How Rude!

I think one of the rudest things I see people do is leave their shopping carts wherever they feel like it. To me, it literally screams "I am too important and too good to place my cart in the cart-lot where it belongs"... and I HATE self-entitlement. I watched a woman today struggle for 3 minutes to be sure the cart she was leaving in between 2 cars would stay balanced and not roll off or hit one of the cars. She could have walked the cart to the cart-lot (which was only 3 spaces over), walked back to her car and start driving off in that amount of time.

Later I went to pull into a parking space only to discover that a cart was sitting in the middle of the space! So rude! Then when my shopping was complete, I went to pull OUT of my spot only to find out that I couldn't pull out because there was a line of about 20 carts behind me and the poor kid was off collecting others that people were too important to put where they belong.

He shouts "I'm sorry!"

I almost shouted back "No, I'm sorry. People are so rude for not putting them where they go... and now you're stuck cleaning up their mess."

Instead I just said to myself "Just think of it as... job security."

Tuesday's Tribute (on Thursday) - Luke

How precious is my nephew, Luke?! He is now 7 weeks old... man, time flies! I got to visit Alissa, Greg and Luke last week for a few days in Tyler, TX and I LOVED getting to know him! I held him every chance I got... I even loved changing his little diapers. He's one of the most content babies I've ever known - hardly ever cries! I'm so proud of Alissa and Greg - you wouldn't ever know they're first time parents! Leaving him was so difficult; it's hard when the reality of what I'm missing hits!


So sweet! He loves his arms by his face!


This was my favorite... holding him while he sleeps.


Yay! I got to see some of his first smiles! Check out his
dimple... love it!

I miss him so much!

Thursday's Thought - Walls

Walls are built to keep everything out and anything in. I think this is why we sometimes build them around our heart. When we do, we are able to keep out any pain, anger, sadness, rejection, heartache - you know, the "bad" stuff that might come our way. This is good, right... I mean, isn't this the point? Well, when you think about it... by building walls we also keep away all the "good" stuff too - all love, joy, acceptance, happiness, fulfillment, peace, etc. Not only this, but we've now trapped in the "bad" stuff that came before the walls did... after all, they provided the tools to build it in the first place.

So it seems that by building these walls, though we may be able to avoid pain, we avoid so much LIFE! I wonder what would happen if we chose the journey that gives us the tools to break down these walls. Maybe we would learn to accept anything that comes our way, even if it includes pain. I wonder if we didn't have these walls, if we would be able to not live in fear of the "bad" stuff. I wonder if then, these realities - the pain and the joy, the heartache and the love, the stifled and the freedom... will remind us we're alive! And just maybe we will be able to let go of our tendency to control reality and rest in the freedom that allows us to just... be.

Tuesday's Tribute - Alan

I decided to pay a special tribute to someone or something every Tuesday.

This Tuesday's Tribute is for one of my favorite people in all the land: Alan.

Let me tell you a little bit about Alan. If I had to describe Alan in only three words, they would be: Loyal, Witty and Intelligent. He has a very unique life story - one worth knowing. He is an "aspiring writer," but I know he's going to make a living at it one day - he is incredibly gifted. He's one of the wittiest people you'll ever come across... extremely funny! I like making him laugh because a) he has a great laugh and b) he's a tough audience in that he only laughs if it really is funny. He's one of my favorite people to people-watch with and he hates grammar mistakes as much as I do. He's exceptionally authentic (which is a quality I value in anybody). My life is definitely richer with him in it.

Let's take a look at my sweet friend:

Blonde Alan... so hot.



Our sunglass ad.




I posted this one especially for him.



And this is my absolute favorite picture of Alan... it's so him.

Love you, Alan!