Saturday, January 31, 2015

WTA Seahawks Bus

Superbowl Fever is all around the Pacific Northwest, and Bellingham is no exception. I had read in The Bellingham Herald that there was a bus decked out for the Seahawks and I got to ride it not once, but twice yesterday ☺

Even though I don't watch football, I am excited for the team and the fans and of course hope they win tomorrow. Like last year, for the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, WTA (Whatcom Transit Authority) has had GO HAWKS alternating with the route name on the reader board of every bus. This year they decked one out for the Seattle Seahawks and alternated it on different routes. Yesterday it was the bus that takes me to and from work from the Cordata Station. It's kind of a kick to ride on it, just like the one they decorate for Christmas.

For several reasons I want the Seahawks to win. I think that Seattle sports teams don't get respect, and I respect Pete Carroll as a coach and that he has gotten the team to this level is a validation of his style and his hard work. GO HAWKS!!



























Sunday, January 25, 2015

A Beautiful Day for Some Cheese Biscuits!

Cheese Biscuits

What a beautiful mild day we had today, high around 56 degrees and no rain - though parts of the surrounding yard still have puddles from yesterday.

I made the whipping cream biscuits with grated Colby & Monterrey Jack cheese to go with my salad for lunch; I threw in some Garlic Herb Bread seasoning from Spice Hunter, and OMG they were so good, they didn't even really need butter! I love that blend, and I have to admit the bottle is really old and I should get a new one, but I hadn't seen it in the local stores and wasn't even sure they still made it until I went online today.

Last Saturday Don & Susan, Tina, Naomi and Jo and I met up at Cafe Akroteri downtown for Greek food. At some point in the conversation I think it was Jo that said she had heard a frog already this month, and couldn't believe it given that it's still January. Well yesterday and today I heard one too, so it makes me wonder if we are going to have an early spring. I would really love that, even though we haven't really had a hard winter, it would still be nice.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Crazy Cat Lady



I am definitely guilty of everything but numbers 4 & 8. I even downloaded a MP3 of a cat purring to use as background for meditating - a gal at work said that officially made me a crazy cat lady - as if I wasn't already. But that MP3 was the best dollar I ever spent ☺

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

A Work In Progress

Whomever checks out my blog, which I'm sure is a very short list, may have noticed that I added a new slide show recently of quotes.

Well over a year ago at work we started having stand-up meetings every day and part of the process is that the person leading the meeting provides a quote. Usually the quotes are work related and/or inspiring, sometimes humorous and work related.

I've really come to enjoy the quotes, and will write down ones that just really resonate with me and save them. In the last month I started taking some of those quotes and making these images. I now find myself writing things down from pretty much everything I read, ALL THE TIME, even my horoscope this past Sunday had a line that really stuck with me!



The self discipline line made me think about resolutions, and how some changes that we try to make in our lives can be a challenge to keep the commitment to, but that it is worth it in the end. I'm trying to continue to eat better foods and be more active. I am also working on my outlook and trying very hard to let go of a lot of emotional baggage that has weighed me down for too much of my life.

I have been reading more in the last year, and one of the books I got this past fall was 'The Power of Positive Thinking' from Norman Vincent Peale. So the thing is, I'm not really religious and I wasn't paying very close attention to the fact that this book was in the religion category. I had mainly decided to get it because it's a title I had heard of for a long time, and that it was supposed to be good. I'm almost to the end, and I don't regret it for a second.

In the course of reading it, I have realized many things, but for starters, I can now say that I am spiritual, but not religious, and understand the difference. The author quotes the Bible a lot, (he's a reverend, of course he would) but I just have to kind of change a few words (in my head) as I'm reading and I still find value in the concepts his is trying to put forth.

As I mentioned before, December was a really difficult month for me, and I'm glad that I started reading it then, because on a few really dark days it prompted me to think about some things I could do to help bring myself some peace of mind and rise out of the proverbial pit of despair. It prompted me to start thinking seriously about meditation and clearing my head of negative thoughts; not just about myself, but about everything really. I am trying to make a point of noticing every day the little things that I am grateful for and that bring me moments of simple happiness. I have also come to realize that no matter how bad things get, that there is meaning to my life.

In December I had to walk away from a friendship that was very dear to me, because I was in love, and he wasn't.  For years I had hidden away my heart because I got tired of being hurt. And even though things ended badly and I was ultimately rejected, I had the confidence in myself to tell him that I loved him, and I don't regret that. He wanted to continue to be friends, but I couldn't stick around and endure him dating other women, I'm not strong enough for that.

I've begun to realize how some things I said and did came out of me assuming the worst of him based on how I had been treated in the past. I suspect that some things he said to me would fall in that category too. I wish there had been a different outcome, but I want to face the future with hope that I can have a healthy loving relationship and faith that I deserve it.






Paper Sculptures by Richard Sweeney

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These (and more) paper sculptures by U.K. artist Richard Sweeney are featured in a post today over on Colossal.com - just amazing and beautiful. I've said it so many, times, but I am truly in awe of so much of the art they feature.

Yesterday there was a post of Japanese artist Makoto Azuma's floral arrangements frozen into blocks of ice. Here is just one of the images, click on the link for the entire post.

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Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Christoph Niewmann on Colossal.com



As usual, found something pretty cool over on Colossal.com today; a post on artist Christoph Niemann who incorporates real objects with ink drawings to some pretty whimsical results.
Here are a couple of the images, enjoy!


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Thursday, January 1, 2015

New Year 2015

True to form I fell asleep in bed reading a book last night around 10pm and woke up to the sound of fireworks around midnight. Made my biscuit/cinnamon roll hybrid again for a treat to start the new year. I'm going to make pork baby back ribs for dinner.

I am going to try and continue the momentum to self improvement in 2015 and hopefully stop repeating the same mistakes and break the negative mindset I've had for too much of my life. But don't expect too much too soon - I'm a work in progress!