Showing Gratitude: TWLOHA

I hope everyone in the states had a great Thanksgiving yesterday! We had a busy and awesome one...you'll probably be hearing more about that on Monday. Or perhaps you've already seen the news on Instagram. oops! :)

I am already overwhelmed by the response of our friends and family. As you probably know, I try to practice gratitude on a daily basis, not just on Thanksgiving. I know many of us are like that, but sometimes we get so caught up in the day-to-day and our gratitude can slip.

Not only that, but other things can slip. Getting caught up in the day-to-day and the things that bring us down can lead to anxiety, depression and more. I know I talk about my anxiety disorder often, but I am truly grateful for all of those people and organizations that have helped me to cope with my anxiety.

I have also mentioned To Write Love on Her Arms on my blog many times before, but today I wanted to express my pure gratitude for this organization. I've never suffered from depression, suicidal thoughts or drugs; but many close to me have.

 I remember the first time I found out a friend of mine was self-harming. All I wanted to do was help her, but I had no idea how to do more than offer my love and support. Then I was introduced to TWLOHA. TWLOHA began in 2006 with a story. You can read that story here. The slogan To Write Love on Her Arms went viral through the rock music community.

I think the first time I saw it was on the lead singer of Switchfoot in a concert photo. Then, when I went to Warped Tour, I learned more about it. TWLOHA always has a tent at Warped Tour, and I've been lucky enough to do an interview for Hollywood Music Magazine in the past.

One of my favorite parts about TWLOHA is that it isn't a non-profit that only goes in one direction or for one cause. TWLOHA mainly focuses on bridging the gap between treatment facilities and individuals who need it. To me, the fact that TWLOHA is prominent in a community that sorely needs it (and for the most part has been seen as outcasts) means the most to me.

Every year, they do TWLOHA days, where people have written "Love" to show those suffering from addiction, depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts that we are there for them.

Yay old cell phone photo!

In the past, I have also done a fundraiser at Lazy Dog and dreamed of being a TWLOHA intern. (which only fell through because I would miss my graduating semester's finals and be unable to graduate).

This picture is from my TWLOHA fundraiser. Ironically, it is my only picture, and it was overtaken by cats thanks to my friend's love of cat bombing photos. Also, yes, I realize that I am kissing my table. I am weird. 

I am beyond excited for the movie that is coming out in 2015. It further tells the story of Renee, which is something that has always spoken to me. As I've mentioned, I have not used the services of TWLOHA, but I believe that doing what I can for TWLOHA is a big part of the WQ movement for me. It doesn't necessarily mean it is for everyone, but it is important to me.

"I cannot be replaced because no one has my thoughts ,my love, or my ways to change the world." - Raewyn

If you'd like to join TWLOHA and do what you can - check out their street team!



Check out one of our featured Warrior Queens:

5 Little Grins Link Up [Week 26]

The giveaway winner is Tandi V! Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway! We will be having another one in May!! 

<a href="http://www.beawarriorqueen.com" target="_blank"><img alt=" 5 Little Grins " height="246" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/4fb1b81a9b1ad6d17c9317ea03174589/tumblr_mucw6eXUKG1s3gqbyo1_400.png" width="350" /></a> 

We'll go ahead and say it: Most people think Mondays suck / are the worst / should die a fire-y death. I'm sure you get the picture.

We've all had our fair share of bad Mondays and bad Tuesdays and just plain ol' bad days. Instead of focusing on the bad, what if we focused on the good things?

What if we focused on the little things that made us smile today, yesterday, last week? Could our whole attitude change? In time, would we find that we're having more good days than bad?

Cassandra, Paulina and I would love for you to join us on our weekly link up counting at least 5 things that made you smile in the last week. We could start our Mondays on this positive note!

Of course, this is all about encouragement, so hop on over to some other blogs and leave a positive note and make a new friend!
The Rules! (These are really just kind suggestions)

1. Follow your hosts: Cassandra, Raewyn, and Paulina!

2. Link up your post that includes 5-ish things that made you smile in the past week

3. Comment after you link up

4. Go visit some other blogs and make some friends!

5. Have fun, and don't forget to smile!!
Oh my gatos, this week!! 
It was a little bit of a rollercoaster with a few panic attacks, but what can be expected when we're two weeks away from our wedding...
1. My heart is filled with so much love and gratitude!!! We have received so many amazing and wonderful gifts so far, words cannot express how grateful we are. In fact, one gift made me cry at lunch yesterday and the other gift made me cry when I was getting ready this morning! [thanks momma!!] 

I'm not the most beautiful of criers; Iman snapped this at lunch yesterday 

2. Iman and I had a crazy adventure yesterday getting stuff for our honeymoon - luggage and the like. We speckled it with some brewery visits to make it way more fun.

Tustin Brewing Co.

Got these sunnies from Brickyard Buffalo

Trying to tan my legs for the wedding :) 

3. My cousin Gregory's birthday was on Saturday and it's always a rough day for me. He would have been 17 this year. Instead of feeling sad, I was determined to be happy and had a lot of fun doing wedding crafts.

Ribbon Wands! 

My motivation behind every day!! 

4. Jess from Jess Loves This Life and I are planning something amazing for June and I am just too excited! 
5. On Wednesday I had dinner with two of my best friends from high school and it was so much fun to catch up! 



Check out one of our featured Warrior Queens:

Do All With Gratitude

Oh hey Warrior Queens!

I'm excited it's Thursday, are you? I'm also excited about this post on gratitude. A lot of little things are coming together and I am just so forever grateful.

A couple of blogging friends and I are going to start a Monday link-up about being positive in a few weeks and I hope you're ready to join us! We're super excited and I'm trying to be creative and come up with a little button.

In the meantime, I've got Danielle from @ A Writer in Love here to tell us about her gratitude journal! Do you have one of those? They're fantastic!!

I graduated college last December and I couldn’t have been more excited about it.  I was graduating a semester early thanks to Advanced Placement class credit from high school, and I was thrilled about getting a head-start in the grown-up world.  I had a shiny new Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing, and I wanted to flaunt it!

Then January came around and I realized that being a grown-up was not working out how I had hoped.  I had a bad experience at an internship I’d thought would’ve been perfect for me, and I missed my friends and my campus.  I felt heartbroken whenever I imagined the cozy basement of the school library, where I would read and write and drink too much coffee.  I pined for another Friday evening of drinks and movies in my friends’ apartment.  What was I supposed to look forward to?

I’ve kept a journal for as long as I could remember, but I realized that so much of what I was writing was negative and very sad.  Certainly, a journal is a proper place to write about the things that are bothering you, but getting stuck in all that pessimism can really affect the rest of your life.  So, I remembered something my grandma talked about doing, and I wanted to give it a try.

Keeping a “Gratitude Journal.”

It’s simple, really: take a notebook, or a Word document, or open up the “notepad” app on your smart phone.  Think about the things you are thankful for on that particular day.  Some people choose to keep a bulleted list, where others (like myself) choose to write in paragraphs.  You can be thankful for something big, like your good health, or something small, like the sandwich you ate for lunch.  The idea is just this: focus on writing down the good things.  Even on the worst of days, I guarantee you can find SOMETHING to be happy about.

Yes, I still keep my regular journal.  But as time goes on I spend more time writing positive things in my gratitude journal than lamenting all of the icky, negative things that I used to spend time writing about.  Try it out!

What are you thankful for recently?  

Have a wonderful day,


Check out one of our featured Warrior Queens:

The Gratitude List

I'm going to try this blogging from my phone thing. Please excuse any typos from this grammar nazi! It isn't even that this technology is so advanced. It is just that I hate touch screens. My mind moves at a very fast pace (seeing as I have an incredibly high wpm and my brain is still thinking faster than that). Which means my fingers son't always hit the touch screen letters or I move too fast for my phone to put them in or something.

Anyway, I have felt a lot better emotionally since I decided to make this more personal and excited to write but still faced with the dilemma of when. Lol. I always do my best blogging at 2am and as an adult (ew I can't believe I have finally embraced a normal sleep cycle) I am asleep at 2am.

I think everyone at work views me as a grandma. When did I become the old one? I guess it is the curse of working at a restaurant after graduating college. But I am still on the hunt for a full time job, and convinced it will happen soon.

Making this more personal means for awhile this might be a dump of random things. That is how my mind works (read my beginning posts in the archives! Hahaha) so today I wanted to make a list. (DUH)

My Gratitude List (in no particular order)

1. Iman treats me so right. That kid. He is seriously just fantastic for me. Like every part that I'm missing and then everything in between.

2. Southern California drives. NOT my commute time or freeway time but my drives through the canyon or by the beach or even down the toll road. SERENE. I love when Iman and I carpool home and take the canyon over the traffic.

3. My momma! This lady. She always knows exactly what to say when I am having a breakdown. Even if it's her bday and we don't even see each other.

4. Daddy! Even when he's being a butthead and trying to push my buttons, he always has my interest at heart and love love loves me!! Oh and he and Iman hang out and love each other  sooo what more could a daughter want?

5. All of the comfort things that I have. I.e. anything beyond food, shelter and water. I need to appreciate my comforts MORE. Aka, take care of my things ans living space. And donate those that I am not using!

6. Health insurance, a place to live, all of my jobs, the choice of food available to me...all of my 1st world privileges!! Oh thank you for this.

7. Postive reinforcement and love. I. Can. Not. Live. Without. It. Seriously. To this I owe my friends and family.

8. My freedom from any addictions or true ailments.

9. My empathy. I am forever and ever grateful for this.

10. My new blog family. Thanks to Kaitlyn at Wifessionals, I have made two new blogging friends that I hope to keep (Amanda at Pixies and Periwinkles and Laura at Simply Me, As I See It). They inspire me to write! I am so excited to be getting to know Shannon at The Life of Poole for Bigs and Littles as well. I can't wait to truly connect with more people.

I thought some gratitude was in order after everything going on last week and this week (in the US, world, and just my family life.)

What are you thankful for?

P.s. I'm also thankful for my little bother, we can fight about the stupidest things but when I'm sick or sad he always knows how to take care of me