home sweet home

It's so good to be home.  Back in my calming, enlightening and rejuvenating comfort zone.

While I thoroughly enjoyed being back East around family and friends, home just has a special vibe that cannot be replicated.  So I am soaking up the pleasure of mi casa today.  Piddling around (country term which means doing nothing), thinking about doing laundry, resting, unpacking very slowly, and putting up Christmas decorations while Star Wars-The Phantom Menace plays in the background. I really like the fight scene with Qui Gon Jinn, Obi Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul.  Makes me wish I had a light saber.  I can see myself flipping, using the force and working my light saber like Obi Wan!  I want a cool Star Wars name too.  Something royal like Princess Leia...  Princess Shar!  Can you come help me wind my hair in two big circles on either side of my head, please? I found some Star Wars Random Name Generators, but their ideas were not as good as Princess Shar LOL!

In continued random news, I discovered my first gray hair. I found two, actually and I'm really excited about em!!!  You know, the whole wiser-better-stronger thing!

Have you heard about 25 Days of Free Holiday Music from Amazon.com??? Starting December 1st, every day through Christmas, Amazon unveils a new holiday song and you can download it for free!  Click here to check it out.  

Here are a few savory, sweet and hilarious spots from my travels:

Getting my hair cut (6 inches!) and flat ironed:




and then remembering why I rarely ever get my hair flat ironed:




Watching the little ones romp in the very place I romped as a child...  FUN times!


Dunkin' Donut Munchkins (chocolate and blueberry only) :)





Chicken Biscuits from Bojangles.  Bless your heart if you've never had one.  

Visiting with my great Aunt Lucy who is almost 104 years old and sharp as ever!

Eating @Chow Time in Memphis... giggles about the shenanigans between me and my mom

Cheering for my cousin, yelling at the ref and laughing hysterically @high school BB game

Great conversation with my Uncle John

The awesomeness that is Brooke, my sister-in-love

Getting to see my brother perform (singer/songwriter extraordinaire)

The sun shining brightly the day after we buried my brother Josh  

Attending a World Aids Day Awareness Event

The most darling turquoise shoes confiscated from the closet of my mother

Zaxby's vanilla milkshake

Remembering to give thanks each day

Riding home with my husband... that is when I realized that Dorothy had it right.  

Home: there's no place like it.  



Hugs, Love and Happy Holidays to you and yours!!!

Simple Abundance

"Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities.  It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we shall tend."  -Sarah Ban Breathnach


When I came across this quote the other day, it really struck a chord in me.  It's a reminder to see the cup as being full to overflowing.  Every moment of every day, I decide whether I cultivate a heart of abundance or a mentality of lack.  Sometimes I get it right.  Sometimes I don't.  The cool thing is this: when I find myself leaning towards notions of lack, I am able to shift my focus and recalibrate my settings.  It's a conscious choice (meaning I decide) to embrace the abundance that is mine.  


It is important to embrace simple pleasure and enjoy life everyday.  Even during the tough times, there are still sweet moments to cultivate and savor.  While the expression of enjoying life will vary from person to person, if you are stuck, reconnecting with your inner child is a great place to start.  Laughing, viewing life with a twinkle in your eye, being open to making new friends, having a happy heart, playing outside, singing, coloring, drawing and being silly. Your inner child never goes away and it is never too late to rekindle or rediscover your free-spirited, fun, and fabulous self.  


The keeper of a childlike heart possesses a great source of wealth for abundance is a state of mind which can be experienced in a variety of ways.  Indulge at a 5 Star restaurant or frolic at the park and have a picnic; run through the sprinklers or go barefoot, play in the dirt, hit the art museum, feed the birds, and bake cupcakes with sprinkles.  Sing loudly, laugh often, share something with someone you love, write a letter, sit and do absolutely nothing, play kickball, volunteer or go for a swim.  If you have lost the wonder, you must find it again and take heart... finding it again is much easier than you think.  Just open your heart and embrace the gift of life that is already yours.  Appreciate the beauty of the horizon, the sunset, an established tree or sapling, a treasured moment or possession, even another person.  When you realize and appreciate the riches that you already possess, life opens up like the flowers of a beautiful bouquet.  Let's tend the lavish garden of abundance.  Look around:  We are rich.