November Blooms

Gardening has become a bit of an obsession for me of late. Obviously as many of my posts this year have involved my garden. My kryptonite? Clearance plants at Lowe's and Home Depot. Yes you read that right - clearance plants. They are awesome! If you don't mind waiting a little bit later in the season those are the best buys. You can't always find great selections but sometimes you hit the jackpot with those plants. Recently I bought 3 plants for a dollar each, $3 for large perennials! Earlier in the summer I bought some portulaca (aka Amor) for $0.65, yeah. That one is absolutely beautiful too. Everytime I go I have to look at their clearance section. Have. To. Yeah I have become obsessed.
Obsession seems to be a repeating theme for me, from knitting to gardening to partying to building. I feel I fall into an obsessive activity easily, mind you obsessive not addictive. The only addiction I had recently was Candy Crush and I have given that up! It was hard the first 2 weeks but it that too has passed.

Of course, gardening is just one more thing to fill up the days with and to the point of this post - I want to change the course of my goal making. I want to be able to make deeper commitments to life and myself. These past few years (or decade) my goals have been short-term and a bit shallow. I know it's only November but seriously 2016 is only 2 months away. I think this year I'm giving this whole goal thing a thorough analysis and be careful of what direction I need. Any suggestions?


And yes my garden is still blooming in November. I have new flowers almost every day!

Setting Summer Sun

OK a dry well here of late but I'm back!

Actually I've had quite an exciting month or little more. At the end of August I won tickets to an ACLTV concert for one of the guys from the Eagles and then about 2 weeks ago I won tickets again to Alabama Shakes! Yeah I know right?! Well I didn't go to the first concert because my concert buddy was out of town and part of the reason I actually go to the concerts is so I get to visit her and her family. Mind you in my 20's I would have probably just gone on my own but age has made me realize that the Eiffel Tower is prettier with a friend. Yup good times :) I also got to meet her son for the first time and he is adorable! The sweetest smile you have ever seen and quite the charmer. It was a really good weekend but that was almost 3 weeks ago!

Since then it's been work, work, work, and sister, sister, sister. Yes I may have a case of sisteritis, spending all of my free time at her house because now my sister lives less than 5 minutes away. I could walk to her house - could, not will. However, I can't even complain about work because it has really been good lately, lots of good results and progress. I haven't had much time to be introspective or look for issues to solve in the personal realm. Obviously I have no dating life and Match.com was a complete bust, so I say with complete confidence romantic relationships are now off the table. Obviously it's not going to happen thus I will employ my time and mind in the pursuit of something equally entertaining. I will let you know when I figure that part out myself. Maybe I'll be better at blogging if I stop thinking about romance? Maybe.

Well other than that life has been hectic with work, family moving closer, friends, and obviously random ticket wins like the past month! Life has been good, over all a good way to close down the summer.  I hope everyone has had a good time of late. A bit of the Alabama Shakes for your enjoyment, who knows you might like their music :)

Buff & Fluff

My makeup application ability

Girly girls!!! I am not one of them. I have recently become interested in makeup and its application but I don't think I could do it. It is crazy complicated. I mean seriously there is way too much work that goes into putting on makeup and doing a "full" face. I don't think I can master this one skill, I really should have started in my teens if I wanted this particular skill. The extent of my skills is slathering on some tinted moisturizer, try blush (followed by trying to rub it off), and some eyeshadow with eyeliner. That alone sounds complicated. Oh and I can do mascara, when I remember - I didn't remember today.

It is also expensive. Extremely. Expensive. Seriously. Mind you most of the people that do tutorials online have products provided when they endorse that product or are given free samples for them to highlight. Of course that can always backfire because they can get a negative review for their product. I am not too envious because quite honestly I do not have the time to dedicate to makeup that these ladies do but I would love to know how to apply makeup for certain occasions. In the coming days I might put up some pics because I'm trying a little harder in the mornings. I put in a video that shows a now mirror challenge and it is fun because she looks way better than I do when I use several mirrors. You don't have to watch it all you can just skip to the end, I did. Mind you this young lady has beautiful young (emphasis on young) skin, now if I could just find an older woman who has my laugh lines to show me how to apply makeup to my no longer as young skin :)

Just a bit of fluff today but hope everyone has a good week!

Old Stones

What kind of person do you think you are? Are you kind? Understanding? Empathetic? Negative? Positive? Dramatic? Plain-Jane?

Today I had a situation that I could have handled better, instead I let my quick temper get the better of me. I should know better by now but I guess like everyone we let it slip once in awhile. When someone asks you to quit doing something it's annoying, to say the least. It calls to attention a behaviour you thought was appropriate but is bothersome to another, that implies you are bothersome to that person. When in reality they may have a headache, your behaviour reminds them of something negative, or they simply cannot deal with it because they are busy and focused. However, when does it become your duty to bend to another's will or is it a compromise? Are you the one giving something up for the selfish pleasure of another or are you really just maintaining a cordial environment with the other person? Obviously being in close quarters with anyone makes it an excellent opportunity to create problems or lose it over something stupid. Today I reacted and caused a problem that didn't exist, and I'm sure the other person didn't even realize that is how I felt. Why? Simply put it really wasn't a big deal but some life experiences have made me doubt myself and my ability to have cordial relationships. Simple things to remember (that I seem to forget, blame the age):

1. Other people have opinions that you may not agree with, deal with it.
2. Close quarters are not bad, but you do need to be conscious that you are not the center of the universe (that bit is for me). Act like someone SHARING space, not someone controlling that space.
3. Understand that what works for you does not necessarily work for others. If you need to click pens to concentrate/think, it does not mean your neighbor does. That's an example, no one does that in my workplace, however applicable to any situation.
4. It also means that you have the right to speak up when someone else is creating an environment that is disruptive to you. 
5. Learn to let it go because at the end of the day the only person who obsessed for those 15 minutes about the gall of your friend/neighbor was you, because they sure as hell did not.
6. Your past is not an issue for others, only for you. Do not expect for others to treat you like those in your past. Do learn how to recognize the negative of the past in your present and learn to not let it hurt you like in the past. Move forward.

There's a saying in Spanish, "No te trompiezes con la misma piedra." Translation: Don't trip over the same stone twice. Today a simple request from a friend, called to mind the demands of a very nasty person from my past and I reacted as if I was talking to that person. The past is the past, we should learn, not repeat. Today I was the negative person but I swear that I try really hard on a daily basis to be positive, some days it just comes easier than other days. Lately though I've been letting the negativity get to me more than I should. Man this whole life thing is a lot of work, if I didn't enjoy breathing so much I would totally quit.

New Mexico: Land of Hidden Beauty

Ruidoso. A word in Spanish that means very noisy. Also a town in New Mexico. My father took us there this weekend, a quaint mountain town with some fun outdoor activities. We actually drove up a very winding road to Ski Apache because my father wanted us to see the place. He felt it was very pretty and just wanted us to go with him. Once we were up there, all he and my mother wanted to do was sit and talk! My father is afraid of heights, my mother is afraid too even though she won't admit it. I think for him the thrill comes from driving up the mountain and wondering how the truck isn't tumbling down the side as it's a very small road. Thus we drove for 3 hours to get there and just sit and chat! They have gondola rides up to the top of the mountain and the view was beautiful but my parents declined the offer to go up. My sister and I actually want to go back up because Ski Apache has mountain biking and a zip line, totally want to do the zip line!

Looking towards White Sands, another hidden New Mexico gem.

Missing a sister here.

Although I found it a bit silly that my parents drove so long and high for "nothing", it really wasn't for nothing. They just wanted to spend some time with their daughters and their grandson. My sister recently moved, they don't get to see him everyday as before. They've had withdrawals. I guess having us all out of the house has been a strange thing for them; going through a bit of empty nest syndrome. I don't have pictures of them up here on the mountaintop because my parents refused to accompany us :)

New Mexico, so many hidden gems. They really need to amp up the advertising, seriously they have tons to do and such beautiful scenery.

Summer's Wintery Highlight

Hello everyone!

Church waiting to be
rebuilt after the last earthquake.

I was reading through my blog yesterday and I thought what else could I add to my description of Chile? Honestly it was more I got to know a few people and ate out while I was there. Very delicious food mind you, the ceviche is to die for there and coming from a person who doesn't like seafood that says a lot! I'm not huge on seafood but I did enjoy it while I was there. Oh yeah, I was in Valparaiso which is a twin city with Viña del Mar. I guess I can take Viña off my bucket list, I had always wanted to go to a music festival they have there and technically I've been to Viña now. I may not have attended the music festival but I'm going to count it because the festival does not appeal to me anymore. It would be cold, wet, and probably musicians I've never even heard of now. Viña - check!

Quintay, a former whaling village.

Quintay.

Those two cities have a strange dynamic. Viña is nice and posh, very clean, still some graffiti but overall nice. Valparaiso not so nice, not posh, not very clean (public urination is apparently an issue), lots of graffiti but I still liked it for some reason. Perhaps it's because I got to meet a bunch of really nice people who lived in the area and got to walk around with someone who lives there. I think that makes a huge difference in one's opinion of a city. Mind you both cities were amazing and I enjoyed my time there, I really hope I get to go back sometime in the future. I don't think I can add more to my thoughts on this matter so I'll just leave you with some pictures.

Algarobo

Casablanca

Valparaiso