Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Top Two Dream Vacations.
Top Two Hosted by Taylor at Jimmy Choos and a Baby Too!!!
You can see Taylor's Top Two picks of the week, and many other Mommas Here:
http://benandtay.blogspot.com/.
You can see Taylor's Top Two picks of the week, and many other Mommas Here:
http://benandtay.blogspot.com/.
1. Our Honeymoon. My Dream Vacation would be, If I could, to re-live our Honeymoon. Our honeymoon was the MOST WONDERFUL two weeks of my life. My husband and I took off for TWO WHOLE weeks, with the back of our Tahoe loaded down with waaaayyyy too much luggage (I'm a compulsive over-packer, Ha!) and went on a road trip. I determined if we could spend two weeks in a car together and travel thousands of miles, then we could whether any storm! We traveled from our home address through Oklahoma ("Wher the wind comes rolling through the plains..."), New Mexico, Anthem, Scottsdale, Prescott, Sedona through Durango, Colorado, and returned back home two weeks later. We shot automatic weapons at a gun rage in Scottsdale, AZ, went off roading through the Red Rock Mountains of Sedona, visited the Grand Canyon, and drank margaritas by the pool and hot tub for nearly a straight week! It was absolute Heaven! I even got to go shopping!! My husband's parents have a BEAUTIFUL home in Anthem Arizonia where we spent some time. We were married in October, so the weather was absolutely beautiful that time of year there, and as we headed through Colorado on the way back, we could see some snow capped mountains!! I even had to purchase some warmer clothes near the end of our trip as it turned colder as we headed through Colorado! I keep telling my husband when we retire w should go back and forth between Arizonia and Colorado. I told him I could own a little shop in Durango, he could be a local Forest Ranger and we could live up in the mountains!! It's so beautiful there, with the water, the trees, and the mountains!! I don't have any pics to share (though there were loads) maybe I can find some to add later, but I found these via the internet to timeline our journey for you...
Oklahoma
New Mexico
Anthem, AZ
Sedona
Durango, Colorado
2. Chicago. Ok, so Chicago is only 2 hours North of us, but I still consider it to be one of my ABSOLUTE favorite places to visit! My Brother (Sister-in-Law and Niece, soon to be Nieces), and my husband's sister and her fiance live there. It's the Windy City, with Lake Michigan, home to skyscrapers, old world styles and history, museums, art, theatre, music, Beautiful at Christmas Time, there's AMAZING shopping there, and home to the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Cubs!! Every year for my Birthday, I ask my husband to take me to a Cubs Game, and that's want I want again for my Big 30!! I'd love for it to be a warm Spring/Summer day, and be at a Cubbie Game in Chicago drinking an Old Style and eating a Stadium dog. Ahh, heaven!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Happy Valentines Day!!!
Hope you had a Great Weekend and Hearts Day!!
To My Valentine, I LOVE YOU!!
And, Happy 1st Hearts Day, Pumpkin!!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Reaching.
While perusing on MckMama's blog today, I discovered: This.
I found myself using my break to read this family's story, and just trying to grasp how things like this happen. Death itself is hard to understand, but the Death of a child. Inconsolable.
How people find faith and hope in the midst of such sorrow and despair. I find it so utterly amazing and inspiring. Stories like this one have bothered me for some time. These stories are so gut wrenching, so heart pulling, and so inspiring and so world changing. Death, itself is so hard to grasp, so hard to understand; to fathom a world outside this one. A Heaven of sorts. Is there a Heaven?
I am Catholic, I was raised Catholic. I take the pumpkin to Church every Sunday, except when she is too sick. I have always believed in Heaven. I would like to think there is a Heaven, but what if there isn't? Is that just soemething that was told to us to make us feel better about losing our loved ones? To somehow help us through each day, to each next passing moment in the midst of terrible, barely hanging on, despair.
To me, I have thought about this in the past. And when you are a child, at least to me, sitting at my desk in school girl pigtails and curls, and bows, and knee socks, and school uniform, feet hanging somewhere above the floor, dangling, while they taught us abour Heaven and Earth; I imagined that Heaven was another Earth. Far above the Earth, where everyone walked on clouds and everyone who had passed, wandered around happy, eating ice cream and sitting on benches and jumping on clouds, with puppies and kittens running around, and birds flying all over the place.
Now, realistically, I know that, to me, Heaven is probably more like a psychological state of mind/being, and less of a physical place that exists in another space far above the planet. At least to me, I think we just travel to a dreamlike state of consciousness (or unconsciousness, I wager, as we are deceased).
So, I guess to me, how do you deal with that? Maybe it's better to think that this physical place exists, and that your loved one is living there, at peace, skipping and jumping, playing Hop Scotch on the sidewalk, chasing bunnies and butterflies. I mean, how do you deal with that otherwise.
Good Lord, I pray for these mothers and fathers and families that they may know some kind or peace, some kind of faith and hope in something greater than ourselves to help them through these times of sorrow. And, it makes me think of how blesses my husband and I are to have this life in front of us, to hold Nikolina and kiss her and hug her, and smoosh her, and tickle her, and hear her giggle, and snuggle her, and Love her, and watch her grow before our eyes, and see her smile, and laugh, and learn new things, and experience LIFE with her and through her eyes.
And, it makes me think how I would ever get through an experience like that. Would I? Would I rise through the pain and the sorrow, and make the most of my existing life? Would I turn a child's passing into something magnificent like a starting an orginization in that child's honor to celebrate their life and to work towards campaigns and fundraisers to educate people and make them aware and raise money for a cure? Would I raise money in their honor to build playgrounds?
Or would I wallow in my own pain and sorrow and the "what if's" and "why's." Would I turn inside myself, inside my pain, as in the movie "What Dreams May Come" and head down that dark path toward despair and self pity? To somewhere beyond help, beyond the reach of help. I just don't know. Would I gain faith, would I lose it?
How else do you make it through something like that except through faith? Through a belief that life exists beyond this place. That your loved one is still "living" just on another plane, in anther space. For, you have to believe they are living, if at least somewhere beyond your reach. You have to believe they are safe, that their passing was not in vain. That their life means something. You have to make their life, their presence, however fleeting, mean something. They have to "live" and grow in some way, or how would you deal with each birthday, each D-day, each day, each moment, each second. How would you.
Or would each day just be a normal day, but a little sadder, a litte harder, a little grayer Would each day carry on, except if you caught yourself thinking, caught yourself remembering, and then you have to either push it aside, or rise above it, and learn and grow, and be a better person for it. I won't ever understand the reasoning behind these tragedies, and I don't ever think anyone could justify them for me no matter what the cause. The death of a child is inconsolable to me.
And, I pray, I pray for these failies, and I praise the Lord for our gifts, and I treasure them every day. I treasure that in some way, I can treasure them a little more, becuase people share their stories, their tragedies, their loss. And, I am thankful for their brutal honesty, inspired by their faith, and forever changed by their stories.
I found myself using my break to read this family's story, and just trying to grasp how things like this happen. Death itself is hard to understand, but the Death of a child. Inconsolable.
How people find faith and hope in the midst of such sorrow and despair. I find it so utterly amazing and inspiring. Stories like this one have bothered me for some time. These stories are so gut wrenching, so heart pulling, and so inspiring and so world changing. Death, itself is so hard to grasp, so hard to understand; to fathom a world outside this one. A Heaven of sorts. Is there a Heaven?
I am Catholic, I was raised Catholic. I take the pumpkin to Church every Sunday, except when she is too sick. I have always believed in Heaven. I would like to think there is a Heaven, but what if there isn't? Is that just soemething that was told to us to make us feel better about losing our loved ones? To somehow help us through each day, to each next passing moment in the midst of terrible, barely hanging on, despair.
To me, I have thought about this in the past. And when you are a child, at least to me, sitting at my desk in school girl pigtails and curls, and bows, and knee socks, and school uniform, feet hanging somewhere above the floor, dangling, while they taught us abour Heaven and Earth; I imagined that Heaven was another Earth. Far above the Earth, where everyone walked on clouds and everyone who had passed, wandered around happy, eating ice cream and sitting on benches and jumping on clouds, with puppies and kittens running around, and birds flying all over the place.
Now, realistically, I know that, to me, Heaven is probably more like a psychological state of mind/being, and less of a physical place that exists in another space far above the planet. At least to me, I think we just travel to a dreamlike state of consciousness (or unconsciousness, I wager, as we are deceased).
So, I guess to me, how do you deal with that? Maybe it's better to think that this physical place exists, and that your loved one is living there, at peace, skipping and jumping, playing Hop Scotch on the sidewalk, chasing bunnies and butterflies. I mean, how do you deal with that otherwise.
Good Lord, I pray for these mothers and fathers and families that they may know some kind or peace, some kind of faith and hope in something greater than ourselves to help them through these times of sorrow. And, it makes me think of how blesses my husband and I are to have this life in front of us, to hold Nikolina and kiss her and hug her, and smoosh her, and tickle her, and hear her giggle, and snuggle her, and Love her, and watch her grow before our eyes, and see her smile, and laugh, and learn new things, and experience LIFE with her and through her eyes.
And, it makes me think how I would ever get through an experience like that. Would I? Would I rise through the pain and the sorrow, and make the most of my existing life? Would I turn a child's passing into something magnificent like a starting an orginization in that child's honor to celebrate their life and to work towards campaigns and fundraisers to educate people and make them aware and raise money for a cure? Would I raise money in their honor to build playgrounds?
Or would I wallow in my own pain and sorrow and the "what if's" and "why's." Would I turn inside myself, inside my pain, as in the movie "What Dreams May Come" and head down that dark path toward despair and self pity? To somewhere beyond help, beyond the reach of help. I just don't know. Would I gain faith, would I lose it?
How else do you make it through something like that except through faith? Through a belief that life exists beyond this place. That your loved one is still "living" just on another plane, in anther space. For, you have to believe they are living, if at least somewhere beyond your reach. You have to believe they are safe, that their passing was not in vain. That their life means something. You have to make their life, their presence, however fleeting, mean something. They have to "live" and grow in some way, or how would you deal with each birthday, each D-day, each day, each moment, each second. How would you.
Or would each day just be a normal day, but a little sadder, a litte harder, a little grayer Would each day carry on, except if you caught yourself thinking, caught yourself remembering, and then you have to either push it aside, or rise above it, and learn and grow, and be a better person for it. I won't ever understand the reasoning behind these tragedies, and I don't ever think anyone could justify them for me no matter what the cause. The death of a child is inconsolable to me.
And, I pray, I pray for these failies, and I praise the Lord for our gifts, and I treasure them every day. I treasure that in some way, I can treasure them a little more, becuase people share their stories, their tragedies, their loss. And, I am thankful for their brutal honesty, inspired by their faith, and forever changed by their stories.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Top Two Dream Jobs.
Top Two hosted by Taylor at Jimmy Choos and A Baby Too!!
You can see Taylor's Top Two picks of the week, and many other Mommas Here:http://benandtay.blogspot.com/!!
Now, my DREAM is to have my own BABY STORE, with Ritzy Baby Clothes, all things Baby. As a shop owner, you can work when you want, and still be involved, but you have flexibility and are not tied to anything or anyone. But, I could still come in and work when I wanted, or needed it for myself, and be surrounded by BABIES and all things BABY. And, yes, there were probably be some HIGHLY overpriced fru fru baby stuff in there, but I would also try and have either really good sales, or have some items such as Mud Pie clothing that is fairly priced!
You can see Taylor's Top Two picks of the week, and many other Mommas Here:http://benandtay.blogspot.com/!!
1. Okay, so this is easy!! My #1. DREAM JOB is to be a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom)!! Every little girl plays with her babies, as a little girl. Bathes them, feeds them, changes them, and pushes them around in their little buggies. We want to be mommies, we want to be just like Mommy. It's innate in us to want to nuture, protect, provide, and give of ourselves. And the rewards are HUGE!!
I thought nothing could top our wedding day, than we found out we were pregnant, and even before that moment, when we suspected we might be pregnant, I loved that little life that might be growing inside me. When we discovered it was true, from that moment, I had a wave of love wash over me, and I knew that I would do anything for that little life growing inside me, and that I could love nothing else like him/her. Most people upon the birth of your child say, "You're a Mommy now!" But, really your're a Mommy from the moment you discover that little life is growing inside of you.
I LOVED being pregnant and felt like there was nothing else in the WORLD like carrying a child, experiencing a child growing inside of you, nuturing, feeding that child, protecting that child. And, I would want nothing more than to be pregnant all the time, and have babe after babe, and have a whole house FULL of little Garretts. That is my dream!! And, I would try and be the BEST Stay at Home Mommy, cooking great meals, baking cookies all the time, making home-made baby food, and using cloth diapers. I think I might even learn to sew! Ha! And as my Hubby says, I would have to handle all the financial aspects of the house, and be our little Accountant.
I would LOVE that. To have children crawling all over me, even screaming and yelling, and going absolutely CRAZY all over the place, and I would LOVE to capture it all on film, and be a REALLY GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER, which...leads me to...
2. Professional Photographer. I have to say, I really have THREE DREAM JOBS, becuase while I would like nothing more (after SAHM) to be a professional photographer, that dream is more for our family &and friends, than the general public. I REALLY want to be able to capture some beautiful shots throughout our families lives, images that will stand the length of time, and be passed on from generation to generationa treasured for years to come I mean, it really is the one thing to me, that stands the test of time. And, to be able to give that gift to future children's children, and families realitives and children, to me, I think that would be an AMAZING legacy and gift that I could bestow upon future generations. To awe, inspire, and to give that gift.
But, while I would love to be a professional photographer, I'm not sure that I woudl want tio meet the demands that that entails. Editing, etc, is a very time involved process, and while you can outsource that to someone, I'm just not really sure how I would feel about that, though I have considered it. But, to me, is it still your finished art, your masterpiece, if someone else edits it? I'm sure most photographers get over that aspect, bc how coudl they possibly edit every single photo themselves and do all the photography sessions they complete.
Also, Photography is life, and life happens every day, every moment. And, as with Real Estate, which I had my hand in a little, to make any money as a phtoogrpaher, you have to be flexible, and be available for sessions to gain clientele and be successful monetarily. And, I'm just not sure that I want to be rushign off to photography sessions every hour of the day, all day, all week.
Also, Photography is life, and life happens every day, every moment. And, as with Real Estate, which I had my hand in a little, to make any money as a phtoogrpaher, you have to be flexible, and be available for sessions to gain clientele and be successful monetarily. And, I'm just not sure that I want to be rushign off to photography sessions every hour of the day, all day, all week.
So, maybe my dream is to be a REALLY TALENTED PHOTOGRAPHER for my family and friends, but not to necessarily make it a career. At least not, a very demanding, all consuming career.
Which leads me to say, I HAVE to at least mention this as it has been my DREAM since I was a little girl, and that is to own my own store. My mother always wanted it, and among the many things I used to "play" when I was a child, "Shop Owner" was one of them. I used to pretend I owned a Stationary Store (as I had lots of Stationary) and I LOVED girly things. Then for years, I wanted a girly store with all kinds of Knick Knacks (is what I call them), but really it's more like a Ritzy Home Goods type of store, with Decorations for your home, and stationary, etc.
Now, my DREAM is to have my own BABY STORE, with Ritzy Baby Clothes, all things Baby. As a shop owner, you can work when you want, and still be involved, but you have flexibility and are not tied to anything or anyone. But, I could still come in and work when I wanted, or needed it for myself, and be surrounded by BABIES and all things BABY. And, yes, there were probably be some HIGHLY overpriced fru fru baby stuff in there, but I would also try and have either really good sales, or have some items such as Mud Pie clothing that is fairly priced!
Any other Moms feel teh same way??!! Who wouldn't LOVE to be surrounded by Cute Babes, New Mommies, and TONS of ADORABLE BABY GOODS!!
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