(via Pinterest)

Choice is more than picking ‘x’ over ‘y.’ It is a responsibility to separate the meaningful and the uplifting from the trivial and the disheartening. It is the only tool we have that enables us to go from who we are today to who we want to be tomorrow.  -Sheena Iyengar

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about choice; about how it is both a responsibility and an opportunity.  Also about how it follows us from moment to moment.

It is so easy to loose track of a desire to stay present and committed to the types of choices you want to make for yourself in daily life.  It’s easy to tell yourself that certain conditions have minimized or eliminated the choices available to you.

But, if you consider choice to be an expression of your values, and you remind yourself of that every time you can, there is an ever-present option to recalibrate, decide what it is that you want and choose accordingly.

via YSL / 1972

NEARING the end of the May Lindstrom Problem Solver that Farrell got me for my birthday and thinking I’m going to have to splurge and re-up when it’s gone.

FINISHING up a 30-day yoga challenge strong, after some lapsed days in the middle.

FALLING down the Pinterest images rabbit hole and trying to climb my way out.

SEEING all my doctors and practitioners and feeling all kinds of weird as a result.

TAKING a couple baths here and there now that water is plentiful!

FEELING a roller coasted of emotions.

There’s a good chance you’ve already seen this video as Farrell and I have sent it to almost everyone we know but if you haven’t, you’re in for a real treat. Somehow Farrell managed to capture my ridiculous performance in a bat relay race we did during our friends’ wedding weekend last week. Oh wow! Hope you get as many laughs out of this as we have. Enjoy!

1.) 18 Places You Didn’t Know Were in Los Angeles (via Buzzfeed) I have pledged to go to every one of this destinations! -Farrell

2.) A Holiday in Tanzania (via Miss Moss) I was lucky enough to go on safari in Kenya with my mom and our brother David several years ago; it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.  These incredible photographs of the Serengeti & Ngorongoro take me back to that time albeit with slightly different geography.  -Lauren

3.) Tips to Keep You as Young as You Feel (via Mind Body Green) I don’t like the title of the article but the tips are worth reading. -Farrell

4.) 10 Things ‘L.A. Frock Stars’ Star Doris Raymond Taught Us About Life (via Hollywood Reporter) I really loved both series of this show on the Smithsonian Channel and Raymond comes across as the best type of business person; she’s super intelligent, committed and kind.  -Lauren

5.) Singing Show Tunes Helps Fight Dementia (via Daily News) You heard it here first. I now expect no judgements when I am old and gray and singing “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.”  -Farrell

6.) 13 Ways to Enjoy Being Home for the Summer (via hercampus.com)  It’s looking like I’m going to be in Cleveland for the next six weeks or so; I had to laugh when I saw and clicked on this article written for college students.  -Lauren

For the first time in my life I was able to see the Northern Lights from our backyard in Ohio. It was truly amazing. Of course, the pictures don’t do it justice but it felt like a special surprise that we were able to see it. We have lived here almost my whole life and I have never known Cleveland to be a location where seeing the Northern Lights was a possibility. The view was like a rainbow sunset that was happening really late at night.

There are lot of subtle magical things about being home in the summertime but this one takes the cake.

via Pinterest

SOAKING up the lake, thunderstorms, train sounds and highs and lows of being home.

TRYING to quit drinking coffee and why, oh why is it SO hard.

SPENDING less time on the computer and more time outside.

DRINKING a green juice that my sweet sister lovingly brought me from the grocery store.

STARTING to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance & hoping it hooks me in quickly.

LOOKING forward to some quality Lake Erie time over the next couple of weeks.