My Side of the Moon

the good ol' days

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 21:49:00 +0000

What's this? An outfit post? No. way.

Way back in the early days of this blog, there were many a outfit post. I haven't done one in a while & J snapped this quick photo for our showroom facebook page (click here to like us!) so I figured why not! Back in February of last year, I took a job opening the lululemon Greensboro showroom. Even before that day, you'd find me most often wearing lululemon on any day that didn't require non-workout attire-work, fancy dinners out, the occasional black tie affair, maybe even a debutante ball or two (nope, not kidding on that last one). Now, there is rarely a day that goes by that I am not wearing lululemon, usually full-on everywhere, and at the very least, one or two pieces.

So there you have it...my side of the moon outfit posts version 2.0. I like the new version. I like it a lot.

{wearing lululemon base runner 1/2 zip, CRB, joe's jeans, frye boots, jcrew hat...holding the fluff off jacket & rebecca minkoff M.A.B.}

love,
~H

listen to your voice...yes, that one.

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 12:15:00 +0000

{image via Diana Moss pinterest}

Shel Silverstein, you are brilliant.

To anyone reading this, so are you. Listen to your voice. Trust your inner wisdom. Always.

Here's to a day guided by your voice...

love,
~H

idyllic

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 13:54:00 +0000

When I opened the link to the Kauai wedding photos of model Tori Praver & surfer Danny Fuller, I was immediately swept away into a peaceful, beautiful (not to mention uber chic) world of love & harmony. If I was going to have a do-over wedding, this is what it would look like.

{All images are via vogue.com & you can read the article or view the original images here.}

Here's to a Wednesday filled with beauty...

Love,

Monday Mantra

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 14:05:00 +0000

I thought I'd start a little series called 'monday mantras'...we could all use a simply source of inspiration, a grounding phrase, on Mondays, the start of the week for most of us. This first one is a phrase I initially read here. It spoke to me deeply. So, I modified it slightly, made it my own & I come back to it daily. It is my mantra. These are the words I write in my journal or planner or maybe the closest sticky note, when I feel myself feeling less than grounded, stressed, worried or sad.

{image created via befunky}

I commit to showing up, being present & allowing whatever follows to happen. It's just that simple.

Tell me, what's your mantra?

Round 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 13:58:00 +0000

Gearing up for a revamped vision & goals by Desire Mapping it up-Round 2.0. I Desire Mapped for the first time, early this year, when Danielle Laporte's Desire Map program launched. At that time, I was in a job I didn't care about, in a place I wasn't sure I really wanted to live & desperate for some guidance. Honestly, I was desperate for THE answer, THE fix...what the hell was I supposed to be doing with my life and how had I gotten so off track? What I realized, no, what I experienced (I'd realized it a long time ago) was that the answer wasn't out there to be found. It was already within, begging to be recognized and acted upon. And that's exactly what I did. I acted.

I'm writing to you today as I'm preparing to head out the door to a job I adore. To make an impact in the world in ways that feed my soul-the only way to truly make an impact. I work for a company where we all create a vision for our ideal life, then set goals to get us there. I live, breathe and speak vision & goals every single day. Amazing. I feel a need to revisit my current vision & associated goals and as I work my way back through The Desire Map, I realize that my depth of understanding of what creating 'goals with soul' really means & how freakin' powerful it actually is, has shifted...no grown...because the impact of creating goals that truly speak to my soul is real to me. I've lived it. I am living it.

As we head into the holiday season, I challenge you to think about what you're creating in your life. You are the painter. Life is your canvas. Today is the day.

I encourage you to check out The Desire Map program (psst...the book will be available at your local bookstore soon AND you can click the link to your right). It'll get your head & heart in the right place and here's a great resource for creating your 10 year vision.

Got questions? Email me at holli.keeler@gmail.com.

(p.s. I'm committed to being present on this blog regularly-it's part of my goals-so hold me accountable! I'm here & I'm not going anywhere!)

returning to a place that remains unchanged

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:30:00 +0000

"There's nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered"
~Nelson Mandela

I'm not certain if it's the internal work I've been doing over the past several years, or maybe where it's brought me this last one in particular, but I know that I value simplicity much more than I used to. When things begin to get complicated, in any way, I feel almost repulsed by the situation, as if I need to run for cover or at least flee very, very quickly. And on the other side of that, when the simple act of 'being' is easily accessed (for me, that is not always the case), I feel so profoundly and deeply grateful, that a sense of joy overwhelms me. The fact that I can feel this more and more often, I believe, is because I am actively practicing this way of being, way of feeling, way of living.

This weekend, we took a quick trip to the North Carolina mountains with my husband's mother and step-father. This is a place I've visited frequently, since birth, far before I knew my husband, through many stages of life. It's a place that I've always felt affected by, maybe a place where I could easily slip into a place of peace. Again, not always an easy place for me to find. I'm finding that although, for the most part, this place geographically remains unchanged, that for me, it's profound effects on my psyche only continue to grow-I think that must say something about what I am actively practicing in my life, about the ways I, myself, have altered...

Here's to a beautifully simple week...

love,

invigoration, determination, creativity and authoring your life

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:15:00 +0000

Bet you thought this was going to be a lengthy, wordy post...nope!

Just wanted to share this with you all, because at the end of the day, this is the root of everything:

{photo taken and edited by my cousin, Sarah Mae...hope you don't mind me posting, S!}

love,
~h

Just do it...now.

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:32:00 +0000

Well hello there, it's me, your sometimes blogger friend that shows up unexpectedly and not at all reliably! Don't you just love friends like that?! Ok, so all sarcasm aside, when I don't post on The Moon regularly, I think about it, miss it, yearn for it constantly. So to anyone reading this, first of all, thank you for sticking around and listening, even when my posts are scattered between weeks, and on occasion months.

The thing is, if I want to be present here on The Moon, you would think I'd just buckle down and DO IT, right? That's always my intention...so why doesn't the necessary action follow? Just like everyone else out there, I have a million (awesome!) obligations, interests and of course, there's also the people I love, the yoga I practice and the occasional downtime that's necessary for me to keep my shit together!

And that brings me to a little something that I've shied away from for as long as I can remember: intentional goal setting. Yeah sure, I've set goals for myself here and there, usually (but not always) met them and moved on. But what I had not done, until about 6 months ago, was actually take time to sit down, visualize what I wanted my life to look like, what feelings I wanted to feel each and every day and decide to screw the possibility of failure and simply come up with a game plan, something that I could begin immediately, in the circumstances that I was living in on that very day. Because that's one aspect of goal setting I feel is very important; You must continue to live in the moment, relish it, feel it's presence and love it. It's where you must start on your journey to any goal, so learning to seize it and live it fully is the most important thing. Then you set aside the time to decide where you want the moment to go. What do you love doing? How do you love feeling? What do you love talking about? and How do you make these things the cornerstones of your life? There are TONS of tools out there to help you figure this stuff out, but I'd be willing to bet, you already have at least an inkling of suspicion regarding what it is that make you tick, makes you come alive...makes you want to live your life!

Because without goals and without holding ourselves accountable for following through with them, each and every day, our intentions can easily become only that. intentions. And before we know it, our lives, our days, can start to look like something we do not even want...and people, this is your one and only life, the one your living right this very moment. This is it.

So here's what I've been up to the last month. Since I set out on my own goal-setting, core desired feelings, life-loving quest, I've started a job with a company that not only stands for everything I'm writing about today, but has also been on my life-goal radar for years, Lululemon. I'm part of a team opening a showroom here in Greensboro! It's been a fun-filled, yoga-centered, kick-ass awesome month and I thought I'd share a few photos of what we've been up to with you:

So on this first Spring-like Monday, what are some of your goals? And what are you doing today, in this moment, to feed them, to nourish them, to love life and be YOU?!

love,

Phosphorescent Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 20:57:00 +0000

Yo, happy friday folks! It's beautiful here in NC today and I can't help but be filled with joy and gratitude on a day like this. There's actually been a whole hell of a lot of joy and gratitude settling in here lately...More on that in an upcoming post. For now, I've got a song I stumbled across today that I just feel the need to share. It's a real beauty. Here, have a listen:

Until next time, have a wonderful weekend...

love,
~H

love is everywhere.

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:39:00 +0000

Happy day of love! Proof you can find love anywhere you look for it...

{image via Rachel Corcoran}

Love,

When I Am Among The Trees

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 20:27:00 +0000

This quote stumbled into my lap this morning...

"Around me, the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, 'stay awhile'.

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, 'it's simple', they say,

and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine.'"

~Mary Oliver, When I Am Among The Trees

Simple. Beautiful. True. We all have those things that fill us with light. We can feel them, right? We know what they are. What if it's as simple as allowing those things to guide how we spend our time, what we read, what we talk about...to simply fill us up. So much so that we shine. What if that's the point?

Here are a couple of artists doing just that:

First, we have Magda Sayeg (please click the link, you will not be disappointed). I've been a fan of Magda's for years, but was just reminded of her work here.

{image via}

And how cute is this?

Next up, and also very timely, or not, depending on your view on snow, to our Northeastern friends, is Simon Beck. I discovered Simon's work just yesterday via Erin over at Design for Mankind. Simon takes making snow angels to an altogether new place completely.

{image via, via}

As Erin notes, Simon makes these absolutely breathtaking works of art in one day, knowing that more than likely, they will be covered over that evening with fresh snow, ceasing to exist forever. Amazing. And inspiring.

These are two brilliant artists, who can share their light with the world through their amazingly talented hands, and their supremely creative vision. Your light might shine with your words, or with your parenting, or through your home, or how you serve. What's important is that you can feel it. Only YOU know how to make your light shine. That is what makes you...you.

So please do tell, what is it for you? What makes your light shine?

Enjoy your weekend...

love,

Traveling...well

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 01:55:00 +0000

{via a well traveled woman}

I'm on the road a couple of nights for work this week and tonight, while eating dinner solo, I read this article about Raleigh chef and all around extraordinarily inspiring person, Ashley Christensen. If you've got a few moments, read it...especially if you are in your 30's and/or from North Carolina (but also even if you're not and think the world could use some innovation and heart...combined). This girl rocks it...as the author notes in the article, "That is the thing about Christensen. When she notices something missing in the world, she creates it." Bam. Beautiful. To the point. True. And insanely inspiring.

The print version of the article includes a playlist that has this, this, this, this and this. Seriously, this girl is after my heart.

Be inspired and then go find YOUR thing :)

Love,

Monday musings...MLK inspired

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 18:32:00 +0000

How's everyone doing on this MLK Monday? I (like many folks) do have to work today. So it's a Monday around here for sure. My mind isn't really on my work on a day like today though. It wanders easily, and instead wants to explore and honor the thoughts, intentions, and ultimately the actions of heroes like Martin Luther King, Jr. I think that's so incredible about a day like today...a day set aside to truly bask in what it means to live fully, with service, honor, courage and love as your guide.

That's it, isn't it?! That's the essence if true living...finding that special thing that makes you come alive and then doing it...in service, with honor, courageously and with love as your guide.

What a world this would (could) be!

love,
~H

Sums it up

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:09:00 +0000

Yes, I know...just about everyone out there is talking about New Year's resolutions this week. In the past, I've dismissed this whole notion of making New Year's resolutions...mainly because I'd rather embrace the idea that we are constantly improving ourselves and that this should be done in a more fluid manner. New Year's resolutions, concrete goals...they seem so constricting.

Well, my feelings on this are changing, shifting...expanding! That's the word!

I'm in the middle of doing some serious self reflection, some self-analysis so to speak, and what I'm realizing is that I am (and have been for a loooong time) in need of some mindful goal setting. Not your typical goal setting mind you, instead the kind that feeds your spirit in the deepest possible way...More on that later.

In the meantime, I wanted to pass along this image, which to me, just about sums it up perfectly:

{image via design*sponge}

Is there one all-encompassing phrase that sums up your resolution? Or maybe even what you think of as your life-purpose?

Do tell!

love,

it's all about love

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 17:58:00 +0000

At it's core, that's what life is. Love. That is our fuel, our light. It's what keeps us going. Always present. Ready to be tapped into. Without it, we wither. We get lost.

Make today, this first day of 2013, all about the love. Do what you love. Be what you love. And of course, with the doing and the being, spread the love around.

We spent last night an Avett Brothers concert...I couldn't think of a better way for us to transition from 2012 and ring in (happily!) 2013.

Here's to day, a year, a life, full of love.

{Thank you to Lesley for our one and only photo all together}

Happy 2013 from our crew to yours!

love,
~H

Your poem, your 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 13:00:00 +0000

image via whitenightsandlatenights.tumblr.com

Action. Action is the tough part for me...I think probably for a lot of people. I am a big a dreamer; always seeking, hoping, learning, yearning, creating...in my mind. But here's the obvious truth, without action, those dreams and desires can't come to fruition. You can't get to where you'd like to be without movement in that direction in the first place.

But first things first. First, figuring what it is that you want, crave, need, why you want it and how (if!) that thing aligns with your hearts truth is step numero uno. A step not to be taken lightly for sure. Listening when your heart speaks louder than your head, when that little voice I like to call your light whispers to you. Usually it's the same whisper, over and over and over...and if it scares you, so much so that you don't listen, and you push it away, that same gentle voice could quite possibly become a very loud yell.

It's usually fear that causes us to ignore that whisper. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. Fear of looking like a crazy person to others. Fear of not following the 'normal', structured path that's already paved and waiting for you.

What the last few months has taught me is that the only thing we should really fear, is ourselves, when we choose not to listen to that voice, to our light. Because living should be done wholeheartedly, with vigor, with intention and bursting with love and happiness. Because really, why the hell not? What's the alternative? Yeah, I don't want to think about that either.

When we listen to that internal voice above all others, we are choosing happiness and when we choose happiness, our light shines bright and we serve the world. We write our poem.

So here's to your light, your desire, your action, your life. Here's to a new year.

As is your desire, so is your will.

As is your will, so is your deed.

As is your deed,

So is your destiny.

-The Upanishads

Love,

Merry Merry

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 13:00:00 +0000

From me to you, have a very merry Christmas...

May it be filled with peace, love and lots of light(s)...

lots of love,
~H

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:25:00 +0000

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Links for your Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:54:00 +0000

Today is my birthday. And today I'm feeling a bit more scattered than usual; maybe a result of all of the conflicting feelings that come along with birthdays and maybe a result of the unfinished shopping and shipping that needs to be completed very, very soon.

Instead if fighting these scattered feelings into submission, I'm just allowing them to live at will today; I'm going with it...so, today, I've got some links for you, starting with this one:

Every year of my birthday, I start my day with a series of sun salutations in the number of years of my age (33 this year)...After we watched this documentary on the Rolling Stones last week, my motivation for doing this shifted slightly. Now I'm hoping if I keep this tradition up, I'll be able to move like Mick Jagger when I'm 70. Seriously...

Loving these Moon inspired prints via Fab.com...

Have y'all heard about The Desire Map? Seems like my kind of goal-setting!

And what about Tiffany Moore's Love Letters? I am sooooo on board...absolutely in love with this idea!

And finally, totally diggin' this Mara Hoffman sweater. Fun, isn't it?!

Love,

12/12/12

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:05:00 +0000

Today (12/12/12) I just wanna put this out there:

{print available here via Yellow Button Studio}

Yes, you. I'm talking to you.

Words for your...Tuesday!

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:19:00 +0000

image by Sarah Goodreau @ Society 6 via the Kate Singleton of Buy Some Damn Art
for Anthology Magazine

I had every intention of posting this yesterday, as part of the "Words for your Monday" series, but one thing led to another and before I knew it, I was at the tail end of a true Monday. Lesson learned.

Truth be told, as surely as I feel the light flickering inside me, deep within and sometimes bursting out at every opportunity, more often than not lately, it's taken a concentrated effort to remember this little light and it's brightness, it's ability to shine through even the darkest of circumstance. Some days it's easier to feel it's radiance and some days it takes every bit of energy in me to simply remember it's existence. That's simply the truth. It's a dark season of exploration and question...for me, right now... but I feel the light. I know it's still there. And remembering that, knowing that always makes me smile.

I want this space, My Side of the Moon, to serve as a place to bring this light, this inspiration, this beauty to others, in the form of words, photos, art, music and all forms of creativity. Beauty, in all forms, is an easily accessible reminder that the light is there, within each of us. Always.

In the words of Oscar Wilde...

Beauty is a form of genius-is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or springtime, or that reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon.

It is a constant reminder of the light. All you have to do is listen, see, feel.

Free-for-all Friday links

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Things have been a little heavy on The Moon, I know. Soul searching has been the main theme in our household as of late and with soul searching comes deep thinking while deep thinking brings clarity, encouragement and wisdom, it also comes, necessarily, with weight and depth and that's been evident in this space.

So today, let's enjoy this beautiful (if you're here in the southeast at least) Friday with some lighthearted links...

First, in case you you don't follow me on instagram (@hollimoon), this is how we ended our Thanksgiving day a couple weeks ago, hoping for the same ending to Christmas...

Have you seen this movie yet? We saw it last week...a simultaneously terrifying and infinitely inspiring look at humanity, our individual choices and lives and our unending interconnectedness...

Thinking that this dress may need to make my closet it's new home...

Might need a new water bottle, now that I've seen these beauties...

Are any of you watching Super Soul Sunday? If not, do yourself a favor and tune in! Incredibly enlightening, invigorating and delightful...

OK lady friends, if you are not watching Girls, oh, just watch it, Season 2 starts January 6th, plenty of time for you ro catch up on season 1. Do it. now.

And lastly, a few Christmas goodies that have me enjoying the season...

Confetti System garland...

Peace sign wreath...

And finally, little reminders of what the season is all about (found here and here)...

Have a wonderful weekend, filled with things that also fill your soul you with happiness.

Love,

words for your monday

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 01:12:00 +0000

Sometimes (many times) words are more moving, true and present, or maybe simply more easily accessible when put to music, right? When I heard this song from one of my aging playlists (aging, not old, because like wine, playlists get better with a few years on them, no?) first thing this morning, I knew I needed to share it today. For me, this is it...

That light, it's inside each of us, everyday, through everything. You just have to listen and feel and know.

love,
~H

Attitude of Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 16:03:00 +0000

image via Yoga Journal (Lululemon print ad)

Yes, I know...everyone on the world wide web will be posting about gratitude today...tis the season. But of course, the real goal is to learn to live every moment, or at least most every moment filled with gratitude over what is present in your life, in that moment and then let that feeling overwhelm all the others that try to creep in...all the wants, the desires the things you long for, the things you are jealous of, the areas where your life seems lacking in some way. I think we all struggle with this, some more than others perhaps, maybe especially in this season, with all it's images of perfection, of bright and shiny new things.

As I've alluded to in the past few posts, this has been a particularly difficult year, filled with particularly difficult events and I've had a harder than usual time remembering all the things I am grateful for, instead spending much more time and energy thinking about all the things I wish were different, all the things I'd like to change. Of course it's important to acknowledge, feel thoroughly, question deeply and work through these feelings. Otherwise, we'd end up stuck in a place that isn't quite right, that isn't all that our lives can be. But it's also absolutely, fundamentally necessary to be cognizant, even as we want, search and plan, of what we have in any given moment...love, breath, spirit, warmth, humor, and know that when we feel this gratitude, everything else will fall into place. It is really all that we have "control" over, how we feel, what we focus on, what our mind spends it's time thinking about and also what our heart and spirit feels . These thoughts and feelings will fill us up, bring warmth to our hearts and rosiness to our cheeks and they will allow is to grow, to evolve into the person that is serving the universe in the way that each of us were meant to individually. All of our paths are different, all of our gifts our different, all of our lives will look different, but our feelings, as human beings, are all remarkably similar. And gratitude is the starting point; the necessary key to the rest. So today, in this moment and in all of them, let all the things that you are grateful for fill you up...

In gratitude and love...

The best day

noreply@blogger.com (Holli) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 21:43:00 +0000

image via elephant journal originally from Primitives by Kathy

This idea has been on my mind a lot...nope, that's actually a gigantic understatement; it's pervaded almost every other thought that's entered my mind the last several weeks. You see, this move we've made, these changes we thought so much about and then made happen, well, they haven't exactly gone as we'd imagined they would. Again, that's a huge understatement. They've gone terribly wrong, not at all as expected and downright disastrous (in a first world kind of way). When you do what you think is best, what your mind tells you is best and it all falls apart, where does that leave you? I'll tell you where...it leaves you questioning everything. Rethinking things, your chosen path, your life (!) from a very humbling, sad, raw place. You then have to choose how to proceed, how to proceed when you don't even really trust your own decisions. Because in all honesty, there were rumblings from deep within my gut and my spirit, from my exterior life too, rumblings that begged me to step back for a moment. To stop all the thinking and just listen. Whoa. In all honesty, I, we still do not know what this means for us as I type this, but reading this, well...it's up to me, to us, to decide what this means and while it scares me, I like it. I like it very much.