Mary Kate Kopec - marykatekopec.com

MK’s Reflections: Reaffirmation and Positivity for Coping with Chronic Illness

Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs! Coping

MK’s Reflections: Reaffirmation and Positivity for Coping with Chronic Illness

Hello Beautiful Blossom! I’m feeling so badly today. It’s one of those days where I start feeling like I’m never going to feel better. Chronic illness and feeling badly almost every day is the pits. I know I’m not always going to feel so badly. I know whatever my symptoms are today, in time, they generally pass. Sometimes it takes a long, long, long time. I spent the bulk of 7 years in a bed with chronic fatigue and body weakness. That’s a long bit of time. Far longer than a 3 day migraine. Both symptoms suck. Pain. Weakness. Fatigue. Disability. … It can get demoralizing. Depressing. And none of the symptoms are ever fun. But so … I’ve been coping with chronic illness and the many symptoms of for a decade now.

Coping with Chronic Illness

And I can tell you the thing that makes chronic illness worse is emotionally and mentally going further down the rabbit hole when trying to cope with the illness. Facts: Your body does not distinguish between mental, emotional, and physical stresses/challenges like the medical community has made of point of separating them. Your body is one cohesively, cooperatively, interconnected, interdependent entity of acting systems that must navigate stressors and challenges no matter whether they are mental, emotional, or physical. So … the more you can do for each of your health aspects, the more you can help your whole body heal and cope.

Eat well (nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory yummies), hydrate, rest, & rejuventate, and get movement into your body for physical wellness!
Engage emotionally and mentally supporting activities for your emotional and mental wellness: smiling, laughing, hugging & loving & connecting with happy peeps, creative efforts & arts, sitting in nature, reassuring yourself with positivity and reaffirmations, and more will help your emotional and mental state.
In turn, the better you feel physically, the better you do mentally and emotionally. Likewise, the better you feel emotionally and mentally, the better you do physically.

Supporting Your Overall Mental, Emotional, & Physical Health and Wellness (and with Chronic Illness)

So today in loving support of your overall mental, emotional, and physical wellness, I give you Positivity and Reaffirmation to help you cope with the challenges in your life and/or chronic illness!

Here are a few of my lil Positivity and Reaffirmation mantras you might find helpful:

I am ok. I am going to be ok. I am getting better.
I am healthy getting healthier. Stronger getting stronger. I will heal.
I can control my breathing, and when I slow down my breathing and do paced breathing, I reduce my inflammation and stress, which helps me cope and heal.
Focus on what is working.
Focus on what I can do in the moment to help my body cope and heal with this current challenge.
Every little bit I do is better than not doing anything at all for myself and my wellness.
I am worth 10 minutes of my time … to do some yoga, to eat something nutrient-dense, to do some paced breathing, etc …
Stop. Close your eyes. Breathe. What is happening? What do you need to cope and heal? Give yourself these things.
I can do this … I AM doing this!
Be gentle with myself.
Surround myself with peeps who love and support me … and who will hug me extra lots until I feel better!
Love my challenged body and work with myself to navigate this challenge.

Loving You!

So even though I don’t feel well, I have a strong toolkit filled with helpers for coping, and I know I just need to gently dig in and take it one breath at a time. It will pass. I just need to give myself time and what I need to cope and heal. And even though I don’t feel well right now, it seems like the perfect time to write this to you … cuz I’m in the moment. I’m very present with how I feel. So I can share in authenticity to hopefully be able to help you find your “feeling better again” soon!

I’m sharing in hopes you will feel my pink heart today, even if only faintly … it’s still PINK … and I’m still loving you big! Tower Garden by Juice Plus+. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

Tower Garden by Juice Plus+. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

There’s a Dragonfly on Me!
On the Bog (with Kat, Bear, & Wogs)

Dragonfly! On the Bog (with Kat, Bear, & Wogs). Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

There’s a Dragonfly on Me!!!

Bear sat absolutely still, only daring to slant his eyes to the crook of his tail to see the beautiful dragonfly resting there.

This was a first for Bear! And he was SUPER excited, but SO very, very still. And quiiii-et, shhhh.

Wondering if he should hold his breath, Bear watched as the dragonfly gently raised and lowered its nearly invisible, translucent wings, as if the dragonfly was ready to dart at a moment’s notice, but for now was liking its perch.

There was a gentle, cool, Fall breeze with the sun shining bright and only a smattering of fluffy, puffy white clouds in the sky. Kat, Bear, and Wogs were taking in the delights of the day knowing soon it would be cold and much of nature would grow quiet under the upcoming blanket of winter.

Kat (whispering in giddy excitement): Ohmigosh Bear, look at you! You’ve got a dragonfly on you!

Wogs (gasping with a big smile and whispering): How cool are you, Bear?! What a fun thing to happen to you!

Bear (mrowing with uncontainable excitement, but only on the inside, he was exclaiming, “There’s a dragonfly on me! There’s a dragonfly on me!” … and thinking, This “being present in the moment in nature” thing is cool … hashtag, MakeThisALifeGoal!): <3

It really is the small things!

Hello Beautiful Blossom!

How are you today? Is there something you need? Something that will help you feel whole, well, and loved? Can you give yourself this thing?

I am thinking of you with love in my heart and hugs coming to you from my open and welcoming arms!

What little thing can you do for yourself today?

Can you take a moment to breathe intentionally?
Can you stop for a moment to soak up the nature around you?
Is there someone you can connect with to just say HI and let them know they are thought of, and for you to be thought of?
Maybe, you just need a good book, warm blanket, cozy couch, cuppa something warm and tasty and a moment to yourself.

Today, I wish you the small things. The little things that go a long way in bringing you joy, peace, calm. love, laughter, and wellness!

Today, my love for you travels to you from the happy wake of a dragonfly’s wings!

Muah!

MK’s Reflections: Love Is a Choice!

MK’s Reflections: Love Is a Choice!

Love is a Choice.

“Love is a Choice. Life is beautiful – don’t waste a moment of it.” Mrs. McInerney, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Vows We Have Made”

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeessssss. This!

These words are foundational to my existence. My living. My approach to my relationship with myself, others, my wellness, and the world.

Today, Sweet Blossom, I want to share this life changing goodness with you from the pinkest depths of my heart! I hope this share will brighten your life, enlighten you, and help you grow this goodness deeper into you and your days.

Love is a choice.

I once lived a life not loving myself.

Trauma, angry/hateful drama, stress: the trifecta of unwellness in growing up in a seriously dysfunctional home additionally challenged by a significantly mentally ill parent.

My young adult years were characterized by low self-esteem, low self-confidence, … essentially low everything. I was easy to manipulate, take advantage of, and abuse … all for seeking love that wasn’t there … that wasn’t able to be given … that was chosen not to give.

Imagine me young. A little pink-hearted, spritely, effervescent, openly loving little kid … all I wanted was friends. People to like and love me.

You would think that kind of inherent happy spirit would attract good people to me to love and like me. Instead, it was more like I was the light, and the darkness flocked to me to feel my brightness, but instead drained me of it.

By the time I was an adult, I was wary. Cautious. Damaged. Cynical. Sarcastic. I’d built a protective wall around me so high, no one would ever get over it. No one would ever hurt me again.

The thing is, when you build a wall that high, it blocks out the light. The chance at love. The chance at growing beyond your own boundaries. You’re trapped inside a protective, self-limiting vessel of your own making.

In reflection, the way I overcame this …

I’d grow to the limits of my wall, and with that new confidence, that new self-goodness, I would chip away at my own wall … allowing new light in … allowing for new growth.

Bit by bit, day by day, year by year, I grew. My confidence. My self-esteem. My understanding of who I am … what I need … what brightens my lights and what dims it. I learned what I liked about myself and what I needed to grow. I learned to love myself.

I learned that for all the years that people hurt me, it had a lot to do with my inability to protect myself by not having the internal strength, will, skill, and self-care toolkit to love myself, respect myself, and care for myself.

Lemme see if I can explain this … It wasn’t that all the people in my life were malicious, horrid people spending their days trying to figure out how to destroy me. No. I learned that these people suffered with their own insecurities. Their own self-doubts. Their own feelings of self-negativity.

And the secret trick … the essential life lesson revealed: You cannot give that which you do not have.

You cannot give that which you do not have.

Meaning, you can’t give love to others, when you don’t love yourself first. Not fully, not with self-empowered/self-knowing authenticity. It’s like wispy cloud love instead of sunny, warm, fluffy, cotton-ball, guess-the-shape kind of cloud love.

Likewise, if you surround yourself with people who don’t love themselves … guess what they can’t give you …

Yep. You’ll be getting wispy cloud love, if any.

But here’s the thing.

Love is a choice.

We can choose love.

Sure. It’s not always easy. It took me YEARS to find my way to myself.

It. Was. So. Worth. It.

And it’s not like my days leading up to where I am now were filled with darkness. No. In fact, the more I realized I was important to myself. The more I realized I was worthy of my time, love, kindness, patience … The more I realized I wanted happiness, goodness, and love in my life … the more I grew in.

So each and every day just got brighter and brighter!

Positive, functional relationships, anti-inflammation, health. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs.

Choose you. Choose love. You are worth it!

Choose you.

Choose love.

Choose to surround yourself with people who love themselves, so they can share their love with you and love you back. (Or at least choose people who are learning to love themselves … aka … on a similar path and growing love into their lives.).

Love is a choice.

And the truth is … You are precious! There is something so uniquely precious about you, that only you can bring this light into the world!

And I promise you, WE NEED YOU!

We need our beautiful, bright light shining in the world, making positive difference.

We need to combine all of our uniquenesses and all of our differing bright lights to create a tremendously thriving, complementary, beautiful rainbow of light, love, and life.

Love is a choice. Life is beautiful – don’t waste a moment.

Love is a choice.

Life is beautiful – don’t waste a moment.

Growing yourself toward the light to live brightly in it … never a moment wasted … with every day getting brighter and brighter, filled with more and more love. For yourself. And to share.

Be Love. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs.

Loving You!

Thank you Sweet Beautiful Blossom for sharing your time with me! For growing love into your life! For being the bright light only you can be! For making our world a more delightful, loving, happy place to be!

Hugging you so big, and SO PINK!

Recipe Revamp: Sweet Potato Oatmeal Bread

Sweet Potato Oatmeal Bread

Hey Beautiful Blossom! Looking for a hearty, filling, delicious gluten-free, no-added-sugar, nutrient-dense yummy for your tummy this fall?

This is here is my sweet potato oatmeal bread, and I’m addicted!

The Recipe Revamp comes from the base oatmeal bread I revamped from Hungry Hobby. I’ve used it for so many variations … it’s crazy delicious! If you missed my mouthwatering Fruit Bread version for French Toast, check it out here!

(I have so much gratitude to give to Hungry Hobby for their savory oat sandwich bread recipe! It saved my newly minted and ongoing gluten-free life. I needed “bread” options, and this recipe is a life saver!!!)

Once again, I’ve tweaked and twinkled to get a delightful, nutritious, good-for-me yummy! I make it year round, but with the cinnamon and nutmeg and sweet potato … it makes me think of Fall, Thanksgiving/Gratitude-Giving and happiness!

It seriously takes all of a few minutes to mix, 5 minutes to sit in the baking dish to set, and 45 minutes to bake. Then devour!

Ingredients and How-To:

2 3/4 cup course oatmeal flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 can sweet potato puree
1/8 cup milk
2 eggs

Mix all the dry ingredients in your big mixing bowl really well. Add in all the wet ingredients. Mix thouroughly, and dump/spread into greased/sprayed loaf pan. Let sit for 5 minutes to set up. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes. Cool, slice, devour!

For those of you not ready to cut out sugar, you could add up to 2 tbsp of sugar. But … maybe try without first.

This sweet potato oatmeal bread pairs really well with a hot ginger cinnamon tea/milk!!! OMG! Also pairs really well with turkey breast … drooooooooooooooool! It will definitely be part of my Gratitude-Giving Day dinner celebration!!!

Customized Doodle Art

Project: Loving Baby Jacob All Day Long, Everyday!

Sweet Bright Stars!

How you are you today?

Needing a little cuteness to brighten your smile and your day? Well, look no further. This delightful customized doodle art series is sure to bring some squee to you!

For a while now, I’ve been getting requests for customized doodles. Requests ranging from “Could you create some doodles for my website?” to “Could you doodle the art for my children’s books?” And now, “Could you doodle some print art for my grandson’s baby room?”

Honestly, until now, I’ve shied away from most requests. Mostly because of time … with my days ever being challenged by health struggles, I’ve been nervous about taking on overly big projects. I have so much to create for you here, and I don’t get a lot of create time to love you big – I didn’t want the bulk of my create time focused not on you.

But then, a happy blossom like you, reached out to me with a story about her first grandbaby on the way! She wanted to decorate his bedroom at her house with happy art work, and she loves my doodles! She especially loves my lion and giraffe! She smiled and beamed with so much joy and love for my doodles, and the project was on the smaller side … sooooooo, I said, “Yes!”, and here we are!

Our Project Process

To help ensure I created the perfect doodle art prints for her, we Zoom consulted throughout the project. We talked about:

Theme
Main elements
Colors
Sentiment wording
Desired effects
Little special touches

I worked closely with my bright blossom to ensure the doodle art was everything she hoped!

Once the 3 print series was complete, I shared the files with her along with “How-To’s” and “Things to Consider” for printing:

types of paper and other surface options to print on
printing at home vs office center printing vs professional printing
color matching for her space (giving her the opportunity to color match to her room/space, and for me to make adjustments before committing to the final prints)
framing and matting options (She chose standard frame size prints for ease and convenience.)

And now, sweet baby Jacob has his own happy doodles in his room with love and big hugs surrounding him!

How squee is that?!!!

Interested in Custom Doodle Art for You?

Having ventured into the world of customized doodle arts has been fun and filled with love. I’m open to more requests! If you’re loving my doodles and would love to have a custom digital print created for you, contact me, and we can discuss the details!

This customized doodle art project for baby Jacob has been a delight and happy time of creation and sharing for me! I feel gratitude for the request and being able to brighten little Jacob’s days (and those of his grandmama)!

The Power of a smile. Van Gogh Starry Night. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

MK’s Reflections: Patience

Beautiful Blossom,

Maybe you can relate.

My honeybun tells me, “You have to have patience.”

But, … but. I want it now!

Sometimes we’re talking little stuff, like landscaping and wanting to get my flowers in to see the beauty … but it’s too late in the season. Or I want to go find some pretty rocks to decorate with, but that would mean being around people.

Sometimes we’re talking big stuff, like I keep trying so hard to wellness myself into feeling well again … but it’s taking fooooooooooooorrrrrreeeeeevvvvvvvver! Being a girl is way harder than it looks! Hormones – gah!

Something I’m learning in pandemic times is patience.

With my health compromised and the risk of being around people who may not be vaccinated or willing to wear a mask has made my life one of contact-free, stay-at-home … and all the limitations that come with it.

Prepandemic, going to grocery store was easy. Going anywhere was easy.

Now, I go almost nowhere. To the doctors for medically necessary appointments, and that’s about it. And even then, I’m putting things off that don’t outweigh the possibility of getting sick.

Prepandemic, the world was nicer. It’s not so nice these days. Which, when you are building a house, needing landscaping, needing skilled laborers to help and assist … comes with intimidation, frustration, and a desire to DIY as much as possible.

Prepandemic, we didn’t have supply chain challenges and supply shortages. Now we stock up and wait when there’s no stock.

Patience.

I’ve learned patience.

Where once I would simply run out and get that “thing,” now, if I can’t order it, I don’t get it. And even if I can order it, I wait for it to arrive.

The gift of this is I’ve learned the value of need vs want. I’ve learned the difference between immediacy, and that which can wait. I’ve gained independence and self-sufficiency through home growing food to reduce my reliance on grocery store supplies, among many other new ways of living, like simply learning to consume less – need vs want.

It’s the great silver lining to facing challenges. With open eyes, thought, and reflection, we can learn a lot and adapt. We grow. We get better.

I’d gotten used to the convenience and ease of “just running out to get ‘it.'” Our culture focuses on making our lives easier, more convenient. But those are only two values in a very complex equation of living life.

Patience.
Kindness.
Understanding the difference between need vs want.
Accepting we cannot control the world around us, but we can adapt and grow and find what works best for us.

May we all find the patience we need to get through this pandemic well, healthy, and safe. May we remember kindness helps foster community and positive connectivity, and engage kindness as our MO. May we come to see that need is more important than want and change our focus to what we need. May we accept the challenge before us and use this time to grow and adapt. May the love in our hearts shine through brightly!

I wish you a wonderful day filled with love, big hugs, laughter, and goodness in your belly and your heart!

Mary Kate’s Awesome Salad Shooter
Tower Garden by Juice Plus+

Mary Kate’s Awesome Salad Shooter (Tower Garden by Juice Plus+)

Dear Beautiful Blossom!

“What is this glorious salad shooting thing I speak of?” you ask.

OH MY YUMMY GREEN-EATING GOODNESS! So glad you asked.

Let me introduce you to my affectionately dubbed “Salad Shooter”! (I name everything: my trees, my computer, my phone, … it just makes life more fun being surrounded by friendlies!)

My Salad Shooter is delicious green growing goodness!

It’s year round yummy nummies for my hungry tummy!

It’s ease. Convenience. Independence. Self-sufficiency.

My Salad Shooter is the answer to many questions. The solution to problems. My Salad Shooter is easy, happiness, yummy convenience in my kitchen. My Salad Shooter is LOVE!

Why do I have a Salad Shooter (aka Tower Garden by Juice Plus+)?

So just over a year ago, this thing happened. It’s still happening. You may recall and be aware … the pandemic. (BTW: pandemics kinda super suck, … right?!!!!)

Well, so … last year 2 inciting things happened that made me stop and re-evaluate our food supply.

The first was the food shortages and dangers we saw everywhere. Grocery store shelves were empty. Access to food was immediately a health-jeopardizing outing … going to the grocery store could get you sick … and you could die … wuuuuuuuuuut???? (Remember how we were all once washing off all the packaging groceries come in? Well, I was all like, how do you safely wash produce that you don’t cook, like salad and greens?)

The relative safety of normal, everyday outings was gone. And that impacted so many aspects of our lives.

I wanted to be able to eat green without being worried about getting sick from a “community source” of food.

The second thing is that the pandemic made me look at how I live life and my interdependence on others. My reliance on outside factors. My consumption of goods. My impact on the world around me. … And it made me think I needed to use this pandemic time to create a better way of living for me and for my honeybun.

So, when my awesome chiropractor from New Hampshire, Dr. Bryan Natusch (a rep for Tower Garden by Juice Plus+) put a video up on his FB wall of this “new”*** fangled salad growing device he was growing green goodness on, I was all like … What is this glorious salad creator? And we talked and talked. He shared more videos. And I was IN!!!

I hollered out: Send me my Salad Shooter ASAP! And I’ve been growing goodness in my kitchen ever since!!!

*** Tower Garden by Juice Plus+ have actually been around for a while. So when I say “new,” I mean new to me knowing about them.

How Does a Tower Garden (my Salad Shooter) Work?

When I show snaps of my Salad Shooter to peeps, they goggle-eye with a dropped jaw and utter, “That’s. So. COOL.”

I know, right?!!!

And then they ask … how does it work?

The short of it is: water + nutrient solution + air + Tower Garden + seeds + light = Yummy Nummies for your Tummy Tummy.

It’s an incredibly water and energy conserving way to grow your own produce! And the peeps at Juice Plus + made a cool, short but helpful info video which shows you Green Growing AMAZINGNESS!

After the video, I’m gonna share my growing goodness from my most recent starting point with snaps and chat, so you can get an idea of what Green Loving Yummy Goodness I’m talking about. (Inside note: You can replant and start afresh every number of months depending on which plants you’ve grown and their needs.)

The video you are about to see shows you the Flex Tower Garden, and I’ll be showing snaps and chat with my Home Tower Garden. They both work the same. They are different sizes of Tower Gardens: Home (for salads, greens, and herbs) and Flex (for salads, greens, herbs, and many other biggerish plants like tomatoes, watermelon, broccoli, zucchini, celery, and more).

I love my Home (Salad Shooter) so much I recently expanded with a Flex (not named yet). We are finishing our basement with a year round growing area for our Towers and other plants … so I’ll have even more to share as I grow my growing capabilities and experience!!!!!

For now, let’s show you a quick video so you can see how Tower Gardens grow plants. No dirt. Aeroponics = water + nutrient solution + air = yummy nummies for your tummy tummy!

Mary Kate’s Current Growing Cycle Snaps and Chat

Getting Started!

Snaps tell a thousand words … or for us … make us hungry! LOL.

My first snap at first glance looks maybe a little lack luster … cuz it’s just baby plants … seedlings. Buuuuuuuut … a cool thing is that most of my seedlings were ready to transplant onto my Salad Shooter within 2 days. The few remainder seedlings were able to be transplanted 2 days later.

I transplant to my Salad Shooter when the seedlings are about 1 – 2 inches tall. And I use a cool trick I learned while in grad school for growing seedlings up fast. (I did cell biology research in a lab that used pumpkin seedlings as model plants.)

What is this trick? Well, after you put the seeds and water in the seedling tray, you close up the tray and cover it with a towel for a couple of days. The seedlings, desperate to find light quickly will “shoot up” fast.

The faster you get your seedlings onto your Tower, the faster you get to eat yummy nummies!!!

Mary Kate’s Current Growing Cycle Snaps and Chat

The WOW Factor!

Having my Salad Shooter is delight on so many levels!

One: Look how fast salad, greens, and herbs grow!

Two: Getting to eat mouth-watering, super healthy, free-from-pesticides-yucky-chemicals, super green diverse (kale, chard, arugula, leafy greens, herbs … you can grow a tasty, beautiful variety) salads within 3 weeks is AWESOMENESS!!!!

Three: It’s in my kitchen. We harvest practically every day!!! It’s RIGHT THERE! Clean, ready to eat right off of the Tower, and deeeeelicious! (No grocery story. No other human hands, or coughing mouths, sneezing noses, or germy hands touching your delicious food!) Self-sufficiency and independence!!!! I love it!!!!

So … check out real time growing!

A little kale plant baby … growing up so nice and bright and green … for me to devour!
Tower Garden by Juice Plus+. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

Mary Kate’s Current Growing Cycle Snaps and Chat

Let’s Eat!

After about 2 1/2 weeks we were able to harvest our first salads. We each got a medium-ish bowl of salad (bigger than restaurant sized side salads). By a couple of days later, we were eating BIG bowls of salad … like cake mixing size bowl for me and serving dish size for honeybun … every day!!!

To put our salad eating sizes in context to “normal” human salad eating, our daily harvest is enough for a family of four, easily. There’s lots to gobble, and it’s so good for you!!!

Here’s one of my early salads. I go pretty simple … lots of greens, some dried strawberries, walnuts (gotta have those helpful essential fatty acids to help absorb all of the chlorophyll and pigments and phytonutrients in those green leafies!!!)

Isn’t the color gobble-worthy? All that green yumminess!

One of my favorite things to eat is Zasta (pasta with zucchini noodles), or in a pinch, gluten-free pasta with marina sauce, Italian seasoning, mozzarella cheese, HANDFULS of fresh basil (grown on my Salad Shooter), and a sprinkle of parm.

I love how I can green up every meal. Smoothies. Salads. Green on top of pasta … Green, green, green, green, green!

It’s healthy goodness made as easy as walking over to my Salad Shooter and harvesting right onto my plate or into my bowl!

If that doesn’t make you hungry … how can that be??? LOL

So yeah. You may have guessed by now. But I love my Salad Shooter so much I bought the next bigger up Tower to gain variety in my growing power. And I even became a rep for the Tower Gardens!

Growing is so easy, so healthy, so good for you, and it helps create food independence! I love that, and I want to help you have it, too!

Future Growing Plans!

I will keep on growing salad greens and herbs on my HOME (Salad Shooter)!

Once our basement growing room is completed, I plan on planting watermelon, cantaloupe, broccoli, zucchini, and cucumbers to get started on my new FLEX (name TBD)!!!

It will be my first ever time trying to grow a diversified indoor garden year round. Can’t wait for our basement growing room to be complete! I’ll blog about it when we get there! I have plans to grow on my Tower Gardens, plus additionally, I plan on having a root veggie bag garden, and some dwarf blueberry shrubs and lemon trees. I’ll have to phase it all in, and adapt and grow with my own learning and experience … but I am excited! I am excited about being able to grow my own clean, healthy food!

I am excited to be able to grow more energy efficiently, conserving water, and having easy independence!

I am excited to eat these delicious yummy nummies … and right in the convenience, ease, and safe-cleanliness of my own home!

Thank you for being here with me as I grow my food independence and share my yummy nummy snaps with you! I hope you wanted to gobble your screen!

Big Loving and Big Hugging YOU … PINK & GREEEN!!!

A Hint of Fall Color!
On the Bog (with Kat, Bear, & Wogs)

Fall Color. On the Bog. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

A Hint of Fall Color!

A hot summer sun blazed high in the sky, brightening the day and keeping spirits high. On the Bog, Kat, Bear, and Wogs were out for an exploration trek and enjoying the incoming fall breeze keeping them cool as they hiked on. Bear was excited for the wagon ride through the “wild”!

Our adventuring trio found Belle resting on an inviting hammock. She chirped her happiness when they stopped to say, “HI.” and admire the hint of fall color showing on the two, tall red maples hosting the hammock.

Flop, Fluff, and Squeech all played nearby and were enjoying the gentle turn of weather.

Kat (looking up at the clouds, then back to the hammock and thinking it might be nice to rest a while and watch the clouds float by): I think we should try out that hammock when Squeech is done!

Wogs (nodded, smiling at the thought): Definitely! We can explore for a bit more to give Bear a big ride, then come back.

Bear (loving this plan and looking forward to some wagon nap time after adventuring flicker-swished his tail in happiness): Mrow!

Hello Beautiful Sweet Souls!

Our world is becoming ever more challenging. I’m guessing you feel it, too. The anger, angst, frustration, and even fear. It’s been building, bubbling, and boiling.

When times get hard like this, it can get harder to cope and navigate. I know I’m finding it harder. Our usual self-care can fall short. We can feel ourselves melting under the weight of stress of negativity.

Dearest, loveliest, bright blossom, dig your roots deep. Don’t give up, and know you are loved and not alone, and you are needed! Shine your petals wide and bright into the sunlight and take in the warmth and positive energy! Let the goodness wash over you and help preserve you!

This is a time for a deeper dive into what works for us! Connect and share with your like-minded love muffins. Breathe deeply, slowly, measured and paced. Get movement into your body. Nourish and hydrate. Hug yourself. Unplug and disconnect. Rest and rejuvenate. Head outside and be present to just watch the clouds float by.

And when you need a release beyond your efforts to quiet and calm the howling winds outside … go for a run, knead some bread (maybe punch it a little, or maybe even a lot! … lol), faceplant into a pillow deep in the recesses of your closet and scream … but find a positive release that will help you get the stress out, let go, and heal.

I know it’s harder for many of us. Me, too. But harder isn’t impossible. It’s just harder, and we’re worth our effort!

Focus on what works for you! Focus on what empowers you! Focus on what makes you feel happiness in your heart and heals your soul, mind, and body!

One day, one step, one breath at a time … together with love and goodness as our guiding value … let’s watch the clouds float by and feel peace and calm and love in our hearts!

Thank you for sharing this time and being here with me in love and big hugs! Squeezing you tight!

The Power of a Smile!

The power of a smile!

Okay Beautiful Blossoms … let’s not complicate this one. A smile is POWERFUL! It is an instant pick-me-up! Even if you fake it, a smile will do good things to your body!!!

It’s chemical, people! We have Happy Hormones!

You smile; your facial muscles move; your brain gets triggered; feel good chemicals get released; and voila … instant mood lifter!!!!

So what are you waiting for?

Are you smiling right now? Why not? … You could be … !!!

You’ll note the upturned corners of my mouth … my teeth beaming … my cheeks rounded and up … it’s as though my lips are stretching to meet my ears.

You smile, you feel better! Easy peasy!

What’s not to love?

A heartfelt moment to be seriously serious.

I’m actually totally serious above, even if a bit silly. But as a blossom challenged by perimenopausal hormone shifts, fluctuating hormone turbulence, and a state of ever depleting estrogen and progesterone levels, I get these horrible, terrible, life-crashing, grief-striking bouts of sobbing tears accompanied by incomprehensible bereft feelings that clench my stomach and make eyes leak like rivers.

These moments totally suck!!!

So … for my beautiful blossom who suffer depression, anxiety (I have that, too, and I know how bad anxiety bites the biggy, too.), etc, … if you’ve got a regular case of the “sads” or “scaredy cats,” I just want you to know … I’ve tried with every PINK molecule and energy light in my body to smile in these sobbing moments, and I’m usually NOT successful.

In these acute moments, sometimes we have to give ourselves the necessary time to process the moment.

THEN, as soon as we can, we can smile to help continue our upward journey take us upward faster and happier!

And might I also just add … if you are a blossom with clinical depression and/or anxiety, please keep seeing your therapist, doing your therapy in all its many forms, and please keep healing! Smile when you can, cuz it really does help! And know we are here for you in the biggest loving, hugging way possible!!! Holding you on your journey and helping you get to the other side of your challenge!

Know that you are always welcome here! Know that I am hugging you so big! And with so much love!

I really hope my smiles, hugs, and loves, in all their forms can bring joy into your day and life, and help to brighten your spirits!

Quick Highlights Benefits of Smiling

Studies have shown the simple act of smiling is the fastest way to perk you up and brighten your day. Even if you “make yourself” smile … it still releases your brainz happy juices!
Stress reducer
Immune system booster (makes you healthier)
Pain reducer
Lowers your BP
In short … a true kindness to you!!!!
And … it’s a kindness that can be shared for free!!!!

What can you do right now to help you smile?

As you likely know, I’ve got lots of Smile Tools in my tool kit!

I doodle!
I host Create and Share Parties (more on this to come!)!
I chat with friends and loved ones!
I give gratitude for the goodness in my life!
I spend mindful moments just breathing and taking in the nature around me!
I yoga, yoga, yoga, yoga, yoga, and more yoga!
I slurp (yep, I actually slurp as necessary!) on fruit smoothies!
I watch the creatures being all creature-y in Bog-landia behind my Starry Cottage lil home!
I hug my honeybun!
I watch funny/happy/uplifting movies/videos!
I tell jokes!
I write funny stuff!
I read funny stuff!
Uh, I’ll just up and start smiling … just to be smiling!
I silly dance around in my Starry Cottage!
… just to name a few …

I encourage you to make tool kit of smile-inducers! And you can start right now by listing off 3 things you can do to smile! (Like go back up and see me smiling at you! Or check out my awesomely fun “doodle Gogh!”)

Be the smile in your day! Be the smile in someone else’s day, too!

Well, Beautiful Blossoms! I have loved spending this happy, loving time with you and creating these very special “doodle Gogh” arts for you! I hope I have brought fun, silliness, smiles, and love and big hugs into your day today!

You are so very precious!

Thank you for sharing this time with me!

Super Muah!

Overcoming Negativity Pep Talk

Ever notice how loudly negativity talks?

Whether it’s the voice in your head sprinkling, or worse, showering you with toxic thoughts, the voice is loud. It resonates. You hear it. It confirms your fears and fuels your anxieties.

In the world around us, mean people, bullies, hate speech, intolerance … it’s all so loud! Amplified beyond any reasonable value.

We hear about the hateful things someone did, or said. We hear about the angst and discontent. We hear negativity ringing through with volume that can be deafening.

Yet, when we say positive things, give compliments, gush about the goodness, and do good things, it’s acoustic without the amp. It’s like a whisper, barely floating on the sound waves.

Why is that?

Why do we gravitate toward the negativity so easily?

Why do we focus on horrible people with only garbage to spew?

Why do we listen so intently to the toxic thoughts … and with such convinced belief?

Why not honor ourselves and our accomplishments with glorious, resounding, megaphone penetration????

Have you ever said, “I’m my own worst critic?”

If so, perhaps this is the time to stop saying it.

You are so much more than the negativity in your life – in our world. Be the first to stand up for you … overcoming the negativity starts with you!

Be Loud! Be Love!

If we don’t show ourselves self-love and self-respect, why on earth would anyone else do it? We should be the example for how we want to be treated.

We should show others our gentleness, our kindness towards ourselves … we should show them how we treat ourselves and how we treat others. And then this becomes the standard by which we invite others into our lives.

If they can’t treat you as well as you treat yourself, then why would you keep them?

The world seems to have taken a bit of messy spill out there in aisle 4 of the universe.

We hear the anger. We hear the self-serving entitlement. We hear the intolerance. We hear the unsettled, uprising volatility of a world needing/wanting/restlessly jostling to vent.

Anger. Negativity. Argument. Loud and noisy. And unsettling.

Our world is feeling uncertain.

And the truth of it is, most of that is beyond our control. And time spent on things beyond our control is arguably wasted and unhealthy time.

Overcoming negativity can be done! It starts in your heart. In your mind. In your thoughts. In your words. In your actions. In how you treat yourself and others. In how you perceive the world. In how you grow your life.

I invite you to pick up the megaphone to your positivity and be heard!

Don’t let negativity be the voice that guides you. You are bright, beautiful, and loved!

You have goodness to share!

You have goodness to live and be!

You are made of stardust and starlight brightened by your amazing uniqueness! Grow what you feel needs to be grown. And shine with all you’ve got!

The only way to make positivity be heard and be loud is for us to value it, live it, and shine it so bright we drown out the negativity darkness.

Together, you and me … we got this!

I love you so much!!! Thank you for sharing this Positivity Pep Talking time with me!

I hope you feel inspired! Lit up and ready to be loud!

Let’s be LOUD! Let’s be LOVE! Let’s be POSITIVE!