Tag: thoughts

Friday Fragments

On By AngeliaIn Wee Wee Wee all the way home!20 Comments

  • I got in the elevator. The doors closed. I stood there staring at the buttons, because – for the life of me – I could not remember which floor my car was on. That wouldn’t have been sooo bad, except it was the second time in the same day I did that. ::face palm::
  • Also the same day? I sent my husband a text that stated – I have ADD. It’s really bad and I can’t concentrate. I asked him what the cure was….his answer? Coffee and Chocolate. Ho boy!
  • Today marks the fifth day of driving Sydney to high school since the car accident that left her car-less. She was only almost late one time. It’s great for me. I feel like she is a freshman again. And that is exactly why it’s bad for her……during her Senior year. Seriously…yikes!
  • My second 5K race of the year is Saturday. I am doing it with (mostly) the same peeps that participated in the last one. We have become a true “team” (yay! team!). I expect all of us to beat our time by just a little bit. I am a brutal coach. PICK UP THOSE FEET!!
  • I went to my first Zumba class Wednesday night. I had NO idea what to expect. If I would get the steps, or just look like a bumbling two-left-feet-kind-of-gal. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. I did bumble. I almost lost my footing more than once, but in the end, I did get the steps down. Annndddd??? I made it through the entire class without dying. Plus, I could walk the next day. Yes, I will be going back. Turns out, I LOVE to dance.
  • I can’t believe next week is February. Someone…PLEASE…stop the clock. And just FYI, I always want to misspell February. Always.
  • Did I tell you my sweet husband bought me a brand new MAC? I looves it. We got a second desk in the office and now I have my very own MAC AND desk. I am the luckiest chic alive. The only bad thing? I haven’t moved my photoshop actions over. I really wish I didn’t love those actions so much.
  • I did not win tickets to Australia at the last airline event I attended. But now I am on quest to GET to Australia at some point in my life. It is even higher on the list now than Italy. I must GO someday. It is my destiny. I mean I did name my daughter SYDNEY.
  • Speaking of event, I got some FANTASTIC photographs of the 747 jumbo Qantas jet that flies from DFW to Sydney. I will post those later. I tried to be a stow-away. I totally did.

Me, Sydney bear, Mo, and Sal.
  • I only have a grip on the lovely Sydney Bear, because I am hoping he will take me back to Australia with him. It’s not like I have gun to his back. PLEASE TAKE ME WITH YOU!! It was a back-up plan (sorta). He is a cute bear!
Plan "A"
  • Plan “A” was to hide out in here, and hope no one noticed I was in the crew quarters bunk.

  • Unfortunately, the flight attendant found us. She said she was just making sure we were okay up there. Yah, riiiight.
  • So, I am still here….in North Central Texas. At least, it has been a nice winter. We got a good dose of rain and the temps have been in the 50-70’s. Can’t beat that.

Have a most fabulous weekend!!

The Internet Experiment: Unplugged 24 Hours

On By AngeliaIn Days and Nights24 Comments

I wish I could say it was easy.

I wish I was one of those people who engages and connects with physical things and not so much more with cyber things.

I wish I could say it didn’t change me, but it did…..

You wouldn’t think it would. A mere 24-hours with no access to games, Facebook, or email. No big deal, right? Normal people do it every day.

Do you know the last time I was without internet access? Before my laptop days…..before my smart phone days…..too long ago to really remember.

It makes me realize how I traded out one set of addictions for another (theory of my life).

The good news is…I did it.

I shut down the Mac. I powered off the iPhone and I put it on a shelf for 24-hours.

In fact, I left my phone on the shelf and left town. It was not even in my possession.

In a way I think I cheated a little. I knew I would be in a car for 6 hours of the 24, and in my defense, I have service during those three hours. But isn’t it a little easier to entertain oneself in the car versus a regular every day? Probably…

At 8pm, I faced the unknown. What do I do with NO social networking? No screen to tap. No notifications to review. I felt really bitchy twitchy. I felt a little out-of-body. I tried watching TV, but I just couldn’t get into it. Finally, Sydney, Brandon, and I went to out to eat. We left Jason on his Mac (no fasting for him!). Upon return, we fired up RockBand and I banged out my frustrations on the drums (such a great stress reliever). We actually toured with our band and did pretty well.

I went to bed EARLY, and the next morning…it wasn’t so bad. We left for Oklahoma to see my mom. I read a book (and darn near finished it). I tried not to look at Jason or Sydney’s phone. I was a little fearful I would SNATCH it from their hands and begin tap tap tapping the screen. I had to hold my fingertips close to my chest. Thankfully, I never embarrassed myself in the heat of an iPhone moment.

I watched the clock most of the day, and hated myself for it.

Sydney and Brandon watched ME most of the day (to see if I’d break down? Cry? Convulse?).

I did none of those things. I imagined life without an iPhone and internet service. I imagined the olden days when I lived in the country and we did not even have cable.

We explored the creek beds. We played board games. We talked. We listened. We had friends and family we visited in person.

Maybe, at the end of this experiment, I realized…….there are a lot of issues about the operation of my life I need to examine.

I’ll be honest. I really didn’t miss much. In fact, I probably missed the internet more than it missed me.

There were certainly some emails I expected to get that I didn’t.

It was disappointing…..yes…..but also, life enhancing.

I don’t have to be addicted to anything. I can put my phone down for a day.

I can disappear and it’s ALL okay.

I thought this post would come out differently. I planned this post to be funny. Amazing what happens when you are faced with yourself and nothing in between you and your soul.

I highly urge you to unplug one day, and just see what happens to the you that is waiting there.

“Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become. -Unknown

Explore. Dream. Discover.

On By AngeliaIn Wee Wee Wee all the way home!, WINNING!16 Comments
Big Bear Lake, California

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

– Mark Twain, American writer

I’m off to my race adventure in the morning. Yes, Joshua, the Jiggle Butt Run.

The forecast is a sunny 50 degrees. Yessss!

I’ll be back tomorrow with an account on how the official 3.1 miles went, but I am not nervous or concerned.

These are my dreams to discover and explore and do.

Thank-you for all your well-wishes and cheers on the previous post. It truly means the world to me. I thank you from the depths of my heart.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

My Word of the Year

On By AngeliaIn Life is what you make it.18 Comments

It’s actually two words No Excuses.

Something we were withholding made us weak, until we found it was ourselves.

– Robert Frost

Today marks the sixth year that I quit smoking cigarettes. Six years! A New Year’s Resolution gone right. I mean, nobody actual succeeds at those…do they???

But I did. Cold Turkey. I smoked my last one around noon January 1st, 2006. I never picked them up again. Not another puff.

I’m not saying it was easy to just walk way from a long-term habit. It wasn’t. I’ve been addicted to a lot of things in my life and this one, by far, was the hardest to kick. I grew up with smokers. I went to France as a teenager surrounded by young kids smoking. I picked it up pretty easily.

It was in my blood, and in my brain. And it became a habit I had to break for many reasons, but mainly health, and for my daughter.

It was tough.

But I did not give myself an excuse to start back again. No reason was good enough to start smoking, because I wouldn’t let it be, and it wasn’t too long before I hardly thought of it. After a few months smoke-free, I became allergic to smoke.

Now, if I’m around it, it gives me a headache and it makes me feel nauseous.

Thing is, I was probably allergic to it all along. No wonder I felt so much better after I quit.

That year, I went on an exercise kick that lasted many years. I quit smoking, I start drinking a ton of water, and I added hard-core exercise. Sometimes, I exercised three times a day.

The extra weight I carried melted away.

December 2005 Christmas Party. I was a very unhealthy me.

Seven months later in 2006…..

The end of my weight-loss journey.

I had a No Excuses mind-set. I would not let anything stand in my way.

Now…I am back to photo number one. I need the mind-set I had in 2006 – one that quit smoking, quit over-eating, and exercised daily. A No Excuses me.

The last few years there have been excuses…….

    I’m too tired. I’m too stressed. I’m too busy. I’m too injured…..from a car accident, a fall, or a nasty break-up.

Excuses is what I have eaten for dinner and taken to bed. They are my BFF.

And I use them, not just for healthy things, but for everything in my life….my photography…..my reading….my side business….my friends.

Excuses. The why I can’t complete or succeed at ________ (fill in the blank).

So this year, I will put my excuses in 2011, and they can stay there.

How about you? Do you have a word or a resolution for 2012?