Bucket List

Good Morning Karmann Ghia,

Years ago on my way to work I used to pass a parked Karmann Ghia.  So I made up a little song I would sing each time I passed it.  "Good morning Karmann Ghia, it's really nice to see ya." And now once again, on my way to work there is a lime green Karmann Ghia that I pass.  And yes, of course I still sing when I see it.  This got me thinking that I would like to drive and maybe even own a Karmann Ghia.  So I've added it to my bucket list.  Two other items currently on my list: see the Northern Lights in person, have a ride along in a Nascar race car (preferably with Dale Earnhardt Jr.).

In the summer of 2012 I crossed off a bucket list item when I attended a night race at Daytona International Speedway.  Though I had been to day time Nascar races, I hadn't ever been to a night race.  Going to that race changed the direction of my life.  It was from that trip that I ultimately decided I wanted to make the move south. 

Now, I'm not saying that I think every item on a bucket list necessarily results in big life changes.  Sometimes a bucket list item leaves you feeling like why did I even bother doing that.  However in order for it to be on your list there is some kind of draw to it.  And even if it isn't life altering, just by checking it off the list you have propelled yourself forward.  It's kind of the same as my blog about the concept of dreaming the dream vs. living the dream.  Dreaming it is putting it on your list.  Living it is actually doing it and checking it off, whether it's a good or bad experience.

So, what's on your bucket list?

Until next time...
Peace & Love,
Hope

Chilly Week

Dear Friends and Family,

It happened this week.  The thermometer dipped down below 70 and I was looking for my long underwear.  Seriously, how did I survive all those winters in New England.  I always joked that I had Florida blood, now I do for sure.  The nights have been chilly enough that I actually got "The River" quilt out of my closet and put it back on my bed.

On Wednesday of this week I headed west out to the flea market.  En route on the east bound side of the road there was what I assume was an injured bald eagle.  It was standing and moving so I'm guessing it was a wing injury.  There were a bunch of people around most likely waiting for wildlife personnel to arrive.  By the time I came back through there was no one around.

The only treasures I came back from the flea market with were vegetables and sunflowers.  Although I did look at a painting of a mountain scene surrounded by a lake and white birch trees.  I didn't buy it or even ask how much it was.  Today the local storage unit facility was having a community yard sale so of course I went.  When I came across the same painting from the flea market I decided I should probably have it.  She was asking $5 for it.  I offered her $3 and she accepted.  It is now hanging in my living room over my futon.

The conspiracy theorist was at the laundromat again today.  I managed to avoid a direct hit by going to the garden shop and buying seeds for planting while my clothes washed.  I started a new project this week.  I'm growing a garden in recycled cold cups that I bring home from work.  I cut holes in the bottoms for drainage and viola, planting pots.  So far I have beans, cherry tomatoes, a sunflower, and lavender started.  I also brought home some coffee grounds which are supposed to make great fertilizer.  We give them out at work all the time for people to use on their gardens.  Down here there are fall and spring gardens.  The summer months are just too hot and humid. (In case anyone was wondering why I was just starting to grow things now.)  The great part of the recycled cups is that if it does get too cold here at night, I can just pick them up and bring them inside.



Next week we turn the clocks back so Jak and I will have to find an alternative place to walk as the dog beach will start closing at 6pm.  With my varied work schedule I will hopefully still be able to get there some of the time.  I'm not a fan of this time change.  I'll take sunlight over an extra hour of sleep any day.

That's all the news that's fit to print for today.  I hope everyone is having a nice and relaxing weekend.

Until next time...
Peace, Love & Sunlight,
Hope   

 

Things

Dear Followers,

For the past few days I have been thinking about this quote I heard...

"Things, when magnified, are forgeries of happiness."  Abraham Joshua Heschel

I think our society puts a lot of importance on the having of things.  And although I do believe things are necessary in life, when things become more important than meaningful interactions and connections with others that's where I can see a forgery of happiness can take place.

When working the drive thru at work, if someone's order is not ready we are suppose to chat with the customer to pass the time.  I think this is probably intended more as a distraction however I have embraced it as an opportunity to connect with people.  One woman was driving a Harley Davidson special edition vehicle so I talked with her about bike week.  Another lady had a copy of a Brene Brown book in her backseat so that conversation was easy to strike up.  What I have found is the people really seem to enjoy the interaction.  They become willing participants in a brief connection with a fellow human being.  And the thing they are waiting for, their caffeinated beverage, becomes far less important.  I always welcome these interactions,and not just at work.  As I've mentioned before I'll talk to anyone, not for the sake of talking but for the sake of connecting.

Another great illustration of the above quote is the Wizard of Oz.  Dorothy and her friends spend the whole movie looking for the things they think will make them happy.  And in the end Dorothy figures out that she has always had what she needed without looking outwardly for it.  I will leave you with a few lines from the movie. 

                        DOROTHY
 Oh, will you help me?  Can you help me?

   GLINDA
 You don't need to be helped any longer.
 You've always had the power to go back to
 Kansas.

   DOROTHY
 I have?

   SCARECROW
 Then why didn't you tell her before?

   GLINDA
 Because she wouldn't have believed me. She
 had to learn it for herself.

   TIN MAN
 What have you learned, Dorothy?

   DOROTHY
   Well, I -- I think that it -- that it
 wasn't enough just to want to see Uncle
 Henry and Auntie Em -- and it's that -- if
 I ever go looking for my heart's desire
 again, I won't look any further than my own
 backyard.  Because if it isn't there, I
 never really lost it to begin with!  Is
 that right?

That's right Dorothy. 
Until next time... 
Peace & Love,
Hope

Dreaming the Dream vs. Living the Dream

Greetings Peeps,

My post a couple of days ago got me thinking about something.  What is the difference between dreaming the dream and living the dream? After some careful consideration I came to following conclusions.

I think that dreaming it and living it are both important parts of a dream.  Dreaming it is the foresight, determination and passion that are necessary to get the ball rolling.  It is the ability to believe that your dream is a possibility which usually involves seeing past present circumstances.

Living the dream is the part of the process that happens once the dream has been set in motion.  Living it takes courage, resilience and gratitude.  Living it is going with the flow of where the dream takes you and sometimes requires letting go of some of the vision from the dreaming stage.  Letting go of it not because it is impossible but letting go of it because the river has taken you to other possibilities.

Before I moved, I believed I would arrive here, settle in, have a job within weeks and be living in a land I love with financial freedom to boot.  Well, it hasn't happened quite like that.  The thing is if I had thought it would take months to find even part time employment, I'm not sure I would've made the move.  The fear of financial instability would've paralyzed me from living my dream.  That's why I think dreaming the dream is as important as living it.

There is an old Suzy Bogguss song, "Hey Cinderella" that I think illustrates my point.  A line from the chorus goes, "Hey Cinderella, maybe you could help us out, does the shoe fit you now?" And although there seems to be some snark intended in the song, maybe the shoe doesn't fit now.  Perhaps Cinderella and Prince Charming have 3 great kids and Cinderella's feet are too wide to fit into her glass slipper.  However maybe having kids has been even better than wearing a glass slipper.  Dreaming the dream and then living it.

Until next time...
Peace, Love & Dream Big,
Hope

6 Month Review - Yup, Already

Ahoy Mateys!

It's hard to believe 3 months have past since my last review.  The weather here is in the mid 80's by day and 65-70 at night so it's also hard for this New England girl to believe that it is the middle of October already. 

Since I am off from work today and have yet to take a shower I think I will skip the inclusion of any "selfies" of Jak and I.  As you might recall from the picture I posted in my last review, it didn't turn out all that well anyway.  I suppose my biggest accomplishment and change in the past 3 months is that I'm working now.  For the most part I do like my job.  It's been very busy though and I find when I spend my whole shift running and multitasking, I'm pretty tired when I get home.  I like the people I work with and wear my title as store matriarch with pride.  For the first month I worked there, I was so overwhelmed by the learning curve I put the serious job search on hold.  I have once again resumed looking as I'm not sure I am cut out for this type of work long term.  And perhaps more so, I'm still not making ends meet.  The ends are, however, closer than they were a few months ago.

The 7 month apartment lease I signed when I arrived here runs out in November.  I was given the option to sign another 7 month lease or a 12 month lease.  After weighing the pros and cons I opted for another 7 months.  Although this means my rent will be going up, I don't know what a year from now looks like for me.  It just felt right to pay a little extra and keep my options open.

Yesterday on the radio I heard "The Dance" by Garth Brooks (both song and singer are long time favorites of mine).  Hearing it got me thinking about a sentimental favorite Garth Brooks song, "The River".  When I graduated from high school my mom made me a quilt that was designed after this song.  The pattern of squares form a river diagonally across the quilt with a green shore on one side and blue sky and sunshine on the other.  It even has a turtle on a rock.  For those not familiar with the song, here are the lyrics...

You know a dream is like a river, Ever changing as it flows
And the dreamer's just the vessel, That must follow where it goes
Trying to learn from what's behind you, And never knowing what's in store
Makes each day a constant battle , Just to stay between the shores.  

(chorus)  And I will sail my vessel, 'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind, These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination, If I never try
So I will sail my vessel, 'Til the river runs dry.  

Too many times we stand aside, And let the waters slip away
'Til what we put off 'til tomorrow, Has now become today
So don't you sit upon the shoreline, And say you're satisfied
Choose to chance the rapids And dare to dance the tide.  

(chorus) 

And there's bound to be rough waters, And I know I'll take some falls
But with the good Lord as my captain, I can make it through them all.

(chorus)  

Moving here really is living the dream for me.  And the dream is like a river.  Sometimes it flows smoothly and sometimes it feels like braving the rapids.  Everyday, in some way, it all feels worth it and I am grateful.  "So I will sail my vessel, til the river runs dry."

It's amazing what one can do with some courage, strength and a good support system.  Many thanks to all of you for the love, kindness and encouragement you have shown me (and continue to!) on this journey.  I wholeheartedly encourage all of you to, "Choose to chance the rapids.  And dare to dance the tide."

Until next time...
Peace & Love,
Hope

Judgment or Self Preservation

Hello Peeps,

Something I've been trying to be more aware of lately is how much I judge others.  From what I've read we judge others because we judge ourselves.  And in the moment of passing judgment there is a brief high of feeling better about ourselves, which I suppose to the ego is the appeal of judging.  However that moment is at the expense of thinking someone else in some way is lesser than we are.

Here's where I find trying to be more aware of passing judgment gets a little tricky.  Today I went to the laundromat.  Doing laundry on a Saturday is a bit risky because there is a guy that is usually there and he likes to talk.  About government conspiracies and such.  So I get to the laundromat and the coast is clear.  I get my laundry started and then head over to a little gift shop to browse while my wash is going (27 minutes).  While I'm looking around the gift shop the salesperson comes over and starts chatting with me.  The conversation somehow got to dogs and the woman started telling about her dog and how she dog sits for everyone else but she doesn't ever get to take a vacation because no one ever offers to watch her dog and she probably wouldn't trust them to care for her dog anyway.  So I'm standing there listening.  And part of me is feeling empathy as I had a hard time leaving my dog Clyde with anyone.  On the other hand I'm thinking why is this lady telling me all this.  It felt like too much information for the circumstances.

In this situation part of me was being an empathetic listener and part of me is thinking RUN!  So is the part of me that's thinking "run" passing judgment on this woman, or is it intuition telling me to make a break for it?  I was finally able to make my exit and returned to finish my laundry.  The conspiracy theorist was there by the time I got back.  Now, in case it seems like calling him a conspiracy theorist is passing judgment, this guy believes there is an organization in Alaska that controls our weather.  He is also very suspicious of the fact that the city built a new police station and he hasn't been able to see inside it.  "Have you?" he asked.  Um, no and I'm completely fine with not having a reason to.

This evening at the dog beach I think I did just flat out pass judgment on a couple with four dogs and not one of them was on a leash.  For the most part unleashed dogs don't bother me.  There is a leash law though.  The issue I have with it is, I can't let my dog off his leash.  His instinct is to run far and run fast and in a place like that I might not ever see him again.  When he's around other dogs that aren't leashed, Jak gets overly excited and I have a hard time controlling him.  So I stopped where the couple could see me, thinking they might get the hint to contain their dogs.  Nope.  Eventually I just turned Jak around and headed back.  It was a short beach walk today.

I was able to snap a few pictures before we left the beach and I will leave you with those.  (No, it's not a pirate ship!)

Dredg-er!  Dredg-er!

Until next time...

Peace & Love,

Hope

Being Creative

Dear Blog Readers,

As I was looking back through some of these blog letters that I have written I realized that they not only serve as a way to keep friends and family informed of my happenings, they also serve as a journal for myself.  Yesterday while I was making this...

I was thinking of when I wrote about my neighbor asking if I was a baker because she could see my KitchenAid stand mixer on my counter.  And although I'm not up at 5am baking every morning, it got me thinking that I really do like to bake.  I crank the tunes up on my laptop and then sing and dance around the apartment while I bake.  The above picture is a mini apple pie that I made for myself.  A little slice of New England in the land of sunshine.  I even rolled the dough with my grandma's rolling pin.  While I don't see this as a career,  it does bring me joy in my own kitchen.  (My dear friend Jak was sadly mistaken when he thought I might give him the other half of my mini pie.)

Yesterday I also started another project...

I call it moveable art.  Ever since I started my new job I have been collecting used gift cards.  I wasn't sure exactly what I would do with them but I knew there was something more creative than throwing them in the trash.  This idea came to me the other day.  The front door of my apartment is metal so I got some magnet sheets that are sticky on one side, cut a small piece for each card and viola, moveable art.  I'm going to ask my colleagues to start saving used gift cards for me also.  So far I have 22 on the door.

On a different note, I'd like to take a moment to send my thoughts to a close friend who lost a family member yesterday.  Though I have my "funeral pants" and am known amongst my family as the professional mourner, I still feel at a loss for the right words to offer a friend in times of grief.  There is the standard greeting card type of things to say but really the most honest way to put it is like this.  I'm sorry, this really sucks.  I wish I could give you a BIG HUG.  And anytime you want to, let's talk about your birthday.

Until next time...
Peace, Love & Hugs,
Hope 
 

Integrity, Courage and a Dredger

Good Evening Peeps,

Integrity is something that I take pretty seriously.  And yesterday due to a scheduling snafu at work I felt briefly that my integrity was in question.  Here's the thing, I may not be fast in my new job.  I may not always know what I'm doing.  And I may not know what to do to keep busy during slow times.  What I do know is I always show up when I'm scheduled to be there.  In this case, what I was told and what was written on the schedule were two different things.  In the grand scheme of things, I know it's not a big deal.  However it did get me thinking about how much integrity society has in general these days.  Take our federal government for example.  And after thinking about that for 5 seconds I decided not to think about integrity and society.

The other night I was talking with my mom and the conversation segued into courage.  Mom said she was thinking about me making this move and she realized how much courage it must have taken for me to get in my car that April morning and drive away.  First of all, I was touched by the sentiment of what she said.  (Thanks Mom!)  And secondly, I think courage steps forward when one gets to the point where not being courageous seems scarier.  I thought about making this move for a long time.  Then the day came where I knew if I didn't just pick a date and set the plan in motion it wasn't ever going to happen.  And no matter how scary putting the plan in motion was, I was at the point where not doing it seemed like a far worse fate. The other night as Bill Nye the Science Guy was voted off of Dancing With the Stars he said that he was grateful for the opportunity and that in life, "you don't remember the things that you did, you remember the things that you didn't do."  Perhaps the opposite of being courageous is the things that you didn't do.

And finally, during my evenings walks on the beach there has been a vessel loitering around the inlet.  At first I was sure it was pirates.  Just waiting for the chance to come ashore and steal Jak and me.  And then I asked an old gent what it was doing.  It's a dredger!  They're removing sand from the inlet to keep the channel open and periodically the dredger leaves the inlet and goes out into the ocean to dump the sand.  Well that is far better than pirates.  I am all about a good dredger, I just hadn't ever seen a working one.  The ones I've seen were abandoned on land.  I'm also glad the old gent clarified as the dredger is around a lot and I would've gotten super paranoid if I continued on with the pirate theory.  Now I'm trying to figure out how to get on board so I can see how it works.  That stuff fascinates me.  Dred-ger!  Dred-ger!

Until next time...
Peace, Love & Pirate's Booty,
Hope