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Showing posts from February, 2013

I Do This All the Time - Music Optional... :)

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OH yeah.. uh huh!  Sometimes I just want to break into the 'leap 2 3s' in the hallway too!  (That's the basic Irish soft shoe move - LIFT up and kick your bottom! :))  SO much fun! My heart loving this! :)

Adventure and Service - Quite the Combo!

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Oops had a bit of a hiatus on the blog.  :)  I did write some nice entries into my notebook journal though because sometimes you just can't publish some of the personal things you want to get out. :)  Alas I'm back and I have a REALLY good one today.. brought to me by Mr. Brian Johnson at entheos. I'm loving my daily emails from entheos!  This one is SO nice and concise (I've been reading kid books lately with lots of rhyming rhythms.... :)) http://www.entheos.com/ideas/steve-chandler/1931/but-the-service-must-be-profound?c=3673 Here's the text: ********************************************************************************** This sounds like an ADVENTURE! :) Years ago while floundering in the throes of alcoholism and addiction my life was changed dramatically by the guru/philosopher/jester Alan Watts.      In his 1951 book The Wisdom of Insecurity he dramatically demonstrated that my search for a feeling of security is what was causing the feeling

What Does Your Fun Look Like?

I was listening to an interview of Allison Armstrong yesterday.. she's a woman who's studied men for 20 years and how women can better relate to them.  She had an interesting topic:  "What does your fun look like?"  And she talked about it by illustrating how different 'types' respond to this scenario: A friend comes to you and tells you 'I'm learning Mandarin Chinese.' What's your response to this?  Mine was 'COOL'! :)  Which I later came to know was the response of an 'Enjoyer'. :)  Her other types were 'Builder', 'Sharer', 'Expresser', and 'Growers and Knowers'. A Builder would respond with something like 'Why would you be learning this?  When will you use it?'  An Enjoyer (me) would respond like 'Sounds like fun!'.  A Sharer would respond with something like 'With whom are you doing that?'.  An Expresser might respond: "What do you want to say in Mandarin?&qu

Walking with Monica

Yesterday I took a walk through the skyways and subways to the library for a new selection of tunes.  (I LOVE THE LIBRARY, but that is not the topic of this post... will save for another post).  As I was coming back, there was a slow moving person using a walker in front of me who paused to let someone go in front of them knowing they were taking longer than most people.  I couldn't tell if the person was male or female and didn't even think about it.  I just waited behind the walker and noted the patience and considerate nature of the person. I had to go through a succession of doors and ended up holding one for 'The Walker' and then noticed SHE was a young looking African woman.  I think she was actually from Africa although the topic didn't come up because she had quite the accent.  :)  OF COURSE after I held the door for her I asked her if she needed help getting anywhere because we have lots of visitors in Med City and many times they don't know how to ge

Treble Hop Treble Hop Back

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I found my dance shoe/wig/crazy sunglasses collection/cheer leading letter sweater/digital answering machine from college bin today.  Well I didn't just find it by accident, I went looking for it because I wanted to get out my Irish and ballet shoes.   I have been hanging out with ballerinas on Sundays and sometimes Saturdays as I help with sewing the costumes for the dance theater production in town.  They're walking around with buns (in their hair) and pretty leotards with flowing skirts.  I just love the look and the gracefulness!  On their feet are the ever-coveted pointe shoes... Knowing that I have a pair, I wanted to get them out and play around with them, but really I wanted to get to my Irish shoes.... I want to get to know them better... :) My Right Foot - better at trebbling than my left. And these are my pretties... they are very clean and unscuffed, but I plan on changing that all... they DEFINITELY need some major work on the sole as I can not even poin

Big Time Valentines

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I don't know why I decided to look in the boxes of paper products that my kids brought home from their grandparent's house one weekend, but I did last night.  And what to my wondering eyes did I see????? BIG Price Tags from a car dealership that would work wonderfully as DOOR HANGER VALENTINES! So... here's what I did last night... :) This is only 35, but I had to make more when I got in to work in the morning because I couldn't remember how many people were all the offices.. :)  I think it was about 45 total!  ;) And that, my friends, was REALLY FUN! :) I hope you had fun spreading LOVE on Valentine's Day (whatever the real reason we have the day is....) :)

Perfect Chopping Weather

I haven't had an opportunity like this for years..... A sunny day, melting ice, and plenty of time.... to CHOP ICE!  :)  I absolutely LOVE to get out there and remove ice from my stairs, sidewalk, driveway - whatever is covered in ice.  I have ruined quite a few shovels because of this love of mine, but I used to have a great ice scraper/chopper that I didn't move from my previous house so I didn't have the exact right tool for the job, but my metal shovel did a great job of most of it. I mean these conditions were ideal!  I didn't need a hat. I had on mittens on my fingers would turn white, but the rest of the day was just gorgeous!  I had SO MANY great CHOPS too.... when you hit the 'sweet' spot that causes multiple breaks of the ice flying in all directions.... SO satisfying!  I could do it for hours.... but my right hand that takes most of the force of the blows was getting sore. With my chopping success inspiration, I went to the hardware store in town

Lovin the Little Ones

I'm 24 hours post-hosting-a-slumber-party for my almost 9 year old... and I really enjoyed it!  :)  I was flying solo - the only adult on the premises... and I was outnumbered 6 to 1... but I really had a great time!   We went swimming first, then to the Ice Bars downtown (QUICK stop-over), then back home for pizza, making MONSTERS out of fleece, ice cream sundaes, and PROM (the movie).  :) These girls (3rd graders) were the sweetest girls!  For one, my youngest was climbing ALL over them... and I mean ALL over them... getting in their face and just being a full-out little sister menace!  But neither the girls nor Sarah got upset with her.... what a pleasant experience!   Then she started doing cartwheels (REALLY well too) and we all were so surprised at her ability that we really couldn't speak for a while. ;) We had a great time making monsters out of fleece, but I must say it would have gone a bit faster had there been another person who knew how to tie a thread/needle a

Upright Bass

I found another instrument that I want to play... the upright bass.  I realized that I naturally find the bass line in the music I hear and enjoy that. So first I wanted to play the bass guitar and may still want to, but I think the upright bass is so cool looking... a huge violin.  This is my desire after watching a couple of upright bass players last night at the Americana Showcase.... one male and one female.  The woman had the BEST facial expressions.  I told her that after the show and she laughed.  She said she had no idea that she makes faces and that the lights are so bright that she just really can't see a thing so she just plays and that's what her face does. :) The other members of the band were great too!  Two brothers sang and played guitars - one with a big 10 gallon cowboy hat and the other with some great wavy hair (James Dean style).  They sounded and looked like they were brought to the stage directly after arriving from 1950 in a DeLorean... :)  And then

My Little Sunshine

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As a non-tenured parking employee I don't have parking privileges anywhere near the building in which I work SO I pay to park at a hotel near my building and therefore I get to ride the hotel shuttle from my parking spot to my building.  Many times, like today, the driver will pick me up at my car when he sees me parking (SERVICE with a smile!).  I'm always grateful for that service. Today the bus was empty when he picked me up and then I switched buses to the bus that was going to the right place (yes the bus system at the hotel is complex :)).  It was quite full for a normal morning and we still had more people to pick up.... a couple from SW MN and then a special pick-up at one of the detached portions of the hotel. As we drove up I saw a woman and a smaller person in a wheel chair approach the bus.  The wheel chairs take a bit of extra time because they have to use the lift to get them into the bus.  AND the lift is loud - it does that back up noise the dump trucks an

Poppers

I was sewing today with the moms from the Alice ballet that my daughter will be a mushroom in this coming March and they were talking about what their kids wanted to have for a Super Bowl party when I realized that I wanted to make some jalepeno poppers.... not the boxed kind, but the kind you cut the pepper in half, remove the seeds and part that holds in the seeds and then fill it with cream cheese, bacon, and cheese and bake them..... so I did!  I got 3 big peppers and filled them up and baked them.  YUM! I also made guac... lots of green!  And YUM!  Whilst I was eating, I turned on the Super Bowl and saw a kick-off return and the power go out.... sweet!  Then I didn't have to watch any more!  :)  I'm really into professional football. :) Three jalepeno peppers are in my system right now.

Mr. Rochester

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A while back my darling cousin who works in the entertainment industry in California obtained a WONDERFUL surprise for me.... two signed photos of MR. ROCHESTER!!!  I have a certain fondness for the story of Jane Eyre and have seen as many of the film versions as possible - the most recent being done within the last 2 years and starring Michael Fassbender (why do I always want to put more syllables in there?)   The casting of him as Mr. Rochester is really not in line with the book's version of the character because he's NOT attractive in the book and Michael IS (EXTREMELY) attractive... so I guess he had to really act ugly to play the part. :)  hehehe. Anyway, I knew that my cousin worked on a film with Michael in Berlin and she might know him.  She did!  How cool!  That was all we really said about it... then I got a large envelope in the mail from London... sweet!  I love mail from overseas.... in it were two signed photos from HIM!  And here they are... (they have been at

Rumi for Friday

This is a continuation of an earlier post about the synchronicity of things... 'Timely something something'  where I had 5 quotes from Rumi.  Well another post came through (par deux) from Genius Awakening! Genius Awakening VI. “Work in the invisible world at least as hard as you do in the visible.” VII. “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” VIII. “You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?” IX. “Become the sky. Take an axe to the prison wall. Escape.” She has some great things to say about these quotes, but pretty much you can understand the meaning of the quotes at face value.  Rumi is all about blowing you out of your comfort zone... what has always been, what you think you can attain, not what you really would love!  Why?  Well... because he wants everyone to be the BEST everyone they can be! Invisible World:  This could be interpreted many ways... meditation, heaven, the underworld of