Saturday, February 28, 2009
Granting Wishes, Touching Lives
Today was another Making Memories Brides Against Breast Cancer wedding dress sale. This is an organization I became involved with 3 or 4 years ago and every time I work at an event I love it even more! What this group does is grant wishes to metastatic breast cancer patients to help them create special memories with their families while they are still here. My friend Ginni was a wish recipient once and this is how I help repay them for giving her that special day.
So it was an AMAZING DAY at the sale today! I left when there were still a few hours left because my feet were KILLING ME and the weather sucked so we had slowed down a great deal. Also we were really well staffed for volunteers so I had no guilt. But before I left we had already raised $12,000 of which 100% will go to grant wishes! YAY! I'll be back tomorrow too, looking forward to hearing the totals!
The best part of today though was making a new friend! The first bride I really worked with was this incredible woman named Regina who was just so great! Instead of feeling like I was working with a stranger, it seemed like I was helping out my best bud! She and I bonded so much talking about TONS of stuff that her mom had to remind us why we were actually there! We ended up finding her the perfect dress, but also swapped emails and vowed to become facebook friends and stay in touch.
Recently I've been talking to my friend Jodi about how people come into our lives at times when we need them there, and I think this friendship might be a true case of that. She's got some stuff going on that I can be there for her through, and she's got some great spirit and a gorgeous soul that is good for my heart. I love it when stuff like that happens!
Sometimes I feel so blessed I don' t know what to do with myself. So many amazing people have either come into or back into my life lately that my cup truly runneth over.
Friday, February 27, 2009
It's getting better all the time!
If Facebook was a man I'd marry it!
Recent, a guy I did not know tried to tag someone in one of my pics. This particular someone was my adopted sorority little, one of my favorite people at IUP! So I messaged him and asked her if he was still in touch with her because I had lost touch back when my life was a mess at the end of the time living with the ex-fiance. He had a temper tantrum and decided to throw out a ton of my personal stuff, which included all my addresses of friends. Anyway, her last name is Smith so it made her a little challenging to google.
But, this fabulous guy who tagged her was in touch with her since the recent reunion! And today, we are reconnecting.
Again with the theory, wait long enough and you will find everyone on facebook :)
Thursday, February 26, 2009
It's in the cards
So today I was chatting with my friend Jodi. She's read tarot cards a few days short of forever so I asked her to do a long distance reading for me. I wish I had logged the chat to copy it to here because it was really cool!
Back in December and January I was verging on a bit of a depression. I had even considered going on some SSRI's. It was like my eyes kept leaking of the lamest stuff. But then February came and somehow I snapped out of it. So odd since usually February is the roughest month for me- when I lived up north I was pretty sure I suffered from SAD, and always hated February. But whatever, any trace of the blues is GONE! SO YAY ME! I have been feeling actually amazingly positive, and really open to possibilities lately...
So guess what my tarot reading said? Basically, that I had some crap recently, but that I am in a really good place right now, and really open to positive things that are coming my way! So YAY ME!! It's weird because Jodi actually had no idea that I was feeling this way, so it made it even more cool.
I really haven't felt this excited about possibilities in a long time, and it's neat to see that it's actually in the cards for me :) So watch this space, hopefully Ill have many fabu updates of what the universe has in in store for me!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Raising the Bar
You know, ever since I added the link to this place on facebook I've been a little afraid to post some different things because of the possibility of who could possibly land here. But today I decided fuck em :) If they don't like what I say, that is their problem not mine. Because what I say is what I feel and who I am so if you don't like me, then why are you reading my blog??? If you are one of the 2 guys who I was not so much positive about, I am sorry! But think about our conversations and then maybe you'll figure it out :)
So in the past few weeks I have reconnected with various guys I've known before. Talking to the first one, we both admitted to each other that we had some feelings for each other about 5 years ago and did nothing about them. The more I talked to him, the more those feelings started to resurface. But as I got to know him differently, there were more things about him that I didn't find attractive, and those feelings kinda subsided. Also, I tend to be a wee bit fickle and started talking to another guy from my past. And that was fun! Getting to know him again after a long long time was definitely cool. And of course I had some thoughts about him that were, well, you know... But then again, talked to him more and found that while he was great in many ways, there were also many other ways that well, meh.
And then this past weekend I started talking to this guy that I sorta knew back in college, but honestly, not really. We had mutual friends, we were in the same place at the same time often, but never really did more than friendly chat. Now over the last few days we have logged hours upon hours upon hours of talking. And the more I talk to him...the more I want to! And I suspect he might be feeling the same way, because he's talking just as long and as much as I am!
One of things we've talked about is our "bar" person. You know, the one who set the bar for all other possible partners to either meet or not. Both of us have one, and I thought that was kinda cool. Well I've realized that in many ways, this guy is raising that bar. I don't know if he and I are developing anything other than a friendship at this point, but he has still raised the bar. I want whoever I end up with to be someone I can talk to like this. I want him to be as intelligent, funny, deep, adorable, open, and interesting as this guy. I want someone with whom I WANT to spend as much time just talking as I have done with this guy.
So today, BOTH of the first 2 guys called me. I realize it's because I've been pretty much ignoring them the last two days because I have been so focused on this new friend. And while if they had called just 4 days ago, I would have been REALLY happy, today I was just annoyed that they paled in comparison to this other guy and were wasting my time. Then the 3rd guy called me just to tell me he couldn't call later. We talked for just a few minutes and yet I hung up smiling.
It's weird. For the last forever I hadn't found a single guy who piqued my interested even the slightest, and now I've gone through several in the past few weeks, and have found one that raised the bar for all future men. Life is just a hell of a ride!
Monday, February 23, 2009
It's my blessing, not my burden
So lately thanks to FB (could I sing that places praises any more?) I have reconnected with all these friends from different eras in my life. And this makes me SO HAPPY. But SO CONFUSED! I am having trouble keeping track of who knows who and shares which memories...
I said to one friend today... "guess who I chatted with!... nobody you know, whoops!"
Said to another... "so and so was blah blah blah" and friend said "who's so and so?"
You get the idea. Just because all these people and memories are in my brain, does not mean that others can see those thoughts.
But you know, that's really not a bad thing to have so many people in my life. if this is my biggest burden then I really am blessed :)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
My mind's got a jukebox with a mind of it's own...
So lately one of my favorite facebook games is "Name that Tune". It has really made me appreciate the musical tastes of some of my friends :) It's also fun trying to think of new ones, and going through my musical catalog mentally to choose. I am a bit eclectic in my tastes, and I like it that way. I recently have decided that I need to download some of the songs I forgot existed. Now this is a bit of a challenge since I've forgotten them, but it's also fun :)
Today I downloaded songs by Bobby Brown, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Temple of the Dog. Random? Not in my mind :) One memory spurred all of these memories!
Today I was also talking with a friend about some guys who were in Imbroglio- the band I mentioned here in the past. Well apparently the one guy is still making music. I googled him and WOW I love his stuff! He also has a bit of a blog on his myspace page and I found one of his entries of his amazingly moving.
Songs are place. Next to smells—and they are far rarer—it is a song that has inimitable ability to put you RIGHT THERE where it happened. Like the random dream of a long-lost lover, you don't get to pick what songs or what time, but it happens and unless you intentionally do something about it, it's forever.
Go read the whole thing, then listen to some of his music and be a fan :)
Friday, February 20, 2009
It's a Small World Afterall...
So for anyone who saw the comments back and forth on yesterday's post you'll see that it turns out that I most likely had met the Tasty Crumbs author. Weird, eh?
I have a confession to make- it was very hard for me to give the details of who I was so that he could figure out if he knew me. And I say who I was not who I am because that's the reason it was so hard.
My freshman year at Hofstra I was young. (duh) And stupid. Way stupid. I made some bad choices, did a lot of things that I wish I hadn't. And I really don't want to be associated with that girl anymore. I don't really like who she was, and I'd hate for anyone to think that I am her still.
Now I learned by going to my 20 year reunion that pretty much everyone I know is a different person than they were back in high school (or the first year out of high school). And it seems like most people forgive and forget other's stupidity. It would be nice if I could forgive myself though...
I try and live with no regrets, but there are some things from that time if I could go back I would do differently. But I can't go back... so I guess I just need to appreciate the fact that choices I made then helped me to learn, and to grow, and to become the person I am now. And I dig her :)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
All things blog
So while I was taking a hiatus from blog posting, I was pretty much also taking a break from blog reading. So today I decided to catch up on a few. First I went ahead and visited CakeWrecks and literally laughed so fully and loudly that Ringo came in to see what was wrong with me. For those of you who are not familiar with this blog, you should visit it whenever you need to cheer yourself up a bit. As the title implies, this is a blog about Cakes. Wrecked. And not in the typical "Tiger knocked over the table that the wedding cake was on and it toppled over and Mr. Brady caught it but then when Carol tried to kiss him to thank him he fell over and it landed in his face" kind of way. These are cakes that were created by professional cake artists. And yet... My favorites are not the gawd awful CCCs (cup cake cakes) or the artistically challenged ones, but the ones with the illiterate inscriptions. But I have to say, some of the captions with the pictures are pant-peeing worthy! Please go to this blog, and spend several hours reading the entire thing. But don't drink while you're reading as you will spray the beverage through your nose onto the computer screen.
Another blog I hadn't been to in a while is not a major one with a huge audience like CakeWrecks, but is a small one which is really intended just for his friends I believe. I, unfortunately, am not one of his friends. I don't even remember how I happened to find this blog, but I stumbled upon it one day and enjoyed it enough to bookmark it. Tasty Crumbs is written by a guy who I have figured out based on stuff he says that I actually could have known, and perhaps may have even met. It seems we both went to Hofstra at the same time. Go figure. Either way, he cracks me up. One word I would use to describe his tone often is "sardonic". Not a huge fan of our past president, you could always a fun cartoon or acerbic piece of prose about him. But this blog is far more than just about politics. Vern is a well rounded guy who also has great posts about music, books, or memories. He recently had a fabulous post about U2 and I was happy to hear that he agrees when they peaked. Last weekend I was listening to some of my favorite old U2 (War, Unforgettable Fire) and marvelling at the sublime inspiration of this music, and how as the band got more commercial, the stuff got less inspirational, and honestly, kinda began to suck.
The other blogs I read are only those of friends. I read them both as a way to keep up with them but also because I have really funny friends. So I have updated my bookmarks on this laptop (yeah, that was part of my reason for being behind) and will try and not stray so long.
And I know this is pretty much a monthly thing I say, but I'll try and write more here too :)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Today was a very good day :)
Not nearly often enough we can find a person who clicks as a friend immediately. A person who automatically feels like an old friend... One who you can do, say, be anything with them and they respect and appreciate it... One who can make you laugh till your stomach hurts...
This has happened to me just a few times in my life, and I consider myself very blessed. One of these people is Biffy who I have mentioned here many many times. Another was my friend Jodi from High School who I reconnected with on facebook a few months ago and now we chat all the time like we never missed a beat let alone 20 years. And then another time was this girl Kathy in college. We ended up sitting next to each other in a class one semester and just became great friends after that. Unfortunately since college we haven't been in touch. I've googled her now and again over the years to no avail. I've been looking for her on fb since I joined but couldn't find her. I even messaged a few people with her same name who lived in PA and asked if they were her, but they weren't. Then today, a fb friend of mine posted something, I replied, and then Kathy replied! OMG!! So now I have completed finding 3 of the 4 women in my life who have meant the most to me. I'm going to keep looking for Suzanne, and I do believe now that if you wait long enough, eventually everyone will sign up on facebook.
There's another friend who I think would be one of these friends if we lived locally to each other. I met her at that conference I went to 11/07 and really clicked then and now we are fb friends and chat frequently and I really am sad that we don't live where we can hang out irl too. But I still love that technology has become so that a friendship can still develop living far away.
On top of finding Kathy, I found 4 friends from a period in my life in the mid to late 90's today. We had fun doing some reminiscing and that just had me smiling like a dork all afternoon.
So yeah, today was a very good day. I just hope that tomorrow will be a great day OFF the computer!