A Week in the Life

This is what I am starting today...documenting the week with photos and words. I am really excited to see the end result and I am loving taking shots of my routines, phone moments, tea cups, piles, etc. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in being able to one day look back and see what is important. Read Ali's Blog here to learn more about the project. And I will try to upload some daily photos and notes.

Seattle Recap

So, I am home safe and sound from a 3-day conference trip to Seattle, WA. Funky place, if I do say so myself. WARNING:PHOTO HEAVY POST!

The flight there was pretty uneventful, except for the pain searing down my neck and back from sleeping weird. Delta was very cool to fly with and unexpectedly, had tvs on board. very nice plus.

Upon arriving at the hotel, we learned that the housing dept. booked our one room wrong so I actually got to stay in my own room, which was awesome. These were the views from my room:






Any room that overlooks a Nordstrom and Jcrew is fine with me (i unfortunately, did not have the time to shop, which sucked major for me but was good for the budget.

Day 1 was travel, lunch at cheesecake factory, welcome reception (with very yummy crab cakes, salmon, and squash with corn salsa), and a trip to the SPACE NEEDLE!!! This was a very cool experience. I guess you can't go to seattle and ignore the Space Needle and it did not disappoint. We rode the glass elevator up and had incredible lighting. Here are my fave shots:






Day 2 was attending conference sessions, which was pretty good.

Then came the highlight of the trip: My pilgrimage to the first Starbucks. Flippin amazing. I asked the hotel concierge how to get there and then he told me I only had 20 mintues before the market closed and it was a 10-mintute walk. And so, I put on my race through NYC look and bounded out of the hotel on a mission with my colleagues. And made it to the market. But the Starbucks was all worth it:


It was all I ever dreamed of. The original mermaid logo (she is "exposed," unlike the current, more modest logo), the crowded cafe, friendly baristas, and new mugs. So so so so awesome. Here are my shots (and thanks to Deb for the fun ones of me looking like a kid on Chirstmas morning):











And then we walked through the market at sunset...and the creepy people started coming out. Now, I am totally cool with people wanting to be who they are, but it was just weird to watch an attempted mugging...yup, watched a kid try to steal a backpack and a skateboard. creepy stuff, and once the market itself closed, it started getting sketchy, so we went somewhere else to dinner. Here are the market shots:









and the one of mt. st. helen and safeco field in the background

And the final day was a full day of travel...blech. i did get to watch 5 hours of the Discovery Channel series When We Left Earth all about space travel. Thanks Jet Blue for letting me watch space ships explode as I fly. Truly uplifting.

At the end, I was just so happy to be home and eat some yummy pasta. It was a cool place, man, but again, I felt like it was 1996 all over again. I would take Bill Clinton, but not the dred locks :).

pjs rock

I am going on a business trip to Seattle this week and I usually get verrrrrry anxious about flying, being away from family, talking in my sleep knowing my roomie would hear. Lots of serious stuff, I know. I don't quite know how to totally combat my fears, but I have found something that makes me look forward to traveling a little more...new pjs.


Might sound bizarre, I know, but new pjs give me a little natural high and so this weekend I got Gap body's super soft tee and all I can say is eeek, amazingly soft. so go get some. they are super soft and super flattering and super stay-in-them-all-day.

being grateful

There are so many situations, people, moments, etc. where we can only see the negative, the bad stuff, the ugly. I am the type of person to harp on these things and I can let them consume me if I really want them to.

And, so I propose the idea of a gratitude journal (ok, Oprah, whom I totally wish I could be, came up with it). Here is the journal I made this weekend:

It is very simple and has blank pages. Basically it is a notebook I found on clearance at Old Navy a while ago and I decorated it. I just think that by adding one thing I am grateful for each day it can help me change my perspective about life, people, etc. I am hoping to make my lists longer to five things a day eventually, but I'm taking baby steps.

Ok, so today I am grateful for my Dad who made a yummy egg breakfast today...how about you?

Inspirational Women

I truly believe that to be positive, you must be surrounded by positive people. I so think that women need women to guide them, cry with them, laugh with them, etc and I just don't think there are many opportunities in life to do this. All too often we feel judged, misguided or uncomfortable just being ourselves, and I think I have finally gotten over needing to be overly concerned about presenting myself a certain way. I am no longer ashamed of who I am, how I think, and the way I live. I am instead embracing the exciting moments in my life and realizing that they all make me who I am.

Which leads me to my point...every Wednesday night I spend the evening with these incredible women:




I am so blessed. These women are AMAZING and are my teachers (one of whom is my mom). They have been through it all - marriage, children, some divorces, some remarriages, deaths, awesome jobs, financial struggles, finding beauty in each day, forgiving others. I could go on and on. They help me put life in perspective and teach me to just let it be. Through our weekly chatting/crying/reflection/prayer-fest (ok, sometimes we go to the movies) we are all there for one another in ways that I can't even put into words.

We all have a story, we all have experiences to share and all of us say things that are completely touching, completely insightful, and just what we need to hear. It is always so impressive that even though we may have differing opinions on stuff, we all love each other anyway and actually get to talk things through and attempt to understand one another. I am so grateful to be a part of this group. It has changed my life. I appreciate life so much more, I see goodness so much more.

Our focus for the fall will be reading Simplicity:The Freedom of Letting Go. We are each taking a chapter to present. Believe me, I really need this in my life and I am looking forward to hearing everyone's input. I have read the first chapter and it really presents the ideas simply and easily. It is so calming and I am very exctied to see where it will lead me in my journey. I highly recommend it (ok, I loooooove everything Richard Rohr does, so just read anything by him) and I think you will feel enlightened.