Hi everyone! Have been absent from the blog for a while as I was visiting Ireland & the UK for the last 10 days. 
Will blog some pics when I have a chance to sort through them. Hope you all are having a great week!
Add comment July 8th, 2008
A couple of weeks ago, I attended a “Great Big Dreams” retreat in the North Carolina mountains hosted by singer/songwriter/blogger Christine Kane.
You never realize how stuck you are in the everyday motion of things until you take some time to break away, contemplate, & unwind. I can’t say enough good things about the few days I spent there. And how often to you get to just be in nature, journal, and enjoy scenes like this?
All the women that I met (about 24 in all) were incredibly generous of themselves, sharing their stories, their talents, & their laughter. Such an openness is rare to find so soon after people meet for the first time. This may become an annual ritual!
Along with group discussions, there was a morning session of subtle Yoga with a wonderful local teacher (from the Asheville area), a oneness blessing (also known as Deeksha) by two blessing givers, a masseuse on site who worked wonders on everyone, and our own personal organic chef to cook delicious vegan meals all around. The greens from our salads were from the organic farm on the property. All of our water came from a stream on the property as well. We had a personal concert from Christine Sat night which was fabulous…I keep telling myself that one of these days, I’ll learn to play the guitar!
Christine hosts these retreats four times a year for any women who might be interested. Check out her webpage here for more details. In the meantime, here are some images from the weekend I thought I’d share to give you a taste of what it was like…
Me & my roomie Chris:
The Thurs Night Gang (won’t forget the convertible ride!):
Our retreat group:
The property was huge & there were dozens of beautiful places you could relax. There were waterfalls leading down to a zen pond & rock garden. We had our massages in the building overlooking the pond with all the windows & doors open so you could feel like you were right there in nature!
This image reminds me of some of the temples I visited in China last year
I loved the zen rock garden & how they were able to balance them so perfectly on top of each other.
We had a number of discussions in this Pavilion and were frequently serenaded by frogs that liked to hang out at the Pavilion doors. 
Inside the Pavilion
View leaving the Pavilion
Miss everyone from the retreat & hope to keep in touch! DREAM BIG!
4 comments June 19th, 2008
Check out the new friend I met outside my front door today…
It will be so fun to watch the babies hatch & learn to fly for the first time! Sometimes I am just blown away by nature & all the beauty we so easily take for granted.
There is a large gardenia bush in full bloom behind my house. I plucked a blossom this evening to fill the house with its heavy aroma. Don’t you just love the smell of them?
Hope you are having a great day!
Add comment June 12th, 2008
…and I had a wonderful, restorative weekend. I’ll post pics & more about the retreat soon.
In the meantime, I thought I’d share a lovely picture of dogwood flowers that my mom took during a recent trip to Alabama.
Add comment June 11th, 2008
Last year, after the start of some health issues, I decided it was time to start eating a bit better. I’ve never really done the strict diet thing before…I think I tried Body for Life a few years back, but didn’t have the patience or energy to do all the cooking it required after the first month!
So this go ’round, I decided to make it easy. I just picked out healthy foods I actually like eating that take less than 5 minutes to prepare & I only buy those when I go to the grocery store. Let’s just call it pure laziness.
Crazy enough, I dropped 25 pounds in only a few months and am down to my high school size…just eating yummy foods and occasionally doing some power-walking around my neighborhood. Weird, eh? Some friends & family asked for secrets…so here are some of my fav foods these days:
1) Fresh Spinach:
Man, I hated spinach growing up…probably because what I was exposed to was that creamy sloppy mess from the grade school cafeteria that had a smell to it that is hard to forget. But when I was re-introduced to spinach last year in salad form, I got addicted. It is awesome topped with fresh strawberries or raspberries, pine nuts, & Ken’s steakhouse Lite Raspberry-Walnut Vinaigrette. Mmmmmmmmmmm….yum!
2) Lean Cuisine Pot Stickers:
I love having Lean Cuisine dinners at night. Pop ‘em in the microwave and you are done. Again - pure laziness. I’ve grown totally addicted to their Asian Pot Stickers. Only 260 calories & they taste awesome! For some reason, they only sell them at Target here in town, and not any of the grocery stores. So every time I hit my local Target, I buy them in bulk (usually with a questioning look from the cashier) & hope they don’t get discontinued.
3) Fresh fruit & vegetables:
I especially like strawberries, apples, bananas, blueberries, & carrots. Great snacks on the fly. If you live in North Texas, you can actually go pick your own fresh blueberries in June at some of the local farms outside of Dallas!
4) TLC Crackers:
Kashi makes these “tasty little crackers” & I’m addicted to the Honey Sesame ones. Lots of fiber & they don’t taste like cardboard. Kashi also makes some great frozen dinners.
5) Pomegrand Juice: This stuff is a mixture of Pomegranate & wild berry juice and is made by Odwalla. I used to drink one or two Sprites per day and now replaced it with water & Pomegrand. It is really tasty stuff with tons of anti-oxidants. My only complaint is the high price sticker (around $12/jug), but if you belong to Sam’s club - they sell it pretty cheap there.
6) Cottage Cheese:
Another thing I never ate growing up because I think I was thrown by the strange texture. It is awesome with fresh berries on top, though, for a healthy power snack.
7) Grilled Chicken Wraps:
The cafe in my work building has a lady that makes the most awesome chicken wraps with carrots, lettuce, tomato, & fresh avocado. They come usually in whole wheat or spinach tortillas…and I have them most days for lunch.
That’s about it - no more chocolate or high sugar sweets. Funny enough, as I transitioned to eating healthier whole foods, my body doesn’t crave the other stuff anymore. Who knows how long this will last, but at least it’s working for now! 
1 comment May 26th, 2008
I absolutely love this book & movie, and I only recently found out they made the story into a 2-person play. All I can say is wow. I went to the production tonight in a small theatre in Addison. The environment was so intimate (with only 70 people) & the play was so moving that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house at the end! I’ve been hearing one of Morrie’s favorite quotes in my head all night, “We must love one another or die.”
The actors (Gary Taggart & Joe Nemmers, pictured below) were phenomenal. I’ll definitely be back to the Watertower Theatre for more productions in the future!
For those of you that may not be familiar, Tuesdays with Morrie is a memoir chronicling best-selling author Mitch Albom’s relationship with his favorite college sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz. It was compiled from meetings with Morrie on Tuesdays during his fight with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). Below is a synopsis from the theater’s webpage:
“When Mitch’s former Brandeis sociology professor and mentor is diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, the career-obsessed sportswriter plans a brief visit to re-connect and say goodbye. As their friendship rekindles and the visits become a weekly ritual, both teacher and student discover a tender and touching connection to each other. A powerful, deeply emotional story, Tuesdays with Morrie examines the true meaning of life and love.”
What a great show. It will be playing for one more night…so if any of you are in the DFW area - I highly recommend attending tomorrow!
Add comment May 16th, 2008
I found out last week that my next door neighbor passed away. The crazy thing is that he had actually battled cancer twice & won both times, but a bad case of pneumonia & exhaustion ultimately took its toll. It is so sad…he was only 42 years old. It really makes you think about how short a time we have here and about life choices, friendships, relationships, etc. I wrote & recorded a song tonight on my piano along the lines of Alannis Morrisette’s “Unsent” - but I don’t think it will ever get posted here (no names have been changed!) *LOL* Writing music can be really good therapy. A shopping trip to my local JoAnn or Michaels store never hurts either (you crafters know what I’m talking about!) 
So instead of sharing music, I thought I’d post a vector image I found on a wonderful royalty-free stock photo site called stock.xchng. Doesn’t this image just make you smile?!?! You can download the large wallpaper size version here.
I’ll have some cards & other projects to post soon…so stay tuned. Seems like it’s about time for more blog candy as well!
1 comment April 29th, 2008
How ’bout one of these?
Or one of these?
You gotta love the ‘do…
These examples are all from the Lego store in Downtown Disney. Can you imagine how much time it took to put these samples together? And how about this backdrop on the checkout counter?!
Here’s a close-up:
They also had this really cool modular section of the store with legos sorted by color. It had a great retro design feel. Wouldn’t this make perfect craft storage? Just imagine - bins built into the wall for each color of embellishment instead of legos? *LOL* I know…I’ve got a serious addiction.
Hope you’re having a great week,
1 comment April 24th, 2008
Last weekend, I took a long awaited trip to see my best friend Ruth who now lives in the Orlando area. It has been several years since I’ve had a chance to see her & her family and we had a blast hanging out at Animal Kingdom & Blizzard Beach.
We braved the Everest roller coaster…
We traveled through “Africa” on a safari & saw beautiful tigers in “Asia”…
Disney did an amazing job of making the surroundings realistic. I was particularly drawn to the Asian section & some of the sculptures reminded me of ones I’ve seen in Thailand & in China in recent years, like this one here:
We loved the Nemo musical… the puppetry was incredible, and the Lion King Festival was so much fun - the monkey tumblers on the trampoline had us totally amazed!
In the afternoon, Ruth had arranged for us to be a part of the parade! We climbed atop a float in Goofy’s brigade & went all the way through the park. I can’t remember the last time I smiled so much my cheeks hurt! *LOL* We were able to practice our princess waves too as we went through the park waving at the park-goers at the sides of the street. Here we are in our Mickey hats before the parade started.
And here are a couple of pics at downtown Disney with Annabella, Logan, & Ruth at the end of a hot & sweaty day (I think Nicholas was asleep & Eric was taking the pic).
Next stop Lego Mania…
3 comments April 24th, 2008
Ok - I just had to share this story. Mimi & I went to dinner last night with my close friend, Caroline, at downtown Disney. When we returned to the parking lot, we were having a terrible time trying to find Caroline’s SUV. As we walked through the parking lot, she had her arm raised with her keypad trying to listen for the familiar beeping sound of the doors unlocking. We finally saw a couple lights flash, and the car doors unlock beside us. Mimi & I hopped into the SUV & waited for Caroline to come in. We looked off to the side, and there was a man & his wife staring at us oddly. He hesitated with a questioning look & said, “I think you’re in my car!” *LOL* We had inadvertanly hopped into a stranger’s car thinking it was Caroline’s!!!! Ends up her car was next door to his & we had accidentally just popped into the wrong one. I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a year! Luckily - the guy & his wife were good sports. But man - how goofy are we!
1 comment February 9th, 2008
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