Merry Christmas to all

Happy Christmas!

I wish you and your families a happy holiday. I hope you were able to spend time with those you love.

Swim naked AND Defy Gravity

I'm in the mood to talk about books and lists today. I found another book for people turning 30. You know I'm always in the mood to check out the competition.

This one had me wondering again about lists - the things we do or want to do before turning 30. OR any other age milestone.

So for now I looked at this book and selected my top 5 great suggestions and the 5 I found most ridiculous.

I should also tell you that of 100 items, I have actually completed 72 of the list.

TOP 5

Swim Naked

Buy a Kick-Ass Mattress

Watch the sun rise and set on the same day by yourself

Sleep in a hammock

Carry something to read, a notebook and a pen at all times

Ridiculous 5

Claim your granny panties

Hook up something high tech by yourself

Invest in earplugs

Adopt an awkward teenager

Use a great dermo

So take a look at the book.

How many have you completed?

Sorry for the lapse

Sorry that I haven't been writing much lately. I've been trying to get back into the swing of keeping this blog but like everyone else the holidays and end of the year wrap up has me so busy that I've been exhausted and I just haven't been in the mood.

I will get caught up more later.

Finding Peace - Part 2

Sometimes the stress is too great for me to just take a day off and hope to feel better. On those days I have to make a bigger trip.

Part of my soul is attached to the natural world. In most walks of life I am perfectly suited to the urban world. But when I need a break, I need nature. I need green leaves, the smell of dirt and the wind blowing across my skin.

The photos attached to this blog are some I've taken on various trips. The thing is that though the woods are pretty, they don't always do the trick.





Sometimes I need the woods. The rest of the time I need the beach and the roar of the woods or the dry, heat blast of the desert. Each site, when lonely and desolate, speaks to me and soothes my mind enough to offer peace.


This month, while the weather around me turns colder and I cannot get away from the hustle and bustle of my busy life, I think I will look for my places of peace.

I moved a few weeks ago and have mostly unpacked my belongings. I have not, however, finished the sorting. While I'm at it, I will look for the photos I've taken over the years of my peaceful places.

Hopefully I'll find the snapshots from:
The desert outside Sedona where I spent a week catching my breath in 2005 before I quit my job and changed my life

Or the beach near Daytona or Cocoa where I spent much of my childhood and teen years, relaxing and having fun with friends.

If I find my places of peace I will post them this month. I suggest you consider finding your own places of peace and posting the snapshots on your refrigerator or at your desk. My hope for you is that these images, these symbols can help you breathe and find peace throughout this busy year end season.

Finding Peace - part 1

Our 20s may have been the busy “fun” years of our lives but our 30s will be equally busy. Whether you are growing your career, your family or your own personal expertise, you will likely be busy during the decade that is your 30s.

As you approach 30 you may be dreading the idea of working too hard and never having the time for yourself or your dreams. If this is your fear then consider beginning the next decade by developing an essential skill that will help you cope and survive. Find a way to find peace.

Finding peace will be different for each of us. For myself, there are different levels of finding peace. When life is going good but is just so busy that I can feel my body approaching exhaustion – then a bubble bath and a night off is the best way to locate peace. I turn off the TV, computer and phone. Then I relax with a soak before putting on the softest pjs I can find. I lounge on the sofa or in bed and do nothing. I give myself permission to take the night off and either relax doing nothing or just let myself go to bed at 6 in the evening, whichever I want to do at that moment.

Just stopping life and the roller coaster is the first step to finding peace from a hectic life. This works for certain types of stress and busy times.

However, the simple night off isn’t enough to help me find peace when life has truly gotten out of control.

For the big stressors I need a little more.

Find out what works for me tomorrow in part 2.

The real Colette

I am accidentally named for a famous (possibly infamous) French writer who lived through some of the most interesting times. She was born in 1873 and lived 81 years to 1954. She was a daring writer who wrote novels and stories that challenged acceptable behavior pushed the boundaries of propriety. She also ignored convention and became a dancer, actress and sometimes lesbian.

I find her daring nature and her ability to thwart convention fascinating for the time she lived. Because I find her interesting and we share a name I decided to read a biography I stumbled upon a few weeks ago at the library. The book Secrets of the Flesh, A Life of Colette shared the fascinating life of a woman who was both independent and codependent at the same time. While I admire her creative skill, her narcissism and dependence upon her lovers and spouses is a bit uncomfortable to view in this modern age.

You are by now wondering why I decided to write about Colette. When reading the biography I stumbled across a quote about turning 30 that I hope will interest you. You see, Colette turned 30 in 1903 and she had strong opinions about the age and what it meant in a woman's life.

"Thirty, Colette believed, was the age of reckoning for a woman. Her emotional immune system has been tested and proved by the love sickness of youth, but she must now cease the reckless dissipation of her vital forces and plan for her long-term survival. 'I was,' she says, 'far from invulnerable, but I no longer dreamed of dying.'" (p 141, Judith Thurman)

So what do you think?

Has your emotional immune system been tested? Or do you have more to experience?
Better yet, is 30 the time to start thinking about your long-term survival?

Let me know what you think. Submit comments to this topic.

Welcome Back

The hiatus is over. I would like to say that I succeeded and won the challenge of NaNoWriMo but unfortunately I did not.

You see, life got in the way.

Instead of spending the month writing as I intended, I moved to a new apartment and had to unpack my 13 bookcases and the boxes of books that accompany them. Having my library stored in boxes makes me uncomfortable and a little claustrophobic in my very small apartment.

Still, moving wasn't sudden and I was originally prepared to fit that and writing into the same month. However, I also was asked to double my freelance writing tasks and with Christmas coming, I needed the work and the income.

I did manage to write about half of the words but I couldn't complete the task. I will keep trying to finish the draft now that I have a decent start. I was also distracted from my novel writing by the fact that a few days in to writing the story, it changed from a chick lit woman coping with life after living in a war zone to a ghost story that I found very distressing.

Still I was reminded of a vital lesson about writing and about life - rarely do you get what you planned but if you keep working, you can get something better and more interesting than you ever expected.