A Lovely Birthday

Had such a great birthday yesterday.  I took Thursday and Friday off work and made a long weekend out of it, which is present enough!

Gillian must have told me Happy Birthday at least a half dozen times before I dropped her off at school.  We wandered around downtown after school and had cupcakes at Molly's, then a great dinner at Blackstone.

Talked with Mom and Dad, Janice called and sang 'Happy Birthday' to me, and lots and lots of lovely birthday greetings from friends all over.  I feel truly loved.

Tomorrow evening, heading out to Brix with girlfriends for some great wine, laughter, and fun!  Birthdays definitely should last more than one day!

A Weight Lifted

I really love Facebook, and I really REALLY love being connected with friends from different periods of my life and with family near and far.  Because of Facebook, I know I'm in contact with people that I might not be otherwise.

What I DON'T like about Facebook is the passive-aggression that can exist.  You know, you aren't friends with someone, so they make sure they tag people you are friends with so they can show up in your newsfeed.  We all know people like this.  You don't want to be friends with them for a myriad of reasons, but they want to make sure that you don't forget about them.  And most of the time it is not nice.

You know what I mean?  Grow UP, people.  So, I ended up doing a little blocking tonight.  It was really upsetting me.  And I just can't afford to waste my energy like that.

I feel MUCH better now.

Thank You to My Sister

I posted this in thanks to my sister tonight.  I've come to some realizations in the last few days, and now that I've come to these realizations (I spent 11 years in denial, that's for sure!), I need to make peace with them and let them go.  Doing this will keep me true to my resolution.

I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful sister.  She is a wonderful listener, and a wonderful mentor.  I love you so much.  And thank you.

On This Twelfth Night...

I've been thinking about New Year's resolutions.  If I make one, I tend to have to think on it, and I usually don't have any idea what it might be until a few days after the new year.

As usual, I've been thinking on this and I've come up with a resolution that, ideally, will be wonderful, but also difficult, to achieve.

My 2013 resolution is this: to STOP wasting time and energy on people (well, a particular person) who does not deserve my time or energy.

Why do we do this?  Why do we worry so much about the people who could care less about us, instead of spending our energy on people who love and accept us?  This really is one of THE Universal Questions.

I love this quote from the Dalai Lama: "Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace."  I think this will become my new mantra.

That, and to be kind.

Happy New Year.

Top Reads of 2012

Happy New Year!

Every year I keep a book journal.  I keep track of what I read each month and my grade of each book.  If it was exceptional (to me), I star it along with a high grade.  Yea, I use A, B, C, and etc.

This year I read 64 books.  Not quite as many as I would have liked, but some months were better than others.

Here are my top 5 for the year.  These books got an A*:  The top 5 are in order by what was read first in the year:

1.  Tuesday Night Miracles, Kris Radish.
2.  The Fault in Our Stars, John Green.
3.  The Age of Miracles, Karen Walker.
4.  Sarah's Key, Tatian de Rosnay.
5.  Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan.

The next 5 round out my top 10:

6.  The Snow Child, Aowyn Ivey.
7.  Into the Forest, Jean Hegland.
8.  One Breath Away, Heather Gudenkauf.
9.  Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn.
10.  The Secret Keeper, Kate Morton.

Here's to 2013, and a year of wonderful reads!!!