Morbid Thoughts - BE GONE!

"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck"

I promise, no more talk of trust and balance and passion and love for a few days. Let's just blame that psycho babble on the full moon and lunar eclipse. Not to mention the drastic change in temperatures.

No.. no.. I am packing away the negative attitude and heading southeastward for home.

The official trek for Christmas has commenced and there is nothing like a nice looong drive home to put it all in perspective.

The ipod is charging, the phone is charging and the camera is charging. Bags are packed, dishes cleaned and put away... car is cleaned out - oil change and tire rotation was a success. Now it is time to BREATHE and head to where things make a little more sense.

I did have one morbid thought.. I promise this is the last one.. but each Christmas, I think to myself - wow - how much will things change between this Christmas and next. God willing, everyone will have a happy and healthy year. But we are never guaranteed tomorrow.

Okay.. that's the last sad thought, I promise.

Gosh you guys.. it's a writer's thing. If you only blog to be cheerful and share photos.. then you are not a profound/deep thinker. Not that there is anything wrong with being cheerful - I just like to "take it there" sometimes.

Okay.. I digress.

Sooo.. on the other hand - I will become the happy/photo sharing blogger for the next few days. You know how I snap a pic of EVERYTHING.. well.. these next four days are going to be no different, sorry.

Hopefully I will have time to upload daily, but then again - who knows! I will give you a peek into a Thurston-Family Christmas.

If for some reason I do not blog - I do hope for those of you who celebrate this time of year have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Until then...

This is all I have to say:

It's Winter and 67 degrees

In fine southern tradition, the weather took another twist and turn. It is officially winter, Christmas is just days away and the high will get to 67 today. Sheesh.

Just pick a season- please. Do you guys know how hard that is to dress for? You wake up and it is 30 something degrees.. then by lunch the sun is shining ever-so-brightly, then you are sweating by the time you leave work. Then as soon as the sun goes down, so do the temperatures.

Today is my final day at home before I head HOME. So many little things to do around the house. Hopefully I will get them all accomplished without wearing myself out.

I am feeling a little irritable these days, and it has to do with that announcement we will make. I go back and forth.. and it is stressing me out. I really don't have a choice, and I realize it will all be good in the end (God willing) but....

Tomorrow we hit the road for Macon, Georgia. If you aren't familiar with that town - it is about an hour 1/2 from Atlanta. I grew up there. Actually, my parents have moved to the outskirts of town (literally in the deep country of the Oconee National Forest.) They have moved to a little town (if you can call it that) of Haddock. But everything else takes place in Macon.

I don't have any plans while in Georgia - I hope to bump into a few friends, but for whatever reason (and I know what the reason is) I just don't have the energy.

I feel that tricky little fear bug creeping up. I am trying to keep him at bay... not working so far. I NEED TO RELAX.

How do you crush any anxiety you have about pending changes? When there is nothing you can do about it - and in the end it might be a great thing??

Now.. back to cleaning and packing! PS - Who's traveling to visit family this holiday season?

Moody Chick

Boy oh boy can I wake up in a bad mood. (Of course with a little help.)

See - the egyptian refuses to get on a regular sleep schedule since returning from Egypt. He is crashing around 6/7pm and waking up at 3 - 4am. I, on the other hand, am going to bed around midnight and then waking to the sound of arabic. You have to know - it sounds like someone is yelling and angry.

Which he is none of the above. But he is chatting with friends back home online. If you have never heard arabic - trust me - it is loud and harsh and he even starts flailing his arms when he speaks. They are a passionate people, remember he grew up on the Mediterranean Sea.. lots of that Mediterranean personality. (Think Italian, Greek, etc.) Good times at 6am.

I just need 2 more hours of sleep.. really.. but once I am up, I am up.

Can you imagine if we had a baby? I would lose my mind. How do you people do it?? ;-)

It's Day 1 of vacation. Nothing spectacular: Babysit for a friend, get an oil change, purchase a few Christmas bags to put some of the larger items in, clean out my car, do laundry... pack.

Yucky business of getting it all done.

I have decided to slip in a massage. Yep. I am going to my favorite Chinese Holistic place and I am going to let them pound out this bad mood of mine.

I have to.

If not, you will see a new top list of the worst people with Christmas Spirit - The Grinch, Scrooge, Nicole...

What is your thorn this holiday season? Apparently mine will be keeping my bitchiness down to a minimum. ;-)

Until next time...

Vacation 101

I need to relax. I am just not sure how to.

If it were up to me - I would drive on home (Georgia) and just do the family/friend thing, then hurry back and just become a slug for the remainder of my time off.

But no, I have to wait- and waiting is not my strong point.

Somehow in all of this (and because I am a kind person *scratching of the throat*) I agreed to do a favor for a friend and babysit her kids while she fills out some paperwork for her job with Delta. So for two hours I get to hang with a 6 year old and a 4 year old. Say a prayer for me.

I decided to go ahead and help her out, because at least it gets me across town to my car dearlorship. I plan to go get the little bug an oil change. I suppose I could get her spiffed up before the trip. THEN - finally come home and chillax.

Perhaps Wednesday I can do the laundry, clean the house a bit and just netflix the day away. Then Thursday in the am - I pray to GOD that the egyptian gets his butt in gear so we can hit the road.

Though we all know, I am about to drive into more stress. Visiting family is never a blast - hopefully this Christmas will be different.. right? I get enough stress living with an arab.. it would be nice to see smiles and hear a kind word, ya know?

I am only half joking about the stress and all...

I just feel like being alone this Christmas. Completely and utterly alone.

No one else in sight.

Is that wrong? ;-)

Calculated Steps

"Choices are the hinges of destiny." ~ Pythagoras

How hard is it to strategically make a decision?

I find it quite difficult. At first I am freaked, acting like a kid trapped in a room with no doors and windows. Wandering.. beating on the walls, yelling for help. That's how I feel when I am first confronted with a difficult decision.

Then I move into the multiple choice stage. I run scenarios (from every angle) through my head. I voice them, I mentally write them down, I run them by other people.

Then I give up. I go through a phase where I resist. Decide I will not decide. Stand there with my arms crossed and lip poked out.

Then somehow, the fog clears. I pull out my mental file of the multiple choices and try to sort through the clutter. What is workable and what is not.

Then I set a plan in place. I decide what my first step is and what outcome I hope to obtain.  I proceed accordingly.

It doesn't make it any easier when there is the absolute fear of failure. I feel unprepared most of the time. I have the knowledge, but not the tools.

The main tool I want is a safety net - and unfortunately, I have not acquired one. I could have.. but I have not.

So for the next seven months I need to find a safety net. Build this net. Give myself something to fall on. That is the goal.

What about you? When you are posed with a situation/problem - how do you react? What "tools" do you use?

Meet Me on Monday

BLOG HOP day! Meet Me on Monday!

You know the drill - check out my answers - then link up by clicking on the weird silhouette thing to the left!







Questions:


1. What will your Christmas dinner consist of?
Luckily, I don't have to worry about that! I am having dinner at my parent's home in Georgia. Something very southern, and something very delicious.


2. Do you watch commercials or flip through the channels? I watch most of them. Why? I was a broadcasting major and I know how to produce one. Also, I work in media relations and place PSAs. So - yeah, I check them out.


3. How long will you leave your Christmas decorations up? Southern tradition says you have to take them down before New Years for good luck.


4. What movie makes you cry every time you watch it?
 The Notebook - the end scene, omg.

 5. Do you have a Facebook?
Yes - I have my personal page & my destination unknown fan page

That's it folks -

Take a look around my blog and FOLLOW! Leave a comment if you are dropping by for the first time.

New Beginnings

The idea of a New Year sparks such an excitement in my heart. Well, what is left of my heart. LOL

No, seriously - there is always something special about "new beginnings." I LOVE most change. That is - as long as it is for the better. Clearly, the "unknowing" can cause such a massive anxiety attack that it becomes hard to handle.

I have believed for a long time that 2010 was going to bring about a time a growth, and that it did. I felt I was being "prepped" for something bigger and better - and turns out, I was.

2011 will bring about a whole new life for me. I know I will make new friends, expand my professional understanding, increase my ability to adapt. So many things will take place- and that- my friends -is exciting.

I also believe (and for those of you who don't - bear with me) - that spiritually speaking, it will make me a bit stronger. Kind of going on a wing and a prayer, if you know what I mean!

How do you adjust to change and new beginning?

Announcements

Not sure if you read my post yesterday before I deleted it, but there will be a really BIG announcement coming up soon.

Yesterday, I was writing about my reaction to it. Change is difficult. I worked through it, and I am okay with it. Once my family and friends are notified, then I will write about it here.

Don't worry - it is nothing bad. Just BIG adjustments. In the end, could be excellent.. you just never know.

With that- it is Sunday (my fun day.. I can't say Sunday without saying that.. you know.. that damned Bangles song.) I LOVE (that's l-o-v-e) Sundays. I think because everyone is sleeping in, or feeling spiritual or whatever, there is a certain calm that falls across the city. It is as if we are savoring that one last opportunity to be with our loved ones, and just find some sort of peace (or BALANCE.)

Tomorrow is my final day at work until 2011. Turns out, I have 4 things I need to accomplish before I come home and call it a day.

1. Take the sexual harassment course online. (Seriously, we all had to take this.)
2. Meet my contact from ABC 33/40 at J. Alexanders and hash out our contract over prime rib.
3. Take a media advocacy call with my manager and our government relations director.
4. Clean my office.

THEN I can roll into holiday mode.

That includes packing it all up, getting a big bag for one of my gifts I am taking to my parent's house, getting an oil change, cleaning out the car and hitting the road. We are still not sure when we are doing that - but soon... very soon. If not soon, then more like Thursday - I will simply watch netflix in my pjs all week. Oh yeah.. vacation time is on.

(However, I need to keep up the gym schedule - I totally bailed since Thanksgiving.. since I got sooooo sick. I am sure I my Zumba and Body Jam class will kill me. Oh yeah.. and the personal trainer gave me a call.. wanting me back there. Eek.)

We went and watched the movie RED last night at the $1 theater. I giggled through the whole thing, the egyptian thought it was stupid and boring (those are his exact words.)

I, on the other hand, recommend. I came home and watched Taking Pelham 123 on Netflix. VERY  good. John T was such a bad a$$ in this one.

Right now, I am 1/2 of the way done with the movie "The War Within." It looks like an independent film about a Pakistani that is wrongly accused of terrorism, is locked up, meets members of The Brotherhood and ends up moving to NYC and becoming a part of a terrorist plot. Very interesting, and sad. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

As far as words of the year go - I think the gods have decided to test me. BALANCE - ha ha ha. The big announcement is going to make balance the hardest thing to achieve. Life is interesting in that way, isn't it?

I hope you are all having a fantastic day -and let's savor it, shall we?

Balance

A challenge our dear friend Leanne at From Chaos Comes Happiness (see her button at the bottom right hand side of my page) posed was for many of us to come up with a theme for the year. A personal word to follow/incorporate. I FINALLY chose my word...

BALANCE.

This is something I need to incorporate in my life. I swear - it seems I have excellent days then super crappy days, and I need to learn how to be a little more even keel.

I will find that with BALANCE.

I think if I find balance I will end up living more authentically and not allowing my high emotions to rule my life. I swear, the older I get - the more "emotional" I get.. something that was unheard of as a child. Lately I wear my heart on my sleeve, and even though it has made me kinder in certain arenas, the truth is - I need a little shell of armour. With that.. balance. I can still be me, yet create that sense of calm that is needed.

I saw a painting recently that read "Keep Calm and Carry On."

With balance... I can do just that.

Company Christmas Party

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

"I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. ~Charles Dickens"

I have decided it is time to get in the Christmas spirit. I see little twinkles of good here and there - mixed in with that oh-too-familiar stress of wrapping up yet another year.

Most of the angst I have experienced (believe it or not) is coming from the work arena. Our fundraisers are a bit on edge this time of year - hustling to pull in the big sponsors for our events in the upcoming season. In turn, they project their anxiety onto the Health Strategies team.. and all we can do is take it.

Luckily, today should be a good day. Our office is having their Holiday Party (we say Holiday b/c it is politically correct - so we do not offend, however the entire office is Christian... soooo... ) I am going to a Christmas party. ;-) It is going to be at our VP's home .. everyone is to bring a dish and a small gift.

I went to World Market last night searching for the perfect gift. I ended up going with a really cool coffee mug with a picture of Einstein on it holding a cup of coffee  (and on that mug are the words - "I (then you see a heart) coffee.) I picked up a small package of the fireside blend of coffee, two hot cocoa packets and one bar of dark chocolate with sea salt. I put it all in this super cool bag I found there. I figure it is gender neutral.

After that party, I have to head downtown to another party. This time it is at one of my media sponsor's - B Metro magazine. I am looking forward to seeing all of them. 

I think in other words - it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. 

FINALLY.

Technically I have to work Monday, but it only involves a meeting at J. Alexander's with one of our local TV station execs to discuss one of our contracts. Then there will be a conference call about our media advocacy plan... after that VACATION.

I was hoping to go home early, but the egyptian has to work. I certainly hope I am not hitting the road on Christmas Eve. I will be ANGRY about that one. 5 hours around 4pm is NOT cool.

But before I assume the worse, I am putting on my holiday spirit. Looking for a little compassion today, because I have certainly not been feeling the love and hoping for the best.

It is a choice, right?

Mongoose

Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs. ~Christopher Morley



It's 6am. I am sitting on my couch, drinking my cafe au lait (I have to say that - because there seems to be more lait than cafe) - and I was contemplating what to write about.

Mongoose.

Why in God's name, at six in the morning would a mongoose enter my mind? But my friends, that's how my mind works.

To be perfectly honest, I was not sure what a mongoose looked like. Was not sure where in the world they live, what their behavior is like, etc.

That picture makes me want to laugh. Then again - it kind of freaks me out.

Apparently there are 33 species of mongoose (who knew?) and they live mainly in Africa. So, why in the world did I think of freaking mongoose. Sometimes I like to think it is my mind's way (or the divine) trying to tell me something. hahahhaa. Maybe the mongoose has tendencies or behavior I need to be aware of. Or maybe.. I am just freaking insane.

Turns out, they eat insects, crabs, earthworms, lizards, snakes, chickens, and rodents. (Eww) The Indian Mongoose and others are popularly used to fight and kill venomous snakes, including vipers. They can do this because of their agility and cunning, their thick coat, and mutations in their acetylcholine receptors which render them resistant or immune to snake venoms.

My favorite factoid about the Mongoose is the fact that it releases this high pitched sound, apparently it sounds like giggling, when it mates. How hilarious is that? They say that the giggling is also heard when they are "courting" a mate.

THEN it suddenly hit me.. one of my absolute FAVORITE stories as a child was Riki-Tiki-Tavi by Ridyard Kipling. Do you remember that one? It was about a pet mongoose that saves its human family from two deadly cobras. Of course I like the mongoose!

Maybe the whole point was to bring me to a gift I should buy my niece, the book - Riki-Tiki-Tavi.. so that she, too, can have some random 6am mongoose thought at the age of 37.

Crawl Under a Hole Day

If anyone is looking for me - I will be in that hole, just hiding out.

What a freaking day!

Started out with NO coffee.

Then spent 5 hours in heels. 4 of those hours I had to deal with some serious attitudes.

Then cramming several projects into 30 minutes - only to leave the office late for a meeting, got lost, then had to deal with the aftermath.

Only to come home, check my email and find other fires to put out.
Called family - dad's BP is off the charts, as well as his blood sugar.

Then discovered that I forgot at least 5 other things..

Yes..yes.. I did not have my A game on today.

Can I just hide in a hole... ?

What? That's not possible... fine.. I will suffer through the next 3 days then go on a 2 week vacation.

(Seriously - I am taking 2 weeks.)

PS - maybe I just need a little fairy to sit on my shoulder telling me I am a wonderful person. ;-)

Pure Heart

The Holiday Luncheon hosted by the Heart Guild, benefitting the American Heart Association at The Country Club of Birmingham

Was divine.

"Pure Heart" is the theme

Sponsored by Belk

Opportunity to "open your heart" and donate to research

My magazine sponsor for the event!

Heart Ball Ornament

Marketplace

Jamie & I - doing what we do best!

Jamie & Laura

Laura & I

Country Music star, Sara Evans lives in Birmingham and donated some items for the silent auction

One of the things I did was write all of the descriptions for the silent auction items. LOL Here is an example.. turning nothing into SOMETHING!

Marketplace

Sweet Hearts!

Co-workers Chris & Laura

Fashion show by Belk - LOVE the shoes - I had an excellent seat!

My goody bag!

The full page ad (mine!) in Alabama Magazine

Fashion Show

A little of the fashion show

\

Fashion Show

Me! LOL

Cutting the Cords

There comes a point in every parent's life where they have to cut the cords, even if it is just for a little. The little birdie has to fly on it's own, and trust that you have given it every thing it needs to take flight.

It is sort of the same when you are married to an immigrant.

The egyptian is going through the process to finalize his teaching certification in America. His degree is in English Language & Literature with another concentration in Translation. He speaks 3 languages. He is certified to teach in the middle east.

Luckily, the Islamic Academy (private) school has hired him to be a "fill in" teacher, with the possibility of a full time position. But with all private schools, the pay is not the best. He wants to work in a public school as a high school teacher.

I have taken him everywhere he needs to go. He has called and requested all the right forms - but there comes a time when my knowledge of how this works comes to an end.

I am tired. I know it is an investment in my future too, but I can't do it all or hold his hand through it all. I know, I know.. some of you may be thinking that is kind of harsh. What I mean to say is, he has got to take some initiative and try on his own. It makes him nervous to call the State Board in Montgomery and ask questions. Yes, he speaks English - but he is very insecure about his accent. I am sure that is why he prefers to spend time with his Arabic speaking friends. (As most immigrants do - they stick with their own.)

It is finally time for him to step up and make something happen. I see his anxiety, I see his insecurity - he even reached out last night and told me how he felt. He's just scared.. scared he will fail.

He looked at me and said, "What kind I life can I provide for you? In America, I am nothing."

Silliness

This is one of those silly photo/video blog posts. Sheer nonsense, but a little glimpse into my world.

There is nothing of use here - or fascinating. Just another way to waste time! :-)

I decided to shoot a pic of my star early this morning. As close to a sun as I was going to get.

If you look real closely - you will see the snow flurries attempting to come down.

Then I decided to whine and complain. My melon takes up the entire screen . LOL

Then it was time to meet one of my media sponsors for a coffee meeting.

Followed by organizing my holiday gift bags for my media sponsors

;-)

Laura was FREEZING.

No one was safe from my camera today!

I mainly talked at my morning meeting, so I finally sat down with the muffin and coffee.

My candy bowl at work

Giving it a try

Lunch!

My water

Laura decided to do a little work from my office

You just never know when you might need a coupon...

That's it my friends. Sheer nonsence.