Birthday Bliss

So here is the rundown for how I spent my birthday:

• woke up to noisy neighbors
• officially woke up to NPR on the radio
• aerobic work out for about 25 minutes
• read USA Today
• ate wheat toast w/butter and peach jam for breakfast
• slight headache
• wore my Ann Taylor black shirt dress w/sandals
• took the top off of the Jeep (one of the day's highlights and cruising the town)
• ran to campus briefly
• brought a pair of $9 shorts @ Steve & Barry's (I hope they do not go out of biz)
• came home to a package from CARDS Magazine (I'm in the Aug o8 issue)
• took a short nap
• checked snail mail: another package (large) and birthday cards
• arranged an appt to sell clothes listed on Craigslist ($20)
• ate Wendy's :-( poor planning on my part
• went rollerblading on the city street - awesome (one of the day's highlights)
• edited and distributed the CleveEvents list (I am way too dedicated to that list)

The details: the large package came from my best bud Baer! Included a t-shirt, well, specifically an Orgeon Public Broadcasting (OPB) women's t-shirt. Lovely. Along w/some shortbread squares. Tasty. Some papers for card making. Crafty. and some other goodies.

Lots of emails, text messages, wall posts on Facebook and phone calls w/birthday wishes. Bliss indeed.

The celebration of life continues ... thanks for the love.

Swap, Barter, Trade

I originally spotted this information as a brief article in USA Today. The highlight was students trading sex for favors.

Am I surprised? Not really, but somewhat. The erosion of a generation ...

Here is the full pdf of the study. It was published in Evolutionary Psychology.

...Too Many Words at Once

I love to read. I read a lot. I've reduced the number of mags that come directly to my house, but I still get one trade magazine, TV Week, one journal, Popular Culture and I have a daily delivery of USA Today. Those are just the hard copies; I read a wealth of info on the web too.

But what I don't do is multiple books at one time. I like to focus on the content. So guess what I am doing? Reading more than one book at a time. I am reading James Frye's "A Million Little Pieces". I know that I am late on this one. And it's a bit strange reading it after Oprah glossed him over on her show. Still it's an easy read that does not require much focus.

Also on my immediate list is Dr. Wayne Dyer's "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life". I saw him on Ellen a few weeks ago and it piqued my interest. It's a good one, however, I determined that it would be best is I read a section and then try to 'practice' what I've read. For example, the second section focused on 'just be'. So I am working on being non-judgmental and just letting things be...

I have "The Secret" on my bedside. I've read this one already, but I'm back to it and I've flipped through it in the past week or so. I also actually began my visual journal. I could do a much better job on the journal especially since I make cards and various paper crafts, but oh well. I'm doing one and that is a good step.

My reading group is reading "Upstate: A Novel" by Kalisha Buchanon - this is for our annual retreat. I have yet to start reading this one, but I am anxious to get to it. It is written solely using letters.

Finally, I am about to pick up "Finding Your Own North Star..." by Martha Beck. My colleague recommended it and I have been on the hunt for it ever since. No one has it actually in store, but I can order it. Whatever, I guess I will have to place the order in the next day or so. The book is supposed to help guide me in finding my passion in life.

So enough of the blogging thing, I've got some reading to do ...