Dream Mapping

While at the beach for girl's weekend, I was introduced to dream mapping by one of the girls that went on the trip. All of us brought magazines and scissors to help with the project. We all sat on the floor, spread and magazines out and placed a piece of blank poster board in front of each. We then spent 15 minutes going through the pile of magazines and tearing out things that made us happy, things we liked, things that appealed to us, etc. At this point, all you were supposed to do was tear things out. Which in and of itself was great therapy. It was fun to sit and rip for awhile.

After the 15 minutes were up, you were supposed to take what you had ripped out and start to trim the pages down and place them on your piece of poster board. Then you spent about 15 minutes or so gluing the pictures, words, phrases, etc. down onto the board. We then took a few minutes and embellished the boards, either with stickers, our name, jewels, etc.

The picture above is my work in progress. The picture below is the final work all framed and ready to hang up on a wall in my apartment. The point is to place the map in a place where you will see it on a regular basis and help remind you of what your dreams are.

As I sit and look at the finished project, I am amazed at what I was able to pull out of my head and interpret as my thoughts and dreams in just 15 minutes. I obviously have the dream of meeting a new guy, buying a home, moving on, creating a new and better me, having fun, having hope, creating something new, giving, saving and most of all living. For once, my life is all about me.

My favorite saying that is on the board is "History isn't made in rear view mirrors." I remember cutting those words from an ad for Cadillac. I will probably never own a Cadillac, but the saying is so fitting for me right now.

I am excited to move on, I am excited to look forward and I can't wait to see what lies ahead. There is no need to look back, just forward.

I think I have really started to learn how to live, laugh and love all over again.

Thoughtful Thursday

If we are going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed; you cannot drink grapes.

Girl's Weekend

On Friday I ventured to Kure Beach, NC with 5 wonderful girlfriends for a weekend of fun and relaxation. We all brought something sweet, something salty and something alcoholic to share. We took long walks on the beach, looked for shells, did a little dancing, played some games and of course ate and drank.




Who needs fancy nightclubs or crowded bars when you have wine, comfy pants and Wii Just Dance 2. We all took turns and wore ourselves out. I really wish that I had video, because pictures just don't do the game justice.






The funny thing is that we stayed at a fully furnished townhouse located right on the beach. Our unit was on the end. We had 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, two decks, lots of rocking chairs, a swing, and full kitchen. The unit had everything that we could possibly need except one thing...... there were NO wine glasses. So of course we found substitutes, in the form of regular glasses and now our infamous blue plastic solo cups. There is nothing like drinking wine out of a plastic cup.

The weather was awesome, the fellowship fun and the relaxation and sharing was a blast. Overall it was a great weekend for learning to live, laugh and love again.

Thoughtful Thursday

So my parents gave me a book for Valentine's Day....A Continual Feast, Words of Comfort and Celebration, Collected by Father Tim by Jan Karon.

Each week, I want to share something I read in it with you. So here is today's quote:

"At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed Him. Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God's hand until we learn to hear Him...... Are you in the dark just now in your circumstances, or in your life with God? ...When you are in the dark listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get into the light."

Oswald Chambers, Utmost-- reading for Feb 14

Happy Valentine's Day!

Roses are red, violets are blue, my assistant got flowers, chocolate and a balloon.

Even though they were for her, I still got to enjoy the look and smell of them for the afternoon. Maybe tomorrow she will share some of the chocolates.

It's days like today that remind me that once again I am single. However, it was fun to watch the look on my assistant's face as she came back to the pod with the gift in her hands from her "gentleman friend". I got to enjoy her surprise and do a little laughing with her over it. It was also a great reminder of how simple love can be.

This is my first Valentines alone in over 11 years. But it is not a bad alone. Tonight I am enjoying the quiet of the evening with a glass of wine and leftover pizza. I also got a package from my parents with a book and an awesome pair of socks. I can't wait to share the book with you as time goes on.

So here's to Saint Valentine and Hallmark for creating a day that is supposed to be full of love. I hope that your day was full of love but more hopeful that YOUR LIFE will be full of LOVE.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my dear friends and family.

Bota Box

Bota Box Chardonnay. A single girl's new best friend. Have one, or two, or three glasses or the whole box. It is totally up to me and keeps fresh for weeks. Plus you don't even need a corkscrew.

It truly is a great glass of wine. Clean, crisp, not full of oak or butter. Just a little bit of pineapple, with some citrus and a hint of vanilla.

In other words, a nice glass of white wine to enjoy while learning to live, laugh and love again.

Standing Dinner Reservations

So a key to being able to learn to live, laugh and love again is having something to look forward to. Even though I have great long term goals and dreams, it is the short term that matters the most right now.

I have these two wonderful friends who have set a standing dinner reservation with me. Every 1st Monday of the month, the three of us have dinner together.

For the most part that dinner has been at the same place and time each month, but not always. Now granted this is the first month we ate someplace new, but we did.

I look forward to these dinners together. The conversation is always great, the food good and usually the wine is splendid. But tonight it was burgers and beer. But it is all the same. It is all about the fellowship.

So cheers to my 2 great friends. I look forward to many more dinners on the 1st Monday.

Retail Therapy

A little bit of retail therapy is a great way to spend a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon. It is also a lot cheaper then one of my regular therapy sessions, thanks to some great sales that I found today at the outlets.

I scored some cute clogs at Clark's for 1/2 off and several articles of clothing at The Loft at deep discounts as well. One of my favs is a $40 sweater for $9.99.

But shhhhh.....don't tell my therapist that she was replaced today with a little road trip to Mebane.

However, I wasn't too impressed with the McDonald's smoothie I got for the drive home. Should have just gotten a milkshake, but I was trying to be healthy.

Not a bad day for little living.

Tonight I Laughed

I was fixing dinner tonight and something happened to make me laugh.

When I got home from work tonight, I took out some chicken breasts, made a marinade (Thanks Adele for the recipe - Lemon Basil Chicken), and then while the chicken soaked, I went for a walk. It was such a lovely evening tonight. Temps in the 60's, slight breeze, more fresh air.

When I got home from my walk, I turned the chicken, checked my email, prepared the side dish and then put the chicken in the oven.

However, when I opened the oven to check on the chicken, my smoke detector went off.

I promised I didn't burn the chicken. I have no idea why the smoke detector went off. There wasn't any smoke. However the oven was set on broil so maybe it was too hot. Who knows, but the chicken had to stay a little longer in the oven, so I put it back in. When I went to take it out of the oven again, the smoke detector went off again. All I could do now was laugh.

So I stood in my kitchen and laughed. The cats scattered and hid under the bed, but I just stood there and laughed. I then went and fanned the nearest detector and it stopped.

Dinner was good. Quite moist and juicy. And I laughed. Not bad for a Wednesday evening.

Tuesday Night In

Therapy session, pizza, big glass of red wine (maybe two), over-sized sweatshirt, and UNC basketball. Just another Tuesday night in learning to live, laugh and love again.