Wonderful day of reading, snuggling, cleaning, purging, writing, learning, laughing, eating, bowling, skee balling, racing, and loving. Special shout outs to Bill, Cyndi, Suzy, and Lauren for donating to the Bike-O-Rama Birthday Blowout. I appreciate it more than you know and am excited to bring her home one day and, more importantly, ride her all over town! 🙂 If you have $10 you can spare and want to help a friend out for her birthday, I would love to add you to the list and make you something very special. You can find all the details, see a picture of her, and make a donation here: http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/Birthday-Wish-A-Bike-/39870
More tomorrow about the amazing weekend, what I learned today at my See Jane Write workshop, and the new fun place we found today. Until then,
Love yourself.
Find peace inside.
Share happiness.
It was brought to my attention tonight that my birthday wish bike campaign came across as greedy. I had no idea and apologize to anyone that may have seen it or felt that way. I have ended the campaign and will find another way to get the bike. Thank you all for your support and love.
In honor of my goal #3 for 2013 – and my birthday wish fundraiser – here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs – “Ride Like The Wind” by Christopher Cross. It is even more pertinent now, even though I’m not going to Mexico. 😉
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my first two supporters – Emily from Magic City Post and Erika E. Ladies, I can’t thank you enough for kick starting this fundraiser. You both get tons of hugs from me, bike rides galore, something handmade by me, and a link in the sidebar of my blog. If you can think of anything else you might like, just let me know. It’s yours!
And with that, I leave you on this “Blue Monday”. Come on, be honest, was it really that blue? I think not! It was a glorious day to serve in the MLK Day of Service, more of which will be in a post to come.
Ride Like The Wind by Christopher Cross
It is the night
My body’s weak
I’m on the run
No time to sleep
I’ve got to ride
Ride like the wind
To be free again
And I’ve got such a long way to go
To make it to the border of Mexico
So I’ll ride like the wind
Ride like the wind
I was born the son of a lawless man
Always spoke my mind with a gun in my hand
Lived nine lives
Gunned down ten
Gonna ride like the wind
And I’ve got such a long way to go
To make it to the border of Mexico
So I’ll ride like the wind
Ride like the wind
Accused and tried and told to hang
I was nowhere in sight when the church bells rang
Never was the kind to do as I was told
Gonna ride like the wind before I get old
It is the night
My body’s weak
I’m on the run
No time to sleep
I’ve got to ride
Ride like the wind
To be free again
And I’ve got such a long way to go
To make it to the border of Mexico
So I’ll ride like the wind
Ride like the wind
Love yourself.
Find peace inside.
Share happiness.
Today’s post is a smattering of pictures from the past few weeks and Click my birthday wish at the bottom. 🙂 Enjoy!
Rearranged my bedroom and made a new “sanctuary” in the corner for reading and writing. I am in love with it!My sweetie’s birthday – dinner at Los Amigos followed by games and Moscow Mules at 41st Street Pub & Aircraft Sales topped off with karaoke at Bourbon StreetLoft Warming party at Sarah’s. Beautiful loft for a beautiful girl!Birthday party at Parkside Cafe for the talented and gorgeous ClairSnow falling during Alabama Bloggers lunch at Silvertron Cafe“Unchained” tour coming through Birmingham.My beautiful handmade broom that was a Christmas present from one of my most favorite gals on the planet. The corn straw is dyed in vats, hand wrapped and sewn, and the handle is hand-turned, glazed, embedded with marbles by hand. And it’s purple! Check out this amazing artist here.Where’s Millie?What I want for my birthday and 2013 Goal #3
So there you have it. Pictures from the past few weeks and my birthday wish.
As you may know, one of my goals for 2013 is to ride a bike again. Well, I’ve realized that it would be a tremendous asset to me if I actually OWNED a bike in order to reach that goal. I have found a wonderful bike already ready sitting at Cahaba Cycles. It’s a 7-speed purple (yay!) Electra Townie with a basket and bell already added. All it’s missing is purple handlebar streamers. 😉 This is perfect for those days when Millie and I want to cruise down to the park with our blanket, notebooks, music, and fruit. You all are welcome to join us any time!
This beautiful bike is a little out of my price range at $650. That is a lot, I know, but it seems to be around the norm for a good bike (I had no idea). My 38th birthday is coming up in a few weeks – February 8th. I am asking friends and family to consider donating to the cost of the bike in lieu of presents or parties. For those of you who donate, I will thank you publicly in the sidebar of this here blog, link to yours, repay you in hugs, and make something homemade for you.
I am really focused on my fitness this year. I want to lose 100 lbs, ride a bike again, work out more, etc. I’ve enrolled in 2 weight loss challenges already this year and this bike would help greatly with all of those goals..once I learn how to get back on the saddle again. It has been over 20 years – probably closer to 30 – since I rode a bike. It’s going to take some practice, some scraped knees (again), and a lot of determination. I have it. Now I need the hardware to execute it.
“Canon in D” just came on my Pandora radio station. I absolutely love this song and not just because it makes me think of weddings. I love the song for the melody, the crescendos, and the lulls. It is, quite possibly, the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard. I can listen to it over and over, getting lost in thoughts of love and hope. It was fitting that it came on as I was starting this post. I’ve been pretty reflective the past few months and that culminated in a great discussion with my fiance about our futures – together as a couple and for each of us personally. I spent the better part of today in complete silence, not doing much of anything besides staring into space thinking about the past year and my future. I have never been one to list personal highlights of the previous year or goals for the new one, but it feels like the right time to start. Not to toot my own horn, but a few of the things that brought me great joy last year were:
Developing some of the most meaningful and empowering female friendships I have ever had. We are doing GREAT things in 2013!
Learning more about myself this year than any previous year. And it helped me realize my biggest passion along with focusing on the direction I want to take with it.
My friend Jen West recently wrote about a new iOS app called Everest – where you can live your dreams by setting personal goals and then breaking them down into smaller steps to help you achieve them. I downloaded the app today and spent most of the morning thinking about what dreams I have for the years ahead. Here are the dreams I came up with and posted in the app, along with the rough time frame that I set for them. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I have never been one to set goals, but this seems like a great (and fitting) year to start. Here we go (in no particular order):
Volunteer with children. I’ve thought about this a lot the past year, off and on, and I really want to pursue this dream. Children light up my life and I would like to give some of that back if possible. I thought about McWane Science Center, but am leaning more toward Big Brothers & Big Sisters or something akin to that locally. By When: 3 months
Create 365 blog posts. Yup, I’m going to do my BEST to blog every day for a year about something. Fingers crossed on this one! By When: 1 year
Ride a bike again. I know the saying, but I’m telling you – I’m scared to death to get my big ‘ole butt on that tiny seat. My knees aren’t good and I can see me falling right over. But I have to start somewhere..even if it’s going to Cahaba Cycle and baby wheeling it around the show room floor for a few. I would like to get a bike and ride around Birmingham. By When: 6 months
Meditate. I did this for a Chopra Center challenge earlier this year for the first time and loved it. I would like to make it a part of my daily life. When: Ongoing
Work out at least 3 times per week. Enough said! When: Ongoing
Read 1 book per month. By When: 1 year
Run a 5k. I HATE running. Let’s rephrase that..I can’t run. Not for more than about 200 meters currently. I get too winded to keep going without passing out. And I hate it. So, I walked the 5ks that I did this past year. I would like to run one and I know I can do it. It just takes practice. Running practice. Lots of running practice. Ick. Blech. Whatever. By When: 9 months
Lose 100 lbs. I originally had 50 on there, but I changed it to 100. Fifty is more realistic, but let’s go for gold and see what happens. #GetAfterIt By When: 1 year
Get 100 people to participate in Birmingham Dance Walk. We can make this happen, but I will need your help. 🙂 By When: 1 year
Give back to Birmingham; figure out the who, how, and why. I recently talked about starting a non-profit to help the sponsors of Birmingham Dance Walk make tax-deductible contributions while also sharing with other non-profits in the area that need help. I still like that idea and want to do that, but I’ve thought about my original intention some more and realized that a) I am most passionate about Birmingham and all she has to offer and b) I love doing things for other people. So I plan on figuring out exactly how to put those two together and what that means for me…how I can give back to Birmingham, exactly who I can help, and definitively state why I want to help. HOW, WHO, and WHY will be my 3 words for 2013. This will also help with today’s 31 Days to a Better Blog challenge item: Create the blog you want to read. By When: 1 year
There you have it. My 10 goals for 2013. Here goes nothing!
Love yourself.
Find peace inside.
Share happiness.
