Why Shout?

From time to time you see me give a shout out to someone.  It might be someone who has helped me. It might be someone who has inspired me.  Maybe it's someone who shall not be named because they've insulted, hurt, or attacked me.  I strive to not live in negative land as I grow myself and my business, but life happens sometimes and I want to vent...  Nevertheless, life goes on, business grows and I am much happier living in the place of gratefulness and empowering.

For you my reader, I want to talk about this for a minute.  I want you to understand that when I give a shout out, it's not because the recipient has asked me to.  None of the lovely people I have highlighted on here have ever asked me to post something about them. (In all reality, I'm sure that sounds really scary and vain to ask someone to write about you.) Because it would be weird and because I am truly grateful for the help offered to me, whether I paid for it or not, I like to further offer thanks by letting others know what an awesome job someone has done for me in whatever arena it is that they have assisted me in.

So thank you to each of you that have inspired me, encouraged me, challenged me, helped me, fixed my mistakes, or just given me something to write about.  Some of you may not have known it was you I was writing about.  Not everyone is okay with living a bit in the public eye, and that's fine, too. I respect your privacy by not putting your name out there, but I'm still thankful for you.

For those of you reading posts with a link to a business, I hope you take the opportunity to visit those websites.  These people are awesome.  I wouldn't put it out there if they weren't.

Who do you have to be thankful for in your journey?  Tell them today.  Share it with someone else.

Make it a beautiful day, friends.

Very soon you'll be able to find my blog at www.JensWallsTalk.com.  I'm not done yet and may be jumping the gun by putting this out there.  I just want you to know where to find me.  See you soon!

...AAAAND  HAPPY 250TH BLOG POST TO ME!:0D 

Do the Right Thing?

Martin Luther King, Jr. is credited with saying,

"The time is always right to do what is right."

...as Mr. King knew, it's not always easy, though.  Just like every other action we have, there are consequences when we face a moral dilemma type of situation.  I had one of those this week.  I can't share what happened, but I knew if I took action, it would directly affect someone else's life, and maybe not in a way they would enjoy or appreciate.

The problem with the world we live in is that it's broken.  The father of lies is a master of deception. I struggled with doing the right thing because I heard a voice in my head telling me that I would be causing some very unfortunate consequences for someone else because of me taking the initiative to call this person out on their actions.  Did you get that?  I was feeling guilty for calling someone out on a illegal action because I knew they would get in trouble.  I was feeling guilty for the other person's actions.  And then I realized that I didn't make them do what they did.  That was all on them. It was their choice.  Not mine.  But it did cause me to have to make a choice of my own: whether or not to tell the truth.

I was at peace with the choice I made...but I kept hearing those little lies nagging me in the back of my mind.  Then I read my devotions the next morning and this was the verse,

"The LORD detests lying lips, but He delights in men who are truthful." Proverbs 12:22

God is good.  This devotional is on a schedule and He planned it for that day after my situation occurred.  This verse affirmed to me again that I had done the right thing...because the time is always right to do the right thing. 

I am not infallible, friends.  I am not perfect.  I mess up plenty.  Believe me.  This time I made the right choice.

Make it a beautiful day, friends.

Next week you might see my blog in a different location.  (Remember that change I was talking about?)  I'll keep you posted.  

Call for Backup!

I'm in the process of rebuilding my website...basically from scratch.  I thought it was pretty good the last go round--until I had a professional web designer look at it for me and give me some feedback.  I was swiftly reminded that I don't know what I don't know.  

As I evaluate and re-evaluate and process and reprocess what it is that I want my professional website to say to my clients, it would be very easy to get lost in the minutia that is the psychology of selling and dispersing information online.  It's no wonder companies spend thousands and thousands of dollars to build websites.  It's madness!  But I don't have thousands and thousands of dollars to spend (yet) and I don't believe in going into debt, so I'm finding a way to make it work.  I'm asking for help.

I know a lot of business people.  Many of my friends are entrepreneurial.  It's pretty cool, actually. So I looked at who did the website for the successful dentist, the exploding headband company, the jammin' custom jump rope maker, and you know what I found?  It was all the same person.  So I called him.  He was gracious enough to acknowledge my budget restrictions and meet me where I was at.  A consult became the plan to head my internet ship on the right current.  A consult he did and a website to rebuild, I have.

Want this for your wall?  Get it here.

I am under no illusions that having a great website automatically makes a great business, but it is often the very first interaction people have with a business in this digital age we live in.  So where am I going with all this rambling about ineffective web presence and business friends?  I simply want to remind you that it's okay to admit when you don't know something.  Even someone like me (who appears to know a bit about everything) is at a loss sometimes.  Call for reinforcements.  You may just end up better in the end...in fact, I'm sure you will.

Make it a beautiful day, friends.

When you're done learning your lesson for today, and you realize you are ready for a better and more effective web presence, check out this guy.  Justin Farr is really creative and smart...and very patient with those of us that insist on doing it ourselves.  He does an even more amazing job when you let him do what he does best.

Change...

Change is coming.  It's inevitable.  I'm not talking about today's presidential inauguration, though I'm glad for change in that arena (and that's all I have to say about that for the time being).  I'm actually doing a big change up on my blog.  

I've been blogging since January 1, 2015, in this particular space.  I'm not ready to spill all the details yet, and, quite frankly, some of them aren't ready yet.  Keep your eyes peeled for some fun new things to be featured in this blog space.  

No need to fret.  I'll still be posting regularly.  I'll still be sharing snippets of wisdom and inspiration I've gleaned from living my life and seeing the wonderful, crazy, silly folk around me.  Things will just be...a little different.

Stay tuned, and in the meantime...

Make it a beautiful day, friends.

Catch up with me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  See you soon!

Color Makes it Better

I've mentioned before that we got a screaming deal on a fixer upper 4 years ago.  With the skills of my uber-handy hubby, we have made great strides since we've lived here.  The kitchen was remodeled and the basement finished before we even moved in, but in the fashion of a true fixer upper, we are still working on many projects.  We live in it and have to work around that tiny little fact.  We are also paying cash for any renovations we've done, so many things are still in progress...my master bedroom included.

If you have ever visited my website, then you know that I do color consulting and specialty painting on the side of my day job.  I love it.  It's one of my creative outlets, but you know how the cobbler's kids go barefoot?  Combined with mommy-puts-herself-last syndrome...well, that may be why I have no color on my bedroom walls, in addition, the paying cash for each remodel project slows down this project because this room needs entirely new drywall.  You get it.  It's a process (and also confirmation that we will never buy another fixer upper that we have to live in while we fix it up!).

Get this little art gallery for your little artist here.

I need a band-aid for the issue.  My room feels blah and incomplete.  It doesn't feel like the sanctuary or retreat, like I would like it to.  It was actually hubby's idea, but we're going to paint that room because it's not the next project on the list, and we need it to feel better.  No, I don't think the room has feelings.  Let me rephrase that: we need to feel better when we are in our room, and mismatched colors (it was two rooms made into one) don't give that vibe very well.  Color changes the way our environment feels.  I believe that, and that why I do what I do.  A little color change can make everything feel better, but don't do it wrong because that can open a whole other can of worms...

Sometimes the answer to a solution is very simple.  What are you trying to over complicate today?

Make it a beautiful day, friends.

You can see my color choices if you pop over to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  Jen's Walls Talk.  Do yours?

Almost Ruined by a Noodle

"What are you doing? You can't eat that!" yelled my son incredulously as I stuck a spaghetti noodle in my mouth to check doneness. There wasn't anything wrong with the noodle.  I don't have any allergies to foods that I know of, but I am doing a #Whole30 for the remainder of this month...so no grain. 

I don't usually cook two meals at one sitting.  As in, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit when it comes to dinner around here.  But during a Whole30 might be the one exception. Tonight we had spaghetti squash with meat sauce. I made a package of noodles for the kids simply for time sake and to be an understanding mom. (It happens on occasion!) 

I simply put the silly noodle in my mouth to see if it was done.  While it wouldn't have been the end of the world, it would have technically ruined my Whole30.  I didn't even want to eat the noodle. The irony is that an hour earlier, I was at a meeting...with a tummy actively engaging in hungry rumbling and a pan full of delicious smelling, ooey gooey, chocolate, peanut butter and marshmallow goodness that I politely declined and walked away from. I didn't need it.  And THAT, friends, is the beauty of the Whole30.

The mindless eating is so often what throws us off kilter. We stuff food in our mouths because we're in a hurry, bored, craving _______ when we really need the opposite of that.  My encouragement for you is to simply pay attention to what you put in your mouth. If you want the brownie, eat it, enjoy it. But if you really don't need it, leave it.

What other mindless activities are sabotaging your efforts?

Make it a beautiful day, friends.

When your done spitting out your noodle, hit the subscribe button so you can have each blog post delivered to your inbox. 

Easier the Second Time

It's January.  Almost everyone has new year resolutions to get healthier.  Sometimes that includes weight loss.  Sometimes it just means to cut out soda.  At our house it means doing a #whole30. 

A Whole 30 is not for everyone.  It's a reset on your body in relation to food.  It's not so much a cleanse as it is a re-establishing of healthy tastes, cravings, and mindset when it comes to the substance we put in our faces everyday (that should be nourishing, not harming).  Here's the rules in a nutshell: no dairy, no grains, no alcohol, no sugar (in any form), no legumes.  At first glance, you might think that doesn't leave much to eat, when in reality it leaves an abundance of food in their natural form.  It forces us to try new foods and flavors.  It's more a food adventure than a self imposed torture session...and at the end, I know I will feel AMAZING.  I know this, because I've done it before.

Get this lovely reminder for your kitchen here

It's been a couple years ago, but I still feel some of the positive effects of having done a Whole 30 before.  As with any discipline habit we are just beginning, it is helpful to look to past victories to know that I can reach the win this time.  We're a week into this food reset, and I feel really good already.  Knowing how super amazing I'll feel at the end motivates me to keep going and making one good food choice after another.  It's easier the second time around because I know the victory will be real, so it's worth it.

Is your current struggle worth the end result?  Have you pictured in detail how that end result will feel?  If it doesn't feel worth it right now, then make your goal more detailed and maybe bigger.

Make it a beautiful day, friends.

You can find me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.  And at www.JensWallsTalk.com.  See you there!

P.S. If you want more info on the Whole 30 program, you can get the original book here. If you want more recipes to go with your current or upcoming Whole 30, click here.

P.P.S. A couple of support things I've been doing this time around are my emeals account (they have a paleo option that is very simple to tweak any questionable ingredients to Whole30 approved ingredients).  And I've been using this supplement system for the past 3 weeks...and have NOT had any coffee (except 1 cup and that was a mistake) to drink.  I'm not even kidding.

Your Application

A while back , I alluded to a relationship challenge.  It would be arrogant and ridiculous to imply that I never have any challenges, but it doesn't seem to happen too often, fortunately.  It would be inappropriate for me to divulge names and details of the rift, but suffice it to say, it's an ongoing issue to a certain extent, as sometimes we are unable to walk completely away from some relationships. The only other option is reconciliation.  As I pondered what it means to reconcile and heal, there came realization of what exactly is so hard: application.

Application is the self-discipline portion of the relationship.  Application is where we simultaneously acknowledge the wrong done and look you in the eye and say, "I still like you." It's the part where we act on the base of love that the relationship was built on, rather than the more recent hurt that we see every time we look at that person...and that is difficult.  There is no arguing that sometimes we want to be mad.  We want to live in our hurt place because we're justified.  We are righteous in our anger or hurt.  So what does it look like to apply healing in a wounded relationship?

I'm sure it looks like a lot of different things to heal a rift.  It could look like a hug and "I love you" when you see that person.  It could look like a smile and a bit of joking like old times.  It's sampling the waters and it has to come back slowly.  There is no quick fix for a deep wound.  Here's the part of application that takes the most tenacity: it's a choice. I must choose to act in forgiveness rather than in the hurt I still feel.  Let me say that again: I must choose to act in forgiveness rather than in the hurt I still feel.

That is your (and my!) assignment today.  Go.

Make it a beautiful day, friends.

After your realization that you've been hanging on to your anger sinks in, run over to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for some fun.  Thank you for sharing and subscribing.  You're a rock star. Now go act like it.

It's My 10th Birthday Party--30 Years Later

When I was 10 I had planned the birthday party to end all birthday parties.  I had games, beauty stations, food, and sleeping arrangements carefully planned for each of my 15 guests.  Yes.  I had 15 10-year-old girls at my house.  I'm sure my mom tried to talk me out of it, but in my 10-year-old mind, I thought that was a good idea.  What happened in reality was that 15 different people have 15 different ideas about what it looks like to hang out at a sleepover.  Surprise!  So halfway through my party, I ended up in my mom's room crying because I thought the party was going horribly.

I learned from that obviously traumatic experience that people have their own ideas, and especially in a social gathering, will tend to wander in all different directions.  Fast forward 30 years to New Year's Eve.  I did it again.  In my effort to make sure everyone was included and going to have a blast, I did it again...and it was an epic fail.  How could a gathering of great friends and food and kids become an epic fail?  Because I didn't go.

I allowed guilty, liar voice to convince me that I would feel really bad if not everyone was able to go...and that I was responsible for that.  Ugh.  This totally sounds like something from middle school, but you'll recall I turned 40 just a few weeks ago.  The lesson I am reminded of and that I hope you hear as well is this:

I am 100% responsible for my own responses and actions...but I don't have any control over others' responses. 

It is kind to include others.  It is friendly to invite all--but I can't please everyone all the time.  It's impossible.  So continue to invite, include, and have fun in 2017, but for pete's sake, quit trying to please everyone all the time.  You'll both end up unhappy, or not.  It might just make only you miserable.

Make it a beautiful year, friends.

When you are done including everyone in your sharing of this post, click on over to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for some fun color feeds.  You can also find me on www.JensWallsTalk.com .