Something happened when I became a mother that I never expected to occur, not only did I begin the journey into parenthood but I also slowly morphed into a dirty hippie! Something strange happened almost as if when I gave birth somebody threw the switch that allowed me to see the planet with and all the beauty and ickiness combined. I got really frustrated with all the corporations, chemicals, injustices, and the worship of waste. I was so frustrated because I just felt "this isn't right, and I want a better earth for my son, and all the other kids out there" but what could I do? I'm just one person, a speck of dust in this universe, nothing that I do alone can make a difference, but I slowly started making changes that I felt were right for me and my little guy. The biggest change probably happened after my older sister watched a documentary about this island of birds that had zero contact with humans and yet they were finding pieces of plastic and feeding it to their babies. The babies died with bellies full of plastic, it was heartbreaking, and caused her to make a pretty drastic change. She decided that she was going to live a zero waste lifestyle and say no to plastic at all cost! I will admit at first I though she was being a little bit of a weirdo, but then I went and spent a week with her, she wasn't preachy, she was genuine, she was still the same sister....minus plastic. While we were at her house we would go for daily walks on the beach and she would pick up any bits of garbage that people had left behind, after one walk we had collected a huge bags worth of intentionally left behind garbage and it made me angry! I realized though that even though it was just a small patch of beach, by her collecting it and properly disposing of it she actually was making a huge difference. I made a conscience decision then to really be thoughtful about what I am purchasing and not unnecessarily buy plastic items, (not saying I am living a zero waste lifestyle but I have become more aware) also if I am on a walk and see litter I pick it up.

This is a bag of garbage from the park I go walking in all the time, the litter situation is out of control but if I continue to do this everyday that I go then I'm going to have some very happy turtles and geese that won't have to worry about feeding their babies dangerous plastics by accident.

Stop! Picture time!

I'm sure you have heard the phrase "Stop and smell the roses" obviously meaning to enjoy the moment while you are there in it. I don't think I really have a problem with noticing details and trying to enjoy the beauty around me but something I do have a problem with is taking pictures of the details I am admiring. I get very self conscience about taking pictures because my only camera is an an iPhone and I have severe camera envy. I guess with all the wonderful blogs out there with their professional quality photos I feel like my iPhone wouldn't even do the subject justice. As part of Project-Get Up Off Of That Thing, I have been pushing myself to get out of my comfort zone. The other day I was having to run a few errands and it was a gorgeous day and the flowering cherry trees have been bursting with so many blooms they looked like giant pink cotton balls dangling on the trees!

I thought about just driving by and just hurrying up with my errands but I'm so glad I didn't! It ended up raining for a few days and so many of the petals fell off that they didn't look like the same trees!

You can't expect for the beauty that you see today to be unchanged tomorrow, so by all means, stop! And take the picture!

Get Up Offa That Thing!

"Hi, my name is Claire, and I have motivation problems. "

Welcome to procrastinators anonymous everybody! I'm sure that I am not the only human to have a serious addiction (yes, addiction) to procrastinating, but this is the year that I have stood up and said:

"ENOUGH! I will say yes, and I will follow through, I will not regret one more missed opportunity!"

I am the type of person that feels like I have to basically have every duck in the planet in a row before I can even start work on something I have been obsessing over for years because if I don't do it in a specific order it might fail.....so nothing ever truly gets accomplished and my bucket list is painfully missing a crapload of check marks. 

I think I finally was able to be honest with myself after my son was born. I actually had a legitimate excuse to not get things done, or that's what I told myself until I realized he was probably the only long term project I ever gladly stuck with. That honesty with myself sort of sucked. I'm ashamed to say instead of making a change then, I sat around telling myself what a lazy failure at life I had been and how It probably didn't matter if I pursued any goals at this point. Which is truly ridiculous I'm only 27 for gosh sake! As of this month though I have had the song "get up offa that thing" by James Brown stuck in my head on repeat almost like its my mantra and I have made a huge effort to say yes to myself when my first thought is no, later, or tomorrow. I have to override my instinct and yell inside my thoughts "TODAY! NOW! RIGHT THIS MINUTE! GO!"

My hope for this blog is to be even the smallest inspiration to anybody else needing encouragement to take leaps of faith in whatever area they need help in. I'm calling this new yes attitude: Project-Get Up Off Of That Thing. I will probably get more in depth in future but it's about saying yes to bettering yourself, your home, and your planet, I really hope that you guys will join me in this as I dance around to some James Brown and fist pump while shouting "TODAY!"