what is set as...

On the way to our family reunion this weekend, B and I were flipping through our phones to check the weather and we started laughing about the different cities each of us had set in our weather app...and that got me wondering if that was any secret insight into our inner psyches.

So in the same fashion as a previous post (What's on your..), I am digging into the things that are 'set as'  - those things that are already set and run almost automatically in my life.  What do each of these settings tell about me?  hahha - here we go!

What is set as your

alarm time - 6:14am and the message says, "Get moving mumma!"

ringtone: Strum (iPhone) for everyone but Brandon's ringtone is the Motorcycle revving up

cities on your weather app:  Davidsville, Johnstown, Pittsburgh, and Altoona (all PA); Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Negril, Jamaica

car radio button #1:  Froggy 95 (our local country station)

thermostat:  it's set at nothing right now (it's off) because its been beautiful and in the low/mid 70s for the past few days.  However, B and I have an on-going battle during the summer about the AC:  he wants it on and I like it off (I think there is value to 'suffering' a little and feeling hot during the summer.   #firstworldproblems).  We generally like it around 69-70 degrees indoors though.

computer background - the laptop is set to (super boring) automatic landscape backgrounds. The iPad has a pic of all four of us on it.

internet home screen - chrome 'most visited sites' (blogger, facebook, pinterest, apple trailers, gmail, and youtube).

bookmark in your current read:  2 pictures and the hotel receipt from our AKT Nashville trip (why? hahha)  They are on page 279 of The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

song/artist/title of the last playlist listened to in pandora - Garrett Hedlund (from the Country strong movie).

mood in your house around 5:30p - unfortunately, the mood in our house at this time would be considered, 'on edge.'  the kids are hungry, Daddy isn't usually home yet, and I'm on my last pinch of patience.  We just try to get to dinner and Daddy home before losing my marbles generally at this time.  Generally, dinner makes everyone perk up again before bedtime, but from about 5:30 to 6p is called the Bewitching Hour around here.  It ain't pretty.

Play along!  What is set as your...

buy sunglasses - do double good.

I've heard some news through the grape-vine and wanted to share it with you today!

Warby Parker is already a do-gooder of a company - which in and of itself makes me have a slight crush on them.  Their buy-a-pair; give-a-pair program allows that for every pair of frames purchased, they give a pair of prescription glasses to someone in need.  You can read more about their amazing work here and also read how this summer they've surpassed over a half million frames distributed to people in need worldwide.

So besides being founded out of the idea that classic and flattering eyewear should not cost upwards of $300 and being one of the only carbon-neutral fashion brands in the world (if it sounds like I'm a little star-struck, you're right) - Warby Parker also has a new program launching today(!) in collaboration with one of my favorite doing good sites:  Donor's Choose!

Donor's Choose is a site that allows regular folk; like you and I, to get a glimpse inside some amazing classrooms and reach out to help fund projects and programs that dedicated teachers want to complete but can't do so without financial support.  Donor's Choose has been one of our month's activities since we started our 12 months of Kindness project five years ago.  Last year, we donated to a classroom needing learning disability support for their morning meetings and the year before that was to a local school learning about our community's historic floods.

Warby Parker x Donor's Choose

Warby Parker has created a sweet little pair of shades that are educationally-inspired with an adorable 'school bus yellow' detail that will make you swoon.  For every pair of their Gardner Tortoise shell sunglasses purchased - not only can the buyer (or gift recipient) feel good about the standard buy-a-pair;give-a-pair program - but they will also receive $30 to donate towards the classroom project of their choice at Donor's Choose.

Yes - you read that correctly:

You buy the Gardner glasses for $95, someone in need of corrective eye wear also receives a pair of glasses AND you get $30 to donate towards a classroom project of your choice at Donor's Choose.  

That's double good, folks.  And with the Gardner glasses on your face, you make doing good look pretty dang cool.  I mean, seriously...my birthday is coming up (ahem, Brandon).

Doing double good is pretty awesome.  So awesome in fact that even the cool kids are doing it - and by cool, I mean funnygirl Mindy Kaling  - who I have a serious BFF-crush on.  (sidenote:  just caught a re-run of the Valentine's Day Mindy Project episode and couldn't stop giggling.  omi, I love everyone on that show).

Mindy is a fan of Donor's Choose because she likes that its helping without 'so much bureaucratic stuff between me and actually helping.'   So she teamed up with Warby Parker to promote their new collaboration with Donor's Choose and to help spread the word.

Charles Best (CEO & founder Donor's Choose) and Mindy Kaling (actress, comedy-writer)

And when I heard about the collaboration - that's exactly what I wanted to do as well - spread the word.  Because doing good does not have to be some big, huge gesture.  Doing good can be as simple as making consumer choices that you can be proud of.  If you already need sunglasses (or know someone with an upcoming birthday) - why not buy a quality, great-looking pair of shades that through your purchase you can also help others?

I am not receiving any kickbacks for this post from Warby Parker or Donor's Choose.  I just heard about the program and wanted to offer my small corner of the web as a highlight of the good things that are happening in the world.  Please check out the Warby Parker x Donors Choose details and use your consumer power to spread some love.  

To the beginning..

Growing up I always considered 28 to be 'the' age.  Like someday when I'm 28 - I will have figured it all out - and then I never considered being any older than that.  So when I turned 29, I had a little bit of a meltdown recognizing that very soon I would be 30.  Which quite honestly seemed impossible for my entire life up until that point.

And its continued to feel very strange to be turning 30 next month (August 26th to be exact).  Its felt surreal and weird and a little scary for almost the entire past year.

That is until a few weeks ago.

Suddenly, it's as though it had been made clear that for the past 30 years, I've been busting the pavement to arrive exactly where I am.

All the test taking, traveling, moving, and the waiting for the some-day-when.  The mistakes, the heartbreak, the learning-as-I-go.  The sweeping big feelings, the first times, the clarity that comes with hindsight.  All of the hurry ups, the just-get-through-this, and the being patient.

It was all fun and young and wild and free.
These first 30 years were awesome.
Truly, awesome.

But there has also always been this thin layer of feeling like I wasn't quite who I was supposed to be, or where I was supposed to be.  I was always working towards getting somewhere other than where I was.  With my eyes set on the future, it has felt like the present day has been slightly out of focus.  Everyday felt vaguely like tracks whose primary purpose was to get my train to the someday-when.

And somehow the past few weeks have felt like I've finally arrived at the station.

I feel like things have come into focus.  I know what I like and don't like.  I know the friends that I enjoy spending time with.  I have made peace with my body in all of its beautiful and unique imperfections.  I enjoy snuggling on the couch with a three year old's foot in my neck and a one year old tapping my teeth - just as much as I like finishing a bottle of wine at dinner with my sisters or best friends.  That very same boy that gave me butterflies when I was sixteen - just this morning kissed my mouth so tenderly after we both woke up with that three year old between us in bed - that I couldn't help the corners of my lips from turning up into a smile.

I've made it!

I've arrived at the place in my life where I feel like I am finally going to start living mindfully.  Not that the hard work is over, nor is the changing, growing, or learning finished.

There will be hard times ahead and surely there will be moments that I have mistakes, and heartbreak, and learning-as-I-go.  And undoubtedly there will be sweeping big feelings, and more first times, and even more clarity that comes with hindsight.  And thousands of more hurry ups, and the just-get-through-this, and the being patient....but instead of feeling like I'm not who I am supposed to be yet - it will all be experienced with a confidence of knowing firmly who I am and where I stand.

With a mindful understanding that I am my own friend and this is my life; today.  

The other evening, Brandon, Jon, the kids and I were sitting on our patio talking the sun to sleep.  We were just chatting and laughing while Grey made ninja-fighting noises on the trampoline and our resident mourning doves sang, and Bullet and Trixie chased each other in the yard.  It was a regular evening; one that we maybe have had hundreds of time before.  But this time, I was present; I was mindful of the sky and the sounds and the warmth and the happiness.  I was there and so very grateful for everything that had ever happened before that contributed to making this evening just as it was.

And the blue sky made a beautiful backdrop for the white, billowing clouds splashed with red, orange, and purple.  And that waxing gibbous was so big and bright with just a one-eyed smile of that man on the moon.  And inside my beating chest was the feeling of expansion; not feeling panicked or worried, but rather filled up; whole.

And the only thing I could think was that maybe the whole beautiful world was inside of me and it was sometimes so wonderful I could hardly bare it.

And we picked up our cool beers in the balmy evening hours and lightly clinked our glasses for a toast:

'to thirty being the beginning.'