wordless wednesday

March 30, 2016 Arlene Giddings

5 good things on a tuesday...

March 29, 2016 Arlene Giddings

it's been a great 6 days off...i'm a little sad to see it come to an end...
and kind of wish it didn't end in a snowstorm! :) but it was a great 6 days regardless...
full of farmer's market & chicken fricot...movies and books and blankets...
a brand new heater for our bedroom that makes me ridiculously happy (AND it's purple!)
feeling better...which means enough energy to hit 10000 steps (and a renewed love of my fitbit!) I just realized you can "challenge" your fitbit friends...this adds a whole new level of fun!
and love that I was able to meet up with an old friend for a walk on a mild day in one of my favorite spots...i love spring!

lots of time to play with the bullet journal...

and Easter was great...it's different now...
obviously, with a 20 year old and a 16 year old.
there are no bright colored rainboots and
sidewalk chalk...
usually, now...there is a hangover
and mcdonald's breakfast
but always an easter egg hunt...
i don't care how hungover you are
(and my parents will certainly attest to
watching me look for jelly beans "the morning after")
it's a rite of passage in my family.

whatcha readin'? {2016::book 5 - goal 12}

March 28, 2016 Arlene Giddings

i love gray's anatomy.
i love the characters, the storyline,
the music, the writing...
meredith bugs the ever-loving hell out of me
but yang always made me stick around...
and come back for more...even when she went through a wishy-washy phase
but karev & wilson?
i ridiculously
LOVE
karev & wilson...
if something goes wrong with them,
i may have to stop watching the show.

so it was a no-brainer for me to read
year of yes
by shonda rhimes...

i will admit that 2.5 pages into it,
i might have clapped my hands a little in
happy anticipation
because it was one of those books
that you just KNEW you were going to love
right from the get-go.

i will also admit that,
probably because i was knee deep and drowning
in the play
when i started this book,
i did have a small moment or two of thinking
wait....i should not be reading this...
i, of all people, should probably NOT
be reading something that will encourage me to say
YES
to more things.

but it was still a great book for me...
it is always reassuring to read about other
introverts pushing themselves out of their
comfort zone...and it wasn't all about yes...
some of her "yes's" were actually saying
yes to saying no to something...

i loved her sense of humor
and her words...oh...i love her use of words...
it was a great quick read
that made me want to take notes
and make changes in my own life.

and this has nothing to do with the year of yes...except that i can never say no to taking photos of clementines basking in the sun...

#happy

March 26, 2016 Arlene Giddings

the truth is
there will always be
dishes to be done
and bills to be paid...
to-do lists as long as your arm
and a clock ticking too fast to keep up with...

there will always be
mean people in the world...no matter how old you get,
how nice you try to be....
there will always be sadness, anger, illness...
sometimes feelings will get carried away and fly off all misdirected...
sometimes you will feel misunderstood...or teeny-tiny-small in
this big wide loud and chaotic world...

there will always be self doubt
and comparison...
uncertainty and anxiety
a mile high if you let it
sink it's teeth in...
worry and politics and fear and who's right...who's wrong
and what really matters
when you look at the big picture...
but most of the time
you want to stick your head in the sand
so you don't have to see...or think...or have an opinion....
about the big picture
because the big picture is
terrifying sometimes.

BUT the truth is
there will always be spring, too...
sunshine on your face
and the freedom that comes with
shedding winter layers...

there is music, there are books,
there are new clients to meet
and new friends to be made.
there are cuddles on the couch
while a movie plays in the background...
cartoons and fresh new coloring books
and the smell of crayons...
the sound of your girl singing upstairs,
the guitar strums as your husband
takes time to learn your favorites songs,
famous blue raincoat
and hums along to
robin hood and little john walking through the forest...
your tall gangly 16 year old
heading out to practice kick flips again...
there are kittens who have become cats
and a pug who thinks he is the baby of the family...

there's chicken fricot and
feeling better after a long flu,
best friends that know you better than anyone,
bullet journals and pretty post it notes,
plans for gardens and road trips
and coffee dates...fresh lemon pie
and buns from water street bakery...
there are the waffles from the farmer's market
with fresh berries and real whipped cream,
the smell of freshly washed sheets, or
the way your husband walked our
elderly neighbor up his lane
so sweetly you had to go in the house
so he didn't see you cry.

there is all of this
and so much more.
this is a choice.
this is the choice.
i just have to remember that the choice to be happy
is always there for me.

tuesday truths...

March 22, 2016 Arlene Giddings

i would like to say that i have not been here
very much lately
because i won the lottery
and have been
busy buying myself a gravel pit
and a candy store all of my own...

but the truth is
the stupid flu found me last tuesday
and is just barely letting me
out of it's feverish hacking grasp now...

a couple of realizations while sick:

being sick as an adult sucks. nothing stops...the clock keeps ticking, the to do list keeps growing
popsicles are still awesome
listening to an audio book is a great way to distract yourself from a pounding headache...especially when that audio book is the graveyard book by neil gaiman...read by neil gaiman! now...i should explain here that i didn't actually have the audio book and so was listening to it on youtube and, because i was drifting in and out of sleep and slightly feverish, i didn't realize until HOURS into it, that the sequence of youtube videos was not in the correct order...and yet, i was still totally enthralled in the book! :) i am totally putting this (and every other book by neil gaiman on my list of things to read).
i think i must seriously be a 9 year old when sick...i had thought the graveyard book was the one thing that i listened to that wasn't for kids...but i just realized as i searched for the link, that it IS a kid's book. i also listened to "how to train your dragon"...watched the first season of the muppets...watched kung fu panda (jack black never disappoints) and minions and the flintstones...
and, as sucky it was that S. caught my flu a couple of days later, i can say for sure that if i had to be sick with anybody...i'm glad that it's with him. :)

but the real truth is
catching the flu sucks
but it definitely makes you realize
how easy it is to take
life, and your health,
for granted...
it's always good to have a little reminder.
{but next time, flu, maybe just remind me for
a day or 3....i don't really need a 7 day lesson...}