Big, Wonderful, Ordinary Magic is Out There… But You Have to Be Looking {GIVEAWAY}

I just finished reading Ordinary Magic by Lisa Hickman. It’s a quick read of 45 “little vignettes from the Big Apple” in which Lisa highlights small encounters of beauty and simple bliss that she finds in New York City. And you know what I really liked about it? The book was a reminder that life is so ordinary. Most moments are normal and routine. But if you choose to view it differently, if you choose to look for magic, you’ll find it.

See, extraordinary doesn’t always arrive on your doormat in a perfectly wrapped box from Amazon. And sometimes it arrives in the rain — soaked, smashed, and torn. But how it arrives doesn’t mean that what’s in the box is any less worthy, right? And you don’t leave it outside, do you? Of course not. You pick up the less-than-pretty box and open it and look inside.

Not every beautiful moment is obvious but you can usually find one if you train yourself to look for it.

(Make sure to check out the giveaway at the end!)

It got me thinking how similar this idea is to Drinking the Whole Bottle; how Drinking the Whole Bottle was born of a confession 😉 but also a metaphor that “living life uncorked” is a state of mind. And before you say that our life is adventurous and that it’s easy to find the magic abroad, let me just say that we live a pretty routined life. Our kitchen is often a mess. I don’t always make the bed. Our dogs, God bless their old souls, pee in the house and throw up on our couch (that literally happened last week). We pay rent, we grocery shop, and Husband walks to the Oxxo (Mexico’s equivalent to 7-11) to pay the rest of our bills and grab a twinkie.

Recognizing beauty, finding bits of happy, and noticing small wins — takes work. We have to train ourselves to look around and see all the magic that exists, but once you do, it’s like Harry Potter world – it can’t be unseen.

You’ll start to notice that everyday life is magical. It’s sitting on the couch with Husband watching This Is Us after the kids have fallen asleep. Or the kids wanting to help me bake cookies instead of watching TV. It’s Sunday brunching and mimosas with girlfriends or talking to your mom on the phone. It can be opening a new lip gloss or drinking coffee out of a new mug. It’s fresh flowers, ice cream sundaes, and washed clothes.

Magic is out there and when you start to live in that kind of mindset, it all changes.

So in light of this, we decided to do something new on Instagram. With the idea that everyday has something special to offer if we look for it, we’ve decided to help the search. Everyday we’ll include a way to drink the whole bottle and live life uncorked. You could use the suggestion for that day or save it in your back pocket when you’re needing some inspiration to uncork and let the magic ooooooze out.

P.S. Maybe you are magic and 16 magical summer pics.

G I V E A W A Y

Win my signed copy of Ordinary Magic which I’ll then sign for you — double the goodness. 

1. Follow us on Instagram
2. LEAVE A COMMENT here below or on Instagram and tell us what small magic you found today.