First of many...

I just got home from my first of many holiday parties for2009. I love that I have friends to laugh with and enjoy each other's company. It makes me feel warm and cozy inside. Now I will retire to my warm and cozy bed! Bon Soir

Flash forward

I've had two "visions" of my daughter's future self one good and one notso. I'll start with the notso so I can end on a positive note.

Today her hair wasn't up to standard (according to her). So she worked and worked, and huffed and puffed, but to no avail. In the process of this salon treatment, she started treating everyone else in the house like we were such a bother and started the silent treatment with me. I don't do silent treatment and bullying. So...unfortunately sometimes I'd "match" her temperament which probably isn't the best. Anyway, this is what I'm imagining teenage years to look like, but I'm hoping I'm wrong. I kissed her head and said I love you and have a good day. Silence. So...what do I do...threaten...isn't that nice? I say, if you cannot figure out how to treat me nicely perhaps that special playdate this afternoon will have to be cancelled. To which she turned with tears in her eyes and says...Its just that my HAIR WON'T WORK...and she turns and walks to the bus. Holy tomato, I can't wait until zits and bras and the such enter the picture.

OK now the good future...my daughter is doing a PowerPoint presentation for school. My power point skills stagnated circa 2000 when I did my last "professional" one, but I can hold my own. So, I was prepared to help her out. Well, it turns out that my daughter is a whiz at PPT and in fact can add sound, and special features like slides fading in and out and the such. She also seems to have pretty good design skills and this presentation is shaping up to be very professional. The problem is that it is a bit 'smoke and mirrors' at the moment because she is focusing more on the whiz bang than on the content. I am subtly trying to move her to the next slide she needs to make...but there is still some graphic, picture, highlighting etc to be done. I wish I could teach her the skill of doing a quick draft first of everything and then tarting it up later...just because we could be having a battle (see above) on the day before it is due. The positive of this is that I see that she is talented at design and her attention to detail is good...I believe both will be of benefit to her in the future...but please, my sweet child, can we get to the next slide?

And that is how my day started...AND I have a heart monitor on. I wonder if I should write a note that says...Dear Dr. Cardiologist, from 7:30-8:30 I was wrangling a preteen, so that huge spike in my heart-rate...that is normal!

Day is done...

Gone the sun...da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da-da... If you grew up a military kid you'd know the tune to this song. I never learned the words but I distinctly remember stopping at whatever hour it was that they were lowering the flags (if we were on base). You are to stand still and face the flags. Some of those traditions bring a warm feeling to my heart. Those rituals made you feel you were part of something, and it was always cool as a child to do things like say the Pledge of Allegiance or stop when you know you're supposed to and pay your respects to the flag.

Wow...I thought I had nothing to say this evening in my VERY LATE post...but I did and along with it, I have the feelings of nostalgia and fondness...how cool is that? Perhaps I should call it a day...AT EASE.

And on that note....Happy Birthday to my dear father, who provided me with the opportunity to experience said ritual! I love you!

Gratitude X 10

1. Christmas trees


2. Children decorating Christmas trees


3. Children dancing to Christmas music


4. Children singing Christmas music


5. Children reading Christmas books


6. Sparkly lights on Christmas trees


7. Children's Christmas "artwork" from year's past


8. Pictures of children on Santa's laps (especially the crying one)


9. Christmas shows


10. FINISHED WITH CHRISTMAS SHOPPING (98% at least there is always room for one more stocking stuffer)

PLEASE NOTE: I would not be saying any of this BEFORE Thanksgiving...there is a time and place for celebrating the season and if you could tell advertisers that, I'd be grateful!

Humor in crisis - love it!

Wanna know the quickest way to end a family vacation? Wake up at 6am with a racing heart and proceed to faint...that'll get your family's attention.

We had a ONE DAY (versus the planned 3 day) trip to Vancouver and then made our journey back home for me to be seen by a doctor, get an EKG and then to have a heart monitor in a few days. Current rules: no caffeine, no alcohol, no decongestants and this is the hard one...no driving.

Here is what my husband woke up to...."Honey I need you to call a doctor something is very wrong." He makes the call to the front desk and says, "we have a medical problem please send a doctor"...after I heard that, the next thing I know I am opening my eyes to my husband calling my name and my body is sweating profusely. Just as quickly as it all came on, it ended. My heart had stopped its rapid beating and I was merely frightened and a little shaken up by the incident. Fast forward about 15 minutes and we have a knock on our door...my husband answers the door and quickly says "no thank you" and closes the door. It turns out that there was a bit of a communication break down with the front desk...instead of hearing "A DOCTOR" they heard "ADAPTOR". I still am laughing about that one. The good thing from my perspective is that I'm certain that the ADAPTOR (I mean DOCTOR) would have cost a pretty Canadian penny. Since I was feeling fine, I decided to communicate with my health care provider and use their services instead of finding care locally. Unfortunately that meant leaving our lovely hotel and all of the fun activities we had planned and to make the journey home...to be seen by my primary care ADAPTOR (OK enough with that). After my visit today, I have no clear steer on what happened and my guess is that after we do the cardiac heart monitor thing for 24 hours, we will be able to chalk my episode up to dehydration, decongestants (taken 24 hours before), alcohol, and just a series of unfortunate events.

In that moment of calling out for help from my husband, I certainly was of the belief that I possibly was about to meet my maker...thank God that wasn't the case! I did not see any white lights...I pretty much saw 'nuthin'. Here's to another day with my family. Here's to an understanding family who quietly accepted the fate of our trip. Here's to my husband who took this event very seriously. Here's to healthy living...decaf tea will be my drink of choice...Chamomile is quite comforting!

do jeh

Do jeh is one of many ways to say thank you.

This Thanksgiving will not be a traditional one for my family. We're off to Canada (where they don't celebrate the US version) and we'll probably have Chinese as we hear Vancouver is known for it. I don't know why, but doing the Bizarro Thanksgiving makes me feel giddy! With all that said...I have another year to give thanks for all that I have in my life and wish blessings for my friends and family near and far...and also to pretty much everyone on this planet just 'cause I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Let them eat DIM SUM!

Between 2 worlds

Hello Tuesday, so sorry I missed you Monday. I tried to finish this post yesterday but it got too heavy and so I went and watched Heros with my husband instead...a wise choice I think! So...here is the post!

Recently in my new quest for living a consciously happy and fulfilling life, I've noticed a phenomenon with my clients, colleagues, and myself. It almost feels as though we operate in 2 separate worlds. We have the world of finding ourselves, working toward our dreams, and such...and then there is real life. I think in the beginning of our quest they seem like different worlds but over time we can begin to merge the two. I am in the process of aligning the two and I'm noticing more and more when I get off track and stuck in the old 'just getting by' real world thoughts. The challenging part is figuring out how to weave the two worlds together...some days life events seem to suck every bit of energy without any real meaning and then there are times that we lead only from our soul and almost feel as if we're in a magical land. My big GUESS is that the thread that weaves through both worlds is our core values. That is where we can chose in every moment to create experiences that are aligned with what we hold near and dear. I am in the process of honing in on what my values are and then finding opportunities to experience life according to these values. I am not talking about the 10 commandment type of values/morals, I am talking about the things that make me, ME. The things that allow me to say..."I had the best time", OR "that was so fulfilling", OR "I want more of 'that'", OR even the opposite "I chose to say no to that, its not worth it to me". So with this thought that our core values are the thread that binds our two worlds, I can see things playing out as such....

Every day, and in every transition in your day, decide what values you intend to experience. So, if you are going to have a meeting with your boss, the intention might be to learn something and to feel confident. If you are spending a day finishing things on your to do list, you intention is to feel accomplished and focused. If you happen to have a 'wrench' in your day where you have to stay home with your kid and you are unable to make progress at work, set the intention to feel love and to relax. If you're able to think through what your "ideal" life experiences are you can hone in on what is important to you and then at every moment, whether it is something your looking forward to, or feels "imposed" on you, you can focus your attention on "what you want to get out of it" and then I sincerely you believe that you can only feel successful. In a way, if you set your intentions you are 'leaning into the experience' versus 'pushing against it' and to me, that is peaceful.

Phew, I don't even know if I've written this clearly, but it has been on my mind and it is something I intend to practice and witness what I experience (positive or not) as a result of this. I HAVE tried this a few times recently and really cannot say a bad thing about it. For example, on Sunday I went to a networking event and prior to attending, I set an intention to: learn something new, connect with people who have varied interests, and leave with one new networking opportunity....check, check and check for that event. Today I started a program with a friend and my intention is to: have fun, have an open mind toward what I learn, and to gain clarity in the gifts I have. By setting these intentions (and I know eventually I'll get a bit more specific with them as I practice more and more), it feels as if I've cast my line way out into the water with the expectation that I WILL experience these "values" AND it I will be able to feel the 'tug on the line' (my soul) when in fact I achieve these expectations. It just feels great...that's all I can say (albeit not very clearly I think...and I'm okay with that).