Is your Diaper Full??

Have you ever seen a baby whose diaper is so full it looks like it might make them topple over? I have and the poor baby has trouble walking and lets face it, most of the times it smells.  Although we are no longer babies we still tend to carry around full diapers that can cause serious frustration.  Now, carrying around extra baggage may not make you walk and smell funny but it sure does prevent you from enjoying where you are today and slows you down to where you are trying to go. Holding on to all of those things in the past that drag you down can really get the best of you.  Life can be tough and it can be EXTREMELY difficult to let some things go, but you have to realize that no matter how hard you hold on to them or how much you complain they are not going to change.  You must let go to make room for all the WONDERFUL things coming your way.  I know this is much easier said then done, but if we could all actively try to let one thing go a week life will get so much better.  Wake up on Monday morning and write down the one thing you are going to let go that week, tear it up and throw it away! This first act will make you feel liberated but this is the easiest step.  Throughout the day your mind will wander back to that heavy diaper that is weighing you down and you must tell yourself, “I am letting this go, I want to move forward”. Do this everyday for the week and it will get easier, I promise.  Do this every week until you feel FREE and open your heart and mind to all the POSITIVE things that will enter your life. 

The Rocky Road

This past week on mine and my nannys daily walk up the rocky road we passed two young children playing ring around the rosy and giggling.  My nanny's walk came to a stop as she watched these two young girls hold hands and run around in circles belly laughing, she didn't say anything at first, she just  starred with a smile on her face.  She then turned to me with tears in her eyes and said, "Kabri, do you remember when you were that age? Because I do".  At that moment I could feel the unconditional love she has for me, the wonderful memories she has of her grandchildren playing and giggling whether it be when we walked up the rocky road, played in her pool, or danced around the May pole she had every year.  I realized that these memories she was thinking of are some my most cherished memories and I can't imagine what my life would have been like without her being such a big part of it.  In this fast paced life that we all lead, partially because we enjoy it, partially because its how society now functions, we can easily forget to stop and notice something so small that can have such a large impact.  On that walk, I noticed those little girls but I probably was not going to stop and really look at them because I was in a hurry, like most days. Without my nanny being with me I would not have felt the flood of memories come back, you know the ones, they make you have that warm feeling in your chest and automatically bring a smile to your face.  I am so unbelievably grateful for this lesson she taught me and for the blessing to still go on walks with her.  I can only hope that one day when I have children and grandchildren they have the opportunity to walk this rocky road as I have since I was a young girl.

" I can, I will, I am"

Words, they can be used in so many ways and more times than not they are used in a negative way.  The spoken word is one that has much power.  I can wake up every morning and speak negatively of what is going on in my life or of other people but the only thing that will breed is more negativity into my life.  I don't want to breed negativity, I want to breed positivity.  I may not be where I want to be in life but that will change with each step I make towards achieving the life I want, it is not going to just fall into my life.  Trust me, I have days where I feel like everything is going wrong and those days make my dreams seem unattainable but what would be the point in me saying, "I am never going to get where I want to be", all that does is put doubt in my mind and make me feel hopeless.  On those days that nothing is going right are the days that you MUST say positive affirmations.  Tell yourself, you will get there, you will make it, that this is just a minor setback in this amazing life we are all blessed with and striving for.  As I take the proper steps to make my life what I want it to be I make sure to say out loud every morning, I can, I will, I am".  This, to me, is a reminder that I can make my dreams come true, I will attain these goals I strive for, and I am doing what I need to do.  Speaking these words out loud make them real. Try this with me, take the time every morning to be thankful for what you have and to tell yourself, " I can, I will, I am" and take those steps.  You and only you can breed this positivity in your life, no one else can do it for you.  I promise it makes your day so much better and it will help you achieve the goals you strive for.  

Follow your Dreams

      Now that we have all made our Dream Boards (if you have not and you want to join in, there is a post before this about making them) we need to be sure to set things in motion to achieve these dreams.  My brother, Stanton White, is a perfect example of following your dreams. 

A sophomore in college at Appalachian State, Stanton decided that this was not his time to be attending school and that he wanted to move out west (a place we had visited numerous times and he fell in love with).  He dropped his classes and moved back to our home in Charlotte to prepare for his journey to Lake Tahoe.  He worked odd jobs to get up enough money to take the cross-country trip and set a date to leave.  That December he had accrued enough money to make the trip and he did.  We had made this trip as a family numerous times for vacations, although by plane and not car.  That being said, we had made friends with a man who owned a ski-rental shop that Stanton resourcefully contacted in hopes of a job and a place to stay until he found his own place.  He successfully made his drive cross-country started his job, found a place to live and now, 5 years later, he is still living out west just in San Francisco and has made his way back to school.

I don’t know about you, but I know that I would have very hard time leaving all of my family on the east coast to embark on a journey, by myself, out west. Your dreams obviously don’t have to be moving half way across the country but whatever they are, you should start the lay the groundwork for them to come true.  I want to be on radio or TV, so I have started going back to school at UNCG to finish my undergraduate degree in Journalism/Broadcasting.  Although, a little less intimidating than what my brother did, I am laying the groundwork for my dreams to come true.  Will you?

Know Your Worth

“Know your worth, Kabri”, was a phrase that I heard without fail growing up.  I admit I got tired of hearing it and wished that my mother would keep to herself at times! Oh, but I am so glad that she didn’t.  My mother (an amazingly talented, loving woman) told me day in and day out how special I was and how many talents and gifts the good lord had blessed me with. Even though, I had self-confidence I did not know my worth.  Many young women are confident but don’t truly believe they are worthy.  Knowing your worth comes from deep down, many times confidence is only skin deep.  Worth, as written in the dictionary means,  "1. Value in Money, 2. Amount equaling given value, 3. Moral or social value, 4. Wealth."  Obviously my mother was not telling me to, “Know my money”, she was telling me to know how important I was and to know that I, just as each of you, have many talents and gifts to utilize.  At 23, I still don’t know if I know my full worth, but I am learning.  Everyday I must remember how blessed I am and that I want to be in the presence of others who make my gifts come alive.  Who always lift me up, who look for the good in me and help me look for the good in others.  I am eternally grateful to have had a mother who incessantly told me how special I was/am and can only wish that everyone has a special person in their lives who supports them as she does me.  I hope that everyone will begin or continue to, know their worth.

Dream Boards!

Good Morning Everyone,
Today is FABULOUS Friday and I hope everyone is having a great day.  I am here to share a fun craft that not only allows you to use your creative side but will also motivate you to follow your dreams, a DREAM BOARD. A dream board is a collection of dreams you have that you put down on paper and hang up in your house so that each day you can look at it and make sure you are on track to follow them.  These dreams can be both long term and short term.  One of the greatest things about a dream board is that it can be made out of pretty much anything! I made one this morning with construction paper, cut outs from magazines and stickers. I usually make one once a year and some of my long term dreams transfer over to my new board.

Supplies :
Glue
Scissors
Poster board or construction paper

I have used the following to make words ( You may be more creative than me and may come up with something new)
Magazines
Newspapers
Stickers

This is what it looks like when I first started:

I did not have a poster board at home but I did have construction paper so I hot glued four pieces together to make my own board.  I then cut out phrases and letters from magazines that I had lying around my house.  After that I layed out my words on the board and then glued them down.  Remember that your words and phrases may not make sense to others but it doesn't matter as long as they mean something to you!

Here is my finished board from this morning ( it is not as crafty as some of my others but I was seriously lacking in craft supplies this morning, it is time to go re-stock!

Once you have finished be sure to hang it up somewhere in your house that you will pass by everyday to help keep you on track to follow your dreams.
This is a great craft that you can do with ANYONE! Kids, siblings, parents, anyone!

There is NO dream too big or small to put on your board.  Once you have made yours please send me a picture and I'll post it to the blog if you would like!  I hope you enjoy making your dream board and have a FABULOUS Friday!!

Smile from within!

It’s the one that you see on a baby when they see their mother coming in from a night out, it’s the one you see on a grandmother when they meet their first grandchild, it’s the one you see on a man when he knows he has found the woman he wants to spend his life with, it is a smile that comes from within.  It is one that finds true pleasure in what he/she is looking at.  These smiles fill your heart and body with joy! You all know the feeling and the smile and if you are like me we may not take the time to smile like this as much as we should.  I am a pretty happy person and 9 times out of 10 if you see me I am smiling but only probably 3 out of 10 is it one of the smiles I am talking about.  I think part of the reason for this is because in order to smile from within you have to take the time to really enjoy what you are looking at or feeling and lets face it, in todays world none of us really take our time to do this.  These smiles can become much more frequent if we take the time to enjoy our lives instead of just, “getting thru the day”.  In each day we should be able to find one thing that makes you smile like this.  It could be as simple as seeing a stranger making a kind gesture towards another, when I think of what that really means it brings a true smile to my face.  Take the time to ENJOY life and today, try to SMILE like you did when you were a child! 

Start the New Year off by Loving Yourself!!!

At the tender age of 10 I said something that will stick with me forever.   I was riding in the passenger seat of my mom's car with the wind blowing in my hair and my feet sticking out of the window when I nonchalantly said " I love me, everyone wants to be me".  Needless to say one thing I was not lacking in was self-confidence.  Saying that out loud at the age of 23 sounds a little self indulgent but at the age of 10 I was not saying it because I felt others were jealous or envious of me I was saying it out of pure love for myself. A love that I fear so many of us lose the older we get.  We worry so much about what others think or how society views us we forget that what really matters is how we view ourselves.  Loving yourself doesn't mean their aren't things you wish to change but it means that you are accepting yourself for who you are which is much harder to do than say.  I am not the same little girl that I was at 10, I have plenty of insecurities and I do let the outside world effect what I think about myself but this year I am going to wake up everyday and look in the mirror and say, "I love me!" As the love for myself grows the ability I have to love others will grow too so please try this with me. Whether you say it in the bathroom in the morning, in the car on the way to work/school or anywhere else you find yourself wanting to say it, just say it! Be sure to say it OUT LOUD hearing it and saying it to yourself are two different things, you need to hear it! Love yourself!