On Being Positive..

September 3, 2013 Pamela Stephens

I should start today by acknowledging the fact that I haven’t been very diligent with my posts lately. Work has been so very busy, which resulted in me neglecting this online space. I made a promise to myself in this post that I would reserve time to develop this blog, because it’s something that I enjoy. Starting a new business has required a lot of my time and brainpower, but I promise to get back in the groove very soon!

That being said, I had such an interesting experience at Brookshire’s last week. (Brookshire’s is a grocery store for those of you who aren’t local.) The man in front of me in line turned around and told me that my face looked like I was filled with joy. I was so caught of guard by his statement, that I could hardly respond. He followed with saying that if things were bothering me, I looked like I wasn’t letting anything get me down.

I can’t stop thinking about this experience. For several years now, I’ve been making a conscious effort to radiate more positivity. My goal has been to brighten the days of people around me and to see beauty in everyday life. However, I’m not a positive person by nature. As a matter of a fact, my instinct is to immediately think of the worst scenario. When I recognized that this was my tendency, I knew I didn’t want to be that way. I see people on a daily basis that have a negative outlook on everything…people who leave you feeling worse rather than better after being around them. I knew I didn’t want to be that person. I wanted to see the best in people…give them room to make mistakes and grow. I didn’t want to be the person always coming down on everyone else. I wanted to walk away from every conversation feeling like I left someone feeling better than they did before I arrived.

Of course, this hasn’t been an easy journey. It’s very difficult to realize that you’re shifting towards negativity and make yourself stop. It’s even more difficult to correct something that’s habitual and a part of who you are. Undoubtably, I’ve failed many times. However, I’ve kept trying. Last week’s conversation with the gentleman in front of me was a huge milestone in this process. I wasn’t talking to him. I don’t even know that I’d looked directly at him yet. He made his comment out of the blue, after being near me for less than 60 seconds. It left me feeling amazing! I felt like all of the times that I made myself think positively have paid off at least somewhat since a stranger could see positivity in me.

If you find yourself leaning towards negativity or think of yourself as a pessimistic person, know that you don’t have to be that way. You CAN change the way you think. It doesn’t matter if you’re 18 or 83. If you don’t like how you feel or the impact you’re leaving on others, you can be different! It certainly won’t be easy, but my scenario proves that it can be done. I’m sure this is a battle that I’ll fight most of my life, but it’s certainly worthwhile when someone tells you that you’ve shined a little light into their life.

On top of this conversation with the gentleman, the cashier recognized me. She worked at the Brookshire’s in my hometown and remembered me coming in when I was in high school. I hesitate to say this…..but that was almost 10 years ago! I’ve often been told that I have a memorable face, but how amazing that a man compliments me out of the blue and then the cashier recognizes me from years ago.

You think you can’t make an impact on someone, even a stranger? Wrong. As a matter of a fact, you have the opportunity to make an impact on every single person you come in contact with. What sort of impact is it going to be? Positive or negative? It’s your choice.

Leave a comment Inspiration & Thoughts 2013 - inspiration

The Proposal

August 5, 2013 Pamela Stephens

It’s obvious when I’ve been busy at work…my blog posts are fewer and farther between. Nonetheless, here is our proposal story that I promised. I hope to find a better balance between working and managing this space very soon!

Earlier, I talked about how Matthew and I got our start. The post mentions that we had the wedding of our dreams in just a few short weeks. This is not a joke. Matthew proposed on July 12 and we were married on July 28, 2012. I should also mention that this was after dating for only 3 months!

Before you starting thinking that we were complete idiots, refer back to the beginning of our story. During those three months, we spent every single day together. Not only were we together, but those days were filled with tons of teamwork and learning experiences. We weren’t skipping through fields of flowers. We were working hard…together. Nonetheless, I don’t have to explain myself. When ya know, ya know, right?

Let’s talk a little about how this plan to marry came to be. One Sunday afternoon, we were sitting on my bed chatting away. (We had likely just finished hanging or unpacking something, as I had just moved into a new rent house.) We were both off work the following Monday, and one of us jokingly said we should go to Arkansas and come back married. This was another one of those moments where we both laughed and then suddenly got serious. (Like the one mentioned in the puzzle/rug discovery…there’s currently a puzzle under my living room rug by the way.) Why Arkansas you ask? Well, Arkansas and Vegas are the only two places that I know of that you can show up, get a marriage license, and get married that same day!

After a few minutes of testing the waters to see if one or the other were indeed serious, we came to the conclusion that we were both ready to commit to spending the rest of our lives together. Not the rest of the year…the rest of our lives here on this earth. We also decided that we loved the idea of shocking the world by just showing up married one day! We both love to do things to defy the norm. However, we decided that we wouldn’t break our poor Mamas’ hearts by not telling them ahead of time. Plus, Matthew insisted that I have a ring and a “real” proposal story to tell. Rather than going that next day in secret, we decided we would tell our friends and family first and go later that month. We spent the next week telling our loved ones of our plan to get married in just a few short weeks. I should mention that prior to this day, there had been no direct talk of marriage. While we both knew it was coming, we hadn’t spoken a word of it. Talk about zero to sixty!

I spent the next week scouting for the perfect vintage engagement ring. (Would you really expect me to have anything else??) I found hundreds that I liked but couldn’t commit to any. Of course, I’d be able to pick the man, but be unable to decide on a ring…so very typical of me. Matthew and I went to Baldwin’s Jewelers, an estate jeweler in a neighboring town, and found the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. I looked through the cases and found 20-30 that I wanted to try on. After trying them all, Matthew said he found one that I should try. As soon as I put it on my finger, I was in love. (With him AND the ring!) I wanted to “think about it some more,” so we walked some through some of the shops downtown while we talked. After being gone for less than 5 minutes, I started to panic! I was so afraid that someone was going to buy that ring before we got back! (No kidding…I started to sweat. That could have been the July heat in Louisiana, but I think it was from fear of losing my ring.) We knew right away that it was the ring we wanted. I should also mention that it fit my size 4 finger perfectly! Sadly, Matthew wouldn’t let me wear it until he actually proposed. It was terrible knowing that my beautiful ring was sitting in the console, and I couldn’t even wear it!

We had agreed to host a party when we returned home to celebrate this special time with our friends and family. On the way to show the ring to my mom, we stopped at his family’s lake house to scope it out for a potential party venue. As we walked around, Matthew told me stories of his childhood. I looked at the stained glass door showcasing a “P” for the family’s last name. It immediately hit me that Petrus was about to become my last name too. The stories Matthew was telling were going to become my stories too. This name that he was so proud to bear was going to become my name too. What an amazing, profound moment! As we stood on the balcony of the barn, overlooking the lake, Matthew continued to tell stories of Easter egg hunts and family gatherings. Next thing I knew, he was down on one knee, asking me to be his wife!

Luckily, I only had to wait 2 hours for the proposal!

From day one, a girl envisions what this day will be like. You think about where it will be and what he will say. It was nothing like what I had imagined…it was even better! I was so happy to leave that lake house with a gorgeous ring on my finger and a plan to marry the most amazing and inspiring man I’d ever met.

And that’s how Matthew Petrus and I decided to get married in 12 days after dating for only 3 months. If I could go back and do it all over again…I wouldn’t change a thing! Some may think it was crazy idea…I think it was fantastic! Our one year anniversary has been a wonderful time to reflect on this special time in our lives. Thank you for reading along! I’ll try to post more about the actual wedding and our one year anniversary soon. If you missed Part One of our story, read it here.

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Our One Year Anniversary

July 28, 2013 Pamela Stephens

On this day one year ago, I married my best friend. What a rewarding year it has been! We’ve laughed. We’ve cried. (Well, I’ve cried.) But most importantly, our relationship has grown stronger with each passing day. I’m going to share more about our story this week, but in honor of this special day, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite wedding photos by the amazing Rusted Spoon Photography. Here’s to another wonderful year learning and growing with my favorite man!

Read how our story began here! Part 2 coming this week!

Leave a comment Marriage 2013 - anniversary - husband and wife

DIY Cupcake Flags

July 23, 2013 Pamela Stephens

I made cupcakes for Matthew’s family reunion 4th of July weekend. I had about thirty minutes to spare before time to head out, so I decided to make my cupcakes a little more festive.

I saw a post about making drink embellishments on one of my favorite blogs, so I decided to try a variation of their tutorial to use for cupcakes. This is such an easy DIY that I probably don’t even need to spell out the directions, but I will…just in case.

Here are the supplies I used:
Red, white, and blue printed scrapbook paper
Toothpicks
Rubber cement
Scissors

This project doesn’t use much paper, so you could easily use scraps of paper from another project.

1. Cut strips of paper approximately 1 inch wide and 2.5 inches long. These don’t have to be perfect, so I didn’t measure them. I just cut them all approximately the same size.

2. Fold 3 or 4 strips in half. This will help with toothpick placement, and make it quicker to assemble them by doing multiple at once. Folding them in half helps you to move faster so the glue doesn’t dry on you.

3. Spread glue on one half of the folded piece of paper. Again, I did 3 or 4 at a time to make the process quicker.

4. Place a toothpick in the crease of the paper. I used regular sized toothpicks, so I only left a small portion sticking from the top so that I had plenty of room to insert the pick into the cupcake.

5. Line the ends of the paper up, and press the pick firmly into the crease. You’ll want to be sure the paper is glued tightly together around the toothpick. Otherwise, the flag will slide down the pick once it’s upright.

6. Once the flags are dry, you can snip a little “v” into the flag to give it a more finished look. Again, I didn’t measure these…I just tried to cut them evenly.

This post should end with a photo of my festively decorated cupcakes, but the said photo doesn’t exist. For some wild reason, our oven decided to heat to 450 instead of 350, so my red velvet cupcakes were burned to a crisp! Can you imagine my frustration when I realized I made 24+ handmade flags for cupcakes that I couldn’t even take to the party?! Instead, we stopped at Walmart and purchased some cupcakes from the bakery. I still used my flags, but it seems a little strange to put handmade decorations into store bought cupcakes!

I was also going to use my fancy cupcakes for my #summerfood challenge for the Phone Photography Project. Another bummer.

The beauty of this project is that is can be adjusted to fit any holiday or occasion, just by altering the paper. I envision making these flags for several projects, but hopefully I’ll have a dessert to stick them in next time!

Once Upon a Time in a Hardware Store…

July 21, 2013 Pamela Stephens

This time of year brings back so many great memories, because this time last year I was busy falling madly in love with the man of my dreams. With our one year anniversary approaching, I can’t help but reflect upon the journey Matthew and I have started together. Many of you don’t know the story of how Matt & I came to be, so I thought I’d share it here.

It begins, “Once Upon a Time in a Hardware Store,” because my new husband and I met in a local hardware store. Matthew’s family owns TP Outdoors here in Monroe/West Monroe, where he works as the hardware manager in the West Monroe location. At that time, I owned Salt & Pepper…just up the street from his store, and I frequented their establishment for items to complete miscellaneous projects for my store displays.

Being the hardware manager, Matthew was always the one trying to help me figure out ways to make my crazy ideas happen. He special ordered items for me, spent 20+ minutes helping to fix purses, delivered boxes to me when the store needed to move…the list goes on and on.

Finally, after working on so many projects together, I noticed myself finding excuses to go to his store. (The large stack of TP Outdoors receipts from this time confirms this notion!) Matthew was always so positive and welcoming and knew just what to say to encourage me through whatever I was facing. He would ask about my day, and I’d find myself really telling him how my day was going. Next thing I knew, I found myself showing up at TP Outdoors every time I had a bad day. And as usual, I’d leave feeling much better and carrying an unnecessary bag of screws. (Don’t judge!)

Next, I needed help with figuring out some projects for our 2012 Spring Market booth, and Matthew came to the rescue with ways to make all of my ideas happen…plus more ideas of his own! This is how I knew we would make an awesome team. (See a few pictures in my 2013 Spring Market post.) He took the project and ran with it…building pallet walls for us, hauling in railroad timbers…and made our 2012 booth my favorite one of all. (Of course, I could be partial.) After seeing the approach he took to this project, I felt like there was nothing we couldn’t accomplish as a team. So, a few weeks later, we began seeing each other as more than just work associates.

In those first couple of months, we were practically inseparable. We texted until crazy hours of the morning, spent every evening together, and literally talked about everything you could possibly imagine. Salt & Pepper was moving to its new location during this time, and Matthew was my right hand man. We spent many late nights installing purse hangers, mounting railroad timbers to walls, hanging pallets, building custom tables…and the list goes on and on. During these two short months, we not only spent an insane amount of time together, but several of the projects we worked on were strenuous, stressful, and demanding. For example, we spent 8+ hours in a shop with no air conditioning one day (Remember, this is summertime in Louisiana….HOT!!), building a custom table from scratch. Imagine sweating profusely with sawdust clinging to your skin, as you constantly make adjustments to the original plans to make them “work.” On the drive home, I had a sudden realization that we didn’t kill each other! We didn’t get mad, frustrated, or testy with one another. The moment that I realized that this tough task had been so successful, I knew we had something special.

The following weeks were full of similar exciting discoveries and adventures. We began a whirlwind romance that ultimately ended with the wedding of our dreams, just a few short weeks later. I will forever and ever look back on this time as some of the most exciting and wonderful days of my life.

More about our special love story coming soon…

Read more about our first year of marriage here, here, and here.

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The Phone Photography Project

July 12, 2013 Pamela Stephens

Day 1: From Where I Stand – a photo of your feet showing where you’re at that day

Here’s a little secret. I hate to take photos. I hate to be the subject of photos, just as much as I don’t like actually taking them. This presents a little problem for this online space, because photos are such a big and important part of having a successful blog. It’s no secret that I love the writing aspect, but not so much the photography part. On top of that, photos are important for sustaining memories and documenting the adventures of everyday life. Even though I don’t particularly like it, I have been making a sincere effort to take more (and better) photos of our experiences.

Day 2: Monogram Collage – capture a photo of yourself and your initials

Day 3: Summer Projects – a collage of items you’re working on this summer. I plan on going on more walks with my husband!

I came across the online Phone Photography Project on one of my favorite blogs and signed up earlier this summer. I take practically all of my photos with the camera on my iPhone 5. Being that I already don’t like taking photos, hauling around a hefty camera just isn’t for me…not at this point anyway. So, if I can get some tips for making better use of my phone camera, then maybe…just maybe…I might learn to not despise the process quite so much.

Day 4: Summer Harvest – photos of your food as you prepare it

Here’s how it works. Everyday, they post a new photo challenge with instructions and reviews of their favorite apps. You go out and capture what that challenge is asking for and upload it to the classroom gallery and to Instagram with the #bpcphonephotographyproject hashtag. (My apologies to those who follow me on Instagram and have been confused by the random photos.) In an ideal world, I would have more time to search out interesting shots for each of the photos, but the real estate world has me pretty busy right now. Nonetheless, I’ve already learned a ton and I’m slowly starting to develop a more loving relationship towards photography.

Day 5: Family – non-staged, impromptu photos of your family

Day 6: Hometown Tourist – a photo of something cool from your town…something that isn’t usually photographed

What have I learned so far? As of today, I’m 12 days in to the project. (It lasts the entire month of July.) The first thing I’ve learned is that it can be tough to search out photos to fit a certain theme if you’re a busy girl. I’m sure photos don’t have to be posted on the exact day that the challenge is issued, but I just can’t deviate from that way of thinking. So everyday, I snag whatever spare minute I can and try to capture that day’s photo. For example, I ran out of daylight night before last and had to take that day’s photo at night. It wasn’t ideal, but like Tim Gun says, I “made it work.”

Day 7: Sunrise/Sunset - photos showing the light at different times of the day. My photos were taken within 10 minutes of each other. — Day 7: Sunrise/Sunset – photos showing the light at different times of the day. My photos were taken within 10 minutes of each other.

Day 8: Summer Colors – a full frame photo of bright colors

The second thing I’ve learned is the value of editing. Other than slapping on a filter in Instagram, I’ve never been one to really edit my photos. However, the reviews of all of the wonderful apps have forced me to download and try some of my options. I’m still not an expert, but doing a few minor edits have proved to make a huge difference in the quality of my photos. I know this is a mute point to all of you photographers out there, but I always maintained that I “didn’t have time” to edit photos. However, with some of the new apps I’ve been exposed to, I can see that it doesn’t have to be a cumbersome process and makes such a big difference. Here’s to me learning how to edit!

Day 9: Jump – an interesting photo of someone jumping

Day 10: Clouds – a photo focusing on the sky

I’m happy to share my photos of the project so far. We also completed a photo scavenger hunt, in addition to the daily projects, that I’ll try to share soon. You can see the daily tasks by following me on Instagram!

Day 11: Perspective – taking a photo from a different angle than you normally would

Also, here’s a special thank you to my husband for being willing to be the subject of my “jump” photo. I love that he doesn’t even ask many questions when I say, “Hey, will you come outside and jump so I can take a photo?” Thanks for being such a good sport, honey!

Let me know your thoughts of my progress so far by leaving a comment below!

1 Comment Other Stuff 2013 - art

Family Reunion at the Lake

July 8, 2013 Pamela Stephens

The past several days have flown by, while also feeling incredibly long…the sun will do that to you. Our Independence Day weekend surrounded a family reunion for Matthew’s side of our family. We spent three days at the family lake house on Lake D’Arbonne doing all of the usual lake activities…boat riding, swimming, riding the tube, eating, and a very serious horseshoe tournament. (I’m not kidding when I say this horseshoe tournament was a big deal!)

We had hamburgers and delicious catfish catered from one of our favorite restaurants, Catfish Charlie’s. The lake house was buzzing with people of all ages, happy to see one another and eager to catch up and reminisce. Children ran and played and meltdowns were few and far between. Our sweet nephew, Riley, rode the tube for the first time and is now hooked. He wasn’t very happy when his final ride of the weekend came to an end. He also got a kick out of refusing to share his chips with me. Luckily, I wasn’t depending on Riley for my sustenance this weekend, or I would have starved!

As always, I should have taken more pictures, but I was too focused on chatting the days away, not to mention that I was afraid of dropping my phone into the lake. Nonetheless, my first family reunion on Matthew’s side of the family was a huge success, and we more than enjoyed a few days of relaxing in the sun with our family.

We had to come back to the real world on Sunday, as we both headed back to work. I worked on listing my second house and showed a total of eight homes to clients on Sunday afternoon. Needless to say, I’m exhausted! Matt went to work and then came home to study for a nursing exam. There’s nothing like finishing a blissful weekend with a large dose of reality! Nonetheless, we enjoyed a wonderful weekend together with family. Here’s to a busy week ahead!

I also spent a lot of my weekend snapping photos for the Phone Photography Project. I’ll tell you more about that soon!

Read about our last busy weekend here.

3 Comments Marriage - Other Stuff 2013 - family - husband and wife

What I Wore: To Work

July 1, 2013 Pamela Stephens

The transition from one career to another has been a fun ride. In addition to the millions of other things that I’m learning to do differently, I’ve also had to make some adjustments to my personal style. I’m still experimenting with what the real estate look is going to look like for me, but here’s what I’ve learned so far.

I don’t want a stuffy, strictly-business look.
I want to show my edgy/fashionable/fun side while still looking professional.
I’m enjoying mixing dressy and casual elements to create looks that provide a dressy/casual vibe that’s a nice middle ground.
Dresses are my outfit of choice as this Louisiana weather gets warmer and warmer.

For this outfit, I chose a burnt orange, sleeveless dress. This dress has a great, flattering fit and is nice and breezy for these hot, summer days.

The dress came with a camel-colored belt, but I really wanted to add a different color to make it look a little brighter for summertime. My first choice was to pair it with a new, magenta belt, but the belt was too big for the waistline of the dress. Instead, I settled for this creamy white option. Adding the lighter colored belt still gave me the brighter, more summery look that I was going for. Plus, this braided belt added a slightly more casual element to help me achieve that middle ground I’m going for right now.

To coordinate with the white belt, I added these cream & gold earrings (my new favorites) and layered my orange Lenny & Eva leather cuff with a white Lenny & Eva beaded bracelet. (There are just so many options with Lenny & Eva!) I added a pair of nude sandals, and I was good to go.

This outfit gave me the professional, yet casual look that I’ve been gravitating to lately. My personal style will continue to transform over the next few months, but I like where its headed. When I first started this new career, I quickly realized that my style had become very casual while working at Salt & Pepper (a far stretch from my business suit days as a marketing director). Don’t get me wrong, I loved my tattered, vintage, boho style…but it’s just not what I want for this career. I also liked my business suit style from working at the Monroe-West Monroe Convention & Visitors Bureau. However, I’m very excited to develop a new style that’s somewhat of a combination of the two. Here’s to a new look!

The dress, all jewelry, and belt are from Salt & Pepper.

More on my personal style here and here.

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Puzzles & Pajamas

June 26, 2013 Pamela Stephens

I wrote this post several months ago (as you’ll be able to tell by the fuzzy pajama pants), but I never got around to posting it. However, after a slight mental breakdown on Sunday night, I decided this message was relevant again. I suddenly realized that I haven’t taken a day or even a few hours off, since I started this new real estate career. I was both mentally and physically exhausted, and I didn’t even see it coming. Finally, I realized that I have to be just as diligent in giving myself a break as I was when I was running Salt & Pepper. Therefore, I decided to come back to this unpublished post. It’s as much as a reminder for me as it is to share with you guys. So here it goes…

I have a habit of putting off things that I want to do in an attempt to accomplish more of what I have to do. Problem is, I’ll never finish everything on that must-do list, which means I’ll never feel like I can let myself have a little fun.In this post, I mentioned several little things that I wanted to do (like this blog) and said I was going to make a better effort to actually let myself do some of them. And I have!

One of those little things was wanting to put together a puzzle. My mom and I did puzzles all the time as a kid, and I loved them! I bought a puzzle probably 3 years ago and haven’t given myself the go ahead to do it at any point over the past 3 years. How sad is that?!

Soooo…I finally decided that life was too short to keep putting things off and made a goal to put my puzzle together. Turns out my BFF also enjoys doing puzzles! (We’ve been friends for almost 8 years. I can’t believe I didn’t know this already.) The puzzle I had was of a man and little boy propped up against a tractor in a field….not very exciting. Needless to say, we ended up with a whole lot of green pieces that all looked the same. Ultimately, I decided that “life is too short to waste time on miscellaneous greenery” and bought a new puzzle. (Amanda will appreciate this because it’s the exact text I sent her when I decided to give up on puzzle #1.)

Matt & I stumbled upon a cool Las Vegas puzzle, and it was perfect because Amanda and I had just returned from Vegas. We needed a good place to start the puzzle (other than my dining room table like before) and we didn’t have a big box or any of the other puzzle tricks, so Amanda jokingly suggested rolling up the living room rug and then rolling it back over the puzzle when we are done for the day. It was one of those moments where we all laughed and then simultaneously looked at each other because it was a great idea!

While this puzzle story seems a little useless and trivial, it was actually a big turning point for me. A point where I decided that in order to stay sane and enjoy this ole life of mine, I’m going to have to sprinkle in things that I enjoy among the things life requires. Rather than puzzles waiting, clean baseboards can wait. Laundry can wait. It can all wait…and give me the opportunity to have a little fun. I already have my next puzzle lined out, and I will make a diligent effort to begin working on it as soon as possible.

Are there any fun things you’ve been putting off? You’ll be amazed at the refreshing feeling that comes after you make a little time to enjoy yourself. What sort of fun activities have you been putting off? Leave a comment!

3 Comments Inspiration & Thoughts 2013 - Amanda - friends

I’m Thankful: My Backyard

June 10, 2013 Pamela Stephens

I want to start a series of posts about things that I’m thankful for. These won’t be things that I go around and look for. Instead, it will be more like me choosing to elaborate on things that I suddenly realize. All too often, we overlook and disregard the little (and sometimes big) things in our lives that we should be grateful for. This series is my attempt to celebrate my own gratefulness and maybe inspire others to see and acknowledge things to be thankful for in their own lives.

That being said, today I am thankful for my backyard. The past few months have been a tad stressful, and I often find solace in sitting on our patio and listening to the sounds around me. I’m learning that I really love to be outdoors and get an astonishing amount of peace and relaxation from it.

I’ve noticed over the past several years, that when I get upset, stressed, or even angry, I immediately want to go for a walk. I never put much thought into that tendency until recently. Turns out, just being outside in the sunshine for a few minutes each day has a dramatic improvement on my mood and mental state.

So why I am thankful for my backyard? It’s certainly not the tidiest, largest, or nicest yard in town. As a matter of fact, my husband cringes at the greenery overload that came from neglect over the years. (We are renting, and the owner of the home hasn’t focused much on landscaping.) However, there’s something that I can’t help but love about the privacy the overgrown greenery adds. Regardless of the state of the landscaping, I’m thankful for this space because it’s the first time in years that I’ve had an outdoor space to revert to. It’s a nice, private area where my neighbors aren’t in clear sight. We have comfy patio furniture with new cushions that I love. The patio area is easily accessible, and I can walk out in my (or Matt’s) slippers. Even if some of the trees are covered in vines…everything is green, vibrant, and inspiring.

Our backyard is a place where I can go and wind down. A place where I can sit and write or read. A place where I did a lot of studying for my real estate exam. It’s a place where I can relax and think about who I want to be and what I want to become.

So today, I am thankful for this space….our perfectly imperfect backyard.

If you have an outdoor space, I encourage you to get out and enjoy it. Multiple studies show that spending time outdoors can dramatically improve not only your mental state, but your physical health as well. Let’s all enjoy this beautiful world around us!

What do you have to be thankful for? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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