A few more things

The day before my 30th birthday I was able to mark the final thing off my list of 30 things to do. With a little tutoring before hand and maybe a few tips during my time at the tables, I played Black Jack in Vegas. I actually walked away with some winnings so I bought myself a birthday present from Tiffany's, the perfect end to a great birthday weekend. I knew though, I couldn't just stop there. I needed another list of goals to try to meet before I turned 40. Ten more things to add to the list that has become 40 things to do by 40.

I have already done a couple of things. I saw the once great Tiger Woods play golf at the PGA Championship and watched the Falcons play a preseason game. I went to the Grand Canyon. I touched Keith Urban, twice. I have a few more years to work on the rest of my list though. I hope to do the following:

1. Learn how to fly fish
2. Visit the torch at the Statue of Liberty (made it as far as the crown... the torch is off limits)
3. Visit Mt. Rushmore
4. Attend a taping of the Bachelor/Bachelorette "After the Final Rose"
5. Conquer my fear of horses
6. Ride in a hot air balloon
7. Meet Keith Urban (when he is aware of our encounter)
8. Attend a PGA Tournament
9. Attend an NFL Game
10. Visit the Grand Canyon
11. Swim with sharks
12. Swim with dolphins
13. Help with a Habitat for Humanity build

There are more written down somewhere, but these will do for now. I need more than 10, just in case something doesn't happen in time.

I'm trying not to notice the fact that the more I mark off this list the closer I get to 40.

Live From the Heart

As another year comes to a close, I am once again amazed at how fast time flies. I'm not one for making New Year resolutions. It's great to want to start eating healthier or exercising, but if I haven't done it for the past 365 days I can pretty much guarantee it won't happen on day 366. I do, however, find myself looking over the past 365 days and reviewing the good, the bad and the ugly.


2011 was a vast improvement from 2010. It was filled with good and very little bad or ugly. I actually got to use my vacation time for vacations instead of random or mysterious medical issues. I went to the beach for the first time in a few years. Sunshine and sand are good for my soul. I visited a far away land known as Montana where I reconnected with some college friends and made a few new ones as well. I found the perfect red wine. I adopted my precious Bonnie Blue. I was able to mark a few things off of my list of things to do before I turn 40, like attend an NFL game (GO FALCONS) and a PGA tournament or touch Keith Urban (twice.... and like many psycho fans before me I swore I would never wash my hands again... and yes that's plural, there may have been a little groping).


I realize that it is all about perspective. In 2010 it seemed my life was so overwhelmed by the bad and the ugly that I didn't pay enough attention to the good. In 2011 I paid more attention to the good and in turn have a hard time remembering the bad.


Oprah encouraged her audience during her final show to "live from the heart." My hope for the new year is that I can hold true to that. I want to be able to recognize the gifts of the moment I am in. Remembering the good, learning from the bad, and appreciating those who are on the journey with me. 


Happy New Year! 

The Evil Eye

It seems that after finding a quarter, heads side up, and hoping that maybe it would actually help my luck, the tides seem to be turning in my favor. I don't want to jinx myself, but it seems I am shunning that evil eye that seemed to follow me around, with tears of misfortune.

Since finding that quarter, I won a nice chunk of change at my office holiday party and my name was drawn first in the coveted "Compressed Schedule Lottery" (my name has been drawn last a few times in a row and almost always near the end).

In Middle Eastern cultures, the evil eye is viewed as a way people wish misfortune on you. By simply casting an evil glance they are putting the curse on you to bring you down. I have a Jewish friend who actually gave me a necklace to ward off the evil eye. I am not sure if it actually worked since after I received it I ended up needing a new car... hmmm perhaps she inadvertently made the eye more powerful? She recently took a class on Judaism though and the Rabbi spoke about the Jewish superstition of the evil eye. He said that it is all about attitude. Putting out positive energy into the universe will in turn bring positive energy and vice versa. So, I am now focusing on the positive... instead of the humor I find in the negative.

We will see how it goes... for now it seems to be working. I just hope I am not speaking too soon!

Class vs. Klass

I think the world is slowly trying to redefine the word class. Once upon a time class was used to refer to people or things of high quality and style, like Tiffany's jewelry or a man in a tuxedo. There was a certain air of dignity surrounding people of class. It spoke of timeless elegance and grace In the south there was a bit of charm associated with it.

When did it become acceptable to literally roll out of bed and leave the house? What happened to the days of Carey Grant or Audrey Hepburn? When people seemed to care about how they looked in public and they carried themselves with grace and dignity? When you could actually understand what a person was saying because they weren't using some slang term they heard on the street?

If I didn't love my trash tv and modern technology so much I would say I was born in the wrong time period, but as it is I live in the present day. I think class is slowly and painfully being snubbed out by klass. The Real Housewives of Atlanta ooze klass. Baby shower brawls and a "Ridickulous" stripper at a klassy birthday party. Fighting about who did what to whom before they cashed a Trump Check and are now rich. The inability to properly pronounce the designer labels they spend a fortune to wear. All of this is Klassy to me.  Another lesson on klass: pulling a wig off of someones head would be considered klassy, but throwing a punch while cameras are rolling would not.

I think the Countess said it best when she said Money Can't Buy You Class. What she failed to mention is that it can buy you klass.

Luck

Some people have all the luck. Seriously. They are the ones who win the lottery or the random drawings. They get the free meals and not because they find a hair in their food. They avoided the chicken pox outbreak or the lice infestation in elementary school. They have all the luck and they refuse to share it.

I am not one of those people. I try to avoid the patch of ice only to slip on it anyway and break an ankle or try to see the sights from a roof top only to fall through. I register for drawings and never get chosen. I walk into a fast food restaurant for a late night snack because the drive through line is too long and end up being locked inside with a gang. (They did let us leave, with our food and our lives, so I guess that's something.)

Most people have symptoms of appendicitis or gallstones and seek help. I am not most people. I don't notice something is seriously wrong until I am passing out, alone in my apartment and realize that maybe that random pain in my abdomen is more serious than gas. I am that person that calls an ambulance because I don't want to bother anybody and then get the super hot paramedic whom I can't even try to flirt with because breathing is as excruciating as being stabbed with a million butcher knives. I am one of those people that spends an eternity in an emergency room only hear "We don't know what's wrong with you, other than your abdomen is filled with blood." I guess they don't see a lot of patients with spontaneous internal bleeding.

Things are looking up though. I found a quarter yesterday, heads side up... I am hoping that means it is 25 times MORE lucky than finding a penny. We shall see.

Like Sands Through the Hourglass

There are times when life seems more like something out of a soap opera. One day is as boring as the one before and the next you are knocked out while snooping around a women's prison, your heart is cut out in the prison infirmary, harvested for black market organ sale, and you are left to die, hooked up to a bi-pass machine.... but before your heart can be sold, your renegade heart surgeons are caught, your heart intercepted and then re-implanted  by some hot doctor who just happened to be stopping by. Ok, so that's actually a story line from Days of Our Lives and maybe real life isn't quite so dramatic, but sometimes it can feel that way.

A few years ago I got a call from my mom telling me my aunt had a baby. At the time my aunt was in her early 60's, so imagine my surprise when I heard the news. She went on to tell me that 40 years ago my aunt had gotten pregnant and given the baby up for adoption, only she didn't tell anyone. Years later he decided to search for his birth mother and found her in a little southern town.

I met my long lost cousin just a couple of years ago. He lives not too far from me. Looks just like my aunt. Their story really seems more like it should be on a soap opera... scandalous pregnancy, mom-to-be sent away to hide her secret, returning with an empty heart and empty arms... Her life having been lived out with that secret until one day she gets a knock on her door... "Mom? Is that you? It's me... your son". Dramatic music would begin to play and through tearful apologies she would explain why she had to give him up... she had no choice, but he is here now... and that is all that matters. And if life is like a soap opera they would live somewhat happily ever after.

Cheap Beauty or Pure Torture?

One of favorite websites is Stumbleupon. You choose categories that you are interested in and then you Stumble and random websites are brought up that match your interests. It has opened a whole new world of Internet browsing for me since I have been stuck looking at the same few websites every day when my mind needs a break/distraction at work (I love you People.com but I need to broaden my horizens).

One of my favorite topics is beauty. I love all things make up. I have since I was a little girl and I would watch Days of Our Lives and then lock myself in the bathroom and try to replicate Jennifer Horton's look with my mother's make up. So, I get inspired by new looks and tips that I may Stumble across. The category also brings up skin care and hair ideas as well.

Speaking of skin care, I have come across a cheap alternative to those pore strips you see advertised, the ones that you wet and then put across your nose and let it dry and then rips all the nastiness out of your pores. Twice I have come across this cheap and easy alternative so I decided to give it a try.

It sounds easy enough. All you need is unflavored gelatin and milk, mixed together and heated in the microwave. Once heated you put it on your nose or forehead or wherever you may need it, let it dry and essentially rip it off as it grabs on to any impurities and yanks them right out like those pore strips do. I decided to go the extra mile and put it on my entire face. Could also be a good form of exfoliation?

I mixed the concoction, slathered it all over my face and let it sit for about 15 minutes, until it hardened. Then it was time to remove.  I started at the jaw line, and began ripping as gently as I could.... but there is no way to gently rip the top layer of skin off of your face. It was literally one of the most painful things I have ever experienced, and I have experienced a lot of random, excruciating pain.

When it was all said and done the top layer of skin was gone and my face was bright red, but it was also as soft as a baby's butt. The entire reason for the experiment was to clean out the pores on my nose, which didn't happen, but I think I found a great alternative to a chemical peel, without the chemicals.

If you want to clean out your pores, I say go for the strips you buy in the store. If you want to experience a little bit of torture, but have some super soft skin, go with the "homemade" concoction. Even better, go to a spa and get a facial... same results, a lot less painful.