summer 2010....

is quickly coming to an end

and i'm glad

i like routines - and back to school time is back to routine time

which is good for my blog

b/c i haven't quite a hard time keeping up!

but soon i'll be back

and another year older too

so until then - enjoy your last couple of weeks of summer!

just having fun.......

spending time on the lake

focusing on me time!

not thinking too much - just enjoying

in one month - i'll be 42

my birthday is on sept 3rd.

unlike most people - my birthday marks the beginning of a new year for me.  it is during the weeks leading up to my birthday that i look back at what i've done....

at what i could have done differently

at what i still want to do. 

this is when i make my new year resolutions.

getting older doesn't upset me.  every new decade brings with it new experiences and new levels of wisdom.  i welcome and embrace the newness of each year...to the growth that comes with getting older....to the changes i want to make.

i have a lot on my mind as i head towards 42.  i'm going to spend the next month focusing this blog on me and only me.  i want to spend this time exploring and learning. i want to think deeply and feel intensely.  i want to grow and move forward.

this focus on me scares me.  it makes me feel selfish. but that's the point.  i want to be selfish.   

i don't mind getting older.  actually - it realistic to think that i could have at least 50 more years left to go. what i do mind is having the years pass me by...slipping away without thought....without change.   

so that's my plan.  i don't know what i expect to happen on the 3rd.  maybe i'll wake up a different person.  maybe i won't. maybe i'll see that who i am is who i am supposed to be. maybe i'll find that i took a wrong turn and found my way back.  maybe i'll find that i think too much about who i'm supposed to be and i'll just.....be.  whatever it is will be good.  because it will be all about me. and how can that be bad.

i forget.....

i forget what it is like to be thin........

its been about 12 years since i've been thin.  i gained weight with my first son and since then have gone up and down on the scale...finally stopping on up.  i know what i have to do - i know there are no magic cures. i used to make myself feel better by telling myself that i am heavy yes - but i am not THAT heavy.  there are heavier people than me in this world - i know that - and really weight isn't the issue here.  its self image.  as long as i can remember i've had major issues with my body and not liking how it looked. i've never accepted any size body i've had but at least when i was thinner i dressed better.  its easy to dress better when you are thin b/c you don't have to cover a big ass or a thick middle.  it didn't have to do with having style. while i'm unhappy with my current weight - that unhappiness doesn't consume me.   

i forget what it is like to be strong......

i go through spurts with working out. i ran for awhle. i did the p90x for awhile. i belonged to the ymca and took some classes for awhile.  but mostly in those 12 years i did nothing.  it isn't until lately that i notice just how much strength i've lost.  the good thing is that i notice how much strength i've lost because i've started doing yoga - in a studio - with live teachers and not with some dvd...and the strength i am gaining shows me how much i've lost.  i used to do yoga a looooooong time ago and i really thought that a dvd was a decent replacement.  i was wrong.  the unhappiness over not being strong doesn't consume me either.  its the regaining of my strength that does.

i forget what i liked when i was between the ages of 6 and 11......

this may seem like a weird thing to be upset about forgetting - but it bothers me.  those years seem to be the magic years in one's childhood.  if you can remember what you liked to do during those ages then you can figure out the best career for yourself.  you can figure out how to relax. you can figure out what makes you happy...or so i've read.  perhaps you can figure out the meaning of life! whatever it is you can discover about yourself - i won't be one of the lucky ones able to figure it out because i can't remember much about myself during that time. 

Our sense of worth, of well-being, even our sanity depends upon our remembering. But, alas, our sense of worth, our well-being, our sanity also depend upon our forgetting.

~Joyce Appleby

guest post on rhythm of the home

my post on making homemade fire starters was featured on the blog.

  check it out here

make a splash!

wait for it!

its coming!

100 degrees today with God awful humidy.   

tonight my cousin (who has a pool) is inviting a bunch of us over...to swim...in her pool. 

did i mention she has a pool?

if not - well then she has a pool...........and we are swimming in it

in her pool....

i'm sorry but there is really nothing else i can think about today!

hope you are finding a way to keep cool this weekend!!!

i am grateful - really i am!

i am very grateful for this air conditioner.

~it is unbelievably loud and obnoxious.

~it is so loud i have to turn it off every 20 minutes or so because i feel like my head is going to explode.

~it is so loud that breaking out into a sweat within 15 minutes of turning it off is worth the peace and quiet i get from not having the a/c on.

~it is so loud that i have to turn the speakers on my computer up to 100% just to hear it.

~it is so loud that when the phone rings i have to quickly turn down the computer speakers just to hear the person on the phone.

~it is so loud that when i turn down the speakers to hear the person on the phone i find myself yelling because my ears are still ringing from the loud speakers and loud a/c.

~i am very grateful that i only work 2 days a week and this a/c is at work.

about 15 years ago i sold real estate for a year. i remember one hot summer day i was taking a mother and her child to see a few houses in a not so desirable, low-income neighborhood. we were driving around and i found myself apologizing for the mess inside my car. she looked at me and told me she could care less about how my car looked inside because she has never owned a car that had air conditioning and driving around in one that had a/c was heaven.

with this being the hottest summer in recorded history for our area - i think about that woman everytime i start to complain. i wonder if she ever bought a car with air conditioner...or is she ever had a house with a/c for that matter.

but mostly i think - if that woman had a choice for no a/c or very loud a/c - would she laugh at this post.........or roll her eyes at me for being so spoiled?