I've been "googled"

Okay, I know. It's been 8 months since my last post. I'm not exactly the most consistent blogger. I will try to be better. But there is kind of a partial reason for my delayed sharing of my life! Let me explain:

A couple of months ago, I was out and about just twiddling through my daily activities. I happened to drop into a local Starbucks, and struck up a conversation with a fellow 'bucker. As it happened, I ended up talking business with him and that was that. We exchanged emails and I was off.

A couple of email exchanges later, we end up setting up another coffee appt. I bring my business stuff with me, and clearly state at the get go that I'd like to work together. Next thing he says is that I haven't blogged in a while. Huh? I'm sure that my face registered utter confusion as my mind quickly went through any scenarios where I would have given him some sort of business related blog information which, interestingly enough, doesn't exist. I think it was when the drool started forming on the corner of my lips from sitting in this open-mouthed state of questioning that he took the hint that I was at a loss.

"Oh, I googled your email. You can do that and it brings up all sorts of stuff."

"Oh."

I had been googled by a stranger. Interesting. Now, I know that this is a practice that's becoming ever more popular as our viral world expands. It just never occurred to me that I would become a google statistic to someone other than myself. So why did I feel the need for discretion from this ever growing situation? I mean, I did post a public blog. I do have the myspace and facebook accounts. Obviously, I'm out there for the knowing...

I would say it was when I started receiving calls from his wife at 7:30 in the morning. She said some unsettling things about his character, which made me question her reasons for being with him, and warned me to be careful.

And that about did it. Enough of the crazy people. I suddenly felt a huge need to bring my life under wraps. They already had my email address, phone number and now an insight into my daily living. No need to fill them in on any other goings on. In fact, I even debated about posting this as it might incite more early morning wake up calls from the missus.

So what changed my mind? I was speaking to my Dad this morning, wishing him a happy birthday (whoohoo), when he started talking about our online family journal. He reiterated how he really need to update his and my mom's entries because it really was a living testament about our family. It's somewhere that our extended family gets to share their experiences, and feel a connectedness to each other even though our daily lives may keep us too busy to call or write. And I thought, screw it! Why should I let a "potential" situation stop me from doing something that I like to do?

I enjoy posting this blog. Its purpose was to share fun moments for me and my friends. And if an occasional stranger wanders this way, let it be something for them to share in as well. Why not? I keep the really personal stuff to myself anyway. haha! But this is enough for me to jog my memories when I reread the events. So I'm back. Can't promise any type of consistency, but I haven't ditched out yet!

Random Musings of Late

So I really don't have a particular "theme", as it were, for this post. I just thought I'd play around with some random musings.

Let's see... where to start. Went to Las Vegas for New Year's Eve. That was probably one of the laziest experiences of my life. I left on Friday night/Saturday morning at 3 am to drive there with some friends. Their idea, not mine. The point was to avoid traffic, which we did, so I guess I can't really complain. We stayed at Wes' new place. Pretty nice, but it was freakin' freezing when we got there!! Wes and Gabby had been out of town for a couple of weeks so the heater was off. I didn't want to throw the heat on full blast as it wasn't my home or electricity bill, so we bundled up and caught a few zzzz's. I think I may have lost a toe to frost bite. But this was just a taste of what I was to experience on the actual celebration.

We decided to head for the strip. We chicas of the group had our own little pre-celebration in the bathroom getting ready for the evening. 5 girls, 2 curling irons, 1 flat iron, music on loud. It was good times. Hairspray scented the air and makeup was liberally applied. When we were done it looked like the greatest makeup/hair wars had taken place in that bathroom. As it was NYE, we all wanted to go all out with dramatic eyes and hair remeniscent of the 80's hair bands. Mission accomplished. Now here was my mistake for the evening-notice how there are 2 little straps on my shoulders? Well, I couldn't very well cover those up with a coat! That would just be silly. Now for any of you who know me, I'm generally pretty sensible and put comfort before fashion. Well, not even my favorite little hoodie accompanied me out to the tundras of Las Vegas. That's right. I chose to freeze in hell! There went the rest of the toes. Happy New Year!

Hmmm.. on to other matters. Again, nothing in particular, but my mom just called me and I have to say that she is too darn adorable. For anyone who hasn't met her, she's a little hot tamale fire ball. Always a ton of energy, even when she's tired, smiles for everyone and of course- comes equipped with her very own language. We call it "Grimanese". It's a hybrid of Spanish, English and dyslexic Grima-isms. I'm one of the rare few who fully understands it. Often times I am called on to translate that when she is speaking of the movie "Elizabeth" what she really means is "Heidi" and that monkey chips are chipmonks. Don't you just love her big 'ol pink sunglasses?

My favorite little thing that she's taken on lately is that when she calls me, she always says, "Hi The Mitch, this is The Mom" as if we've become objects she's referring to. It's something that's simple and small, but it brings a big smile to my face every time because it's such a reminder of how fun and sweet she is. Just thought I'd share.

Here's a question for y'all. How long does it generally take you to take out the Christmas tree? What's today, January 7th? This poor little dying tree is begging me to send it back out to the world. I actually took down the Christmas decorations earlier this week when I got back from Las Vegas, but the tree remains. Am I trying to extend the Christmas season? No, not really. The darn thing is just too big for me to handle on my own. It's become a matter of coordinating my schedule with my brother's schedule to see when we'll both be home to lug the big guy outside. But it's kind of sad to see it slowly wilting in the corner. But it was a good tree while it lasted. I enjoyed the sight and scent.

I guess one more thing and I'm done for today. Yesterday I went over to my friends Kurtis & Kellee's place for what turned out to be a 6 hour brunch. A few of us came over around 11. Kurtis has trained me to be a master crepe maker unlike any other (thank you Kurtis). Anyway, it was just one of those days where you want to stick a little book marker on it because you enjoyed it so much. For 6 hours we chatted and laughed . My cheeks were in actual pain from the amount of stomache wrenching laughter that I emmitted. It was just enjoying time with this great little group of friends that I've been lucky enough to make and keep. So, thanks you guys! It was a great way to kick off a new year.

That seems to be it for today. Again, I know that this was a really random posting and fairly different from my normal style. Just felt like sharing these few things. Hope that you got a few smiles out of it! Hugs and kisses until the next time!

Home for the Holidays

As so many of us do, I made the trek back to the ol' folks' homestead for the big Gobble-gobble day. Jeric's son, Jeremiah was with us this year, so we really had a little family road trip. We packed up Jeric's Element to the brim and took off. I really enjoyed this trip because I usually make the drive to Sacramento by myself in the middle of the night which requires cold rushes of air, loud music and occassional smacks across my face to keep me from swerving off the road. This time, I sat in the back, popped my feet up and watched movies on my laptop with Jeremiah. Jeric was my hero and drove the whole way.

Once we got there, we sat down to dinner with Mom and Dad. Yup, I ate red meat. Vegetarianism didn't last too long. I guess I like the taste of piss and shit (as Tony Robbins put it). Don't know what that really says about me.

Wednesday was pretty much spent with Keri. It was a great day. We haven't really had the chance to just hang out and do our thing in quite some time. It started off at her new salon downtown. I'm really impressed and proud of her. It takes a lot to go into business for yourself.

I was extrememly happy because she did my hair! Keri is the best. I just sit back and she does her thing and it always looks great. I never have to worry and she knows my style very well. And now my hair is fabulous!

After the salon, we headed out to lunch and turned back into teenage girls. When the bill came, both of us were chasing the waiter around the restaurant to pay for the bill first. I don't think they mind when you do that at nice restaurants, right? I won. But then she ended up taking me shopping for a belated birthday present and spent way too much. That's Keri for you.

Our day continued on with a bit of Thanksgiving shopping and then we went our separate ways as she had to get ready for a gig she had that night and I had to go pick up Jeric to see her show. She's in a band called Rowdy Kate. They play dirty country. Okay, so that might not be the technical term, but think old Lorretta Lynn type songs.

I picked up Jeric and we headed out to Marilyn's in downtown Sac. There we were joined by Keri's Mom, Teri and her friend Esther with son Barry. Here's another group of people that I haven't played with in a while. Keri and her band went up on stage and the fun began. First you have to know that the band is composed of Keri and 4 guys, 1 of which is her husband (Larry). Singing the type of songs that they do, Keri also puts on a bit of a character to punch up the show a bit. "Girls," she says, "have you ever been mad at your man? Well, let me tell you a little something about that." (Okay, so that's not exactly what she said, but you get the idea.) She banters with the boys and knocks Larry down a couple of rungs. After the show, we all gave her a bad time for ripping on Larry. Apparently, that's just the way they express their love because neither of them seemed to think anything of it.

After the show, we packed ourselves like sardines into the car and headed over to the local tapas restaurant. There we enjoyed a little sangria, a few tapas and plenty of conversation. Poor Jeric, everyone was giving their opinion to him about how and when he should have "the talk" with Jeremiah. Jeric figured he would wait a couple of years (when he's 13), everyone else was telling him that he should have been dripping the info on him since he was 5. Jeric's face took on such looks of pain and anguish. It was pretty funny. I also found it interesting that it never occurred to me that my brother is in a position to have to do "the talk". I'm glad he's sooo much older than me and that I won't have to think about doing anything like that for years to come as I am still but a wee young one.

After tapas, Jeric, Esther and Barry went their separate ways while Keri, Teri and I went over to Teri's to relive old times. We use to all live together when I was in college. Get the three of us together and it's like nothing has changed. We all plopped onto Teri's bed, popped in a movie, which we didn't watch, took tons of the same picture, and complained while Teri kept playing different versions of the same song over and over and over again on itunes. I have no idea what the song "I wish you love" sounds like beyond the first two lines. I do know that someone wishes someone bluebirds. But that's about it.

The next day was the big Thanks day. I headed back over to my parents home bright and early and the cleaning and cooking was on! Keri and Teri came over around 1 and Larry followed shortly behind. We watched the video that I made for my Dad's birthday and then sat down to eat and be merry. It was a much smaller affair than what I was use to growing up in Utah around more of my extended family, but this has been the tradition since we've been back in California. Just nice, relaxed and mellow.

The next day we headed out to lunch to celebrate Jeremiah's birthday a little late (since he lives in Oregon). Then we took a few quick family pictures. Of course we took the obligatory "nice"ones, and then we took the real ones. Bang, bang pictures, muscle pictures and of course, the good ol' magic fingers picture. I love my family!

After that, it was back on the road and home to L.A.

This was a pretty long post. Thanks for checking in and living a little big of my life with me for a moment. I hope your holiday was as fun for you!!

Until next time!

Becoming a Vegetarian Against My Will

So it was the last day of the Unleash the Power Within Tony Robbins event. Today's topic was primarily focused on becoming healthy. This dealt with every health aspect of your life; from exercise to your psychology and of course the big one, the foods you eat.

Now, right off the bat I have to say that besides a unsatiable sweet tooth, my eating habits are actually pretty healthy. I love my veggies and I've ditched the salt. I don't drink soda, coffee or anything else with caffeine, and red meat is only an occassional occurance. Yes, yes, I know that the cookies have to go. But I do love my chicken and my sushi.

So here's the thing- we learned about how certain foods really create an acidic environment in your body which causes cell decay- essentially it ages you. The goal is to create a predominantly alkaline diet. This is done by eating living foods. Go green is the phrase. That's because these foods are high in water content and of course, very alkaline in our system. And don't forget to drink at least half of your body weight in ounces of water per day. That one I've definitely got covered. I'm a water fiend.

Then they got to the chicken. Well, chicken and red meat. Well, all meat essentially. For those of you with weak stomaches and not in the mood to contemplate vegetarinism, stop here.

What's the most effective way to get a message across to someone? Well telling them how the meat we eat is actually soaked in fecal matter and urine for flavor is a pretty good one. But I think the most direct approach is just popping up the good ol' home movies of the chickens having their beaks cut off, then watching them get gutted down the assembly line to then be dunked in the river of urine for that oh-so-scrumptious flavor we all crave. And yes, beef is flavored similarly as well.

Now normally I have a pretty tough stomache. Being raised with a nurse as a mother, dinner conversations often involved explicit details of hospital goings on. Admittedly, I use the smell test for food vs. expiration dates. And I've even been one to watch shows like "Life in the ER" while chomping on my dinner. Yup, stomache of steel, baby!

So after having heard all this and watched the video, I still maintained that I've been eating it this long, a little here and there isn't going to hurt. I'll cut down, no big deal. But give it up? Not when I have to cut the cookies, too.

Then I found myself later eating my sushi and salad with tofu for dinner tonight. (Thank goodness fish is okay, but even then you have to be wary of where it comes from.) I was checking my piled up emails and glancing at the news when I scooped up a piece of tofu and started the trek from the plate to my mouth. I wasn't particularly paying attention until all of the sudden, the chicken having it's beak cut off (while still alive) flashed before my eyes. My stomach of steel all of a sudden became molten and even the thought of eating that piece of tofu almost made me puke. And then I did the worst thing you can do when something grosses you out. I kept picturing it! Aahhh!

So for today, I'm a seafood vegetarian. I called my Mom up to let her know that I'll be driving up with Jeric & Jeremiah tomorrow. All she wanted to know was when we were arriving, because she was going to put some meat in the crockpot. Then she changed her mind. She'll start soaking the ribs and we'll do a bar-b-q. Mmmmm...yummy. And of course, then there's the Thanksgiving turkey? Gobbilicious.

We'll see how long it lasts. Distance from something makes the memory fade. I'll keep you posted. Until then, happy eating.

Breaking Boards and Then Some!

So I went to a Tony Robbins event today. Actually, today is just day 1 of 4. 10 Hours of intense, take charge of your life action; complete with cheering, jumping, and yes- breaking a board with our bare hands. And no, it was not balsa wood as my Dad suggested. It was true wood, and baby, you better believe it- my hand ka-powied right through that sucker. It was pretty damn exciting.

But that wasn't the best part of the day. All in all, there are too many this and that's to mention. Best to just go and experience it for yourself. But the overall lesson that I took from today is the amazing fact that you can be in charge of the show. The show being your own life. All too often we lend our focus to reacting to what's happening around us, that we fail to be the action. Our moods, actions, thoughts, feelings are actually within our power to direct even in the face of adversity, sadness, frustration and or something so simple as boredom.

I know that anyone reading this might say, "Yeah, yeah. I know. I've heard this before. Think and it becomes reality. blah, blah." Well, kind of. Yes, your thoughts can be a link, but what's actually more effective in changing your state to one of action are our emotions. We are creatures of emotion. How many times have I heard this? Our emotions react much faster than our logic. And if the emotion is strong enough, it will supercede any and all thought we might have had about something. For example, I know that I'm a fairly smart chica, but there have been some times in my life that I've done some rather foolish things. I can go back to each of those and the biggest memory of those moments has nothing to do with how I thought it through, it has to do with how intensely I felt about something at the time.

And what's even crazier is how fast you can change your state. It's so fast, it's almost ridiculous. If you want to create or achieve something in your life, become determined. When you are truly determined, you will act accordingly. Now, don't mistake that for thinking that it suddenly becomes easy and the road to dreamland is paved in gold with lollipop fences. You might fail and fail and fail, but in the end you will prevail. It doesn't matter what it takes because you are determined. Get it?

So all of this is good. It's great. But where it really becomes spectacular is in the sharing. No sooner did my hand destroy that board (shock appearing on my face even though I easily pictured myself doing it), than I was truly hugged in joy at my accomplishment. Someone I had met only 3 minutes earlier came over to high 5 me and looked like it was the happiest moment of their life because I did it. It wasn't just about 1 person experiencing it. The beauty is in the commeraderie. After all, what would be the point of life if we just shuffled through this world completely alone? It would suck, quite honestly. We live to share; experiences, joy, love, pain, achievement, failure, secrets. We live to touch souls and to be touched in equal grace. I don't know why I felt so shocked and awed by that simple hug and high 5. Maybe it was because it was the first time in such a long time that I felt true intensity, passion and joy behind it. When was the last time I exchanged so much joy by essentially smacking someone's hand? So simple, but so powerful. So very powerful. I immediately wanted everyone to feel like I did.

Yup, that's where the true joy came from-receiving, but then turning right back around and giving it to so many others. Who needs drugs? There's a whole lot of love out there that people don't realize that they are dying to give. Think about it. People usually say that they want to BE in love. Not that they just want someone to love them. They want to be a part of that receiving and Giving. It's just as much fun to give your love to someone else, especially when they are giving it to you with the same passion and intensity. Oohh! Good stuff. Yummy, even!

I know, I'm on an emotional high right now. Am I going to be walking around giving random hugs to people now? Most likely not. Unless you tickle my fancy, in which case I might just have to let some overwhelming fun emotions have their way with me! haha! But I will be continuously radiating as much as I can give. So if you're in my vicinity and you suddenly feel warm and fuzzy... that's me. That's me waking you up a little so that you can feel just as great and give yours away, too. Imagine a world like that.

So, if it's not too late when we get out tomorrow I'll give you my new life philosophies learned for the day. Welcome to my emotional high. Enjoy the ride!

I have a dream!

This past year has really been focused on personal growth. I've been reading all the books, going to the seminars and listening to the cd's. The common lesson they all share is that of course you can achieve your dreams, but you've got to commit to them by putting them down on paper. There are several methods of accomplishing this act, but I've started out with my picture "dream" or "vision" board. Basically the concept is similar to the collages we use to put together in school. Except that in this digital day and age, instead of browsing through magazines (that I don't subscribe to or own), I browse through Google images. Ah, Google. What was life like before it?

And of course, being the Adobe photo freak that I am, I paste it all together in a beautiful picture that is now the prophecy of my life as I'll know it. I can't believe it took me so long to do this! It was actually pretty fun. Okay, a little frustrating, too.

It's hard to find a picture of your dream house when you don't really know what you're looking for other than well- not a shack in L.A. Hard to find the picture of the dream guy, too. (Well, I did find a mighty fine place holder for that one.) But after I shoved my logical and analytical alter ego out of the way, I let go and just figured, if it gets the point across, that's all the inspiration that I need.

Oh, I did take the liberty of pasting my head onto my dream body. And let me just say, I'm looking hot in the short future! Might I steal a line from Sir Mix-A-Lot and simply say that my "curves are kickin'". Yeah, I decided to find a body that, while lean and fit, still has boobs. You see, I've gotten use to my girls. We've forged a pretty great relationship (aside from running and any other bouncing movement). So I kept them in my destiny. I'm looking at future me right now. Hot! It almost hurts!

Then there's dream man. Like I said, posed a bit of a dilemma, but I think I found the solution. Again, having no idea of who Mr. Wonderful is going to be, I didn't want to particularly assign a face and body to him. But I needed something to get the point across. So, what the heck, I picked a hottie to be the person who represents who I ideally would like to be with. I figure that that is safe enough.

Did I mention that I'll also be buying a new car? Again, not sure what car is the ultimate for me, I found a nice one that will be the first of many. But I didn't stop there. Oh, no. I'm going to be traveling around the world, exploring and discovering the wonders it holds. I'll also be making my own movies which will, of course, win me a Best Actress Oscar. Then there's my adorable little cat & puppy that will be keeping me company. And the list goes on and on.

Fun stuff planning a limitless future. When you're dreaming, who's to say that such and such is unattainable for my life. And that's the point, because after it's done, what do you have? Well, I had this cool collage of all these neat things that actually looked realistic to me now. In fact, I held the picture in my hands for a few minutes and just really took a good look. The more I looked, the more I could already see it happening. It's been said that the mind doesn't know the difference between reality and what you can imagine. It's getting those lines so crossed that what you imagine becomes your reality. I look at my dreams and see the steps I need to take to get them. And I look at my dreams and realize that I don't want to stay where I'm at. I want these things that I put on this page. Why wouldn't I? Why wouldn't I do what it takes to make them happen? If the life I'm currently living isn't the life reflected on this dream page, why would I be so insistent on keeping it the same?

And now I see the point of the dream board. Press those images in my mind and make them something that I have to have and I will do the things that get me to it. See it and crave it and want it so badly that staying where I'm at is not an option.

Talk about adding a little excitement to the day. I've seen my future, and it's pretty freakin' awesome. Time to go get it.

Cheers! Go and get yours, too!

Livin' la vida lonely

No, no, don't think that this is going to be a boohoo- I have no one to love me entry. That would take too much space! j/k!

I finally got a taste of what living alone is like. Jeric went up to Portland for a couple of weeks to visit Jeremiah. It's usually the other way around. I'm the one who usually takes off for a couple of weeks at a time, so Jeric gets run of the apartment.

So this is what the tables turned felt like: boring, but clean. Would I rather have one over the other? It's kind of a toss up. I have to admit, there was one night that I got the heebie jeebies and really would have appreciated knowing that Jeric was in the next room. I swear I heard twigs breaking as someone walked through the hallway on their way to my room. But I did what any brave, single woman living on her own would do; I stared hard at the handle on my door to make sure it wasn't turning and I hiked the covers up to the tippy tip of my nose. Then I lay perfectly still. You couldn't even tell I was breathing. It was impressive. I was like a still life. To my great relief, I finally fell asleep and woke the next morning without noticable bodily harm. So I was either letting my imagination run rampant, or the burgler was very gentle.

So Jeric's back, the kitchen reflects it, but I feel safe once again. I was too busy to throw any parties. But then again, I'd throw a party if Jeric was here anyway. He'd be the first one to be invited. Sometimes he tells me that he's not sure if he can make it to my parties because it's hard to get his butt off of the couch. hehe. But it's nice to have someone to share the day with or even just to watch TV with. So I'll continue to enjoy my time living with my brother, because I know that sooner or later, we'll part ways. Who knows how often we'll see each other then. I'll still grit my teeth on occassion when I see dirty dishes sitting on the counter right above a waiting dishwasher that would have taken 2 seconds more to open, but I know that it's worth it.