One of Those Weekends...

This past weekend was one of those great October weekends that fits the season perfectly. On Saturday I took a drive down to Bridgewater, VA to visit my cousin Ali. She's a freshman at Bridgewater College. The two hour drive was gorgeous - pretty mountains, trees with leaves of orange, red, and yellow, the sun rising (because I left before it was up!)....it was just perfect.

Ali and I ate at her dining hall....which I have to say doesn't even compare to the dining hall where I went to school, and the standards weren't set very high. After brunch we wandered around the local mall for a bit where I found a fabulous dress to wear out dancing later that night. Our final stop of the visit was at the movie theater. My crazy cousin talked me into seeing Saw 6. I thought I was going to vomit within the first 5 minutes!

Saturday night, which I wrote about yesterday, I danced around Adams Morgan with P and V.

Yesterday was another perfect October day. I went with C and baby Adam to the Halloween parade in Alexandria, VA. Adam was dressed as a monkey and was absolutely adorable! I was very impressed with many of the costumes...it was a surprise to see so many Star Wars and Where the Wild Things Are costumes. One disturbing costume though, was a mother and daughter both dressed as Geisha. I found that to be a little inappropriate...

After the parade, Rachel (who we were all so happy to see since she's been so swamped lately) and I went to Pacers in Old Town so that I could pick up some new running socks and then went back to her apartment where I helped her re-organize her clothes and room. I love doing that, so to all my friends who may need help in that department, let me know! After dinner at the French Bistro in Dupont I headed home.

It was a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

The Mystery of Female Assets

Last night I was out with two of my lovely ladies, tearing up the dance floors around Adams Morgan. Around midnight we settled ourselves at Tom Tom. Regardless of where we go, there is a common theme that seems to follow us from dance floor to dance floor. We have nice assets..literally...ASSets.

It's been a long running joke with my Christopher cousins that we all (or, rather, most of us) have a shapely buttocks. It's one of our traits and we love and embrace it. However, what I can't figure out is why the men of this world have an obsession with our derrieres. Last night, with P and V, the men crowded around, leaving us with very little breathing room. While it's nice to be admired, it's another thing to be groped. We three all have pretty decent assets, but that doesn't mean we enjoy having our hips..and other areas..tugged at by strangers. My question: is it actually our assets that men love or is it the confidence of us dancing around with our assets that is a mind stimulator?

Yes, women size up the assets of men as well, but it's certainly not what attracts us to a slow wind on the floor. We admire from a distance and most of us don't reach out for a touch unless we intimately know the man. Though I will say there are those women who give us a bad rep by being extremely forward, but for me and my ladies, we tend to keep it classy.

I don't think I'll ever figure out why our assets are so desirable - but if you're a man reading this, feel free to enlighten me - for now I will leave it with mentioning that it is thoroughly exhausting when men flock the assets, especially on girls night out.

Autumn Automated

Alright, I'm aware that in my last post I committed myself to keeping up with the blog a bit better then I had been. Guess that didn't quite work out. Ahh well. Perhaps this time around I will stick with it.

Once again I find myself blazing through my favorite season on cruise control. Each moment is passing by the same way it did last year. Like autumn 2008, there's a new guy in my life who is great...better...then the last. But is there something wrong with me that I always meet people around this time? Perhaps a seasonal condition of some sort? I am breaking a few habits this season though - Halloween is fast approaching and this will be the first time in a few years that I have not trekked up to Ithaca to visit S.A....instead I might be trekking to Manhattan to visit my other S and my handful of NYC loves. Still undecided. Naturally, after Halloween comes Thanksgiving and I will NOT be going to Connecticut. Instead, the entire Christopher clan is heading to the Outer Banks for the weekend. In fact, the 23 of us that will be down there are participating in a Thanksgiving morning 5K. Let's see how competitive we get!

Recap:

A few weeks ago I was in Greece and Italy. It was fantastic! Steph, Janine and I spent 3 days in Athens and the island of Aegina and then flew to Italy for the remainder of the trip. Basing ourselves in Rome, we did day trips to Florence and Capri. Can you say B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!?? I was blessed by the Pope, drank a lot of wine and Mythos, ate delicious (and interesting) food, and had an incredible trip. Since I've been back stateside, I've caught up with friends, attended a wonderful Christopher family dinner with uncle Dave as the guest of honor, and have been pretty busy at work. My world is hectic and crazy, but I love it.

Life in the Fast Lane

OK OK...I know...I've been horrible at keeping up with blogging this year. I swear to do better. Cross my heart.

The first five months of 2009 have flown by. Work (the not-so-new job as I've been here for 6 months now....wow...) has been incredibly busy. On top of longer work weeks, there have been a lot of family weekends, friends visiting, visiting friends, and trying to find a happy place in the midst of the chaos.

Here's a catchup of my life in a nutshell:

• Two more weddings I'm a bridesmaid in (seriously, no on else ask me until I'm engaged, unless you're my friend S...I refuse to turn in 27 Dresses)
• Mr. Florida came back into my life for a brief period - he missed me. It won't ever work, so I had to cut ties
• I'm about 92% sure I dated a hit man
• My summer is filled with other people's special days - weddings, bachelorette parties, bridal showers, etc.
• My Anna Wintour is visiting me in two weeks and I can't wait
• If one more family member asks if I'm "seeing anyone special" I will scream
• I saw Brit Brit in March - sadly, she focused on her Blackout album which we all know was awful, instead of her fabulous Circus album
• I ran a 5K in May and want to do another
• I hired back my personal trainer to whip me into shape; now if only they could shape my personal life as well
• I just booked a trip to Greece and Italy for October....and I wish it was tomorrow

So, there you have it. You are caught up. I promise to do my part in updating A Charmed Life if you promise to continue reading.

Child Proof

I think children are wonderful. I love my little cousins and my friends' babies. I'm excited to have a child in the future. However, it is completely unacceptable for parents to let their kids run wild and free in stores.

1. It's an easy place to lose a child
2. If you are letting your kids out of the stroller or out of the child leashes (which, FYI, I think are GREAT) then WATCH them. Don't let them pester shoppers.

This past Saturday I went to Target in search of new workout clothes. Arms loaded, I strolled into the changing room extremely happy that it wasn't crowded. Target was having a phenomenal sale and I knew it would take a while for me to try everything on. I was halfway through my pile of clothes when screaming children came running into the changing room. The grandmother was gabbing loudly on the phone, baby on hip, while her daughter (the children's mother) tried clothes on a few doors down from me. OK, so it's not so bad that the kids are running and screaming - I can deal with that for a bit - though it does speak volumes about the parenting style as not one word was uttered from the grandmother's mouth to calm the kids down. But then, I hear a giggle and look down. A 4 year old is peaking under my door. I said "oh, you have the wrong room," and the child ran away.

It happened a second time, and on the third time - as I was putting my clothes back on - I see the child once again through the mirror. Now I'm angry. Watch your kids parents and authority figures! If it were my little cousins peeking at me, that's fine. But to have strangers doing that, I think it's completely inappropriate and parents should be teaching their kids how to behave in stores.

I calmly, yet loudly, said in a sweet voice "You shouldn't be looking under peoples doors" - The kid ran away again and I stepped out of my dressing room. When I glimpsed the state of the grandmother I just knew those children were lost causes. She was a 38-40 year old grandmother watching her daughters 4 kids. Something is wrong with this picture......

My Give a Damn's Busted

Dating is absolutely, one hundred percent, without a doubt.....A challenge. A thrill. A nightmare. A laugh. A I-Don't-Know-What-The-Hell-Is-Going-On at times.


Monday night I was out with my friend Erin for dinner and drinks at the Daily Grill - in which we were working at getting Erin over a sad breakup - and we hopped over to the Front Page for an after dinner drink. The Front Page is great on week nights - the weekends are just full of horny co-eds - so it was exactly what we expected when we showed up: not too crowded, available seats at the bar and a few tables, quiet music, and a friendly bartender.

Erin and I planted ourselves on bar stools and ordered beer on tap. Engrossed in our conversation, I didn't notice the man near me who kept glancing my way. After 20 minutes, he finally interrupted our discussion and began engaging us in conversation. He was very nice and polite, mildly attractive, good job, and from Paris. I was intrigued by him, but he really wasn't my type physically. Oh, and he was waiting for a friend - translation - date, to arrive. Once she arrived, Mr. Paris continued talking to me and Erin, including his date in the conversation. After a while I had to use the restroom. I excused myself and walked downstairs to the bathroom. When I emerged, I found Mr. Paris waiting for me. Shock!

He followed me to the bathroom.

Seriously?

He asked me when he could see me again. I replied "you're here on a date."

To that, he said "yes, but it's you I want to see, not her."

Again, seriously????

The end result was that I told him that I sometimes come in for happy hour and that maybe I would see him again. Next stop was to tell Erin that we were leaving. And Erin, having witnessed Mr. Paris follow me downstairs, had already closed out our tab and had my jacket in hand.

Around this same time that Mr. Paris was picking me up while he was on a date with someone else, Mr. Florida has been slowly entering my life again. I received several emails and finally, about 15 text messages one night where he spelled out his feelings and why he deserved a second chance. The killer was that he let himself get drunk in order to spill his feelings and chose the cop-out method of using text messaging rather than having the decency to call me....flash back to when he Joe Jonas'd me. Honestly, that ship has sailed - I realized in our time apart that it would never ever in a million years work out. Therefore, while I've had time to digest and evaluate my life and feelings, he's remained dependent on the idea of me in his life....probably because I disappeared from it so quickly. Smart women know that when someone hurts you, you do what you have to in order to be OK and survive. I assume that the percentage of women that actually fall into the "smart daters" category can be limited to about 25%. I'd like to consider myself a happy part of that percentage....though tears are shed and the heart aches, you have to move on and be happy for you and only you.

Simply put, dating and living in a world where technology is at our finger tips making pick ups and dating multiple people (and being sneaky at it for that matter) so convenient and easy, is not healthy. It's one big challenge. One big game. One big I-Don't-Know-What-The-Hell-Is-Going-On.

My give a damn is busted.

A Balancing Act

I love to work out. Seriously work out - going from one cardio to the next, using free weights because I like the open motion of it, kickboxing, body sculpt and pilates. I've recently started doing yoga again - and when I say again, what I really mean is that I used to do it on the rare occasion and now I'm making a focused effort to practice it - but I must say, there's a reason why I never stuck with it in the beginning, which I remembered the other night. My friend Carissa is an excellent yoga instructor and I'm taking her class in Old Town Alexandria. I love the way my body feels while practicing yoga...it's really a wonderful workout....but the slowness drives me crazy. I truly try my best to concentrate and be one with myself while in class, but for someone who is on the go constantly, I have a difficult time taking it down a few notches.

But I think what drives me crazy the most is that I have absolutely ZERO balance. I've never had balance in my entire life. It's terrible when you can't even do the tree pose for only a minute.

Balance has been afflicting me ever since I can remember. I can barely walk in a straight line completely sober - and ask me to draw a straight line on paper and I will laugh at you. I constantly bump into walls, have difficulty navigating around corners in my own house and sometimes when I'm just standing still (on both feet, nothing in my hands) I feel myself tilting off to one side unexpectedly. It's amazing that I can actually work out in the gym and play sports....funny how that works out, huh?

Lately, balance in my life doesn't just relate to my ability to stand and function properly, but to the juggling contest I seem to be in with myself. The past few months have proven to be a challenge when it comes to fitting things into my schedule. I'm balancing a demanding job, family, friends, exercise, weddings, birthdays and "fun" time into a schedule that seems to consistently grow teenier each year. I think I'm doing an OK job of it, but god...if only my schedule could open up a bit more. I suppose this is a life lesson though - as we grow older balancing the many aspects of our lives become more of a challenge and we simply must adapt if we don't want to end up on Xanax....which I must admit that I'm not completely opposed to taking right now:)

With everything, I weigh the pros and cons.....I will continue to take yoga because I love the changes in my body as a result of it and hopefully one day I will be able to hold my tree pose without stumbling.

Gentlemen Oh Gentlemen

I found out the other day that yes, in fact, there are still gentlemen left in this world. While men no longer readily give up their set on the metro, hold doors for ladies or open car doors, there are still a few out there who think twice and do something nice.

I was at Starbucks waiting for my grande chi tea latte and there was an attractive man waiting next to me. He was fiddling with his Blackberry but was not distracted enough to ignore my once over. He got his coffee first and started for the door. I soon followed, though I was far enough behind that there really was no need for him to hold the door. He walks out, door closing behind him, pauses on the sidewalk and turns back around. Then, he opens the door for me! I smile, walk out and say "thank you."

See, there really are some gentlemen still out. I hope that I am fortunate enough to encounter a few more.

Are you Joe Jonas?

Joe Jonas is an idiot. Before breaking up with Taylor Swift through a text message he should have considered 1. Women have feelings, and if you respect someone you don't break things off with a text 2. It's hurtful and 3. It would become national news as the two of them are celebrities.

I'm on TayTay's side. I was just "Joe Jonas'd." It turns out that Mr. Florida isn't as sunny as his name.

I however, had a fabulous time in Florida with Michelle - we are single, fabulous and I don't need to tell you how many lovely beverages were bought on our behalf by the swinging men down south. Joe Jonas happens.....you get over it.

A mom and her dog

I sometimes think my mom loves her dog, Tully, more than her own children. That's not true of course, but the woman is so consumed with every little detail of Tully's life that it makes me wonder.

**note: Tully is a 13 pound westapoo**

Three years ago Tully, a puppy, was behaving strangely. She kept going to the garage door to be let out. Mom grew very concerned over Tully's frequent trips outside. So concerned in fact, that she decided to call the Vet.

"Hi, I'm Tully Christopher's mom. I think Tully has a bladder infection," mom said without blinking an eye.

"Oh, OK. I'll get a sample a bring it in." She said.

She then turned to me and my sister, who were hysterical over her phone conversation, and handed us a tupperware container. "Go get a sample of Tully's urine."

Task completed, sample delivered, results reported. Tully was just fine. Mom overreacted.

And so this continues to be a constant theme with mom and her dog. The truth is, that Tully loves mom so much and can't stand to be away from her which is probably because mom has treated Tully like a baby from day one. Tully is allowed on all of the furniture, gets Christmas and birthday gifts, cuddles with mom and gets far too many treats. She even sits in the living room arm chair like a human. When mom travels, Tully gets depressed. She sits in the arm chair gazing out the window watching for moms car.

Over Thanksgiving, mom was in Palm Springs, CA for a field hockey festival. She came back and Tully wasn't as excited to see her. Mom couldn't figure it out. Tully was a bit sluggish and didn't jump up on her little legs and hop when she saw mom. It just so happened that Tully already had a vet appointment scheduled that week. This is the phone call I received from mom that morning:

"How's your morning?" mom said.

"It's OK. Doing a wrap up report for work and cleaning out my desk. Are you in the office?" I replied.

"Yes. I'm leaving soon though. Tully has an appointment. She's getting three shots today! I hope I can hold myself together," she said.

"Oh mom. She'll be fine. Do you need a box of tissues?"

"You know, I was a wreck with all of you kids and I'm a wreck with Tully too. Besides, I think she's sick. She wasn't happy to see me on Monday."

I laugh, "I'm sure she's fine."

A day later mom calls me to tell me that yes, Tully is indeed sick. She has a parasite. I won't tell you from what because dogs can be gross little creatures, even if they do act human most of the time. Mom and her dog. They are one.

For the long haul

I can honestly say that this past Thanksgiving was the LONGEST holiday weekend I have ever experienced. Good, bad, cramped, loved, friends, family, laughter, tears, exhaustion, annoying, and finally....heart warming. All wrapped up into a few days is a bit overwhelming.

I spent The majority of the holiday in Southbury, CT where my aunt and uncle live. Its become a Thanksgiving tradition to trek up there and spend a few days. On Thanksgiving morning my sister Shelby, cousin Sean and I hit the high school track bright and early to get in a good workout before the eating and drinking began.

Note to self: Don't fool yourself into thinking that because you're good at running on a treadmill, that you will automatically be good at running outside. My lungs felt like they were going to explode! Therefore, my run was broken up into increments of run a few laps, stretch and breath, run a few laps, stretch and breath, etc.

When I was getting ready to time Shelby's sprints I asked "How do I get my lungs to adjust? This is ridiculous."

Shelby laughed and said "uh, you have to run outside ALL the time!"

"Oh." Such disappointment in my voice!

After our workout we hit up Starbucks and went back to the house to make breakfast.

The day went on...cooking, setting up....drinking...eating...drinking...walk....drinking, eating dessert, drinking....

At 9:30 pm Anna Wintour showed up. No, not the ball busting editor-in-chief of Vogue but MY AW, the ball busting yet ever so fashionable Christina. Her aunt and uncle live in the town over from where I was staying, so keeping with our Thanksgiving tradition, we entertained one another with a visit. How lucky am I? I got to squeeze in Christina time TWICE this fall!! Very lucky in deed.

****skip to Saturday morning in Pennsylvania****

Saturday morning I visited with my Grandma and naturally we spent three hours talking about her life, my life, her family history, her memories and of course, pop culture. As we were getting ready to go out to lunch her phone started ringing.

"Katie, can you grab that? It's Mrs. Morgan. She's calling to see if I'm alive," my G-Ma yelled from her room.

"Sure," I said picking up the phone...thinking to myself , uh, alive??? "Hi Mrs. Morgan," I said. "This is Katie, my grandma is putting her shoes on."

"Oh! Hello Katie. How are you? So nice that you're over there. Is she OK? I got worried when she didn't call at 11:00," Mrs. Morgan's happy voice floated through the phone.

"she's alive and kickin! We're headed out to lunch."

I chatted with Mrs. Morgan for a few minutes about Washington and my job, and then put G-Ma on to talk.

It turns out that every morning at 11:00 a phone chain starts between G-Ma and a few of her friends. They check to make sure everyone is OK. With most of them living on their own still you just never know if someone has fallen, hurt themselves, or can't get out of bed. I think it's a wonderful thing.....these lovely ladies are still kicking and doing well, and are certainly friends for the long haul.

Growing Up

Things I learned growing up......

1. Most ground balls that are missed go under the glove

2. It's not a good idea to touch the bottom of a microwave after you just made popcorn - your hand WILL burn

3. Every young lady should have a set of pearls

4. It's never to early to develop your fashion style

5. Practice practice practice - dad's words at softball, flute, soccer....anything really

6. Gentleness often accomplishes more than harshness

7. Yard work is an undesirable job but someones got to do it.....and getting an allowance for it doesn't really make it more pleasant

8. Aesop's Fables is the most useful form of punishment

9. Carpe Diem

10. Defrost ALL the windows before backing out of the driveway

11. Barbie dolls come as young women, men, Skipper & friends and the little babies. But everyone knows that in an imaginary world, you need to have a grandmother. The only proper way to create a Barbie grandma is to cut off the hair of one of your older Barbies. Maybe one day Mattel will understand this.

12. Cops and Robbers is best played in the dark with flashlights

13. Camping, even in your own backyard, just isn't a good idea - Creepy crawlers are everywhere

14. Don't grow Mint in your garden - it takes over the yard and is uncontrollable

15. If a babysitter isn't fun, you can misbehave....just know that you will be punished the next morning for it

16. If you take your hands off the handle bar on your bike because you're scared, you will most likely fall or hit something

17. It's hard to play a fair game of capture the flag when the teams are girls vs boys

18. Dads have the best reading voices, regardless of how old you get

19. If you don't keep your room clean, you may end up without a bedroom door - "privacy is a privilege"

20. Christmas isn't about consumer products and wanting, it's about being with people you care about....and drinking egg nog while decorating a Charlie Brown tree

21. When driving, do it with the utmost caution!

22. The fastest way to back out of a driveway is to have children push it out

23. The most delicious cookies are the ones that Mom let's you mush/mix with your hands

24. Mom's china is delicate....handle with caution and set the table properly

25. Family game night is both torturous and fabulous - especially if it involves having a pizza picnic on the family room floor.

Weekend of wonderfuls

This past weekend I 1. hosted book club 2. reconnected with the one and only Megan Hannah - future courtroom ball cracker 3. attended a military fundraiser 4. had a dance party with Pam at Union Jacks 5. watched the Eagles fight a tough battle against the Giants [36-31! ugh]

The military fundraiser is thrown each year by a man my friend knows. His brother was killed in Iraq and in memory of him they put together an annual fundraiser, donating the proceeds to a different military charity each time. Sadly, I did not win anything from the raffle, but Pam and I enjoyed our beverages. We did meet a rather sour man who hates Philadelphia as well as New York City. Hmmm...problem there...I love both of those places. After a quick exchange of words with Pam and I over how much we love those two cities and how rude he was, he walked away. We also witnessed some appalling behavior by some of the guests at the fundraiser. A group of four didn't want to tip the waiter because they had just "donated money to the charity" - here's an FYI to anyone attending a fundraiser: Make a donation, the size of it doesn't matter, and tip the wait staff! It's rude not to!

We moved on to a bar we love after the fundraiser to dance our little hearts out. It was only after the music switched to all Spanish that we skipped out the door. Throughout the night we entertained ourselves with pictures and giggles.

Sunday Sunday Sunday - worked my last Sunday at the gym yesterday and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Now I'm counting down the days until next weekend.....

November

November is going to be a FABULOUS month, followed by a spirited December. This weekend I see my local loves as I host book club and then I head to Pennsylvania November 14-16 to:
1) Take Luke and Sara Elizabeth to see Santa
2) Get fitted for my dress for Melissa's wedding
3) G-Ma's 82nd birthday dinner

The weekend after my college loves come down for a visit and Twilight is out in theaters. Followed by Thanksgiving in Connecticut and a chance to hang out with AW - twice within 2 months...wow!

December is upbeat as well - a trip down to Ft. Lauderdale where I'll see Mr. Florida and Chelle, Christmas with the Christopher's and then Christmas with the Patterson's, not to mention the holiday parties....

The next two months will be busy but I'm looking forward to every, single moment.

Burning Bright with Hope

"To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope. "

Last night, November 4th, 2008, the American people elected the 44th president of the United States of America. An unbelievable historic moment, Senator Barack Obama is the first African American elected for the highest office in our country. I was teary. I had tissues next to my bed. This is a great moment.

Obama did the unthinkable and changed the electoral map - taking Ohio, Virginia, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Florida....A new hope stirred two years ago when he first decided to run and last night that hope was cemented into the grounds of the good old USA. You can be sure that I will be standing there with the crowd on January 20th, 2009 to watch Senator Obama be sworn in as Mr. President.

Notes from the Motor City Part II

At the PR conference I sat in on one seminar regarding the health care industry. I had no idea the following figures were so high and thought that as the election draws near this may be of interest.

Before I state the facts, I must say that personally I think it's not going to be easy OR quick to change the United States health care industry. You cannot argue though, that something has to be done....we are the United States of America for crying out loud!

The number of Americans traveling outside the U.S. for medical procedures [this used to be mostly cosmetic procedures, where people could recover on the beach drinking cocktails, but now it has become major procedures such as hip replacement]

2007 = 750,000

2008 = 1,500,000

By 2018 = 16,000,000

U.S. providers will have lost $68 billion to outbound medical travel by 2010.

Concierge practices are growing more popular - I hadn't really thought much about this one before - practitioners are sending letters to patients saying they are taking fewer patients and if they would like to stay part of the practice they have to pay an annual fee - $2000 in many cases. I find this shocking.

Whether it's McCain or Obama in office come 2009, there absolutely has to be a change with our system.

Notes from the Motor City

I spent the past four days in Detroit for a Public Relations conference...learning new practices in thrilling seminars and catching up with my own personal Anna Wintour aka Christina. Detroit is an interesting city, that's for sure. Depressing economy, several Casinos, some nice suburbs, a mayor in jail.....

On Sunday, AW and I went to a lovely place for dinner, moved on to MGM Grand then ended up back at the bar in my hotel. Now, here's something interesting....all of the PR professionals treated this like a singles mixer - it was odd. The few men that were there tried to pick up every available woman. It just so happened that I DID meet a guy - but I actually remembered him from the previous night when we were both eating dinner at the bar, therefore it was not just another single pickup. Either way, he's cute, nice, and tall...but lives in Florida. Boo.

The bar scene at the hotel got a bit heated when AW made a girl flip out, cry, and run away - AW just couldn't stand the girls ugly yellow attire and her obnoxious attitude......

End of conference results: I learned an awful lot, though I feel that last years conference offered more appropriate seminars relating to what I do, I loved catching up with my fabulous friend and I might have made a new one.

Who needs a therapist when you have self-help?

Exactly. Who really needs a therapist when you have all the knowledge from the self-help section at the book store?

Yesterday I was picking up a poetry book for book club [The Subject Tonight is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz] when of course I wandered into my favorite section. The book that caught my eye this time was Don't Sweat the Small Stuff - and it's all small stuff by Richard Carlson.

Here are a few pointers that I was drawn to while flipping through:

Life is not an emergency

Learn to live in the present moment

Set aside quiet time, every day

Resist the urge to criticize

Be patient --> create "patience practice periods"

These points will probably all make my 2009 New Years Resolution list. I'm going to start working on them now, it's just hard right now because I'm so busy. Where will I fit in quiet time? I can easily give up some evening TV, as I've already done due to my obsession with the Twilight saga - can reading and quiet time go together? Resisting the urge to criticize is surely difficult. This is something we all do without thinking about it. I'm going to have be very conscious of that one. Living in the present, coincidentally, is something I've been working on all year. Why do I feel the need to always be thinking two years away from where I'm currently at? Patience will be the hardest. Short temper and non patient......maybe I should see a therapist for that one....

Lastly, I need to slow things down. Life is not an emergency. Enjoy each moment, no rushing, no stress, no anxiety......

Today

Today is October 20th. The first day since last March in which I needed to use my scrapper on window frost.

Today is the first week where my friend Linds gets to wake up every morning in blissful happiness because she is now engaged.

Today I will finish the second book in the Twilight series - my new obsession.

Today is 6 days away from my trip to Detroit for work where I will get to see my very fabulous friend Christina.

Today Sara and baby Logan are starting their first full week home from the hospital.

Today I've decided to live in the moment rather than plan every detail of my life out.

Today should be a good day.

I'm Over it: Single in the City

I'm Over it: Single in the City