I am...

I meant to share something else with you today. I started writing a post, even uploaded some photos, but the day just got away from me. I'll admit, I panicked a little bit, thinking about not finishing, and falling short of expectation.

I asked myself if maybe I wasn't trying too hard to be something I'm not, but that's not it at all. I'm actually trying too hard to be something that I am.

Quote of the day - Looking back, you realize that a very special person passed briefly through your life -- and that person was you. It is not too late to become that person again. - Robert Brault

Looking for Indigo

Quote of the day - The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow won’t wait while you do the work. - Patricia Clafford

Harvest Fair

Macy planted a garden at the beginning of the summer. Today was the 3rd grade Harvest Fair, so she got to take in, and proudly display the fruits of her labor.

I love gardening! It's probably one of my all time favorite things to do. One of my prerequisites for moving is that, where ever it is, there has to be good soil. And I think there is no better stress reliever than pulling weeds!

It makes me happy to see that my girl now has a little bit of the gardening bug, too!

Quote of the day - With understanding, those we love will certainly flower. - Thich Nhat Hanh

The Sharks

I'm not fond of sharks. I was 10 when the movie, Jaws, came out, and I saw it in the theater on the big screen. It was terrifying. Swimming, even in a pool, was never the same after that. Someone would always, inevitably, start chanting the theme song...you know that song. And even though there were never any real sharks in the swimming pool, the river, or the bathtub, whenever I heard that song, I always felt a brief moment of panic and fear.

When I was in my early 20s, I went snorkeling for the first time in the Florida Keys. Of course my question for the guide on the boat was, "Excuse me. Will we see any sharks?" And of course the guide on the boat said, "No." And of course I did see a shark...a big one. He swam right underneath me, looked me in the eye, and sneered at me. What made the situation even more terrifying, was that when I came up out of the water, another woman in our group was blubbering, "A sh..sh..shark." That set my flippers in high gear back to the boat. After hearing our descriptions, the guide on the boat said, "Oh, that sounds like a nurse shark. They're harmless." Of course the guide on the boat was lying.

Years later, when I was working an after school program for the park district, one of the kids had a book of sharks. I looked through it, and pointed out the shark I had seen. The little boy smiled at me and said, "That's a tiger shark. That'll kill you."

So, yeah, I'm not fond of sharks...but I am worried about them.

My only real source for news these days is from the Headline News Channel...a little news...a little entertainment...works for me, so take all of this with a grain of salt, but over the last month or so I've been noticing an unusual amount of stories about sharks.

Reports of shark attacks off the coast of Florida and the west coast of Australia, great whites spotted closer to the shores than normal, bull sharks entering the Potomac River. It just seems odd.

In college, I majored in Environmental Science, so it's like my brain to start to wonder about cause and effect scenarios when something like this seems a little off. Is it because of the oil spill? Probably. Seems likely. Unfortunately, it reminds me of the guide on the boat, where the quest for profit ignores common sense and truth.

So, I guess I'm kind of standing on my soapbox today. I'm just worried about the sharks, and the rest of us for that matter. What causes do you feel strongly about? Do you have a soapbox you like to stand on?

Quote of the day - I'm familiar with the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you in the ass. - Matt Hooper, from the movie Jaws

Is the party almost over?

Before January of this year, blogging was the furthest thing from my mind. I had heard of the term, and had probably accidentally stumbled upon a few over the years, but blogging wasn't something that I was really 'aware' of, if you know what I mean. It didn't seem like my thing, and so I don't remember ever wasting a thought bubble on it.

Then in January, someone suggested I start a blog, so I began investigating, surfing, stalking...Holy cow! It was like discovering a whole new underground world for me.

At first I didn't feel comfortable with what I had to say, then I felt like I didn't have anything to say, then I didn't know what direction I wanted to take, business or personal, and then I just said "to hell with it!" I love blogging now.

I love looking at the day through eyes that have a purpose. I love that I am learning to express myself better through my words and pictures. I love that the rest of it is a mystery...who I may meet...where I might go with all of this.

This morning I was reading Loralee's Looney Tunes blog. She is someone that I would consider a Rock Star Blogger. Someone who has been around for a while, has a really cool looking blog, and lots of followers. In her post today, she said, and I hope she doesn't mind if I quote her, "I know this may sound all 2007 and since personal blogging is possibly on the way “out” no one may even give a flying leap anymore but…no one has asked me how my day was in a really long time."

It kind of makes me feel like there was this really great party going on, and I showed up late. It makes me want to say, "Hey wait! Where's everybody going? I just got here."

If it's true...if personal blogging is on the way out, and the party is almost over, I hope some of you are up for a late night breakfast at Denny's, 'cause I'm not ready to go home just yet.

What do you think?

Quote of the day - Never be the first to arrive at a party or the last to go home, and never, ever be both. - David Brown