2014's Jar of Happiness!

While perusing my Facebook feed earlier today, I saw that a friend had shared this photo. (It wasn't her's, and in truth I have no idea whose pic it is ... but it's kinda grand, so I'm sharing it on here too!)

I will be doing this myself this year, it's the kind of a New Years "Resolution" I can actually get behind (and feel confident in accomplishing - though I do have others I will also attempt to fulfill, but I digress...).  

2014's Jar of Happiness! 

How To Do It: It's Very Simple.

1. Find a jar.

2. Decorate with a pretty bow.

3. Place on bookshelf (or where ever you'd like).

4. Insert little pieces of paper - throughout the year - with notes of the "good" things that happen to you.

5. Then, on New Years Eve 2014 (yes, that's right ... December 31, 2014) - open jar, read notes ...

6. Feel happy!

2014's Jar of Happiness!!!

This.

Inspiration!

Just a bit of inspiration for you ... for me ... for all!!!

Stop. And think.

Did you ever stop to think ... and forget to start again? Hahaha...ok, ok, to the point:

I am often brought to a very humble - and rather terrifying - state of just how "insignificant" we all are in the big picture ... time ... space ... history ... the world ... the universe ... you get the idea, right?!

Food For Thought:

1. The 1600's happened, right? Fact. But, I was not alive when they happened, and I didn't know it, however that did not stop them from happening. People lived, loved, fought, drank, sang, made theatre, had babies and died ... and I was not there. 

Yup ... so how will I know anything of this earthly existence when I am gone?

2. Think about all of the people you pass on any given day - people you don't know, they're not your friends or family, they're not even co-workers, they are just people. People:  

• Walking down the street 
• Driving
• At a shopping mall
• In a store
• In an elevator 
• At the gym

You get the drift...

Now ponder the fact that their lives go on, even when you are not around ... yet you have no proof of that. They were in your life for one brief moment (or several) and then they're gone - but they're not actually gone. Woah!

*More food for thought coming to a blog near you ... soon.

UnRequited ...

I have got to stop.
I have got to stop waiting.
I have got to stop waiting for him.
I have got to stop waiting for him to ... to ... to wake up and see, Me.
I have got to stop waiting for him.
I have got to stop waiting.
I have got to stop.

I love him! This I know, concretely. Would "it" work out, I can not say for sure. 

Sometimes I want to be the reason.

Sometimes I want to scream:
See me.
Want me.
Need me.
Pick me.

If mountains were moveable I would move one for him.
I would walk through fire for him.
I would - and have - make a fool of myself for him.
I would move ... anywhere ... for him, to be with him.
I would ... but I've got to stop.

I have got to stop!

It's an odd sort of feeling really, to want - so badly - to make someone else's dreams come true ... and not have them feel the same way about you.

London Town.

Big Ben

The worst breakup I have ever had was with a city. No joke. When I realized that I was going to have to leave London, a year earlier than I had anticipated because the British Government changed the stipulation on Foreign students obtaining their work visa after commencement ... (not that leaving at any point would have made me happy) ... well, it quite literally broke my heart!

I can recall sitting on my bed - in the room I was renting - and bawling my eyes out. It was that gut wrenching, can barley catch your breath type of crying. So many tissues bit the dust over the course of the first evening ... and then some. I mean, every time I 'got it under control,' my brain wouldn't let it lie ... something would trigger the waterworks and I'd be bawling again.

I can't explain it ... living in London, it is the only place I've ever been - that wasn't my folks home, where I grew up - that felt like home. Truth. The moment I landed in London I felt like I was home.

Can cities be like people - when you meet someone and just know they belong in your life?!

Not sure why I'm blogging this right now ... nope, that's a total bloody lie, I know why ... but that's all I'm going to say about that for the moment.

I miss London ... !!!

Oh Hell Yes, DINOVEMBER!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/refe-tuma/dinovember_b_4270164.html

Hopefully you've clicked on the link above and experienced a brief glimpse into "Dinovember" - an awesomely creative experience crafted by parents who don't want their children's imaginations and sense of wonder to die with all the technology "at their fingertips"... ah, a parenting style that's right up my alley, should I ever actually get to have kids (but that's another post, maybe).  I so want to be these parents when I grow up!

It is true that "kids today" (oh lord I'm old) have advantages that I did not when I was "their age" ... most of it dealing with the current state of technology, everything is quite literally at their fingertips ... but they are also deprived of so much, chiefly it seems, in the realms of imagination/creativity and socialization.

Video games existed when I was a kid (I'm not THAT old) but - and here it is folks - my parents didn't buy them for us, and you know what?  I'm really glad they didn't.  You want to know why?  Because I PLAYED OUTSIDE, ALL THE TIME, WITH REAL LIVE PEOPLE, UNTIL I WAS FILTHY AND IT WAS DARK (and then, sometimes I was allowed to stay outside to play monsters in the dark - with adults) AND THEN I WOULD PLOP INTO BED, EXHAUSTED AND TOTALLY HAPPY!!!  

I won't lie and say that I never played video games, occasionally at a cousins or friends house, and actually, we wound up with a hand-me-down Atari System that I would play from time to time, typically on rainy or super cold winter days (playing Frogger, Burger Time and Pitfall) ... but that was like a back up, most of the time I played with toys and people. 

I'm not here to dis technology full stop, I am thrilled with much of it's advancements - if it weren't for Skype and Facetime (and the ability to send small videos very easily) I wouldn't have 'seen' much of my nieces first year of life.  And I love my cars Sat Nav.  And yes I own multiple Iproducts, and clearly I blog...and I know people who have benefited greatly from the fact that video games / computers etc. exist - and I'm not talking monetary benefits here.

But I digress, this little verbal (ha, typed) burp of mine is really to commend parents like these Dinovember Folks, who appreciate and cultivate wonder and imagination in their children!  Good on ya!

The mind is an amazing thing!

I love how the brain works.  How you can learn a new word - or hear a word that isn't typically dropped into everyday dialogue - and then BAM it's "everywhere."

For example: I was driving a friend to her car the other day, and she mentioned that she had a dentist appointment later that afternoon.  Then I drove home.  On my way I noticed no less than 4 dentists offices - and all of them within a 5 mile radius to where I live.  And the funniest part, these are offices that though I have driven past them NUMEROUS times, I had not noticed before that day.  Weird!

There are many other things about the workings of the human brain that fascinate me ... but this is all I'm bloggin' for now.

Oh and ... EVERY DAY'S A SCHOOL DAY!  Think about it.  :o)

Say What?

So, I just watched a Hallmark (Made for TV) Movie - yes, a guilty pleasure ... most likely because I'm a giant sap and totally hopeless romantic ... but I digress.

I was watching said movie and found one of the actors to be rather handsome so I imbd.com'd the movie to see who he was.  In doing so I found out that the movie - which is about traveling and settling the WEST of the North American Continent (for the story took place in Canada mostly) was shot in Bucharest, Romania.  

Ummm...

Say what?

I just find it odd ... surely there are areas of the North American continent where one could film a movie about the settling of west of the NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT.  

ODD!

There's A Mouse in my House

Yipes ... yipes ... yipes!  

I'm in the midst of a project for a friend - I've sent him one letter (or note) for every day in the month of October - though this post is not about that project, in one of the letters to him I delineated 'Eight Things He May or May Not Know About Me' ... one of the things I "disclosed" was that if I'm by myself and a bug happens along my path, I am 100% capable of taking care of it.  Most of the time I don't even squirm.

HOWEVER ... if there is a bloke about, well, then I turn into a "typical" girl ... I might even scream from buggy surprise or disgust ... definitely shiver with icky'ness and TOTALLY DEMAND that the boy take care of it.  

Turn the clock forward about 2 weeks and I discover this ability to deal with a bug when alone most emphatically DOES NOT APPLY TO RODENTS.  Ewwwwwwwwww!

There's a mouse in my house (apartment)!

I saw something - which at first I thought might be a birds shadow flying by my kitchen windows - and for whatever reason I decided to investigate ... to be sure it was just a birdie shadow.  Standing on a chair I jostle the dishwasher, check in side it, and am almost satisfied that it was simply a shadow.  One final jostle of the dishwasher - with me on the floor - prompted the furry little bugger to scamper from underneath it to under the cabinets in the middle of the kitchen - I screamed and jumped back UP ONTO THE CHAIR.  For reals yo!  

Apparently mice creep me out ... when I think about one being IN MY HOUSE .... eeeeeeekkkkkkk!!!!!

3 Lines of Defense ...

1. 4 Mouse Traps baited with peanut butter await "him" should he try to actually take up residence.
2. I wear my slippers into the kitchen - most of the time - in case he should decide to run across my path, and too close to my tiggy-toes.
3. I make all sorts of noise in the kitchen now ... won't go in until the light is on (this has me leaning around the wall to flick the switch - hilarious, I am sure).  Then, with the light on, I clap my hands ... literally tell him to flee, and won't open any of the lower cabinets - or my pantry - without banging on the doors first.

Le sigh ... Go. A-WAY. Mouse.

I need a man.

To be clear, this is the type of mouse that I don't mind being in my house ...

Steamboat Willie, thank you Mr. Disney!

Snail Mail

In this digital age in which we find ourselves, where you can shoot someone a quick - and INSTANT - text message, tweet (I will never), Facebook message, or email -- even before you contemplate actually picking up the phone to call and talk to them -- I find that I still LOVE love love to write letters.  Real letters.  Hand written snail mail - need to put an actual STAMP on it - mail!  And that there are a fair few others out there who share my love of real post.

Birthday Cards.
Christmas Cards.
Postcards.
Penpal Letters.
Cheer up notes.
Congratulations on ... notes.
I'm thinking of you cards.
I love you memo's.
Invites.
Etc...

I love receiving a thank you, even if it is in a digital format, from someone when they receive a letter from me ... and it has touched them.  I do believe that it is the little things in life.  And snail mail, I think it makes people feel special and loved ... and since they are, why not show it!

It's not a hard stretch to realize that I LOVE to receive mail too!

I love "real" mail so much that a few years ago I created a postcard birthday party for myself, asking those I knew to send me one for my Birthday.  In return, I would send them a postcard within the coming year.  Such fun!

Within the last year I have received letters from my niece (she's 6 years old).  Awesome!

Additionally, I have one or two friends with whom I "pen pal" ... though we've all been slacking on that as of late ... so I think I'll go write to one of them now, probably my friend in New Zealand, yup ... later gator.

Random Rant

WHY?????

Why, regardless of how "amazing" their bodies are, do grown-ass women feel the need to wear onsies (most commonly singers) on stage?  Onsies ... garments meant for babies!  Beyond that, they're garments meant as lingerie, swimsuits or outfits for ballerinas and gymnasts (or if you lived in the late 80's and early 90's "leotard's" worn WITH PANTS in place of a shirt that snap in the crotch) ... I mean, really ... what's that about?

I don't consider myself a prude at all, however I do have a modicum of self respect, and feel rather certain that even if I had a body that I was "never" unhappy with, and even if I was a mega-star singer raking in the millions (with fans who already adored me, with my clothes ON), that I WOULD NOT EVER WEAR A ONSIE AS A COSTUME IN MY SHOW!

I just DON'T get it!

Ok.  Random rant over.  Ta.

Optimism.

How I wish I saw everyday!

Chickens really can fly.

Awesome!

So the other day, Sunday the 8th of September to be exact, I actually SAW a chicken fly ... right across the road ... directly in front of the car I was in - we almost had a super fresh chicken dinner.

Kind of hilarious to see, a chicken, flying.  But you know what?  It totally made me laugh and pretty much made my day!

Looked a little like this - though this is not my picture - and the chicken I saw was much closer to the ground.

Crazy Plant Lady

I live in a decent sized, one bedroom, apartment that has a lot of windows.  Woo hoo to the sunshine!!!  This makes me particularly happy because it means I can have plants - even if I don't have a yard - and they won't die from lack of sunlight.  Only, I am beginning to "fear" that I'm becoming the crazy plant lady.  I suppose that this is better than the crazy cat lady right, RIGHT?!?!  (Well, at least in my mind it is.)

At any rate, right now I have 20 thriving plants and another baby spider plant rooting in a glass of water on my windowsill.  Twenty plants.  In an apartment.  Does that make me crazy?  

Or is that I'm crazy because I can't stop buying - wanting - more plants?!  ;o)

Also, um, some of my plants are kinda crazy ... 

Have you ever seen a geranium leaf as big as an adults hand?

Meet my ridiculous pepper plant ... plentiful in foliage ... NOT plentiful in peppers.
So much foliage I've cut it back more than once.
Not even 1 pepper.
Sigh...

That is all, for the moment. 

Hey look, a post!

Life, she can be pretty darn random, eh?! Pretty great too. Pretty interesting. Pretty ... pretty. Pretty crappy - at times. Pretty amazing. Pretty frustrating. Pretty unique. Pretty creative. Pretty colorful. Pretty individual ... etc. And so, here is a place for me to record some of those things and stuff and whatnot...regardless of how random (their randomocity) they are.

So I shall

Comment on...
Vent about...
Create...
Contemplate...
Question...
Ask...
Inform...
Admire...
Ruminate...
Discover...
Learn...
Challenge...
Etc...

things in life.

[One thing you should know, I adore making up words ... or smooshing words together to make "new" words ... or whateves!]