Just Sayin

Clearly a family experience - Wilkinson's

Just amazing!

My moment of Zen

I find this time of year kind of hard because the grey and damp weather really drains me and my patience is thin as I just wish Summer would get here already. This Winter has been unreal and to a person everyone agrees that the drama has just been exhausting. Between the election last year, the news of the economic disaster and the layoffs that seem never-ending I feel a sense of continuous exhaustion and pressure  that I can't recall feeling before. It's omnipresent and unescapable.

Sometimes certain music can take you to another place visually. Not all songs do this for me and certainly some might work for me differently than they might for another person. But recently I came across this song and I immediately pictured myself in a place that was very nice. Imagine a sailboat that was in the Mediterranean in August. That kind of azure blue water around you and the Summer sun so strong and hot that you feel that intense desire to jump in the water but instead you wait to see how long you can stand it. You've got a decent enough tan so you're not worrying anymore about burning - just how long you can take the sweating before you have to just dive in. You're surrounded by great friends and people are laughing and reminding you how blessed you are to know such wonderful people. Maybe you have a lovely cocktail that's refreshing nearby. As you look around you at the sun bleached homes that line the mountains in ever cascading rows you pause for a minute and take a deep breath and realize you live a wonderful life full of fantastic experiences and people and that you are indeed extremely lucky. You reach over and touch the hand of your boyfriend who is napping next to you. Even though he is asleep you feel by just touching his hand you are including him in your moment and your feelings. Your eyes begin to well up at the feeling of happiness and you truly feel content and wish that you could hold on to that moment forever.

This is the soundtrack of that moment and that feeling for me. Click the link and close your eyes and see if you can see it too.

Download 2-04 As If You've Never Been Away

Just when you think you've seen it all

Even after being out for over a decade there are still moments that stop you in your tracks. Here's one from last night. Just amazing.

Bingo!!!!!

Finally someone who has real enough integrity to admit that their former policies were wrong and have led us to where we are today. This is really worth watching.

Finding the Joy

It seems today there are so many reasons to be afraid. Every night there are more and more stories about banks closing or more companies having to make layoffs. It's really scary. To that end I'm asking you to submit some of the things that are making you happy right now to try and shine a light in the scary dark corner that seems to be our day to day.

1. Being able to drive with the driver-side windown down this past weekend

OH MY GOD!!!

So my friends Chris and Brian recently went to South Africa. I was really jealous because I really would have liked to get out of this weather for a while and when the three of us went to Rio 2 years ago we had an amazing time. It really is true that there are just certain people you traval really well with. And that's the case for us.

Anyway they were telling me about their plans and it sounded so awesome. They were going to go on safari and see all sorts of wild animals - total dream of mine. Then Chris casually pops in that they are going diving with great white sharks in a cage. I don't know what it is about that but my mouth immediately started to dry up. I'm absolutely terrified of sharks. I literally think they are the scariest thing in the world and Jaws to this day is easily the best movie ever made because of how much it impacted people and scared the bejezus out of them.

I told Chris that even if I had gone on the trip I would never, never, never get in a cage with sharks in the water. I honestly would feel scared even being in a boat with great white sharks around. And by boat I mean a cruise ship. Chris snapped these pictures while inside the cage. OMG. Look at how big those things are and how the cage bars look like straws that it would use to pick their teeth. The third picture is the scaries to me because of how giant that thing is. I seriously get nervous even looking at them.

 
 

Congratulations Dustin Black & Sean Penn for MILK

Lice Toy

When I was in high school and was the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper we used WordPerfect and it would often mistakenly make suggestions for word in place of people's names. One of the women who worked on the paper with me was named Margot and it always used to make me laugh when the computer program would suggest replacing her name with the word "Maggot".

Now a days word processing programs and even phones have the ability to auto suggest words as you type and sometimes you don't even realize that they've gone ahead and replaced the words for you. Here is a conversation from earlier today between Giuseppe and I. Too funny!

Right on

So earlier this week I was watching American Idol with my roommate and I saw that they kicked Tatiana off the show.
 

I have to say, I was psyched to see her go. She's a complete freak and Simon nailed it when he said you're interested in being a start - not a singer. That was spot on the money and when they pressed her on it all she could talk about was marketing the "brand" that is Tatiana. This chick has a way over-inflated sense of self importance and I was glad that someone knocked her down. It's cruel to say but I enjoyed watching her cry. And I have to say that I am getting annoyed with everyone booing at Simon all the time. The truth is that this guy is the only one who isn't afraid to tell it like it is and 100% of the time he's right.

The hardest time of year

I find this time of year to be the worst. Now that my birthday and Presidents day (day off) is behind us it's pretty much a two month long stretch. Adding to that is the fact that the weather is typically either snow or rain and it feels raw outside and everything is grey and cloudy. I know I should be more optimistic because Spring is coming but in Boston you don't really feel it until mid April. A few years back we even had a blizzard during the first week of that month.

I'd really love to take a long weekend and just go sit in the sun somewhere.