Valentine’s Day!
I really, really want to make some of these heart trees. It looks like such a cute and easy project! You could also do a similar version for other holidays.
I love this tutorial for making a heart cake. I don’t own a heart shaped pan, and this would be soooo much easier than trying to cut out a heart shape. Genius!
This post had some simple but good Valentine’s Day date ideas. Of course, I think you should show people that you love them year round, but there’s nothing wrong with using this holiday to do something extra special.
Feel free to browse my Be My Valentine board if you’re looking for more Valentine’s Day ideas. Plus, you can see my quick and easy heart wreath from last year here.
Have you seen any fun Valentine’s Day projects or decor that I should add to my list? Please share!
Mom Update: Surgery & A New Apartment
Things are moving along nicely with Mom’s treatment plan, but I thought I’d give everyone a quick update of where we are.
As you know, she completed her chemo and radiation treatments right before Christmas. Our next plan of attack is surgery to remove the tumor, which is currently scheduled for February 25. In the meantime, she’s under strict instructions to take her medications regularly, eat well, and get lots of exercise. She needs to build lots of strength to be prepared for the surgery. We go back to Shreveport on February 12 for the pre-op appointments. As of right now, they’re expecting her to spend one week in the hospital there before returning home.
In other news, she got the keys to her new apartment this week! She’s pretty excited to get moved in and has really enjoyed preparing for and making plans to decorate the new place. We’ll spend most of the weekend getting her settled in, and I’m sure she’s looking forward to getting back into a routine.
As always, she thoroughly appreciates all of the sweet messages and comments. We still have a few hurdles to jump, but we’re making good progress. Feel free to leave her a note of encouragement here. She loves reading them!
Our Final Chemo/Radiation Treatment!
Yesterday marked Mom’s very last chemo and radiation treatment!! I’m going to let that sink in for a bit.. It’s a really big deal…
I haven’t been able to do a full update on Mom lately, but rest assured that we’ve been fighting hard over here in My Neck of the Woods.
Here’s the quick version:
- We spent a week in the hospital – dehydration, low blood pressure, dropping potassium levels, mystery infection, and a host of other and much more harsh symptoms. She’s a trooper though. (She got out just in time for Matthew and I to leave for Thanksgiving in Nashville.)
- She spent Thanksgiving week recovering from the long and tough hospital stay.
- We had a really good week.
- Insurance required her to try another version of her medicine, which made her treatment symptoms rush back in full force.
- We had a really bad week.
- We got the medicine switched back and are currently working on getting her leveled out again.
Basically, this whole experience has been a series of ups and downs – a roller coaster of feelings, symptoms, and emotions. Every single day was/is different. Some days she felt great…others were bad. The worst part for me has been watching. I suppose it’s sort of like having a sick child…you see that they’re hurting and there’s nothing you can do to fix it. This is particularly hard for me because I’m a “fix it” kind of gal.
As things got tougher and tougher on her, I’ve had to steadily remind myself that this is cancer. Cancer. It’s not a pretty thing. It’s not easy. As a matter of a fact, it’s hard. I can’t fix everything because this treatment plan is unavoidably hard.
No matter how hard the last week has been, there is always a silver lining. Now, we can celebrate her being DONE with these treatments. This amazingly strong Mama of mine has knocked out 8 weeks of chemo and radiation! (It was six weeks of treatment, 1 week in the hospital, and 1 week of rest.) She’s still not feeling well, but they say she should start feeling more normal within the next 3 weeks or so. I’m optimistically hoping “normal” comes a lot more quickly than that. Honestly, I’m hoping that each passing day of not going to treatments brings with it a slight improvement for her.
What’s next? We will follow up with both her oncologist and radiation oncologist in 3 weeks. The current plan is to let her rest and recover for 6 weeks and then follow up with the surgery to remove the rest of the tumor after that. The surgery will take place in Shreveport and should have a week-long recovery in the hospital there. We will know more definite details once we follow up with the surgeon.
All in all, we’re making good progress. In my opinion, the hardest part is over. We knocked those treatments out! She’s not completely out of the woods yet, and she’s certainly not feeling herself. However, progress is progress and we’ve made a huge leap towards the finish line. Please keep lifting her up and sending well wishes and happy thoughts our way. She appreciates every comment, prayer, and message that you send. Feel free to leave a comment here. She is my most loyal reader, after all!
The above pictures are from the radiation treatment room. You can keep up with the process with the #JoycesJourney on twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. Also, read the most recent Mom updates here.
Be Thankful.
Today I cried. With the way my emotions have been running wild this week, that’s not necessarily a surprising thing. (If you follow me on Twitter, you know a little about what I’m talking about.) However, this morning’s tears are different. I just received an email that touched me to my very core. There’s something about getting that shocking dose of perspective that’ll really send you heading in a new direction.
You see, this morning I was beginning that downward spiral where I was letting one relatively small thing really bring me down. It was only 9:00 am and I was already feeling like this day was a lost cause. I was trying hard to pull myself out of my second “funk” of this week but was being rather unsuccessful. I sat down to check my email and read something that nearly broke my heart.
I’m going to try to be as vague as possible here for the sake of discretion. I received an email from an industry partner thanking our company for donating a couple of heaters and an electric blanket to her and her husband. Apparently her husband is terminally ill, and they’ve been in the hospital for over a week. They were coming home yesterday but would be doing so to no heat. I’ll spare you the details of the story, but rest assured that it was heart wrenching.
Now, I could take this story in the direction of how blessed I am to work for such a giving company. This is only one story of them/us giving back, of course. However, that’s not what this was about for me. Instead, it was a very sudden and harsh realization that my bad moods over the last week were very selfish and indeed pointless. While every little thing hasn’t gone my way lately, I have heat. I have a home to come home to everyday that’s filled with plenty of nice things…food to eat…and people that love me. Who cares that I couldn’t find the perfect outfit to wear this morning?! Who cares that every little detail of life isn’t going my way right now?? Practically every small thing that I’ve been upset about and fretting over the last few days is SO incredibly trivial. The fact of the matter is, I have a MILLION big and small things to be thankful for. Heat, for example.
During this month of thanks, I find this scenario even more heart-breaking. Each and every one of us passes someone on a daily basis that has troubles ten times more difficult than our own. Each and every day, we meet someone who we could help in even the tiniest of ways. However, most of the time we don’t. We don’t even know what’s going on in these people’s lives, and we do very little to reach out and actually make this world a better place.
So here’s my challenge. First, I challenge you to look around you and see what you can do to help. Whether big or small, you CAN do something to improve the lives of others. You don’t have to have a ton of money or time. Sometimes it’s as simple as a smile. Sometimes it’s just a kind word. There are no excuses for why each and every one of us aren’t doing something to reach out and help.
Secondly, as practically everyone I know is posting what they’re thankful for daily this month (I’m working on a similar blog post that’ll post this Friday.), I encourage you to really be thankful. It’s not enough to post something random on facebook every day. I really want you all to sit and think about how different your life could be. Sure, it’s not perfect. And sure, there are a million ways that each of our lives could be better. However, if you really sit and think about it, and I mean really think, you’re probably pretty lucky. You can probably think of at least 10 people who aren’t as fortunate as you are. So this next challenge is to, while we complete these daily posts of thanksgiving, try to really notice what all you have to be thankful for. Try to consider how infinitely worse your life could be. Try to be unequivocally grateful for having so many things to be thankful for.
Whatever you do throughout this holiday season, just don’t forget how lucky you are. Pay attention to ways that you can help your fellow man, and let’s do what we can to make this world a better place…even if it’s one person at a time.
Mom on a Scooter
It’s been a little over one week since Mom began her chemo/radiation treatments. That means one whole week down and just five more to go!
The first few days were pretty uneventful, with Mom hardly feeling any different. As last week neared its end, we noticed she wasn’t feeling quite as good as before. We’re not sure whether it was just an average dip or if she was seeing some of the side effects of treatments. Both doctors said they didn’t expect her to realize many of the troublesome side effects like nausea and fatigue, especially so soon, so we’re really hoping those couple of days were just coincidental. Either way, Mom was very happy to have the weekend off from treatments.
As of right now, her main complaint is having to set an alarm to get up and dressed every morning! She certainly isn’t a morning person (neither am I), so she doesn’t particularly like having to be somewhere at a certain time. However, I must commend the Northeast Louisiana Cancer Institute for being the most punctual doctor’s office that I’ve ever been to! Our appointments are at 10:15 every morning. (Yes, Mom doesn’t like having to leave the house by 10:00…that’s too early!) We arrive a little after 10:00. They call her name promptly at 10:15, and we’re headed out the door by 10:30! That is simply amazing!
In addition to being amazingly quick and on time, the staff is also the most outstanding group of healthcare professionals that I’ve ever come in contact with. Every single person that works in this office is genuinely sweet, caring, and uplifting. Each person you come in contact with offers a smile and friendly greeting. I’ve seriously never walked into an office that radiates so much positivity. There’s usually at least one bad egg in the bunch, but not here. We are so lucky to have such an awesome team taking care of Mom right now.
While Mom had a few bad days last week, the past two have been pretty good. She’s felt much better and more energized, allowing her to be more active. On Tuesday, we ran a few errands that included a trip to Target. As many of you know, Mom is awaiting a knee replacement (which is actually how we found this tumor), so sometimes it’s a bit tough for her to get around. I finally convinced her to try one of the scooters to spare her some knee pain. If anything, the experience provided us both with enough laughs to cause pain in our sides, and everyone in Target knows to stand clear next time they see Joyce Bryant coming! On a semi-serious note, it’s a good thing that Targets clothing racks are on wheels…they scooted this way and that way as Mom tried to navigate those aisles! We may or may not have almost rolled one over a lady in the baby department. Needless to say, she wasn’t nearly as amused as we were. I mean, a sense of humor must be hard to come by these days. In Mom’s defense, that scooter was rather bulky. However, I wish I had a video to share with you guys. After all, you deserve a good laugh too!
All in all, we’re still trucking along quite nicely. I expect that we’ll have a mix of good days appreciate everyone continually checking in with us, and Mom enjoys the sweet comments. Please keep them coming!