Throwback

When I was a kid in Germany, I used to save my allowance until I had at least $10 so I could go roller skating. $10 would get me in, allow me to rent a pair of skates, and still have money for nachos and a grape slushie drink. I'd spend hours going in circles forward, backward, speed skating, and wanting to slow skate with the whatever boy I had a crush on at the time.

Later, when we lived in Washington, I did the same thing. I skated to Salt -n- Pepa, Nu Shooz, Belinda Carlisle, Def Leppard, and other groups that were popular at the time.

It's been years since I've been roller skating, though I've tried roller blading a few times. I can't seem to get myself used to leaning backwards to brake. Yikes!

My sister's 40th birthday is today and she wants to go roller skating, so we're headed to Nampa Rollerdrome to relive parts of our youth. I'm almost as excited about going as she is. There will be 9 or 10 of us and I just can't wait. If you're in the area, come out and skate (or fall!) with us!

Christmas Blessings

My Mom was married right after high school and had a girl and a boy. She and her first husband divorced, she married my Dad, and I came along shortly thereafter. Because of the way everything worked out, my sister, brother, and I didn't grow up together, and in fact, didn't really start getting to know each other until I was about 14.

The first time I spent Christmas with this part of my family was 2007. We had so much fun cooking, eating, skiing, watching movies, laughing, talking, and just being together.

We finally got our stuff together enough to come back to Idaho for Christmas this year and it's already been a blast. We flew in on Christmas Eve and drove the hour to my brother's place, talking about the last time we'd been here. We talked about how big we thought the kids would be now. R was 6 months old the last time we saw her and will be 2 years old next week. CE is 6, CL is 11, S is 17, T is 19 ... Oh, how time flies!

My sil N turned 30 a couple of weeks ago and my sister A will be 40 in a few days. The three of us girls are going for a mani/pedi/lunch date tomorrow and I can't wait!

Holidays

Around this time of year, I find myself surrounded with 2 kinds of people: those who *love* the holidays and those who *hate* them. It's rare to find someone who feels lukewarm.

In years past, I've been on the *hate* side. Now, let me explain. I love being with family and friends, I love to eat (hello!), I love to give gifts and, as much as I sometimes don't want to admit it, I love to receive them too. I love bundling up in cold weather and getting "dog nose" and having hot chocolate to thaw everything out. I love playing silly games and taking a million fun pictures and not having to work (double hello!). I love the anticipation of seeing people I love, of waiting for the kids to tear into their wrapped treasures and see what's under the pretty paper. I love those little tears that show up in the corners of people's eyes when you've given them something that means a lot, or something that made them laugh.

I don't love seeing Christmas decorations in stores in September. I don't love all the commercials and discussions about how everyone is "supposed" to buy stuff for people. I like to buy things for people because I love them, not because I'm "supposed" to. I absolutely detest the jewelry commercials this time of year. It's the materialism and commercialism that I don't enjoy.

And, if we look deep into my psyche, Christmas was my Mom's favorite time of year. My Dad & I used to do something together, just the two of us, on Mom's birthday (Dec 24). Since both of my parents are gone, some Christmas memories are tied up with a bit of sorrow and pain.

However, it's 2010. I'm still not wearing tacky holiday sweaters (just my normal tacky clothes!) or decorating the house or putting those blow up things in the front yard. But I might be, just a little, getting into the spirit this year. Just a little! I'm not intentionally listening to Christmas music, but I'm not immediately changing the station or groaning when I hear a Christmas song. I'm still not doing Christmas cards, but that's more about laziness and saving money and trees than anything else.

Perhaps there is something going on to melt this Grinch heart of mine!

I send my very best wishes to you and yours for a happy and safe Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, end of year, winter solstice celebration!

And happy birthday to my Mom, who would be 59 (!) tomorrow!

An LOLcat for you:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Acapella Christmas

I have learned several times over the past few years that I love acapella music. In 2007, someone posted the first video below on Facebook and I loved it. I spent countless hours scouring YouTube and the web looking for more about Straight No Chaser, and I even bought their DVD. I share both of these videos with you today to spread some cheer. Enjoy!!

Ownership Follow-up

Hubs read my post yesterday and suggested I might have offended folks. He said it sounded like I was saying Christianity and yoga are the same thing.

Woah! That's not what I meant at all! I really wanted to start a dialog - I love to learn from other people. I wanted to know what your thoughts are on whether a person can practice yoga and be a Christian.

I wasn't saying yoga and Christianity are the same. I did say that I believe meditating and praying are basically the same thing. However, I'm open to being wrong! If you agree with me, great. If you don't, that's even better! Speak up! Help me understand what I don't.

And if I offended you, I am very sorry. Please help me understand how I did so I can avoid doing it again.

Yoga and Jesus: Ownership

It's an interesting word, don't you think? Ownership. According to dictionary.com, ownership can be defined as such:
-noun
1. The state or fact of being an owner.
2. Legal right of possession; proprietorship.

Okay, now that we know what it means to the dictionary, consider this post I read: My Take: Who owns Jesus? Who owns yoga? First, go read the post. I'll wait here.

Seriously. Go read it. It's interesting and will make what I'm about to say make a whole lot more sense.

Welcome back!

I find the discussions people have about what religion is to them and what yoga is to them fascinating. I have read and heard people say that yoga is dangerous for Christians; it invites non-Christian (some go so far as to say Satanic) thoughts and spirits into the body and soul. I have read and heard different people say that doing yoga without believing in the back-end Hindu concepts is cheating and diluting yoga into something less sacred than it was meant to be. I have read and heard many more people say that yoga is what you want it to be.

I took a semester-long yoga class in college some years ago (I tried to do the math on how many years ago it was, but my brain started to hurt, so I stopped!) and I loved every minute of it. I loved starting off uncomfortable in a pose, learning how to breathe into it, learning how to relax my body on command, and finding comfort and strength in my body. I loved learning how to calm my mind when I needed to, both on and off the mat. That semester happened to coincide with a difficult time in my life. Yoga poses and breathing exercises helped clear my mind, understand my emotions, and leave an unhealthy relationship.

Did yoga make me leave my boyfriend? Of course not. But I credit yoga with teaching me how to listen to what my heart had been saying for the previous several months.

I have not taken a semester-long class on Christianity, or learning the teachings of Jesus. Instead, I married into a family with very strong faith and I ask them questions! :-)

In all seriousness, I believe Christianity and yoga (and me!) are compatible. I believe one can help enrich the other. Yogis meditate, Christians pray. It's the same thing, people. It's just a different word. I like to think I'm a considerate, kind, compassionate person. I genuinely like and care for people in general. I feel empathy for people in good times and in bad. I want to heal anyone I meet or hear about who is in pain. I know I can't, but I still want to. I want to celebrate others' successes as if they were my own. I spend energy thinking of ways to help people, or at the very least, sending them love and positive energy. I spend time every day observing my breath, listening to a clock tick, listening to a cat snore or purr ... I find ways to escape my physical body and let my mind find one thing to concentrate on.

It sure sounds like a mix of prayer and meditation to me, and the fact that I can do it proves - to me - that it can be done.

What are your thoughts? What do you know about yoga? What do you know about Jesus? Are the two compatible? Does one group own Jesus and Christianity and another group own yoga? Who owns what?

Realizing my gifts

Remember,
Life is a precious gift, love is a wonderful gift, and laughter is glorious gift. So live life to the fullest, love with all your heart, and laugh as much as you breathe. 

~Anonymous

It's been a busy few weeks in our lives. I spent a lot of time studying for my Series 7 and finally took the test on Monday. What a relief to finally be done!!

My manager lives in Denver, and comes down to Phoenix a few times a year. Whenever she comes, she schedules one-on-one time for each team member, and it often coincides with a meal. Well she was in town this past week, and my one-on-one meeting with my manager this time was breakfast Thursday morning. We met at a little locally owned cafe, ordered our meals, and began chatting, catching up on all things business (and fun) related between us.

All the tables in this little place are two-tops, and are lined up 3-deep from the wall. We sat at the outermost table in our row. Around the time our meals were delivered to our table, three people sat next to us. They moved the middle two-top table up against the other and had enough space for four. There was an older gentleman (mid-70s) and a woman about his age, so I'm guessing they were a married couple. They were with a woman younger than them, but older than me. Based on her their behavior, I'm guessing she was their daughter.

At some point during my conversation with my manager, I glanced over and saw the gentleman at the table with his head back, eyes rolled back in his head, and convulsing a bit. His wife stood up and was holding his head; his daughter stood up and asked what to do. The wife said to call 911. The daughter had her phone in her hand and stared at it. She couldn't figure out how to make it work. I took her phone from her, dialed 911, and held her hand. I spoke with the operator, giving all the information she requested, and holding this stranger's hand. The man had come around and was talking, though was clearly confused. He was very quiet, but it was clear he didn't feel well.

Firemen and paramedics came within minutes, though of course it felt like much longer than that. The man was still sitting in his chair, quietly talking with his wife.

Because we didn't want to be in the way, my manager and I moved to a different table. At this point, my back was to all the "excitement," but she had direct sight of everything happening.

I could hear the paramedics asking the man and two women questions. I could hear them respond, though I couldn't necessarily make out what they were saying. At one point, my manager said the man was now laying on the floor, with monitors hooked up to him and so on.

The story ends well, as far as we know. The man was loaded into an ambulance and taken to Arizona Heart Hospital, the two women following behind.

The restaurant made and packaged food to go for all three of the people involved and didn't charge them anything. My manager and I both smiled with tears in our eyes to see that kindness in action.

I'm not sure a person can help being affected by seeing something like that. My manager and I were both anxious to call our husbands and say, "I love you" when we could. Hubby was busy when I called, so I couldn't tell him much about what happened.

I felt so many different emotions. First, I felt uncomfortable seeing another person in pain. Then I felt relieved to be able to help - to take the woman's phone from her and make the call. I felt anxious, sad, scared, nervous ...

It took me a little while to get the visual out of my head. When I got to work, I concentrated as best I could to help erase the images, then it all came back when I got home and told Hubby the whole story. It's so unsettling to start thinking about someone else's mortality because the only place your brain can go next is your loved ones and your own mortality.

I hugged both women before they left and told them I held them close to my heart and in my prayers. And I haven't really been able to stop thinking about them since. I had to wait a few days to write about it.

Take some time today to tell those you love what they mean to you.

Two Words

Brain Dump

I have several blog post drafts rolling around in my head. I also have more than several other things I need to be doing right now. And so, you get some random bits.

Series 7 Exam
It's not done yet, but almost. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I've convinced myself it is not a train! I'm in a class this week to help get things arranged in my brain and just need to hold on to the information long enough to pass the test.

Moving?
Hubby and I visited Austin for a few days before spending Thanksgiving with family in Oklahoma and had a great time. While there are still lots of logistics to work out, we are likely moving to Austin. We don't have any details on when or specifically where yet, and likely won't have any of those details even on "paper" to consider until after the first of the year. I still have Series 7 on the brain for awhile, then want a break from details!

Turkey Trot
Speaking of Oklahoma for Thanksgiving, we did the Turkey Trot in OKC on Thanksgiving morning with 2 of Hub's brothers and 1 of his sisters. It was pretty stinkin cold, but we did it. Our times weren't great (mine & Hub's times, that is. Both brothers' times were impressive.), but it may have served to solidify our resolve to get back to running. We walked/jogged 5k, then promptly went to Braum's to warm up with breakfast!

Links
Here are a couple of articles I've read lately that caught my attention:

• I was *just* thinking of Christmas gift giving (it is December, you know) and wondering the appropriate amount to tip folks in my life like my hair stylist. With perfect timing, I saw this CNN slideshow about Holiday Tipping.
• There are days that get me off track. Okay, sometimes, there are weeks. The entire month of October was weird for me and I was just off. I saw this article about Getting Back on Track a couple of days ago and while it's specifically about eating right and exercising, it applies on a much broader scale if you step back enough.

A video that totally cracked me up:


And, an LOLcat to wrap it all up:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

What's rolling around in your head lately?