Happy New Year!

Instead of writing the whole "spiel" again, and getting into traditions of yore, just check out my old post from last year.

Click Here!

So, yeah, here's to the coming winter and preparations for the returning light of day.

Happy New Year and Blessed Be!

The Beauty of Mother Nature's Bounty

This past weekend, I had an impromptu travel weekend up to Sturbridge, MA. My family was making a long weekend of it to surprise my sister for her 30th Birthday, and originally I wasn't going to make it. With some goading from my brother, I decided to work half a day at the shop Saturday morning and head up with my brother in the afternoon. We got there just in time for the Dinner reservations, where we surprised both mom and sister at the restaurant. It was so fun, and absolutely perfect.

On Sunday, we went to Well's State Park and hiked around all afternoon. It was such a beautiful, perfect fall day! I snapped off a bunch of pic's with my new camera (thanks to Roommie for the perfect b-day present), and it really amazes me how beautiful Nature is the more I go back and look at them.

Below are some of the pictures I took.

A rainbow that came out during our rainy trip up I-91:

On the trail of Well's State Park:

A fun, mossy rock:

A busy bee at Hyland Farms:

The Apple Orchard at Hyland Farms:

The Pumpkin Patch at Hyland:

Marking Time

Milestones. We all have them and measure them in our own way. What could be such a thing for me might only be a molehill to you. We are the only ones with the capability to judge for ourselves what is worthy of such status.

I like to mark mine by certain achievements in my life that I know are viewed by others as something of no consequence. "Baby Steps" as I like to think of them. Not to discount, I actually believe that these baby steps are what matter most in our lives, laying the necessary groundwork of what lies ahead. For without the groundwork, everything that comes after will only crumble and fall apart.

Yesterday, last year, I was obsessed and agonizing over something I couldn't fix or change, but still lingering on nonetheless. It still does linger today, for we always carry some amount of baggage, but yesterday was not a day of obsessing or agonizing. It was merely a day like any other, more normal and blissfully uneventful than most days recently. It was only after a friend pointed out what yesterday used to be mean for me that I decided to pop the cork on a special bottle of wine to celebrate my latest milestone.

The "Why" of It!

The classic response and question given by toddlers everywhere: Why?!

This one, simple three letter word frustrates adults to no end. Why?

This one word that can question so much about anything and everything. Why?

It can make us examine the darkest corners of ourselves, or the brightest, most open of spaces. Why?

Is it that examining things too closely can freak us out? Or perhaps make us over-think things? Why?

Maybe it's the complacency that people are just comfortable with; the unquestioning of days that make us able to just get by? Why?

What's the reason for any of us to do anything? And bother at all? Why?

Cloud 9

I think I've mentioned before how I pride myself on my gift-giving abilities...I'm almost competitive about it, actually. (Weird, I know, but we all have our quirks) So, a week ago I shipped off the birthday package to my Holland Connection. His birthday is tomorrow, and luckily it arrived for him to open it today!

I always put a lot of thought into what I give people, but when it's someone extra special? There's extra special thought involved. I actually agonized over the "perfect gift" for him after I received a birthday package from him. I mean, c'mon! Pressure's on!

Well, it came down to it and what I finally settled on was absolutely perfect along with the presentation because remember folks: presentation is key! It was a gift in 5 parts, each with a little note attached with a friendly and playful quip. It all consisted of fun, friendly, romantic, and frisky stuff! ;) I thought I rounded it out pretty well, actually! Ha! It actually rendered him speechless in email AND phone. The email he sent at 5am (EST)consisted of a lot of excited gibberish, it was so cute! And then he called me, office to office, and we were on the phone for over an hour and he actually said to me, "I had so many things I wanted to say to you, and I can't believe I'm nervous!" Oh man, how adorable is that?! I mean, really?! And then we chatted about a bunch of random stuff, the upcoming weekend, and the real possibility of me visiting this December.

And you better believe that when he signed his letter "yours with love" that my heart did a flouncy-bounce!

My breath, gone upon a sigh
Your name, as I wake, upon my lips
A yearning in my breast
A fever in my heart
With words rarely spoken, only written
A surmising of your heart matching my heart
Day is night while night is day
Two worlds apart, an ocean between us
But you are always where I find my heart to be

by: Becky Du Poise

Sensory Recognition

Do you ever just have one of those moments when you're walking down the street listening to your tunes, not really paying attention to anything except the "zone" you are in, and then out of nowhere there is a familiar smell and it just takes you back to all of these memories that flood your mind?

What did it for me yesterday occurred as I got out of the West 4Th station and started heading towards Bleeker. Not all smells were pleasant, and I try to block out as many as humanly possible as a general rule, but there was one that snuck through my defenses: cherry-apple tobacco, the kind that my dad used to smoke in his pipe while we were on family vacation camping somewhere.

Ah, but did it take me back!

I miss those days, back when I was 7 and didn't have a care in the world. When politics meant Rainbow Bright versus Strawberry Shortcake; when the REAL arguments and decisions in life could be made by rock, paper, scissor; and the only hero in your life was dad, the guy that gave you Shera rides to bed and tucked you in like a mummy and then proceeded to fake a trip to make it seem like he was going to fall on you and smush you while you fell into a fit of giggles, which, of course, would then cause mom to come and investigate what all of the ruckus was because by this time every excuse was already made as to why, oh why, you needed just 5 more minutes before bed time...20 minutes ago!

When does the innocence of youth leave our lives, I wonder?!

I haven't written in a while, well quite frankly because I haven't needed to! Things in life are going so incredibly well, at times I hold my breathe waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I am trying to be better about it, and not wait for anything at all! The more I wait, the more my life passes me by as I'm on the side-lines and that's not living.

The things that would normally bother me in life, I'm learning to take in stride. And the good things just keep getting better! I'm happy, and I can say that with all honesty! Not that there aren't things I wouldn't change if I could like, oh I don't know, my guy being in Holland and all, but that's just another one of life's challenges and I seem to be coping pretty damn well.

Here's to personal growth, and may my growth never be stunted! I would hate to be vertically challenged!