☺ Motivational Mondays! ☺

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We're taking back Mondays!!!

"Motivational Mondays" are fabulous tips to get you excited and pumped for the week! 

Feeling low? Moody? Down on life? Well, that's what these posts are for! Time to feel awesome again and get some Positivity rolling! Just because it's Monday doesn't mean you can't have fun, smile, and enjoy Today! Apply these tips to your week and try to tell me that you don't start to see an improvement in your life! ;)

It's all about You! Change your perception, change your attitude, love your life! xo

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☺ Law of Attraction Tip: Sometimes it's difficult to have faith in the Law of Attraction when we are trying to attract certain things and they are simply not coming. There are usually two huge reasons when we fail to attract things. One is belief, we absolutely have to believe that what we want is already ours--which is why it's usually easier to attract smaller things than bigger. Two is your mood, and this is probably the greatest fail point. If you're not happy, if you're not on the frequency of feeling good then you can't attract good things into your life--and chances are the things you are trying to attract into your life are good things. Feeling GOOD goes hand in hand with RECEIVING. So work on feeling good!     

☺ Those Meant to be in Your Life Will Be! The people that are meant to be in your life will always be there, and the people that aren't meant to be in your life will get weened out. So don't feel badly when certain people are no longer a part of your life. It all happens for the best and it all happens for a reason. The Universe is just looking out for you, trust it. And don't forget to do some weening yourself if certain people are doing nothing but causing you pain, suffering, and sadness--you're allowed to cut people out of your life, remember that!  

☺ Find Your Personal Therapy. We all have hobbies or things we do that can make us feel better, it's like instant therapy! For instance, my husband has always gotten his "personal therapy" from skateboarding; and I get mine from writing, in any form and about anything. Figure out what yours is and do it often. But don't rely on it; get your personal therapy to make you feel better, and then you will be able to observe a problem with a clearer mind and less weighted heart so that you can reach resolve.   

☺ Cut the Food Crap! If you're depressed, down, can't get the motivation to feel good, take a moment to stop and observe your life. Are you drinking alcohol? Coffee? Sugar? Processed foods? Any other mood inhibiting foods or habits? We truly truly do not think enough about what we eat and how it affects our moods, but it absolutely 100% does affect it! It affects your health, it affects your mind, and it can keep you feeling just plain blah, crazy, moody, and ready to rip people's heads off. So take a step back, pay attention to what you're putting into your body, and cut it completely out! If you want to be happy then I don't want to hear you complaining about cutting out certain foods; Happiness is more important than the five minutes of tasty treats (plus there are plenty of other amazing healthy treats you can enjoy once your taste buds aren't warped!).     

☺ On Particularly Bad Days…  when you feel as if you couldn't possibly endure, remind yourself that your track record for getting through rough days is 100%. And that's pretty good! So keep trying, keep pushing, keep positive, because this is just another challenge that you can get through. 

☺ Your Plan for the Week: Be amazing, be fabulous, be extraordinary, be wonderful, be magnificent, be incredible, and be brilliant! And then repeat! ;)     

☺  "A bad attitude can literally block love, blessings, and destiny from finding you. Don't be the reason you don't succeed." ~Mandy Hale.  

Don't forget to Create a Nice Day! To keep smiling, laughing, and spending time on joy!

Much love from me to you! 

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☺ Motivational Mondays! ☺

. . . . . . . . . .

We're taking back Mondays!!!

"Motivational Mondays" are fabulous tips to get you excited and pumped for the week! 

Feeling low? Moody? Down on life? Well, that's what these posts are for! Time to feel awesome again and get some Positivity rolling! Just because it's Monday doesn't mean you can't have fun, smile, and enjoy Today! Apply these tips to your week and try to tell me that you don't start to see an improvement in your life! ;)

It's all about You! Change your perception, change your attitude, love your life! xo

. . . . . . . . . .

☺ Give from the Heart. Giving feels good, for you and others, and it emits a signal to the Universe of abundance. Giving from the heart feels good. Sacrifice, on the other hand, emits a signal of lack and doesn't feel good. Learn to identify the difference between the two. Give from the heart and notice that it feels good.    

☺ Spend time with Animals. I can't even put into words the joy I feel of having my two cats in my life. They give me so much joy and love and that feeling in your heart that swells up into joyous tears. Animals have been proven to be therapeutic and I don't doubt it for one second. Try to spend time with your animal companions, or if you don't have one then head to a shelter because those animals need and deserve love just as much as you do. :)

☺ Work on your Happiness. Depression sucks, it really really does. But what bothers me (yes, I'm being a bit frank here) is when people don't do something about it. I know that for most people it does take a pretty big extreme to finally put your foot down and declare that you are going to change your life. Don't wait. If you're on this blog then I'll take that as a good sign. But happiness take work, it takes retraining your brain, so train that brain every day! It's easy to feel helpless and defeated, but there are so many things that you could be doing. Cut out depressants (like alcohol, drugs, sugar, caffeine, wheat, and/or other food sensitivities), get active at least 30 minutes a day, seek out help, do whatever it takes to get started on the path! 

☺ Pretend you Don't have a Phone! Don't fall into the bad habit of turning to your phone in uncomfortable or "boring" moments. Don't turn to your phone when you're out with friends. Don't turn to your phone period. This week make the conscious effort of leaving the phone at home, or if you can't do that then pretend you don't have one. Remember the days of no cell phones? That's what we're pretending this week. Avoid using it or limiting your use as much as possible.    

☺ Want something? Make a List! If you're trying to find that perfect partner, friend, house, job, or whatever else, then get clear about what you want by writing down a list! The power of writing down what you want makes things 10 times more likely to happen. So take some time and get clear. You can't get too detailed, in fact the more detailed you get the more you are visualizing and feeling your desire into reality. When we were looking for our new home, I kid you not, within a few days of us both getting clear and making our lists we found our perfect place!     

☺ Don't forget to Express your Appreciation!  Tell people how much you appreciate them, it takes so little time and we simply don't do it enough. People are insecure, it's just the way society has taught us to be, so whenever you see people and every chance you get you should remind people that you love them and are grateful for their friendship. Love goes a long way and we all need more love.    

☺  "Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim." ~Nora Ephron. You have a choice in the epic story of your life; be the victim or be the hero. Always choose the hero! Save yourself, be triumphant, be the one that brings joy and awesomeness into your life. Put on your cape and step into the shoes of superhero stardom!   

I love and appreciate you all so much! Have a lovely amazing super duper fantastic epic day and week! :)  

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{this moment} - and the weekly {Smile-Up}

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"There are no ordinary moments." ~Way of the Peaceful Warrior

{this moment} - a Friday ritual. A photo (or few) capturing moments from the week. Simple, special, extraordinary moments. Moments I want to pause, savor and remember.

Served up with the weekly {Smile-Up} - gratitude practices to love and appreciate your life. 

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' and 'smile up' in the comments for all to find and see.

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my moments are entirely from my Portland trip with my wifey! :)

{Smile Up}:

☺ First Downtown Summer Market!

☺ Portland road trip with my bestie! 

☺ Amazing Vegan restaurants and food! 

☺ Vegan chocolate candy bars! 

☺ Getting to watch the Pride Parade in Portland!  

☺ New tattoos! (first one in over 2 years--been much too long! And getting it done at a Vegan Tattoo Shop!!)

☺ Singing badly in the car! 

☺ Girly road trips!  

☺ Laughing and smiling and being silly with friends.  

☺ Finding new music to listen to. 

☺ Coming home to my loveable kitties and loving husband.

☺ Internet that works (after terrible internet in our hotel that took ten minutes just to load a page I am very grateful!). 

☺ The sound of rain and the coziness of our home. 

☺ Writing and Drawing more of my book!

Loving: Summer Markets • Creating • Portland • Tattooed people everywhere • Kitty cuddles •  Good Laughs • Rain • Our Garden • Living in Nelson • Dancing in the rain • Balance • Tattoos •  • Writing and Drawing again •

Interests for the week:

✯ Reading "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman  

✯ Watched the new Star Trek movie--on our movie theatre we finally have back! 

✯  Watching Anime shows! Woot! Currently still watching D.Gray Man. 

✯  Finished Game of Thrones! New True Blood episodes back!  

♫ Music Playlist: Brand New, Breaking Benjamin, Red, Paradise Lost. And 90s grunge hits on our road trip!  ♫

✯ Food Faves: Kale and Spinach in my smoothies every morning ♥ Go Max Go Foods chocolate bars ♥ Portland's restaurants ♥ Sjaak's Hazelnut chocolate bites ♥ Vegan Pizza! ♥  

Lessons of the week: 

Don't judge and don't take it personally when people judge you--it says more about them than you. ☀ Balance, balance, balance! ☀ I'm a woman, I have tattoos and piercings, I've had dreadlocks, but the thing I'm discriminated most for is being Vegan. It doesn't matter, again, it's a reflection of the discriminators and not you. ☀ Remember the spiral: bad mood=bad events; good mood=good events! ☀ When you get stressed you resist the current, but when you go with the flow, things turn out much quicker and perfectly. ☀ Smiling turns your mood around! ☀  Take time every day for the hobbies you love. ☀ Everything is going to be alright! ☀ 

Hope you're all having a beautiful wonderful blissful week! Tell me about your lovely weeks! Tell me about your 'Smile Up' and 'this moment!' Pretty please? :)

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☆ Boycott the Brands that Blocked your Right to GMO Labelling ☆

Prop 37, the California Right to Know GMO labeling initiative, was narrowly defeated thanks to a relentless, deceitful $46-million advertising blitz. Among the largest bankrollers of the NO on 37 campaign were huge multinational food and beverage companies whose subsidiaries make billions  selling some of your favourite organic and "natural" brands.

This is where "greenwashing" comes into play, a company that calls itself "organic" "natural" or "green" but truly isn't. It sucks when some of our favourite brands that are supposed to be good for us and the planet are owned by a greedy corporation that pours that kind of money to oppose human rights to Know what is in our food. You can argue GMOs left and right but at the end of the day, they are dangerous unknown "foods" and if they are so afraid of GMO labelling then isn't that a sign of guilt in the first place? 

Well, we could mope about all this, or we can take action. Join Organic Bytes in the boycott of these companies. 

Please sign the pledge to let the following companies know you're joining the boycott. These companies make billions of dollars selling organic and "natural" brands, yet they spent millions to defeat Prop 37, CA Right to Know's ballot initiative to label genetically modified food. 

• PepsiCo (Donated $2.5M): Naked Juice, Tostito’s, Tropicana, Loóza, Izze, Sabra, Smartfood, Stacy's, Mother's and Near East

• Kraft, recently became Mondelez (Donated $2M): Boca Burgers and Back to Nature

• Safeway (Member of Grocery Manufacturers Association, which donated $2M):“O” Organics

• Coca-Cola (Donated $1.7M): Honest Tea, Odwalla

• General Mills (Donated $1.2M):  Muir Glen, Cascadian Farm, Larabar

• Con-Agra (Donated $1.2M): Orville Redenbacher’s Organic, Hunt’s Organic, Lightlife, Alexia

• Kellogg’s (Donated $791k): Kashi, Bear Naked, Morningstar Farms, Gardenburger

• Smucker’s (Donated $555k ): R.W. Knudsen, Santa Cruz Organic

• Unilever (Donated $467k): Ben & Jerry’s

• Dean Foods (Donated $254k): Horizon, Silk, White Wave

Download your wallet-sized boycott guide. 

Download a poster-sized boycott guide. 

Learn more about the boycott.

Click here for a comprehensive list of all the brands owned by corporations that donated to the No on 37 campaign. 

Spread the word and take action, because your voices and your wallets have the biggest impact.

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.