Celebrate April & Ideas & Inspiration to help Pursue your Passion

 

 

Happy April 1st

(click on the ecard to share with others!)

Happy April 1st! I can’t believe it is April already but so excited. I just love Spring! And we are about to get our April showers tonight, so I quickly did some planting. I planted arugula, spinach, watercress, carrots and 2 kinds of lettuce. Last night I looked at Pinterest to get some ideas, then got overwhelmed and just planted! Sometimes I want to do things perfectly and obsess instead of just doing it. Usually I just end up charging ahead. So I threw some seeds in some rows and hope they grow ok! I usually don’t plant from seed-I usually buy little plants at the herb festivals in April. So I am branching out (pun) a little and trying some new things. I do want to have a huge vegetable garden soon. We have enough room here out on our acreage, but it will take some planning-would like to do raised beds and then we will have to fence everything (we have deer, raccoons, possums, snakes, you name it) and then also figure out the irrigation. So maybe it will be in place by next spring. My sister in law is a Master Gardener, so I will enlist her help. Here’s what I threw out there today!

seeds

Oh my gosh, I am on an ADD rampage now, haven’t blogged in a while-hope you can follow this! I am always thinking of ideas to write about but have gotten really bogged down with life lately. I am truly smushed in the sandwich generation right now. Just call me peanut butter. I have one in college and one in high school-and even thought they are not little any more, you still have challenges, just different from when they were little. And then my mom is in Dallas (4 hours away) in very poor health and so I am hopping in the car once more in the morning to help my sister with her.

Luckily I have an online business so I will just take my ideas and technology with me. So excited about some new things coming up for Spring with Happy First. Can’t wait to tell ya’ll!

I just want to say, I truly don’t know how people get bored in life. There are not enough hours in the day for me. I think I got gypped on the hours somewhere! There is so much I want to learn and do. I know I sound like a PollyAnna but I just love life and I love learning. And I want to encourage others to find what makes them happy and just do it.

One of my latest fun things I am doing-I really want to get good at graphic design. Some of you know my story, I started out in fashion design in college then switched to accounting because I was good with numbers and thought I would find a job more easily in accounting. Well, I did it, got my CPA and a good job but I didn’t like accounting all that much! So finally I am pursuing my passion of design and fashion, making friends, spreading happiness. I want you to know that you are never too old to pursue something new! I have even thought about going back to college (while still running my business) and getting a graphic design degree. But I really don’t need all those unneccessary classes and taking all that time. So I decided to learn on my own. Last year I took some short classes at our local community college and that was great and all, but I wanted more. So I just signed up with Lynda.com – it is so great, they have videos on everything, from mircrosoft excel to photoshop to photography to how to learn instagram to time management! So I thought I would share. I am really enjoying it. I just want to encourage you all to pursue what you love and find different sources to do this.

Oh and this is so cool, I have been thinking about writing about this for days and then just ran across this story today from a great blog-YogaSpy- I follow- a man running his first marathon at 89 (he is now still running at 102!)-what an incredible story-just goes to show you are never too old!

So I know this isn’t perfectly written, but I have decided I just need to write from the heart. If I wait til all conditions are perfect, it won’t get done!

Happy April 1st!

What would you like to learn or do?

Happy Valentine’s Day card

Valentine's Day ecard

Happy Valentine’s Day my friends! Click on the ecard to spread happiness & fun. :)

What’s your Word for 2013?

january 1st

Happy January 1st my friends, and Happy 2013! As you know, I love to celebrate firsts and new beginnings! I love the start of a new year, it is so fresh and fun and full of possibilities. I view life as a big adventure and I love to experience new things.

I’m spending this week reflecting on 2012 and planning for 2013.

Yesterday on my Happy First facebook page I asked the question- Does anyone make resolutions? The first response came from a dear friend who said she doesn’t make resolutions, too much pressure and she doesn’t want to be disappointed. Someone else agreed. Wow, that is so foreign to me, I am constantly setting goals. I am so Type A, have trouble slowing down. And I look at this dear friend and wish I was more like her, so balanced and calm.

But we have to work with who we are right? And that is what makes everyone so fun and different and that is what is great about having friends and a spouse that are totally opposite of me. They keep me in balance!

So back to my Type A goal setting-ha ha. (By the way, check out my earlier blog post about setting goals) Every year for the past few years I have chosen a word to embrace for the year. It started in 2010-my word was Create, 2011 was Pursue and 2012 was Delve (delve in 2012). I encourage you all to think of a word and frame it so you can see it every day. This year I am putting it on my desk.

Before I tell you 2013′s word, let me reflect on 2012. I chose Delve. I wanted to learn new things. Well, I did learn new things, but I think my word should have been Explore for last year, because I did so many things on the surface but didn’t really delve or get good at any of them. I looked into classes at our local community college and took all of these classes last year (I dragged some friends with me too to these classes)-Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Indesign, a 5 week photography class (I got a digital SLR for my birthday and wanted to learn how to really use it) and a jewelry stamping class!

I learned new skills and met fun people, but this year I want to really FOCUS so that is my word for 2013. I have said that before, I am spread too thin. I want to be super business owner and super mom and super volunteer and experience everything! Well, I can’t be good at everything if I am overextended. I am really going to work on my schedule and say no more and when I am working I am focusing on work-no distractions-and when I am doing family things I am with family. I love Yoga-one of the things they are always saying is BE PRESENT-so I am going to work on being present!

Some other ideas I came up with for some good words-be LEAN in 2013-that can be like lean in being fit or lean in your business. I had New Year’s Eve dinner with cousins last night and I was asking them their word ideas and my cousin Ralph said Lucky 13 for 2013. So maybe 2013 will be your lucky year! (as you may know, I have a lucky chick tee and I wrote about Luck).

But I digress, I must FOCUS on my word FOCUS. What is your word for 2013? I love hearing everyone’s ideas! Let’s inspire each other! Happy 2013!

focus  ps-I tend to want to make everything perfect. I could have spent hours choosing the perfect font or drawing up something to frame. Instead, I just chose to keep it simple! So it is not perfect, but it is already sitting on my desk.

Happy First Day of Winter!

First Day of Winter Ecard

Happy First Day of Winter, friends!

Happy October 1st & a Hodgkin’s Survivor Military Strong Chick

Happy October 1st

 

 

Happy October 1st my friends! The months just fly by-the first always sneaks up on me! And here I am late getting this out today, but I think it happened for a reason because of the comment that just appeared on the Military Wife Strong Chick (featuring Latife) blog post. I am just blown away. I cannot believe all the strong people I have been introduced to because of having Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and founding the Happy First clothing line. Also, I wanted to refer back to My Hodgkin’s story, because I want you all to see other people’s stories and if you know someone going through it, maybe my blog post and everyone’s comments can be an encouragement.

I was going to tell you about all the cute new stuff we have (and it is! check it out) but I thought sharing other’s stories are more important today!

So be Happy to be Here and remember this is a new month to make a difference in your life and others’!

We are still looking for some more Military Strong Chicks out there to tell their story as a part of an upcoming project, so please contact me either via my blog or site or facebook with your story.

Oh, one more thing, we are now on Pinterest, please follow us! happy first bat

Ok, couldn’t resist, here is one cute new thing, go check out the rest…..

Happy August 1st ecard

Happy August 1st Happy August 1st everyone! Click on the ecard to share and spread happiness :)

Celebrate July & our Freedom!

Happy July 1 Freedom Happy July 1st, my friends! Where is this summer going? We just got back from the beach at 1 am last night (or I guess that is morning!). Had a wonderful time, after Sunday it was bright and sunny after the tropical storm Debby came through.

I love vacations, gets me recharged, energized! I love to shop and check out the trends and see what is fun and new. I always get new ideas too. So last night we got home and I was so excited and started pulling out fabric out of my fabricaholic stash to get ready to create today. Went to bed around 3 am, those of you that know me know that I am NOT a night person! But I love new ideas and get so wired I cannot sleep. Can’t wait to show you what I come up with.

I am reflecting on July, how we are so blessed to live in a country where we have the freedom to do what we want to do. If we want to start a new business, we can! We can run with our ideas and share with others. I don’t take this for granted and am thankful to those who have fought for our country.

So, pursue and be happy and celebrate our country this week!

What are you thankful for and what are you pursuing?

ps-click on the ecard to share! :)

Happy First Day of Summer!

Happy Summer ecard

 

Happy First Day of summer! As always, click on the ecard to share. :)

Found some fun summer quotes-

“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows”
– St. Francis of Assisi

“Celebrate Summer – Sun drenched days and starlit nights…”
– Gooseberry Patch

“In summer, the song sings itself”
– William Carlos Williams

This one made me laugh-

“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability”
–Sam Kee
because I have been feeling kinda guilty enjoying the summer and not feeling as productive, and now I am realizing it is good for all of us to have some rest, it helps us re-energize and get more creative energy!
What do you all like to do in the summer? I am loving golf, long days and nights, fun with family and friends, pesto, just being outside!

 

Happy June 1st Ecard

Happy June 1st ecard

Happy June 1st my friends! Click on the ecard to take you to the site to share with friends. Can’t believe it is June already! Down in Dallas helping take care of my mom. Had a great run with my sister this morning, love being a runner chick!

The first day of the month makes me so happy, love the idea of a fresh new month, fresh beginning. May was fun-took a photoshop class at our local community college. Love learning new things.

Jewel Figueras just made my day today with her blog, check it out- jewelsfablife . I love meeting incredible people like her!

Heading to Eufaula, OK tomorrow afternoon for the grand opening of a new store- “Our Favorite Place”. They have lots of Happy First!

Just noticed I use the word “love” a lot. Oh well. :)

So venture out, try something new, meet new people-have a fun day! It’s the weekend and summer, yay!

Happy May 1st!

Happy May 1st! Celebrate a fresh new month, a new beginning. What are you going to start new today?

Click on the ecard above to spread happiness!