Loving the Elevator

I come from an office where everyone is convinced that they will lose weight by taking the stairs instead of the elevator. While in general and especially if you work, say on the 18th floor I would agree with this theory, the truth is that even though I work on the third floor and can easily make the trek, I love the elevator too much to give it up. I love pressing all th buttons like that scene in Elf. I love that no matter what it arrives in thirty seconds or less to my floor. I love the dings and zings and truly, I don't think I weigh a pound more for not giving up my daily ride. Riding the elevator does not negate the breakfast burrito. It makes my day more interesting and fun. If only they would put a carosel in the basement and miniature golf on the roof.

Compulsive Blog Spying , Connect

New technology brings with it new ailments. Carpel tunnel syndrome is a direct result of computer overuse. I confess that due to this blog I have found a new ailment. CBS. Compulsive blog spying. Here is how you too can get this easily treatable disease. At the top of this blog is a button labled "next blog". Hit it. Once. That's it.
It will take you to a randomly selected blog somewhere in blogsplot land. I love this. The randomness, the amazing knowledge of a topic I didn't even know that I wanted to learn about. I can find recipes for asian food dishes I didn't know existed, a woman's breast cancer diary, a college student's tales from a trip to Germany, fashion tips from a crafty girl in Austrailia and baby photos from a new mom in Tenessee. There are art blogs, poetry blogs, religious blogs. The possiblities are endless and exciting. It connects me with my belief that we are all connected. We all have something to share. We are all human and despite the fact that you grew up in a hut in Jamaica or a mansion in Connecticut that there are human experiences that defy any other thing that we do not have in common.
Yesterday I was picking up some pottery in a store I hadn't been to in months and met two new friends. After an hour I was laughing, they were laughing and we were each looking at the world a whole new way. I believe that it is these small interactions that really make the grand impact. It connects us to each other and to the greater world. We all matter. We all have something worth saying. We just need to share and listen to each other. We need to dare to connect.

My Vacation Self

My husband and I returned from a blissful, relaxing vacation. It was a caribbean island. Warm people, cold drinks. We spent all day in the water. Ocean to pool to shower to pool. It is amazing how much you can do when you don't have to do work all day. Unbelievable. I find that I was full of energy, waking up at 6am just dying to go try something new, learn to do some dance, make some craft, meet some new person.

After three days I feel like a whole new person. I don't use profanity. (it does help that there are no jughandles here). I am relaxed person who is mellow and calm. A person who doesn't worry about work or what chaos will ensue in the office (let's face it, the chaos will surely outlast me). I am swimming and laughing and learning to sail.

I eat strange tropical fruits for breakfast and spend each early evening watching birds fly by or the sun set. We eat outside and walk barefoot on the sand. We make lots of new friends.

I want to be My Vacation Self all year long. I will make a dedicated effort to not let the grouchiness of my clients wear off on me. I will try to smile more and drink more fruity tropical drinks all year round.

Simple Things

In this time of spending carefully I find it nice to know that there are plenty of simple pleasures that don't break the bank. My husband and I went to Five Below and bought a tone of fun things including a hula hoop and a set of badminton rackets and birdies. While it was mildly embarrassing to learn how bad we are at this simple game, we enjoyed just being outside, swatting at a plastic birdie and watching the purple sun set behind the trees.

Sometimes I catch myself becoming "too" adult. Here are a few signs.

If you buy the Sunday newspaper but haven't read the comics you might be losing your childish edge. If your dinner comes with a free desert and you refuse it, you might be getting up there in mindset. If you have access to a pool and don't go in because the water is below 79 degrees, it is time to reevaluate. If you can't remember the last time that you laughed just remember, this is not incurable.

Take off your shoes. Play in the grass the sand the puddle. Draw with crayons, markers, chocolate pudding (on plastic of course). And smile. Swing on a swing. Pet a kitten. Wear fun colors. Ride a bike. Really live every sweet moment.

Tea'd Off

Okay, so I had a bad day. And for a fact I know that I am not the only one. A short list includes the darling woman at the Nordstrom Cafe that took my pear and bleu cheese salad order amid a crazy rush, the lady that does traffic on my radio station because she said she was, and the guy changing his tire on the shoulder in a suit in 100 degree humid hot ickiness. But I have to tell you about my experience in Tea Hell.

My friend J.P. has a birthday coming up. Now J.P. has fine tastes so I love shopping for him. I usually end up in a high end store scoping the clearance items for a monogrammed luggage tag or something. Well this year for his birthday I outdid myself. I found the perfect gift on eBay (he won't care trust me) and wanted to add just one thing more. I know he likes this tea they sell by the ounce as if it were gold so while I was waiting for my salad I went to this Tea shop. I tasted the sample of Jasmine Green Tea mixed with Rooibis tea. It was smooth and light, and supposed to reduce stress so I had two tiny plastic cups.

The salesgirl came by and asked if I needed help. I asked if I could buy a small amount of tea. "Well," says Miss Know It All "We (as in the Tea Gods or her in her 18 year old worldly experience) don't recommend just three ounces (the minimum) as it only makes about five cups of tea. You can get two half pounds ..... " She went into the detailed special which included buying about $39 worth of tea. I stopped listening at this point. I bought a pound of tea over a year ago becuase the shop is two states away and has the best Jasmine Earl Grey and I have not come close to finishing it.
When I then said I was interested in the sample she made it clear (as if I was somehow slow to understand not just ignoring her obnoxious sales technique) that it was combination of two teas and I could not get the same health benefit from just one tea. I really wanted to buy three ounces of tea but I know she would have tried to sell me the empty tin can and the frequent tea buyer card. I know myself well enough to know she was worse than the salesguy in Love Actually who spends three hours wrapping the heart necklace and I would just completely lose it there in the relaxing tea shop trying to by stress reduction tea for my friend. I walked out.

J.P. got a ziploc baggie of unknown ounces of Jasmine Earl Grey. And a good laugh.

Who ever becomes a ballerina or a fireman?

The other day in church the youth group spoke about using your talents. I have to admit that hearing an idealistic teenager speak about the purpose of their future life gets me every time.What did you want to be at five years old? At ten? At eighteen?

And how close did you get?

I suppose it also matters what scale of "success" you are shooting for, whether it is the scale of how others see you or what kind of person you are and how you touch the world.

There is a song by Switchfoot that has the lyric "This is your life, are you who you want to be?"

Pretty powerful. It chokes me up every time I hear it.



When I was five I wanted to be Wonder Woman. When I was ten I wanted to be a writer. When I was eighteen I wanted to be a teacher.

I have been a High School English teacher.

I am a published author but still strive to find my voice and use that talent more.

Anyway, I got to thinking about how I got from dreams of being a teacher to working in an office with numbers and 401k's and health benefits.

Who among us becomes the exact dream that they imagined at five? How did we go from wanting to be a movie star to getting up, driving to work with one hand on the horn and sitting at a desk being um, in my own words, mediocre?

When I truly think about who I am and some of the amazing things that I have done to save myself and save others, the truth is I am Wonder Woman. Too bad I only get to wear the costume one day a year.

Good Will Savings

I credit my creative thriftiness to my father. He grew up on farm in Jersey where he worked from the age of twelve. He had three shirts in high school, one red one blue and one green. My father was smart and savvy with his money. And while I also inherited his pack-rat capabilities, it is amazing what you can reuse if you keep stuff long enough. Two years ago it was smart and quirky to shop thrifty. Now it is downright necessity. A friend of mine recently told me "forget being in the black, everyone that I know is just trying to get back from a mound of debt to a nice even zero."

Good Will and Salvation Army are two of my favorite stores. As a rule major chains like Target donate a lot of post season surplus so be familiar with their seasonal merchandise because then you will recognize it. I have scored pocketbooks, wrapping paper and baby gifts with the tags on at my local Good Will. I always shop February and July for men's clothing. Every single man gets a ton of shirts and sweaters for Christmas and Father's day that are not his style or size (medium, sure!) and they arrive unworn.
When we visit my brother-in-law and his wife I am always amazed at what different things are in their Sally's (what we call the Salvation Army because his grandma used to deceive her husband into thinking it was a department store). We get tons of household trinkets there, ceramic planters, shelving, etc.
My favorite thing to scope out are 1980's floral rayon dresses. I usually pay about three to seven dollars a dress and can wear them to church or work. I get tons of compliments and they are comfortable and easy to wash. And when I pay less than ten dollars an outfit, I can stretch the rest a lot further.