Month: June 2015

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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It is a beautiful day here in Salem, OR. In fact it has been pretty near perfect the whole time that I have been here. We have had only one day where it has rained and for that I am happy. Not because it was sunny most of the time but because I did have one day of drizzly rain to calm me down.

What have I been doing you may ask? Well . . . not much of anything really. I have applied for jobs. I have been working on the blog to get it up to par so we can transition over to it. I have made dinner a couple of times for the family. I have visited with an old friend. I have been working out every morning. I have been participating in normal family life and it has been great.

My problem now is . . . How much emphasis do I want to put on what I know to obtain the job I know I should have or how much do I want to build my relationships with the people I love and sacrifice income? I am actually a little irritated this morning that I am even having this turmoil inside of me. Thank you America for teaching us how to not appropriately balance work with the rest of our lives. I really want this time to be a moment of change for me but all the while I am feeling sucked back into the great hole of capitalism.

Luckily today and tomorrow are going to be two days of “off”. I am going to “vacation” by heading out to the beach one day and up to Portland the next. I get to visit all of my old haunts, reminisce and hopefully start figuring things out in the best balanced way that I can. I am also going to figure out what to do for St. Patrick’ Day on Tuesday. My friend is going to make her traditional Irish dinner that night so I told her that I would make a traditional Irish breakfast. This is what it looks like give or take a few courses. 2014-08-13 08.52.11
We can’t forget the First course of juice and cereal and the final course of scones/toast and tea. The kids are going to be so full and it almost makes me chuckle. 🙂

So in honor of the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day; I am sharing with you the top 5 things I loved seeing, doing or eating while on the Emerald Isle.

  1. This was hands down the most fun. We laughed a lot about it because we had to do it so quickly. No fear kissing the blarney stone. 🙂 2014 1486 2014 1471
  2. I enjoyed the night we walked along the beach just before sunset. 2014 16022014 1591
  3. I loved this dinner we had in Galway. 2014-08-16 20.13.22
  4. I loved driving on the wrong side of the road next to a huge cliff and having to navigate around grazing sheep. 2014-08-14 19.36.49
  5. Lastly, I loved hanging out with the Irish Wolfhounds. I know, got to throw the animals in somehow. 🙂 2014 1807

I hope each and every one of you enjoy the upcoming holiday and do something “green” this week!!

When You Need a Good Walk

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This has been the longest week of my life.
Seriously.
I have felt like this whole week has either been a string of never-ending Saturdays or the worst possible way of saying that I was too sick to go into the office. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around not working. I know that I made the choice to stop working but it also feels like someone pulled the rug out from under me. I have made a point of getting up and getting dressed (although I have only worn makeup once this week) and I have been busy doing things all week but the daily drive of my life over the last ten years is no longer there. It is as if I forgot how to drive stick and I can’t seem to figure out how to shift out of second gear.
Don’t get me wrong; It has been great as well. I have enjoyed a home cooked and eaten at the table breakfast. I love that I have the dog around me all day. I love waking up naturally after 8 hours of sleep to the daylight.I love being able to take care of my errands during daylight hours and not having to race around getting everything done after I finished work and before the places closed. (Thank heavens that Wal-Mart has been open 24 hours all of these years.)
But it is actually all of this that has led me to my weekly five.I know; you are thinking what could it possibly be since it seems as if she is struggling. I will tell you what happened to me on Tuesday this week. I woke up at 7am and was actually refreshed. I was ready to do something and so I decided to go on a walk with the dog. It was a great morning to walk albeit a little cold. I bundled up and we were gone for an hour. We walked through neighborhoods and then followed the road back to the house. All the while there were snow flurries. It was a great walk and it felt good to breath fresh air. (Needless to say, about 15 minutes after I walked into the house a blizzard started up and even forced the snow plow to take a swipe through the neighborhood).*:) happy
I really love to walk. It gives me time outside. It usually forces a great conversation if you are walking with someone and more often than not, it is the best possible way for me to think. I think and think and think and usually find myself having walked a little too far away from the house that the walk back is somewhere between, “seriously?” or “when is it ever going to end?”. I did a lot of thinking on this particular walk and while I don’t have all of life figured out, I felt more hopeful about where things are headed.
So my Friday five is my most favorite places to take a walk.
1. I really love the trail right outside of my current neighborhood. It is the Hobble Creek Canyon Trail and not only is it a great place to walk but it is great to run, bike, skateboard or look at nature with the kids.
2. I have always LOVED this second place and would go back to Kansas City just to be near it again. It is actually where I learned that I loved to run because for once it wasn’t on a track or in the street. It is the City of Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.
3. This was a great place to walk and and even better place to  people watch. I grew up as a kid spending a lot of time wondering the beach, pier and neighborhoods. It is Balboa Island in Newport Beach, California.  
4. I really love walking through the city and not feeling like you are in the city. But this place captured my heart the first time I saw it and has been a place that I go back to every time I am in Portland, Oregon. It is Washington Park.
5. This walk is one that I remember ever since being a very little girl. I can’t tell you about how important my conversations used to feel with my grandmother as we walked. To this day, when I need advice, I mentally think about what my grandmother would tell me and I always picture her walking with me through these woods. It is Muir Woods National Monument in Northern California.

End of an Era

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 November & December 231
It is a great day today but I say that with also some heaviness of heart. For the last week I have waffled between the excitement of something new in my life and the sadness of saying goodbye to my life over these past ten years. It has been a wonderful ride but moving forward is going to be a wonderful and welcomed change. I am not exactly sure what I am going to do with myself on Monday morning next week . . .
Oh, wait a minute . . . I could start out with sleeping in until it is light outside.
I could make breakfast and enjoy it at a table instead of a desk.
I could exercise when it is light outside.
I could . . . I am realizing that the possibilities are endless here.
Since the possibilities are endless, I think that first order of business on Monday morning will be nailing down a job in Ireland. For the last two months I have been listening to Pandora to “while away my hours” and mostly Irish pub rock. So today’s music post is going to be all of the fun songs that I have been listening to while finishing up with my job.
ENJOY!! 🙂
 
1.      I heard this song and thought it was so funny since it has been happening a lot to me over the last little bit.
2.      My coworkers decided that the reason I listen to Irish music is because it helps me work faster. I don’t know but it is fun none the less. 
3.      Okay not everything I have been listening to has been Irish music and I really love this particular song right now.
4.      While I have been in Texas I did get the opportunity to go to a concert and I saw Reba McIntyre. I don’t know country music at all and I only recognized 1 song that she sang that night but it was fun to be in the room with good energy so here is the song that I recognized . . . oh wait . . . it is a cover that she did
5.      And my last song isn’t really about leaving a job but I feel like this really is the 1st day of my life.

Office Escapes

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Today is my travel post.
In fact, today was a lot of things but the only traveling that I did today was from my office chair to the bathroom. It was “awesome”. So as I thought about the blog today I was trying to think of what you guys would want to know about. Then I decided to let you all in to the deepest, darkest places in my mind and tell you where I mentally travel when trying escape my day at the office.
1. For some reason this is the first place that I travel. I really feel relaxed when sitting in the sand and watching the surf and it never hurts to watch the surfers either which is probably why I mentally go to the North Shore of Oahu.
2. Right after the beach I usually head over to the mountains and this place in particular is usually what I think about. I think it has something to do with the many times we spent up there as kids while growing up.
3. Then I have to waffle back to the beach again but this time I don’t want a sunny beach to sit in the sand. I want to walk the length and think about things. That is why this coastline is the best.
4. Since I have now travelled between a sunny beach, the mountains and a thoughtful walk on the beach; the next place I mentally go is to my own home. I think this should be my next house!
5. Last but not least; my final thought usually involves climbing into bed either for the night or a great nap. I think I am going to need this in my new house. 🙂
So where do you all mentally travel?