DECADE OF JOY

Are you one of those people who thinks writing in a journal is really important and yet your journal entries look like:

ENTRY 1 - Jan 1, 1989 - New Journal...so motivated....pledge to be better.... the world's best journal writer.... detailed description of my day...
ENTRY 2 - Jan 3, 1989 - Rats!, was so committed and missed a day, but.....I'll be better.... less detailed description of my day...but still a success...
ENTRY 3 - Jan 4, 1989 - Yay, me! Two days in a row....feel so happy....what a great day...

ENTRY 4 - Jan 1, 2001 - Shame!!!!!.....look at how long it has been...where do I even start and what events are gone forever because I didn't capture them when they happened...five hours later and 12 years of events..., I'm almost caught up...

And it starts again.

Yeah - that's me. I totally believe in journal writing and keeping a record, but to my utter shame, like my annual resolution to budget, journaling too, lasts but a few days.

So, what follows is Entry 4; and it took me a ridiculous amount of time.

The theme for the decade of 40s is JOY. And, while there certainly have been struggles this year, I have also had a lot of fun:

Parties
Valentines/Bugsy Malone party with the kids

Hat/Tea Party with the girlies(We missed you girls who weren't with us... next year!)

Pig party for the April 1st Celebration - with Pigs in a Blanket, pig toys and books, and licorice ice cream. We're thankful for pig valves in our family.


The Australians

Trips
Mesa to see Henry and Paul and Kami and baby girl niece :) - where we ate at fun places, shopped, fed ducks and played at the park, went to Spring Training, and got me addicted to Lost.



St. Louis to see Tiana, Bror, Inj & Melanie, where we went to a Cardinals game - complete with an airport-devastating tornado, saw Abraham Lincoln's home, toured the Anheuser Busch facility, celebrated Easter (in style thanks to a very thoughtful Chris - my brother's father-in-law, who bought me and Mellie hats to keep up my Dad's tradition); and I also caught a three-month cold/cough.
Hawaii for a "Its ok that you're 40 now" relaxing vacation.


I did some "radical" things with my appearance
PINK extensions (the purple from the chocolate party turned hot pink....and had to come out).

And then, I started going shorter...

And shorter...

Until....look what happened....

Yep. I'm "that age." Glasses. So - of course, I took advantage of that opportunity and got black and whites (above) and Kate Spade's (below). Had to. (And I'm about to get some Fendi sunglasses.... its an illness, I know.... but, remember how this is the decade of JOY.)

Most importantly, I've been having a great time with my sweet family...

And, of course, I have continued to eat chocolate to my heart's content.

So - now you and my journal are all up to date.

31 - As Handy as a Pocket on a Shirt

About ten years ago, there was a week at work where the computers were down - for the whole week. I organized my hard copy files and dusted my desk about 300 times and I had to use a typewriter. (Joe doesn't even know what a typewriter is - too busy not being born, cuz using a typewriter was back before dirt.)

It was a grim week, and that was before I had an iPod and a cell phone. I am so dependent on technology now, I can't imagine how I could run my life without it. I use my laptop and the internet to do 90%+ of my work all day long. The other 10% is actually talking to people face to face. hahaha

There are two sites I simply couldn't function without. Google and iMDB. If I want to know pretty much anything, I google it. And, since I can't really speak without quoting a movie, I spend a lot of time on iMDB looking up various movie trivia. They are both so handy and so much a part of my constant learning process that I feel very disadvantaged if I am somewhere without my phone or laptop.

#31 on my list of Favorite Things is TECHNOLOGY.

Favorite Things Count-down

Raindrops on roses and big diamond toys
Bright malls and shopping bags full of little joys
Tiffany packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored chocolate - just sixty days away
Parties and fun, don’t forget to mark the day
Daily blog posts full of silly musings
These are a few of my favorite things

Ok – so, I’m not a genius at rhyming. Here’s the thing – I’m going to try and do a 60-day count-down to chocolate by blogging daily about my favorite things.

Hopefully, this will be more about recognizing blessings and happy little gifts in my life than getting ready for a big chocolate party, but either way, here’s your chance to join in the fun and COMMENT!

Starlight Mint or Mint Chocolate Chip . . . either way, it's my favorite

At work we have Fun Friday. Every Friday around 3:30, we gather and have a quick activity - miniature bowling, darts, Pictionary, paper airplanes, etc... In conjunction with Fun Friday at work, I’m going to try a new thing on this silly blog – Five Fun Friday Favorites. Each week (in theory), I’ll list five favorites in one category or another.

This week’s five are Best Blind Dates. Yep, it’s true – not all blind dates are a bad experience – there are actually a few diamonds in the ruff, or in some cases – under the scruff (hahaha – I know, not terribly clever).

Here are 5 of the best blind dates I’ve been on:

TENNIS – My uncle lined me up with a kid from his ward – we played tennis at his club and then got ice cream

SUSHI – My sister-in-law lined me up with a guy who had his hair cut at her salon – we went for sushi and then got ice cream – at Nielsen’s Custard (very yummy esp. since it was the first sugar I’d had in years)

HOUSE "WINDOW SHOPPING" – A guy in my ward lined me up with his brother – we drove around looking at and talking about big houses and then we got some ice cream

BOWLING – My brother lined me up with a friend – we went bowling and the loser (me) bought ice cream – amazing shakes from Iceberg (ever tried double caramel?? Wow!!)

MOVIE – This one is not considered by some to have been a blind date, but I think it’s close enough to be included, plus it’s the best “blind date” I’ve been on – a friend at work lined me up – we went to a great movie, got ice cream (Maggie Moo’s), and then went for a drive

You may wonder, what made these seemingly ordinary activities great? Mostly it was the fact that the guys were all fun to talk to, but also . . . there was ICE CREAM.

(2 years, 3 months, 12 days and about 11 hours to mint chocolate chip heaven - but who's counting?)

Picture thanks to Gianni New York Gourmet Ice Cream

The Blogging World

It seems that the way to connect with people these days is to blog. I suppose I have succumbed. Just too much pressure. I'm sure you'll find me as fascinating as I do.