My Life In Magazines

Not long ago I had a stack of (well, three, anyway) magazines to read.  I was so pleased with myself.  I would be reading my rags to pass the time away...a past time I had not enjoyed recently.  I don't completely remember which magazines I had invested the time and money into on that recent afternoon.  Most likely it was one of the home decorating magazines on the stands.  I enjoy the photos in the decorating magazines and enjoy dreaming about using some of the ideas in my new home. 

The Redmond House (Seattle Area)

This is the house we bought when we moved to the Seattle area. It is in Redmond and was a great house for us. Once Danielle finished with high school, though, it started to seem to be too big. The house needs a young family...so we sold it to one. Here are photos to document what was a really pretty house.

We lived in the house for 5 years while Danielle was going to Middle School until she started College.  She was a student at Bellevue College, so she lived with us for the majority of the time.  As I said though, we did sell the house and spent the last two years in the Puget Sound in an apartment.  D got her own apartment as well.  Apartment living was fun as well....but that is another topic.

New Year's Resolutions

I had lunch with my sister today.  We met at the restaurant in my work complex.  I had fried shrimp and garlic fries. It was the first time my sis and I met for lunch during a workday.  She had the day off and came to me, which made it easier.  My point?  Garlic Fries!? I had garlic fries on the first Monday, the first work day for that matter, after New Year's Day!

Our waiter was fun and asked how we were doing on our resolutions. He said he had resolved to start smoking! Then he said he had quit smoking six years ago and it was one of the hardest things he had ever done.  But since he never keeps his New Year's resolutions, every year he resolves to start smoking.  So far, he said, it's helped him stay an ex-smoker.  ~ ~ Funny!

I enjoyed Max sharing his resolution so much that I shared mine:  To Gain More Weight!  And as I told him (and my sister) I've made great progress in this goal because I AM A DOER!

I decided not to beat myself up over the garlic fries because I drank like 24 ounces of water today.  --I don't like water.  I prefer diet coke.  But I know water should be on my Resolutions List.

Whenever I start to write my list I realize why I haven't written it yet:  I. Don't. Want. To! New Year's Resolutions are either "Do More" lists or "Don't Do" lists.  The "More" category is always things like: "Do More Exercise", "Lose More Weight" "Do. Do. Do. More. More. More."  The "Don't Do" category:  "Don't eat cake"; "Don't spend money"; "Don't drink Diet Coke".

Of course, these resolutions just make me feel bad about myself.  Bad that I need to lose weight, to begin with. Bad that I can't go a full day without Diet Coke (I like Diet Coke).  Bad that I don't want to give up diet coke.

Several years ago I saw the Jim Carey movie "Yes Man"...loved it! The movie came out in 2008, so I don't think I need to do a spoiler alert. Anyway, Jim's character ends up embracing the philosophy of saying yes to all opportunities that come his way.  --Literally saying yes to everything: "Do you want fries with that? ..."YES";  "Will you loan me ten bucks?" "Yes" "How about a hundred bucks?" "Yes".  Jim Carey found that by saying yes, even when it hurt, he was rewarded and enriched with new experiences. After seeing that movie I was inspired.  So, I decided to try it.  Before my "Yes Experiment", I found that I often said "I can't make it" when invited out to parties with friends.  Or I would say "maybe"...but never commit.  If I did say yes, I usually changed my mind (or got a headache) on the day of the party.  Why was I like this?  Truly I don't know.  The friends that invited me are people I truly enjoy.  And I usually think of myself as an extrovert.  So why not actually go to these parties?

I think I didn't see myself as the person that goes to parties.  I had defined myself as the mother of a teenager for more recent years.  The person who is either too busy with family activities or too tired from work and mothering to have the energy to go out.  But I made a conscious decision to say yes to each and every party.  And, ZING! I had a ball.  Each one was as fun as the last.  I had fun. I shared many many laughs with friends and found pieces of me that I hadn't let out to play for a while. That was a good year for resolutions!  Until I became so exhausted I had to stop.

I think I may be onto something though.