A Few Thoughts About Goals and Being Good to Ourselves

These vibrant flowers 

were for my birthday 

from a good friend of mine.

They are so beautiful! 

Such brilliant, cheerful colors.

And they are lasting so long.

This year I have dreams

that are re-surfacing and I'm finding 

myself on a journey back to me.

Feeling stronger and more confident. 

Finding it easier to focus. After so many years

of feeling like I was losing ground,

it's a relief to have direction.

 There a few things that I have learned.
One is that there is always hope.
No matter how small a thing it seems,
do something that keeps me moving toward
where I want to be.

Another is that not one person is without
challenges in their life. 
No one has an easy time of it
all the time.

One more is that it takes
a lot of devotion and hard work
to get where I want to go. 
Though we need to work hard, I'm learning
to not be too obsessive and to take
lots of mini breaks. 

And honey... 
one thing is sure.
If we give up, 
we will NEVER
get there. 
So we persevere.

This was the most delicious red velvet 

cake that my daughter made me. 

And I had been craving cake thick with frosting.

Is there any other kind? 

I wanted to get a picture of a slice 

but never did.

My two daughters and their families

surprised me with a late evening party.

It was so sweet of them! Handmade cards

and sweet gifts. 

So far, getting older has been good

to me. I try to exercise, a lot and eat lots of

healthy foods and keep my stress down. 

There are some things that 

I don't like about my appearance but I 

have decided to embrace all of me

and really work on loving myself. 

And being very good to me. 

I don't hold to the "hard road"

mindset anymore. Life has enough

bumps in the road

without inviting them! ;)

So let's laugh a lot and create

as many happy moments for ourselves 

and others that we can! 

How do you create happy moments?

Think lots of positive thoughts

and keep on the sunny side.

  These past couple of weeks 

have been a busy time

helping my daughter pack and move 

and helping with her sweet girls as

she started a new job. 

I'm glad that I started my valentines early

and I was still working on them

at the last minute! 

I love making them and get caught up in

the details. Here they are waiting 

for the finishing touches.

 Maybe I can squeeze in a post of close ups before the month is over. 

I have a favorite sugar cookie recipe

and I always use half wheat flour.

I try to make our treats a little healthier.

Did you know that you can substitute oil with

applesauce and it keeps your baked goods moist?

A little trick to save calories and make your baking a bit more healthy.

I baked these to take to the local

people where we play music on Wednesday

nights. They are so supportive and it's nice to 

give a little something back to them.

 We had a huge snow storm come through

last weekend. If you follow me on IG, you already know and have seen these.

With a foot of snow, the mountain was covered in

this frosty white blanket.  The birds were wanting to eat. I bought extra seed to make sure that they had plenty.

I hope your February has been delightful. It will be gone in a few days and March will bringing

with it many thoughts of spring!

Have a lovely week and thank 

you for your visit.

Big Hugs,
Tamara X