My Wish For You: Crisp Autumn Days

Today I wish for you crisp autumn days…the kind that make you want to take hayrides, pick pumpkins, and get out your sweaters and boots.

I wish for you…

…Fall foliage beyond compare
…Crunchy leaves under your feet (instead of in your gutters)
…Hot cocoa in red plaid thermoses
…Football games
…Warm blankets
…Crackling fires to keep you cozy
…And skies as clear and blue as you’ve ever seen.

I wish you fun raking days where you can pile leaves waist high and run and jump in them just like you did when you were a kid.

I wish you air, fresh and cool, to clear your stuffy head from anything troubling you. I wish you that first cold night the temperature drops so low you can see white clouds of breath puff before your very eyes.

It’s great to be alive, isn’t it?

In every season, for many reasons, I wish you love, happiness, and as much good stuff as your heart can stand.

All my love,

Kelley Taylor

Live: Take A Bite Out Of Life

I’ve often wondered if those who have these manicured pretty lives really understand how amazing they could be if they rolled up their sleeves every now and then and shook things up.  I wonder if they know how truly powerful their lives are if they looked at life not as something that has to be pushed down, ordered, sifted, polished, and displayed but instead something real they could taste.

As we’ve witnessed these past few weeks, life can be messy. Writer Natalie Goldberg said it best in Wild Mind when she wrote “Life is not orderly. No matter how we try to make life so, right in the middle of it we die, lose a leg, fall in love, drop a jar of applesauce.”

Life derails us. Stocks go down, businesses go belly up, credit freezes, hockey moms run for office. So what? Dig into your one juicy life and make the most of it. Find one thing that you haven’t yet done and work towards it even though it may feel a little painful or hard to do for now.

Life, for every time it’s let you down, is there to show you that with every minute you breathe there is something you haven’t yet tasted. Some of it may be bitter, but rest assured, you’ll hit that sweet spot eventually if you haven’t already experienced it once or twice before.

So our new tag line for Make Every Day A Holiday, along with our new little icon – the green apple – is: Take a Bite Out Of Life. Because for those of us who try to make the most of everyday living, we understand that it’s organic. It’s imperfect. It’s ever-changing. It’s sometimes sticky, sometimes bitter or sour, and yes it’s sometimes sweet. But we never forget that this one life of ours is delicious in every way. The bad often makes us appreciate more of the good. Life is to be ingested, digested, processed and nourished. Life is to be lived.

I hope you always make the most of your today. May you always find a way to make every day a holiday. And if you need some ideas, you might want to check out the new holidaily feed on Twitter. I’ll give you 365 days and ways to make every day a holiday…or at least food for thought.

All my love,

Kelley

Love: Pay Attention

“Attention is the most basic form of love; through it we bless and are blessed.”
- John Tarrant

While life flies by, it’s easy to get caught up in the to do lists, the schedules, the hectic lives we all lead.

We text while we talk, we surf while we watch TV, and we talk while we drive. We have videos playing in cars, we have iPods for planes, and we have books for trains while music plays in our ears. Our laptops keep us company while in a coffee shop alone. And before we know it, our minds don’t ever have to wonder what shape the clouds morphed into or see that a new flower just bloomed in season. We’re busy. We are busy, busy people!

So much of our time is spent zoning out, chilling out, getting things done. And listen, it’s not just because of technology. It’s really always been this way.

One of my all-time favorite plays (and honestly one of the reasons for creating this site) is Our Town by Thorton Wilder. It’s set in a quiet rural town from 1901 to 1913 – long before technology ever had an effect on life. The play has this expressive scene where the main character Emily, after passing away, is granted one more day to revisit. She’s warned not to pick too special of a day, that would just be too painful to bear, but just pick an ordinary day.

After reliving a part of her 12th birthday, she really can’t take it anymore. She is heartbroken after reliving ordinary moments like waking and coming down for breakfast. She says in this all important monologue,
“Oh, Mama, just look at me one minute as though you really saw me!”

Suddenly, she turns and says, “I can’t go on. It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another. ”

Among her saying goodbye to earth, she bids farewell to ticking clocks, sunflowers, food and coffee, new ironed dresses, hot baths, sleeping and waking and finally sobs saying, “Oh earth, you’re just too wonderful for anyone to realize you!”

We spend our days not really looking at one another – seeing one another. Sure we have moments where we can focus and not multi-task, but, are we really paying attention? Do we pay attention to the clerk who bags our groceries, or the person who seats us at our table? Do we pay attention to those we love…to the things we love? Do we really focus on our conversations with one another or let small ordinary moments, and things, and people pass us by?

Love.
Pay attention.

Because hey, as Matthew Broderick says in Ferris Buehler’s Day Off (1986), “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

My Wish For You: Friendship Beyond Compare

Today I wish for you friendship beyond compare. I believe no one exists on an island. Well maybe Tom Hanks did in that movie Cast Away but even he befriended a volleyball and called him Wilson.

For you? Well, I hope you find at least one of your soulmates. No. I don’t believe soulmates have to be the one undying romance or love interest of your life. Soulmates come in many packages.

Author Ilana Simons wrote, “Soulmate means a friend who understands something about you and so live flexibly in this relationship, in which you can both risk a little, and insult a little, and dare a little, and stray a little, while something solid connects you at the center.”

So, I wish for you THAT kind of friend! A soul sistah or brothah! One you can laugh with, cry with…the one you don’t mind if they see you sick as a dog.

I wish for you a friend that happily competes with you in things like sports or hobbies, but would never even think to compete with you on a love interest or with other friends.

I wish for you a friend you can do nothing with. Nothing is hard to do with others if you don’t connect on a deep level.

I wish for you a friend where silence is always an option. One where private jokes make you want to pee in your pants, and where stupid words or quoted phrases from movies make total sense to you and no one else. I wish for you a friend that when you get together, at least one person in the room rolls their eyes at you two.

I wish for you a friend that can pick up a conversation with you right where you left off no matter if it’s been years since you’ve seen them last.

And if after reading all of these things, and that someone is in the back of your mind, I wish for you time to pick up the phone and call them, pick up a pen and write, or shoot them a quick email to say hello.

Friends like that don’t come along every day. Celebrate them. And in that, you’ll make today a special holiday.

My best wishes to you,

Kelley

Anniversary of a Birth

We all celebrate birthdays. Mine just happens to be today!

I have had an amazing birthday celebration. Love, laughter, new experiences - it all came wrapped up in a big gift called memories I’ll treasure forever. I’m very thankful and blessed that today of all days, I had an anniversary of my birth. One more year, one more chance to make a difference, improve, fail better, try harder.

Thank you for your gift of visiting me, sending me your well wishes, blessings, and hilarious remarks. I have belly laughed, I have teared up with sentimental thoughts as well. You are simply the best!

In the coming month, several parts of the site will be developed and updated. Please continue to send me your kind notes and suggestions - keep telling me what you think and how I can get better. I really do value your thoughts. That goes any day of the year!

I cherish each and every one of you.  Thanks again for making this one of my best birthday’s EVER!  You make every day a holiday for me.

All my love,

Kelley Taylor

Live: The Summer Day

Summer, I hardly knew ya. I can’t believe we’re already into August and I’ve barely baked summer in. Things can come and go so quickly. Before you know it, the things that seemed like they’d last forever are gone.

I recently picked up a book called “Teaching With Fire.” I’m not a teacher, I just liked the title. It was filled with all of these passionate poems and passages that just seemed to make sense to me.

I wanted to pass this one along to you and ask you, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

The Summer Day, By Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper, I mean –
The one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down –
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

(emphasis: mine)

My Wish For You: A Visit Home

Today I wish for you to return to the home in your heart.

Everyone has a home, be it the place they grew up, a new home just built or bought, or a love they have known.

Today I wish for you to remember that place. Return to it. Whether physically visiting your old stomping grounds or closing your eyes and remembering every corner or crevice of a tree, or the lines of his or her face….return to it.

I wish you many warm and wonderful memories of what you know to be home. Keep it sacred in your heart. Never forget. Remember the laughter, the tears, the pain, the good times, the silent moments. And always remember it will remain forever.

Today I wish for you to return to the home of your heart…and may you breathe in all that made you….you.

All my love,

Kelley Taylor

My Wish For You: Good Drive Time

If you have to drive, whether it’s for a long distance or a short ride, I wish for you good solid driving time where you can look around and notice where you’ve been, how far you’ve come, and where you are today.

I wish for you the knowledge and security of knowing where you are going, and the stamina to make it there.

I wish for you everything you need to make your ride comfortable – whether it’s cool air conditioning or warm heat at your feet, a fresh bottle of water, and goodies for a long drive or a quick pick me up.

I wish for you great background music to keep you company. I hope you can find a great radio station or better yet, that you packed your iPod or your favorite CD’s.

I wish for you a freshly charged battery in your cell phone in case of emergency or just when you need to reach out to a friend because you thought of them.

I wish for you safety. I want you to get safely where it is you need to go.

And should anything happen, I wish for you calmness and surety that you will meet any obstacle that comes your way. You’ll get through it. Just breathe.

I wish for you good drive time. May your heart and soul hum as the rubber meets the road. Take in all the sights and sounds. This is your one and wonderful life. Navigate it. Drive it. It’s all open road from here.

All my love,

Live: Drive Time

Have you ever just gone through the motions of your day without really paying attention to what’s around you? I have! I swear I’ve even driven to work and back when, turning the key off, I wonder, “How did I get here?”

I’ve somehow managed to get lost in what I have to do, what’s going on in my life, and what’s coming up….thoughts, that is. And while I love thinking and dreaming and hoping and solving, I miss out sometimes on what is going on right in front of me.

I can’t turn my back on life anymore! I want to embrace it all: the traffic, the colors of the cars whooshing by me, the flowers blooming on the side of the road, the café I’ve never noticed before. Paying attention and being curious about the world where I live is an awesome and exciting feeling. And, in a way, it calms me….soothes me. It makes me feel as if I’m growing into the ground and not just passing by. Plus, it gives me great conversation topics at dinner or during drive time with my son.

Don’t numb out. Save thinking for moments you can really pay attention to the thought. Be curious about your world. It’s a beautiful thing out there. Notice people and things passing you by. Tip your hat to life’s dull moments; laugh out loud at the person picking his nose at the stop light. Because YOU were paying attention, thank goodness that person wasn’t YOU.

“Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”

-Eleanor Roosevelt

Live: Beginning Today

Beginning Today

I will no longer worry about yesterday.
It is in the past and the past will never change.
Only I can change by choosing to do so.

Beginning Today

I will no longer worry about tomorrow.
Tomorrow will always be there,
waiting for me to make the most of it.
But I cannot make the most of tomorrow
without first making the most of today.

Beginning Today

I will look in the mirror and I will see a person
worthy of my respect and admiration.
This capable person looking back at me is someone
I enjoy spending time with and someone I would like
to get to know better.

Beginning Today

I will cherish each moment of my life.
I value the gift bestowed upon me in this world
and I will unselfishly share this gift with others.

Beginning Today

I will take a moment to step off the beaten path
and to revel in the mysteries I encounter.
I will face challenges with courage and determination.
I will overcome what barriers there may be which hinder
my quest for growth and self-improvement.
Beginning Today

I will take life one day at a time, one step at a time.
Discouragement will not be allowed to taint
my positive self-image, my desire to succeed
or my capacity to love.

Beginning Today

I walk with renewed faith in human kindness.
Regardless of what has gone before.
I believe there is hope for a brighter
and better future.

Beginning Today

I will open my mind and my heart.
I will welcome new experiences.
I will meet new people.
I will not expect perfection from myself nor anyone else:
perfection does not exist in an imperfect world.
But I will applaud the attempt to overcome human foibles.

Beginning Today

I am responsible for my own happiness
and I will do things that make me happy…
admire the beautiful wonders of nature,
listen to my favorite music, pet a kitten or a puppy,
soak in a bubble bath…
Pleasure can be found in the most simple of gestures.

Beginning Today

I will learn something new;
I will try something different;
I will savor all the various flavors life has to offer.
I will change what I can and the rest I will let go.
I will strive to become the best me I can possibly be.

Beginning Today

And Every Day

Yes! Today and Every Day.

— Author Unknown

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