Sunday Kind of Love

This weekend I watched AN EDUCATION and loved it. Wanted to share some of the music with you today.

Adam & Eve

I'm a little obsessed with this wedding video.

Adam & Eve from dolly on Vimeo.

{Thanks, Joanna}

Hearts

I am so in love with this ring. I think it is just so delicate and feminine and beautiful. It's from a New York-based designer called Cat Bird and I think it is just exquisite.

Day 25: Humor

Today I watched Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, a documentary focusing on one year in the life of the famous comedianne Joan Rivers. She made an interesting point while being heckled during a show. She had made a joke about Helen Keller being the dream daughter because she couldn't speak and a man started yelling from the audience saying the joke wasn't funny because he had a deaf son. It was a sad moment (and could have been terribly awkward for Joan) but she said to the man, yelling from the audience, "We have to laugh at the tragedies in life, it gives them less power over us." She is right. Laughter is one of the best ways to handle the obstacles that pop up in our path. Joan also showed that even if it is impossible to avoid fear, insecurities and failure, the best way to handle it is to keep moving forward, never give up and always persevere. Joan Rivers is nothing if not tenacious and determined and that is why she is still a star at 77 years old.

I am grateful that even in our darkest days we can find humor.

Day 24: Exercise

Mondays. They're pretty tough. Typically you feel overtired and overwhelmed with the work load that has built up over the weekend. But there is nothing that solves the problems of a Monday better than exercise. It clears your head and gives you a feeling of power and control, something that we often feel is lacking in our lives. It erases guilt for any overindulging you may have done (or plan to do). And most importantly, it makes you feel ALIVE!

I am grateful for the way a simple run makes me feel more alive. I am grateful that I am able to go for a simple run every day of my life. I am grateful for the simple power of putting one foot in front of the other.

Day 23: Horoscopes

Lately, I have found that my horoscope on a particular website is extremely accurate as well as poignant and inspiring. Today, in particular, my horoscope put my feelings into profound words and I found myself re-reading it to not only fully absorb the advice being given but to allow myself to appreciate what it feels like when the right words find you at the right time.

An impressionable mood can come upon you suddenly today, causing you to feel uncomfortably while making decisions. As a result, you will likely feel compelled to turn to a mentor, boss, or relative to determine how they might handle the challenge before you. If you are not satisfied with the answers they give, you may find that you lean toward their suggestion anyway. Consider, however, that your disagreement can be interpreted as a signal that you do know the best choice. If you think carefully about your options today, you will likely begin to see that the path that appeals to you may not be right for everyone, yet it is right for you.

When we are secure in the strength of our personal power, we are comfortable following our own paths, even when that means going against the recommendations of otherwise influential individuals. We may feel that we need to give ourselves over to the counsel of those who have more experience, yet doing so can interfere with our ability to craft our own destiny in a meaningful way. Our paths will typically only reveal themselves to us when we are willing to innovate and go against the grain to get what we want out of life. If we have learned to trust our intuitive minds, we need not bow to the pressure heaped upon us by those who are concerned for our welfare but do not understand our unique perspective. You will cease to be as impressionable today when you recognize that only you can conceive of and achieve your unique fate.

I am grateful for the healing and inspiring power of the written word. I am grateful for the right words at the right time and the way fate has a way of bringing these words to you when you need them most.

Day 22: Truth

{image via Etsy}

Sometimes you have these moments when you feel like life is breaking you with the burden of stress and unhappiness. You can't escape it so you start to place the blame, on others, on yourself. You feel you need to make major changes, "fix" things, to bring back your happiness, to hit refresh, start over, begin again. And then you find that the best way to bring you back to center, to bring you back to happiness, is also the simplest, talking. Putting words and a voice to your sense of frustration and sadness can be the most direct way to begin healing. Putting your fears and worries into words lessens the power they hold over you, breaks the unhealthy interior monologue that has held you captive. That's what I did today. I talked. And I had someone who listened and calmed me and brought me back to center, back to me.

Today I am grateful for the power we have to solve our problems by voicing our fears with honesty and authenticity. I am grateful that I have someone to talk to and someone who listens.

Day 21: Snowy Day

As I expected, there are going to be difficult days. Days when work is overwhelming, emotions sit too close to the surface and snow keeps building outside your front door, trapping you inside both physically and mentally. These are the days when gratitude is difficult to recognize and acknowledge. But still the search continues and the parameters of my challenge have already been set. I will find something every day. There is something to be grateful for every single day. Sometimes you just have to look a little deeper and think a little longer to figure it out.

Today I realized something about myself. I'm a people pleaser. I put the needs and wants of others so far ahead of myself that I can barely see straight. I'm quite literally blinded by the demands of others. These people are in no way "bad" people. They are actually great people, people I love and admire and want to spend my time with, when I have available time. But sometimes time gets away from me and it is in desperately short supply. Then, when these people whom I love, start making demands on my time, asking me to put them first, recognize their needs before my own, the problems start to build and I become disparaged about the quality of my life. If I give to everyone, I have nothing left for myself. I push my own comfort out of the way to make sure I make everyone else happy and comfortable. What I need to learn is that sometimes saying no to other people is a way of saying yes to myself. The people whom I love, and who truly love me, will understand this need for quiet contemplation, time to reflect and regroup, space to calm my frayed nerves and recharge so that I can give them the very best I have to give...when I'm ready to give it.

I am grateful for the freedom and time I have to take a step back, retreat into my own comfortable zone and disconnect. I am grateful for a snowy day that forces me to lay low and count my blessings.

Day 20: JFK and Dickens

Today is the 50th Anniversary of the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy. I spent the morning discussing this monumental event with my mother, who was 17 at the time of the President's swearing in. She spoke with stars in her eyes about the glamour and youth and beauty of this young President and his princess-like wife. And then the conversation turned, as it inevitably does when speaking of this historical presidency, to his assassination. To the day when a hometown hero was gunned down. When all of the dreams and hopes and excitement that was placed on his shoulders fell to the ground, and our country was left reeling.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," my mother said. And this stopped me for a moment and made me sit up and recognize the power literature has in uniting us and defining life for us. Last night I had been discussing with my parents that I was reading Oprah's latest book club selection, A TALE OF TWO CITIES and GREAT EXPECTATIONS. I spoke about how when these books were assigned in school I had little to no appreciation for what Dickens was trying to say to his readers. Now, with years of experiences under my belt and a stronger appreciation for universal lessons and themes in life, I have a much stronger appreciation for the words of Dickens and for literature in general. The fact that my mom and I could be discussing such a monumental event as the inauguration, and subsequently the assasination, of JFK and bring in themes from a classic piece of literature, only further proves the power of literature to unite us and comfort us and help us to comprehend events that seem beyond comprehension. Life can be the best of times and the worst of times. It can be everything and nothing. It can be hopeful and fearful. And it is up to us, as humans, to recognize and appreciate life for being both and knowing that even in the darkest of times, there is hope just around the corner.

I am grateful for the enduring power of a book like A TALE OF TWO CITIES and GREAT EXPECTATIONS and a writer like Dickens who can show us that the human condition never changes, it evolves with time, but the defining characteristics of what makes us human, never changes.

Gratitude Day 19: Why Worry?

Today is the 19th day of 2011. The year in which I try to incorporate gratitude into my daily life by finding one moment every day for which I am grateful. I just picked up the February issue of Oprah Magazine and immediately stopped on an article by Martha Beck "Yours for the Asking" that explores the benefit of asking questions to change your life. Question #3 on Martha's list is "Why Worry?" A simple enough question and yet one that can be overwhelmingly powerful and effective. Here is what Martha advises when answering this question:

These two words, considered sincerely, can radically reconfigure the landscape of your mind. Worry rarely leads to positive actions: it's just painful, useless fear about hypothetical events, which scuttles happiness rather than ensuring it. Some psychologists say that by focusing on gratitude, we can shut down the part of the brain that worries. It actually works!

Besides the fact that I want to use "scuttles" more frequently in every day conversation, this could not be a more appropriate piece of advice to stumble upon, especially for someone who is making a concerted effort to "find gratitude" every day. I actually put this piece of advice to work and it really is effective! Any time a worry would pop into my head, I would immediately switch gears and think of something that I am grateful for (my niece, my family, my books, my cozy home) and the worry was gone. Yes, I had distracted myself, but I had distracted myself with something beautifully profound. It really does work! Try it!

I'm grateful that I can find inspiration in the advice of others and have moments of pure enlightenment just by reading an article in a magazine. The fact that we can learn and grow and become better versions of ourselves just by expanding our minds is certainly something to instill gratitude.

Gratitude Day 8: Tragedy in Tucson

Today, a meet and greet between Representative Gabrielle Giffords and constituents outside a Tucson grocery store turned deadly when a gunman opened fire, killing six people and wounding 14 others. It is dark times like this when finding gratitude is both difficult and essential.

One of the victims of this tragedy was 9-year-old Christina Green. A beautiful little girl with an indelible spirit, Green was born on 9/11 and according to her parents was so proud of both her birthday and her country. As her mother said, Christina's birth "lent a grace note of hope to that terrible day."

Even in tragedy we need to find a "grace note of hope." 76-year-old Dorwan Stoddard was one of the victims of the shooting in Tucson and he died saving his wife, Mavy. Stoddard was a church volunteer and Mavy was his high school sweetheart. When the shooting started, he jumped in front of his wife and, quite literally, gave his life for her.

Tonight we celebrated my sister, Megan's, 36th birthday. Five years ago Megan underwent open heart surgery to fix a corroded artery that had been deteriorated by radiation from childhood cancer treatment. When she was going through all of her hospital treatments and surgery, I literally wanted to step in front of her, step in her place and take the bullet. I wanted to save her from the pain and suffering. I am learning that this is what love truly is, to know that you would rather sacrifice your own life for the ones you love. Tonight we celebrated my sister's birthday with cake and presents as her 8-year-old daughter danced around the room, handing presents to her mother and showing everyone the book she was reading (Junie B. Jones).

I am grateful for my sister's health because a few years ago I almost lost her. Life is precious and we need to hold the ones we love tight, forever. Love never fails.

Gratitude Day 1: A New Beginning...and an Adventure

Happy New Year! Let me begin by saying how excited I am for this endeavor. It is inspiring, uplifting and promising. It is also completely and totally necessary and therefore will be something that I not only stick to but something I will want to force myself to adhere to if necessary. I, along with most human beings, tend to get lost in the daily dramas and disturbances of life. I quite literally can't see the forest for the trees at times. I get caught up in the minutiae without recognizing and acknowledging the blessings I am greeted with every single day of my life. Because honestly, even when you are smack dab in the middle of what feels like the darkest period in your life, there is something to be grateful for and something that the world is trying to teach you. I feel that finding gratitude in the every day is also centered in learning something every day. By finding something to be grateful for you are bringing recognition to an area that you had previously ignored, overlooked or took for granted. Gratitude is a way of bringing light to an area that had been hidden by shadows. I am going to spend this entire year documenting everything that fills me with gratitude and a stronger appreciation for life. Even on days when it feels like nothing is going my way, I will highlight those hidden gems of beauty because those are the days when being grateful is essential.

Here's what my New Year's Eve wasn't. It wasn't a wild night of debauchery. It wasn't reckless, crazy, drunken or dizzy. It was warm, comfortable and familiar. It was spent with family. It was a night of great food, laughter and childlike joy. It was perfect!

I am grateful for my family. I am grateful that I can have the ones I love within arms reach when ringing in a brand new year.

Eight is Great

Just watched the Eight is Enough cast on the Today Show as part of their "Today Show Reunites Classic TV Families" series. It was surreal to see these people, these characters, who I remember watching on days home sick from school. Eight is Enough was on my "B" list of preferred daytime television, falling closely behind Laverne & Shirley or The Brady Bunch but slightly ahead of Bewitched. I loved the family dynamics and the fact that there were so many of them! I was too young to comprehend that Dick Van Patten was a widow with eight children and the magnitude of that situation. I don't even think I knew what a widow or death was at that age. There was a lot of "heavy" subject matter covered in these shows that I watched as a child and when I watch them now, if I happen to catch them on some obscure station at a random, sleepless hour, I will wonder what my eight or nine year old mind made of these situations. The references to drinking and drugs or (gasp!) sex. What does that even mean to an eight year old? I remember how often I would just follow the canned laugh track as my guidance for what was funny. My mother once found a diary entry she had written when I was a toddler. She was writing about her silly girls and how her four year old daughter wanted to "stay up late to watch Jack get naked on Three's Company." Words cannot express how much delight I find in that one sentence from my mother's diary. What kind of advertising had made a four year old want to watch a show about three 20-something singles sharing an apartment? Did I even know what naked meant? I am going to throw blame on my older sister...she was nine at the time and had to be a bad influence...because isn't that the job of an older sister?

Running

Running truly is my therapy. There is no better way to work out frustrations, anxiety, sadness, and every other overwhelming emotion than through a physically exhausting workout. When I am bubbling over with energy (both of the positive and negative variety) I love to hit the pavement and allow the rhythmic beat of my own sneakers soothe and calm me. I did that today and I feel tremendously alive.

Skating in February

Hit the ice today for the first time in ten years! I have so much respect for those figure skaters!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Friday

Last night my seven year old niece was talking about all the boys that she liked. My sister and I asked her what she was going to do about liking all these different boys. She said, "I'll marry one and then break up, marry another and then break up, marry another and then break up, until I've married all of them."

Troubling? Yes

Confusing? Yes

Funny? Yes!

First of all, I didn't think my niece even knew what "breaking up" meant. Her parents are happily married, her grandparents (on both sides) are happily married. Where is she learning about breaking up? And should I be happy that she is such a modern woman at seven who feels no qualms about picking up and moving on to something better?

All I can say is that I was astonished and also a teeny bit proud of her speech last night. She then went on to show me some of the positions she learned in her new ballet class. If there is anything cuter than the serious face of a 7-year-old striking ballet moves, I don't know what it is.

In other news, I watched Life, Unexpected which aired on Monday, but I had it Tivo'd. I think I may already be hooked. It was such a good show! Entertaining, nice pacing, good dialog, great music, what else can you ask for? It stars Shiri Appleby from Roswell and her co-star Kristoffer Polaha (very cute!). It's about a former high school liason that resulted in a baby. It is now 16 years later and the biological parents' (Shiri and Kristoffer) lives are disrupted when the baby Shiri had in high school and gave up for adoption (unbeknownst to Kristoffer) comes looking for her biological parents. Critics are comparing it to Gilmore Girls, a hugely popular show that I am admittedly only discovering now in re-runs. So I will be tuning in to this new addition to my already packed television-viewing schedule!

Speaking of television-viewing, did anyone catch Heidi Montag's two-night interview on Access Hollywood? AND her cover of People Magazine? She's 23 and has already had over 10 cosmetic surgeries! I don't like to speak disparagingly about people, especially when it comes to matters of self-esteem and confidence, but this girl may have some issues that are not being addressed properly. She and her husband are publicity hounds to a frightening degree. It seems they will stop at nothing for notoriety, even if it means completely transforming themselves to the point of no return. While being interviewed for Nightline last night, Heidi said, "My message is about inner beauty." Ju Ju Chang, who was conducting the interview, said, "But that is the exact opposite message you are portraying." I don't know what is going to become of Heidi & Spencer. I hope that there flame is fleeting and that they are not public figures for the duration. Only time will tell.

This weekend I am hoping to get to the movies. Last weekend I saw Avatar in 3D at an IMAX theater. I wasn't even wanting to see that movie but the opportunity arose and I am a sucker for going to the movies. I did, however, get a little motion sick from the 3D aspect of it but it was an incredible movie. I didn't care so much for the plot, it was all about the visual adventure. If you are planning on seeing Avatar, I highly recommend the 3D version!

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

For the Love of a Garlic Press

Tonight I cooked a pasta dish that I learned from Giada (I still think her recipes are some of the best I have found). I typically avoid making this dish for one sad and superficial reason...I hate when my fingers smell like garlic! It drives me crazy because that stuff lasts. No matter how many times I wash my hands, they hold on to the pungent smell. So tonight I made a major change to my cooking routine. Instead of slicing up the garlic and subjecting my fingers to the lasting scent, I put one clove through a garlic press and PRESTO...just enough garlic, minced and ready to go! (Yes, the little things really do make my day!)

Get Your Motor Running!

I don't know how I have done it, but I have run every day of this awesome New Year! 2010 is already leaving 2009 in the dust. I read somewhere that if you do something consistently for at least 30 days it becomes part of your routine. Running is becoming that thing. I started in early Fall and have continued forward diligently. If I'm not feeling well or have any sore muscles or pains, I still hit the treadmill (just not at the same speed and intensity). I think running is becoming my version of prozac. Seriously! It gives me the biggest boost and changes even the worst mood. (And it balances off my love for certain foods!)

Happy New Year

I really wanted to be on-the-ball and post this on January 1, but alas, life got in the way. I hope everyone had an enjoyable New Year celebration and took time to reflect on 2009. This year was probably the most difficult year for me personally, but it was also a time of great growth because with struggle comes strength and understanding. I am looking forward to 2010 and have high hopes for good things to come. I don't want to do a recap of the year, as I am seeing them everywhere and feel that by now we should all have a good idea of what happened in 2009. In a nutshell, too many deaths.

Last night I watched Revolutionary Road with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. I know that this movie received some great awards and recognition, but the movie based on the 1961 novel by Richard Yates, was depressing. I could go into further detail, recapping the poignant moments, the larger themes of being trapped by societal pressures and the strong acting, but really, it was just depressing. I can completely appreciate the need for deep, meaningful, often heart-wrenching movies to help us reevaluate our lives, understand more complex worlds and appreciate how far we have come, but sometimes depressing is just depressing. I have not read the book but have heard it is much stronger than the movie. So if I were you, check out the book first.

Yesterday I spent the day babysitting my seven-year old niece and we baked a cake with her Easy Bake oven (a Christmas present from Santa). I felt like I was having a flashback to my own childhood, as I completely remember the wonder and amazement that came from actually baking my own cake! I felt cynical when I began internally criticizing the makers of the Easy Bake oven for using a light bulb to cook a cake...and not well, I might add. But then I looked at that joy on my niece's face as she pulled the dried out, yellow "cake" from the oven. She was so proud of her accomplishment and wanted everyone to try a piece. Isn't that what life is all about? Those little moments of excitement? Hopefully 2010 will bring more Easy Bake oven moments...and take us down fewer Revolutionary Roads.

Building a Bathroom

This blog is about my life, so I will be including all aspects of my life. At the moment, I am currently remodeling a bathroom in my house. I am planning on updating this site with our work-in-progress. I really like the marble counter top and matching marble floor that I found through Katy Elliot's site.