One Lovely Blog Award

Thank you sooo much coalescedreverie for nominating me for the One Lovely Blog Award. Wow. I am humbled. This is my first award that I have received and it means the world. Thanks again for the encouragement and love!

The rules for winning this award are very simple, here they are: 

1.  Thank the person who has nominated you and provide a link to his/her blog.

2.  List the rules.

3.  Include 7 facts about yourself.

4.  Nominate 15 other bloggers and let them know that they have been nominated.

5.  Display the award logo and follow the blogger who nominated you.

Here are 7 facts about me:

1. I am a music freak. I love every kind of music under the sun. I also have to be listening to music all day, everyday, day or night, whenever I am doing anything. My husband can’t understand why I don’t ever have a moment of silence, even when we are admiring the beauty of nature around us… Helloooo there is an awesome soundtrack that will go with that moment!

2. We live on 4 acres in what I like to call “the bungalow“. We have a dog, 9 chickens, and a huge garden. I have become somewhat of a farmer and I want to get goats next year 🙂

3. I LOVE to travel. We are so blessed to be able to do it as much as we do. I love exploring, learning new things, and experiencing old world culture. So lets plan our next trip.

4. I adore my parents. I have two moms {yes I was birthed to them- along with my sister- and they have been together for 30 years}. I love and respect them and genuinely enjoy their company. They are a couple of my best friends. We have date nights together, travel together, and see each other every day.

5. The word patience is not in my vocabulary.

6. I am not really into sweets. I don’t love dessert- never really have. I am more of a salty, give me a bag of chips, type of lady.

7. Nerd alert. I am obsessed with anything vampire or zombie. I am definitely waiting for the zombie apocalypse meets drinking human blood to escape and live forever moment happens.

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Here are some, but not all of the blogs that I find lovely and would like to nominate for the Lovey Blog Award!

A Calm Persistence

Connie Ann’s

Ever Upward

Awaiting Autumn

Girl Gone Sober

Ladylove & Babydust

Love Marriage Infertility

Twelve Week Eternities

My Perfect Breakdown

Schrodinger’s Catbox 

Faith In Infertility

Bruised Banana

Where’s My Baby Bear?

Waiting For Baby Bird

Stalking The Stork

 

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Happiness + Infertility

Most of the time in my infertility journey I feel like I am living in “Happiness Limbo”. I don’t know if any of you have experienced this same feeling, but I will try and explain it.

I am usually a pretty happy person generally speaking, but I have found in the past 3 years that my happiness level has decreased significantly. I find my lows are lower and my highs are higher. Am I bipolar? Sometimes I feel like I am. With infertility I feel like I am always waiting, thinking, and assuming I will be happy, happier, happiness, happiest when I have a baby and start a family of my own. I know this is a pretty shitty mind set to have, but it is really hard not to think this way. The pressure and stress of not getting what you want, not understanding why things aren’t going according to plan, and why you aren’t capable of doing what your body was made to do is a pretty hard pill to swallow. It makes me depressed, it makes me sad, it makes me not happy.

I think the emotion people are always striving for the most is happiness and it is the hardest to obtain and keep. So how do I get out of this “happiness limbo” and live my life happy in the NOW? Here are some tips and realizations I have come to:

– Having a baby will not truly complete me and make me a happier person all in its self. Yes. I believe it will help, but I also need to learn to be happy if that possibility never happens.

– Appreciate what I have. I have so much and no more money, babies, dogs, clothes, etc. are going to make me a happier person.

–  Watch the documentary Happy. This is such a great film and really puts life into perspective. People around the world are happy in situations I never thought imaginable. If they can be happy with cleaning up cow poop everyday and living in a hut, I think I can be pretty happy about the cards I was dealt.

– Listen to The Power Of Now. It has helped me to live in the now and find happiness in the littlest of things. Even washing my hands.

– Do things that make me happy. Work out. Read. Swim. Snuggle.

– Be happy.

I understand life is such and we aren’t expected to he happy all the damn time, but I WANT to be happy MOST of the time. I really do believe it is possible with a change in my mind set and priorities. I want out of this “happiness limbo” once and for all. I used to get these bursts of feelings all the time. {Remember I used to be a happy person} I can’t even explain this feeling other than its like a whole light just explodes in my body for no reason and I feel so light, free, and happy… Like I said, I used to get it all the time, but now it comes few and far between. The last time I felt this way was when I was driving down the freeway blasting the music in my car and all of a sudden this overwhelming feeling of sheer joy hit me. Today it happened again.

The Fam decided to head to the Bay since San Diego was going to reach an all time high this weekend, of like 1 million degrees. We loaded the car, headed out early this morning, and hung out there all day. It was a perfect, perfect day. The water was just right to cool off, the sun was out, the sky was clear, the cocktails were cool. We kayaked, played smashball and scrabble {I got my ass kicked}. We chatted, we laughed. We ate at our favorite sandwich place for dinner. We ended the night having a family swim in the pool, and laughed some more. I can say today, I am happy, happy, happy.

So I will strive to keep this feeling going. I will get it together and stop living my life in the future and past. I don’t want to wake up one day in 20 years and be like “fuck. where did my life go. oh yeah I was worrying about having a baby the whole time.” There is so much more to life people. I won’t let infertility win.

 

here are some pics from today. enjoy.

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#100happydays

I have been seeing a lot of friends and fellow bloggers posting this #100HappyDays thing lately, so I decided to check it out. Needless to say I am starting today. I think this is a fantastic way to stay positive, thankful, and hopefully happier through this whole infertility mess.

So what is it?

We live in times when super-busy schedules have become something to boast about. While the speed of life increases, there is less and less time to enjoy the moment that you are in. The ability to appreciate the moment, the environment and yourself in it, is the base for the bridge towards long term happiness of any human being.  So what do you do? Every day submit a picture of what made you happy!  It can be anything from a meet-up with a friend to a very tasty cake in the nearby coffee place, from a feeling of being at home after a hard day, to a favor you did to a stranger.

#100happyday challenge is for you – not for anyone else.  It is not a happiness competition or a showing off contest. If you try to please/make others jealous via your pictures – you lose without even starting. Same goes for cheating.
I will be doing a blog post every week with the compellation of my #100happyday pics that I took during the week. You can also follow me on Instagram where I will be posting my 100days:: hairyago_rikki
I challenge you all to do your own #100happydays!
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Day 1: I am happy to be breathing. I rolled out of bed and took this picture. No makeup. I didn’t brush my teeth. I didn’t brush my hair. Just happy that I am able to get out of bed and take a deep breath… #100happydays
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Right before I got Dunked! It’s official. I got baptized last night and it was a truly amazing experience. It was the perfect San Diego evening at the beach. My Pastor Matt got to be the one to perform it. My dearest family and friends were there to support me, along with so many others from Flood. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Casual, at the beach, sand in my toes, salt in my hair, in my jean shorts. Thank you for the showering of love and support. It is more than I ever expected. I am so happy to be a part of this amazing family. xoxo brothers + sisters.

dunking.

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Benedictine Blessing Bracelet

Obsessed with my new “blessing bracelet”! Wear this bracelet on your wrist to remind yourself that God has given you a mission to make the world a better place, and you can choose to fulfill that mission by using your hands to do good. I hope by using my hand to write down my experiences that I can help someone else who is struggling not feel so alone. I am so blessed in so any ways. I need to remember to be thankful for those things and not take those things for granted.

Benedictine Blessing Bracelet

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