With great gusto and a long to-do list, I took today off. I'd been on the road so it was a good time to get some much needed "me" time. Began the morning with a text of my adorable granddaughter at 6:30 am (I think they forgot I was taking the day off) but it started my day with a smile. I looked at the list and decided to wait until tomorrow - there will always be tomorrow, right? Met RG for lunch, she always makes me laugh. She is someone who listens to me vent but then helps me start having fun again. We went shoe shopping for stylish, comfortable shoes - THERE IS NO SUCH THING ! I have a painful foot and don't want to resort to ugly shoes forever but I think I found two pair I can live with. They just cost far too much for comfort when I really would rather have Christian Louboutin shoes. Watched a woman buy over 3k worth of shoes - only 7 pair but they were Jimmy Chou, Paul Green, Tory Burch - get the picture? I buy Naot and Fudji but if I can get back to walking again, I'll be thrilled.
Tomorrow is my next chance to conquer the to-do list but oh did it feel great to do almost nothing today!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
I believe in spring
It's a very cold Chicago day but the sun is shining and my amazing view of Lake Michigan has me mesmerized. The pockets of blue and green seem to be racing away the murkish brownness of winter. And I look at this view with the brightness of the blue sky and amaze at how lucky I am.
I'm a strange woman who can't get enough of college basketball and am cheering for VCU since I saw them in person last weekend and am fascinated with their coach, Shaka Smart, after watching him play harder than his team and bringing an underdog to life.
Now what in the world does college basketball have to do with my 6 months 2 life philosophy? Last weekend I boldly went to the NCAA tournament BY MYSELF and to the Purdue fan celebration at Union Park. Determined to reach out to strangers, I discovered that a smile and a bit of friendliness does open up opportunities. A free beer was great pre-game and the conversations about legislative funding, basketball strategy and the parallels with work life were great. And then Sunday, met someone I really enjoyed who, unfortunately for me, was adorned with a shiny gold wedding band. So we'll be friends and I'll keep smiling and reaching out because I now have four new friends - none of whom live in Chicago. But, it was a great beginning.
Shaka, I hope you can conquer those twins today. I'll be cheering you on in the sun with laptop on my lap and hoping you can write a book and sign it for me.
I'm a strange woman who can't get enough of college basketball and am cheering for VCU since I saw them in person last weekend and am fascinated with their coach, Shaka Smart, after watching him play harder than his team and bringing an underdog to life.
Now what in the world does college basketball have to do with my 6 months 2 life philosophy? Last weekend I boldly went to the NCAA tournament BY MYSELF and to the Purdue fan celebration at Union Park. Determined to reach out to strangers, I discovered that a smile and a bit of friendliness does open up opportunities. A free beer was great pre-game and the conversations about legislative funding, basketball strategy and the parallels with work life were great. And then Sunday, met someone I really enjoyed who, unfortunately for me, was adorned with a shiny gold wedding band. So we'll be friends and I'll keep smiling and reaching out because I now have four new friends - none of whom live in Chicago. But, it was a great beginning.
Shaka, I hope you can conquer those twins today. I'll be cheering you on in the sun with laptop on my lap and hoping you can write a book and sign it for me.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
I think this concept just might work
What do you do when you decide that being all by yourself after focusing on your wonderful family is going to be awesome? You jump in, move to Chicago with amazing new job, new place and spend six months in bliss. Every day is filled with new places and new opportunities. Then LIFE stares you in the face and work consumes every moment and ounce of your being. The opportunity is beyond belief and exciting. Exhilarates and exhausts at the same time. Resume will be amazing and respect with never languish...
...Then I woke up one day and realized that I was lonely for the first time ever in my life. It is the end of February and the newscast that said we've never had that much snow in February EVER and I'm still recalling the blizzard and my 21st floor snow drift. Daylight hides behind the clouds along with my spirit and everything reduces me to running for Kleenex. Yes, I love Chicago winters because they make 40 degrees feel like mid-summer.
That gloomy, cold day on the couch with my laptop hammering away at work that will never cease made me realize I could start over yet again. The first day of spring was only a few weeks away and I'd spring into a plan for a real Chicago social life - not to rub shoulders with the Chicago elite (necessarily) but to be energized by being with people instead of on the couch, walking with friends instead of around in circles and setting a limit on those astronomical expectations at the office that only rarely seem to be successful.
Oh yeah, I've got a great job in field that I love and I've had great professional success. It's just that I can't make it everything any more. I'm running out of years to fall in love again and learn to do all of the things I want to do. I have a shadow box to make for Michelle (after 10 years of promising) a scrapbook for Haley, a marathon memory for Andrea and then there are all of those pieces of vintage jewelry that I was going to transform :)
So I'm getting it started. Six months of journaling how my life will just get better. Hope you'll be here to offer suggestions and morale support too!
...Then I woke up one day and realized that I was lonely for the first time ever in my life. It is the end of February and the newscast that said we've never had that much snow in February EVER and I'm still recalling the blizzard and my 21st floor snow drift. Daylight hides behind the clouds along with my spirit and everything reduces me to running for Kleenex. Yes, I love Chicago winters because they make 40 degrees feel like mid-summer.
That gloomy, cold day on the couch with my laptop hammering away at work that will never cease made me realize I could start over yet again. The first day of spring was only a few weeks away and I'd spring into a plan for a real Chicago social life - not to rub shoulders with the Chicago elite (necessarily) but to be energized by being with people instead of on the couch, walking with friends instead of around in circles and setting a limit on those astronomical expectations at the office that only rarely seem to be successful.
Oh yeah, I've got a great job in field that I love and I've had great professional success. It's just that I can't make it everything any more. I'm running out of years to fall in love again and learn to do all of the things I want to do. I have a shadow box to make for Michelle (after 10 years of promising) a scrapbook for Haley, a marathon memory for Andrea and then there are all of those pieces of vintage jewelry that I was going to transform :)
So I'm getting it started. Six months of journaling how my life will just get better. Hope you'll be here to offer suggestions and morale support too!
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