La Joie de Vivre

Who'd have thought I'd be getting some wisdom from Jessica Simpson. (I DO love her, and think she is one of the sweetest things ever, but I didn't know she'd get me thinking.)

So she's got a show on VH1, The Price of Beauty, and it's interesting to say the least. In different exotic locals she looks into what that culture perceives as beautiful. And then the flip side where someone went too far for beauty. I guess we Americans aren't the only ones capable of going to extremes.

While in France she is turned onto the phrase, "la joie de vivre"...Joy of living. Wikipedia has this to say, "can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… And joie de vivre may be seen as a joy of everything, a comprehensive joy, a philosophy of life, a worldview."

I aspire to this...I dream of this...I lie and say I live this. I do my best, but often come up short. I so many times forget that there is so much joy to be found in living. It's easy to find the joy in the big things, but my goal is to extract all the joy from even the most simple moment.


Por ejemplo...
When I wake up before my alarm goes off I get pissed for missing an extra fifteen minutes of sleep. Instead I should be happy to know my body is rested, ready to start the day, and joyful to start the day in such a peaceful way.

The phrase is about the joy of living; not the joy of life. I want to be very specific about this. Enjoying life seems so passive. Enjoying living is an action. A conscience decision I must make every day. An active process of extracting the happiness from everything I do. Hopefully, I'll get get better; for now I'm gonna go find the joy in a bubble bath.

My Stupid Mouth

One of the worst feelings I have in life is hurting someone I love. We've all done it, sometimes intentionally sometimes not so much. The accidental time suck, but the times I do it on purpose are the real knives to the heart.

When you're in the moment and are feeling angry, hurt, or backed into a corner who knows how you'll swing back. My ideal response is to breath deep and let it go. After all one of my biggest life philosophies is that everyone (even the person backing me into a corner) is allowed to feel however they want whenever they want. But sometimes the claws come out. Sometimes I say that thing that I know will hurt the most. And instantly I regret it.

I don't regret much in life...just because it's a waste of time. But deliberately hurting someone is the one thing I can rarely get over. Mostly because I know how it feels to be on the other end. When someone hurts me on purpose it breaks my heart, and I play it over and over in my head. So when I do it, I seriously hate myself for it. I hate that I can apologize and admit guilt forever, but that the person may never forgive me. I hate that they will carry around the memory of the stupid shit I said to them just because I couldn't shut my stupid mouth.

So here's some good advice we all should take: Whenever you feel the word vomit coming up, get the fuck out of there. Go do yoga, take a walk, phone a friend, have a cigarette, blast some music, whatever it takes. You'll thank me later.

Happy Birthday Morgan!!!!

It's this simple y'all...

My tennis shoes are lonely

I am just now getting back to the point where I can move around without coughing after being sick for about three weeks. It was seriously kicking my ass, but I'm excited to be just about back to normal.

There's just this one thing: my tennis shoes. I always keep them by the door to have less of a hassle when it comes time for me to get outside and get moving. I need so much motivation to exercise sometimes that I need all the help I can get. This includes but is not limited to sleeping in my sports bra and athletic socks, setting reminder alarms on my cellphone, and as I mentioned keeping my shoes right by the door.

For the past three weeks they've just been sitting there taunting me, giving me dirty looks, and kinda reminding me of that stack of money with the eyeballs on the Geico commercials. It's been almost too much to bare.

I'm not some kind of hardcore fitness nut, nor do I want to be. But there really is something inside that feels different just by simply throwing on some workout clothes and lacing up my tennis shoes. I feel stronger, more alive, and more able to face the world. I realize this is a lot of power to give to an outfit, but I can't really explain it. I even feel like I stand differently, and it makes me proud. And motivated to get out there and sweat out some stress, burn off some calories, and most importantly enjoy life. So yeah, sometime this week I WILL put on those tennis shoes and wipe that smirk off their stupid face!

I will now leave you with something that always gets my blood pumping...

Who knew I had this in me???

Today I had a nice Valentine's Day. I unleashed my inner artist, and forgot that I'd been a nasty sick person for a week. I'm not the kind of single person that hates Valentine's Day. I just think it can come in many forms. An afternoon with a friend trying something new is just as heart-warming and satisfying as a lovey dovey date. (well almost :p)

But anywho, little ol' me painted this picture. And I'm pretty proud of myself. It was a little nerve-wracking at first, but then it was really fun. You can bring your own alcohol to drink, but since I'm still all drugged up, no booze for me. The whole class takes about three hours. The cost varies, but this one was $35. Not too bad for a good time and a nice souvenir.

Here's the website in case you're interested: https://www.sipsnstrokes.com/home.aspx

If you live in the area, I highly recommend giving it a try. Oh, and let me know cause I might tag along. After 13 classes you get a freebie. :)

All my love to you all <3

This song kicks ass.

THE END.

Saturday Night '80s

I'm sitting around thinking I'm in need of a good eighties mix. Not a playlist BTW; I dig on my mp3 player but really prefer the ease and permanence of a actually hard CD. That way I can jump into anyone's car and pop it in and not have to scroll through a million things just to get to it.

Anyways, I'm taking suggestions. Things I'm ruling out: my big three Prince, MJ, and Madonna. Also hair bands. This is going to be more of 80's Charity--deep cuts. The only song I've for sure nailed down is Depeche Mode-Just Can't Get Enough. So throw me some good stuff. I'm mainly thinking mid to up tempo stuff, but I'll throw in a slow jam if it's really killer. :)