…by successful, I mean delicious dips in the warm maple syrup that my friends Jon & Dana Finny make. My mangled because I still can’t get the hang of flipping pancakes properly, still taste amazing, doused in this stuff:
Ahhh…warm fall balcony breakfast mornings.
Thanks Jon & Dana!
You want some? Get some! (Did somebody say holiday gifts?) Drop Jon & Dane a line:
[email protected]
Mmm…
#LessStuffGoodFriendsHappyLife #Nosh #SmallBatch
Have you ever been curious to learn about why some people get addicted to “stuff?” Do you have someone in your life affected by hoarding? Come learn with us tomorrow night! We (the Carolina Organizers group) are hosting my good friend (and former boss), Matt Paxton from 4pm – 8pm at the Harvest Center of Charlotte to talk about who hoards and why this dilemma isn’t going away.
I’ve personally known Matt for 10+ years and have come to know this fantastic guy with immeasurable experience in the hoarding world very well. He makes this otherwise uncomfortable subject approachable and has helped countless people live happier, healthier, better lives through his work. His style of teaching is the perfect balance of being humorous, and compassionate. This will be a great event for anyone who wants to understand a little better about this subject and the attachments we have to physical things.
Here we are a few years back when I worked for Paxton in VA:
Register here now and join us tomorrow night, Thursday October 20, 2016!
#LessStuffMoreFreedomHappyLife #Hoarding #Addiction
You should read this whether you like/watch/care about movies or not. This column has been written by a friend for a lot of years now. He loves it. I think it is awesome. (He is awesome, too.) We could all learn a lot from this guy. Some people just make you want to be and do better. Some people remind you about all the things that are really important and worth, (or not worth) worrying about.
Thank goodness for those people.
A line that screamed out to me, in Dom’s latest post from 9/8:
“…I can promise you, if there is someone in your world suffering in some way, even the smallest connection can prove meaningful.”
I could’t agree more. Connection is what makes all of this crazy madness, this life…somehow the perfect beautiful mess.
What are you doing today to reach out to someone you care about?
#LifeIsBrutiful #RealityCheck #DontSweatTheSmallStuff
I sat at the counter reading a book today at a yummy little spot for a late Sunday brunch. Veggie scramble; onions, tomatoes, peppers and white cheddar hot and melty paired with a biscuit and potatoes. The happy place. That relaxing time on a weekend day in no rush. I Googled “Blue Lollipop Road read these books” on my phone looking for this link to a post I wrote last summer, so I could send it to a friend who was just gifted one of the books on my favorites list. I suppose by the power, algorithms, or whatever other technological thing that works to populate things on each of our phones like they are reading our minds, this video popped up. I made it 5 years ago today on 9/11/11 during my Honda sponsored road trip:
Wow. I feel like I look like a kid, a much younger, more innocent version of myself. Whoa nelly…if I had any idea what kind of news, terrorism, or hardships that were about to come in life- I’m not sure I would’ve looked halfway as fresh and excited as I did.
When you’re someone who goes through tremendous loss at a very young age, the ache in your heart goes deep and stays there. You learn to live with it and carry on as happily as possible, but on days like today when you just know so many other people in the world are missing that person they loved so much- It’s like there’s this automatic three ton weight on your chest for the strangers who you will never meet.
Countless beautiful and wonderful things have happened since I made the above video. I’m sure you can look back at the past 5 years and say the same. Moving forward the pendulum will swing a billion times to good and bad again. It feels thrilling and terrifying all at the same time. Let us be reminded; there is no time to wait to start living. There is no good time or bad time to start, be, do go – whatever we want to. In order to do something we have to start doing it first.
Go out there, kick some ass, take some names, and lay a big wet smacker on someone you love. Don’t put up with bullshit for longer than it takes you to gain a lesson, don’t be afraid to switch things up or quit what’s not working, high five a stranger, and eat some chocolate after your run.
Today is the day. What are you waiting for?
#RememberCelebrateLive #JustDoIt #Choices
Thanks to Charlotte Agenda for this little (get it, little?!:) nugget of info. today about tiny houses for rent around my neck of the woods.
When I lived in Wilmington in 2009, I rented a brand spanking newly finished tiny house, (before anyone called them tiny houses) in the back yard of a sweet young couple who had a brick ranch and a cute 2 year old son. My tiny house was actually a converted shed and I only paid $525/month. The hubby, Zack had done all the work himself, complete with chalkboard wall in kitchen, pullout drawer dishwasher, modern rectangular bathroom sink, loft bed, high ceilings, and skylight. It was AWESOME.
I sure wish I still had that place!
This is where minimalists like me have an occasional DOH! moment:
I just looked for a few photos I took of my fab mini space to share with you here, and sure enough found that I have deleted them in one of my 7 million photo purging fiestas over the years. You will just have to envision the scene of my bike parked right outside white-trimmed french doors on the patio leading into my beach happy home that was light blue. I did find this summer of 2009 ocean shot of my feet during that time:
Ahhh…
What can you do to simplify your space so you’re able to live more?
#LessStuffMoreFreedomHappyLife #Simplicity #GetTinyLiveBig
Here we go year #5!
Doing good feels good with all the bad and sad news in the world. Tonight we will kick off our 5th Annual event starting at 7pm at Ramunto’s with our Welcome Back Party:
Ramunto’s will donate 10% of all sales from anyone joining us, back to the Blue Lollipop Road Memorial Travel Scholarship Fund! Come one and all for craft beer, wine, great pizza, lots of specials and fun! 7pm until ?
Tomorrow we will award scholarship funds, play some soccer, the kiddos will do a fun run at halftime of the game, and we will have Celebration Cocktails to wrap the weekend at Pangaea Lounge. Pangaea will also donate 10% of all sales from anyone who joins to the Blue Lollipop Road Memorial Scholarship Fund. They’ve whipped up a special menu of BLR inspired craft cocktails, too. Yum…
ALL ARE WELCOME FOR EVERYTHING! Bring yourself, your lover, your friends, your dog, your kiddo’s, your former coach, neighbor, grandparents, and whoever else you can think of. THIS IS A COMMUNITY EVENT. (Rain or shine!)
Three cheers for the Bennington Banner and writer Adam Samrov who put out this article about our event, today. Thank you, Adam!
Want to get involved, donate/sponsor, or have a question? Great! See event info. here, or call/email Diane:
804.339.6514
Diane(@)BlueLollipopRoad.com
See you this weekend!
#RememberCelebrateLive #StrongMojo #PlayForwardGiveBack
Hello Friends & Followers!
It’s been a whirlwind of some very busy client work getting some good people downsized, packed up, and moving on to their next life adventures, I’m about to hit the road for my big annual road trip, and BLR Play It Forward 2016 kicks off just ONE week from today!
Phew! Days fly by, I start to write here, drafts of posts pile up, ideas constantly swirl, I get interrupted to take care of business elsewhere- and poof, a week or two later my sweet blog is left hanging. Sigh.
Funny how I help people simplify their lives and minimize their madness, and I find myself falling asleep at 11pm still with 10 things on my own to-do list. (Life of an entrepreneur! I would’t change a thing:)
As I pack up now close to midnight, I daydream about the morning when I start off on yet another big adventure of my own, windows will be down in the car, it will be nice and warm outside, and I will be the happiest camper (literally!) around on the way to green mountains first west, then north. I’m ready for some fresh air and a few s’mores (made with a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups), sipping coffee on quiet porches, a few Blue Benn breakfast times, and seeing some of my absolute favorite people.
The road always inspires me to write, and it is where I feel the most free and alive…especially when I’m en route to do something good like host Play It Forward, so I’m hoping to share a bunch of awesome things with you here over the next couple weeks. I hope you will share some of your adventures with me, too.
What inspires you to feel good and do good?
#LessStuffMoreTravelHappyLife #GreenSpace #LifeOnTheBlueLollipopRoad
I love waking up in the city:
…in the very early morning when the sun has just come up and the streets are all quiet. It’s like a peaceful calm before the traffic storm, those few precious moments for those of us who live on the pavement when we can sip coffee and dream big in peace before the honks and screeches start.
The city; A place where action happens and the world moves quickly. How I love it, and then escaping that madness to the complete opposite end of the spectrum which I love just as much (maybe a little bit more) at this point in my life. This was my happy drive to a client home today in the country:
Being in cement city for a Vermont girl during the warm months is very hard. Being in cement city for a nomadic-souled national park-loving, freedom-needing road tripping girl is very hard, so drives like this are always welcome. I need open windows, and green spaces. I need outside not inside, and I need room to breathe. Play It Forward Weekend kicks off 3 weeks from today in my home state, and I can’t wait. I always feel my absolute best, most creative, alive, and easy going self on the road. For as much work as this big event entails, it fuels me back tenfold to be able to hop in the car, all windows down and head far north to connect with the place and people I came from and do something good.
I spent many of my young adult years “on the road” in open spaces during the summer doing things like sitting in German biergartens, hiking in and around national parks, driving and camping across the country, and sitting in a hammock in the middle of the South Pacific. This time of year I think about every “kid” like me all that time ago who is boarding a plane heading for a language program in a country far away, or that group of gal pals who just finished up college and are now road-tripping across the country to go work at some random beach bar for the next couple months before they start their “real jobs.” I think about that group of guy friends who are planning a long 4th of July weekend away in the mountains to hike and camp in the next state over. I think about the recent high school grad about to embark on a Gap Year adventure, and I think…HELL YEAH! These are the times.
Oh my gosh that feeling and those experiences. They are THE BEST EVER, and nothing compares.
If you’re a parent reading this, please encourage your kids go on that trip/program/study abroad. They will become forever changed and even more badass than they already are. If you’re a twenty-something reading this and you’re slaving away at a minimum wage job that you hate before you go back to college, tell your boss thanks anyway, pack and bag and go somewhere new. Go explore anything you’ve wanted to before you get bogged down and locked down. You will never regret it, I promise.
My business is teaching people how to live simple so they can do more and be more of what they love. I work with clients typically age 45 – 65 who are making big life changes. A lot of them are getting themselves “unstuck” (whether their decision or not) from situations that were not working or not fun for a lot of years. Either during or at the end of my projects, nearly every single person shares the same three things:
1.) “I wish I had done this sooner.” (Downsizing, moving, jumping, making change, etc.)
2.) “I can’t believe how much stuff I have/had.” (Physical, financial, and personal.)
3.) “I wish I had traveled more when I was younger.”
During this time of year when air is warm and possibilities seem endless, all I think of is why doesn’t everyone who has any power, authority, or advisory over young people just tell them to go, go GO. Go before you collect a whole bunch of that “stuff” like I did!
For any of my clients who might look back and wish they did things a bit differently, I know I have at least helped them feel more freedom that they might not have otherwise been able to get to. It is so rewarding. We leave each other with hugs most every time and I feel like we teach each other so much. At the end of the day whether you’re 25, 45 or 65, all we really want is to have good times with good people. The stuff really doesn’t matter…period. I learn that again and again and again.
So many of us make big humongous ginormous life decisions (like college majors, careers, cars, houses, spouses, pets, babies, etc.) at ridiculously young ages and far before we have seen the world at all or built the best possible tool box to actually make those often life-altering decisions. Before we decide on important commitments that will seriously change the course of our existence on this planet, I say get lost, go broke, laugh with strangers, try that weird thing, feel uncomfortable, open your mind, don’t listen to naysayers. Move to that place you’ve always been curious about, quit whatever is breaking your heart or sucking your soul. Get up early, stay up late, work hard for what you want and it will all come together. Get your own life, don’t live someone else’s.
Hit the “road,” Jack, Jill, and everyone else who’s young bucket list is overflowing! Collect people and experiences, not stuff. I’ll be thinking of you with big smiles as I hit the road myself here soon, imagining all the awesome adventures you’ll have.
#DoStuffDontBuyStuff #Explore #LiveTheLifeYouWantToLive
I like to wander by myself. I love people and connection and sharing for sure, but contrary to popular belief, I spend a lot of time alone and always have. If you have just started following here to give you an idea, I drove to Alaska from Wilmington, NC alone- and with no music a few years back; that kind of alone. Some think It’s weird. I think It’s awesome to go solo, sometimes.
Last weekend, as I wandered around the streets of Chicago alone (yes! – scored a super cheap non-stop round trip plane ticket for Memorial Day Weekend!), I observed a zillion people with shopping bags galore weighing them down. Knowing that one of the biggest reasons I could actually afford go to Chicago for some guilt-free good exploring, eating, and meeting up with old friends was the fact that I don’t ever weigh myself down with shopping bags galore, I had one of those aha moments:
DO stuff, people! Don’t BUY so much stuff! (“Stuff” here to me, means an over abundance of material CRAP that you simply do not use or do not need.)
If you’re offended by the word crap, please try not to be. I’ve been told a hundred times over that I/we should not call other people’s stuff “crap” but if we are being realistic, the extra (note I said, extra!) stuff piled in your closets and drawers that you forgot you even had, is kind of all just a bunch of crap. Wouldn’t you agree? If if makes you feel any better, I call my own stuff crap, too even though I have very little of it. I think a lot about what I would do if the small amount of stuff I own vanished. (I’ve actually lost it all before, and when I realized the people who took it all didn’t shoot me, I seriously felt relieved and lucky.) I can say with 100% confidence, that if all my stuff (crap) disappeared, but I had my health, people who loved me, and could sip a glass of wine, eat a block of cheese, and back that all up with a quality piece of chocolate, I’d be happier than a pig in you know what.
I’m thinking you might be right there with me.
And now we are off and running here on this Blue Lollipop Road with a little series moving forward I will theme; The Do’s & Don’ts of stuff.
It’s all about priorities, really. Me, I find value and prioritize people, time, and experiences more than stuff. Some may not- but I think I can help encourage a little more prioritizing the important “stuff” here, so hope you jump on the train of less stuff = more freedom = happy life with me.
More on Chicago soon (I always pull that “soon” card, don’t I? I’ve got to keep you coming back:), until then today’s post is meant to share about today. My Sunday Funday and how I love the summer, the heat, and the colors of it all. During some client appointments today, I ran into a sweet little farmers market on a road I never go down, far from the city:
I stocked up for some good grilling.
Windows down, music blaring, then back to the house to sit outside and type here, one of my most favorite things to do:
EAT good stuff that you’ll really enjoy with good company, don’t BUY a bunch of (material) stuff you don’t really need.
Spend some time alone, prioritize, and live that life you want.
#LessStuffMoreFreedomHappyLife #DoStuffDontBuyStuff #Summer
Actually, just 1:
Because It’s fun.
I went to the BOB Awards tonight. It was a blast. I went with a crew, one of whom at one point (on the dance floor) said; “This makes me want to take off my boots!…and then he did. It was awesome, we laughed and strangers took photos.
We “snuck” (no one was paying attention to any one or any thing- so why not), into the VIP lounge a few times to get cocktails and treats from the s’mores bar. (Hello dripping, melty chocolate fountain!) We were the group that started the dance party. I personally never need an invitation to get the floor moving and was glad I was with a group that didn’t either.
It’s close to midnight on a Saturday night, and as I type in silence smiling from a great time after my party has ended for the night, I’m hoping everyone is out there in this big world living a little bit of eff-it! – just letting go and having fun. Whether you stayed in or went out, and whether you got wild or stayed calm, remember, there are no rules. What you do with your life is YOUR CHOICE. We should care a lot less about what other people think, we should get that dance floor moving even when (especially when), we’re sober, we should laugh loud enough that our face hurts, and we should sneak into the VIP lounge (ahem…in everyone situation), like we own it. Take initiative, don’t ask for permission, and…
…dance my friends, just dance.
#GetYourGrooveOn #WhenInDoubtBeyonceItOut #Fearless
Bonus fun if you strike a pose with a friend on the way out the door and see how long you can hold your Blue Steel face without cracking up.