Week 10 – Living Our Best Life – Southern Charm Designs

Living our best life…

What does that even mean, to live your best life? I decided to Google that today just to see what exactly “living your best life” was defined as. Here are the first ten items in a list of “101 ways to live your best life” and I’ve added my thoughts to them…

Live every day with a fresh new start – stop fretting over things that happened in the past that you can’t change today.
Be true to who you are – figure out what you like, enjoy those things, and stop letting other people change your mind.
Quit Complaining – this one is hard, but just try it!
Be proactive – making a plan and having a plan can make all the difference.
Create your own opportunities – find people and places that inspire you and those things will open doors and provide opportunities.
Experience your life – take in the moments! I’ve been trying to do a better job of this and stay off my phone during times that I should be experiencing something. Yes, we are all obsessed with photographing everything we experience, but sometimes you’re missing the moment in order to impress other people with a picture. Capture the memory, and then soak in the moment. I mean lets be real we all have that one friend that wants her experience to look like a picture perfect moment and needs you to take 185 pictures to make it look that way… don’t be that girl! Take the picture or two and then experience your life!
Be committed to your growth – This is huge!! Do not spend your life doing the same job, same house, same friends, same ole same ole unless of course that truly makes you happy! Do things to grow. Take another class, enjoy a new hobby, make some new friends, join a new group somewhere, go somewhere you’ve never been and learn something new while you’re there.
Discover your life purpose – this does not mean it has to be your job. Your job will hopefully be part of your purpose, but my thought is it shouldn’t be all of it. Some of the happiest and most inspiring people I’ve ever met have a true understanding of their purpose or place in life.
Cut off negativity – We all know those people that suck the life out of us with their negativity or their inability to see compromise or fault in themselves. Some of those people we have to stay in contact with, and some of them we don’t. Don’t be afraid to cut out negativity and for those that create it (but you can’t avoid) stand up for what you feel is right, but don’t let the drama/negativity consume you.
Create your Bucket List – This is my favorite because I have a real bucket list. I keep it on my phone, and I put a green check emoji beside it every time I do one of the things on the bucket list. If I ever complete the list I promise I’ll add more to it. Every year it’s my goal to do a few of the things on the list. It makes me happy, keeps me motivated, and gives me goals for working hard to make sure I get those things done. Experiences are my favorite!

I decided this post should be about “living your best life:” because I posted a picture of my son with our brand new baby goats and captioned it “living our best life”.

Sure there are moments in my life that I feel stressed and overwhelmed, or feel like people are creating unnecessary drama, but it’s seriously my mission to live my best life. A life I love, with people I love, going places I love, and loving others as best I’m able!

This week for us is the week before Spring Break. We have a busy week, but next week we will take a cruise just the four of us. Our kids will go places they’ve never been, and experience things they’ve never done, and as we leave this little “farmhouse dream” of ours we leave behind a home we’re pouring our love into, a property where our children will make a lifetime of memories, two dogs that drive us crazy but we love with our whole hearts, a little farm with precious baby goats, friends, baseball, school, and our families, for just some time away. As I take a break from the everyday and sit soaking up the sun, or watching my kids play, or laughing at dinner with my husband who I adore, I truly feel like this is my best life!

I have filled my life with things I truly love! I have worked hard to stay focused on my goals of living a life I love. I’ve been through hard things! My life hasn’t always been happy. My son and I have been broken. My family has experienced tough trials, but it has always been my goal to see the cup half full and to inspire others to do the same. Live your best life friends!! Whatever it takes, and whatever that is!

Below I have chosen to share some pictures of “our best life”. Some are personal and some are business but all of them truly fill me up.

This sunset is definitely part of my best life! This is the view from the front porch of our farmhouse remodel. One day I’ll wake up and go to sleep looking out at this everyday.

This house, these new cedar posts, and this front porch are part of my best life because I’m living a dream of remodeling this farmhouse on 100 acres. I am in love with the way these posts turned out and can’t wait to see the house painted and the beams and front door stained.

This house is such a dream come true! I have always wanted to live on my grandparents farm, but instead now we have our very own. Just wait until it’s painted and landscaped.

Best life right here!!! This picture captures my children running free on this property without a care in the world besides looking for hog prints or deer racks. I can’t even tell you how much I love thinking about all the memories they will make on this property. From four wheeler rides, to summer days playing in the creek, to fishing in the pond, to deer hunting in the fall, or just waking up and going to bed to that same pond and barn view I posted up top … they will have a life full of all of our favorite things.

So this is part of my best life also! This is just one example of the fun I get to have with this business of ours. So this house was old and had a funky layout. We added an HVAC system, new paint, floors, cabinets, appliances, and gave it a new more open floor plan and as of today it is officially under contract!! This is part of my best life because I absolutely LOVE taking these old houses and turning them completely around.

here’s the kitchen to the house pictured above. Great kitchen remodels are my favorite before and after photos. I love getting to freshen up a space.

and this picture was the kitchen before the remodel. How’d we do?

This right here is the heartbeat to my world (minus my girl who wasn’t here for this game). Watching my husband coach and my son hit home runs while he pitches was by far the highlight of my week. This is my best life! These are the days as a mom that I dreamed of.

These precious babies were born on Sunday 3/24/2019. Twins baby goats. Never did I think I’d love the farm life like I do. The miracle of life is so amazing and having these sweet babies join our farm made our weekend. Special thanks to my husband who does the care giving for our little farm of 20 goats, a donkey, and two dogs!! Having animals is no joke. You have to feed them, give them water, clean up after them, and it can be messy, but he loves it and we get to enjoy loving the joy they bring… Best life for sure!

This sweet baby girl was born yesterday. It took us a minute to decide on her name but one of our friends suggested Pepper and we love that! So Pepper it is. It is so much fun to see my children so excited about these sweet little babies. My kids are learning so much about life and love raising this little farm of ours.

Now don’t get me wrong, this post wasn’t about how great I think my life is, it was just about loving the life you have. Filling your life with things you love. Working hard to love what you do with your time. Are all days like that? Of course not!! We go to work some days when we don’t feel like it, and we complain about getting out of bed just like the rest, but we are always focused on making the life we’ve been given the very best. I hope you’re doing the same!