Fill Your Bucket

Have you filled your bucket today? If not, what's stopping you?

So we're all aware of the ALS #IceBucketChallenge. I've laughed at some of the more creative interpretations of it and shed a tear at some of the all-too-real testimonial from individuals actually living with ALS and seeing how it affects them and their families (I mentioned a couple in my #FiveGoodThings post). This campaign is pretty incredible.

That said, what it's really about it raising funds to help find treatments and a cure to improve the quality of life and longevity for those living with ALS. It's a terrifying and tragic disease that slowly takes away one's autonomy and independence. I remember being so touched the first time I read Tuesdays with Morrie and learning from someone who could accept this fate with such grace and dignity. So E and I will be making our own small contribution.

And I have to say I've been cringing a bit at seeing all this water dumped onto concrete patios and the like---we can't deny this drought! Thank you to those CA friends who completed the challenge standing on your brown grass ;) Not to mention that it's a reminder of how we take clean water for granted.... Although it's in much different ways than ALS, a lack of water has the power to strip away opportunities, dignity, health and independence.

So I'm also making a small contribution to Charity: Water in gratitude for my hot showers, drinking water, pool to swim in, and in hope that it can help change a community by improving health, sanitation, opportunities for girls to attend school, and for families to create an income. I really encourage you to learn more about the life-giving power of clean water here.

And really, water is life, right? It is fluid and constantly changing, it allows us to create and to fix mistakes and to grow food and support communities and to cleanse what needs cleaning. It's hard to think of a resource more life-affirming than water. I'm proud to be a small part in support of these great causes. Please consider donating if you can:

Donate Here!

Donate Here!

Ok, so enough soapbox on my part --- I accept the #IceBucketChallenge!

I don't know what the deal is with uploading a video,
but I tried all day with no success...
it is, however, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Count your blessings and fill your bucket,

#FiveGoodThings 8.22.14

Happy Friday!

This week feels like a bit of a blur; E's schedule worked out so that he had Saturday - Monday off and then he used his first personal day since he started working this job (last November) so that he could have a four-day weekend --- practically a vacation! Since he's been working 10, 11 and even 12 hour days the last couple of weeks, it was almost weird but much appreciated to spend all that time together.

So that's my Number One for this week. :)


2. Have a couple of part-time work opportunities that might be a little something coming my way. I can't say enough about how fortunate and blessed I am that E has been really supportive of my desire to change careers and to stay home with youngsters when we have them; two factors that have played the main role in my job progress as of late. And I do not take for granted that his job is able to support us financially right now (I mean, we're not living large, but we will get by as long as we stay frugal); but I also still have a strong desire to do something and to earn my own money... especially for those little "everyday luxuries" like coloring my hair a couple times a year or lunch with a girlfriend once in awhile. I've pretty much worked since I was 16 so it feels weird to not 'do' anything and I'm really appreciative of some upcoming opportunities to hopefully mix things up a bit.

3. Taking the Ferry - As dorky as it may sound, if you want to feel like you're on a 20-minute vacation in San Diego, I highly recommend taking the ferry from Downtown to Coronado and back. We've done it a couple of times and on a beautiful day you just can't beat it as far as cheap thrills go (It's like, $8.50 for adults round-trip and little kids are free). We disembarked and walked all the way down to the Hotel del and along the beach a bit before making our way back --- and may or may not have stopped for Panera and shared an ice cream sundae along the way. For those of us who don't own the mega-yachts we saw docked in the marina, the ferry is a fun way for us peasants to get a different view of America's Finest City.

Awkward selfie is awkward.

Why do ALL guys do that dorky gaze-into-the-distance face
when the camera is pointed at them?

4. This particular ALS #IceBucketChallenge video wins the internet, as far as I'm concerned. Please watch the whole video (but don't read the comments lest you lose your faith in humanity)!!

And this one shows where it all began. I have mixed feelings about people in California using water like this during such an extreme drought, but this is a pretty worthy cause. Whatever we can contribute towards making ALS a thing of the past will be a good thing. 

5. Finally, shoutout to having health insurance. Well, we did have it with E's prior job and with the exception of getting a new prescription for my contacts, we really didn't use it... I know, terrible thing to waste. We're both kind of the "if nothing's bothering me, I must be healthy" types, but my mom finally convinced me to seek a prescription-strength migraine medication, and during my visit everyone was extremely nice, helpful and professional, and I will be heading back soon to catch up on all the things I've been putting off for so long. My one complaint is that when updating my tdap vaccine I didn't get a lollipop after being so brave for my shot (semi-kidding, the shot itself was nothing but they weren't kidding about being sore afterwards!). Long story short, I have good intentions to take advantage of our healthcare from here on so that I can, you know, be healthy and stuff. 

What are your #FiveGoodThings this week? I gotta' tell you it feels nice to make an effort to appreciate the small things.

Happy Weekend!

xoxox, 

#FiveGoodThings 8.15.14

So here is Week Two of #FiveGoodThings (see Week One here). I'm trying to do this each week to perpetuate the positive and remind myself (and others?) how much good and beauty there still is in the world, even if we have to look hard for it sometimes.

In other words,

this awesomeness via http://blog.justinablakeney.com/

What a week. There was a lot of crummy stuff happening. Some scary stuff. A migraine. A blown call at the plate against the Padres.

But there's always much to be thankful for; and this week that includes:

1. Celebrating My Mother-in-Law's Birthday - Happy, happy birthday to a very sweet woman who raised a beautiful family, including my wonderful husband. We don't get together as often as we should so it was nice to spend an afternoon just eating, catching up and I NAILED IT with the earrings I picked out for her. *Drops mic

2. Initiating Women with Purpose into the Alpha Gamma Delta Sisterhood - I've been really happy and proud to work with the young women of the Delta Eta Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta at SDSU, and I'm so looking forward to their first immersion into Formal Recruitment and their first full year on campus. On Friday evening they initiated six women into the fraternity and are beginning their intensive preparations for the upcoming school year.

They're so cute and creative and enthusiastic
about establishing their legacy on this campus!

I think back to my own collegiate years and how this time could be exhausting but it's so fun and rewarding to work towards a common goal. These are great girls and I can't wait to see what this year has in store for them on the Mesa.

My own pics look so dorky and dated by comparison... but we had fun!

3. Doing Cute and Functional Things in Sister's Room - I upcycled my sister's former dorm desk into a vanity for her birthday, and last weekend we spent a ton of time cleaning out her closet and rearranging other stuff so that she can have a cool closet/vanity space and lots more room for her cute clothes, art and a space to do homework or projects. We also took an Ikea trip, a thrifting trip and have some cool DIY projects planned. It's not quite done so I hope to have some in-progress and 'after' pics, but here's a bit of a vision board I cooked up for her.

4. Finding the helpers - I was glued to the news and Twitter this week for updates on all the horrible things taking place there. I will say that it's still an evolving situation and we don't have all the facts. But it's scary that something like this can happen in America, where we've been taught to believe that our freedoms are protected and that we value civil discourse and due process.

But if you look for the good, you'll always find it. I will continue to pray for compassion, understanding, justice and peace to prevail.

5. Summer of '69 music - My sister and I took advantage of another free summer concert in the park last night -- and this one was a cover band playing Woodstock-era artists and a lot of Crosby, Stills and Nash. Totes up our alley. There was also great people-watching to be had and soooooo many cute dogs making us smile. Summer already feels like it's slipping away with everyone starting back to school and the days (barely) cooling off a bit and football getting going so I really love grasping as many of these summer nights that I can.


If I can find five good things to come out of a tumultuous week, so can you! What are your #FiveGoodThings?

Make it a good one and take care of each other,

#FiveGoodThings: 8.4.14

I've been seeing a lot of "positivity challenges" and "100 Days of Happiness" type posts out there on The Facebook and The Instagram, etc. That's nice. I think many of us have a tendency to focus on our problems and complaints and annoyances rather than the big and little things in life that bring us joy or bring joy to others or are even just small steps in a positive direction. I know I'm definitely guilty.

So I've decided to start focusing on recording and sharing #FiveGoodThings each week. They might be little, they might be significant, they might be personal, they might be something good for a friend or family member or a complete stranger.

Everyone should be able to find five positive things that happen each week, right? I know someone as blessed as I (sometimes take for granted that I) am should have no problem with this.

So I hope that this is a good personal exercise and maybe even spreads a little happiness, causes us to pause and reflect, or mayyyybe even inspires others to try to find five --- or more!! --- good things in their week. I'm not putting it out there as a challenge, but I hope someone reading this might want to join me in this effort. I'm curious to see if it gradually brings about a better outlook and affects how I go about life. We shall see!!


And yes I am already late posting my inaugural edition. My intention is to post these Friday morning. It's Monday night. Whatever.

#FiveGoodThings: 8.8.14

1. A 10-Year Anniversary Vow Renewal - I met Nicole at our high school freshman orientation when we were given our combination locks and I was hopelessly trying to figure out how to open mine and finally asked her for help. I guess it was six or seven years later that I was one of her bridesmaids when she married Kyle, another five or so years after that when I became Godmother to her daughter Payton, and last weekend I watched her renew her vows to her husband. How neat it is to have a group of girlfriends like that. Love is always worth celebrating. And she planned a lovely party to celebrate.

Oh yeah and she asked me to letter all the chalkboard decorations so check that out. Not-so-humble brag.

Their photographer that day was Amanda Cory Photography.

2. The Lego Movie -- I have a bad habit of declaring that I'd like to watch (insert name of movie) at some point, and then when we actually sit down to watch a movie at home none of them sound appealing.... I just have to be in the mood for most movies and yes I know I'm terrible and it probably drives E crazy more than he admits to me. So last night when he read off a list of movies from the Netflix queue and I "meh'd" every one of them and we were about to just say forget it, we finally settled on The Lego Movie. We loved it. I mean, I suppose it's made for children but it's one of those that has great little jokes and references that adults will appreciate and visually it's just awesome. Oh, and you'll probably enjoy the many recognizable voices. But what I really loved was the message --- be yourself, everyone has something to contribute, don't be afraid to throw the directions aside and do what feels right to you (something I could really take to heart these days). 

Also, let your kids PLAY and explore their creativity. I thought that message was in interesting contrast to some of the criticism of Lego lately; particularly of their products marketed to girls --- examples such as those found here and here. Hopefully this marks a return to Lego's roots and represents a fresh approach that is inclusive and focused on encouraging creative play and building whatever makes you happy. 

3. Becky Hammon Hired as an Assistant Coach with the San Antonio Spurs - I guess we'll continue with the "yay women's empowerment" theme. Now I have to admit I'm not much of an NBA fan... I'll watch some of the playoffs and pay attention to the Finals, but the regular season drags on for me and I don't have a particular team that I'm rooting for.... but that could change.

Being a female sports fan, of course the headline that a woman was hired as an assistant coach in the NBA caught my eye; it's definitely not something you see everyday from any of the major professional sports in the US. And although, as I said, I don't have a major stake with any particular team, I was definitely paying attention and pulling for the Spurs this year so that I could see SDSU alum Kawhi Leonard win a ring --- and him being named the Finals MVP was amazing! --- so I'm even more impressed with this organization since reading Tuesday's news. I'm certainly no expert and there's no need for me to regurgitate when you can go directly to the source, so here are a few of the articles I enjoyed: SB Nation, Bleacher Report, The Washington Post.

It's just another step towards equality and improved diversity in sports. Sports have in the past helped to promote equality when the rest of society was still catching up --- Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, Billie Jean King's groundbreaking work to promote gender equality, and of course more recently athletes like Jason Collins and Michael Sam taking brave steps towards ending the silence of homosexuals in the major professional leagues.

Of course a sports team can have all the feel-good stories in the world and what they're really aiming for at the end of the day is more numbers in the "W" column than the "L," so only time will tell how successful Ms. Hammon proves to be in this particular job with the Spurs (and it's critical to further progress that her performance isn't used as an indicator of the entire female population); regardless, it's an awesome step forward and I'm excited to see how things go from here.


4. Free Concert in the Park with my Grandparents -  I try to make it to at least a few of these concerts during the summer; it's such a nice way to spend beautiful summer evenings in San Diego. I was surprised that my grandparents agreed at 1pm to a concert that same evening, but we decided to be "spontaneous" and I'm glad we did!


5. Local Coffee at the Beach - I was heading down to my parents' on Saturday and, still needing coffee and really wanting to spend a few minutes at the beach, grabbed a (really yummy) cup at Katy's Cafe, this cute, funky place in Imperial Beach.

I'm trying to do a better job of utilizing my purchasing power to support local establishments, and while I have a long way to go, this was an extremely easy and satisfying way of doing so. I mean, you can't beat your morning cup of coffee with this view:

Ok, so there's my first week's worth of five good things. In a world full of crazy it feels good to reflect on a few positive moments.

What are your five good things?

xoxox,