Rock On

In honor of Dave Grohl's 43rd birthday.




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45

Easy to do today, since it was my birthday. Time is flying by...just seems like yesterday was the big 4-0. Now I am half way thru my forties.

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Quinze

Lolly turns 15 today. Which she told me means that she's half way to 30 and 5 years from 20.

I now need a slice of cake, or a drink...

Out of Office

Yesterday at 5:00pm I put on my out of office message on my phone and email. At 7:00pm I put my blackberry in a drawer. Where it will stay. I can sense that little red light blinking but if I take a look at it, I'll get sucked back in....

I am on vacation from work till Tuesday. No plans, just relaxing...

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Weekend Wrap Up

Lolly's party went off without a hitch. It was so nice to wake up and not have a post sleepover house to pick up. The girls all seemed to have a great time painting. I am almost embrassed to report that the instructor came up to me and asked if I was type A and that she could tell by the look on face when I was painting.

In order to get the party go-ers to and from I rented an SUV. The fine people of Enterprise Rent A Car hooked me up with an upgrade and I got to drive one of these, Buick Enclave

Totally decked out. There was so much to this SUV that I didn't have a chance to use half the amenities.If I change my car buying philosophy and/or have a ton of money to spare, I'd so want one for my every own. I may or may not have been stopped and given a warning for speeding with a car full of 14yr olds.

End of an Era

Tomorrow I will be driving Lolly and 5 friends to Sips n' Strokes to paint this picture in celebration of her 14th birthday. It will be the first time in an extremely long time that I didn't have a "themed" party. Oh, how I love me a themed party. A little sad but with the lack of a theme party comes the lack of a sleepover ☺

Let The Celebration Begin

This is how I started my day. I got ready to leave for work and found thisLolly had decorated my car for my birthday. How sweet is that.

On my birthday, I want to say thanks to my mom who taught me that birthdays should always be special and celebrated. I think I've been successful in passing that lesson along.

This is how I plan end my day
It's the last Pokeno of the year and I plan to win my share of prizes and all the money and drink an adult beverage or two minus the fancy dress and tiara. Well maybe I'll break the tiara back out.

Can not wait

For November 13. One because it's my birthday and two for this, by the makers of Love Actually, because I love music as it use to be.

I Want Candy

Actually, I don't. I never thought the day would come that I would say that, but after being surrounded by candy all weekend I think I want some fruit and vegetables...

Anyway, here are some pictures from the festivities.

The cake before and after. Due to copyright law, Publix could not replicate the Candyland board. I was a little nervous about attempting it myself but was pretty happy with how it turned out.

As a craft/something to do we tie dyed t-shirts which served as the "major" component of the goodie bag. Here's the before and after
That puts another year in the books. Every year I say we are going to do something smaller but never seem to stink to it. However, I am running out of themes. Any suggestions for next year?

Getting a jump on things.

I love the end of the year. I get so excited about the beginning of a new year and all the possibilities. I am amazed at how much things can change in a year's time. That's not to say that all my years are full of excitement and life changing events. Some are rather forgetable but there are others that are nothing short of amazing. Normally this excitement hits in December but this year it's hit early. Tomorrow is my birthday, the start of a new year, so it's had me thinking "what do I want to accomplish in the year 42 to 43"? I will admit I have been "stuck" recently. While I love my company, I am overwhelming bored most days at work. Knowing I've done "more" in past positions at past companies, I feel that I am not living up to my potential, that my talents are not being used, and more importantly I am operating from a comfort zone and not learning anything new. My fitness goals have lagged, gaining and losing the same 3-4 pounds, the house always seems a mess. I could go on but I am sure you get the picture. Dang, I am bringing myself down. Haha.

Any how, I am treating myself to a few days off from work starting tomorrow afternoon. My plan is to take a look at the next year and decide where to I want to be on my birthday in 2009 and develop a plan. I plan to get organized at home and come back to work refreshed and re-focused.

Because I truly believe that everything happens for a reason, I stumbled across this website this morning.http://zenhabits.net/ There's some really good articles on motivation and lots of other great posts I can't wait to read that could help move out of my many slumps and on to one of those life changing years...