Vision-esque

Because of all your interest/feedback regarding my post about vision boards, 

I thought I'd readdress the topic again.

I'd like to share some photos from online that inspired me.

Potential vision board candidates? PERHAPS!

An old suitcase reimagined as a bookcase!

Anonymous, uplifting messages in unsuspecting places!

A little reminder about things happening for a reason. That reason being namely GROWTH.

Being that person who goes all out for birthdays and special occasions!

Valuing myself and everyone else for what they really are: godly beings.

While I was originally looking outside myself for pictures and phrases for my vision board,

my friend Anne told me she was hoping to color pictures and write phrases herself--

that way her vision board would be EXACTLY what she hoped/envisioned for herself.

She's on to something, that Annie girl.

Markers?

Meet my right hand.

Right hand?

Meet my heart.

1, 2, 3, GO!

HA!

On the phone, waiting for the cashier to finish running my credit card card, I hear him say, "I hate their pickles. I'm over here smelling them and....I hate their pickles."

pickle hater.

Rethink and Refresh.

Rarely do I go to bed without my husband. It'd be closer to the truth to say that I never go to bed without my husband. But one night last weekend, I house-sat my parents' house to take care of our family dog Frances.

Who could deny that face?!

I got over there about mid-afternoon, took Frances on an hour-long walk, watched a movie on TV, read my book, and, come to find out, still had six hours to kill before bedtime. Six hours by myself. Nothing on TV could hold my interest. I couldn't get comfortable when reading my book. I got bored flipping through magazines. I'd already walked Frances into the ground, so I didn't want to go outside. I was so restless! Ugh!

I've never liked being alone, and I'm starting to think it's because I think too much by myself. And I don't like being alone with my thoughts, because I start nit-picking and analyzing things and then getting down on myself about beating a dead horse. So yeah...no good.

Welp, there I was at my parents' house, ALONE, reading an article in Oprah magazine about vision boards, or collages of pictures and phrases that reflect where you want to go in your life and who you want to be. Not pictures of a mansion or a man with the body of a brick house, but rather pictures of a hot air balloon lifting off or a group of people feeding needy children in a third-world country. THOSE types of pictures. And phrases like "Do something strange and extravagant" or "Don't Put Off Your Happy Life." Pictures and phrases that inspire you and make you feel like the biggest version of yourself--the version capable of anything you put your mind to.

(This is where the vision board idea takes off (look at me keeping with the hot air balloon image!))...

Some day, I'll be in that basket...

The idea is that having such images and phrases in front of you will implant them into your imagination / subconscious and, in turn, affect your reality. This is very similar to my masters thesis, by the way, which was about how language enters your mind (through conversation, books, TV, street signs, etc, etc) and sticks. You then use that language to make thoughts, which follows that the language you hold within you somewhat determines the way you think and the way you see reality. Therefore, language affects reality. But, in this case, we're talking about language AND images, COMBINED. By implanting certain phrases and images into our minds, we can change the course of our thinking, and so create our own perfect world. Pretty cool idea, right? Totally.

And so there I sat on my parents' couch, reading this vision board article, remembering a recent conversation I had with my mother-in-law. I was telling her about my worsening allergies and my painful (and bloody) visit with the dentist. She let me rant myself quiet before she offered her advice. She told me that it might behoove me to envision positive outcomes with my health troubles. She told me to imagine myself smiling, my teeth and gums healthier than ever. She told me to imagine myself in a room full of pets, laughing and breathing easy.

It's so easy to focus on the negatives sometimes, isn't it? It's easy to complain and it's easy to get caught up in our own stuff. I mean, there I was, unable to sit still with the present moment, reading about these vision boards and "creating my own reality," terribly uncomfortable all alone by myself, looking forward to the next night when I'd be able to go to bed with my husband again, and thinking about my mother-in-law's positive advice.

In one overwhelming moment, all those things came together. It's like all my many feelings met up with the multiple perspectives I'd been reading and hearing and coalesced into this wider view, called oh, I dunno, the big picture? I was in the middle of something huge. The realization that I. CAN. CREATE. MY. OWN. WORLD.

Look at her standing proud!

What the hell did I have to feel restless about? If I felt restless at all, it was only because I was wasting time not creating my own reality! A reality that includes the kind of happiness that makes you feel light, like your feet could lift off the ground at any moment. A life of creating and building with my hands, both artsy-craftsy and help-the-world-y. Images of family and love. Words about working hard and happiness.

To quote Hallmark, "Every moment is a gift. That's why we call it the present."

What do you say, we all go make a vision board for ourselves so that our "present" is exactly the one we hoped for :)

What's on your vision board?

Nonsense Novella

I surprised even myself with the longevity of this bad-boy, so I apologize if reading's not your forte. Get comfy and get ready for the long haul ;)

Can you believe that we're nearly HALFWAY through 2010?! I mean, it's almost SUMMER, people! Crowded pools and mown lawns and Otter Pops are right around the corner! And these, too, please?

Popsicles as beverage garnishes? I think so!

I think this calls for some revisiting of our new year's wishlists. You know, see how we're doing and such. (Eek!)

1. I wish to get outside of ME and MY wants, MY needs, MY happiness, MY life and give, give, give of MYself until I feel less like me and more like a part of everything else.
Besides pep-talking my stressed-out husband every other day, I've not given much of myself to others. Volunteer? Yeah, I've not done that yet. But Summer is perfect for donating time, is it not? Free gardening? Free dog-walking? Even the simple act of checking my thoughts, asking, "Who can I put first today?"


2. I wish to shine, sparkle, and warm like the summer sun through a white window-shade.
I can recall numerous mornings when I've woken up crotchety. And stayed crotchety throughout the day simply because "the tone has been set." What's funny is that I have no complaints to speak of. My life is wonderful. The people in my life are wonderful. I should be giving credit to the miracle that is my life by brilliantly burning with love. Forget "the summer sun through a white window-shade!" I be burnin' like a megawatt lightbulb!

Although maybe not quite like this...

3. I wish to approach housecleaning like meditation, so that cleaning the hardwood floors is not back-breaking work, but rather mind-altering and soul-soaring relaxation.
I've actually been getting better at this. (Phew! I'm making at least ONE positive change this year!). I've come to somewhat enjoy my house chores. Granted, I'm a big proponent of the saying, "An uncluttered space means an uncluttered mind," so picking things up and putting them in their place clears not only my house, but also my mind, too. A made bed, vacuumed carpets, an empty laundry basket, clean countertops, WHATEVER--make me feel looser and more relaxed, like I've got it together and that I can do anything now.


4. I wish to dress impractically fanciful--ruffled skirts, tiny heels, frilly scarves, and LOTS of jewelry--as if I am the New Year's Christmas tree.
Yeah...um...that. Although, I've not fulfilled this wish because Colorado's weather has been totally oddball thus far. While I'd love to wear little skirts and pretty tights, cargo pants and wool socks have been more appropriate. But as soon as the weather changes, I see visions of sundresses, bouncy curls, dangly earrings, pink lipstick, and short booties! Holla, Summa!

I could see me doing this, sure...

5. I wish to show my friends, family, and husband how often I think about them, how much I care about their happiness, and how much I loooooooove them by offering small kindnesses (i.e. Greeting cards in the mail? Random and unimportant text messages? A batch of chocolate peanut-butter fudge? A hand-crocheted doily?).
I've certainly sent my fair share of silly face pictures. But handwritten notes? Homebaked goodies? I'm not exactly "lacking the time" for such things. Maybe I'm just nervous about making a couple dozen cookies and NOT sending them away. Maybe I'm worried about eating them all MYSELF! IN ONE SITTING! That's ridiculous, isn't it? At least 3/4 ridiculous. And so, with A as my witness, I will hearken my self-controlled, adult self and tupperware my homebaked goodies as soon as they're cooled! And then ship them off IMMEDIATELY! And then, to reward my sweets-abstaining self, I'll lick the bowl. Don't question my logic, please.


6. I wish to notice the tiny changes that distinguish one season from another.
I've been better about this, too! Walking into work, I make a point to look around--take in the smell of the trees, the rain-soaked grass, the feel of the breeze, and how quickly the clouds are floating across the sky. At home, I look out our kitchen window--at the trees' leaves filling out, flower petals blowing across the sidewalk, and red-headed sparrows flitting about in the gray sky.

Shake yo tail feathers...

7. I wish to people-adore, which is a step above people-watching. I wish to see people, observe them, and find beauty in their every move and breath.
I sit in a cubicle 8 hours a day / 5 days a week, so I don't really see anyone outside of the office walls. BUT! That's no excuse for not people-adoring! After-all, it's not about quantity, but quality. And because I'm around the same few people all day, nearly every day, I've got plenty of time to notice their expressions, what they're wearing, and how their moods progress throughout the day. I can focus on SMILING and saying HELLO to each person I pass in the hallway, CHIT-CHATTING to each person I meet in the break room and remembering what was said so that I can continue to build those conversations later. I certainly appreciate being acknowledged and seen, so I should pay those good feelings forward. No-brainer :-/

8. I wish to write ridiculously and uncritically. And instead of immediately trashing them, I wish to laugh at the no-goods.
Though my writing's still not on the front-burner, I'm writing more than I was, which is an improvement. I'm still writing once-a-month poetry prompts supplied by Applehouse Poetry Workshop, and recently, I've been submitting to my fellow Naropan's website The Ex Letters, where you can write letters to your exes--boys or girls, to your first kiss, your ex-boss, your ex-friend, etc, saying everything you wish you'd said way-back-when. It's a frickin' fantastic website. An emotionally-charged firecracker! Check it out.


9. I wish to savor food instead of scarfing it. Make meals take an hour AT LEAST. Talk in between bites if I HAVE TO ;)
A and I have absofruitly been improving on this! Our success can be credited to our recent obsession with going on dates. We looooooove going out to dinner (that is, when we can afford to and when A has time to). And lately, our dates have lasted 2-3 hours! I'm telling you, we milk those meals for all they're worth. We eat slowly, relishing every bite. And we TALK! Thank God for those dates, because they afford quality face-time with A when there's little to be had.



10. I wish to memorize a joke and PERFORM it whenever possible.
So, I've not memorized a joke, per se, but I HAVE been cracking "Ware" puns left and right. Just last night, walking into the restaurant, I told the hostess that we had a reservation "under Ware." Bwahahaha. The first of many, my friends.

HOW ARE YOU ALL DOING WITH YOUR 2010 WISHLISTS?!?!

P.S. Long ago, on the fridge in our office breakroom, I taped a quote: "You can use your life in a very useful and intelligent way. You can very well transform that negative energy into a positive energy that empowers you and makes life meaningful." (A quote that's been referred to as "graffiti," mind you. How can Thich Nhat Hanh be graffiti?! I'm still confused. But ANYWHO...) Someone recently got a free gift with their wine delivery: wine-related word magnets! And so, lately, people have been placing those wine-related word magnets overtop of the quote, creating pretty hilarious boozey-spirutal sayings (which I've been loving and which promotes the reasoning for my placing the quote there in the first place--INSPIRATION AND INTERACTION! But that Thich Nhat Hanh quote has been up there for awhile, so I thought that something different might increase people's creativity. Well, driving home the other night, I heard the "Commuter Comedy" clip on the radio. It was Mitch Hedberg talking about food. Appropriate break room magnet/quote fodder? You tell me...

"On a traffic light, yellow means yield and green means go. On a banana, it's just the opposite; yellow means go ahead, green means stop, and red means, 'Where'd you get that banana?'"


"I opened up a yogurt and underneath the lid it said, "Please try again." They were having a contest that I was unaware of, so I thought maybe I opened the yogurt wrong. Or maybe Yoplait was trying to inspire me. 'Come on, don't give up!'--An inspirational message from your friends at Yoplait. Fruit on the bottom, hope on top."


"I think animal crackers make people think that all animals taste the same."

"I hate sandwiches at New York delis. Too much meat on the sandwich. It's like a cow with a cracker on either side. 'Would you like anything else with the pastrami sandwich?' 'Yeah, a loaf of bread and some other people!'"

Food-Day!

You all will be happy to know that I'm in a much better mood than I was the other day! Probably because it's Friday. And because, at the Starbucks drive-thru this morning, the man in front of me bought my drinks! Apparently the woman in front of him bought his drink, so he was paying it forward! So I paid it forward, too, and bought a drink for the man behind me! Isn't that just the best start to a Friday EVER?!?! I'm still flying high :)

Also, it's FOODIE Friday! I dunno if you all noticed my friend Erin's recommendation for EpiCute: The Cute Food Blog, but it really is lip-smackingly good. Not only do I enjoy the pictures of precious bite-size food concoctions, but I enjoy the author's overly-excited descriptions containing made-up words for cute and delicious (i.e. "Here you are, cuteonistas. Tiny pies on sticks. Sqweet!" and "You tell me, adoronauts." and "Sponge cake is a substance I’ve always wanted to make a bed out of.") I've always loved others who could talk about food. For hours. In detail. Daily.

In fact, my best friend B and I share just this ability. When we lived in Milwaukee, we used to frequently visit Kopp's Frozen Custard to sample their flavor of the day. We'd simultaneously spoon heaps of "Never Enough Chocolate" into our mouths while debating the pros and cons of the ingredients:

B: "There are too many truffel chunks."
Me: "You can never have too many truffel chunks."
B: "But with too many truffel chunks, the other ingredients can't shine. Like the fudge swirls."
Me: "Fudge swirls? I can't focus on anything but the truffel chunks."
B: "Exactly."

Little does B know that, because of EpiCute, I've inherited a whole new vocab for describing food (Shall we see how our food-debating skills match up later this month?)


In the mean time, I'll practice with my description of the absurdly delicious meal A and I recently shared at Sullivan's Steakhouse!

First of all, when at a swanky establishment (with live jazz, nonetheless!), one must order a libation. Though I'm not usually one for martinis, I got myself a Sweet Tea Tini. Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka + sweet and sour + simple syrup + lemon twist garnish = swig-tastic! I like very few liquors, and I mean FEW, so I was happy to find another! So refreshing!

But let's get to what I washed down with my Sweet Tea Tini...

Sullivan's was offering a new new side dish--a multi-cheese, baked macaroni...

right?!?!?!

It was TO. DIE. FOR. But can you ever go wrong with mac & cheese? (Maybe if you're lactose intolerant, but that's not where I wanted to go with this...) Fatty-bo-batty shell noodles were topped with creamy Wisconsin white cheddar cheese, gouda, and parmesan, which were further topped with garlicky, oniony bread crumbles! (OFFICIAL: all mac & cheese is not made equal). I would wait for A to look the other way so I could stab 4 shells, then 6, then, oops, caught :-/ I kept feigning stupidity when it came to the ingredients, taking a bite and curiously stating, "I can't figure out the cheeses. Is that mozzarella? Nah...Sharp cheddar?" Ha! As if I dunno my cheeses ;) That mac & cheese was just so delicious, you see, I had a hard time sharing.

What I didn't have to share was my dessert :) PEANUT BUTTER BLACK BOTTOM PIE.

my pie had a crushed Oreo cookie crust

(Which was, for the record, listed on the menu as a dessert for 2 persons. Hey, I can handle a pie as big as a frisbee. It's the exact size of the dessert compartment in my stomach, in fact.)

Lemme begin with the texture of this pie. You know how there are whipped yogurts? This was like whipped peanut butter! Only the filling was thickly creamy and sticky too. Not mousse-like or pudding-like, but an altogether new and different and WONDERFUL sensation! (Wonderful being my new go-to word, if you hadn't noticed).

And the Oreo cookie crust was wafer-thick and chocolatey-crunchy goodness! At a 1/2 inch deep and 3 inches high all around, there was extra to spare! Though for me there wasn't ;)

QUESTION: Are you hungry yet?

Maybe next Friday I'll make you even hungrier by telling you about the Mother's Day buffet at Inverness Country Club. Triangle waffles! Egg scrambles! Mimosas!

(Seriously, what is it about fabulous food that makes an occasion even more celebratory? If only my waistline could afford to eat out every day...)

P.S. Yesterday I helped a customer with the last name "Goforth." Talk about having independence and adventure embedded in your name. Isn't that quite wonderful? Sorry for all the wonderfuls. But if that ain't a sign of a good day, right? My wonderful-meter reads high for today. I hope yours does too :)

Tuesday's Latest Jab

I dunno how one manages to get "blog block" exactly, but I've got it. So please pardon my waywardness, as I suspect this post to be all over the place :-/

I'm still in a bit of a funk about A's being M.I.A, you see.

BUT!

I am trying to refocus my attention on "productive" projects. Such as Spring cleaning! I've got a date with our garage this weekend. Not only is it filthy, but it has a ton of crap stored in it that we could really get rid of. Good Will, prepare to open your doors! Seriously, there are boxes out there holding mystery contents that I have not a clue about. What a dream it'd be, pulling into a spic-and-span (and organized!) garage, no?! I do so love things in their place :)

Also, I'm expecting a bunch of packages this week, as I finally used up the last of our wedding gift cards! I got some items that we've been meaning to buy--a fabric shower curtain...

and glass canisters...

All for our guest bathroom. Hopefully these minor additions will transform the bathroom into a wondrous potty-place for Anne and Brigid, who are staying with us in JUST A COUPLE WEEKS! Shall I install another mirror while I'm at it? Vain batches ;)

And I think I've been watching too much HGTV. Out of nowhere, I want to repaint our master bedroom and install a backsplash in our kitchen. I blame that frickin' show "Sarah's House." I COVET that farmhouse. It's quaint and yet grand, country and yet elegant. One-of-a-kind antiques! Fabrics I'd love to drape on every wall of my house! (Here's a link to the show's website where you can scroll through pictures of it: http://www.hgtv.ca/sarahshouse/theshow.aspx?sectionid=399&categoryid=7658825793774670227&postid=129001 ). Would printing out the above pics and going room by room in our house, redecorating to match, be going too far? Naaahhh...

So anywho, you see where my head's been at...

It's just that I've been feeling like such a big baby these days, missing A like I do. So I wanna undertake some projects and do stuff on my own (like repaint our fireside bench and living room end table) just to feel like a grown-up. I can't always have a babysitter who plans activities to keep me occupied and happy. I've gotta be happy on my own. After all, this is just the beginning of the rest of our lives. I've gotta prove myself capable and soon!

And so begins the show "Erin's House." Before and after pics of our garage? You got it.

What do you all do to keep yourselves company? Favorite Spring-time projects?