Time to be grateful for all you have

As Thanksgiving weekend comes closer and everyone sits across from family members that are driving them crazy, had to much to drink, or your just are not kindered spirts. Please remember all those who will not have food on their tables, whose chairs beside them are empty and who would look at your crazy family and for one minute would just want to be you... today or even this minute, please reflect on the life we have been so lucky to live. If you can share that moment with someone, then do so.

Today the Fashionable Friend from Ireland will return to Ireland, and I will miss her almost immediately as those who know her know she is a fun and boisterous person who can bring colour into anyones world and does into mine. I will start saving my pennies in hopes to make it to that side of the world soon -- skating in Paris is the goal this winter but we may have to put the idea on the shelf for a while and aim for a longer trip sometime next year.

So for today, I am finishing my morning coffee break and going to get back to work, later I will walk downtown in this glorious weather to the Metro at College park and I will make my Thanksgiving Foodbank Donation.. What will you be doing?

Tell me your craziest family thanksgiving moments - remember family is how you define it! Mine would include my sister , 7 teenage girls, our daugheters and partners, and a whole wack of others -- the whole house had people in it!! I can't wait for Monday and Turkey leftovers - Hey Sis -- I am bringing new tupperware this year!

Live LOVE laugh and GIVE

The Purse Junkie no more

Kate Spade Bid open for a week - pass it on

Kate Spade Limited Edition - Start Bidding - Best Donation Wins the bag


Here it is , be generous! The Biggest and Boldest Act of Charity will aquire the bag! The Fashionable Friend from Ireland will make the choice.

LIVE LAUGH LOVE AND GIVE

The purse junkie no more

Life is full of peaks and valleys

It has been an emotional week, one that for me was filled with hellos to dear friends and family, and final goodbyes. As I have written to all of you,  I have had this week to see to of two  my dearest friends. including the one who has brought the Kate Spade for you. I also recieved sad news of the passing of a very nice lady who I had shared a few moments in this life with and whose family is in my thoughts. Life is full of peaks and valleys, I feel like mine as of late has been a very bumpy road.

This year has been one that has been filled with those life lessons, that poems and quotes are written about. At least for me. I think in December when the dust of this year is finally settled I will look at all the changes around me and be very grateful for all that has come and gone from my life, but right now I am tired.

I am someone who often carries the saddness and worries of others (Even when they say not to worry), and the joy and excitment of others, with me. I absorb the world around me the best way I can. I don't like to miss the small details as those are the ones that I love the most. As my closets, and basement empty ( Yup, lots more has made its way to charity from my house, furniture has now gone too. ) I realizeat the de-cluttering is slowly moving me towards "de-fogging" of my brain.

I had a fantastic conversation with hubby last night, in between Scooby Doo moments and "really you must have a bath" statements. He is one of the best treasures in my life, and at times the one I forget to appreciate. He is someone who does not try to fix me, or even believes at any moment that I could possibly be broken. He just listens and waits for me to find the solutions I need to find and then walks along side of me as I do what I need to do. He makes me laugh like no other person in this world can. He also will tell me why he thinks sometimes I struggle in life. Everyone has peaks and valleys, everyone has bumps in the road.

So as I take on the last few months of this year.. not only am I decluttering my closet I am decluttering my mind! I am going to try and get rid of self depreciating comments, illusions of other peoples lives, and try with all my might to be understanding of others needs, but not take on their journeys as part of my own. Instead I will try and walk along side them the way Jay walks with me through troubled times, and let them discover what it is they are looking for. Being there waiting for the moment they need someone to listen.

Today my thoughts are with my sister, and  niece, her best friend and her daughter. May your faith help you find the peace you will seek, and the blessing of friendship you have shared for 25 years help you be there when she will need it most. Sisters are not just blood related, they are formed through mutual love, support, fun and hurtful times and experience just as you  two have shared.

Live LOVE laugh and GIVE

The purse junkie no more

Kate Spade Limited Edition - Start Bidding - Best Donation Wins the bag

  Here it is , be generous! The Biggest and Boldest Act of Charity will aquire the bag!  The Fashionable Friend from Ireland will make the choice.

LIVE LAUGH LOVE AND GIVE

The purse junkie no more

Shopping Fun

I thought I would check in with everyone as I am up very early ( waiting for the free breakfast at the hotel) have not slept well but rarely do when away. What a blast this has been, so far I have done loads of christmas shopping for my beautiful little lady. She is going to love the scottie dog tights and shirt.

Great disapointment in TGIF for dinner last night, as is tradition after years of shopping together Fashionable friend from Ireland and I headed there for dinner. We were all excited to have deep fried mac and cheese - only to discover it is no longer on the menu ! I am going to have to write to TGIF coroporate about this!

Well off for another coffee - Heads up all the Limited Edition Kate Spade is going up on Tuesday - Fashionable Friend from Ireland will pick the winner - Bid big, bid with your heart.

Live Love Laugh and GIVE

The purse junkie no more.

Saying Goodbye

Today I will attend the memorial for my grandmother, everyone will have their memories and their toughts we will talk and celebrate the life she lived, at the same time saddness that we are moving on without her beside us will be ever present. Each one of the members of my family carries faith in their own way.

So today while I say goodbye to an amazing woman, I will also celebrate that I had the privledge of having my grandmother in my life for 37 years. I was blessed with many moments and many lessons, some that I will share with my own daughter as she grows up.

So today here are a few memories and moments I will be thinking about as we release her doves today:

• Woman can live independantly
• Woman can be smart and bold and funny , but they should also be kind and thoughtful
• You do what it takes to get what you need done, and you take care of the ones who need you
• Toast is a great evening snack, especially with tea
• You should wash your face everyday and put on lotion ( does not have to be expensive - she always looked years younger then everyone else - I have been doing this since I was 12 and I too am often today I look younger then I am)
• Travel when and if you can - she loved that I had gone to Europe
• If you choose friends well they can last a lifetime
• Simply love the best way that you can
• Forgive , and move on
• The only fashion advice I never took was that calves look great in heels! Today I will wear RED high heels just for her! she always thought my shoes were ugly.

There will be moments the rest of my life that I will think of her. Every Spring and Fall she would call and let me know it was time to change the clock. This continued up until I was about 35 years old. She then figured I was ready to finally remember myself. I forgot the first spring and the first fall. Many of the clocks I have now are automatically done by some magically controlled device inside the cable box or cell phone. But the ones on the wall, well they always needed the prompt from my grandmother to be changed.

Her love of CNN was a constant news source for me, this is how I learned of many emerging news stories, listeria outbreaks because of meat, tylenol cold recalls, children cough medicine debats and many more. She remembered every wellness check my daughter was going to , she knew every shot she was going to be getting or at least knew when the appointment was. I couldn't remember to buy milk and she more then 50 years my senior knew to remind me of the little details or to check in and see how an appointment went.

My grandmother lived through the depression, through war, saw some of the most amazing world accomplishements, watched the start and the end of the cold war (1945-1991), she celebrated the birth of her children, grandchildren and great grand children.

I don't know if I will live that long, but I know that I will take so much more into my life, and pass on so much of who she was to future genrations, because I was lucky to have been part of what she brought to the world.

Melanie

The battle of self image - knowing why and making the change

I have mentioned many times how many great woman I get to interact with on a daily basis. For those readers I will explain why. I work in social services, within a treatment agency that provides IBI treatment to children who have been diagnosised with Autism Spectrum Disorder on the severe end of the spectrum. This is a field, that while men do work in it, they are just hugely out numbered by woman.

One of the greatest things about working in my field is watching those that provide the treatment learn new techniques, and the very best part... watching them teach a skill  to a child ( 4 times more likely to be a boy then a girl) that will become the foundation of so many more. The basis for the work they do is Applied Behaviour Analysis. Essentialy they are woman whose job in life is to change behaviour, this was once my job too. (They have a whole bag of tricks think Pavolv and  B.F. Skinner) None of us are experts, but when your job is to change behaviour, you would think our own behaviour change would be easy.

Pavlov

For those that know me, you will know that I have fought the weight battle many times, and so have many of you. I was talking with some of the woman I work with, each having won  the battle at a time or two and lost it as well. I have quit smoking ( yes, I use it as an excuse to  explain the gain) , I do not drink, and I can give up almost anything . I have great will power - except with food. I know the root causes of my fluctuation in weight, apparently so do many of you. So why can't we change it? Especially when we know how?? How does the weight come back? I have no idea, and when I do I promise not to charge ridiculous sums of money to tell you. I do know that in talking with the ladies I felt good knowing that I was not alone in the struggle , and that I was not the only one who was very much aware of my own weight cycles. I also was not the only one who know when the time comes again I will jump back on the weight loss                   Skinner

wagon.

So no matter whose methods or theroys you believe in ( and the behaviour guys are a very good choice) I will look to all of you for encouragement and guidance when I join the battle of the buldge again. In the meantime - thanks for making me feel like I am not a failure, and that I too will finally make the "behaviour change again"

As for the pictures I borrowed them from Wiki. I copied these pictures specifically for  a friend in the EAST office who loves those 1970's glasses! I will miss you for the next few months as you go do something you are bound to be fantastic at! When you come back I promise I will have read at least another chapter  -  Verbal Behaviour (1957, Skinner)

Live Love LAUGH AND GIVE

The purse junki no more