Every year I morph into an irresponsible kid...it happens just about the same time the weather is gorgeous and the days are longer...I no longer want to be at work, I begin despising the desk that holds me prisoner 8-9 hours a day and I simply long to be in the sunshine, working in the yard, reading a good book, sitting by the pool or out on the boat. These longings consume my mind and I become bitter at the idea of having to go to work. Some day, I hope, I will find the job that doesn't keep me behind a computer ALL day and the job that will challenge me. But most importantly, some day, I hope, I will find that job that allows me to play outside on these GORGEOUS days.
I keep a blog. Yes. Mainly to keep a record of the going ons in my life. I don't feel it necessary to write the random thoughts that pass in and out of my mind here on this page. Most of them probably don't concern you (though I'm sure I could compose the thoughts in a way that could be quite entertaining to read). I don't really understand the thought process and usually just pass it off as another random moment in Shay's life. Though I do have to say, the other day, I made one of my random comments and unbelievably...Tim understood where it was coming from. (a car drove past that looked like Taylor's...I then commented on Taylor's front fender...and Tim followed the whole process). Makes me wonder...we spend a lot of time together, eh?
Back to spring...(and away from the bird-walking thoughts that I'm so famous for...Shay, finish the story!!)...we have a lot of fun things on our plate. I hopefully will finish up my yard and get to post pictures soon. It is looking good--and my definition--grown up! We have Bug Bash 2008 around the corner, I always get great pictures from that! Weddings (as usual) and just good times by the pool/lake/at a friend's house. I am so glad the spring/summer season has come.
Now...if 5:00 Friday would just come each and every day my world would be perfect!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Girls Having Fun
Please notice...Jessica is wearing HEELS and playing ping pong?!?!?
Shay, Jessica, Marlo and Veronica--self portrait...ok, timed with the camera...in a time out from a serious game of ping pong.
2008 Cystic Fibrosis Wine Opener
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Eat, Pray, Love
I got the book, "Eat, Pray, Love" from Gran Lin (who got it from Cherie) and I fell in love with it!! I wanted to post some excerpts from the book here for you to read...it is amazing. I highly recommend it!! From the opening paragraph I was captured and inspired. I have found that the thoughts and ideas described in this book have inspired me to reevaluate many ways I view my life and my relationships with family, friends and my God. I decided to share some of the excerpts from Eat, Pray, Love that inspired me with you all…I hope you enjoy:
Gilbert refers to God quite often throughout the book, but to her, God is not one “thing,” one “person,” one idea.
“In the end, what I have come to believe about God is simple. It’s like this—I used to have this really great dog. She came from the pound. She was a mixture of about ten different breeds, but seemed to have inherited the finest features of them all. She was brown. When people asked me, ‘what kind of dog is that?’ I would always answer, ‘she’s a brown dog.’ Similarly, when the question is raised, ‘what kind of God do you believe in?’ my answer is easy: ‘I believe in a magnificent God.’” (page 14)
“…’I guess what I want to learn is how to live in this world and enjoy its delights, but also devote myself to God.’ …Ketut [told me] ‘to find the balance you want…this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it is like you have four legs instead of two. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart instead. That way, you will know God.’” (page 27)
“…my mother has made choices in her life, as we all must, and she is at peace with them. I can see her peace. She did not cop out on herself. The benefits of her choices are massive—a long, stable marriage to a man she still calls her best friend; a family that has extended now into grandchildren that adore her; a certainty in her own strength. Maybe some things were sacrificed, and my dad made his sacrifices, too—but who amongst us lives without sacrifice?
And the question now for me is, what are my choices to be? What do I believe that I deserve in this life? Where can I accept sacrifice and where can I not?” (page 83)
“You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.” (page 115)
“There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all throughout history. ‘How much do you love me?’ and ‘Who is in charge?’ Everything else is somehow manageable. But these two questions of love and control undo us all, trip us up and cause war, grief and suffering.” (page 157)
“The Wise man is always similar to himself.” Pythagorian philosopher, Sextus.
“This doesn’t mean I cannot be devout. It doesn’t mean I can’t be thoroughly tumbled and humbled with God’s love. This does not mean I cannot serve humanity. It doesn’t mean I can’t improve myself as a human being, honing my virtues and working daily to minimize my vices.” (page 192)
“Man is a demon, man is a god. Both true.” (page 251)
“ ‘So, what can we do about the craziness of the world?’
‘Nothing.’ Ketut laughed, but with a dose of kindness. ‘This is nature of world. This is destiny. Worry about your craziness only—make you in peace.’” (page 251)
“…people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you’re fortunate enough. But that’s not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don’t, you will leak away your innate contentment. It’s easy enough to pray when you’re in distress, but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments.” (page 260)
“ ‘Universe is a circle, Liss.’
I still wasn’t sure I understood.
He said, ‘To up, to down—all same, at end.’
I remembered an old Christian mystic notion: As above, so below. I asked ‘then how can you tell the difference between heaven and hell?’
‘Because of how you go. Heaven, you go up, through seven happy places. Hell, you go down, through seven sad places. This is why it better for you to go up, Liss.’ He laughed.
I asked, ‘You mean, you might as well spend your life going upward, through the happy places, since heaven and hell—the destinations—are the same thing anyway?’
‘Same-same,’ he said. ‘Same in end, so better to be happy on journey.’
I said, ‘so, if heaven is love, then hell is…’
‘Love, too,’ he said.
I sat with that one for awhile, trying to make the math work.
Ketut laughed again, slapped my knee affectionately with his hand.
‘Always so difficult for young person to understand this!’” (page 262-63)
“When I was finished, I was empty. Nothing was fighting in my mind anymore. I looked into my heart, at my own goodness, and I saw its capacity. I saw that my heart was not even nearly full, not even after having taken in and tended to all those calamitous urchins of sorrow and anger and shame; my heart could easily have received and forgiven even more. Its love was infitnite.
I knew then that this is how God loves us all and receives us all, and that there is no such thing in this universe as hell, except maybe in our own terrified minds. Because if even one broken and limited human being could experience even one such episode of absolute forgiveness and acceptance of her own self, then imagine—just imagine—what God, in all His eternal compassion, can forgive and accept.” (page 328)
“But my heart said to my mind in the dark silence of that beach: ‘I love you, I will never leave you, I will always take care of you.” (page 328)
Gilbert refers to God quite often throughout the book, but to her, God is not one “thing,” one “person,” one idea.
“In the end, what I have come to believe about God is simple. It’s like this—I used to have this really great dog. She came from the pound. She was a mixture of about ten different breeds, but seemed to have inherited the finest features of them all. She was brown. When people asked me, ‘what kind of dog is that?’ I would always answer, ‘she’s a brown dog.’ Similarly, when the question is raised, ‘what kind of God do you believe in?’ my answer is easy: ‘I believe in a magnificent God.’” (page 14)
“…’I guess what I want to learn is how to live in this world and enjoy its delights, but also devote myself to God.’ …Ketut [told me] ‘to find the balance you want…this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it is like you have four legs instead of two. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart instead. That way, you will know God.’” (page 27)
“…my mother has made choices in her life, as we all must, and she is at peace with them. I can see her peace. She did not cop out on herself. The benefits of her choices are massive—a long, stable marriage to a man she still calls her best friend; a family that has extended now into grandchildren that adore her; a certainty in her own strength. Maybe some things were sacrificed, and my dad made his sacrifices, too—but who amongst us lives without sacrifice?
And the question now for me is, what are my choices to be? What do I believe that I deserve in this life? Where can I accept sacrifice and where can I not?” (page 83)
“You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.” (page 115)
“There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all throughout history. ‘How much do you love me?’ and ‘Who is in charge?’ Everything else is somehow manageable. But these two questions of love and control undo us all, trip us up and cause war, grief and suffering.” (page 157)
“The Wise man is always similar to himself.” Pythagorian philosopher, Sextus.
“This doesn’t mean I cannot be devout. It doesn’t mean I can’t be thoroughly tumbled and humbled with God’s love. This does not mean I cannot serve humanity. It doesn’t mean I can’t improve myself as a human being, honing my virtues and working daily to minimize my vices.” (page 192)
“Man is a demon, man is a god. Both true.” (page 251)
“ ‘So, what can we do about the craziness of the world?’
‘Nothing.’ Ketut laughed, but with a dose of kindness. ‘This is nature of world. This is destiny. Worry about your craziness only—make you in peace.’” (page 251)
“…people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you’re fortunate enough. But that’s not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don’t, you will leak away your innate contentment. It’s easy enough to pray when you’re in distress, but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments.” (page 260)
“ ‘Universe is a circle, Liss.’
I still wasn’t sure I understood.
He said, ‘To up, to down—all same, at end.’
I remembered an old Christian mystic notion: As above, so below. I asked ‘then how can you tell the difference between heaven and hell?’
‘Because of how you go. Heaven, you go up, through seven happy places. Hell, you go down, through seven sad places. This is why it better for you to go up, Liss.’ He laughed.
I asked, ‘You mean, you might as well spend your life going upward, through the happy places, since heaven and hell—the destinations—are the same thing anyway?’
‘Same-same,’ he said. ‘Same in end, so better to be happy on journey.’
I said, ‘so, if heaven is love, then hell is…’
‘Love, too,’ he said.
I sat with that one for awhile, trying to make the math work.
Ketut laughed again, slapped my knee affectionately with his hand.
‘Always so difficult for young person to understand this!’” (page 262-63)
“When I was finished, I was empty. Nothing was fighting in my mind anymore. I looked into my heart, at my own goodness, and I saw its capacity. I saw that my heart was not even nearly full, not even after having taken in and tended to all those calamitous urchins of sorrow and anger and shame; my heart could easily have received and forgiven even more. Its love was infitnite.
I knew then that this is how God loves us all and receives us all, and that there is no such thing in this universe as hell, except maybe in our own terrified minds. Because if even one broken and limited human being could experience even one such episode of absolute forgiveness and acceptance of her own self, then imagine—just imagine—what God, in all His eternal compassion, can forgive and accept.” (page 328)
“But my heart said to my mind in the dark silence of that beach: ‘I love you, I will never leave you, I will always take care of you.” (page 328)
Monday, April 7, 2008
NCAA Tournament
Little Rock hosted the first and second rounds of part of the NCAA Tournament...Tim, my dad, Austin and Mike went to the first two games on Friday. I then switched with my dad and attended the last two games on Friday and all the games on Sunday. Here are some pictures of us at Alltel Arena...look at how intense those guys are!!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Snow in MARCH?!?!
Here is a picture of Tim's house when it snowed earlier in March. Crazy! I have a video of Pippi running in the snow that I hope to upload in the next couple of days. (my sister's computer was running VERY slow and I just didn't have the patience to wait for it to upload everything!)
C:\Documents and Settings\Timbo\My Documents\My Pictures\2008\Spring\2008-03 (Mar)\MVI_0306.AVI
C:\Documents and Settings\Timbo\My Documents\My Pictures\2008\Spring\2008-03 (Mar)\MVI_0306.AVI
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