YaYa Princess

About a week ago I received an e-mail from a colleuge asking me about running for the board of a particular industry association.  Less than 24 hours later, I recieved a letter from the incoming president on the same topic.  Both of these amazing woman wanted me to consider being a candidate for the board. 

I’m far from the only person on this earth who has trouble saying No.  And the good Lord knows all I need is a little flattery about how “indespensible” I am and I’m a little like melted butta’.  Basically, I’m a sucker for some good flattery.  

So you can imagine when I recieved this correspondance (which was then followed up that afternoon with some training for this organization to ‘re-energize us) I was thrown.  Not a week before I sat with my manager discussing my goals for 2010.  One of my goals included being LESS involved.

Yep, you heard it hear first folks.

Two bloggers I read have used a certain turn of phrase that seems particularly appropriate–my ’seaon of life’ has changed.  (yes I know it sounds like a menopause commercial)  It’s no secret that the boy and I have talked about starting a family sometime in the next two years (the same length as a board term) and to be honest, I want to focus more on ‘non-work’ things…you know, it’s normally called a personal life?  Yea, I had to look it up too.

I won’t lie, they almost had me.  I was so flattered by the compliments I was given, by the confidence they have in me and the optimisim I could bring to the table.  Heck, even the fact that they were “looking forward to the opporutnity to work with me and get to know me better”.  Seriously, that’s some good stuff.  And I mulled it over.  Long and hard. 
Maybe, I thought, I could carry on.  How hard would it be right?

When I mentioned it to the boy and said we needed to discuss it, he asked me what there was to discuss.  “Oh” I said, “so you think I should go for it??!”

His reply:

“What part of that statement makes you think I think this is a good idea?”

In fairness, when it’s written out it sounds like he’s running some sort of dictatorship.  That couldn’t be further from the case actually.  This is a man that hears all the backend jumbled jarrgon of all of my little world’s ins and outs.  He knows me, perhaps better than I know myself (much to my dismay) he also knows when I need to slow down.  He’s like my own personal barameter.  And so when the discussion of our family and where our lives are heading originally came up, I had to suck it up and hear what he had to say.  No longer am I a single gal who can come home after working a 12 hour day and tune out, with only myself and a cat to be responsible for.  Never would I have thought that that would be a struggle for me to embrace, and yet here it is almost a year and a half to the day later and I still struggle with it.  Apparently, I can be a bit selfish.  And to be perfectly honest, this is a new season for me and there is a lot going on.  Perhaps it was time to shift it down.

And so yesterday I responded with a thank you, but no thank you.  I expressed my sincere appreciation but declined the offer.  It was harder than I would have thought, I cannot lie.  A year and a half in and I have to remind myself still that it’s not just me.  Sad maybe, but true.  But the benefit to all of this is a life shared, which is much better than a life as the cat lady

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A post about not much

I love the snow.  Correction.  I USED to love the snow.  Right now snow and I, we have a kinda love hate relationship.

We’ve had 3 storms in 2 weeks, and tonight is our 4th.  6inches, 6 inches, 29 flippin inches, and now somewhere between 10-20 inches.  The snowflakes are huge and falling, but they are not pretty to me.  Instead, every one is currently another one that we will have to shovel.  It may in fact be the on that pushes the tree over, or collapses the roof.  Stupid flakes. 

It’s a rather morbid Debbie Downer though process, I realize.  And that’s when it occured to me.  Let Go and Let God.  Seriously.  I mean, sure we’ll shovel the deck and the sidewalk and drip the water and do what we can, but at the end of the day if the trees’a comin down, it’s coming down.  You’re certainly not going to see my fool butt up in that tree shaking it off (though I totally took a broom to it -bwahaha)  At the end of the day, it will all work out one way or another. 

And so with that, I’ll just enjoy power while we have it.  I can’t say that my relationship with Mother Nature isn’t brusied at the moment, but for now I’ll do my best to enjoy the snow…you know, the ones that are going to accumulate and cause me to shovel another 3 hours…..oops.  Well, baby steps.

1 Comment | In: Everyday Life, Vent-Central | | #

I worked with a local photographer for a show in Philadelphia.  Every year he sends out a print that he’s taken and sends it to all of his clients, something that speaks to him.   Honestly, it’s one of the best ideas out there–I remember him and look forward to seeing what he has done.  This year was no different.  When I opened the photo, there was a note attached.  The basic jist is that he happened upon a group of tourists at the Rocky statue and snapped them all doing the “Rocky Pose”.  The photo inspired a quote from Rocky himself that is printed below the photo of about a dozen tourists, fists in air, and is as follows:

“…it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward.  That’s how winning is done!”

-Rocky Balboa

The idea behind this, of course, was the craptastically crappy year a lot of use had in 2009.  But the quote, to me, goes much further than just last year’s poor economic status.

It’s about all of the times  that you just want to give up, to say “to hell with this” but instead you put your chin up and press onward.  Sometimes it’s so painful that you literally have to hold your breath and you get up and go on with it.  It’s about choosing to learn from even the worst situations, when it would be just as easy to speak of excuses, place blame and lament about how unfair life is.

It is no secret if you know me that my work life in 2009 was…a bit painful.  One of my coworkers was telling me about a challenge she recently faced, one that was I’m sure very painful.  I kept saying to her “I just wish you knew how awesome you are”, because she is.  Because I know that regardless of everything, I have no doubt that she gave her all and she’s an amazing planner.  And then it occurred to me that perhaps I should look in a mirror and not only remind myself of the same thing, but listen when others remind me.

Because at the end of the day, you gotta “keep moving forward, that’s how winning is done”.  And sometimes winning just means making it to the end of the day :

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This is Archie

Our sweet pupper, 13lbs of love and fluff.

Lately he’s being showing us his bark, but he wouldn’t hurt a fly.  Heck, our cat not only outweighs him but is more of a bruiser than our boy.

But then, something comes over him.  One minute he’s playing with his stuffed toys and the next…

the carnage begins

Rest in peace weird little ASPCA bird toy.

December 25, 2009-January 19, 2010

1 Comment | In: Animals, Lil bit o' this | | #

In line with the last post, here’s another little tid bit you may don’t know about me-I love a good quote.  I love the feelings they evoke and the inspiration they can give.  A good quote can center or, or rock you to the core.

For our 2nd ‘dating’ anniversary, knowing that I love to journal, the boy gave me a small leatherbound book with the words “carpe diem” embossed on the front.  The book is a bit too small for a journal (particularly for a gal with as much to say as I do) so instead I created long desired compilation of quotes.

Though still in it’s infancy, there are already a variety of quotes. Everything from classic novels, to quotes found embroidered on tea towels.  Anything that speaks to me.

The following is a quote that was in a Christmas card we received this year.  I love the sentiment of it as much as the cadence.  I also love the fact that the author is Ralph Waldo Emmerson.  I learned this summer that my paternal grandfather, whose name was Ralph, held the middle name Emmerson after the great poet.  Who would have known that this farmer family of mine had a love of poetry.

At any rate, without further ado:

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.

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