Tuesday

A Whole New World

I've recently been on a search for new things to do, places to go, things to learn, food to eat and experiences to have. The last few weeks I have:
  • Found a new hiking trail near my place
  • Learned to bake chicken well
  • Been to Bobcats basketball games
  • Been to a Checkers hockey game
  • Expanding my Art skills through painting
  • Got Internet at home
  • Caught up on LOST
  • Started a basic workout regimen
  • Met my new neighbors
  • Made new friends
  • Started Dumb Movie night

I have a list titled 101 Things To Do in Charlotte. I've already marked off about 10-12 things that I have done and have decided that I'll choose one at a time to experience.

I'm also contemplating getting a season pass to Carowinds (mini Magic Mountain for you CA folks). It's only about 15 minutes away and I heart roller coasters. Hopefully I'll be able to go to a real Nascar race and a Panthers game this year too. I have tons on my To-Do Wish List, I'm excited for the journey. What's on your To-Do Wish List?

Friday

Cute Flats!

I have been more attracted to flats recently for multiple reasons.
Here are a few that caught my eye.








These ones look like little girls shoes, I love them!
I think they would look so cute with a denim skirt.

Material Girl in a Material World?

There are times when I am honestly astounded at the concerns and desires of others. I do not consider myself a materialistic person. Now, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy nice things and understand their worth. What irks me is when a person is continually driven by the bigger, better, best paradigm. I have been told by others that carrying a large amount of debt is not a concern as long as they have everything they want.

Perhaps I fall more into the 'saver' category, which may be why I have trouble accepting this type of mindset (though I do spend lavishly on my shoes). It also stems from my upbringing. I was taught to be very thrifty and not wasteful. Use it until it is unusable, then find another use for it. If an item is broken, marred or missing some cosmetic aspect it is certainly not unusable and does not need to be replaced with the newer, more expensive model. Just use the dang thing as it is and be happy you have one at all.

When I was younger and less knowledgeable of the effects of outlandish credit items, I did fall into the instant gratification trap. Years later, I am working hard to pay off those debts and have very little to show for that time of carefree spending.

That's another thing. I am doing my best not to be a pack rat. I strive to pare down my clutter as much as possible and donate all that I no longer have a use for. Also a nice help now that I have so few tax write-offs. Example: I have a fixed number of coat hangers. I will not buy new coat hangers. In order for me to buy a new item of clothing, I must donate or give away an existing item. Take something down in order to put something else back up. I seem to always have a bag of clothes and general household items being gathered for donation to the local Goodwill Store. This works for me.

I hope to be able to teach my future children these same ideals. I understand that some may not find my ideas to be ideal at all, yet I do. I believe that if something is earned it is more valuable. I believe that if you truly want something, you will work hard to attain it. I believe things that are easily gained are just as easily dismissed. I believe that rocks can sometimes be the best souvenir.

Sunday

What Matters Most

-By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine and your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine and your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray you own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it's not pretty, everyday and if you can source your own life from it's presence.

I want to know if y0u can live with failure, your and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me whom you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

I doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Friday

Random Picture of the Day


Darth, old boy, what are you doing?

Monday

Quote for the Day

Who looks not with compassion
sees not what the eyes of compassion see.
-Tibetan saying

Nice View!

So, I'm in a new apartment. My first floor apartment flooded and I was moved to a nice new 3rd floor apartment. It has vaulted ceilings and a view of the pool. hauling my stuff up 3 flights of stairs is not so fun, but it's good for my thighs so I shouldn't complain too much. I do enjoy the view of the pool and watching the kids play. The kitties also like the balcony and roll in the sunshine.

Sometimes...

Sometimes I eat cereal for dinner.

Sometimes I use baby oil instead of lotion.

Sometimes I stay at work until 10 o'clock because it's better than going home.

Sometimes I wonder if other people are thinking about me too.

Sometimes I hope for the best, and wish I could prepare for the worst. I'm not so good at that last part.

Sometimes I crave Ramen noodles.

Sometimes I miss people so bad it hurts.

Sometimes I wish my cat would just find a place to sit and stay there.

Sometimes I wonder what I will do with all the toys in my cube.

Sometimes I wish I was a full time student on a full-ride scholarship, and could just learn for a living.

Sometimes I think I deserve better. Sometimes not.

Wednesday

Quote for the Day

Your life is an occassion.
Rise to it.
-Mr. Magorium's
Wonder Emporium

PostSecret, I Love You

Oh Liberals, who will you blame now?
Perhaps you'll finally have to be responsible for your own actions.
Not likely, but I can dream.


Tuesday

As Days Go By

It's been a little while since I've updated my faithful reader as to my happenings. So here's the rundown:

Started a new Art class. Basic Acrylics, going shopping for my supplies tonite.

Andi had a great birthday party. It was nice to see her so happy and surrounded by friends.

Three months and still going well.

Trying to decide if I should send Valentines flowers...

I love having a clean house!

The purging continues. Where did I get so much stuff?

Learning to ask for what I want, it's slow and steady.

Plans this month: Hinder at Amos' South End!!

Work is going really well. Busy busy busy.

Have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I go to sleep way too late!

Went to the circus! It's still fun, even for grown-up kids!

Ladies 8-Ball team is in 1st Place! If we continue to win, we're going to Vegas Baby!

If I get laid off, I'm going in the Air Force.

Goals for 2009: Pay off two credit cards

Need to wash the salt and dirt off my car.

No girls, I don't wear lipstick and I'm not concerned about that at all.
Need to get my haircut.

Friday

The Cry of the Meadowlark or Nightingale

Heavenletter # 2812 Published on: August 6, 2008

Whatever another does, no matter how it may seem to impact you, it is their privilege to do as they see to do. You may feel that someone has let you down. Beloveds, when you feel that way, you have let yourself down. Did you take on what someone else chooses to do as though it were your own responsibility? Did you make a portion of your life dependent upon what someone else chooses when all of your life is dependent upon you? Better to not make or allow anyone else to be the sayer of how you react in your life or any portion of it.

People like to accommodate you, yet they are not going to make their choices dependent upon what you want and feel is right, even when they may have said they would follow through. Brides and grooms have been left at the altar. You have been left waiting on the street corner by someone who did not show up, even when you were the one ready to do a favor. People are going to follow their own stars and also even their own whims.

Here is an opportunity for you to gain this famous equanimity you have so wanted, beloveds — to be at that place where you are not so bolstered or so desolate by what others choose to do or not to do at any given moment. Wholeheartedly accept the upliftment others may give you but never be deflated by what they do not give or change their minds about. Otherwise, you are a bouncing ball in someone else's hand. Beloveds, it is for you to make your own way in the world independent of what others choose to do. It is their right. Be your own star that shines and leads you to your destination.

When you ride a train, and the train should happen to break down, that is not the end of your travels. It is not a tragedy. So when a friend does not show up at an appointed time, it may be an inconvenience for you, yet it is not a tragedy. It is not really even an offense, even though you are sure it is.

Be glad to be with someone, and do not mind so when the person is no longer there. He heard his own distant cry of the meadowlark or nightingale, and he went his own way irrespective of you. He may respect you very much and yet not feel beholden to you or what he may have previously said or promised. He may have meant it. Once it was true for him, but now it is not. He cannot go back to the past, nor are you to make him. All contracts are dissolved. There are those who may resolve former contracts with what you call honor and some who will resolve without. Some do not even remember what the agreement was. In any case, the only agreement that matters is the one on your plate right now.

Do you see what I am asking you to do? I am asking you to not be dismayed by others' choices. Right or wrong, they are right to make their own choices however you may feel about them. You are not to lead your life according to others' views and desires, nor are they to live their lives according to your views and desires. Even when you are right by everything you know, it is still their right to choose. Do you see how, when you free others from bounds, you free yourself? Beloveds, no matter how seemingly innocent, bounds are a form of tyranny. You are not meant to be a tyrant. You are meant to be a pharaoh who lets his people go.

http://www.heavenletters.org/the-cry-of-the-meadowlark-or-nightingale.html

Wednesday

Quote for the Day

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749 - 1832)

Tuesday

Visual Poetry

read into it what you will

16 Random Things

I was tagged to do a list of 16 random things about me. I don't blog on my Facebook, so here it is.
  1. I put too much sugar in my cranberry apple tea this morning. More like warm Kool-Aid now.
  2. I want to see how far my new car will go with the gas light on. Old car, 58 miles was as far as I pushed it.
  3. If I get laid-off from this job, I will leave the financial industry completely. And never look back!
  4. 41 assorted objects displayed around my cuffice could easily be construed as "toys".
  5. This weekend I put up 7 new pictures/wall hangings. My home feels much more homey now.
  6. I started the new year with someone who is good for me.
  7. Public Relations sounds intriguing to me.
  8. Goal for 2009, pay off 2 credit cards!!
  9. I am trying to be more thoughtful of others. It's a work in progress.
  10. When I go out to sushi with friends, I am astonished that I'm the most daring one.
  11. I love Pesto!
  12. I worry I'll never have kids. If I cannot stay home with them, I will not have them.
  13. I want to go on a bus and walking tour of Washington D.C. so I don't have to worry about being arrested.
  14. Need to decide if I'm going to go to school on not. Then figure out how.
  15. Even though both my teams lost in embarrassing displays of Pop-Warner football skills, I'm still a fan!
  16. I have a hard time sitting down at home, I'm always on the move.

Tag, You're It! Sarah, Britt, Wanda Jo, Shell, Mom, Andi, Villa, Anyone else who's bored.

Thursday

Monday

The Sheet Set Cult Mystery

In my quest for the perfect fitted sheet and pillowcases, I encountered a startling mystery. You cannot purchase a lone fitted sheet! Why, you ask? Because the fitted sheet makers of the world have decided in their world domineering committee's, that a person has no reason to buy a lone fitted sheet. Hence, we a forced to purchase an entire sheet set including: 1 fitted sheet, 1 flat sheet, 2 pillowcases.

To many this is not a problem at all, as they use the entire set. I am not one of these sheep, following the Sheet Set Cult blindly. I do not use the flat sheet. It has no purpose in my life. I have very nice, ultrasoft sable-like blankets against my skin when I cuddle into bed. Not a cold flat sheet. Why would I want cold sheet on both sides of me? I already have cold fitted sheet on the mattress side, I should not be forced to have cold flat sheet on the other side as well. This is a free country! If I choose to sleep with ultrasoft blanket, or sheepskin or burlap against my skin, that is my choice dagnabbit!!

Yet the Sheet Set Cult demands that I purchase their flat sheet. Why would I buy something I have no use for? I am a very thrifty person and choose not to spend my money on things that are useless to me. Why, oh, why can I not buy a lone fitted sheet?

Where did this Sheet Set conspiracy come from? Cotton farmers to drive up demand? Textile companies to increase production? Retailers to grow their bottom-line? It's a global conspiracy, I tell you! Well, I for one will not be duped by the Sheet Set Cult. I will not pay for a flat sheet that will sit folded and unused on my shelf, gathering dust and using up valuable space. I will not! I will Not! I will NOT!

If anyone knows how to obtain a new single fitted sheet, please share this revelation with me. In the meantime, I will be continuing my search for the perfect lone fitted sheet. Hi-ho Silver! Away!

Tuesday

New Car!!!


Here is a pic of my new car! 2008 Mazda3 Hatchback. I love it!!! It has all the fancy bells and whistles I wanted and still got a really good deal on it. Yay for me!

And Only 2 Were Standing

So I have whittled my new car choices down to two options: the Subaru Outback Sport or the Mazda3 Hatchback. Both look very similar and have the features I want. I am still deciding between automatic or manual transmission. I like both for different reasons.

I am also deciding if I should buy before the WDW world trip next week and drive the new car to Florida, or wait until month/year end to see what kind of deal I can get. I'll let you all know when the time comes.

Decisions, decisions.