Rear View

Last pic of 2011. Awesome classic car spotted in the parking lot. I have nothing profound or original for my last post of the year. Although, I am posting lyrics from a song that hopefully is something poetic and true. From Florence and the Machine. 

Leave all your love and your longing behind
You can't carry it with you if you want to survive

The dog days are over

"Dog Days Are Over"

Happiness hit her like a train on a track
Coming towards her stuck still no turning back
She hid around corners and she hid under beds
She killed it with kisses and from it she fled
With every bubble she sank with her drink
And washed it away down the kitchen sink

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming
So you better run

Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father
Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your longing behind
You can't carry it with you if you want to survive

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses?
'Cause here they come

And I never wanted anything from you
Except everything you had and what was left after that too, oh
Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back
Struck from a great height by someone who should know better than that

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses?
'Cause here they come

Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father
Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your longing behind
You can't carry it with you if you want to survive

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses?
'Cause here they come

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming
So you better run

Freedom

Saw these antennae things at the mall today. Freedom and hanging on - that's how I feel. Thank God. Long relaxing weekend coming up. Looking forward to re-starting. Reflection time. Hope and energy renewed. Its the beginning of the long goodbye to 2011.

Belated

Today was wonderfully slow at work. I was telling a friend recently that I've been tired since thanksgiving. With the work and holidays, I'm in a constant state of exhaustion and I am getting used to functioning that way.

Today was blessedly relaxing and a welcomed breather from my crazy life. I got around to wrapping a gift. It's a gag. I have a 2011 animal planet photo of the day. A coworker drew mustaches on my animals. I saved all the photos and wrapped the leftover calendar in post-its. Basically it's trash but I enjoy wrapping it and giving it as a fake gift. He will open it, chuckle, and then into the trash it will go.

Looking forward to 2012.

Raven

I saw my spirit animal, the Raven, today at Barnes and Noble.

I also saw this cage decor at Cost Plus. It made me think of Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Absolutely loved the book, movie was just ok. I remember this scene in the book or movie. Where he's admiring a cage in the store. I can't remember the quote exactly, but she says something like, it's a beautiful cage, but it's still a cage. Anyway here's one gem of a quote from the book.

"'Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell,' Holly advised him. 'That was Doc's mistake. He was always lugging home wild things. A hawk with a hurt wing. One time it was a full-grown bobcat with a broken leg. But you can't give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up, Mr. Bell. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky.'"
- Truman Capte, Breakfast at Tiffany's

Eve

Remember remember the 25th of December, the baby, the manger, the plot. I see no reason this miracle season, should ever be forgot.

Cheers!

TGIF

Happy Holidays World!

I got a doggie for Christmas :) Thank god for good friends, good times, warm homes & full bellies. Amen.

My Week

Whyyyyyy?!!!!!

My week has been a giant roller coaster of emotions & drama. Some great/good days and moments, then awful horrible lows. I can't even predict or brace myself. I just get hit full blown here or there. It's making me sick. I really am trying to find a center of gravity, a balance but alas. I'm strapped in and just in it until this thing ends.

I'll try not to puke on anyone.

Picture from http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rollercoaster_dragon_khan_universal_port_aventura_spain.jpg

Just Swimmingly

Today was a good day. Relatively low drama. Overall positive & productive. I cooked and ran. I even smiled and laughed. Trying not to dread future doom or hope too much for good days like this always. Just working on enjoying now and giving Thanks! :) 

Just keep swimming! Finding Nemo. I saw one at work. Those inflatable helium remote control fish. The one at work was Nemo, and he wasn't swimming as good as this ThinkGeek shark video, but still, pretty cool.

Mondays

What can I say, Monday? It wasn't fun. I hate my job. Also just cranky. At least tomorrow is one day closer to the weekend. Yup....

If you google "Mondays" and look at images, there's quite a few out there.

Pic from this website
http://www.manchesterpubnyc.com/monday-night-comedy-sing-off-power-ranking-and-the-new-york-yankees/

End Game

Today was weird. It felt like a dream/nightmare. I was very confused this morning and we left the house twice, taking us about 45 minutes to get to a place about 15 minutes away. First went back to turn off the house heater (first time) and 20 minutes later to turn off the space heater (second time). *sigh. Spent good times with friend and family, but overall just felt awkward and wrong because I was having one of those everything I do is wrong days.

Husband let me open a Christmas gift since I was so out of it - American McGee's Alice. Awesome game :) I played in back in 2000 and loved it, and he got it for me on Mac so I could enjoy it again. Very fun and the usual fun/frustration with playing/obsessing over a video game began. I love the art and the twisted world it was built in - so cool. I should start painting again.

Anyway, Cheers to you Mad Hatter. I think you win this one today.

Winner Winner

I won a Barnes & Noble Nook last night at my work holiday party. Awesome! Got the case for it too and love it!

Eventful day. Helped a friend & passed along some good advice.

"Better is the enemy of good"

He seemed sincerely inspired by it and I reminded him not to focus so much on the possibility of getting a better deal, but appreciating what he was able to get today. We strive so hard for better, we don't really focus on what we have now that's good.

Today, thanks for a nice day, a cool gift and feeling good about helping a friend. Plus staying inside & enjoying the sound of the rain.

Zen

I saw this today on the Zen Habits blog, and thought it was pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to some sitting quietly time. 

ZenHabits.net - quote

Pic was from I donno where. 

Alan Watts wrote in The Way of Zen:

"As muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone, it could be argued that those who sit quietly and do nothing are making one of the best possible contributions to a world in turmoil."

Buddha

Jade Buddha necklace from China, from a friend! That's a camera phone photo blindly pointed at my chest. No filtering. It came out pretty cool. First/only shot.

Gotta have faith sometimes, that things will turn out better than you could have imagined yourself. A little Buddha luck helps too.

Somebody Loves Me!

Apparently these are African Violets? A male coworker said he used to grow them at his family's house. Those flowers cheered me up this morning. I went out to lunch with a friend. The ONE time I did, I forgot about a 1pm meeting with execs and was late to it - fabulous. But the lunch with a friend was totally worth it. Got to remember that relationships matter most, even though there's work and all. 

Poot!

Another rough day. It doesn't help that i'm also extra emotional these days. Stayed late but husband gave me a flower plant, some Cheetoes puffcorn snacks (one of my faves) and took me out to Yamato's for a nice sushi dinner. Got my fave sushis & tried Agadashi tofu for the first time from Yamato's. Delish! He took good care of me.

It's wonderful to come home to someone who loves you. Also Japanese food makes it all better.

Raining

When it rains, it pours. Sometimes you feel so unappreciated and unnoticed when you're busting your ass all day at work, and at life, just trying to be good. Then on the drive home you start crying. Some tunes sing to you on the radio like "Let Her Cry" by Hootie and the Blowfish and "There Will be Sorrow" by Bad Religion. By the time "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley comes on, you start to believe, "Don't worry about a thing, because every little thing is going to be alright".

Get Running

I downloaded this, high hopes. It's an iPhone app called "Get Running". It's a couch to 5k running program to help you get in shape. I hope to start Tuesday, hope. We shall see.

In the meantime today I sat on my ass watching TV and looming a scarf for a friend. I finally finished it! It's a good looking scarf. Mad Men and Lie to Me quality TV time. Day of rest indeed.

Daily Thoughts Journal

We were at Barnes and Noble the other day, and I saw this neat journal. It's where you're supposed to record your little thoughts over the next 5 years. One is meant to write a sentence or two, every day. So small, non-committal and neat. I'm going to try that here.

I almost bought the journal, $16. It was a great concept though. I probably would have bought it if it wasn't $16. You just write something, anything.

So perhaps it won't be new, it won't be breakthrough, but I need to get back into writing. So I'll start blogging again, this time not one new thing daily, but just one thing. Minimalist at its best. I may not even attach pictures which I usually like to do but sometimes delays the blogging. Here it goes :) Let's try it out.