Live Your Life

I got this in an email yesterday and I thought it was worth sharing. 😀
It really reminded me of how lately I’ve been noticing so many things that I’ve taken for granted over the years. I mean, even simple things…like being overwhelmed by the beauty of the tulips that i pass by as I walk from the bus stop to work every morning. Or the way the sun sparkles off of the water in Puget Sound every morning. And how great it felt to see the homeless man, who sells the Real Change Papers every morning, smile when I bought him breakfast at Starbucks the other day. And that every time I get to talk to my neice, it’s like I’m sitting right there beside her.

Last night me and Kelley were watching THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER and it just renewed my love for simple things that we take for granted. So here’s a little something something for you to ponder. Are there things you are taking for granted because of stress and worry and because society tells you that things HAVE TO BE a certain way?

————————————–

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I’d like better.

I’d really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.
And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it’s all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room,but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he’s scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you’ll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don’t ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won’t be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy/girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don’t care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don’t like it.. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor’s window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you – tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it’s the only way to appreciate life.

———————————————-

PS: 8 more weeks till I’m in the ATX! 😀

This Little Piggy

I would like to start today’s post off with an apology and a confession:

1. I apologize for not updating in so long. “You shouldn’t have to apologize.” you say? I know. I just want to. I feel like each and every person who reads my blog deserves to know that they are important—you are important to me! 😀

2. I am not perfect. Far from it actually. And I don’t always think the ‘right’ things or ‘do’ the right things. It’s true. A while back I was talking to one of my friends and they were saying how it affected them at times because it seems as though I have my entire life together and that every day is just peachy and great… but this is so not true.

Though I am predominantly optimistic about almost everything, there have been a lot of hits and tears along the way that have gotten me to where I am. And in case you’re wondering, no I’m not like, “putting up a wall of safety” around me… I’m simply choosing everyday to take some of the most complex situations and laugh about them or talk myself into finding a bit of a silver lining. And what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger and I learn from EVERYTHING.

One thing I did promise myself is to LIVE my life to the fullest and make the best of everything that comes my way. Is my life perfect…oh no no no. Can I make some of the crappiest situations not seem so crappy? yes. yes indeed.

Which leads me to the latest thing… this SWINE FLU pandemic thingy.

First of all, can I just say that the term “SWINE” just makes me wanna vomit? Can we call it the Pig Flu or the Worse-Than-Your-Average-Flu? Anything but Swine. That makes me think that every person who gets it is gonna turn into a pig…a la Pinochhio with the the whole donkey thing. Creeptastic.

So every Wednesday, we have a staff meeting where we all go into this room with chairs and couches and go over Buildings and Grounds, Computer Updates, Publications Updates and Office Reminders and such. Well today we had a big discussion about this … PIGGY FLU… and everyone was spewing out data upon data and statistic upon statistic…and it was all so overwhelming. One of the guys asked a really good question. He asked: HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE A LIVING WILL MADE UP? And it gets all awkward quiet and like a couple people raise their hands… and I look at the guy and I go, “Um. Would you like me to write you into mine?” And everyone laughed! It was so funny… and I just kept going… talking about who I would give my iTunes playlist to, who gets my laptop, etc. And it was so funny! One of my other co-workers commented later on how glad she was that I was on the team, bringing lots of laughs and a light air. 😀

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m concerned about the Piggy Flu, but at the same time, if I panic, it helps nothing. And if I get sick, I get sick. And if I die, I die. I’m not afraid.

Another example would be the recent RC Teacher mailout I worked on. So I ran out of bags…like 70 packets shy of a complete mailout. So I had to order more bags. But when the guy asked me if I needed small or large bags, I just guessed large- better to get bigger ones than accidentally get the smaller ones, eh? KINDA.

Let’s just say… the large bags… are large. All day I was making jokes about buying out all the Extra-Huge bags from DHL… and trying to compete with Santa… and mailing myself home. It was funny!… at least I thought so. 😉

It kinda reminds me of this book I found at Borders once called THE SECRETS OF THE BULLET-PROOF SPIRIT.

I think I’ll buy it with my next paycheck and let you know if I truly DO have a “bullet-proof spirit.” 😉

Another book I’m going to buy is THE NARCISSISM EPIDEMIC. Very relevant, very interesting.

Well that’s all for today! Thanks for checking out the blog! 😀

World Wide Open

I was talking to someone today about traveling and how much I love traveling.  I really do.  I’ve never been one to just stay in one small place and be content to never travel.  I mean, c’mon, I live in Seattle now, which is like 2,385 miles away from my hometown of Austin!  That’s a lot of distance!  But even though I’m living here, my passion to travel is just as alive as ever.  I still want to go out and explore other places.  So, I figured I would share that with you today.  Here are some of the places I want to visit:

LONDON, ENGLAND
(i really want to go here with my friend Kelley)

MADRID, SPAIN

NUREMBERG, GERMANY
(this is where I was born, and I’d love to go with my dad!)

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

BARCELONA, SPAIN

One day, I will visit each of these places!

In the meantime, a new song for you to try…

One of the band members is Brian Bandas, who I had the opportunity of being on the road with doing a MCA tour up the East Coast a few years ago. Back then, he was in a band called Three Nails Short. Now he’s in Nashville, playing with a new band called Love and Theft that recently toured with Taylor Swift. If you like their sound, you can find more at their [myspace] page.
http://www.youtube.com/v/F0JxfoFikrc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1

Cookie Jar

hey hey hey!

Okay, so today was our first softball scrimmage!  I didn’t get any pics (sad, i know) but I will for sure when we play our FIRST game next Saturday! wheee!!

No MAJOR injuries today, though I DID slightly pull the muscles in my quads… but a warm bath and Icy Hot make things much better!  I’m having so much fun playing ball again and I LOVE my team!  They’re so fun!  

One cool thing though, is that I got to go yesterday to the “GREEN” Starbucks on First and Pike and it was amazing!  I tried a Cafe Misto and loved it! yum to the o!   

Then I got to go see OBSESSED with Sheree.  It was cool!  It’s one of those movies I really appreciate because I’m hoping that somewhere, some crazy overtly obsessed chick is gonna watch it and realize that when you obsess over someone that you know that doesn’t love you back… you need to walk away.  There are, in fact, other fish in the sea.  

Kinda reminds me of Shutter in a way… which is another movie I love.  At the end, when the chick is sitting on his shoulders, it’s all I could do to be like… Listen lady.  LET GO.  Move on!  It’s not worth it spending your life chasing after someone who’s not gonna love YOU in all your fantastic unique glory.    

So yeah, good weekend all around.  Got a LOT of screenwriting done and I’m loving the way the stories are progressing!  Feels so good to be organized and free flowing with the creativity!  😀

Leave A Note

Not a lot to say today… except I downloaded some new filters for my Photo Booth and I LOVE it!  I’m also getting to design some logos and stuff for work, so I feel like I’m back in my element!  😀  

Did I mention that I LOVE my job?  cause it’s AMAZING!

From my photo booth to you, enjoy some of my favorites:

PS: there’s a softball scrimmage tomorrow!  I’ll let you know how it goes!  My leg is feeling back to it’s old self…let’s hope I can walk home in one piece tomorrow!  😀

Green Gloves

How cool is this!  Seattle has officially opened a ‘GREEN’ Starbucks!  Woot!  

It’s on 1st and Pike, for those who ever wanna come visit.  You can ‘explore’ the store here:

STARBUCKS COFFEE IS THE BEST!

I’m so so so excited!  It’s such an awesome thing to see more businesses making a bigger impact on sustainability in the environment.  😀

PS: 9 more weeks till I’m in the ATX! 😀

Tripping Billies

Okay so today’s post is a bit of a rant… but it’s a funny rant
(at least, I think it is).

So I was checking my email earlier this morning and I was emptying my SPAM folder and I noticed an email that had the title: FRIEND REQUEST: AMANDA, I LIKE OLDER GUYS.

And I couldn’t help but laugh. Because not only am I NOT old, I’m most definitely NOT a guy either. And I know that I should just ignore and delete, but after getting like so many emails crowding my email… even though it goes straight to SPAM, I just get so annoyed at how little thought goes into the emails that spammers send.

Not only is half the email grammatically incorrect- I’m not sure who would want to buy a watch from someone who can’t even spell “Rolex” and “cheap.”

But they don’t even offer me things I’d even REMOTELY be interested in. My name is Amanda—not Armando, not Raymundo, not Amman— it’s Amanda. Amanda is not a unisex name. It’s not Randi or Corey, Adrian, or Taylor. It’s Amanda. So I’m DEFINITELY NOT going to need to make my penis grow 10 inches. Cause well… I DON’T HAVE ONE. And sometimes I feel like emailing them back and asking if somone has stolen my identity and subscribed to some lesbian sites… because all these offers for drugs to “pleasure my girlfriend” and “make her happy” really just don’t apply to me. AT ALL.

And the email I referenced earlier, was sent by some spammer who is like, trying to kill 9 birds with 2 stones… cause there were 3 different web links for 3 different “companies” with different names. So either KELLI21 is desperate for me to see her picture (which I won’t) or “she’s” not smart enough to change her name and send 3 separate emails. On second thought, I’m kinda glad “she” only sent one.

So I’m sorry, KELLI21, I won’t be clicking on your link. Because let’s face it, I know you’re a 40 year old single fat guy who gets paid 25 cents an email to send out SPAM emails while lounging in your boxers in hopes that some creepy weirdo will follow the link and spend money on a picture of you, which probably actually resembles a picture of Kate Beckinsale with a weird combo of Giselle Bundchen’s body, Christina Ricci’s nose, and Angelina Jolies distinctive tattoos. But thanks for the offer and thanks for crowding my email. And by thanks I mean GET A REAL JOB, YA CREEP!

PS to all the spammers out there:

1. I bat for the home team. I’m into guys, not girls.
2. I have a cell phone and don’t need your watches.
3. I am female and have female parts… permanently.
4. Somewhere, your 5th grade english teacher is hanging her head down in shame because you learned… NOTHING.

lame.

Pour Some Sugar On Me

For the past week and a half, I’ve been working on this massive mailout for work and one of our co-workers has this awesome niece, Cherie, who has been volunteering time every afternoon to help. So we’ve been able to spend some great quality time together. This week her aunt is in Africa at a conference and she’s here all by her lonesome. Did I mention she’s not from Seattle (like me!). She’s from Atlanta, Georgia—ATL!! So we’re spending some extra fun time together this week since we get along so well and have a lot in common—like our obsessive love for BBQ and Chick-Fil-A!

Today we went to this chocolate shop in Queen Anne called CHOCOLOPOLIS!

It should have been named HEAVEN or CHOCOTOPIA! Their chocolate was amazing! It was so exquisite! Some of the truffles looked like they were marbleized stones. Seriously!

We both got chocolate covered pretzels!

She got a strawberry truffle while I got a coconut truffle and a bag of strawberry vanilla marshmallows. They taste A M A Z I N G!!!!

Tomorrow after work we’re going to dinner and then on Friday night we’re gonna go see a movie together! I love hanging out with her! She’s so fun to be around!

Ammunition

New Music for you to try as you start out another week!  Enjoy!

THE GREATEST by Cat Power

HAMMOND SONG by The Roches

[livevideo id=0963AEC1C84B4929855CC620FC04626C/25252/night-music-the-hammond-song-.aspx]
Night Music: The Hammond Song”

Walking Down The Hill

Well today was a pretty packed out day… and it was so much fun!

Now, I USUALLY never wake up early on a Saturday morning… it’s rare.  And on the rare occasion that I don’t, I put myself back to sleep.  And it usually works.  Not so this morning.  I woke up at 6 a.m., no alarm waking me up… just awake.  

Brushed the teeth, washed the face, put on the coffee, and started cleaning my room.

Then I go upstairs to pour some coffee… and when I get back to my room I see that I’ve missed a call.  It’s Jessica V.  and she’s inviting me to go with J. and K. to go have breakfast with them and go watch 17 Again.  She also offers to take me to softball practice, since her and Joseph are also on the team and then afterwards to have pizza and watch Marley and Me with them.  I couldn’t resist!  I love these people and LOVE spending time with them!  So I’m in!

The movie was funny, breakfast was great.. and then we’re off to softball practice.

I was really excited because I JUST bought a new pair of cleats on sale for 20 bones.  But I realize once I put them on, they move a bit differently than regular shoes.  So we get to the baseball field and there’s this big hill you have to walk down to get to the diamond.  And as uneasy as I feel in these new shoes, I lean over to J. and say, “Okay dude.  If I totally eat it walking down this hill, I give you permission to laugh.”  And I carefully make my way down the steep hill.  I’ve just about cleared it and I’m so excited so in my mind I’m like, “HECK YES! I CLEARED IT! I CONQUERED THE HILL IN CLEATS!” and then as I’m about to the bottom… I totally eat it!  Down the hill I go… startled and freaked out… and I land on my back… in pain.

So I’m laying there, and they are trying to help me up, all the while asking me if I did it on purpose and I’m like, “No. No way. That was pure accident.”  And I don’t know what’s worse… predicting my fall or trying to convince people that it was completely accidental.  In any case, I was laying there and I was like “Save yourselves. Leave me. I’ve lived a good life.”  I always try to add a little bit of humor to ridiculously embarrassing situations.  😉

Thank the Lord I didn’t hurt my ankle, but I hurt the area above it and have a nice raised bruise.  But my leg still hurts from the fall, so I can feel my whole foot throbbing and i feel the bruise get bigger and bigger.  I was able to practice, but I didn’t really run as fast as I would have liked to.  Oh well.  So then after practice we get to the video store and I realize just how painful it all really was and now I’m limping cause I can feel the pressure in my whole foot.  I got to ice it down and elevate it while we watched the movie, so now it feels so much better.  

My other injury today came from warming up at the softball field.  Me and Jessica were throwing the ball to each other and I didn’t catch it right.  And by ‘didn’t catch it right’ I mean “My mouth caught it.”  Totally.  So now I have a puffy upper lip and a slight limp.  But at least the practice was fun and I really did have SO MUCH FUN hanging out with my friends! 

PS: 10 more weeks till I go back to Austin for a visit! 😀