Firing up the Canon

I can write about the lessons I have learned on any given number of things, but there one lesson I struggle to learn no matter how many times I gain experience with it. NERVES. I do not know how to tell myself rationally that there is a reason to remain calm once I start getting nervous and escalating in a situation. The pain hardly ever parallels the reality. I cause myself so much grief. So, in the words of a license plate I failed to take a picture of on the highway yesterday – “I turn 2 U.” How do you remind yourself not to “sweat the small stuff?”

Saw this young lady play her guitar and sing for more than 2 hours last night. Amazing talent. Check out her youtube page for more songs :) And keep checking it - I've put in a long list of requests. No pressure, Chelsea. (Not my homework, not my problem. Not now. Not never.) PLAY ME SONGS.

An ironic, but not surprising thing happened in the last 24 hours. I utilized the last name of an old friend on an ad I was writing and somehow within the same 12 hours (after not having spoken in months) her named popped up in my facebook friend requests. Yeah, so? I know I like to drag meaning out of things, but there is a reason for that – I usually find some. It all goes into the theory that you get more of what you focus on. I had thought about my friend – wrote down her name…and then an actual connection was made. No force of hand, no pursuit, it just came. I think this is an important thing to consider. We get more of what we put our focus and energy on. So if we focus on positive – we find more positive. We focus on negative – we find more negative. A month ago I was struggling. I was disappointed in the way things were unraveling with a few of my friends and I put so much focus on it that I didn’t realize I was passing up plenty of hours that I could have been focusing o...

It must be the season for new cup releases. Einstein's is doing something pretty fun with their cup. It's a "flip the lip" contest. After you are done drinking..you unroll the top of the cup (not without effort) and reveal your winnings - or not. I lost, so I don't know what the winner cup says; however, I do think it's a fun concept. So unroll with me. The vanilla hazelnut coffee there is quite delish.

Let's play a game, shall we? We took our first playground walk today in the sunshine and luckily I had my camera. One street south of my house we had a little photo adventure. Now, I want you to be a part of it. What do you see on these front porches that you might not find in your own neighborhoods? Enjoy :)

The new caribou coffee cup rocks. If you've been following my blog at all you probably know that I love my hot morning beverages to come complete with little words of inspiration. The Caribou Coffee™ cup is now full of them. Here's what I took in with my caffeine today: *Be the first to enter and the last to leave the dance floor. *Indulge in chocolate therapy. *Plant lots of trees. *Learn to say thank you in ten languages. *Dare to Adventure. *Be the ruler of your own life. *Savor every sip. *Marshmallows have no nutritional value, and that's ok. *Step 1: Rake Leaves. Step 2: Jump. * You'll only be your current age once. *Only look back if it makes you smile. *Donate Blood. You have Plenty. *Dance in the rain. *Lighten up. *Get your hands dirty. *Don't wait for New Year's to make a resolution. *Sing out loud. *Be the first to apologize. *Spend time with your kids, tomorrow they're a day older. *Give your change to charity. *Spin the globe then pack your ba...

I haven't done one of these posts in a while, but today I got a little inspiration from the road and I'm posting. Life is a constant stream of events and those events come with choices. The biggest choice being the one dealing with attitude. Some things are easy. They go well, lift you ten feet off the ground emotionally and you go through the moment naturally elated. Other things are a bit more complex. Things don't go the way you wanted them to, they present a set of challenges, or flat out slap you across the face with a completely unexpected/unwanted outcome. Andeven at these times, though less natural, a positive attitude is still possible. I've been listening to Randy Pausch's book about his Last Lecture and in it he repeats, " Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." It's true and representative of a larger notion. There is always a positive to be found. It just requires training your brain to find it - to look...