Good Advice

Over time, I’ve gotten some very good advice from friends and relatives:

Pee before you leave the house.

If a friend has the guts tell you that you look like crap in something you’re wearing, throw out the outfit and keep the friend.

Drink a lot of water, sleep whenever you have the opportunity, and get a facial once a month.

Forget the pain, but remember the lesson.

In your closet, you should always have jeans that make your butt look great, a black dress that makes you feel awesome, and a pair of heels you can wear with both.

Love yourself first.

Sometimes the best thing you can do or say is to do or say nothing.

You’re never too old for bunny slippers.

I think some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten came from a stranger, though. Here it is…

Make important in your life only those people who make you important in theirs.

I think they should take you aside in preschool and tell you that one.

Of course, the peeing before you leave the house thing would have been more appropriate at that age, too.

The More Things Change...

I ran into one of those very gregarious people at o’dark-thirty this morning while I was walking Dog. He was walking a black and white dog that looking like a pit/boxer/lab mix.

The dogs made a beeline for each other and were all sniffs and wagging tails in a matter of seconds.

“What kind of dog is that?” the inevitable question.

“Dog’s a Lab.”

“He’s a beast.”

“Yes, he is.”

As we were walking away, I heard him tell his dog, “Achilles, if you do your push ups, you can look like him, too.” :o)


I went poking through my old emails looking for something for a friend and came across this one. It’s from 2006, and I’m blown away at how little I’ve changed.

IF YOU COULD BUILD A SECOND HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE? hmm...I'd still like to build my first house, but I'm really not sure right now where

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING? my Levi's that are a size too big and falling apart

THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT? movie-Proof music--Retro Mix with my fav 80's tune - "Life in a Northern Town"

WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? 6:00 on weekdays, 7:00 on weekends

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE? I love my little crock pot, but I'd be much harder to live with without my coffee maker. I'm whore for kitchen appliances, though. I love them all, especially my ebelskiver. Go ahead and google that one!

IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE? the piano

FAVORITE COLOR? it changes. right now it's yellow, but i just got a pink "French purse" from my parents for my birthday. it's pepto pink. i LOVE it.

WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR SUV? i love Volvo station wagons. Is that weird?

DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE AFTERLIFE? no

FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOK? where the wild things are

YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? spring

IF YOU HAD A SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE? too much power is a bad thing. i do have this mental telepathy thing going with my closest friends and family. it's really strange.

CAN YOU JUGGLE? scarves. i took circus arts my freshman year at college and that was my final.

WHO IS THE ONE PERSON FROM YOUR PAST THAT YOU WISH TO GO BACK AND TALK TO? No one. what's past is past.

WHAT IS IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR? a tire jack. i can't figure out how to get it back into its little holder, so it's been floating around back for about a year now.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DAY? Sunday

WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SUSHI OR HAMBURGER? neither

OF THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO'S THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST? no idea

WHO IS THE LEAST LIKELY? you know who you are.

WHO DID YOU RECEIVE THIS FROM? Annie

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER? rose (trite, i know!)

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAL? I'm crazy about seafood right now

WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? February 14

WHAT CELEBRITY DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON? Thierry Lhermitte

I finally had to sell the car to get the jack put in its proper place. That was when I bought the Volvo. ;p

Have a great Sunday!

Ducking Curve Balls

Every year on the anniversary of my birth, the year I was born, and not the number of candles on my birthday cake, changes. (P.S. My DOB is now February 14, 1981.)

This is when I make my New Year’s Resolutions.

Devotees will know that in December I flirted with the idea that this would be my “Detox Year” and get rid of the people and things in my life that ail me. I still think that’s a good one, and here’s my other one: A Year of No Decisions.

Why so indecisive you ask?

I noticed that lately things are changing around me at breakneck speed. I don’t know if it’s that I’m slowing down or what, but every time I turn around, something else is changing on me. I barely have time to catch my breath from one life-change before I’m thrust into a new one. Honestly, I can’t deal with so much change. I, who am the Queen of Status Quo.

This year, I’m putting my foot down. I may not be able to control what’s going on around me, but I can control how I react to it. Or whether or not I react to it. And ordinarily, I’m a big reacter. You might just come to the conclusion that I’m a “go-alonger” because I adjust my attitude, ideas, and direction according to what’s coming at me. And you'd be right.

I’m always looking at all the angles, trying to see things from another’s perspectives. The problem with doing that is, as a result, I often don’t know what I really think about anything. I can’t even decide what I want to be now I’m getting ready to leave one career and move on to another. There are just so many options, so many things that sound good and right, that I don’t know which of them I’d be happier doing.

I don’t even know where I want to be in five years beyond a lovely, nebulous idea of contentment.

So for the next year, I’m going to go about my business and not worry about the future or the past. I’m going to maintain. I’m going to move forward. But only on the path I’m currently on. If life throws me curve balls, I’ll just duck.

Hopefully, by the next time my year changes, I’ll have a clearer idea of who I am, what I want, and which direction to take to get me to that contented place in my birth year 1987.