Maybe She's Mental

You don't see teeter totters much any more on playgrounds.. the fulcrum and lever contraption that probably sent too many little sisters flying through the air and to the Emergency Room... BUT we still see them in our lives and understand the concept COMPLETELY if we have ever been flung or (almost worse) pounded to the ground on a teeter totter. You're SURE of a decision... you're so happy and free because the decision is behind you... and then BAM... something changes or something comes back in the picture and you go from flying high status (because face it, the TOP is the BEST part of the teeter totter) to somewhere in the middle or maybe even back on the ground - hopefully it's not the GRAND SLAM where your bottom gets a bruise. And you are back in deliberation.  How did I feel so certain and then one little change and my resolve goes out the window.  I KNOW what it is that I need to decide, but why is it so hard to get out of the patterns that are comfortable? ...

I made myself a salad tonight (Greek even though I had two helpings of Greek salad today at our International Lunch event at work) and sat outside in the lovely evening sun to BE in my backyard.  I was facing my small fleur garden which I am just getting to know as I just acquired it this year and have no idea what's planted there except the lavender plant I placed there early this spring (she's doing splendidly I might add).    I also placed a fairy statue (in honor of my Nana) and a bird bath (a housewarming gift from a dear friend).  The rest of the growth I have NO idea what it was intended to be. I think there are some day lilies and I know there are a couple of maple tree seeds that took a hold that need to be extracted, but some of the other growth, I just can't tell if it's fleur or weed.  This happened to me one of the first years I planted a garden... I thought for SURE what was coming up was peas, oh and they were flourishing, until they got to be r...

I have been thinking about doing this for a while and now I finally have.... taken pictures of the gorgeous images I see when I walk into work every day.  They will speak for themselves, but I will tell you where they are. Lighting in the foyer on street level. This is what I see when I look up whilst waiting for an elevator. Mr. Owl on the top molding of the wall street level. Above the elevator doors sits the two dragons and the tree. The full elevator door on the street level. Chandelier and ceiling intricacy- street level.  Celtic knots inside the elevator cars on the ceiling. The Up and Down arrows - my floor. A vent with oil lamp and owl overlooking- my floor. Owl carving on ceiling molding - my floor. Genie's lamp and book on ceiling molding - my floor. A large vulture type bird on the ceiling molding - my floor. Marble bathroom stalls - my floor. Art on the building across the courtyard  through t...

A shredded beet heart! <3 I have only ever had beets cooked, but TODAY I tried them in the buff (the beets not me)! :)  They are incredibly delicious!  Not only do they taste so pleasing, but the patterns internally are so fun to discover (as I was using my peeler to shred the beets).  They are just a BLAST to prepare!  I really am not sure why I haven't discovered them in the past.... When I was purchasing the beets at the grocery store I realized something about my food preferences as well.  I got EXTREMELY excited in the produce section - the leafy green vegetable section to be precise.  I looked at the wall of veg and conjured up ideas of Napa cabbage wraps and herbed melon smoothies.  'Oh, how could I use that celery root?  I don't think I've tried that before, I will have to get that some time....' was actually a thought pattern I remember having. Yes some men get giddy at the meat counter, but I feel my pulse quicken with excitemen...

I'm uploading pictures from camp and realized the tedious way of uploading 10 at a time was the way that it was going to work this time around... not all 140 or so at one time... alas, it gives me a few moments to reflect on my weekend...and catch up on emails. I need to go make a stick figure picture of a life I want to live... in my relationship life.  This picture is going to be SAWEET!  I can design it exactly as I please!  How fun is that?  I had originally incorporated my relationship life stick figure picture in my life picture, but I think this one deserves a full page edition. You see, I realized this week.  I decide.  This man is designed by me and he will be articulated in detail.  Amazing will be on both sides of the equation.  A focus on love will be running in parallel as well. OH.. and I must add that I found a new favorite word... (from camp)... YURT!  So fun to say! Off the draw my picture! LOVE!

Here's some Irish for you today.... an Irish Proverb that cracked me up!   Go mairir is go gcaithir, is go bhfágair sa sceach é. May you live and may you wear it out and may you leave it in the bushes.    I love how Irish people love to offer up their 'blessing' for you.  This proverb is a wonderful image of making the most of life (and also quite like the shoes that my daughter told me this morning - 6 hours before our departure for camp - were used up). May you wear it out!  Life!  Wear it out!  Now that sounds SO incredibly FUN to me!  I don't see it meaning necessarily to CRAM as many activities as possible.  I see it as enjoying whatever it is you choose to do with your mind fully engaged.  I am engaged with this cup of tea, this walk in the woods, the odor of a molding orange peel in my trash can at work, the current cloud formation passing overhead... ;) I see it as experiencing the immense grandeur of e...

Yep... that pretty much sums it up!  What's the best day for me?  It's going out and interacting with as many people as possible (oh and if you include dancing.. BONUS). Today is market day and I HIT it!  I love talking to the vendors asking them about how they produced what they're selling.  I love milling around with other passer-by(s).  I love running into people I know and checking in on them... like a ex-colleague who's daughter is now nearly out of high school!  I hope he didn't mind that I told her to travel in Europe for a year before starting college... :)  She doesn't know what to study in college so I figure a year of traveling might help her with that decision. :) I ran into a yogi friend of mine who had just gotten back from teaching yoga at the jail in town!  I thanked him for doing that.  He (in his BATMAN shirt) says the transformations he sees in the inmates are amazing!  I thought his HUG was amazing so he must be d...

I have this feeling right now that I'm just supposed to write.  There's something bubbling up and I don't think it's the sneeze that just came out... but maybe that's part of it.  :)  I'm contemplating the many connections I have had with people in a day, a week, a month....  there are so many people facing changes.  Some are of their own making and some that have been decided for them.  How beautiful is that?  Observing the changes around you in your relationships and the lives of those in your relationships....but yet you're remaining steady.  I contemplate who moves into my life and takes up my heart and those that leave in a poof of no communication.  Some leave with great fanfare, but most just fade.... on to the next thing of interest.  I admire those who can take a turn and roll with it knowing that it's for their benefit.  These are the wave riders.  Not surfers necessarily, but those who have learned to dance with t...

I'm just back from a quite spontaneous trip to Tulum Mexico.  Spontaneous was the decision to apply and interview for the retreat with women from all over the world and led by a woman whom I have admired for years for her generosity, vulnerability, and authenticity. I really don't have much arch do I? And you know what told me to respond?  It was the urge to want to feel my feet in the sand.  There's something about the tiny pieces of worn down particles between your toes and sloughing off the callouses on your heels that's SO renewing!  It's the rough particles contacting an object that create the smooth shiny surfaces that we consider so beautiful! Because I SO enjoy the feel of the sand on my feet and I KNOW that where there's sand like this, there's water like the OCEAN which brings SO much perspective, I changed my life forever.  I met 16 women who also had some call to the SACRED place of Tulum.  These women live with purpose, love and support...