Congrats to my cute sister-in-law who just won the Scrapbooker of the Year! She is so talented! See her work here!
Go Liz!!
I finally applied for and received a California Driver's License and I'm glad I didn't wait another day. The Newport Beach Police van followed me onto the island the other day. One block. Two blocks. Lights flashing. Dang. One of my taillights has been out for a pretty long time and let's be honest, it was only a matter of time before I got caught. So, I pulled over and rolled my window down, handed him my *brand new CA DL* and said with a really naive look on my face, "Is it because of my taillight? I know I need to get it fixed." And he said, "Well, that and your speed." (Oh, didn't I mention that part? Whoops.) But then, oh blessed day, he looked at my license and said, "You live here?" *smile* "Ya, but the car (which has Utah plates) isn't mine..." followed by a lengthy explanation of why it's not registered in California)... and then my stroke of genius: "Where's a good place to get a taillight?" Then he proceeded to tell me about how when 'the taillight burned out in his Z3', he looked everywhere and finally had to take it to the 'BMW dealer'. Yes, he was wearing a wedding ring ... and then he noticed he was blocking traffic and said he had to go. Gave me my new license back and bid me 'good day'.
Sweet talking daughter-of-a-gun!
Sweet talking daughter-of-a-gun!
Hallelujah!
The heat wave is supposed to be subsiding.
I know it could be so much worse.
But, when you're used to75 degrees, 95 is just too dang hot.
The Blessings Experiment
A while back I subscribed to receive occassional emails from this lady, Kate. Her website is mayyoubeblessed.com. Sometimes it just bugs me to get more 'junk mail', but I liked today's thought and am going to share it.
Dear Charity,
Hello, it's Kate again, sending gentle blessings your way tucked within the folds of a simple question....Has anyone told you today that you are loved?
I hope so. I was thinking about how much we all love to be told we are loved as I re-read a chapter in the beautiful gift book written by Linda Ellis and Mac Anderson, entitled "The Dash." It is one of those books that I return to time and time again, not because I've never fully read it before, but because I believe it contains such a wealth of comforting wisdom worthy of being read over and over. If you have been keeping up with the recent updates I've sent out, then you are aware that Tuesday, September 4th is a big day for the Blessings Project. I will be releasing a new movie on that date entitled "Has Anyone Told You?" and, as you may have already guessed, the subject of the movie is Love. The unconditional kind. The kind we all are hungry for. As I was reading the chapter on Love this morning, it occurred to me how important it is to all of us and how very much I want you to receive the new movie this week because it contains a message of Love. I want very much to make certain that you are aware the movie will be coming on Tuesday and are watching for it. I want you to see it because I truly believe that it will touch your heart and will be a blessing to you. And I can think of no better way to remind you that a new movie about love is coming to you than to share with you the brief story of love I read in The Dash. Here it is:
"I recently had dinner with someone who told me that one of his best friends had been killed in a private plane crash, and something happened at the service that he shall never forget. He shared the story with me."At the memorial service, his friend's wife walked to the podium to speak to the gathering. She said a friend had asked her the best memory she had of their life together. At the moment she been too grief-stricken to answer, but she'd thought about it since and wanted to answer the question. "They were in their late forties when he died, and she began talking about a time in her their life almost twenty years earlier. She had quit her job to obtain her master's degree, and her husband had never wavered in his support."He held down his own job and also did the cooking, cleaning and other household chores while she studied for her degree."One time they both stayed up all night. She was finishing her thesis and he was preparing for an important business meeting. That morning, she walked out on their loft, looked at him over the railing, and just thought about how much she loved him. She knew how important this meeting was to his career, and she was feeling guilty that she didn't even have time to make him breakfast. He grabbed his briefcase and hurried out. She heard the garage door open and close, but much to her surprise, she heard it open again about thirty seconds later. From above, she watched her husband dash into the house and walk over to the neglected coffee table. Tracing his finger through the dust, he wrote the words, 'I love you.' Then he raced back to his car."The new widow then looked out at her audience and said, 'John and I had a wonderful life together. We've been around the world several times. We've had everything money can buy...but nothing comes close to that moment.'"Our Dash moves with lightning speed. It feels like yesterday that I graduated from college and now thirty-eight years have passed. Although I am very proud of my business accomplishments, in the end life comes back to loving and being loved."
Mac is right, of course. It does all come back to being loved. Love is at the core of every blessing sent out and every blessing received. It is, indeed, what makes the world go round. And it is what we all desire. I hope this message will serve as a reminder to be watching your inbox on Tuesday. And until then, I hope that you will let those in your life know how much you love them. It is not only a gift you give to others, it is the greatest gift you can give yourself. If you would like to know more about Linda and Mac' book, "The Dash," click on the link below. It will take you to a short movie featuring Linda's poem, which is the core of the book and the subject of the title. Enjoy. http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?0le3QnHDLcliJFh5S7KxuQUntil Tuesday, Know you are loved beyond measure and a cherished blessing to me.
May you be blessed With all things good,
Kate
Dear Charity,
Hello, it's Kate again, sending gentle blessings your way tucked within the folds of a simple question....Has anyone told you today that you are loved?
I hope so. I was thinking about how much we all love to be told we are loved as I re-read a chapter in the beautiful gift book written by Linda Ellis and Mac Anderson, entitled "The Dash." It is one of those books that I return to time and time again, not because I've never fully read it before, but because I believe it contains such a wealth of comforting wisdom worthy of being read over and over. If you have been keeping up with the recent updates I've sent out, then you are aware that Tuesday, September 4th is a big day for the Blessings Project. I will be releasing a new movie on that date entitled "Has Anyone Told You?" and, as you may have already guessed, the subject of the movie is Love. The unconditional kind. The kind we all are hungry for. As I was reading the chapter on Love this morning, it occurred to me how important it is to all of us and how very much I want you to receive the new movie this week because it contains a message of Love. I want very much to make certain that you are aware the movie will be coming on Tuesday and are watching for it. I want you to see it because I truly believe that it will touch your heart and will be a blessing to you. And I can think of no better way to remind you that a new movie about love is coming to you than to share with you the brief story of love I read in The Dash. Here it is:
"I recently had dinner with someone who told me that one of his best friends had been killed in a private plane crash, and something happened at the service that he shall never forget. He shared the story with me."At the memorial service, his friend's wife walked to the podium to speak to the gathering. She said a friend had asked her the best memory she had of their life together. At the moment she been too grief-stricken to answer, but she'd thought about it since and wanted to answer the question. "They were in their late forties when he died, and she began talking about a time in her their life almost twenty years earlier. She had quit her job to obtain her master's degree, and her husband had never wavered in his support."He held down his own job and also did the cooking, cleaning and other household chores while she studied for her degree."One time they both stayed up all night. She was finishing her thesis and he was preparing for an important business meeting. That morning, she walked out on their loft, looked at him over the railing, and just thought about how much she loved him. She knew how important this meeting was to his career, and she was feeling guilty that she didn't even have time to make him breakfast. He grabbed his briefcase and hurried out. She heard the garage door open and close, but much to her surprise, she heard it open again about thirty seconds later. From above, she watched her husband dash into the house and walk over to the neglected coffee table. Tracing his finger through the dust, he wrote the words, 'I love you.' Then he raced back to his car."The new widow then looked out at her audience and said, 'John and I had a wonderful life together. We've been around the world several times. We've had everything money can buy...but nothing comes close to that moment.'"Our Dash moves with lightning speed. It feels like yesterday that I graduated from college and now thirty-eight years have passed. Although I am very proud of my business accomplishments, in the end life comes back to loving and being loved."
Mac is right, of course. It does all come back to being loved. Love is at the core of every blessing sent out and every blessing received. It is, indeed, what makes the world go round. And it is what we all desire. I hope this message will serve as a reminder to be watching your inbox on Tuesday. And until then, I hope that you will let those in your life know how much you love them. It is not only a gift you give to others, it is the greatest gift you can give yourself. If you would like to know more about Linda and Mac' book, "The Dash," click on the link below. It will take you to a short movie featuring Linda's poem, which is the core of the book and the subject of the title. Enjoy. http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?0le3QnHDLcliJFh5S7KxuQUntil Tuesday, Know you are loved beyond measure and a cherished blessing to me.
May you be blessed With all things good,
Kate
I have two stories today…actually three that blend into four.
1- Saturday night I was in a particularly ornery mood and bless JJ’s heart he convinced me that riding bikes to the American Legion’s “Blues on the Bay” concert would be an okay thing to do. The cover was $25, but he said he could sneak us in. He loves being local and showing me the ropes. Skeptical that we could get in for free and that I would be able to leave my sour disposition at the door, it was a whiney ride. Once I started moving and breathing in the ocean air, the black cloud over my head dissipated along with the blackness that shelled my cold heart (he he). We did, in fact, get in for free. Since I didn’t have ID on me, my no-charge wrist band was light blue with dolphins jumping across it. (People’s reactions are funny when you tell them that you’re not drinking anyway.) The band was hopping and so were the attendees. The dance floor was packed. It seriously doesn’t take much to turn my frowns upside down. At first we sat to listen and this older gentleman in flip-flops, shorts, a WT tank top, trucker hat, white goatee—clearly toasted—pointed at me and motioned me to come to him. Yeah Right. I pointed at JJ with a look of disbelief on my face and then to the handful of single ladies sitting around us. He picked one who danced oh so very close to him. I am not endorsing alcohol consumption—it’s just really fun to be on a dance floor with people who are making fools of themselves and don’t give a hoot if you make a fool of yourself too. I love it. And I love that JJ will make a fool of himself with me. After the AL, we rode down to the Wedge. What a gorgeous night! Midnight blue skies and a nearly full moon lighting up a black ocean. See poem to the right.
2- Sunday morning, I was in the garage for something and I heard this whimpering. Weird. I continued working on my project and the whimpering continued, “mom…help me… mom… I can’t…” The house behind ours, separated only by a one-car wide alley, is a vacation rental and every week hosts different occupants. It’s a 4-bedroom, so it usually sees extended families. Well, my curiosity mixed with innate mothering instincts drove me to check into it. I walked over to the 6 foot, brown wooden plank fence and asked the whimpering voice if he was okay. “yes, I’m okay…but I can’t get…” I tried to peer in, but couldn’t see much. “do you need help?” I asked. “Yes, I need help.” “But you’re okay?” “yes, I’m okay.” I was trying to assess the seriousness of the situation. Did I need to intervene? Were they restraining their kid in a high chair with duct tape like I had seen a couple weeks ago on a video at school about the foster care system? Finally I asked, “Are you stuck?” and he said yes. So I tried to open the gate and he guided me to the “right gate” to open and there he was, this cute, blonde headed, probably 4-year-old boy with his arm trapped under the lid of a fiberglass storage bin. I lifted the lid and could barely heave it up enough for him to get out. How in the world did he open it enough to get stuck? Then I had to open it long enough for him to pull out one of the toys inside. I asked him if he was okay and then requested that he not try to get anymore toys without a grown up and he ran inside. I walked out of the gate and closed it and thought to myself, “His mom has no idea. I am a hero.” And then I lost all blessings due to my pride.
3- I’ll summarize this one. Today I finally applied for a California driver’s license. On my way to the DMV, this big, red, WT truck pulled out in front of me so that I had to slam on my breaks. I honked my horn and swerved around him. As I passed him, he let out a string of expletives at the top of his lungs, including calling me a really bad name and said that he could #$*&#@* run me over—which is true. He could have run me over. That’s the part I could make out, cause I rolled up my windows as fast as they would go. Argh. Someday, those kind of things will not affect me and I will not react in an unsafe manner. All I could think to do was say a prayer of gratitude that I do not have people like that in my life and run across them infrequently.
4- Which reminds me of story #4: A couple weeks ago, another guy yelled at me for “talking on my cell phone while driving” and I wasn’t even talking on my phone!! Ridiculous. He told me that he had been hit by a lady talking on her phone to which I said, “I’m sorry, but it wasn’t me.” I also said, “Are you kidding me?” and I wanted to say, “Your kids (he was in the passenger seat and had three teenage girls in the back) must be so embarrassed by you.” But, again—all I can do is say a big “THANK YOU” to the positive and uplifting people in my life.
1- Saturday night I was in a particularly ornery mood and bless JJ’s heart he convinced me that riding bikes to the American Legion’s “Blues on the Bay” concert would be an okay thing to do. The cover was $25, but he said he could sneak us in. He loves being local and showing me the ropes. Skeptical that we could get in for free and that I would be able to leave my sour disposition at the door, it was a whiney ride. Once I started moving and breathing in the ocean air, the black cloud over my head dissipated along with the blackness that shelled my cold heart (he he). We did, in fact, get in for free. Since I didn’t have ID on me, my no-charge wrist band was light blue with dolphins jumping across it. (People’s reactions are funny when you tell them that you’re not drinking anyway.) The band was hopping and so were the attendees. The dance floor was packed. It seriously doesn’t take much to turn my frowns upside down. At first we sat to listen and this older gentleman in flip-flops, shorts, a WT tank top, trucker hat, white goatee—clearly toasted—pointed at me and motioned me to come to him. Yeah Right. I pointed at JJ with a look of disbelief on my face and then to the handful of single ladies sitting around us. He picked one who danced oh so very close to him. I am not endorsing alcohol consumption—it’s just really fun to be on a dance floor with people who are making fools of themselves and don’t give a hoot if you make a fool of yourself too. I love it. And I love that JJ will make a fool of himself with me. After the AL, we rode down to the Wedge. What a gorgeous night! Midnight blue skies and a nearly full moon lighting up a black ocean. See poem to the right.
2- Sunday morning, I was in the garage for something and I heard this whimpering. Weird. I continued working on my project and the whimpering continued, “mom…help me… mom… I can’t…” The house behind ours, separated only by a one-car wide alley, is a vacation rental and every week hosts different occupants. It’s a 4-bedroom, so it usually sees extended families. Well, my curiosity mixed with innate mothering instincts drove me to check into it. I walked over to the 6 foot, brown wooden plank fence and asked the whimpering voice if he was okay. “yes, I’m okay…but I can’t get…” I tried to peer in, but couldn’t see much. “do you need help?” I asked. “Yes, I need help.” “But you’re okay?” “yes, I’m okay.” I was trying to assess the seriousness of the situation. Did I need to intervene? Were they restraining their kid in a high chair with duct tape like I had seen a couple weeks ago on a video at school about the foster care system? Finally I asked, “Are you stuck?” and he said yes. So I tried to open the gate and he guided me to the “right gate” to open and there he was, this cute, blonde headed, probably 4-year-old boy with his arm trapped under the lid of a fiberglass storage bin. I lifted the lid and could barely heave it up enough for him to get out. How in the world did he open it enough to get stuck? Then I had to open it long enough for him to pull out one of the toys inside. I asked him if he was okay and then requested that he not try to get anymore toys without a grown up and he ran inside. I walked out of the gate and closed it and thought to myself, “His mom has no idea. I am a hero.” And then I lost all blessings due to my pride.
3- I’ll summarize this one. Today I finally applied for a California driver’s license. On my way to the DMV, this big, red, WT truck pulled out in front of me so that I had to slam on my breaks. I honked my horn and swerved around him. As I passed him, he let out a string of expletives at the top of his lungs, including calling me a really bad name and said that he could #$*&#@* run me over—which is true. He could have run me over. That’s the part I could make out, cause I rolled up my windows as fast as they would go. Argh. Someday, those kind of things will not affect me and I will not react in an unsafe manner. All I could think to do was say a prayer of gratitude that I do not have people like that in my life and run across them infrequently.
4- Which reminds me of story #4: A couple weeks ago, another guy yelled at me for “talking on my cell phone while driving” and I wasn’t even talking on my phone!! Ridiculous. He told me that he had been hit by a lady talking on her phone to which I said, “I’m sorry, but it wasn’t me.” I also said, “Are you kidding me?” and I wanted to say, “Your kids (he was in the passenger seat and had three teenage girls in the back) must be so embarrassed by you.” But, again—all I can do is say a big “THANK YOU” to the positive and uplifting people in my life.
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