Being Intentional About Happiness

Dang! The last time I updated this blog was on September 21, 2014. How can 13 months and 6 days go by so quickly? Hmm…I know! 1) Have a husband start traveling internationally for work. 2) Find out his “temporary” international job is becoming permanent and that he and I will be moving. 3) Try and hold down the fort at home while husband is working abroad and I prepare for our move. 4) Our oldest son left for Basic Training at the end of the summer. 5) Just today, I was with our youngest son as he signed up to begin classes in January for welding at a technical school. Yep, that will surely make the days fly by in a blur!

When life seems to be a bit stressful or weighing down on me, I need to be intentional about finding something good in the situation, something that I can be grateful about, and it helps me refocus my perspective. For example, in the list of what I mentioned above, here’s what I’ve found in each situation that makes me happy/thankful/grateful: 1) I am so thankful for Skype and FaceTime as they help me and the boys stay connected to my husband/their dad while he’s abroad. 2) Hubby and I get to have an amazing adventure living abroad for awhile. Come visit us! 3) The boys and I have learned to work together well as a team and we all pitch in whenever something needs to be taken care of to get the job done. 4) I am so proud of our oldest son’s strength and determination in wanting to serve our country and he is developing his leadership skills. 5) I’m so excited that our youngest son will be beginning a career that he enjoys, he excels at, and it can take him far in life.

See? Being happy is a choice! Let go of what weighs you down and shift your perspective to something positive. You will find that your attitude and outlook on life will benefit from this small change in your thoughts.

I want to hear from you! Have you already tried something like this in your life? Did you find that it improved your attitude? If you haven’t done this, is it something that you would consider trying?

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Carpe Diem!

Hi, my name is Nicole and I have been thinking about starting a blog for awhile now, so today is the day! Carpe Diem! 🙂 This blog will cover a lot of topics (marriage, parenting, food, fun, fashion, photography, reviews, etc.) and I will post about things that make me happy in my everyday life.

A little bit about me…I am married to my high school sweetheart, Jason, and we have two boys, Grant and Luke. Jason and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in February and I love being married to my best friend! Grant (20) and Luke (18) keep us busy and it’s an interesting adventure parenting “adult” children who still live at home. 😉 My hobbies include photography, traveling, water sports, boating, exercising and living a healthy lifestyle, and spending time with my family and friends.

In the Fall of 2013, I went back to college to pursue a degree in Graphic Communications and I am working on it a couple of classes at a time. I don’t want to be so swamped from classes that I can’t enjoy time with my husband, family, and friends, so I’m taking it slow in order to be able to live a full, BIG life!

As you get to know me, feel free to ask me questions or leave a comment. I do not tolerate rude or disrespectful people in real life and I will not put up with it on my blog either, so this is your warning that I will delete anything of that nature.

Please be patient with me as I figure out the blogging world…this is all new to me and I’m learning as I go! 🙂