Friday, November 22, 2013

Jay Shafer: Tiny House Creator


I've been wanting to talk about Jay Shafer for a while now because of my admiration for his designs. Considered to be a pioneer of the tiny house movement, or what I feel, really just "going back to how our ancestors used to live- in much smaller spaces" movement, he has been living in tiny dwellings that he's designed and built for over 15 years now. Out of mostly wanting to be able to get around building codes and prove that he could do so, all of his smaller designs, less than 200 sq ft, are on wheels so that they aren't considered an illegal home, but a legal mobile trailer. All of the homes he designs are very well thought out... 


You won't find any space wasted. Starting out with his first company Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, he recently sold that and began his new business called Four Lights Tiny Houses. His latest project is now, what the city regulations define as a "trailer park," will be a community full of all tiny homes.


Here is a great youtube video about Jay Shafer done by another great artist I admire-Kirsten Dirksen from Faircompanies.com that is less than 20 minutes if you have time:


Don't forget to subscribe either by e-mail or with your blogger account if you haven't already. Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Photos from: http://tech.bemoor.com/about.php?id=218&s=Jay%20Shafer%20Philosophy &
Tumbleweedhouses.com & Fourlightshouses.com

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Moving Forward


Part of de-cluttering your life is letting go. And I'm not just talking about the physical things, but the mental and emotional ones as well. Is there a time in your life that your mind reverts back to often because you enjoyed that period of time or the opposite, because something traumatic happened? Or maybe there's a person you think of often that no longer is in your life that you wish was, or you can't stop thinking about a person that deeply hurt you in some way.

I know for myself, my mind always goes back to the same thoughts over and over again about critical points in my life where I made certain decisions and I think, "what if I made this decision instead?" On the one side I like thinking it over in my mind because it gives me some kind of control over it. I can change the outcome over and over again, but reality is, I really can't. But then on the other hand, feeling your mind with the past keeps you stuck there. Although it is hard to let go, I am going to begin starting today. I am sure we all have something that we find preoccupies our minds whether it be good or bad but it is from the past and it may be holding us back for new oppertunities that may come in the future.

Forgiveness plays a big role in letting go of things in our lives. We need to learn to love, forgive, accept, and enjoy the life that we have today. What I believe to be the way of doing so is to observe, learn, and evolve.

1. Observe. Remember that our thoughts turn into our actions. Identify what it is exactly that is holding you back. What is it that your mind goes back to that you possibly have no control over that has happened in the past? Maybe a relationship you no longer have with a friend. Maybe you had no friends growing up and you think about that often. Or maybe someone in your family hurt your feelings and whenever you think about that person all you can think of is what they did or said.

2. Learn. Really think what it is that you can learn from what has happened. Maybe you were in a serious relationship with someone and it ended and now you haven't dated someone since. What can you learn from it? Maybe it's that there are people out there that you can connect with on a deep level and you'll be able to find someone again. Or think of all the people who have never had the euphoric experience of being in love. Maybe someone told you something about you that came off really mean, but maybe what they said they were actually dead on about you!

3. Evolve. We need to take what we have learned from the past to our advantage. Now, today, you can decide what it is you want your life to be filled with, including our thoughts. We have the choice if something is going to weigh us down.

When your mind reverts back, don't give it control, remind yourself what it is you learned from that experience and then leave it at that.

"The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed towards the future."
-Jeffrey R. Holland

By the way, since I have begun this making over my life transformation, I have already had new doors of oppurtunities come my way, just by the small amount of space I have cleared so far. (mental and physical).

Don't forget to subscribe by e-mail or with your blogger account if you haven't yet already and have a great day!

Photo from: http://holykaw.alltop.com/does-daydreaming-make-you-smarter

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Going Bald

 Okay, so I'm not going bald, but I honestly feel like it since having a baby. I washed my hair this morning and the globs of hair just kept coming! I recently learned how to cut my own hair, cause lets be honest, I don't want to make an appointment and pay for someone else to do it, and have already cut a few inches since she was born. But now my long pieces of hair are thinning out again! So, should I cut my hair shorter? I'm seriously considering it, even though my hair has never been this long before in my life and I was fully enjoying the length while pregnant!
^^If you're wondering how I cut my own hair ^^ I wet it and comb all of it forward and put it in a pony tail on my forehead. And yes, I drew these silly pictures on my computer!

If you want to watch the Youtube tutorial on how to cut your own hair that I use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lucvs8KMSxc AND
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw5HH5z3z4o

How to help prevent hair loss: http://www.wikihow.com/Prevent-Hair-Loss-After-Pregnancy

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Virtual Cleanout

I have finally finished decluttering my virtual life. What I mean is that I have paired down the amount of e-mail addresses I have and got rid of e-mails that I don't need or look at. It was taking me forever to do this so finally last night I said forget it to looking through everything single e-mail or draft and just erased it all. Deep breath. I feel so much better. Now you may think, how many e-mails did you really have? Well I went through college with no computer of my own or USB drive. I would save everything as a draft in my e-mail. Plus if I ever saw a cool website or pictures of something I really liked, I would copy and paste it to my e-mail as a draft. So...I had a lot of cleaning out to do. 

Maybe some of you could take sometime to clean out all the things that you have online, e-mail accounts, subscriptions to websites you don't really care about, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Or maybe it's not that you need to clean out and minimize your accounts but maybe you could make a commitment to not be on the internet for extensive periods of time in a day. Whatever it is, I'm sure we could all do something to clean out our virtual lives. What do you think?

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Photo by: http://ideallifevision.com/small-big-results/

Monday, November 18, 2013

Purchase Used Books Online And Help Fund Literacy

BetterWorldBooks.com

I recently found out about a great website that you can donate or purchase books from for a really good price. They are also a certified B-Corportation which means:

"B-Corporations are a community of companies using purchasing power to make a better world. The "B" stands for Beneficial, and to get this special stamp these companies have to treat their customers, their community, their environment, and their employees better than other companies." 

Why Better World Books is a B-corp

So if you are looking for some great cheap books for yourself, or maybe even as gifts for the holidays AND you want to help promote literacy for people around the world check out this website first. They even have a "bargain bin" for great prices: CLICK HERE

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Bernando LaPallo Turned 112-Years-Old

This last August Bernando LaPallo had his one hundred and twelfth birthday!

He says he has never been sick a day in his life, walks everyday, gets enough rest, and eats mostly organic fruits and vegetables. He says the secret to staying young is that "you are what you eat." The 5 things he eats almost daily is garlic, honey, cinnamon, chocolate (probably not milk chocolate), and olive oil. His dad, who was a doctor and lived to be 98-years-old, told him not to eat red meat, lambs was fine though but only once in a while. He's never eaten french fries, hot dogs, etc. He says eating close to what people in Biblical times is important and have faith in God and he'll take care of you. Bernando says, "So far He has." Great inspiration to us all. It's never too late to be healthier!

For more on Bernando visit his website: agelesslivemorestore.com

Monday, November 11, 2013

The Big 22!

Saturday was my birthday. So I thought I'd share with you what I did...
 First water with lemon juice
 A quick 30 minute work out
 Dishes, had a nice dinner the night before with friends and hadn't done the dishes yet.
Banana & wheat grass smoothie. Nutella too because it's my birthday!
 Homework, not fun.
Baby girl and I took a bath.
 A peel-it-off mask, hence it's clear.
 Read some books.
 Then we went to Idaho Falls for lunch and to find some boots. I wasn't successful though, if I'm paying the price for boots, I want the perfect ones!
 Baby girl dressed as a marshmallow!
Pizza for dinner, only had 1 slice.
 Yay for onion goggles! I've been telling Jimmy I want some for a year now.
 So excited about this book, tells you all about the edible plants. Can't wait to go foraging!
And then we took our couch seats to the 2nd bedroom where the computer is to watch Fiddler on the Roof. Just the 1st half though.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Thursday, November 7, 2013

The Material Possession De-clutter

Do you remember my posy about getting rid as a way to gain more meaning in life? Though I could have posted about it last week because I did the majority of it, I still hadn't look through every drawer, every nook in my closet, etc. Now I still feel like I can do more, but I feel at peace with the state that my house is in. I didn't take any before pictures except for my storage unit because that was the last place I de-cluttered and by then, I thought a before and after shot would be good. After two trips to D.I. with our tiny car, I still found more stuff to get rid of and probably still will. Here is just a small peak into my de-cluttering.

Before....

After....

So I am done with my material possession de-clutter, now onto my virtual de-clutter. I have 4 e-mails including my school one! Lots of stuff in my inboxes, and that doesn't even count my Facebook, blog, etc. So here is to the next place to focus on for mental clarity. I feel a little de-fogged but not completely.

Monday, November 4, 2013

How Others Live: Bernie the Wanderer


If you haven't ever heard who Bernie is, well he's one of my inspirations. A true vagabond at heart, at 30 years old he decided to build himself a boat and sailed all around the world. More recently he sailed from Canada to the Bahamas. He's also traveled from Canada to Mexica in 2003 in a wagon, pulled by his mule Woody and pony Maggie! And then again made a trip in 2004-2005 from North Carolina to San Diego, California. More recently he was the first to cross the Neatherlands in wagon in 2012. He also has a real home that stays put but it is still on wheels. Always ready for the next adventure and liking the idea of never staying put for too long he says:

"Everything I ever built in my life has/had wheels under it: from the boat I sailed alone around the world to the boat I built and sailed from Canada to the Bahamas to the wagon I lived in while voyaging from Canada to Mexico."


Here's his boat that he built
traveling_alone450
Some of his wagons he's traveled in...
polly and wagon
This one has a wood burning stove!
the batch
Here is his more 'stay put' home, though still on wheels

If you want to learn more about Bernie, read his books, and see what he's up to then check out his website here: riverearth.com

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Ideal Wardrobe Part 2

Ok time to finish what my ideal wardrobe is that is filled with mostly classic pieces that don't go out of style anytime soon. Hope you enjoy!

Skirts/dresses:
Classic black dress $200.00 euro
Classic Black Dress
6 fun day dresses
Shirt Dress. So easy and quick for work
1 shirt dress
#pink #dress #aline
1 A-line dress
1 Maxi dress/skirt
1970's Womens Jumper Dress
1 jumper
.
6 A-line skirts
Telegraph pencil skirt in Super 120s
2 pencil skirts

Pants:
Straight Jean - FADED BLUE WASH
1 straight leg blue jeans (preferably dark wash & no holes!)
$176 Blue skinny jeans
1 skinny blue jeans
white jeans and navy
1 white jeans
black cigarrette pants
1 black cigarette pants
versatile
1 khaki pants
Super Skinny Cord
1 skinny cords
knee shorts
2 shorts

Outerwear:
The perfect trench coat
1 trench coat
Saint Laurent pea coat
1 pea coat
I adore this ensemble.  Jeans shirt, blazer, faux and genuine pearls with white pants.  True style and confidence!
1 blazer

Foot wear:
Craving scalloped ballet flats
2 ballet flats (black/nude)
Carshoe Women driving shoes antiqued calf leather
1 pair driving shoes
white converse  Christmas!  Size 3 kids!! YES PLEASE
1 converse
Sandals with lots of color go well with a solid shirt that is one of the colors and white shorts or skirt  @fun_colors
2 sandals
black pumps
1 black pump
Boots > Astoria Tall Boot
1 tall boots
1 pair mary janes
Garden boots
Espadrilles
Minnetonka Moccasins
Minnetonka moccasins
I would love to create a pair of Toms with a Miscarriage Ribbon pink/blue with 10-6-13 on it with a Bible Verse or something along those lines
Toms

And don't forget a pair of running shoes and flip flops!

Ok so this is my ideal wardrobe. Hope you enjoyed it!