I’m with Coco

I got a chance to watch Conan’s last taping of The Tonight Show over the weekend.  And, while it was funny, the best part were his words at the end.  He challenged people to avoid cynicism, as it is ineffective and pointless.  He capped it off with this:

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

The hardest obstacle to overcoming cynicism lies in tackling your own heart.  That dark place where you hide your fears, your warts, your anger.  To excise those negative, life-sucking areas is humbling, hard work.  But the rewards are amazing.  It’s not about changing people, but about changing how you see people.

Or situations.

Right now it is 5 degrees here in MI with the windchill factor.  And I lost my job of 11 years last Friday afternoon.  The only job I’ve ever had.  The urge to give in to cynicism and anger is almost irresistible.

But..

But the sun is shining, and it’s so cheerful.  And I have amazing friends who have reached out to me with a word of kindness or encouragement.  And I know that God is with me through this as well.

And, I’m Happy.

Really Happy.   In spite of it all.  I know there’s a tough road ahead of me in the MI economy.  But I’m okay.  I’m healthy.  I’m loved, and I get to love people back.  And there is coffee and chocolate in the world, so life is good.

I feel a new bond with Conan as we both lost our jobs on the same day.  I mean, really, we’re practically kindred spirits now.  Blood-siblings (except with out the gross blood part – unless you count the blood-sucking “Man” that did us both in!)  So, call me Coco!  We’ll chat and compare networking strategies and next steps. 🙂

Happy New Year

Here’s to surviving 2009.

Here’s to Thriving in 2010.

In the coming year may you enjoy laughter with good friends, times of quiet rest, moments of sublime joy and a few exciting adventures.

xoxo

JustJuli

I’m In!!

Last Friday, I took possession of my new house at closing! Not one to waste time, I rolled up to the closing with a packed car. The closing was only a mile away from my place.
I then took another load over from my parents house (less than 3 miles away). Next I went home and grabbed some more stuff as well as my cat.

I spent last Friday camping out at my new place in my sleeping bag. I just couldn’t wait to be here!!!
The rest of my stuff came over in a U-Haul and some friends’ cars on Saturday.
Since then, it’s been a whirlwind of boxes, cleaning, and figuring out just how I fit into this new space.
More pics and updates to follow!

2 Things Post… 2 Days until my move!

Because my life is a chaotic whirlwind of packing, and preparing to make the biggest purchase of my life in Just. Two. Days.    And because I have been horrible at posting on this site.

I’m going to take an easy-cheesy meme from my facebook friend and use it as my post today.  Because, today, 2 is the magic number!

 

Two names you are called that are not your real name:

1.JoAnne

2.Gina

 

Two things you’re wearing now:

1. green sweater

2. fun, stripey socks

 

What are 2 of your favorite things to do?

1. read

2. watch movies

 

Two things you want very badly at the moment:

1. To be in my new house already! 

2. a relationship

 

Two things you did yesterday:

1. packed

2. packed some more

 

Two things you ate yesterday:

1. Paczkis

2. Hersheys Kisses 

(Note they are both plural.  But I’m okay with that because it was Fat Tuesday and I gave up chocolate for lent)

 

Two people you last talked to:

1. Sarah

2. John from U-Haul.

 

Two things you are doing tomorrow:

1. Small Group! 

2. more packing? :c 

 

Two favorite holidays:

1. Thanksgiving

2. New Year’s

 

Two favorite drinks:

1. Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper

2. Bell’s Oberon with an orange slice. mmmm 

 

Two people no longer alive that you’d like to talk to:

1. Nana Alice 

2. Nana Marie

Anticipation

So…. one of the things I’ve been busy with lately, is my new favorite pastime: House Hunting.

I’ve fully allowed myself to indulge in my voyeurism over the past two months.  It’s so interesting to see how other people live, how they decorate and what their style is.  It’s also fascinating to see just how some people abuse perfectly good homes.

Given the Michigan economy – many of the houses I looked at were foreclosures.  God bless my realtor – she suffered through some horrible viewings with me.  One of the places smelled so bad that I didn’t make it past the front hallway.  Most were colder on the inside than it was outside.  Brrr!  I am truly grateful for Linda’s patience, advice and all of the time she spent looking through listings for ones that I might like.

 

And her hard work paid off.  She found one last week that she suggested to me.  I was on the fence about looking at it – but decided to give it a try at the end of our day together.  I stepped in the front door at 6pm on Saturday night – and spent close to an hour there.   Went back on Sunday to the Open House to talk to the listing agent,  see the house better in daylight and to check out my “competition”.   Monday afternoon I put the bid in.  Tuesday afternoon the terms were agreed to by myself and the seller.

And in 22 days I get the keys to this place:

My new home!

Sabbatical

I’ve been taking a bit of a sabbatical from this site the last two months. Life has been chaotic and dramatic and I had to devote all my energy to just staying afloat…

But i hope to get back on here regularly soon – I have some drafts in the works and am looking forward to reconnecting with my blogging community!

Thankful

It just seems silly that there’s only one day each year where we focus on all that we have to be thankful for.  When, really, with all that we have

Some of the things that I am thankful for:

My awesome dad and mom. At the beach this summer with my church

My parents.  (there’s a story behind this photo – I’ll share it soon!)

Mwah!

My sister – she’s the coolest chick I know.  She lives far away now and I miss her something terrible!  She also has a great fiance,  but he’s camera-shy….

nap time!!

My cat, Puppy.  He’s a snuggler. 🙂

She also takes great self portraits!

Most of all, my niece.  Who is the best thing that ever happened to our family.  Besides me. 😉

Of course, rounding out the list are: friends, my job, my health.  Each day is a gift – and I am learning to embrace gratitude daily.

I hope that you had a wonderful holiday, and continue to keep an attitude of thankfulness beyond today.

Quite an offer!

A few weeks ago, I went to the Michigan State – Wisconsin game in East Lansing.  I shared a little about the game, but not about the fine offer I received on my way out of town.

As Patrick, Jessica and I were leaving, I asked if we could stop at the McDonalds just before the highway – because I sometimes have the bladder capacity of a chipmunk.  And because there is NOWHERE to conveniently use a bathroom on campus during game-days.  Everything is shut down.  (And really – who can blame the buildings for wanting to keep out all the drunks??)

So, we pull into the McD’s and I get out.  I go in, do my thing, and head back out to my waiting friends.  As I’m walking toward Patrick’s gray car I notice that a large Suburban truck has all of the windows completely down.  I thought it was odd and continued to stare as I walked.  I then noticed a huge labrador sitting in the back seat – which must have been their “security system” 🙂

I kept looking at the dog as I reached out for the passenger handle.  Oddly, it was locked.  I pulled again and then peered in to see why they had locked me out.

Um – so it wasn’t even the right car.  Apparently the dog was that distracting that I didn’t even realize I was a few cars down the row!

Laughing at myself, I headed over to the (right) car and was still chuckling as I opened the door and started to tell my friends what a ditz I was.  But all they did was gasp and stare at me.  I guess in my state of giggles I didn’t even notice that I had opened the car door into the car next to us.  Ugh. Strike 2.

Better yet – the driver was still in his car.  And it was a Cadillac.  Oh, boy.

I had gotten out of the car and was looking for any damage.  I couldn’t find any, except for a small mark where our door wiped some dirt off of his.  Meanwhile the driver of the other car has stepped out and is walking around to check it out.  And, Lordy mercy  – was he cute!

At this point, my embarrassment level was nearing peak levels.  And I must have been eight shades of red.  Yikes.  I apologized and we both agreed that everything looked fine.  What happened next pretty much made my day:

He commented, “Doesn’t look like there’s any damage.  But I’m not sure.  If there’s a scratch – then you probably need to make out with me.”

Oh, I anticipate it alright!

To which I joked: “Ok.  Sounds great!  Call you later, alright?”  (making the hand sign for phone).

I got back in my car and my friends just laughed at me for a few minutes.

I probably should have gotten his number, though.  Just in case. 😉

Woo-Hoo! Wednesday

While I’m enjoying a boost of positive thinking, I’m gonna share my recent success with you

I look just like this. Except whiter. And girlier. And sweatier.

I just ran 5.38 miles.

Oh, yes I did.

And I did this after spending some time on the weights, working on my back.  Although, a LOT more gently than my previous time with Karl.

(Hi Karl!  I still love you!  Be gentle with me tomorrow.. kthxbai)

I was in training for a 10K race on Thanksgiving morning, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do it now.  At this point, I could handle the distance.  But my pride often gets the best of me.

You see, I used to be a real runner.  I used to do 70+ miles a week and ran cross country at the state level.  Even a few years ago I would do 6-8 miles most days before work, and maybe a few miles after I got home from the office.  I entered a lot of 3-6 mile races and if I didn’t win, I would at least finish in the top 3.  And now?  Um, not so much.  I’m just reluctant to run in a race where not only am I not going to place, but will probably struggle to finish well.  Pride can be a real buzz-kill sometimes.

So, I’m trying an experiment where I focus on my little victories where I am. right. now.

Like 5.38 miles.

And a 5K in the middle of that in under 30 minutes.  Hey, it’s a start, right?

🙂

If you’re gonna fail…

Fail BIG.  That’s how I roll.

So, I went off the NaBloPoMo wagon this year.  And only halfway through.  I realized at 11pm on Saturday when I was out with friends that I hadn’t yet posted that day.  I tried to do one from my phone, but couldn’t get the interface to work quite right.

And I knew I wouldn’t make it home in time to do a real one.

So – I knew I was going to fail.  And, in that spirit, I also took Sunday off.  (In my defense, I spent most of Sunday with a horrific headache that made looking at anything painful)

I almost didn’t even want to do today.  How sad is that?  I’m letting some self-imposed expectation defeat me?

Nuts to that!  I’m just gonna pick myself up and give it another try.  I have to look at what I’ve accomplished and not focus on what I didn’t.  Right?

So, while I was not posting, here’s what I did these last few days.

I read this:

I actually believed this was a true story for a while. It's not. But it's still a dang good read.

I had a great breakfast with some friends on a cold rainy morning.  What better way to spend a Saturday morning??

I watched this:

This is a true story - sadly. And in case you weren't sure if this movie will break your heart or not.... It will.

And I was emotionally wrecked for a while.  It is actually still haunting me in many ways.  I think I cried 4 times during the movie, and once the day after.  It’s that good.  I had to wait for the perfect time to watch it.  And a cold, dreary, Saturday afternoon wrapped in a cozy hoodie, with warm soup = perfect!

(I also watched some college football)

I went out to watch this guy play at a fancy-schmancy restaurant where I had a marvelous chocolate martini:

He doesn't have a CD out yet in mass production. But check out his myspace music page.

Click on his image above to get to his myspace page.  Also check out one of his music videos here:

I spent too much time on this:

and I hung out with some amazing 9th grade girls.  I’m always honored that they choose to share their lives with me.  I’ve been with some of these girls since 6th grade and I love watching them grow into amazing young women.

I hope to be fully back on the wagon again now.   And I’m ready to give this another go!