Sunday, October 31, 2010

#7 HALLOWEEN!

"I don't celebrate Halloween because of what it means, because it is a Satanic holiday it is a Pagan holiday and while people are going around getting free candy, other people are falling victim to human sacrifice...that's the reality of what's goin' on in Halloween." -Christine O' Donnell, Real Time with Bill Maher Oct 29, 1999.

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Halloween, one of the best holidays ever! This is a time when people can play pretend and become anything and I mean anything they want to be. In college, I would see women dressed in a slutty costume and men dressing like the character they secretly wanted to be, usually superheros. I went to the store today to pick up candy for the little kids because for the first time in since living at my mom's house I am actually spending Halloween passing out candy to kids. I really want to give them veggies and bran muffins, but I will leave my beliefs about children and candy aside and join in on the fun. All kidding aside, Halloween is so fun because we all get to let our imagination go crazy. If anyone were to dress up like a crazy witch or one of the Jersey Shore cast members on any other day people would look at them like they lost their freakin' mind. It also gives the networks an excuse to run the Scream series, Charlie Brown's Pumpkin Patch, and every horror movie made! Holidays are so fun, though it sucks for those kids who parents don't believe in the holiday, or for Christine O'Donnell (see the quote above). Anyways I hope everyone dresses like sluts and popular culture celebrities and have some good old fun!
-M

Saturday, October 30, 2010

#6 - Children (good children)


So I am so exhausted right now, I think that I might fall asleep for like 8 hours. Today my husband and I were babysitting our nephew. I was an arts teacher for about three years and nothing, I mean nothing compared to this. I once was a floater in a daycare, but that was 10 years ago. I forgot how two year olds have so much energy! He would laugh and play, pretty much every little thing enticed his interest. We played with a tennis ball and while we moved it back and forth over and over again, he was so excited. Also his laughter was extremely contagious. I couldn't help but join in on the fun as he wrestled my husband. Boys are so tough! I caught myself thinking be careful, but I realized it was all in fun! Kids make you remember la joie de vie (from my high school french, the joy of life) and that's all I will say because honestly those few hours were a workout. I am so tired, but I was glad to do it because watching him made me realize how fun life can be if you just let out your inner child!
-M

Friday, October 29, 2010

#5- Random Nice People


I went to Wal-Mart today. I hate the idea of giving money to this corporation, but right now we are trying to save money and Wal-Mart is cheap! I usually go between Wal-Mart, Publix, and Whole Foods for my food shopping. What I love about the food shopping experience is not only food, ( I love food, but that will be in another post) but I love how nice people are. At Wal-Mart they have people standing at the entrance saying, "Thank you" and "Have a beautiful day." For these people I am sure that this is part of their job, but they seem to smile at every single person. Their smile is so contagious that you are compelled to smile back. The people at the checkout counter also join in on the happiness as well as the customers. The grocery stores by my house are always crowded and people are constantly running into each other, but people are still polite to each other. They simply say "Excuse me" and "I'm sorry." Even when I go on a run around my neighborhood, people are taking the time to say hello. There are moments when some people don't say hello or look at you, but I find myself starting to say hello and flashing a smile. I'm slowly realizing when others are nice to you it's contagious pretty much airborne. Let's hope that everyone keeps on passing this contagious disease. Please and thank you for reading this blog today!
-M

Thursday, October 28, 2010

#4 Creativity


I was on the phone the other day with my aunt having another quarter-life crisis about what I am supposed to do with my life. I have had a lot of different jobs from secretary, teacher, hostess, waitress, and the list goes on. These jobs were to fund my love of acting. Ever since I was a young girl I've been a TV junkie, probably because I am an only child so TV was my babysitter (Oh that sounds so lame). I would watch movies, TV shows and go see theater with my mother and I was hooked. I didn't know if I really wanted to be an actor, but I knew I wanted to be involved in the entertainment industry in some sort of way. I knew that I wanted to create all those wonderful works of art from an early age.

So, I did like any young girl with a dream, I moved to New York City. Working as an actor for several years was wonderful, though at this moment I find myself not sure if those little girl dreams match my big girl dreams anymore. So while I'm on the phone with my aunt trying to figure out my next creative move, she pointed out that I am a creative being no matter what I do for a living. Huh, what? Creative being? She spoke about a sales woman at her job working her creative magic on a customer. She said that everyone uses creativity when they do their job. Whether it's a surgeon operating on a patient, a salesperson, or a lawyer litigating, everyone has creativity flowing inside of them. For those people who would like to do their art for a living and are frustrated, please know that we are being creative everyday we just need to make sure we tap into that creativity. This may sound too optimist for my pessimistic friends, but it is so true. No matter what you do to put a roof over your head and food on the table, do it with creativity, use the other side of the brain because we were given creativity the moment we were born. I know for a fact that this is easier said than done, but maybe try it for today. Try looking at your "dead-end" job as a creative one. Maybe a painting, a play, or a great monologue will come out of being creative at that"dead-end" job. Or maybe you will just have a little more fun today!
-M

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

#3 NATURE


Yesterday I went to the beach. I understand that everyone doesn't live by a beach, so I know that someone is cursing me right now for living in Florida. One thing I have always loved is nature. Whether it is going to the beach or taking a walk in the park, I love how Mother Nature always seems to surprise us. In New York it would always rain cats and dogs at any moment, so I always carried an umbrella in my bag. Sometimes I would be so pissed when the rain started to pour, but there were moments when I loved to see how rain could change everything in one second. Even the day after it rained you could see how the trees and grass were different from the day before. I know this may seem a little tree huggerish (if that is a word), but sometimes when I just stopped and looked at how beautiful nature is, I made me feel how lucky I am to experience this everyday. In places like New York City where finding nature is like finding a needle in a haystack, Central Park was the place I usually went to . It would revitalize me, but only if I was open to it. I would take a detour from my usual route home, get off on Columbus Circle and just sit for 10 minutes, stop and breathe. Sometimes all I needed to do was stop and breathe even for those few minutes and it made me appreciate the beauty that surrounded me.

Here is a little side story about my day yesterday. I love the beach, but I have a little fear of the ocean. I only go in a little bit, but not too far because I always think I am going to drown. I love to think that somewhere in my past life I dramatically drowned from a boat crash whipped away from my long lost lover. Maybe I was on the Titanic? (Probably not, but it's nice to wish). Anyway, yesterday it was incredibly windy and the waves were a surfers dream. When I looked at the waves, they were so beautiful but I didn't want to go in. I thought to myself, I am at the beach, why not try to face your fear? So I did, I dived in and kept swimming. After facing my fear of the ocean, I ended up getting hit by a wave and swallowing nasty sea water, but that's not the point. I felt like I faced my fear of mother nature and tried something new. I am not sure if this story goes with my love of nature today, but it made me feel like I could conquer the world. I may get hit with a wave on the way, but at least I took a step. One win for me, one loss for my fears.
-M

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

#2 I've got a roof over my head


"Each year about 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness." *

I love to start things off with statistics because it makes me realize what is really happening in the world around me. When I lived in New York, I always complained about where I lived. Usually it was about how high the rent was or how small the apartment was. Most people living in New York City can relate to this, unless you make a lot of money, though I would hear some rich New Yorkers still complaining about the lack of space. There is always something to complain about! Not to say we don't have the right to complain, but today I have a roof over my head. I have never experienced not having a place to live. The only time I came close to homelessness was when I slept on a friend's uncomfortable futon for a month and then moved to an awful place in Harlem. I love Harlem, don't get me wrong, but I have had the worst luck with apartments there. Even then I still had a place to sleep at night. I am sure some people won't relate to this post because there are people walking around and driving around without a place to live and you would never know it. I knew a few musicians who would ride the subway train all night and sleep. They would find a public restroom to clean up. Maybe they would stop by a friend's place to wash up, go to work (yes they had a job), and do it all over again. I am thankful that I have never had to do that. I am so thankful that I have a roof over my head, a bed to sleep on, and all the things that come with my apartment. A bed, TV, couch, and dishes seem so small, but if I lost all those things it would impact my life in a big way!
-M
*(From the National Coalition for the homelessness. http://www.nationalhomeless.org/)

Monday, October 25, 2010

#1 -I'm Alive


Today was one of those days where starting a blog about positive thinking wasn't the best idea. I vowed to myself that I would get up early, do yoga and get a start on life, but I couldn't move. I went back to sleep and started to think of all the negative things in life. As I say again, this wasn't a good day to start a blog about being positive. I thought about all the things I could say today on the blog, but I thought being alive was the most positive of them all. That was the reason why I got out of bed today and start this blog. Maybe it will give me a reason to get out of bed a little earlier and challenge myself. Being alive is so much better than being dead. I know that some people may not feel that way when you are down in the dumps, someone broke up with you or you don't feel like anyone accepts you for who you are. Though there is one thing in life that always happens and that is change. How I felt last year isn't how I feel now, or even last week. That is the beauty of life, that it has the ability to change.

This week I bought O Magazine purely because they had a quiz on finding your true calling. Though I came across a quote by Oprah, "We're all called. If you're here breathing you have a contribution to make to our human community." I am not sure what my contribution is, but I do know that someday I will know what that is. And being alive right now and continually being alive is the only way I will find that out. Thanks for my life, and the journey to find out what it's all about!
-M

Sunday, October 24, 2010

An IDEA

I am usually an optimist person, but in the past few months, okay let me stop lying a year, I have been a little negative. Coming from living in New York for 7 years I always found something wrong with my day. Usually it was doing bad an audition or the Park Avenue apartment I didn't have. Even after getting married and finding an amazing life with my husband, I still would spend most days longing for something. I wasn't sure what that something was so I just picked anything that was wrong with my life.

Since everyone now has a blog, I thought I should join in, but the only question was what would I do? I wanted to do something that would make me better as a person and not do just share my voice. So starting tomorrow October 25, 2010, I will find something positive to say about my life for a whole year. I will write it down, sometimes it maybe in one sentence or maybe a huge novel. But I feel like this discipline will be challenging and frankly I am scared and think that I make not keep up with my bargain. Well let's see if I give up because usually I never finish things to be honest. Let's pray I don't! -M