Category Archives: Self Improvement

I Want My MTV!!

Good evening!!

I want my MTV, HGTV, Discovery, and OPB!!! Who am I kidding I REALLY want to watch the tele right now!!! ANYTHING!! I am only on day 3 of my no television, magazine, books, movies, internet right now, and I AM TELLING YOU!!! Mamma is having some SERIOUS withdrawals!!! I never realized I used television as a crutch! I had a rough day at the office, and all I could think about was getting home, plopping down in front of the tele and watching me an episode of Bones!!! But alas, no! Not tonight!!

Our girl Faye – “Uhm…when can I take this leash off?”

Our Girl Sophie – “Hey, mom? Where’s my sunglasses?”

But, I guess that is the point isn’t it??? To realize what silly things we fill up our time with instead of spending time working on your creativity!! Last night, I got a MOUNTAIN of laundry put away, that had been sitting on the table in my bedroom for at least 3 weeks. THEN when I got all of that put away, I decided to go through my closet getting rid of anything that no longer seemed to fit my idea of who I am – or who I am becoming!

If it didn’t fit, it was out!

If it made me feel like frump girl when I did wear it, it was out!

If I’ve never worn it, it was out!

It is time that the “things” in my life better reflect who I am and what I love!! I realize that “Christina” is still a work in progress, and “I” am rather fluid right now, but I DEFINITELY know what I am NOT!! So, I have gotten an itch to start editing, and purging some belongings that no longer represent or honor my authentic self! I think that my Artist’s Way journey has made that much easier to do than it was in the past! Making room for new but clearing out the old!!

“Mom, we have to tell you what daddy did!”

So, I may just end up with a REALLY ORGANIZED HOUSE!!! Which I am kinda the idea of!!! πŸ˜‰

“Tag, daddy! You’re it!”

So, tonight instead of watching the tele, or reading of any kind, I decided that I was going to take my girls out for a walk – it has been a while! My sweetie decided to come out with us too!! WHOO! HOO!! So, that is what all of these pics are!!! My girls!!!

“Which way did he go? Which way did he go?”

Our little brown dog is Faye, and the white one is Sophie!! Besides my sweetie, who is my gentle giant, they are the loves of my life!! Faye is deaf, has been since birth, her little tongue is always sticking out because her jaw is too short, and she is the older of the two!! She is as sweet as can be, unless you are a little kid, in that case she is just TERRIFIED of you!!! πŸ˜‰

“Hello? Anybody in there?”

Sophie, on the other hand, is little diva of the two, and she has got her daddy wrapped around her tiny little paw – because that man of mine, SPOILS HER ROTTEN!!! and she basically LOVES ANYONE who will sit and pet her!! LOL!! πŸ˜‰

“RUN!!!”

We knew it was time to go back to the house when we got the signal from Faye, which looks something like this:

“That is it! I am starting to perspire, and I am sure that is NOT healthy!!”

I love my little family!! I can’t wait until we have our little farm so the girls are able to run free whenever they want to!! They just LOVE playing in the grass, and so do we!! It makes me feel like I am a kid again!!!

Maybe there is something to this no TV thing??? Who would’ve thought???

Have a FABULOUS evening!! πŸ˜‰

Note to Chunky Dunkers: I will see you for our weekly meeting tomorrow evening!!! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!! πŸ˜‰

A Challenging Weekly Challenge!

Good evening!

As many of you may already know, I have been following the 12 week program, called The Artist’s Way. I am in week 5, and I have to tell you that doing this program may be ONE OF the BEST things that I have ever done in my adult life to in my quest to bettering myself!! I have been consistent with my Morning Pages, every singly morning, whether I want to do them or not, and I have gone above and beyond on making sure that I get my artist’s dates and weekly questions done EVERY SINGLE WEEK! However, I think that week 5’s challenge is going to be the one that REALLY tests my resolve!!!

This week’s challenge is supposed to help you listen in on what your inner voice is saying by avoiding any and all outside media. So, the challenge for this week is that I am not supposed to read any books, or magazines, watch any television, or movies, or play on the internet.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!

I didn’t realize what a crutch these things have been for me until I tell myself I am not allowed to do any of these things!!! I think I have used a lot of these activities to just “numb out” over things in my life.

How many of you do that?

Is it only me??

Let’s just say, it may be a very long week!!!

I know that every step of the process so far has been, just that, a process, and so far I have learned something new about myself all along the way!! So, for this week’s challenge I thought something that might get me through this challenging week would be to have some activities on hand, so that I don’t have to try and figure out what to do at the last minute – a la “I’m bored” style!! Not that I would really have anyone, but my poor sweetie to whine to about this, but I digress!! πŸ˜‰

Some optional activities for this week will be:

  1. Writing
  2. Drawing
  3. Painting
  4. Cleaning
  5. Organizing
  6. Kissing
  7. Swimming
  8. Walking
  9. Cooking
  10. Baking
  11. Skipping
  12. Dog walking
  13. Photographing
  14. Miniature golfing
  15. Sculpting
  16. Bowling
  17. Dancing
  18. Stretching
  19. Sleeping
  20. Meditating
  21. Day dreaming
  22. Recycling
  23. Volunteering
  24. Making Love
  25. Twirling
  26. Laughing
  27. Card playing
  28. Any game playing in general
  29. Dressing up
  30. Playing make believe
  31. Making a video
  32. Playing with makeup
  33. Listening to music
  34. Blogging
  35. Decorating
  36. Furniture arranging
  37. Collaging
  38. Nature walking
  39. Yoga
  40. Mani/Pedis

That is a pretty healthy list, and some of these things really excite me to think about being able to do this week!! There will be no need to “Numb out” this week, I can just get out there and

LIVE, LIVE, LIVE my life!!!

You know what Auntie Mame always says,

“Life is a banquet and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death!”

OK, so I realize that is a movie reference, but I didn’t watch it, I am just recalling it, so I think that counts as being compliant!!! LOL! πŸ˜‰

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! πŸ˜‰

A Surprising Evening!

Good evening!

Let me just start out by saying, I am soooo thankful it is Friday tomorrow, because I am not sure how many more bad days at work I can handle without getting a break!!! In my office, my boss hands out colored, and funky shaped paperclips if you have done a good job, and a red one if you’ve made a big boo-boo!! We display our paperclips like medals of valor or something!! LOL!! So, it is kind of a fun competition between our team! Now, we don’t really get paperclips very much, we are all just too busy to really even notice, but my co-worker Chris and I were talking about it the past few days, how it really would be nice to get a few more handed our way! Silly, right?? Anyway, I was having one of those horrible, wrotten, no good, yucky days, and this is what I saw on my desk when I got back to my office, which was after EVERYONE else had already gone home!!

This simple little sign literally MADE MY DAY!! I left knowing that someone loved and cared about me enough to remind me to smile, and then when I looked closer, I realized that Chis not only left me this sweet little sign (it is in her perfect handwriting!!), she gave me ONE OF HER PAPERCLIPS!!!! OH!! When I realized that I had to sit down, because it had made me a little verklempt!! Thank you, Chris!! You probably didn’t even realize this seemingly small gesture meant to me!! I owe you one, friend!! πŸ˜‰

Tonight I had my belly dancing class!! Are you sick of hearing about that yet?? I am finding that I am catching on to the moves a little bit better every week, and although I am struggling a little to flow smoothly from one move to the next, I am still having such a GREAT time!! πŸ˜‰ The class is an hour long, which is just long enough to get me on an endorphine high and I go home feeling ultra jazzed!! What a FABULOUS feeling!! πŸ˜‰

At the end of tonight’s class, we got to choose which type of belly dancing we wanted to go into – there are three main kinds (I think): tribal, cabaret, and oriental! However, don’t quote me on that, I think that is what our instructor said!! I am choosing to go into tribal-type belly dancing! It is more free flowing, more gypsy-like, you get to more freely express yourself in your costuming, and the dances are more of an improv, follow-the-leader-with-subtle-cluesΒ  type of dancing. She once described it as, you all could have grown up in the same village, so your costume fabric is similar, but you dress and dance a little more freely and it is more representative of your own personal style. Right now, my own personal style is the goal – so that is where mamma is going!! YEAH!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! πŸ˜‰