'Bout time for some Mardi Gras pics, no?

Cherish one another

Reality check today.
We need to actively cherish each other.

I lost a friend tonight. He was a special, loving, funny man. His loss is heavy upon those of us touched by his friendship.
I went to the scene of the accident tonight. Maybe to some this is a bit morbid. But I couldn't walk around the house anymore, and felt like I needed to see the place, and to be with his spirit, to show him that someone was present and hoping he could feel my love.
While driving a van load of students back to school, somehow in the midst of having a heart attack, Jerry safely drove his van between trees and across 6 lanes of traffic without hurting any of his passengers. I saw the dented garage, the dented pick-up truck, and the tire marks across the neutral zone. I saw the AED pad package on the ground, the grazed tree branch. I walked in between the tire tracks on the grass back to my truck. My heart was heavy. I saw what he saw.
I ache for his wife and family.

We need to cherish each other. Tell your friends and family how much you care about them. You never know when it will be the last time you see them. You just never know.

Musings...February 8, 2009

Apparently I was feeling revealing when I typed this up (edited and posted January 9, 2010)...

i got tired of being hungry today so i went shopping.
i made a chicken salad; it never tastes like my mom's
i have a little greenhouse in my room now; had to bring all the plants in my room so the kitties wouldn't play so rough with them.
Kingsolver - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - make me more aware of buying locally and organic products
75 degrees today...
Might as well just make a list:
1. i love driving. i turn up the music and don't care who sees me singing and dancing in my truck.
2. i talk to cats a lot. this may be because I live with 6 of them right now. we have short conversations around dinner time. they talk about what a busy day they've had and I share stories of the collegiate world.
i got a lot done today! - target, walgreens, whole foods, chicken salad, laundry, moved the plants and papasan to my room, Valentine notes, nachos, iTunes, texting an old friend, and more laundry. :-)
funny how so many new words like iTunes and texting aren't recognized by word programs these days.
3.i love hot showers!
4. i want to start my own organic garden. i love the smell of tomato plants!
5. i don't like being interrupted before i've gotten to my point, and I don't like it when people beat around the bush instead of getting to their point.
6. i collect sand from every trip i take.
7. i cry at the drop if a hat and don't understand how more people can't see the beauty in life.
8. i don't like shoes. at most, i'd rather wear flip flops all the time. i did this way before it was cool to do so.
9. i was a ticket agent for Delta for two months. I prefer not to check my bags, and I don't understand what it is about the airport that makes people loose their marbles.
10. i don't trust nail salons that don't have English speaking beauticians. Athough, i do like their prices.
11. i'm pretty sure that any minute now, someone is going to grab me by the shoulders and say, "you are 30 years old! get a grip on your life!"
12. i don't think a girl can have enough earrings or silver bracelets.
13. i heart World Market. I have lost heart for Old Navy.
14. i don't think someone should tell the person doing it that it can't be done.
15. i don't appreciate negative attitudes. in fact, i usually shut down the conversation as soon as politely possible.
16. i've watched Pretty Woman probably a hundred times and it's always a good time!
17. i apparently don't know how to shop for shoes. if they fit and are affordable, i buy them. when I wear them once, they hurt too much to wear again. anyone want some used shoes?
18. i'm really good at getting back in touch with people I haven't talked to in forever. but lately i feel like i'm doing more reaching than being reached.
19. when i was younger i wanted to be an interior designer. i can look at a room now and think of great ideas, but you'd never know it to look at my place.
20. i collect candles and vases.
21. i love Mary Poppins!
22. i love love love Matchbox 20 and Maroon 5. Is there a pattern here?
23. i don't like worrying about what to wear to work. I dress according to shoes, and that isn't much to go off of these days considering my worn out collection.
24. the best concert i've ever been to was Tim McGraw and Faith Hill hands down; then Sarah McGlachlan. i also loved Def Leppard.
25. i still visit my favorite high school teacher.
26. i love scar stories.
27. i've always wanted to be a Godmother since I have such a fantastic Godmother of my own. She never spoiled me, but she was always honest with me. My Godfather owned a mortuary, but was way cooler than you might think.
28. i have zero artistic capability; yet I still try to bead and scrapbook and play with markers.
29. i have a weakness for milkshakes. if you buy one for me you will be my friend - forever.
30. i love to read.
31. i know i'm a lucky person in many respects. I wish others would count their blessings as often as I do.
32. i am a fire sign, and i surround myself with other earthly items like wood and water and plants and sunlight. i want to live in a treehouse on a river. :-) my dad built a bed for himself and my mother one year; but the bed was hung from tree branches out over our little valley's river.
33. i love sleep. i slept in a speed boat on Conchas Lake once, when I was little. My dad would rather sleep there than inside the house, and I agreed.
34. i tought driver's ed - in high school
35. i love to go dancing!! but i get moody if the music isn't right. just ask Aaron.
36. i hate feeling powerless when my friends or family have problems I can't do anything about.
37. i like to housesit.
38. i've always loved to drive! i want to go to a racing school!
39. My Paternal Grandparents won an award for rollerskate dancing. My Maternal Grandparents owned an import shop. But of course there is much more to their lives.
40. i used to work for an oral surgeon who is also a writer; i was his dental assistant, and his editor.
41. I love food. If you put food in front of me, I will eat it. I can't stand being away from Tomasita's!

I wonder what that was all about.

Three decades of life!

So, I turned 30 years old nine days ago. I sure as heck don't feel like 30, or at least I'm not where I thought I would be at 30 in terms of life expectations. I don't have a masters degree, I'm not thinking about kids, I don't even have a start on a solid career. But! I do know that I am happy with who I am for the most part (I'm still the best procrastinator around!), I'm grateful for the blessings in my life, I love my boyfriend and my family with all of my heart, and I have the greatest friends! All in all, I look forward to getting up in the mornings and to what life has to offer. Here's to another new chapter in life, and to only making it better! (Pictured: Aaron, me and my amazing dad, John)

adendum to "Men and Their Cats"

This is Missy, my dad's cat, who can't stand to be away from him. She even puts up with things like this.

Obama Wins!

This has been the most emotional election of my lifetime, and that of others. I know we've made the right choice. I know the next 8 years will be full of CHANGE and HOPE! We will see the fruits of our labor. This is our chance to make this country great again, to realize our American Dreams.
I gasped for air tonight as I reveled in the celebration, and tried to ignore the bit of fear that crept in. I put my hands over the Obama family to watch over them, and our country's future.
I can't wait to begin tomorrow, and next week, and 2009 with Barack Obama, President Elect!
GOBAMA!

Pre-hurrication

These two items - box over window and television - say a lot about what's going on in my life and those of others. The stuff spread all over the floor is also indicative of history in the making.

I am prepairing to move out of my apartment.
Obama just accepted the Democratic presidential nomination.
And I am going to evacuate New Orleans tomorrow to Mississippi.
This hurricane is screwing up my moving plans.

No meGustav!

Aaron to Afghanistan

Aaron left the U.S. today for Afghanistan.
He'll be working at Bagram Air Base for a year doing air traffic control for Midwest ATC.
He'll get two vacations, for two weeks each.
I'm missing him like crazy.
I am moving in with a friend at the end of September.
I'll be fine.
He'll be fine.

Affirmations

Today was incredibly affirming, or positive, or whatever makes a good day good!

Everything seemed to work out even if I wasn't trying. Driving home at the end of the day somehow it all hit me...

I was early to work; the traffic flow was great this morning.

My great friend Matt who no one ever hears from emailed me from England.

When one of my professors found out I wouldn't be working with him in the fall, he immediately called to ask who he needed to talk to to keep me as his coordinator.

Another one of the professors I worked with in the Spring took me to lunch. I had a wonderful grilled salmon with sweet potato fries!

I have been getting to know my supervisor more and liking her more every day.

I'm looking forward to moving to a new office next week.

I am indeed making a good friend in the office who shows me appreciation by giving me Kit Kats.

We had plenty of chocolate in the office today.

I helped decide who to hire to replace one of my coworkers.

I've been given the assignment of designing a Teaching Assistant program for the upcoming school year.

Aaron and I were again invited out by two separate couples who I work with.

Our director came into my office with a smile while asking about a class update and in another conversation even mentioned me in the list of people doing a great job in the office.

We left work at 4:30.

All my favorite songs were playing on the radio on my way home.

I was home by 5:15.

I had a great conversation on the phone with my dad, though that isn't out of the ordinary.

I also had a great talk with my God/Universe Mother who offered to take me horseback riding when I visit home.

Aaron even had a great day as he was offered a position with the D.O.D.

The day isn't even over yet!

Animal Rights

Read the following blog at your own discretion. It contains images unpleasing to the compassionate soul. (Photo from PhotoBucket: Asparges' La Boquería market in Barcelona)

When I was in Jr. High, I remember my mom and neighbors flocking to the little restaurant down the road which was the designated site of an animal cruelty protest. It was the first time I found out about it, the first time I'd seen the awful pictures of rabbits with pieces of them missing. Entire pieces of skin from their backs gone, scalped, in the name of improving consumer products. Dogs and cats and so forth held in cages too small for them to move around in.
These memories come around now and then, but I've never put my put my foot down. Until now. I've decided to become a vegetarian.

Last night I watched part of an episode of 30 Days with Morgan Spurlock. If you ever watched "Super Size Me", he's the guy who endured 30 days of eating only at McDonald's and only super-sized meals. His show now puts people in similar situations, basically dropping them into the life of someone else who has completely opposite ideas. They live with them for the duration of 30 days in hopes that somehow they will come away educated (changed?) by their experience. Last night George, who has hunted his whole life and believes animals are here to serve humans, went to live with a vegan woman who works for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). http://http//www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/30days/gallery.php# In those 4 weeks he was accosted by images of tortured animals both by video, photo, and real life.

Ultimately, he did walk away a changed man. Although he said he'll still hunt, he also went home with new understanding and with a new friend ~ a calf who's life he had saved from becoming a plate of Veal through a very slow death at a factory farm. When he saw how calves are kept in a cage with their heads chained to the ground, completely unable to move, so that they can be slaughtered for man's consumption, he was moved to rescue this one calf from a torturous death. He hand-fed it and worked with him in physical therapy until the calf could walk and run on his own. Although I missed a large chunk of the show, I was, of course, bawling while watching the end. George had gone through the visuals of the cruelty of factory farms and even actively protested in front of Burberry, a company who continues to use real fur in their clothing line. George, through maintaining his relationship with nature and hunting, was able to see that informed decisions can make a big difference. He is exemplary of the the fact that people who have entirely different views of the world can come together to see each other's sides.

This isn't just about being vegetarian or "omnivorous". This is about the torture of animals and the cruelty weaved into their harvesting. Humans have been built to be omnivorous, but it is in our decision making, educated morals and decisions, that set us even further apart from animals, and sometimes each other. I'll be honest about being a hypocrite. Just last night I ate ate at Outback Steakhouse, my meal was complete with medium-well chunks of beef. It sounds good, and it is good, paired with a fully-loaded baked potato. But if I had made a more conscientious decision, I would have stuck to the scallops and veggies. When faced with the reality of how cattle are harvested and killed, I would not morally be able to eat another piece of meat again. I'll never eat veal, or red mean in general again, unless someone in my family or friends killed it themselves, but only because I wouldn't want that life to go to waste.

So this is me, asking you to educate yourself on where your food comes from and to purchase only cruelty-free products. PETA puts out an up-to-date list of companies that do and do not test on animals. I always look here before I buy beauty products or household items. http://caringconsumer.com/resources_companies.asp The products sold by these companies are no less effective or beautifying than companies who subject animals to senseless torture. It really is easy to live cruelty-free. Here is the Cruelty-Free Pocket Shopping Guide: http://www.petaliterature.com/VIV236.pdf

My decision is recent, my thoughts scattered, and I'm still evaluating my decisions. I think I'll still continue to eat seafood, especially because I'm here in N'awlins. But maybe my active change in eating habits will spur others to do so too. I hope our journeys are fruitful!