Thoughts

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.

Here’s to Something New

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We have reached the end of another week and this has been the strangest one yet. It was full of packing and shipping boxes and the office (or how I more appropriately called it home),  will be officially empty in a couple of hours and Legend Healthcare in Utah will exist no more.
There is a lot of different emotions running through me right now. For one, I am sad to see an era come to a close and I am very sad to lose wonderful coworkers. But at the same time, I am SUPER excited about the possibilities of something new. The whole world is opening up and all I had to do was quit my job. Who knew?
In fact, yesterday when all of the boxes left and my computer was on its way to Texas, my own body started crashing. It was as if all of the stress over 10 years needed to finally get some rest. It was the longest 20 minute drive home. I guess that I am decompression mode.
So in honor of my new life . . . oh wait a minute . . . my life . . . below is the five favorite things I plan on doing.
1. Eating breakfast at the table in my house instead of in front of a computer.
2. Sleeping a full 8 hours every night.
3. Being able to participate in life outside while the sun is still shining.
4. Eating lunch and dinner away from my desk.
5.Finding time to exercise and it not be 3:30 in the morning.
Here is to something new everyone!!

Here’s to 2015!

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November & December 575

Can you believe it? I am not exactly sure where 2014 went but we have moved onto 2015. I have the sneaking suspicion that 2015 is going to go by just as quickly. Yesterday I was having a conversation with my mother about how busy and planned I am from now until April. That is scary that on the first day of the new year I am already jumping ahead to spring. How is your 2015 shaping up? Do you find yourselves just as busy?

So here we are at the cross-roads of another round of new year resolutions. I am not going to ask you to create your typical list nor do I want to hear it. I want to know what resolutions you are going to make to be friendlier, happier and more relaxed this year. So if you post anything about a gym . . . I might have eliminate you from my weekly list. 🙂

Here are my resolutions to finding a more relaxed me this year.

1.      Move to a foreign country

2.      Sit on the beach and stare at the ocean while meditating (must happen once a week).

3.      Eat more ice cream (this always make me feel like a little kid and only counts when having it in a cone)

4.      Be nicer to myself and my feelings.

5.      Be in the moment no matter where I am (instead of always being at the office).