Happiness Archives - Page 28 of 70

On Being 30

September 20, 2012/4 Comments/in Blond, Happiness, history /by Megan

Today I turn 30 years old. I’m not sad or afraid or embarrassed about this fact. Actually, I’m pretty damn excited about it. When you graduate from college at 21, get married at 22 and have your first child at 23, you get pretty tired of feeling like the youngest girl in the room. I spent such a long time feeling insecure about my age (which is so dumb, please don’t do that), so turning 30 for me is something to celebrate! I don’t fear getting older. I fear not getting older. I lost a great friend when I was way too young to deal with or understand anything of the sort, so today, for me, is like a “hell yes!” to the universe. I made it. I did it. I survived. Yay me.

I’ve been thinking lately of how I’ve changed in the past ten, fifteen, even twenty years, and what I’d tell a younger me if I met Marty McFly and found myself in some weird time warp. (I may be a grown up now, but I’m still a weirdo.) And since today is my thirtieth, here are thirty things I’d tell a younger version of myself, in no particular order.

1. At thirty, your eyes are no longer blue, but more of a blue green like your grandmother. They were blue when you was twenty. Now they’re not. It’s cool. Green eyes are super rare (genetically), so really, you’re like a superhero.
2. You will be double digit pounds heavier at thirty than when you were twenty. At twenty you were going to Weight Watchers because you felt fat in the company of your gorgeous sorority sisters. That makes me want to slap some sense in to you, Twenty-Year-Old Megan, but I won’t because it would hurt and I’m afraid it might break this awesome time warp thing.
3. You are an artist. It will take you a while to believe that, but it’s true.
4. Making and keeping good friends (like, really good friends that love you no matter what stupid crap you do) is the most important thing you will do in the next ten years.
5. If you eat gelato every day for three months you will start to resemble the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters.
6. Find a guy who thinks the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters is adorable. He will also find you adorable.
7. Being smart is super sexy.
8. Wavy hair is really pretty, so stop straightening it with a hot iron it until you burn it off. That’s dumb.
9. Dancing to Britney Spears can heal any pain.
10. Having kids will remind you of who you are and who you want to be.
11. When you’re 30, you will have to buy shapewear to lift up those things that should be perky and smush together things that should be smushed. It could be worse.
12. You are not a person who gets tan in the sun, sorry. Seriously, you should always wear SPF 15 or higher, even in the winter. You won’t regret it.
13. Red lipstick can make an outfit.
14. If people make fun of your clothes, you’re probably doing it right.
15. If people make fun of you in general, you’re probably doing it right.
16. Stop punishing yourself for crap you did when you were in your early twenties. In fact, stop punishing yourself in general. Move on.
17. Television shows from the early years of the CW/WB will always be the best you’ve ever seen.
18. It’s okay to love sci-fi. In fact, it’s awesome.
19. You have to work to make shit happen. So work.
20. Being blond does not make you dumb.
21. It’s okay to like NPR, reading thesis papers and watching the Kardashians.
22. No one thing can make you stupid, just as no one thing can make you smart.
23. You are who you are, but changes can be made to make you better. And happier.
24. Your biggest critic will always be yourself. So tell yourself to shut it. Trust me. You have no idea what you’re talking about anyway.
25. Using Bumble and Bumble curl creme will save you 20 minutes on your morning beauty routine.
26. Stand up for what you believe in, but remember one belief doesn’t make a person. You may disagree with others on certain topics, but try to remember they want the world to be a better place too, even if you don’t agree on how to get there.
27. Keep writing about your life, even though people think it’s strange. You’ll be so happy one day to have a living record of who are were, who you are, and where you came from.
28. Sing in private. Make sure no one in the vicinity has a video recording device of any kind.
29. Grab your husband’s butt in public. Everyone will think you’re annoying, but whatever. It’s cool.
30. You’re awesome. Don’t forget that.

The Girls Trip 2012 Playlist

September 18, 2012/4 Comments/in Fun, Happiness, Tunes /by Megan

It’s still birthday week here at Crazybananas! In fact, let’s just assume it’s going to be birthday week this entire week, okay? I think that should save us all a bit of time. If you’re a longtime reader of this here weblog, you might remember a few years ago when I went on my first ever girls trip with my best friends to Destin, Florida. It was pretty fantastic, except for the fact that I found out two weeks before I was pregnant with Mr. Tater Tot…which was wonderful! But, oh man, my first ever girls trip and I’m pregnant? Anyone need a designated driver? Womp womp.

Well, this Thursday we are all headed out (on my birthday, squee!!!) for the second annual girls trip, this time in fabulous Las Vegas. There shall be debauchery. Oh, will there ever be debauchery.

(Hilarious sidenote: We were posting about said trip on Facebook and one of our wonderful mom’s pointed out that we were going to be so cute, running around Vegas in our sparkliest outfits…and that’s when we realized any guy that hits on us will be bombarded by photos of our nine (NINE!) children. Talk about a buzzkill…)

In honor of our upcoming trip, I’ve been posting songs to the Crazybananas Facebook page that make up our “Girls Trip Soundtrack” and I thought it would be a good idea to post the entire enchilada right here, for your listening entertainment. Let’s party!!!

(P.S. Some of the songs are not suitable for work, so you might want to wear headphones. They are, however, very suitable for getting drunk with your best friends whilst wearing an abundance of sequins.)

Be Happy

September 11, 2012/1 Comment/in Finding My Path, Happiness /by Megan

I struggle every year to find words on this anniversary of a horrific event in our human history. I have written before about where I was, what I thought and how I’ve changed. But this year, I want to focus on how good life can be. The world is a scary, sick, sad place. Horrible things are happening all over the world as you read this frivolous blog post. But there is also joy. There is love and happiness and silliness and hope. If I’ve learning anything in the past year, happiness can make a sad world so much brighter. It sounds dumb, I know, but I really think finding happiness saved my life.

The #onefunthing project has been going on over at Instagram for a couple of weeks, and I’ve found it to be so healing and wonderful. Making myself take a photo of something fun every day has forced me to find the fun in things that would otherwise seem mundane. Here are a few of my personal favorites from the series:

Time at the ranch this morning. #horse #barn #onefunthing

{clockwise from top left – martini playdate, macaroons for lunch, fresh flowers from the farmer’s market, an afternoon at the stable}

To those of you participating on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, thank you! Looking at all of your images makes me so happy, which was the entire point. When you upload those, you’re making me smile. So, you pretty much rule. Thank you for putting goodness and light into the world. That is what will sustain us through days like these.

#onefunthing

August 23, 2012/4 Comments/in Fun, Happiness /by Megan

Guess what? I turn 30 in less than a month! Crazytown! I know I should be upset or angry or planning my second 29th birthday party, but I’m not. I’m pretty stinkin’ excited. I am ready to enter a new decade of my life and keep moving forward. I mean, sure, getting older can be hard, but the alternative is worse (the alternative, of course, being Benjamin Button disease…or being dead). So in celebration I’m doing one fun thing every day until the big day! You should join me, because having fun is the best. You can follow along by using the hashtag #onefunthing on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Here’s how it works:

Step 1 – Think of something fun to do.
Step 2 – Do that fun something.
Step 3 – Snap a picture of the fun.
Step 4 – Post to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #onefunthing or post on the Crazybananas Facebook page (you can find it here).
Step 5 – Do a happy dance!

Sound good? Great. Let’s have some fun!

Food Challenge: Dairy and Gluten Free

August 22, 2012/2 Comments/in Happiness /by Megan

One of my big goals for this year was to work on getting my health in check. Along with all the emotional and mental growth, I wanted to make sure I was treating my body right. Like every mom on the planet, I find myself eating and drinking things I shouldn’t in favor of having an extra minute or two every day. Because of my job, I’m often taking clients to lunch/dinner and happy hours, and as well all know, eating out is the worst for your body. On the days I’m not eating out, I tend to work through lunch in order to get home earlier, and when I do dinners with the kids, it’s so harried and insane (I get home from work around 6 p.m. and Tate goes to bed at 7 p.m.) putting together a good meal is pretty much impossible.

I am a person that tends to do better when I go to the extreme, and after I noticed my pants getting tighter despite my trips to the gym, I decided I needed to try something new. I also found myself with horrible allergies, which I’ve never experienced. After talking with a doctor, I decided to opt out of testing and allergy shots, and instead change up my diet to see if that relieved any of my symptoms. I have just finished my third week gluten and dairy free, and I’m feeling pretty fantastic! My goal is to make it to four weeks and then decide what to do from there.

I have to say, while this has been a difficult change for me (oh cheese and bread, I miss you so!), there have been a few things that have helped. I wanted to share them here in case you all are looking to try a gluten or dairy free lifestyle.

– Find a natural grocery store that stocks lots of gluten and dairy free options: We got two Trader Joe’s grocery stores in Kansas City last year, and without them, I have no idea how I’d be dairy and gluten free. They have pretty much everything you could need from gluten free bread and pasta to almond milk ice cream, and it’s all delicious. The best part is they label everything very clearly, so it’s easy to find what works. Their stuff is reasonably priced too, unlike a lot of natural food places.

– Plan meals out at specialty restaurants: Living in a big city has made this transition much easier, since there are so many vegan specialty restaurants. Two of my favorites are Blue Bird Bistro and The Westside Local, where the servers are always sensitive to special requests and it’s easy to find things on the menu that you can order “as is.” Japanese can work too, especially the soups and spring rolls. If I’m stuck at a chain restaurant, I’ve just been going for salads with no cheese. Lame, but it works.

– Breakfast for dinner: Quinoa with scrambled eggs, gluten free pineapple salsa and avocado has become my go-to quick meal. I keep cooked quinoa and brown rice in the fridge in case I need to pull something together quickly. I mix up quick pancakes for the kids to have as well as the eggs, and we make green smoothies to go with everything.

– Green smoothies: We got a BlendTec super blender earlier this year, and we love the thing. It’s great for a quick, healthy meal. Our current favorites are variations on spinach smoothies, usually with oranges, frozen mango, pineapple and peaches. We throw in almonds sometimes as well. If you have kids that won’t drink something green, throw in a few blueberries to make it pink or purple. We used to do that with Lulu, but now she’s okay with the green.

– Soy lattes from Starbucks: I’ve tried every variation of homemade coffee with milk replacements (almond milk, soy milk, etc.), but they always taste like crap. Starbucks has the best soy latte I’ve had so far, so I usually order the biggest one I can get, then refrigerate for up to two days and have a cupful in the morning.

——————————————————————-

Any of you ever thought of cutting out a favorite food group for your health? I’d love any tips on how to get over my long time cheese addition.

(Photo by Nicole Coleman)