My Best Things In Life Are….
- A really great cup of steaming coffee. For me, there is no better way to wake up.
- Stargazing, and catching sight of a shooting star.
- Summer breezes on my face.
- Seeing beautiful places I studied back in school. The Sistine Chapel was amazing.
- Waking up first thing with my babies. To their smiles. Their hugs and their sweet voices saying, “Momma, come snuggle me!”
- When my husband smiles. He has a beautiful smile and bright blue eyes.
- A really great workout where you muscles are a little trembly afterwards, and you feel like you just rocked it.
- I love music. So when one of my favorite songs happens to be playing at the very second I’m listening, my whole day brightens. It sort of feels meant to be.
- The smell of fresh flowers.
- When a stranger smiles at you or holds the door open to be polite.
- A sweet text from a friend.
- Getting ready for Christmas. The music. The laughter. The great smells in the kitchen from baking all the goodies.
- Peanut butter and chocolate! Yum….
- Knowing a strange fact no one else does, and silencing a room when you say it. Those moments are rare, but fun.
- Making chocolate chip cookies with the kids!
- Hearing them laugh and tell me all their silly stories. I’ll never forget my son’s explanation of Werewolf Jesus.
- Swinging on swings.
- Road trips with your besties. Thanks T and Becky! I’ll never forget how you taught me how to ski.
- My first kiss.
- When my husband plays me a song, that reminded him of me.
- Family time in the living room!
- Dance parties! I love to play some of the kid videos and watch the kids race around the living room and dance. I love to dance right there with them.
- When my kids want to do something because they see me doing it…Yoga, cleaning the kitchen floors, and the shower.
- Knowing my friends are there for me anytime. Anyplace.
- Feeling someone care about you.
- Playing with a puppy or a kitty.
- Holding a baby and feeling them snuggle in your arms.
- Painting a really great view.
- Singing a song out loud and completely out of pitch because it feels so good.
- The beach, when the suns warm on your face. The sand between your toes!
- A bubble bath.
- Giggling at a really funny memory or something someone says and it just feels good to laugh.
- Having someone tell you, you’re beautiful.
- Finding lost money in your pocket.
- Watching my favorite feel good movie when it’s cold and rainy outside.
- I could go on and on….
What’s your favorite thing?
Thirty Random Facts: A Blog Challenge
This is Day One in a Thirty Day Blog Challenge. I promise to do my best!
So here goes! Thirty Random Facts of nonsense about me.
- I love making outlines and graphic organizers so this is a perfect challenge for me! Thank you Miss Banana Pants. I’m hoping I’ll grow a little with your questions each day.
- I named my blog Cloud Nine Girl because I’ve been known to be a huge dreamer. Daydreamer, doodler, you name it. My head is in the clouds planning and thinking about all the what-ifs.
- I am Left-Handed and from what I’ve been told, that means I’m 10% of the backwards population. ;0)
- Superhero movies are also my favorite. Anytime! Anyplace! Hancock, The Avengers, Iron Man, the Hulk. I think it’s because they end happy. And doing impossible things to help others? I’d love to do that.
- I grew up in a zoo. Seriously. From the day I turned 13 I started volunteering in a zoo, studying animal behavior, and well, I cleaned up after them too.
- If I could pick a food today, I’d pick steak. I didn’t learn to like it until I went off to college, but that’s only because I’d never cooked for myself. Carrabba’s has a Steak Marsala that makes my mouth water…like now!
- I once had my hair cut like a boy. Short. Permed. The reason? I wanted to try out for Little Orphan Annie in the traveling production that came to my hometown. I never made it to try-outs, but I have all sorts of bad pictures to remind myself of that horrible haircut.
- I absolutely without a doubt disliked the color pink for most of my life. I think my mom and grandma filled my closet with pink clothes. I didn’t want to be a princess then, more like a bull in a china cabinet if you asked me. But I’ve grown UP. Now I have one or two pink shirts in my closet again. Sorry mom for fighting you so hard.
- I have never been able to get away with a single lie. I think I have at least 10 Jiminy Crickets on each of my shoulders. The few times I tried, I think I wore “I am lying,” all over my face. Yeah. A spanking. Grounded for a week.
- In the fifth grade I wrote a 5-page apology letter to my BFF for winning an argument over a hamburger. She didn’t want to eat where I did, but she went with me anyway. I felt terrible, but she still loves me.
- I am a living and breathing Tasmanian Devil. A room could fall apart the second I walk through the front door. My poor roommates in college. And organizing the house? Well, let’s just say it’s not the top priority when I get home every day. Sorry honey.
- I’ve been known to be an exercise junky. So when my son was born, and I went running for the first time after the 6-week all clear, my foot swelled up the size of a watermelon. I’d broke it when pregnant and didn’t know it and right now, I’m not quite brave enough to undergo the two surgeries to fix it.
- I couldn’t read until I was almost eight. I wrote backwards. I couldn’t make sense of letters. The doctors said it was because of a lazy eye. Who knows. What I do know is this, my first grade teacher saved me. She had the faith and dedication to work with me every day. She changed my life and now I am a reading junky.
- I am proud to say, I grew up in the Mennonite faith. Not all Mennonites wear black hats and ride on horses or in buggies. ;0)
- I am better with strangers than the people I know. I don’t like admitting it, but it’s true. I think I’m always so caught up in saying the right thing, thinking it has to be perfect. I know it doesn’t and it’s something I am working on.
- I love Gerber daisies. Especially a really pretty bundle of mixed colors. The bright red ones are my favorite.
- I am addicted to HGTV. I’d fall asleep to it every night if I could.
- I once dropped forty pounds in three months. How did I do it? I used to picture all the things I loved to eat as rotten and full of bugs until I couldn’t stand the smell or sight of them. My coworker thinks I’m weird because I don’t like donuts. I used to, but somehow, I sort of ruined them for myself.
- Climbing trees is one of my favorite things to do. When I see one, and when I have time, I like to dangle from the branches.
- I teach Yoga. It’s really fun! I never thought I’d like it because you have to be comfortable with being quiet, and I couldn’t do that for a very long time in my life.
- I became an aerobics instructor when I was nineteen to master my fear of standing up in the front of a crowd, which relates to the next item on my list.
- Public speaking is now one of my favorite things to do! I feel so full of life and energy, and I love reaching out to people. I love watching the light bulb go on when others relate to what I’m talking about.
- I am terrified of roller coasters. So when I turned 21, it was the first thing I Swore I had to do. Go to Worlds of Fun and ride every last roller coaster at least two times.
- I can’t do a headstand. So now I’ve set a goal for myself. This year, I will build the arm strength I need to finally, meet this challenge.
- I am not the biggest fan of Barbie Dolls. They serve their purpose. I had quite the collection of them at one point to fit in with my friends, but I LOVE Breyer Horses. I spent every last dollar of my allowance buying those things. I even went to a YMCA camp when I was twelve to learn how to ride and care for horses.
- I spoke like Shakespeare for an entire summer. I swore, before I went into high school, I had to like the way he wrote. So I read every story I could at the library, preparing myself for my future studies. The Tempest was my favorite back then because it didn’t end in death. At least, not that I can remember. I know. NERD!!
- I love to fish. The problem? I don’t like taking the fish off the hooks so I have to wear gloves. I think it freaks me out when they wiggle in my hands. I don’t want to hurt them and I once made it worse for a poor fish and he died when I finally got the hook out of his mouth.
- I love to travel. I’d go back to Scotland and Italy in a heartbeat, though Scotland trumps Italy, because everyone in Scotland kept kissing me on the cheeks. :0)
- I am plain terrible at Math. Chemistry falls into the same category. I’m such an experiencer and a visual learner, if I can’t see how it fits together in my head, there is no way I can remember how to make a formula work. Now biology? That subject is easy.
- I am a morning person. I always have been. My best friends used to get so mad at me when I’d sleep over. I wondered why my friends stopped inviting me for short periods of time. It’s because I’d fall asleep like clockwork about—oooh—9:00 p.m.
So there is day one! I hope I didn’t bore you to death.
~Erika
Monday Morning Makeover: Balance and keeping my eyes on the stars and one foot firm on the ground
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Over the last few days, I have felt the need to reassess balance in my life. Dreams verses the moment. My current roles verses the ones I want for me in the future. Dreaming is never easy and so now I’m working real hard to recreate a daily schedule so I can be everything I need to be and also strive so hard to live.
What does this mean?
It means I work harder with a plan. It means I organize my day and try to follow most of the steps, but not feeling disappointed when sometimes I have to jump over one step or fall backwards down a few to the bottom of the cold hard floor.
How do I plan to do this?
Begin early. Stick with my 4:30 a.m. plan. Say my prayers and feel grateful for each day I have a chance to live my dreams, write and push harder to get the things done I want to do for me.
And the rest of the day?
I am the mom. I focus on the family. I focus on work, and friends, and my household. I take care of all my responsibilities and help my family be all they can be. And at the end of the day, if I’m not tired, I sneak in a few more selfish moments for me.
What issues do I face?
Stepping outside of my whirlwind thoughts. Shutting down my characters and plot lines racing through my head, and how to lock myself in the here and now. Playing with my babies. Laughing, singing, being the mom I love to be. And this week? I have one huge obstacle in my path. Surgery. But it has to be done and recovery is hopefully only 6 days. When it’s over, I’ll be breathing freer and clearer than I ever would have known.
So when you want something to happen, dream it. Do it. Remember the balance. I swear by my lists. I just don’t swear myself to every step anymore, because life is messy. Just a bunch of puzzle pieces thrown in a box and we have to sort through them. Some of the pieces will fit. Some won’t, and that’s okay too.
Friday Flashback: Just a story about a girl who never felt smart enough
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I once had an English teacher with an infamous reputation so big and scary most of my classmates dreaded the return to school in the fall. She had red curly hair. A stare so narrow it could cut a person to their knees in seconds. And that thin fine mouth. She’d squeeze it so tight you couldn’t see her lips. We kept hoping every year, she’d retire—but she didn’t.
It was my Junior Year in High school, the last semester, and the class was assigned to groups of three for our end of the year project. A book we’d never read. A paper, a project, and teaching the class a lesson over the book. I was petrified of public speaking at that point. I was so scared of saying the right words I often defeated myself from over thinking. Needless to say, I never thought I’d make it through that project with a decent grade. I stayed up hours, burning the candle at both ends, tired beyond tired. I think my dad carried me up the steps at one point, when I’d fallen asleep in the middle of a late night study group. I’d wake up with dark circles under my eyes the next morning. My feet felt so heavy I swore cement blocks were tied to the bottoms of my shoes. I had this problem back then. I wanted to be smarter than I thought I was. I worked so hard to make good grades I think I actually made worse grades because of the amount of stress I piled on top of myself. I realized much later, I couldn’t accept me for me.
Some of who we are when we’re young carries over into who we are today, and this week, I remembered all too clearly the fear of failing when so much pressure rides on my shoulders. I let the stress take hold of my mind at many moments this week, causing more mistakes to happen, than if I would have stopped myself and taken a moment to find some peace. I realize now, I still want everything to be perfect, but I’ve also learned, I will live if it isn’t. I know now, mistakes happen, and yes, I’ll make them. And I’ve finally accepted my role as a perfectly imperfect human being. The best news is this, every day ends. I’ll go home. I’ll crawl into bed. And when I wake up, the sun will shine with the promise of a new day.
So don’t forget, tomorrow is always a new day and you have every opportunity to make your dreams happen all over again.
Hugs!
Erika
Cloud Nine Girl 