Yes!

Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human. - Anthony Robbins

Perfect Life

Mary (my therapist....doesn't that sound so L.A.?) assigned me the task of journaling what I would envision as my perfect life so here goes....

This is in no particular order:

I would live in a beautiful, updated home. Everything would be incredibly organized and stay organized. A place for everything and everything in it's place. My current dream is to live in a really upscale 2-3 bedroom high rise apartment. Lots of space (at least 2000 square feet); lots of windows and natural light. Exposed brick. Stainless steel appliances. Granite counter tops. Jacuzzi tub.

The building, preferably in Denver's downtown area, would have a pool and rooftop terrace, a fitness facility, security, elevators and underground parking. No more scraping windows or going out into the cold to go work out.

Rich and I would have lots of couple friends to do things with. People would come visit us. We would ski on the weekends. Or take in a show. Or a sporting event. Or we would fly somewhere for the weekend. In other words, we would actually get off our duff and DO something, instead of sitting around on our computers. Conversely, some nights would be awesome to stay in, curled up on the couch, glass of wine, and Netflix. A perfect balance would be nice.

I would be an awesome mom. Listening, caring, never losing my temper. My boys would care what I thought and they'd want to follow my lead, instead of always arguing. They'd be successful in what they attempted and be happy in life. They'd also enjoy doing things with Rich and I.

I would be done with this horrendous nursing school. In an imaginary world, I would be back flying but since that's not feasible, I want a job that pays well, has loads of time off and is interesting and fun while there. I can think of lots of jobs that would be fun....working in a hotel, organizing events....but they don't get check marks for all three of my criteria, unfortunately. Mainly, they just wouldn't pay well. I'm hoping and praying I can turn this nursing gig into something that will satisfy me. If I can get into pediatrics....no blood and guts stuff....work with a group of fun-loving coworkers, get paid well, work two weekend days as a full time schedule...well, that would suffice. Traveling nursing is still a possibility. BUT if Rich and I were able financially to get away once or twice a month, that would satisfy my need for travel.

I would lose all the weight, I would be in excellent shape, I would take good care of myself. I would go to an awesome church and I'd have someone to join me.

I'd still have some quality alone time....garage sales, mani/pedis, reading a good book, baking. BUT, it would be balanced with some good girlfriend time.

That's pretty much it, in a nutshell. My idea of a perfect life. Now, I think the task is looking at this realistically and seeing what is within my control.

Yes, I'd Like to Think So....

We would like to leave you with this very clear knowing that we hold: You are just a few laughs away from letting a whole lot of good stuff in. You are just a few kisses away from letting a whole lot of good stuff in. You are just a little bit of relief away from letting a whole lot of good stuff in.

--- Abraham

Fo Sho!

Tell everyone you know: "My happiness depends on me, so you're off the hook." And then demonstrate it. Be happy, no matter what they're doing. Practice feeling good, no matter what. And before you know it, you will not give anyone else responsibility for the way you feel -- and then, you'll love them all. Because the only reason you don't love them, is because you're using them as your excuse to not feel good.

--- Abraham

Lots of Fun Things.....

So, today is some pretty fun stuff. Some stuff I would to love blow off studying for. See if you don't agree.

The Magic 8 Ball! Who doesn't love this? I bet I've asked that thing a bazillion times "Will I be rich?" and "Will he ask me out?" I would shake it and shake it until I got the answer I wanted. God, if only life could actually be like that....

Corona with a lime, please. That's another thing I've said about a bazillion times. Always a treat. And usually gets me in trouble.

I just threw this in for nostalgic reasons. My Grandma Hensley had this adorable miniature tea set in her curio cabinet and I LOVED it. While my cousins were being obnoxious and loud, I would get out that little tea set and play with it for hours. It was lovely. I mean, it had pink flowers on it, for crying out loud. Who wouldn't love that?! Plus, it was TINY! When my grandma died, guess who got the tea set? It's packed away....my boys would not appreciate its value. But every time I pull it out, I still can't believe I own it.

The beach at Lake Michigan in Chicago. It's really a crappy little beach and usually cold and windy but it's definitely happenin'.....a place to see and be seen. Laurie, Stephanie and I spent some time there when we were in training at United.

And who doesn't love the cool side of the pillow?

Damn, I Lost a Follower and Duke Lost. On To Better Things....

My bracket for March Madness is officially shot. I had Duke going all the way and they lost. Bummer. BUT one good thing for today: I sat down and really concentrated on teaching myself the Microbiology that I need to know for the test next week and I got through one whole page of the four page study guide without pulling out my hair. That's a miracle.

Here's some happy stuff to start your day off right:

Filet mignons wrapped in bacon. Can't have this very often but it's an honest to God orgasm for your mouth.

Strawberry shortcake. The for real kind....with real "Bisquick" shortcake. And go figure....parts of it are actually good for you!

And here's a look back at the cars that I had that were my favorites: a beautiful little Mustang GT convertible (with BKINI-1 on the license plates). It was a man magnet. (wink, wink)

and my green Jeep Cherokee that Rich got for me. Loved that car. I had it when the kids were babies and it was so perfect. I didn't have to drive one of those stupid mini-vans (well, at least not for awhile; eventually Rich did make us trade for one). I was cool driving a Jeep.

Good Place to Study

So I'm searching and searching for the perfect spot to study and I haven't found it yet. It's got to be relatively quiet (or at least peaceful), have a comfortable chair, good lighting, caffeine available, open late and safe parking. I'm just not finding my criteria yet. But tonight I had two major tests to study for and I had to compromise or else I would just be driving around KC, looking for my perfect spot and tomorrow I would fail both tests. I ended up at Starbucks in the Village. Not so bad actually. It wasn't quiet (a really obnoxious barista that probably should've been working at Gates and a man sitting at the table down from me that droned on and on about how to compete in an Ironman competition...way TMI!), it wasn't a comfortable chair (although after the old bags left from their book club ***rollling my eyes****, I was able to snag an armchair), the lighting was just okay, it was open only until 10....but it was a safe place and there was definitely caffeine. Hey, two out of 6 will just have to do.