"Work really hard, be kind and amazing things will happen."

ConanO'Brien's Quote...

A quote I saw on pinterest that I really want to hold on to: “Work really hard, be kind and amazing things will happen.”  Love it and totally believe it.  Now to live it…  I ask myself: Am I really working hard? Like, in general? I want to. 

I know I have an excellent capacity for being kind.  But, at this stage of my life I run up against a few stand-out mental obstacles: I have been hurt… beaten. Repeatedly. And I am in the process of accepting that there is no end to that in sight.  Bear and grin. I don’t wear my jadedness on my sleeve, but it is in there.  So kindness doesn’t always occur to me as often as I would like. Also, I am and have always been a combination of shy introvert and apathetic distrusting loner (see previous note).  Kindness usually requires that you interact with people, which, even when I desperately want to, is difficult for me as I do not have much experience here.  Lastly, I am steadfast in my determination to “Rise Above” “The People Who Have or Will Hurt Me” in order to “Be A Good Mother.”  My daughter is my first priority, if I am going to be kind, it will be to her even if at the expense of showing kindness to others.  

My basic thinking on this matter has been that kindness means doing for other people that you normally wouldn’t give a shit about. How does motherhood and family fit into this virtue of kindness?  For now, I will be happy with just doing the best I can in my day-to-day interactions.  But, in the future, I would like to spend more time helping extended family, make more ‘friendly’ phone calls, make friends, give thoughtful birthday gifts and send out a slew of sweet Christmas cards, cook for people. And don’t forget: volunteer at the food bank, do weekend fundraiser runs, donate unneeded items to ‘the poor’ (rather than dream of attempting to make money on craigslist or ebay).

Happy Birthday Isabella!

And Happy Friday! Ooooh, and it's Friday the 13th! (ah, remember Phil13? Never got to fix my tattoo.)

A quote I saw on pinterest that I really want to hold on to: “Work really hard, be kind and amazing things will happen.”  Love it and totally believe it.  Now to live it…  I ask myself: Am I really working hard? Like, in general? I want to.  I know I have an excellent capacity for being kind.  But, at this stage of my life I run up against a few stand-out mental obstacles: I have been hurt… beaten. Repeatedly. And I am in the process of accepting that there is no end to that in sight.  Bear and grin. I don’t wear my jadedness on my sleeve, but it is in there.  So kindness doesn’t always occur to me as often as I would like. Also, I am and have always been a combination of shy introvert and apathetic distrusting loner (see previous note).  Kindness usually requires that you interact with people, which, even when I desperately want to, is difficult for me as I do not have much experience here.  Lastly, I am steadfast in my determination to “Rise Above” “The People Who Have or Will Hurt Me” in order to “Be A Good Mother.”  My daughter is my first priority, if I am going to be kind, it will be to her even if at the expense of showing kindness to others.  My basic thinking on this matter has been that kindness means doing for other people that you normally wouldn’t give a shit about. How does motherhood and family fit into this virtue of kindness?  For now, I will be happy with just doing the best I can in my day-to-day interactions.  But, in the future, I would like to spend more time helping extended family, make more ‘friendly’ phone calls, make friends, give thoughtful birthday gifts and send out a slew of sweet Christmas cards, cook for people. And don’t forget: volunteer at the food bank, do weekend fundraiser runs, donate unneeded items to ‘the poor’ (rather than dream of attempting to make money on craigslist or ebay).

Living Room Template

Blog surfing this morning I found one of those pictures that I just want to jump into and live in.

Blue is my favorite color and I love the way the color weaves through this room with a great base of warm neutrals to soften it up.  So many things I love about this living room: the comfy-style couch with lots of pillows, the 'large-artwork' idea for behind the couch, the natural wood coffee table, the natural fiber rug, the mix of patterns in different shades of blue, the color coordinated lampshade, the whole seating arrangement!

I'm still so obsessed with pinterest, trying to stop myself from thinking about the hundreds of interesting and inspiring pins I 'm missing when I'm not looking -or when I'm following a link for a pin!

I did some shopping yesterday.  Funny how I set myself to a 'no-spending' goal just as I'm getting into new ways of being introduced to products...  I didn't see my mom for mother's day and Isabella's birthday is tomorrow and Kara was in need of a little reward for trying to do better with her potting training.  And I was in need of a little reward myself. 

Two Week Ab Challenge ...? We'll See!

This self-imposed directive is coming from how deperate I feel when I look at my stomach and how exhausted I feel at just the thought of doing anything about it.  Whose belly is this? I literally look like I could be 5 months pregnant. I had gotten some pretty good results about two months ago when I was all gung-ho; but at that time I was motivated by a water-park birthday party (all the other Mom had on drenched cover-ups, I wasn't sure if I should have felt out-of-place or not -they looked stupid, honestly) and was provided with the tranquil solitude of a Robin-free workplace -I did ab exercises and squats all day, researching new moves in between.

I'm loving Gwenneth Paltrow lately and here are some exercises she does from Self.com, where she was promoting her new cookbook. 

Gwyneth Paltrow's Arm and Ab Moves

Or, Tracy Anderson's Arm and Ab Moves. 

GP endorses Tracy Anderson on her blog, Goop. Goop.com is also one of my all-time favorite blogs, sometimes silly and I am unable to relate to it for the most part, but completely redeemed by the awesome 'Be' section.  Love.

My "Fun" House

My "Fun" House by jackiduran on Polyvore.com

Owl Umbrella Stand - Twos Company
$15 - burkedecor.com

My Review of Fisher-Price Little People Happy Sounds Home

So this is new for me: posting reviews! good one!

For Easter this year, I thought Kurt and I could get Kara a dollhouse instead of a Easter basket since I figured candy-filled baskets would be in abundance -and truly they were.

Originally submitted at Toys R Us

The Little People Happy Sounds Home is a charming new playset that allows little girls to discover their very first home & provides them with tons of toddler-appropriate activities! Playset folds open to reveal plenty of rooms on 2 levels, plus activities & fun sounds to keep them busy! Sta...

Fisher-Price Little People Happy Sounds Home

Cute & Kid Approved

By Miss Pee's Mommy from Pleasantville, NJ on 5/4/2011

4out of 5

Pros: Can Withstand Use, Fun, Good Dimensions, Pieces store inside
Cons: Not very realistic
Best Uses: Imaginative Play, Creative Development, Indoor, Young Children
Describe Yourself: Working Parent
Was this a gift?: No

Colorful and sturdy, not really impressed with how realistic the interior of the 'home' is(my daughter was confused about the 'bathtub'). I like that it has sounds and that makes it more intriguing for a little one (the doorbell on ours is very hard to push to get the sound -very frustrating for a two-year-old!). I think its priced a little high. But -most importantly- my daughter loves it and it keeps her engrossed for longer than three minutes! Wow!

(legalese)

Blog Envy + Excited Paralysis

I haven't been 'practice-blogging' for a while... I've been reading/stalking a lot of other people's blogs and besides getting obsessively sucked in, I've also been studying, analyzing and 'swooning' over what people have created and feeling a little...  inadequate.  I realize I am in the process and must simply forge ahead, but my 'research', if I can call it that, has definitely set the bar higher and made me realize what really may be possible with having a successful blog.  At the moment I am exactly halfway between inspired motivation and deflated procrastination.

Just a handful of the blogs that have me in such a state of excited paralysis:

Stephmodo: I came across this blog a while ago, my first blog love, and I find Steph to be interesting/simple/charming and intriguing.  I find myself wondering about the woman herself, her life, her kids, her husband, her reno in france... Her simple, straightforward, daily blog posts make it seem possible to be a blogger by making it look simple.  It takes about thirty seconds to catch up and be brightened by Stephmodo.  I really like her voice.  Not too fashion-y.

Simple Lovely: Beautiful photography, more detailed writing with more of a personal approach.  I love this womans sense of style: there's a lot of fashion, art, home interiors.  I like the voyeristic feeling I get from reading her blog.

A Cup of Jo: "Jo" has sense of humor that comes through in her work that I really like.  I can identify with this blog, its the voice I like, I think, more than the content of the posts.

There seems to be a little bit of popularity 'clicking' among bloggers.  They'll have links to other blogs and a lot of them show up over and over again.  I notice a lot of bloggers have other sites that they write for (or pin for...)

I am currently obsessed with Pinterest.  After waiting a week for my 'invite' I finally got my own account and its a little anti-climactic, but still I think is good to be on.  I just love the endless live feed of people pins... its a happy place.

I also discovered Polyvore, which was fun for a while.  There are other similar sites.  I was specifically looking for a 'make a collage' site and that came up in a google seach and grabbed me.

I was really inspired by Stephmodo's post when she was 'spring cleaning' and posted pictures of things for sale.  I thought it would be a good idea for getting extra interest in craigslist sales and possibly avoiding ebay and etsy fees (which seem exhorbitant and ridiculous). However, I've been dragging my feet on my 'spring cleaning' sales.  The ideas for getting rid of the plethora of junk clogging up my basement AND attic are weighing down my mind.  Something's gotta give.