Holiday Playlist

If you are one of those people who doesn’t want to see holiday decorations until December and hates holiday music before Thanksgiving, I’d probably recommend you take a moment to bookmark this blog post and come back to it at a later date.

It’s holiday playlist time at my house, y’all.

Let’s be honest. It has been for a couple weeks now. I can not apologize for that. Holiday music is something of a nostalgic thing for me. I LOVE memories of decorating the tree with family nearby with these songs playing. We never lived close to our grandparents or other family members, so there was always a road trip associated with holiday visits- and before the days of 24 hour holiday music stations I learned to get excited when ole Branda Lee started singing about Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

Classics never go out of style, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t also some great new takes on holiday favorites. I’ve taken the liberty of compiling a Spotify playlist for you that includes some of those holiday favorites for this season.

I’m listening to it while I’m writing this. Admittedly I’m biased, but I think it’s pretty great. I hope you’ll enjoy it too. Here are 35 songs (2 hours of music) to help you get yourself into the holiday spirit.

Get your jingle bells ready, and click here to head straight over to Spotify so you can give it a listen/download. I have also included a picture below of the list of songs..

I’d love to hear your favorite Holiday song. Did I leave any off the list?

The Other Side of Pink

We’ve all come to know October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I’m about to be 41, and just in my lifetime breast cancer has morphed from something that affected someone you may know to something we ALL see or feel the effects of each and every day whether personally or through the experiences of others. We’ve been taught from a very early age about how important it is to do breast self-exams so we can become familiar with what feels ‘off’ if something were to change.

I’ve signed up for walks, donated to fundraisers, attended seminars and classes. Shop for a cause? Here. Take ALL my money. I’ll wear the ribbons, shout “Save the ta-tas,” and encourage others to do the same. Bonus? I LOVE PINK, and I love feeling like I can be part of something that helps someone who may receive a devastating diagnosis.

I’m wearing pink, see? I’m here for you. I’m saying prayers for you. I want you to know I see you and I hope one day we do get to celebrate the end of these appointments where women (and men) receive the news that changes their lives forever- that they have breast cancer.

What I didn’t realize until recently is that I may not actually be helping as much as I hoped or thought I was.

Not long ago a friend from college bravely let the world know she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. The type of cancer she was facing was aggressive. It was difficult to make respond to treatments and doesn’t boast the most encouraging survival rates. She met her diagnosis with an honesty about how much it sucked. She didn’t sugar coat what she was facing. Her posts and updates were raw and unfiltered, and continued to educate me on the true side of breast cancer that actually needs more awareness.

We all know breast cancer is out there. We know how many people it affects and how to get screened. My friend’s journey has shown me it’s time to take that awareness to the next level. That means we need to “Think before we Pink.”

I’m happy to report my friend has faced her diagnosis, treatment and post treatment reconstruction journey with the same honesty and openness every step of the way. She’s living her life, enjoying every single hilarious moment with her three young children and moving on from it as ‘normally’ as she can. From her I’ve learned:

• Cancer sucks. That’s it. It just sucks. There’s no dressing it up, down or all-around. Even in pink. IT SUCKS.

• 113 people die each day from Stage IV breast cancer.

• 4% of newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients are Stage IV at their initial diagnosis, and an additional 30% of patients who are diagnosed with early stage breast cancer will eventually metastasize.

• ONLY 2-5% of all funds raised for breast cancer is focused on research for those already in Stage IV. Read that one again, y’all.

Stage IV takes Mamas from babies, friends from friends, sisters from sisters, daughters from mamas, wives from husbands.

I got those bullet points from a post on my friend’s Facebook page. I had no idea such a small percentage of funds raised for breast cancer research is focused on helping those who may have the least amount of time to fight. Keep in mind that’s just 2-5% of funds actually donated to these organizations and that doesn’t take into consideration what an incredibly tiny percentage of funds changing hands through all the pink campaigns we see since much of those funds never even make it to a research organization.

From another of her posts I was reminded “Cancer is not always pink ribbons and celebrations of strength. We sometimes feel broken, jinxed, worthless, cursed, weak, heartbroken and tired.”

Make no mistake I’m not grateful that ANYONE has to face something like breast cancer regardless of what stage it is, but I am grateful to my friend and the strong warriors like her who are fighting who use their journey as a tool to teach me more about what it feels like to be in their shoes. I’m grateful she’s patient with people like me who truly mean well, but are still largely uninformed because we haven’t taken the time to learn more about this before it was in a Facebook status of someone we know and love.

So here’s what I’ve learned and would like to pass along to you in case you, like me, had no idea:

1. If you’re tempted to buy, do, or sell anything ‘for the cure’ or for ‘pink’ but you can’t find out how much of the funds generated by that effort actually make it to a research or support organization that directly impacts those currently in the fight, then you’re actually going to make much more of a difference to just make a direct donation to a worthy organization.

2. Does the pink item you’re purchasing even make a donation to a worthwhile organization, or is the company producing it doing something solely for ‘awareness?’ (See my statistics above. It’s time to take our awareness efforts to the next level so awareness can ultimately lead to ACTION.

3. Does the pink item you’re purchasing contain harmful chemicals or substances that may actually be connected to cancer-causing agents? (That one stopped me dead in my tracks. I hadn’t even thought of that as a possibility before.)

I’m not recommending you boycott the pink efforts this October or any month of the year. I’m simply suggesting we take time to be better stewards of our resources so any funds spent or donated have the absolute highest impact possible for the women and men we love who need it most.

My friend has posted about an organization called METAvivor, which works specifically to raise awareness, funds and resources for metastatic breast cancer (MBC.) METAvivor regularly launches campaigns to increase understanding about metastatic breast cancer to help increase funding for research focused on the already-metastized patient, and to advocate for improved benefits and treatments for those living with MBC. Benefits like the need for expedited Social Security and disability procedures for patients or increased rights to ‘try’ new treatments and therapies or even attainable health insurance that will meet the unique needs of their diagnosis.

I’m grateful to know more about METAvivor and am donating directly to the organization this October. I already have pink shirts (plenty of them!) I already have pink ribbons and bracelets and water bottles. What I need now is to know I’m doing anything I can to help someone already in the fight. If you’re interested in helping as well you can visit METAvivor to learn more or click here to be linked directly to the organization’s donation center. Here’s a statistic you can feel good about:

100% of your METAvivor donation goes directly to fund research grant awards for metastatic breast cancer research.

I've Got the Power[sheets]!

Goal setting for me was pretty easy when I was younger. If you think about it, the milestones are all sort of set for you.

Goal one: Crawl. Goal Two: Walk. Goal Three: Potty-train…skip a few- Learn to read, Drive, Graduate, Graduate again (maybe even graduate again?) Get job, Get promoted, repeat…

But what do you do to challenge yourself to grow once you’ve checked off all society’s boxes? What happens if the goals you set for your job end up not really being all that fun or fulfilling after all? How do you get off the merry-go-round of life and decide for yourself what’s the most important?

Even harder- Once you decide what you think is most important, how in the heck are you supposed to figure out how to make THOSE things happen? I’m not ashamed to tell you I found myself gripping the steering wheel in traffic on my way to work one morning wondering what in the world it meant if the things I spent all of my time talking about, focusing on or doing were completely different than the things I would say were actually the most important to me. How did that make ANY sense?

I’m blessed with the most amazing husband. When I tell you he’s my biggest fan, y’all I’m not kidding. He sees all the dreams I have for us and for myself as absolutes in our future, and he’s 100% supportive of all my zany ideas for how to make them happen. He challenges me when he thinks I’m shorting myself, and he celebrates with me when I realize a goal. That challenge part isn’t always easy- and it was his voice that kept prompting me to think differently; to take advantage of the opportunity to do something different. Simply stated- he begged me to dream bigger and go make THOSE things happen.

But I was so overwhelmed. For me, it became clearer and clearer that my dreams didn’t fit with the career path I was on at that time. If I didn’t work in an office, have a calendar full of meetings, hand out a business card with some silly title or answer 20 voicemails a day then how did I define who I even was? I clung to all the things I was comfortable with in my job because being busy kept me occupied. So guess what happens when you don’t change anything: The merry-go-round I was on just kept on turning. I wouldn’t get off. I needed a sign. (Isn’t that funny?)

I believe in signs because I believe that’s how God speaks to me. He created me, after all ; all my silly inner voices and doubts, and He knows I basically need to be hit over the head with the obvious to be able to really understand what His plan for me is. And so- I got a sign.

Scrolling through Instagram one day I came across a post from Southern Weddings magazine (which was my wedding planning “happy" website) about their sister brand Cultivate What Matters. The post was something so simple, yet so incredibly powerful. It stopped me dead in my scroll.

“You know all those things you’ve always wanted to do? You should go do them.”

Bam. There is was. “Okay, okay, okay” I thought. “I get it.” But in my head I knew that was SOOOOOO much easier said (or read) than done. So I did what any chronic Instagram-scroller does. I clicked the link to that profile and began exploring.

And that, my friends, was a click that changed my life. I’m not kidding.

I met Power Sheets that day, and I knew that was exactly what I was looking for.

I was good at the big ideas, but I’ve always struggled with the details on how to bring those big ideas to fruition. I over commit, and I often underestimate what I’m able to accomplish in a small period of time. I needed help getting to the big ideas with small steps I could better manage.

PowerSheets is a simple methodology of goal setting that helps you make tiny steps of progress that ultimately lead to big changes. Or growth. Or keeping something going. Or whatever it is that you decide matters most to you.

I dove in. I ordered PowerSheets for the coming year. Then I got overwhelmed again. The first month I set goals actually makes me giggle now. I basically wanted to run a marathon, save a million dollars, cure cancer and learn a new language by January 31. (That’s only a slight exaggeration.)

I accomplished none of those things, but did go an entire month without a Diet Coke- which was almost as momentous for me at that time. I read something on the website that reminded me ‘progress not perfection’ was the main emphasis of this system. So I started again in February.

I had to learn how to set goals that made sense for the season I was in. How to break those goals down into daily and weekly checkpoints to help me stay focused on the big picture. I had to learn to forgive myself if something didn’t get accomplished. I had to hold myself accountable to keep picking up the book to write down the next steps. I had to keep trying over and over again until I got it right.

So why is this important? Because I’m excited to order my next set of PowerSheets to help me continue making slow but steady progress on my goals for the year ahead. Can you believe 2020 is less than 90 DAYS away? The team who produces PowerSheets (Cultivate What Matters) is launching a new and improved version for next year. I can’t wait to get my hands on them.

I haven’t arrived at any sort of final destination. If I’m completely honest I’ve probably missed as many of my action steps as I’ve hit, but even those misses have taught me something. In the last few years I’ve taken lots of GIANT leaps of faith and lots of tiny steps all with the ultimate goal of keeping the important stuff at the top of my to-do list.

I’m reminded daily I’ve always had the power to do these things all on my own. But PowerSheets have brought me into a community of people who like me are striving daily to tend to the things they decide are important. We celebrate together and regroup together.

I’m not paid by the Cultivate team to push PowerSheets. If you know me well you’ve already heard me talk plenty about how I think they’ve helped me and why I think EVERYONE should use a system like this for themselves. I just believe in what they help me do.

I want to be clear that I don’t think being in a corporate job is a bad thing. It just wasn’t MY thing anymore. It wasn’t the only thing I identified I needed to change, but it’s the most visible change if you knew me a few years ago before all this has happened. Your goals don’t have to look like mine because what matters most to us doesn’t have to be the exact same thing. Whether you choose to utilize a tool like the PowerSheets or not, I simply challenge you to take a moment and think about what you spend your time engaged in doing, thinking about, talking about, or planning. Does it line up with what you’d tell a stranger is the most important thing to you?

If so, BRAVO dear friend. Send me your secrets! If not, you’ve always had the power, girl. It’s time to ‘Make it happen!’

My 2019 PowerSheets are filled with notes, scribbles, ideas, successes and ‘do-overs.’ This book is never far from me physically or mentally!

Pancake Party

Today we celebrate pancakes. My husband would affirm that if I had my way I would want to celebrate pancakes EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. But alas, today is the day we officially celebrate the simple yet delicious breakfast treat which gives us the opportunity to follow Kate Spade’s timeless directive to “Eat cake for breakfast.”

Pancakes have been a favorite part of the diet of many cultures for hundreds of years. in fact, researchers have found pancakes in the stomach of Otzi the Iceman’s human remains dating back 5,300 years! (Proving they’re so easy to make a cave man could do it…You had to know that was coming…) In ancient Roman and Greek societies, writings show pancakes were made from wheat flour, olive oil, honey and curdled milk. Pancakes have been written about in the poetry of the ancient Greeks and have been mentioned in some of the works of Shakespeare. Through the years the simple pancake has taken on many forms of specialization when spices, fruits and even libations have been added to ‘elevate’ them.

The fact is, any breakfast feels more special when there’s a pancake griddle heating these sweet temptations. My husband Jodie often says the best things you can make are just a combination of simple ingredients combined with care, and I think he couldn’t be more right. So today, in celebration of National Pancake Day, let’s put aside the box mix and take just a couple seconds longer to mix up some batter from scratch. Mixing it yourself gives you the chance to drop some love inside, and Love- after all- makes EVERYTHING better.

Here’s a simple pancake recipe in case you don’t already have a favorite! Note that you can adjust the recipe depending on how fluffy you like yours to be. You can also add chocolate, fruit, sugars, etc. to make them your own. Note that the dry ingredients can be mixed ahead of time and stored just like your favorite boxed mix, and the full batter is good for even a few days in the refrigerator. I’d love to hear your favorite way to enjoy pancakes.

Pass the butter, y’all. You CAN have your [pan]cake and eat it too!

Recipe:

• 1 cup All Purpose Flour

• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder

• 1/4 teaspoon Salt

• 1 tablespoon Sugar (if you like them sweet)

• 2 eggs

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups of Milk

• Butter (you may prefer to have some melted butter ready for cooking and some unmelted butter ready for the pancakes as they come off the griddle.)

Preparation:

1. Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat. In a bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Beat eggs into 1 1/2 cups milk, then stir in 2 tablespoons melted cooled butter, if using it. Gently stir this mixture into dry ingredients, mixing only enough to moisten flour; don't worry about a few lumps. If batter seems thick, add a little more milk.

2. Place a teaspoon or 2 of butter or oil on griddle or skillet. When butter foam subsides or oil shimmers, ladle batter onto griddle or skillet, making pancakes of any size you like. Adjust heat as necessary; usually, first batch will require higher heat than subsequent batches. Flip pancakes after bubbles rise to surface and bottoms brown, after 2 to 4 minutes.

3. Cook until second side is lightly browned. Serve, or hold on an ovenproof plate in a 200-degree oven for up to 15 minutes.