\Peace

I am sure I have written about this place before...My grandparents live across the street from the water...It is a place that centers me...a place that I can look around and appreciate the beauty.   There is a place down off one of the boat launches where I have had many firsts in my life....my first kiss (one summer when I was 11), my first cigarette, my first heartbreak.  This is the place that my husband would have proposed to me if he didn't get delayed at work.  Sitting on the rocks letting the wind whip through my hair...I can actually just tune everything out for a little while.  I haven't been down there yet on this trip but I will go, probably at sunset.
There is so much beauty here...the flowers are in full bloom, the grass is green, you can smell the salt water when you walk outside.  I need to find hte time to take a walk with my camera and take some pictures.
Do you have a place like this....a place that no matter what mood or trouble you have is like a breath of fresh air that calms you? 
I am off to shop, get pedicures and do the other things you do to distract someone from a surpirse party that is being organized around them....so nice to be on this end for a change, instead of being the one trying to make it happen!! Hope that your weekends are fabulous!! Hugs

Heading south...

and it's a gorgeous day for a drive...
the sky's blue..temps at about 70- going to blast some music and drive with the sun roof open...
it that won't get me out of the funk I am in....I don't know what will...
My paper that's due on Monday is done...so no feeling like I have to rush out of there on Sunday to do it....which will be nice..
Can I tell you a secret?
I did not turn on the royal wedding today....I was awake for most of it and didn't turn on the TV...
Not sure why...just feel like the hype of it all was too much I guess....I wish them all the happiness in the world...but all this hype and scrutiny...don't you think it's hard enough to be married as normal people...add onto that the heir apparent to the crown of England..and then the media hype for the wedding....that's a lot of pressure...I did look at pictures this morning...and it looked gorgeous...just couldn't bring myself to watch it..

Okay..enough secret confessions for today...I am going to go pack...pull my hair back and break out some of my favorite cds....I am (FINALLY) able to send some sunshine out to all of you...hugs and love!!  see y'all on the flip side!

smiles?

We have positives and negatives on this Thursdays list....I think they balance each other out....
I have tomorrow off....that's a huge smile
I put in 41 and a half hours in the four days that I worked...
I have a new hot water heater
It is on the wall in the new bathroom and is huge and ugly
Hubby might have a new job on the horizon
We have to play with our finances a bit to make it work
There is a job posted at work that I have been waiting to post for a couple of weeks.
I am not sure if I should apply for it or not....I am having really mixed emotions right now...it would be a good step for me....I know that...but....I don't know...I can't quite verbalize yet....
I am headed to Connecticut this weekend to celebrate my aunt's birthday and my parents are coming up (both are huge positives....i can't wait to see my mom)
My grandmother is upset because David isn't coming with me....
I don't really know what's going on with me right now..just feeling kinda blah I guess.
I need to feel like I am accomplishing something?  I am not really sure that's the right word for it...
Migraines are more frequent than ever....I have been putting off some follow up testing that I need to go get done...I have my first acupuncture appointment in about a month and a half on monday and not even really excited about that....
I don't know....just some silly funk I guess....I will pull myself out of it I am sure of it...but right now I almost feel like I want to let it run it's course...don't know..
okay...I am rambling now....sending positive thoughts out to all of you tonight.. I hope that the star dust from your dreams settles in and make something magical happen for you all!!

Just wanted to say...

that your words inspire me...
they make me smile...
they make me laugh..
I have cried at your posts...
I have smiled at your pictures..
I have hoped and wished that there would be a cure..
You have helped me, smiled with me, been there for me..
I have read your blog longer than anyone elses..
You were the "first" blog that I followed...
and yours will always be on my list..
You inspire so many...
Always ready with a comment to make someone smile..
Always ready with an email when it is needed...
I know what it feels like when your body betrays you..
But please know that your words..whatever they are...even when it's not every day...inspire me.
I don't "Know" you in the traditional way that people "know" each other...
but I count you as a dear friend...
Tonight, my blog is dedicated to you...
the one who smiles in spite of it all..
the one who writes for the joy of writing
the one who shares from the heart
the one who is at the center of our little blog family...
you may not think that it's "enough"
but girl, i gotta tell you..it's all you.....and sharing "you" with the world is a gift.
Sending healing thoughts to you...
Sending a bunch of silly jokes to make you smile...
But mostly sending my love and admiration...
because you inspire me and you will always be enough.

Beware of crocs

I am obsessed with shoes.

I am not kidding I probably have at least 100 pairs of sandals.  

It drives my husband crazy when I come home with another pair of shoes.

As the spring starts to slowly warm up, there is one type of shoe that comes out of hiding that I seriously despise.  I have never hated a pair of shoes more than I hate these.

I hear all good things about them

They are so comfortable

They are so easy

They are perfect for working in the garden

They come in so many different colors.

I get it...and most of the time all of those (except the gardening one...i avoid that at all costs..but that's a different post) are enough reason for me to go out and buy a pair of shoes.  

But, at the risk of offending some who may wear them (and if that is the case, I am very very sorry) they are seriously about the ugliest shoes I have EVER seen

source

Honestly, they are the most hideously designed shoe I have ever seen.  They are designed to be used in the garden and they are plastic so they can be hosed off and cleaned easily.  I get it.

However, there is something about these shoes that make people think it is acceptable to wear all variety of colors together.  First of all, I have never seen a fluorescent orange shoe that I have liked, but put the color in a croc and everyone has them, especially when wearing pink. Okay, so maybe if you were out hunting in the middle of the woods and were wearing your hunters orange then the shoes would match- except they would get stuck in the mud that you would inevitably have to cross to track whatever animal you are looking for.

Lime green- another shoe color that is really not okay to wear with most articles of clothing.  My favorite pair of sandals were lime green- I wore them with two outfits- both were mostly while and they were these strappy things that unless you were really paying attention you wouldn't have noticed they were lime green- these shoes are like clodhoppers- no one can miss them.

To exhibit my extreme dislike of these shoes let me tell you a story.

My three year old nephew (hubby's sisters kid who I can't ever say no to) was in a store with us one day last summer.  He knows that all he has to do is bat his cute little eyes at Auntie and she will buy him whatever it is that he wants.   He wanted these:

I said no and picked out another pair.  He batted his eyes, begged, gave me kisses, and eventually through a huge fit because I said I wouldn't buy him the shoes.  My sister in law ended up getting them for him so that he would stop crying....and I still won't go anywhere with him if he has them on.  He is a cutie and knows that auntie won't take him out if he is wearing his "bob pants" shoes.

Now that spring has started to arrive and we are anticipating the new shoe season I just have one piece of advice:

Beware of the crocs.  They will sneak up on you and appear when you least expect them- often in bright neon (or even tie-dyed) colors that match nothing else an individual is wearing.

new awards and other random thoughts for a Friday

Hello all!
I hope that this finds you all doing well and having some fun on this chilly Friday night...
My allergies have kicked in full swing today...not sure why but they are killing me right now.
I left work early today.  I went in this morning and just decided that I needed an afternoon off....and I did pretty well...usually I set a time that I am going to leave and end up not leaving for at least forty five minutes after that time..today was only twenty minutes :) I came home and took a nap.  There is something completely luxurious about taking a nap in the middle of the day...
I have two awards that I feel incredibly honored to receive.
Caterpillar over at Musings and Confessions of a Wandering Mind gave me one a few Sundays back

I really do appreciate that you all read my ramblings...so thank you for this one!!  Caterpillar is one of those individuals whose posts make you think and delve into your soul.  She is a beautiful writer who lays everything out on the line for you to read. 

The next one is from Thisisme at Southhamsdarling. which I have never seen before

very sweet and I thank you very very much for it....if you haven't read her blog you should totally go check it out (although I think everyone reads it now) because she gives a great perspective on life, the love of family all in the backdrop of a beautiful English town.

So, as with most awards these have rules.  I am going to combine them and tell you seven random things about myself- forgive me if I repeat anything you already know..

1. I work in sales and am putting up killer numbers for the year, but really I would love to be working with teenagers who are aging out of the foster care system to make sure that they have resources and skills to make it on their own so that they don't end up in abusive relationships like many have seen family members in, mixed up with drugs, dependent on the system or in jail.  This is a huge gap in the way the system currently works.  Did you know that in the state where I live and thirty seven other states, the minute a youth turns eighteen they are kicked out of a state funded system that is all they have known for many years and told that they need to figure out how to make it on their own AND that in many states it is against the policies of the Department of Human Services (or what ever other system is in place in the particular state) for any worker to have contact with this child once they age out of the system.  And people wonder why so many of these kids end up perpetuating the cycle that they lived through as a child?
2. I live in a house that is almost 100 years old.  I fell in love with the house after looking at 47 others.  This house was the very first listing that my mother sent to me and i told her that I didn't want to go look at it because I didn't think i would like it.  Guess mothers really do know best!
3. I have been to 45 out of 50 states.  I am still missing Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas, Colorado and Montana.  I hadn't been to Vermont either until last year when my hubby and I went for our anniversary even though it took us less than two hours to get there.
4. I am very spoiled and mandate that we go on vacation for a whole week at least twice a year.  This involves leaving the house and staying somewhere that isn't someone elses house.  We do this with a time share that we bought about ten years ago.  Even though we have done this for the last ten years, we have never been back to our "home" resort, always trading to go somewhere else.
5. One of my favorite places that we have ever been is Moosehead Lake Maine.  In general, I hate the woods but this place gives me a chance to recenter myself and hubby and I try to go at least once a year.  Our favorite activity while we are there has nothing at all to do with the water.  We drive around for hours on the logging roads that run through the woods and look for moose.  We have driven on snowmobile trails, gotten lost in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone reception, gotten stuck in the mud and gotten a flat tire on there trails, but we stock up with junk food and drinks and literally will drive all day.  My husband gets a kick out of the fact that we will be deep in the woods with no one else around and I will get creeped out by the silence and swear there is a serial killer in the woods stalking us and waiting to kill us- think about what better place to hide a body that in the middle of the woods where people don't generally travel.
6. Piggybacking on the above fact, i have never in my whole life peed in the woods.  My husband tries his best to make that happen and has for ten years- but I have a bladder of steel.
7. I have a rule about visitors to my house.  They are not allowed unless they give me at least an hours notice.  Only once has anyone challenged this rule and I took them out for a very nice lunch and then made them stand outside because I hadn't had a chance to straighten up at all and my house usually looks like a bunch of unsupervised five year olds live in it.  I am not a good housekeeper by any stretch of the imagination and even with several days notice, my house isn't spotless (unless my mother is coming and then I will obsessively clean even though I know she doesn't really care but her house has always been spotless and I feel kinda bad that I didn't inherit that particular gene from her) but at least it looks like two adults live here.

I think that's probably enough of my rambling for tonight....I hope that you all have a wonderfully fantastic weekend, whether doing nothing or accomplishing a lot.  I am going to go take a dose of Nyquil and attempt to get several more hours of sleep. Peace and positive thoughts out to the universe tonight that hopefully settle on each one of you!!

Chaos

Chaos defined by the American Heritage Dictionary

NOUN:

1. A condition or place of great disorder or confusion.
2. A disorderly mass; a jumble: The desk was a chaos of papers and unopened letters.
3. often Chaos The disordered state of unformed matter and infinite space supposed in some cosmogonic views to have existed before the ordered universe.

This is how I feel about most aspects of my life right now.

My house is in chaos because of renovations

Work is in chaos for a variety of different reasons

The only thing that centers me right now is my hubby- which is good but slightly chaotic as well..

I think I have too much going on and I am trying desperately to find a balance.

The days are getting longer so why does it feel like there is less time to get things done?

I am waiting for the world to stop for just a moment...just freeze...I need to carve out some me time...

That's what my blog forces me to do..carve out some me time..

time to reflect on the positives

time to put my thoughts on paper

an outlet to just be myself

I appreciate that you all read my ramblings and that you comment

I have written over 200 posts...that's a little bit crazy...

I guess what I am trying to say is thanks for being my one little corner where chaos doesn't infringe...

Thanks for giving that one moment where it feels like the world stops for just a second and I can just breathe.