Realizations...

I realized some things about myself and my life this week...

This blog truly is a reflection of me and where my life is taking me this year. This has been a weird year. It almost seems like a mid-life crisis without there actually being a crisis. It is more like a mid-life realization that I don't want to live life on anyone's terms but mine. No expectations from others, just living my life the way I need to. This all started before I started this blog and has been a journey, but I realized this week how true to my life this year my "blog theme" actually is...

In February my car was on it's last leg. With 100,000+ miles, I decided to trade it in... on a cute little red car with leather seats and a moonroof. FUN! And so matching my personality right now.

Not long later a turning point occurred at work. A career move I was expecting - and had been promised - didn't pan out. This got me to thinking.... I don't want to do this anymore... not this job... not this industry... none of it... so what DO I want to do? That led me to pursue my teaching certificate. It was right there all along - and I should have done it a long time ago. If feels so right.

I have been reading the book Escape Adulthood. Funny thing is, it has a central theme of getting back to childhood - at least in how we see things and how we live our lives from their perspective. It is truly freeing. And it so lines up with the changes I have already made in my life this year... before I even found the book... it speaks to me and lets me know that what I am doing and the road I am on is the right one. Validation is a good thing.

Lastly, I made a decision this week. I ran it by some friends first, but the more I thought about it the more I realized I have to do this. For me. It brings back memories of my childhood. Wonderful memories. The kinds of memories I want my kids to have. I decided to make it happen. It is an entire 'nother post all by itself, but "it" fits in here, so I include it.

Komen-Houston.org

My friend Ingrid convinced me to participate in this year's Houston Komen Race for the Cure. This means I have to lose some weight (not a bad thing) and train to run 5 kilometers! Wish me luck!

My Nanna is a breast cancer survivor, so I am doing this for her as well.


If you are so inclined, please click the link to the right and sponsor me... if you are really inclined, click on the other link and sponsor Ingrid, too!

Tag, anyone?

I am so not into the blog "tag" scene. This isn't what I feel my blog is about... however a friend of mine (who will dearly pay for this) tagged me and I feel I must comply.... after all, she would do the same for me if I asked her to do something I wanted her to :)



My task:
Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday (only the month and day). Choose and write down 3 events, 2 births and 1 holiday. Then tag 5 friends.


I have added in commentary as to why I chose them... gotta make it mine!

October 8
Events:
2004 - Martha Stewart goes to jail. My icon. I was so dissapointed because I would not get to watch her show when I was on maternity leave with Reagan - like I had with Gillian...

1970 - Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects US President Richard Nixon's October 7 peace proposal as "a maneuver to deceive world opinion." The year I was born... my dad had faught in Vietnam just 2 short years ago..

1944 - The radio show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet debuts because it is fun :)


Births:
1970 - Matt Damon, American actor I had no idea!

1943 - Chevy Chase, American comedian and actor one of my favorite actors

1941 - Jesse Jackson, American clergyman and civil rights activist because I find it interesting, if not a little disturbing


Holiday:
Day of Independence in Croatia


There, I did it. Now these friends should consider themselves tagged:
Shannon, Mary Ann, Helen, Laura and Jessica
I love you girls!

When life hands you lemons....

You know the rest of that saying... Somehow, I managed to find this quaint little online gift boutique when I was searching for something special for a friend of mine last spring - Kim and Jason's Lemonade Stand. Cute, right? Very eclectic little shop with very eclectic little gifts. A little spendy, but so worth it for the customer service.

The more I read about this little site, the more interested I became. It is so much more than an online gift shop. Jason is a cartoonist and both Kim and Jason have blogs which are just delightful.... it is like a whole underground culture. Their business supports childrens charities such as St. Jude's Hospital and Compassion International. The cornerstone of their philisophy is "Escape Adulthood" - get away from the doldrums of adult life and get back to the those things that make you feel like a kid again - have fun with life...

So, I found a really cute item on their site a few weeks ago and decided to order one for my sister-in-law. I placed it in my shopping cart, but was waiting until Tuesday to order it (you see, on Tuesdays, shipping is only 25 cents...) and yes, I am that cheap. :)

Well, Tuesday came and went and I forgot. A few days later, I received an email from Jenna, one of their staff... she has some "grand poobah"-like title which escapes me at the moment... asking if I had any issues or concerns since I hadn't completed my order. I explained that I still planned to order, but that I had to get all of my ducks in a row, first. She responded with the comment "proper alignment of waterfowl is important". Indeed! Just that email made me smile and feel warm inside... This was not just another online shop. There was a real person on the other end of that email, a person after my own heart...

So, about that cute item? I ordered three of them this week (yes, on Tuesday). One for my sister-in-law and 2 more for a couple of my online friends who should be getting a nice surprise in the mail soon. ;)


I have an "Escape Adulthood" sticker on the rear window of my car. It makes me smile. It reminds me to have fun... and when life hands me lemons... it reminds me that I really need to go make some lemonade...

Things I must remember...

I had this great post all thought out... I was leaving Target the other day... and it came to me... as I was driving through the parking lot... and it was GREAT!

But, now it is gone :(

I am going to try to find it this weekend, because I really, really wanted to post it... if only I could remember what it was...

Sigh... sweet forgiveness

I posted Friday about comment made by a friend of mine and how it had hurt me...

I had an opportunity to speak with my friend yesterday. We discussed what had made me hurt and more importantly, what had made her say such a thing. In online chats and message boards it is so easy to take things out of context...

Her feelings were all about the "celebrity sightings" and media coverage and her "parading" her children around the globe. While I tend to believe there is more to Angelina Jolie than that, I can understand now, more of where she was coming from. Between that and her own personal struggles, she made a comment which, on it's own, was very hurtful, but taken in the context of my friend's world was totally understandable.

I understand. I forgive. I move on. Life is too short to hold grudges...

Funny how emotionally releasing forgiveness is....

And I still love my friend dearly.

Stupid Rainbow Family....

This obviously isn't my family... this is Angelina Jolie with her family. Why in the world would I post about Angelina Jolie?

Many of my friends know that my brother and his wife were unable to conceive children of their own. After years of no success, they decided to adopt internationally.

My neice was adopted when she was 6 months old. She is of Vietnamese/Cambodian descent. Not much is known about her birth parents, she was taken from the hospital and placed in an orphanage. Her mom had abandoned her...

Knowing that she was facing possible serious medical problems, by brother and his wife agreed to adopt this little girl. As time would tell, my niece was diagnosed with a form of cerebral palsy. Not that any of that is important. She is my neice. She is a very special little girl. A joy to be around. Little Miss Personality.

A friend of mine made a comment on a message board today. A comment that hurt me deeper than I realized. We were debating adoption. She would choose to adopt a child similar to herself and her husband. Fair enough.

The comment that came next, however, I neither expected nor understand:
"Personally I think Angelina looks pretty stupid with her rainbow of a family."

Angelina's son is from Vietnam. Angelina and her husband are white. Sound familiar?

How in the world anyone can say Angelina looks stupid with her rainbow family is beyond my comprehension. What does that say about my brother? Does he look stupid with his little rainbow family?

My heart aches. This is not the type of post I wanted to my blog to consist of... but along this journey there is pain.... pain for the insensitive remarks my friends sometimes make... but more pain for my wonderful, beautiful little neice and her rainbow family and the comments and stares she will certainly have to endure growing up in America.

Stay tuned...

I made a decision to post on this blog once per week....and I plan on keeping things that way. That being said, I am in the process of writing this week's post about a subject very sensitive to me right now. I am waiting on some pictures from my brother before I can publish my post, but know I am working on it and hopefully it will be up soon....

Thanks for reading!


ETA... I decided against using the pics I had originally planned to use. Blog is updated - and on time!