SPEAKER: Jodie Harvala

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Hello, hello, my friends. All right, well, I didn’t tell anyone I was coming on. So when it’s Saturday night, so you may be already home in your jammies watching movies, maybe you’re out and about on the town, I actually have a girls night Christmas party tonight that I am just about to leave for. So I thought I’d better get on here and do my live. I had kind of planned to do this whole fun video thing for you today. But I didn’t have enough time to get it the way that it actually looked good. So I’ll do a little montage thing from our skiing day, but not today. Again, I’m not all that great with technology, but I was gonna try. I was at least gonna try. I might have to have Angela and Andrea helped me out. All right, so say hello. In the comments. I see people jumping on tell me what you’re doing tonight. Or this weekend.

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And we’ll do a little chat before I leave.

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So it’s fine. I’m kind of excited for my party. So my friend Steph usually does pretty fun parties anyways. And we each had to bring three different gifts with a spending limit of only $7, which was annoying. And apparently a couple girls already went over so I didn’t feel too bad. But I was like seven bucks. And so we had to be really creative on what we gave them was supposed to be stuff that we like or that we use and things like that. So I was pretty creative. I’ll let you know what mine were after the party. Hey, Christy. Sure it’s good to see you back here sister. And Miss Alyssa. Good to see you and Cindy Brooks watching hockey. Watching Christmas movies and relaxing. Ah, those suck. wrapping gifts are ready. Oh, I have no gifts. I actually have some gifts arriving Monday that I get to do. We were watching Indiana Jones this morning. You just can’t watch that movie. Like if you if you see it, you have to watch it right.

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You know, like Christie, I saw that post and I thought, oh, that must be an interesting way to I remember, maybe two years ago, I saw that my grandma’s old house up on the north side was for sale. And so I call my real estate friend. I’m like, can you take me in there, I just want to walk through it. We didn’t want to buy it or anything. I was absolutely shocked how small it was. Compared to my memories. I mean, obviously I was a tiny little kid so it’s bigger anyways, I’m shocked by the smallness of the house. And because we used to pack people in that house. And I remember there being eight to 10 people in the kitchen and the kitchen is teeny tiny. It was so weird to walk through it as an adult and be you know, adult size and everything. It was so weird. And it was so I don’t know, it was just weird. But it was so cool to walk through it. I mean, you know, it just floods you with those good grandma and grandpa memories. At least for me. It did. Yeah, it was so weird. Looks so little even the doors look small. I know. I know. It’s so weird. All right. So two days, day 10 of 31 days of spirit. And today we are talking about Happy Places. So today, if you saw any of my posts today, we got to go skiing, downhill skiing, I love to downhill ski. I am not very good at it. And I like to tell people that because it’s okay to do things that you love. Even if you’re not very good at it. I’m trying to get better. I’m actually looking for people to give me lessons and stuff. So if you’re in Fargo and you go skiing, and you’re really good, and you can give a lady who’s skied for a long time, but probably has kind of bad habits and stuff. Some lessons, let me know because I would love that. But that’s one of my Happy Places. And I had someone years ago asked me where my Happy Places were. And I didn’t have an answer. And I just thought, Well, why do I not have an answer for that? And I don’t think I ever took the time to think about it. And once I got really clear on some of my Happy Places, those Happy Places also became a very big way for me to focus on and to, to put some energy into making sure that I get to spend time in those Happy Places. So whether it’s skiing, or my camper, obviously everybody knows my camper. If you’ve known me for a minute you know my camper is absolutely a happy place. We have great people around us. We have lots of fun friends out there. Love my love my camper loves to Dona that’s a happy place for me. Big skies. That is a happy place for me. I’m sitting at a table chatting with friends happy place for me sitting at you know, in the backyard at the bonfire at my neighbor’s backyard at the bonfire happy place. Anything at the lakes is always a happy place for me. But I had to really I think that we had to prioritize putting time and effort into our Happy Places, because it’s changed over the years, because, you know, we’ve changed COVID change that a lot. Like, you know, we used to go to the farm a lot and different things like that, and, and utilize dad is very protective of his health, which we encouraged. And it was just not, we just couldn’t spend a whole lot of time there, we still have kids, both in school with germs and all that kind of stuff. And so a lot of our Happy Places had to shift over the years. And so I’ve had to, to revisit that question, and see how I can prioritize my Happy Places, and make sure my house is a happy place and go back and forth on that. I do sometimes it’s dusty, so messy, you know, and we organize all the time, we just don’t have a lot of storage. And in the wintertime, we always ever ski shit out and ILAs good hunting shit. And like we just don’t have we have two closets in my house. So sometimes about this time of year, I get a little annoyed with my house because it doesn’t have enough storage for all of our fun stuff for our Happy Places. Because all of our Happy Places comes with lots of stuff. And so we really have had to shift that a lot. My shed, my she shed is a happy place. And I think you need to remember to put some time and energy into that. So during COVID When we were home, Eli didn’t get to stay home, obviously I work from home. But one of the things that we decided to do, because because we were really staying home, obviously for lots of different reasons, and COVID being the biggest one, but we decided to paint the house. And you know, we didn’t mind the paint, but it just didn’t fit us anymore. Like we had really shifted a lot over the last couple years. And we went with completely different colors. And we’ve ever done before I usually was kind of a fall girl still love fall colors still love the fall, but it felt too dark in our house, we have an old house doesn’t have a ton of big windows and things like that. And so anything to brighten it up is always good for me. And so we spent, I think, six weeks, I think six weeks completely repainting the house from top to bottom. And as we were doing that we were organizing, we were getting rid of stuff we were donating, we were selling, we were putting in garbage, but we really created a beautiful space to live in. And I’ve always put energy and effort into my house. But it was so fun to do it with Eli. He hates painting. I actually don’t like painting, but we really liked the results of it. And so he was all in it. And I was like, Okay, let’s do it then. And then the next year, we really started putting some time and energy because I think it was fostered graduating. So we put some time and energy into our yard. And we have a teeny tiny yard. But the boy I should say the boys put a lot of time and energy into the house in the yard. And I do the flowers and all that kind of stuff. And then this summer, we put some more energy into our backyard, which again is really small, which is nice, budget wise. And Eli did so much. And we did some really fun decorations. And I got to have bonfire readings over here and stuff like that. And I really feel like that helps me be okay, if I’m stuck at home in the wintertime, I don’t always like to be stuck at home in the wintertime, I kind of struggle with a little bit. But it helps to have a pretty house and it helps to have a space that I enjoy. And we have not always had the furniture we want. And we still don’t you know, we still have upgrades, we still need Windows blah, blah, blah, all this stuff. But every time we do an upgrade, the house just feels better and better and better. And so it becomes our happy place because you should really like where you live. And we’re not in a place where we want to move. I can’t even imagine us trying to move right now. So we really wanted to ground that energy in to our space. And I always tell people if you can’t do like everything you want to do, maybe either pick the place you spend the most time in like your living room, or your bedroom. So you rest a lot of people they’ll have any clear their houses and I’ll ask them because I can already feel it that they can’t sleep very well. And I’m like, Hey, what’s your bedroom like? And they’re like, oh, you know, and I’ll be like, well just send me a picture of it and don’t clean it. And you know, it’s close all over the place. They might have old bedding and stuff that are bedding they hate like there’s one woman sent me here bedding picture. And I was like, There’s no way that you actually like that bedding and she goes oh my god, no, it’s like 40 years old and it’s so ugly and I’m like, sister, find a different way to get some new bedding whether it’s trade with a friend or go to a secondhand shop or are, you know, find sales, there’s lots of different ways to get different stuff, right? And your bedroom needs to be a restful place. Like I wait at night, like is it bedtime, it’s bedtime is bedtime because I really do like our bedroom. And it’s just nice and calm and it’s quiet. We’ve moved Keaton downstairs. So it’s kind of like my own little space up there. And I’m like, Oh, it’s so nice and quiet up here. I just love it. And, you know, so we put a lot of time and energy into that space too, because you rest there. Even if you’re not a good sleeper, at least you can rest. You know, I used to not be I’m a much better sleeper than I ever have been. But I still struggle at times. And I used to really not sleep well. So at least wanted to play second rest or do meditation or whatever it might be. Okay. All right. Let’s see. Yep, I would have to think about the Happy Places. If you have to think about it, you need to put some energy into this piece. I love the beach talking with friends. firepits. Yeah, my kind of girl sister. My happy places have changed over the past couple of years. And I’ve been trying to create some new ones me as well. I get that. And that takes a little time you guys if you need to recreate your Happy Places. Like that’s not a bad thing. That’s just something that you got to work on. Okay, I’m donating stuff now. And I love creating and designing happy space. I do too. I

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think it’s kind of fun. Feeling more grounded when your home is a home. Yep. I always tell people, whatever space you live in, even if it’s temporary, make it a home. Just you know, just make it a home. One of the things that we used to have this great couple that lived just down for us. These two men and they were beautiful, beautiful, beautiful men beautiful marriage. Beautiful house. And when you walked into their house, Michael and Virgil when you walked into their house, it felt like a hug. And I was like, I want my house to feel like this. Like it was so like, this is how I want my house to feel. And we that has been my goal ever since as I want my house to be like, like hug and we had painted it and everything. And it was Christmas time and I had been cooking something and I think I’d just done a summer pot and stuff like that. And one of Keaton’s friends mom stopped by to grab them and she was Oh my God, when I walk in your house, it feels like hug. And I was like, Yes. I want my house to feel I feel called up my room called out my room. Yep. I call a lot of people out on their bedrooms. I call myself out on my bedroom. Don’t worry, everyone does it. I’m in the bedroom now trying to make serene Yep. Yep. Doing my bedroom was huge, says Christie. The beach forest near stream me to Heidi I’m all about that in the mountains. Me too. I love to do the things you love to do, even if you aren’t good at them. Yeah, that’s gonna be one of our subjects. Because I think that’s an important subject. Ah, I’m a real estate agent I can definitely feel in a home feels like a hug. Yep. And it’s and it’s, it’s not just the stuff in the home. It’s, it’s the intention behind everything. Like, if you guys going to Sedona February 2024, we shifted the date a little bit for people, just so you know, Heidi. But if you have a bunch of friends, and you’re all kind of feeling that way, do a trade party. Like if you have some nice stuff, but maybe you’re just tired of it or just doesn’t fit your personality anymore. Tell your girlfriend’s like, Hey, I have a whole bunch of stuff. And you have a whole bunch of stuff. Like let’s look through each other’s stuff and see what you like and what you don’t like, and see if you can move some energy. So it can be into more of a place that you like, Okay, we’ll talk a little bit more some about some clearing stuff and things like that. I think that’d be a fun discussion for us, too. But tonight, it’s about Happy Places. Okay, and creating Happy Places, creating Happy Places that you like to go, whether it’s a fun little neighborhood restaurant or something like that, like my girlfriend, and I ended up randomly going to lunch last year on Christmas Eve. And it was just so funny. I was like, Hey, what are you up to today? I was like, I’m home by myself. And she’s like, me, too. I was like, Hey, let’s go to lunch. And we went to lunch, we were having the most best time at this great little restaurant, just a few blocks from town are from both our houses. And someone actually treated us to lunch. It was so awesome. And it’s become like this great little quiet place that it’s just it’s one of my favorite places in town. It’s just fun. And so there’s lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of different ways to make a happy place. So I would love for you guys this weekend. Think about a list of Happy Places, and how can you make your home when you’re happy places and we’ll talk more about that I promise we’ll talk more about some of the clearing stuff, and some different things that you can do in your home space. But let’s focus a little bit on your Happy Places go ahead on mighty networks, you can either show us your Happy Places, if you have some photos, you can tell us what your Happy Places are, or some of the things that you did this weekend to create a happy place for yourself. A lot of people go into this thing about not putting their Christmas tree up too early, because you know, people bitched about it or whatever, and I’m like, whatever. If it makes your house happy, put the Christmas tree up, how leave it up, who cares? It’s your space, do what you want with it. But also, make sure you’re going to some of your Happy Places, get out of your house a little bit live a little bit. Okay, so speaking of I have to go to my party. Um, so I’m gonna go and have some fun. I’m sure you guys will see pictures at some point and I will touch base with you guys tomorrow. I am not for sure what time so I’ll pop on at some time tomorrow and then I’ll give you kind of the schedule for the next week. Okay, all right, guys, Happy Places. Go create them. Talk to you later.