News Flash:

Yesterday:

I tried Stand Up Paddle-boarding yesterday and rocked it for an hour! I am so proud of myself for trying something new and sticking to it. I can't wait to do it again.

I cut fresh strawberries and made some yummy treats.

I also made some delicious steak for dinner and reviewed the Matchbook Magazine Tumblr Archives. So fun and inspiring.

Today:

I spent two hours at the beach today reading. It was 80 degrees and wonderful.

I am headed to Barnes & Noble this afternoon to peruse around.

Also, next week I am going to try and take the train to Sacramento. How fun... a TRAIN RIDE!

Goodbye DC... Helloo Cali

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Hello friends,

I have been laying low in the blogosphere, but I have big news to share with you all.

I am leaving our Nation's Capitol and heading out west to enjoy some sun in beautiful Southern California.

I plan on blogging more and I have some fun ideas up my sleeve. So stay tuned.

Well Hello...

Its me. Your old blogging friend.

You might have asked yourself... "I wonder why This One doesn't blog anymore." Well, if you did then I have the answer to that question for you... right here...

BECAUSE I HAVE LOST IT! I must have gone crazy at some point this summer in this humid DC weather because I have decided to fill up my schedule. Well, we are nearing an overflow, I guess.

Not only am I still working as an event planner for the Marine Cops, but I now find myself with four jobs. Four. Who does this? Me, I guess. In an effort to whored away money, I have picked up a second job working at World Market. Which I love, and I thought one day, "Hey, it would be fun to work here." And then it happened. Meanwhile, I also found a gig as a personal assistant for a busy executive and thought, "Hey, this would be fun." And it happened. And I have been a puppy sitter on the weekends for over a year now. So life as I once knew it is gone.

And I love it.

I feel that I have had to teach myself responsibility with all of this extra workload. Instead of coming home and doing nothing, I have to get certain things done and I force myself to do them. So I actually find myself more productive now.

In addition, I have decided that to start exercising a lot more. I have no excuse anymore and I just want to feel better. I have a fabulous free gym at work and a nice free gym down the street so why the heck not. So, now I workout after work and take yoga on Thursdays (at 6-frickin-o'clock in the morning) and do workout videos as well.

This is a great way to learn how to juggle... life.

And now, for my final trick... I am going to return to blogging!! :)

(heck, what is one more thing to juggle?)

To Do: Have A Fabulous Week

credit?

I plan to have a fabulous week.

I hope you do too.

To Do: Missed Connections

Speaking of dating, tonight I was on the phone chatting with my mom about my whole situation (see the last post) while grocery shopping. I was chatting and chatting with her and realized that...

a) people kept looking at me so I must have been speaking too loud

b) my shopping list was on my phone so I needed to quit talking and shop

c) there was a cute guy shopping around me too

...so I said goodbye to my mom near the cute guy and continued shopping. Then super cute guy followed me down the aisle and then said,

"Geez, I am so glad that you finally got off the phone."

We laughed and then moved on. Aisle after aisle we kept running into each other. (PS - he was in uniform.) And I started thinking, "dude, he was listening in on my conversation!"

So I went up to him and said,

"So, do you gather intellegence for the Air Force or something? Because you are a great eavesdropper."

We laughed again, totally flirting. And he followed me to the check out. We said goodbye and then ended up at the same stop light where we smiled and waved... and then what... NOTHING!

How stupid am I!?!

So, I will be spending the evening constantly refreshing the Craiglist Missed Connections site to see if he loves me and wrote me a note. ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

It made me think of this...

Joanna blogged about this missed connection picture drawn by Artist Sophie Blackall.

PS- I was totally kidding about spending the rest of the night checking the Craigslist site.

Ill only check it every few hours. Hahah. :)

To Do: Find Love

here

Okay, taking the idea from Ice Cream & Peonies about "things i should be embarrassed about" I feel that I should share with you today... about things I should be embarrassed about but instead, blog about.

Well, I was volunteering the other day and I was so darn bored sitting there with no one around. And it was the first time that I had watched TV in a long time and an eHarmony commercial was on and I thought..."Hey, why not!?!"

So I set up a little account for myself, answered all of their questions (heck, anything that consumed my time was great at this point!) and then I saw the price tag on it. But with a little investigating I found a cheap promo code that made it worth the time.

I am not expecting to find the love of my life but I figure that I little dating can't hurt, right? So, I went with it.

It has taught me a whole bunch about myself.

1- I imagine that everyone is good looking. Like Shallow Hal's vision of life. Well, they are not.

2- I have realized that I am really snobby. And that I place a lot on appearances. Oops.

3- There is nothing worse than when someone that you find unattractive, doesn't want to date you! Hello, I am fabulous.

4- Online dating might be for nerds. But I have already paid for 3 months. So, Ill give it a shot.

So on top of all of this... what happens?

I get matched with someone I work with! AWKWARD!!

But my goal this real is to be real and honest. Instead of lying and telling him that someone set it up for me and I think it is stupid I am gonna just face it.

But still... AWKWARD!

To Do: Be Fab

First, I want one of everything from The Macbeth Collection. Isn't their stuff amazing, and pretty reasonable!

Second, I just love being fabulous. I recently posted this as my facebook status:

i wore super sparkly shoes today. because that is what you can do when you are fabulous.

To Do: Be Fabulous

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I plan to have a fabulous year.

I want to purchase only wonderful, luxurious items all year round.

This is great from Jordan Ferney. She said it perfectly!

Live the Good Life

Light candles that smell good whenever I'm home, fresh flowers in the house, eat delicious high-quality food, have friends over for simple dinner parties often, plan outfits and wear makeup and perfume everyday.

I hope that you do too.

All About ME!

It might be that I am reading this:

Or that I have re-fallen in love with this:

The Optimist Creed

by Christian Larson

Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.

To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and

too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

But I am trying very hard to focus my life back on to me. I realize that I spend so much time worrying about others, and thinking about guys, and I have totally lost track of how wonderful I am.

I really am.

You are too.

So I have decided to stop worrying about guys in my life. I don't need to waste any time on them right now.

I am going to take people for their word. If you offer to pay, then you get to pay. If you ask for my opinion, you will get it.

I am just going to break off my sugar coating and be me. Wonderful ol' me.

To Do: Check Your Big Rocks

I LOVE this story. I live my life by it. Read please:

After filling the jar to the top with rocks he asked, “Is the jar full?”

People could see that no more rocks would fit, so they replied, “Yes!

“Not so fast,” he cautioned. He then got some gravel from under the table and added it to the jar, filling the spaces between the rocks. Again, he asked, “Is the jar full?”

This time the students replied “Probably not.”

The presenter then reached a bucket of sand below the table, and dumped it on the jar, filling the spaces between the rocks and the gravel. Once again he asked “Is the jar full?”

“No!”, the students shouted.

Finally, he grabbed a pitcher of water and filled the jar completely, asking to the public what they could learn from that illustration.

One of the participants answered, “If you work at it, you can always fit more into your life.”

“No,” said the presenter. “The point is, if you don’t put the big rocks in first. . . would you ever have gotten any of them in?” {from here}

Here is my deal, I started this new job (which I love, right) but I put it 100% first in my life. No, I am realizing that I really need to get my "big rocks" in check.

My Big Rocks: (not really in order)

-my health

-church

-my family

-eating healthy

-exercising

-respecting myself

-taking care of my belongings

-my friends

-my finances and savings

These are the "If everything else in my life fails, Ill still have these." So I like to make sure that I keep them as my priority and I haven't been doing that lately.

So I have decided that I shouldn't date anyone or worry about guys until I get some things in check in my own life. Plus, I could REALLY avoid all of that extra drama in my life right now.

Today Is The Day...

that my mother "friend requested" me on Facebook.

I knew this day would come.

To Do: 75 Things

I love men's magazines. They are always so funny and simple.

I love this article from Esquire-August 2008 "75 Things Every Man Should Do Once"

I may try a few of them too because...

To Do: Keep Fresh Flowers

from Two Ellie. 

"I would rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck" - Emma Goldman

I love this quote. 

I have a friend who received a pearl necklace from her husband for Christmas and she asked him very kindly if he wouldn't mind if she returned them and bought a pearl beach cruiser bike instead. Its so cute, her bike seriously is a pearl bike. And I love it. 

You know, someone once told me that you should spend your money making memories. 

I remember a talk in church on Mother's Day, the guys said that every year his mother would set aside money for a family vacation. When he thinks back to his childhood he remembers those memories of their family vacations. He said that he is sure that his mother would have loved to redo a bathroom or have a new kitchen but her 4 sons wouldn't have told her, "Hey mom, I am so happy that we had the nicest kitchen on the block."

It just reminds me that it is the small things in life that matter. 

To Do: Try It!!

Okay, so awhile ago I decided that I would try Proactiv...

...it was like my face new what was coming and it exploded in breakouts. Like seriously, the worst breakout I have had in... like... ever!!!

So, I zapped the hell out of my face with this Proactiv. It seems to be really working. 

Try it. Seriously!!

To Do: Realize That It Could Be Worse

Check out this stream of photos... hell, life can get a lot worse. 

And check out This Moment for a cool new photo sharing site. 

My New Obsession: Navy SEALs

Not like I need to say anything else...

but I now officially love Navy SEALs. 

...beautiful creatures...

Here is my story:

This weekend I was helping with an event for Navy SEALs and their families and it is the one day out of the year that they can show people what they do. 

There were having a little boat ride so I thought that I would go on it since I love the water. First, you have to take this monster truck looking thing called a "Big Foot" to the beach where they have the boats. So, we arrive and as we are walking over the sand dune to the beach, it happens...

I see FEMALE HEAVEN... I mean a whole f-ing beach of hot, tan, toned, buff men splashing in the ocean wearing short black shorts and tan t-shirts. Seriously ladies. HEAVEN!!

So after wiping the drool from my face and coming back to reality. We decide to try and go on a boat ride but as we are walking over to one of the tiny little dingy boats a wave starts to approach and these hot men start yelling at us to hop on right now. 

So without thinking I jump on (I mean what else do you do but listen when hot Navy SEALs tell you to do something). 

Then I realize... I am wearing white shorts. The waves start splashing over onto me on this little dingy boat. 

my pants start to disappear. Just. Like. That. Gone. 

One of the SEALs makes a joke that it is hardly noticeable. Yeah, stinkin, right! Plus, these two guys on our boat are so flippin' hot that I can't even look at them. I felt that if I did my eyes may burn and I'd loose all eyesight. 

...

End of story, I spend the rest of the day wearing clear pants. Yay me!!

here

To Do: Make Sure Cellphone Is Working

Does anyone else every check their phone to make sure it is working sometimes because you haven't been receiving any messages?

I do. 

I feel like a loser. 

Nope. It IS working. Just no one is wanting to talk to me. 

Lame...

To Do: Color

Life is about using the whole box of crayons., originally uploaded by mbrinamen.

check this amazing link out. 

it will change your day!!

To Do: Found

So... I have been on hiatus.

I needed it. I needed to find myself again. I think I lost myself around the same time that I lost my job. Maybe a little before.

Anyhow, there was some point that I decided I was just not going to worry about me and I put all the pressure on The Dude. I kinda used him as a crutch. For the first time in my life I decided that I didn't need to hold myself up on my own but I could just lean on someone else. Not just lean, but allow myself to be completely held up by someone else. I think I lost myself a little bit in him.

We are just friends. I need a good friend.



I lost myself. To the point that if I were to look in the mirror I wouldn't recognize myself.

I figure that you have to hit rock bottom before you things can get better. Well I hit rock bottom around the begining of the month. The Dude and I had a fall out. My phone finally kicked the bucket and things were just not good. I decided that I was going to give myself 4 days. 4 days to just be miserable. 4 days to cry and to sleep. Then I had to get over it all.

And I did. With Jury Duty. Not just any jury duty tho. DC Jury Duty. With no phone. Plus one mid-day fire drill. Awesome. That was the day that sucked but all I could do was laugh. out loud. to myself. walking down a stairwell. during a fire drill. with hundreds of strangers.

From then on it all got better.

I have had a few more job leads. (still no job). but things are looking up.

I feel like I finally found me. Still putting the pieces back together. But I can see the old me sprouting up like the spring flowers.

Anyhow, I plan to get back to blogging. I just needed a little time to remind myself who I was. So, thank you. For sticking with me. :)

To Do: Donate Blood! TODAY!

Guess what I did today?

You should too. Read more to see if you can.