home Archives - Melanie S. Pickett

Five Favorite Websites

We all have websites we visit on the regular, our virtual go-to’s for information, entertainment, and communication. Today I’m going to share five of my favorites and what draws me to visit them. Besides the obvious sites, www.blogher.com and my personal blog, below are my five other favorites:

1. The Pioneer Woman

Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman is a part of the BlogHer family and I’ve been a faithful follower of Ree’s for years. Back when Ree only had a few thousand followers I was “with” her. She’s always had great content and being a photographer, her images are beautiful and inviting. Well-known for her cooking talents and her show on the Food Network, she shares wonderful recipes on her site as well as homeschooling information, entertainment, and she has a love of her family, her dogs, and photographing pretty cool hotel rooms. Check out her books as well.

2. Netflix

We all know what Netflix is, a site that streams movies and past seasons of TV shows. For a low cost you can enjoy access to this. Many folks are now using it in place of cable television. I most often watch Netflix while working out at the gym. Tuning into an episode or two of a TV series I’m currently binge watching makes time running on the treadmill pass more smoothly.

3. The Balanced Life

As long as we’re talking about fitness, this is a great site for Pilates info and workouts. Robin offers great encouragement and shares her knowledge. This is really good stuff to do at home in addition to your gym workout or in place of it if you can’t get to the gym or the weather isn’t desirable for participating in outdoor physical activities.

4. Pinterest

If you’re not already on Pinterest, I highly suggest checking it out. Whether you’re planning a wedding or looking for something to make for dinner, it’s all there. I have boards for everything from fashion to writing tips. You can find inspiration for putting together an outfit for a special occasion and find great DIY tips for home, wedding, and crafts.

5. Thrifty Decor Chick

This is a really fun site. Even if you don’t do DIY projects, there are some gorgeous photos here of finished projects. It really inspires you to repurpose some found items and spruce up your home with your personal touches.

What are some of your favorite sites to visit? What makes them your favorite?

November 4, 2014

Uncategorized

The Perfection Scam

We all (myself included) seem to try so hard to achieve perfection…perfect jobs, perfect marriages, perfect credit scores, perfect children with perfect grades. We see post after post on social media of friends jetting off to exotic vacations and earning job promotions, achieving dramatic weight loss or financial success, and sometimes we wonder what we’re not doing right. Why aren’t our lives perfect when everyone else’s lives seem so grand? Perfection is a delusion. Most of us have this vision of what a perfect life looks like and who has it. We may see this “perfect mom” who gets her kids everywhere on time, always dressed well with shiny smiles. She bakes for every bake sale, heads every committee, takes care of a meticulous home, and does it all while maintaining a slim physique and fabulous hair. While those attributes and accomplishments are all admirable, no one and no thing is perfect. What looks perfect never really is. Everyone has something they struggle with, some sort of battle. Some of us are just better at masking it than others.

Perfection is elusive. Happiness is not. We can do our best at everything we attempt (and we should) but trying to live up to the idea of some idyllic life simply isn’t realistic. It’s not human. The only true perfection we can ever hope to find is in the only One who is without flaw. Remember that YOU are capable and worthy of all good things.

“As for God, His way is perfect. The Lord’s word is flawless; He shields all who take refuge in Him.” Psalm 18:30

October 9, 2014