When Procrastination Scores a Win

One of the goals for this year (based on my birthday not the calendar) is to visit an art or cultural organization each month. I love art and culture but find that I can easily put off a visit for distractions of a more boring nature. I decided these visits would be a good addition to the improvement of me over this next year.

Today is the last day of October and my first month of implementing my new goals – and I am pressed for time. I waited till the last minute due to fictional and factual distractions and I am very close to scoring an epic failure. Not acceptable – so at lunch I headed out for an adventure.

I have been eyeing an area museum for a new exhibition they opened about a week ago. It looks amazing and it has one of my favorite artists on display. I popped in at lunch, without reading the website and found to my embarrassment – my membership had expired this past June (yep, distractions) and I only had $10 on me – no wallet, just cash. The entry for the museum and the special exhibition is $12 so I will be visiting that in November.

No problem, I will just head down to another museum to see their contemporary collection. Once I got there, I remembered that they have been forced to reconstruct their hours and was not open in the work day any longer. Hum, now my lunch clock is ticking away as fast as my calendar deadline.

With pure determination I forged on, across the park with a man sitting on the bench in a “Scream” mask (Halloween fun? – you never know) and I entered the library. The library is a historic and beautiful place – it has 5 floors of wonder. I spent my time on the 4th floor, which addresses local history. They had one of the most comprehensive and interesting displays on area high school football that I have ever seen.

The exhibition traveled from the late 1800’s to the 1950’s and it was filled photos, articles, and news clippings. In one article a memorial for a young player nicknames “Scottie” was displayed. Scottie died on the field in a freak accident. His final words, “It wasn’t Unions fault” – Union was the team his school was playing. The date; 1918, and the rest of season was canceled throughout the city after this death. Truly an interesting exhibition and just days before my husband’s high school football team takes the field in the 2nd round of play-offs, most timely to view. No lie, I loved it.

Assignment: Have a Happy Halloween filled with TREATS!

When Happiness Happens

• My husband is a volunteer coach for our high school football team. Last night they won the first round playoff game. Advancing to the second round hasn’t happened since 2001. This is his first year on the high school team – coincidence, I think not. It was a great game on a perfect fall evening.
•My son Andy came home to watch his dad coach and he sat with me the full game. As a former player on that team, he knows a lot about the plays. This is very helpful as I am pretending to know more about football than I do. I don’t think I drove him too crazy with my cheering – okay, I might have but I don’t really care.
•My satellite provider settled their dispute with AMC and we can now watch The Walking Dead. Listen, I am a television junkie – and proud of it. I grew up on TV, raised my kids with TV and I am not ashamed to write it So, this contract settlement is super great news (I have no idea what I would have done if I couldn’t watch Mad Men this January).
•One of my new goals is not buying clothes unless needed. This is a really hard goal because this is my drug of choice. This morning I put on my causal jeans and really noticed how baggy they were getting. My husband suggested when I was in town today; maybe I should get a new pair of jeans. He was right – I mean a girl should not try to pull off ‘baggy’ or sagging. .or mom jeans for that matter. Yes, reader I am down another size and I have the new jeans to prove it.
•And finally, I got to spend some quality time with two of my favorite men today on Make a Difference Day.

Here is a slice of our morning together.

Assignment: Did you make a difference today? Well, fear not - there is always tomorrow.

A Picture Speaks Louder Than Words

If a picture speaks louder than words, then lets close out this week in semi-silence. Please enjoy a few photos from one of my 50th Celebrations with family and friends.

My dear friend Sherri and I strike an official b-day pose.

Jake was in charge of coming up with something creative. I thought a skit or song & dance awaited me but that would have been to expected and mainstream. Instead, my family gave me a movie poster entitled, "New Era: The Nancy Brozek Story". They pulled personal photos and everyone got a credit mention in the movie. I especially loved: Produced by Larry and Betty Collins (in memory of my parents) and written and directed by God. Just a wonderful and thoughtful gift filled with love. Everyone at the party signed the back by giving their 'review' of the movie. Priceless.

Cake is very important to a party and my favorite part of cake, the corner. Look how many corners this cake has!

A simple wish but a good wish was made.

Max and I celebrate . .time to dig because the corners are calling us.

What a beautiful day with my loving family and friends. Blessed beyond words.

Assignment: Make a Wish!

It is a dark, gloomy, rain filled week – and the weather outside is bad too. Therefore, in an effort to pick myself up and bring a little random silliness into the chaos I offer these two facts.

My mom was born in 1932. I was born in 1962. My son, Jake, was born in 1982. My son, Andy, was born in 1992. Baby Phia was born in 2012. I like this pattern. It means we always get to celebrate milestone birthdays together. Plus, it makes it much easier for me to remember everyone’s age.

I am happy to report that my return to blogging has not gone unnoticed. It appears that there are 3 strong sources for the traffic flow: Facebook and 2 porn sites. I guess having the word “hard” in the title has given some a true let down.

Assignment: Make sure you have an umbrella with you at all times.

Happy Birthday to ME!

I am in the peak of my birthday celebration. A weeklong homage to the 50 years I have spent exploring this earth. I didn’t really know how I was going to take this. I am not depressed, so that is a plus. To be honest, I never visualized myself as a middle aged woman so my expectations are pretty casual. I mean, I knew I would dress well and be considered incredibly hip by all who meet me, but outside of that fantasy – I HAD NOTHING.

There are two saving graces for this:
1. I am super immature.
2. I made a bucket list for the 49th Birthday.

I think the bucket list helped because it was filled with things that I could accomplish. Everyone knows that when a human feels accomplished then the impact is positive. So, I had a number of things that I knew I wanted to do before I turned this magic number 50 and having goals feeds my competitive nature.

And now, for the first time, I am sharing my bucket list with the world (in no particular order).
• Celebrate my 5th year as a volunteer at Camp by becoming a Thunderbird. Mission Complete.
• Make sure I have girlfriend time at least once a month. Studies show that women who have girlfriend time have healthier lives. Feel used if you wish friends – but know, this time together helped your life too. Mission Complete.
• Take an off the grid hiking vacation with my man. And with that we left the world and ventured to the Upper Peninsula’s Picture Rocks. One of the best vacations ever! Mission Complete.
• Have a professional photo taken so my grandchildren would see that at one time in my life, I wasn’t all wrinkled. Mission Complete.
• Run a 5k a month. I once loved to run then I got fat, lazy and compliant. Once I realized that the pain in my back, the fat on my belly and the poor health I was having was completely my fault, I changed. Ran 15 races in 12 months – few highlights

o Ran a Halloween Themed 5k with a partner. . In the woods . .at night.
o A Girls on the Run mentoring experience helping a young girl complete her first race ever.
o New Year’s Day – in sleet and snow.
o Ran the River Bank Run 10K in a surprisingly good time.
o Ran a 200 mile relay with 11 other crazy friends and was given the honor of running the last leg of the race.
o Ran 3 races with my oldest daughter Megan.
o Mission Complete.
• Run the Mighty Mac: a 5.6 mile race over the bridge. The final race of my 49th year and I set a PR Pace! Mission Complete.
• Have an amazing, memory making, 50th Birthday celebration with family and friends. Mission EXCEEDED.

Now on to my goals for the 50th . . . . What will the year bring? At least a once a week posting to this blog will be one.

Assignment: Not happy with your daily routine? Change it up. I give you the permission you have been waiting for. . Now go. Go on. Shut off the computer and do something!