Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Happy Birthday Bay!

Happy 18th birthday to my beautiful daughter, Bailey!!!

It was a busy day for Bay; driver's test (passed with perfect score), a job interview, visits from her friends, and a dinner date with her handsome beau.  Get used to it, baby. Busy is what being an adult is all about. :)

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Take That, Funk!

I'm at day number whatever of my funk. Grr. I want to kick it out of the way...... take that, you dumb funk!

I went downtown to watch Mom dance with her Hula group. Lots of fun. She's a wonderful dancer. She's the one in the red skirt.


The young girl below was so good. There is no way that I could move my hips like she does, but I sure wish I could. The crowd loved her.


Tomorrow I will feel HAPPY. Or I will fake it until I actually do feel that way.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Deleted

Hello. I deleted a few entries from my blog. I don't think I've ever pulled whole entries before. I've been focusing on trying to make things happen. I need to focus more on what IS happening, the parts of my life that are moving along in the right direction. No more sitting around wishing. I get caught up in that so easily. I need to relax. And not grab at things so quickly.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

A Couple of Words

Not a whole lot to say. It's late. I'm trying to get back into a post-everyday-habit, though, so here's my 365 picture.
And just one more......

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Sure Better Than Monday

Wow, what a day.

Last night I updated at Facebook with something along the lines of this weekend was great, but Monday sucked and I have high hopes for Tuesday. Something like that.....

Anyway, I woke up this morning to a comment that needed to be moderated from Isaiah Mustafa, who is the star of the current (very funny) Old Spice commercials. He made me a personalized video, which I posted earlier today. What a thrill. I love working with that company and their body wash smells darn good, too.

I took a few pictures of my garden and had them printed out to be used in what is now a full art show. Oh well, maybe next time, but here's the thing, I am going to fix them for my mom and I to use in our kitchens. I think they'll look pretty good. I can't wait to show them to her tomorrow.

Here's my 365 photo for today. Now I'm off to hang out with my kids. Night all!

He's Swell & I'm Thrilled

I wrote about Isaiah Mustafa, the Old Spice Man On A Horse, Man Your Man Could Smell Like Man, at Girl Looks Swell and he made me a thank you video.  He also tweeted about me. I'm darn giddy about the whole thing! 




Just in case the video doesn't work, you can see it here.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Monday Sucks Sometimes

I woke up feeling all excited about the bliss, but then real life hit and I got off track. Some days suck. Really suck. Today was one of them.

I basically hid out in my room, getting my work done, writing, sending out a request for new products to review, which helped a lot. I took a few pictures of a new body spray that arrived - they sent it with little shells, the box had all these stickers saying it was from France all over it. I used the shells in a few shots and at least ended up with one photo for my 365 project. Not a great photo, but at least I'm getting back on track.


Now it's the end of the day, I have my run in, I'm watching The Bachelorette long distance with my sister and I made it through one more day. Tomorrow will be better.  I can't get where I'm going all in one day.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Follow Your Bliss

I just had an epiphany of sorts. You know that saying, "Follow your bliss"? Well, I was reading an interview over at Shutter Sisters.com and the following quote from Joseph Campbell was mentioned:




If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.


I looked up Joseph Campbell, to find the whole quote and that's when I found the Joseph Campbell Foundation. Joseph Campbell sounds fascinating. Bill Moyers did a series of interviews with him and here's a short excerpt:

BILL MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.

***********

Holy cow!! The most blissful moments of my life have to do with my camera. I have felt so much fear and doubt in terms of what my limitations are - a general lack of talent and definitely knowledge (I know basically nothing), but I get so much joy from working with the camera and tinkering with the photos. I need to embrace the fear, just jump on in and get messy with it. This is my bliss. And heck yeah, I'm going to follow it.

I Visited My Friend

I finally got a chance to go visit my friend. The trip was quick, although the driving seemed to take forever. I came home with a big ol' hairy crush, way worse than before I left. Oh well. I can handle it. A crush isn't a bad thing. He is a very nice man. And I know that "nice" usually is a lame compliment, but in this case I think it's huge. I know some very not-nice men. This guy, he's special.

My friend lives along this beautiful river. We took a walk and there's a long trail alongside with benches and a rope swing that I would really like to try out some day.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day to you!!  I wish you a day of fun, family, and friends.  And a big piece of watermelon, too.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Their Rules and My Rules

Have I mentioned that my friend and I have been reading The Rules?  Well, we have. I've finished Book 1, barely started Book 2. Here's what I think.....

They make it too complicated. There are too many rules. No one can keep that going forever.... and they do recommend doing it forever.

I've come up with my own Rules:

*Be myself - I can only play by any sort of Rules for a short length of time. In the end, I'm going to be me. I don't know how to be anyone else.

*Don't be too available, because as silly as it sounds, men do enjoy a bit of a chase. They are hunters deep down.  Men accuse women of being complicated, but they are pretty complicated themselves. They want to have to work for you. If you are too easy to "get" then you don't appear valuable enough or some such nonsense. Whatever. It's easy, don't look like you are waiting around for them to call/text/visit.

*Live a full life. Have lots of friends, interests, work, fun, whatever. Don't make your life all about any man. That's too much responsibility for any person and it will only lead to disappointment.

Isn't that an easy set of rules?  It boils down to value yourself and others will value you, as well.

Another thing,....I have a friend who keeps saying he's too emotional and I have a female friend who says she gives too many chances to people. These are not failings. They show a strong heart, not a weak one. I have struggled with the same sort of thoughts, felt that I was somehow "wrong" in some way. I'm not wrong. He's not wrong. She's not wrong.

You can't change who you are, but you can change the way you will allow yourself to be treated (like my new 3 Strikes rule).  I strongly believe that the main reason my male friend is unique, the reason that people are drawn to him, is directly related to how emotional he is, how much he loves or hurts or feels. Sure some people aren't going to like it, but that's fine - not everybody has to get you. Same with my female friend and me. Not everybody is going to mesh with our personality, but that's fine.

Okay, time to get busy. I wish you a wonderful day.