Day 4 Photo-A-Day

This is my new favorite sweatshirt, thanks to my daughter who works at Oregon Garden. She has teased me for the last four years about wearing my old 'faves' from Tucson. Lol. 

"You live in Oregon now, Mom. It's time you paid some respect to our state." 

I love the color of this, but what's even better is that when I wear it, I feel wrapped in daughter love.

Day 3 Photo-A-Day

Trees, trees ... everywhere there are trees! That's one of the things I love about Oregon. More trees than people. I'm no expert, not by a long shot, but I do know that without trees our planet would not survive. So when you see a tree, give it a little wink and say THANK YOU!

Day 2 - Photo A Day

The Old Days

This image is of one of those vintage perfume bottles that belonged to my mother. The kind that ladies used to fill with their favorite fragrance, then tip the bottle to moisten the stopper and then dab the fragrance behind their ears, neck, and wrists. 

Long gone are those days for the most part. Now we have spray bottles, which usually emit way too much fragrance. 

Tip I learned from a wonderful friend ... spray your signature fragrance out in front of you and walk through it. Or spray it on a cotton pad or cotton ball and dab on the pulse points where you want it. 

Day 1 - Photo A Day

Happy New Year! 

Today I pull all of these pieces of paper from 2018 out of my Gratitude Box and read them. I started each little note with "I am grateful for...."

Here's wishing you all a 2019 filled with so many blessings and reasons to be grateful ❤️🎉💯

The Challenge

2019 is just days away. Where has this year gone?

Many are asking themselves that question right now, including me. 2018 has been a challenging year for most people on many levels. Health, finances, relationships ... you name it. One thing is for certain. Nothing stays static. Everything is always shifting.

Speaking of that, about a month ago I decided to do the 2019 Photo-A-Day challenge. I haven't done it since 2012 and yes, it was quite a challenge, but I found one thing happened that helped me grow as a person - it took me way out of my comfort zone.

Why? Two reasons:

1. I had to get over worrying about what other people and photographers would think about what I chose to photograph each day. 
2. When you're committed to shooting an image a day, it teaches you to REALLY notice people, places, and things around you.

So ... here we go, starting anew on January 1st. If you're so inclined and want to join me in this challenge, use the CONTACT form on the right and let me know where you'll be posting your images. I'd love to see them! Mine will be posted right here.

If you'd like to be notified by email when I post my images, plop your email address in on the right. Don't worry ... I'm not compiling an email list to send you stuff. Not my style. 

Wishing you all a magnificent new year! 

Procrastination and Stress

Has this ever happened to you? 

You find yourself putting something off and initially you feel elated, maybe even euphoric. You don’t have to deal with a situation or task at this moment in time. Whew! But, for most of these situations, there will come a time when it needs to get done. The feeling of elation turns to panic. Then panic becomes a rush to figure out ways to handle the situation. 

When you compare this to people who don’t procrastinate, they may not get that initial surge of elation. However, they also don’t have to worry about the panic setting in. All things being equal, these non-procrastinators will not be as stressed out.

It’s proven that stress can lead to disease. The resources that your body needs to fend off disease will be diverted to handling your stress. Short-term stress is not likely to impact health as much as stress that is constant. However, people who procrastinate do it with all (or most of) their tasks. Therefore, they are likely to be stressed out longer term. They are the ones more at risk of getting stress related disorders.

Procrastination can often impact others in the procrastinator’s social circle as well. For instance, your kids may be depending on you to fill out a form for them to go to away camp. If you miss the deadline, your kids won’t be able to go to camp. Most kids will not be happy with this outcome and will question whether they can trust you.

If you don’t learn to overcome procrastination at work, it could impact others in the organization. For example, if you are responsible for a certain aspect of a project and miss the deadline, it may cause others on the team to miss their deadlines. Be aware they'll know you're the bottleneck. This puts you in an awkward position that could eventually lead to your dismissal.

Procrastination can cause you some financial pain. You may wait to the last minute to file your taxes. But, when you do so, you may not find the necessary information needed to reduce your tax liabilities. You could end up paying more than if you had taken the time to look for all your legitimate deductions, etc.

Moral of the story? Procrastination leads to stress. Stress leads to illness. Illness can lead to death. Don't die early! 

Four Things You Can Do When You’re Younger to Feel Better When You’re Older

If you’re very young right now, then you may think that anti-aging articles and tips don’t apply to you. Those are for older people right?

Wrong! 👇

In reality, those articles apply to you more than anyone else! After all, it’s too late to prevent aging once you are already feeling and looking a lot older. And when you get to that point where the crow’s feet and age spots are showing, you’ll only wish that you had taken the opportunity to protect yourself against aging when you were younger.

So what can you do right now, to make sure that you keep your good looks and good health well into older age?

LIFESTYLE: 

In terms of lifestyle, there are a ton of things you need to do to stay younger and healthier in the way you look and feel. For starters, try to avoid too much direct sunlight. Anything more than 20 minutes of unprotected sun and UV rays damage the skin cells. While you might think nothing of this; it makes a huge cumulative difference that is very apparent when you’re older! Likewise, you absolutely have to make sure you are getting plenty of high quality sleep. This will help you improve your health in all kinds of ways, as sleep is when the body restores cells, forms new neural connections and produces lots of growth hormone and testosterone.

SKIN CARE:

The right skin care regimen can make a massive difference. Any good skin care routine should incorporate an exfoliator, some kind of protection and some kind of moisturizer. And don’t forget the hands. Often the hands are the biggest giveaway of your true age when you’re older.

NUTRITION:

Nutrition is massively important when it comes to the way you age. Many of the illnesses we associate with old age are, in fact, just the result of long-term nutrient deficiencies. If you ensure that you keep getting enough of your micro-nutrients, your body will be supplied with all the raw materials it needs to keep you looking and feeling as young as possible.

MOVEMENT:

Finally: exercise!

And don’t just exercise. Move more. Sitting takes years off of your life because it allows your heart to become weaker. What’s more, it also weakens your muscles, ruins your flexibility and damages your posture. It’s very important that you keep moving as you get older to avoid a hunched over appearance.