I am thankful for abundance…

I attended another MeetUp group last night, you know I’ve got an addiction..or maybe I’ve decided it’s long past time to embrace the fact that I live in a metropolitan area, and there are so many opportunities to meet new people and explore life.

Last night was a local Law of Attraction group. (No eye rolling please, I do believe in the law of attraction, and how it impacts my life each and every day.) The speaker last night wrote a book called The Law of Abundance. She gave a great talk, and I had a few lightbulb moments. I came home and requested her book from the library. She was an interesting speaker, and the group asked a lot of great questions. It was great to be in a room with people who shared a common interest. It was held in someone’s home, so it had a bit of a party atmosphere. I look forward to these once a month meetings.

One of the last phrases she said in her talk last night was, “Abundance isn’t just about money.”

I’ve thought about that statement quite a bit since last night. Tonight while I was watching the CMA Awards and knitting a gorgeous gray baby alpaca scarf I really focused in on those words. I realized, that my life is full of abundance.

I have a job that I love, and am at the edge of a very exciting time for our team. Our director is gone, our manager is gone and in their place is someone who I believe will take us to the next level. Life is full of possibilities and I’m really excited at the prospect of what we can do in the next few months.

I live in an area that gives me all sorts of venues to explore, people to meet, new adventures to tackle. I’ve long since left the cornfields behind, and really truly have become the person I am meant to be. It’s been a long journey filled with all sorts of drama and adventure, but I focus only on the positives.

I am surrounded by people in my Texas world who are fun, inspiring, caring and have grown to mean the world to me. Moving cross-country many people in Ohio thought I was crazy. I knew in my heart this was the place I was meant to be. Forming such great friendships and being surrounded by so much love is a bonus.

I have a huge support network around me of friends from all over the United States, all over the world. People that are awe inspiring when I see the things that they accomplish, and what they do with their lives. I am so proud of the people in my huge circle of friends who go out and work to make the world a better place. There are times when I take a step back and can’t believe the people who add to my life each and every day. The people who have helped me through the darkest times of my life, and are still here to help me celebrate the small victories.

I appreciate the opportunities that I have to give back. I love that I can do things for Hospice using my creative talents. Each thing that I do for them is in a small way to honor my mom. Last weekend I was at the finish line for Susan B. Komen, next weekend I am part of a team making 1,000 sandwiches for the Dallas soupmobile. I’ve already signed up to help with the Dallas Kids Christmas Party. Giving back and volunteering fills such a need inside of me to give back. Here, I am able to do so much more, and to have fun while volunteering.

Do I have a big fat bank account? Nope, nowhere near fat, I’d say it’s mostly on the slim side.

But my life is filled with abundance in the important things in life. There’s not a price tag that can be put on these life treasures, these moments and the people who make me smile, and make my cry with their love and caring.

“Everything you need you already have. You are complete right now, you are a whole, total person, not an apprentice person on the way to someplace else. Your completeness must be understood by you and experienced in your thoughts as your own personal reality.”
- Wayne Dyer

“Not what we have But what we
enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”
- John Petit-Senn

“Today I am thankful for…”

I saw a challenge on Facebook tonight that I thought was an excellent idea…

“Let’s see how many people can do this. Every day this month until Thanksgiving, think of one thing that you are thankful for and post it as your status. “Today I am thankful for…” The longer you do it, the harder it gets! Now if you think you can do it then repost this message as your status to invite others to take the challenge, then post what YOU are thankful for today.”

So, from now until Thanksgiving I’m going to think every day about one thing that I’m thankful for.  Today it was for a great snail mail card from my friend David in St. Louis.  I love sending cards, and getting a for real card in the mail today from a special friend made me very thankful.  I am so lucky to be surrounded by so many loving and caring friends.

What are you thankful for today?

I felt honored today..

I have to admit, I’m still fighting back tears after my afternoon spent volunteering for the Susan B Komen 3 Day event. I have heard of this event, I have had friends who have participated, I have made contributions, heck I’ve even stuck frozen peas down my shirt in an effort to promote this cause. All of those things made me feel good, and that I was doing the right thing supporting friends and those that I care about.

My initial plan was to march in the DC event with my friend @geosteph. With all of the health issues I’ve battled this year, it became clear that I was not going to be in any shape to walk 60 miles. That disappointed me, but I kept that on my list of things to accomplish in 2010.

One day it hit me, that I could participate in the Dallass/Fort Worth walk as a volunteer. By the time I signed up to volunteer, the only spots that were left were for the clean up crew. The clean up crew comes in so the crew members that have been working with the walkers can participate in the closing ceremony. I thought my role would be tearing down and packing up and picking up trash. I arrived early, ready to start my clean up detail. In my mind I thought that the chairs were set up for the volunteers, that the walkers would be going directly to the closing ceremony area–no, they were all going to end up in our section of Fair Park.

We had a short volunteer meeting, and I was in the *I don’t know what I am supposed to bed doing* group. I was assigned to t-shirt duty. My spot was in the pink section of the end of the walk t-shirts. My new friend Tiffany and I were the two people designated to ask walkers if they were survivors or walkers when they walked dazed across the finish line of the walk.

My afternoon was spent cheering, clapping, saying “Good Job” “Congratulations” “Way to GO!” and directing traffic, walkers to the white shirt area, survivors what size shirt do you need. I saw people bouncy and perky, I saw people tired and worn out, I saw big smiles, I saw tears.

I am a very emotional and tender hearted person. I spent the afternoon flashing a big happy encouraging smile. There were a few times I struggled to hold back the tears when survivors and friends and families crossed the finish line. I’m pretty sure I’m in more than a few photos as people were documenting this monumental cause.

One walker stopped in front of me. I asked, “Survivor or walker?”

She said, “this year I need the survivor shirt”.

I handed her the shirt, and said “Congratulations” with my goofy but sincere grin.

She leaned across the table toward me, “Can I hug you?”

“You sure can.”

It was a long tight huggin’ the stuffin’ hug. The kind of hug that I often give to friends, the kind of hug that I wish I could give to friends at a distance in need of a hug. When she walked away, I had to turn my back for a minute to compose myself…I had dissolved into a puddle of tears.

For me, it was 7 hours out of a Sunday afternoon to drive downtown and back and to give of my time, but most importantly to give if myself. You hear the term “priceless” all the time to describe experiences. I’m not sure one could put a price on all the love and hope I felt from the 100’s of people walking in Dallas today.

It reminded me of the 3 things in the center of my vision board…my main goals.

1) Help someone achieve a dream.

2) Help someone catch the giving spirit.

3) Make someone smile every day.

I can’t even count the number of smiles I received today. People who were exhausted, near zombie like who still took the time to say thanks when you congratulated them. The workers from Susan B Komen, all sorts of people thanking us for helping today..I felt my afternoon was spent in a very meaningful way.

The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.
Elbert Hubbard

Ann

I’m co-branding…

co-branding

Co-branding is the practice of using multiple brand names together on a single product or service. The term can also refer to the display of multiple brand names or corporate logo s on a single Web site, so that people who visit the site see it as a joint enterprise. When effectively done, co-branding provides a way for companies to combine forces so that their marketing efforts work in synergy .

I snickered when I typed that tonight in response to this…

From @NewMediaJim–one of the first people I started to follow on Twitter…

@TexAnnie I’m sorry, I don’t know any “TexAnnie”s

My response…

@newmediajim no silly this is me, not the faux me…you know..I moved to Texas awhile back…I’m co-branding

I do take all of this social media stuff very tongue in cheek.  I joined Twitter way back when as a fun thing to do. Back in the early days when one could follow the public time line and find interesting people to follow.  Eventually after a mention from Chris Brogan that lead to me being listed on Guy Kawasaki’s blog I had to say whoa, who are these people?  Since then, I’ve protected my @AnnOhio tweet stream and spent more time not following than following new people.

I created the @TexAnnie account long before I moved to Texas.  I had already *branded* myself as @AnnOhio, whatever the heck that means..for me it’s a way to have fun with some amazing people.  Rolling my eyes…branding. But, somehow without really trying it happened.

I decided that Twitter might see that dormant @TexAnnie account and delete it…so I dusted things off, created this blog and began a new tweet stream, a new personality–which is still me.  It will be interesting to see if my follower list grows beyond what it is today.  One of the great new features of the list tool is that I am able to follow my @AnnOhio list with this account.

So far, most of the people I see adding me are bots, spammers and people who promise to make my social media landscape light up with new people following me.  Ummm..so what?

Those of you not on Twitter are scratching your heads totally clueless, never mind, look away..there will no doubt be something of interest in the next blog post.

Splitting my personalities?

Not sure if that is the case, I think it’s more like I’m partitioning my blog presence.  I have been trying to merge and mash things together, and I’ve decided that their are different audiences for each of the blogs.  This blog I will use to write about my social media stuff–and the @AnnOhio adventures.  But, I no longer live in the cornfields, and as branded as @AnnOhio on Twitter that I am, this week I decided to start gravitating a little more toward my @TexAnnie account on Twitter.  I even started a brand new blog…

TexAnnie does Dallas…

I also created a craft blog…

crafty too

..as in she does all of this and she is crafty too???

We’ll see how well I do keeping up with the three of them.  It definitely will make me think a bit more about the blog posts that I am writing.  Maybe it’s a way of procrastinating working on my book.  It seems the more settled I feel about the direction of my life, the less inclined I feel to work on the book.

Enter a nudge from the Universe.  I’ve joined a writer’s group in Texas, and I go to the first meeting on Tuesday night.  I think it’s going to be the kick in the behind I need to move forward with this book, with some book, to do something with my writing.  I’m looking forward to learning from all of them.  I have decided it certainly can’t hurt, and it will be an opportunity to meet more like minded people.

I’ve become hooked on MeetUp.com as a way to meet new people in my new corner of the world.  It’s really not so new anymore, I’ve been here well over a year.  So, I’ve joined a few groups that seem to appeal to me, and will test the waters until I find a place that I feel comfortable.  I am very lucky to have made quite a few friends through work, and I love them very much, they are like my family.  But it’s time for the butterfly to spread her wings and try a few new things, new ways to meet people.

You know..my life seems to always be an adventure, and that’s really ok..I like it that way!

“The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.” –Robert Cushing

Red Hats 101…

Success!  I delivered the red hats tonight and thought it might be a good idea to create some instructions on how I made these.  Who knows, there might be some crafty person who needs to make some red hats for party favors.  This idea could also be used to make hats that aren’t little red hats that could be decorated for Christmas..or for really really tiny people.  Go with it…

Miniature Red Hat Favors

Supply List:   Red cotton fabric  Fabric Stiffener  ¼ inch wide Purple Ribbon (approximately 6 inches per hat)  Hot Glue Gun/Glue  Waxed Paper  Small Tea Candles  Rubber Bands

1. Trace a 4 ½ inch circle and cut circle out of fabric.
      
2. Place waxed paper down to protect your work surface. Brush the fabric stiffener onto your fabric, coat both sides of the 4 ½ inch circle. (To do this in bulk I cut out the number of circles required.  I placed a sheet of waxed paper on my counter and then a circle.  I spread the fabric stiffener over the circle, then placed the next circle on top and then repeated.  I did this with a stack of 26 circles.  I covered the top circle with the fabric stiffener, and then covered the entire stack with a sheet of waxed paper.  I used a rolling pin to compress the layers together and evenly spread the glue through all layers on both sides.)
    
3. Position the tea light candle upside down so you have the silver metal part to shape the top of the hat.  Next cover with a waxed paper square, approximately 6 inches square.  (I just tore off a length of waxed paper and then cut it in half) Place the waxed paper square over the top of the tea light.  You are now ready to put the fabric stiffener coated piece of fabric over the candle and the waxed paper.
     
4. Center the fabric circle over the tea light and the waxed paper.  Use a rubber band to secure the fabric around the tea light base.  This will gather up the hat and give it the ruffle around the edge and keep it secure while drying.
     
5. Allow the hats to dry for a few hours. 
     
6. Snip the rubber band off of the outside of the hat, and gently remove the waxed paper and the tea light candle from the hat fabric.
    
7. Let the hats thoroughly dry overnight.
     
8. Cut a 2 inch section of ribbon and fold over to make a tail for the hat ribbon.  Secure this to the hat using a hot glue gun.
    
9. Cut a length of ribbon to go around the band of the hat and hot glue in place.

Red Hats and such…

First I have to confess I’m not a big fan of the red hats and I will wear purple movement.  But I couldn’t say no to the volunteer coordinator at one of my Hospice groups.  She asked me to make these red hat party favors to be glued onto frames for a group at a nursing home that were forming a red hat group.  No pattern, just a vague idea of how this *should* work.

I cut circle out of red fabric, then applied fabric stiffener–no joke, that’s what it’s called in crafty circles.  Not to be confused with Viagra and it’s superior stiffening properties.  She suggested I use a golf ball to give the hats their shape.  Ummm..do I look like I have 27 golf balls?  I did have quite a few tea lights, that worked great.  When these babies dry, I will unsnip the rubber band securing them in place, extract the candles and the waxed paper and waaaa la!  Red hats!  I have some purple ribbon to glue around the brim and they will be completed.  It seems way too easy, so there may be some unforseen disaster ahead.  I figure I will let them dry tonight and tomorrow and finish them up tomorrow night.  That’s my plan, hopefully I won’t have to resort to a plan B.

Saturday I went to a volunteer meeting for the Susan Komen 3 Day event in Dallas.  I have volunteered to work one afternoon during the walk.  I thought this would be a good introduction to the event, and would at least make me feel like I in a small way attained my goal to walk this year.  The inspirational video had me in tears…my role this year is in the background, doing grunt work.  Hopefully that will help me keep myself together emotionally.  I also plan to join one of the cheer sections during the race and cheer on the walkers during the event.

Progress continues on my slipper project for my other Hospice committee.  I’m on pair number 7 of the slippers, which have actually turned out to be a pair of handknitted socks using baby yarn.  I am sure they will be appreciated, but it’s pretty ambitious to knit this for a charity, I am nothing if not dedicated to the cause. 
After that, I think I will take a look at doing some knitting for the holidays.  It will be on a very small scale, but there are a few people I would like to knit for this year.  I have a few new patterns for knitted animals that are also calling my name.  Maybe some ornaments?
I had friends over for dinner this weekend. It seemed to be a success, and I loved the whole setting the table and using cloth napkins etc.  The menu was definitely a throwback to the way I used to cook.  Lasagna, cheesey potatoes, a salad and garlic bread.  For dessert I baked Elvis cupcakes, banana cupcakes with peanut butter icing.  All of the leftovers went to work today, and were appreciated by a second group of friends.

Sunday, I just relaxed and enjoyed the day…movies, knitting and moving the summer like clothes to the back of the closet, and moving the long sleeve shirts to the front.  It’s nearly the end of October, and as much as it pains me, it’s time to shift into the fall wardrobe. It’s very hard to cover up my happy feet pedicure, but it’s getting a bit chilly for sandals most days.

How about you, what sorts of things have you been doing lately to welcome fall?

Quitcher bitchin’…

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
~Anthony J. D’Angelo, The College Blue Book

I have been whining and complaining about the rain in Texas for close to two weeks it seems. I’ve been spoiled by the sunshine and that big blue Texas sky. I haven’t seen it in awhile, and it’s made me cranky. Seriously, is being cranky, grumpy and whining going to make the rain stop and go away? Not even I have that much power…

So tonight after my latest hissy fit about SAD hitting me in Texas I realized just how silly this all was. I was making myself SAD by fretting about a little rain. It’s not snow or ice, and really it’s been warm outside. So my mission was to find something to put a smile on my face. It’s funny when you make up your mind to do that how easily that can happen.

Step 1, finish the thank you card scrapbook I have been working on for the local Hospice. I have been battling to unscrew the post to add the extra pages to the album. I’ve tried two different times with no luck. So I pulled that out, somehow wrestled it down and got the screws out, put the posts in and added the extra pages. I flipped through the pages when I was done and looked at the thank you cards sent in by families to Hospice after the death of their loved ones. If that’s not a weather whiner reality check, I’m not sure what is. The scrapbook looks great, and I plan to try and deliver it to Hospice after work tomorrow night. Mission accomplished.

I logged online to see if anyone was in need of a good <poke> on Facebook and saw a link that my friend @geosteph the rockstar had posted. to a web site called Donors Choose. Steph chose a science classroom cause, well, she’s a science geek.

I started looking at schools in my area, nothing in the town that I live in, but plenty of low income aka poor schools in the Dallas area. It was tough to choose among all of the worth projects. I then decided to do a search for knitting and found two schools with knitting projects needing donations.

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=329182 and http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=329688 I couldn’t choose one over the other, so made a donation to each of them. I’ve donated yarn and needles in the past to several newbie elementary and middle school knitters. I learned to knit in the third grade at school, so that tugs at a special place in my heart.

I reminded myself tonight of the three main goals on my vision board…

1) Help someone achieve a dream.

2) Help someone catch the giving spirit.

3) Make someone smile EVERY day.

Life’s not all about the *stuff* things you think you have to buy, have to have, places you have to go…sometimes it’s about making small steps to make life a little brighter for others that can bring the greatest joy in life.
$50 really seems a small price to pay to spread so many smiles.

Rain, what rain?

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain. ~Author Unknown

Feng Shui…

I know, it’s becoming an obsession..and I am making myself giggle at the way I am embracing all of this..maybe it’s part superstition.  If nothing else, it’s fun and who knows there may be something to all of this.

I haven’t done anything crazy like decide that I need to move away from my apartment because the chi isn’t just right.  But I’ve done a few things like un-clutter my apartment and add red here..purple there, slowly making adjustments to my surroundings.

Over the weekend I realized that there are three pictures in my dining of cowgirls, single cowgirls all alone.  They are my Doreman Burns prints, and I absolutely love them.  What sort of sign though was this sending out to The Universe.  I couldn’t bear to take the prints down, so I tried to figure out a plan B to balance things out.  (I’m a Libra, we like things in balance.) So I did what any web geek would do and Googled 4 Cowboys in the image search.  Lo and behold this picture of 4 cowboys with lassos popped up.  I figure that’s a cowboy for the three single ladies on my wall, and one for me.  (Stop it, I can hear you laughing clear in Texas.)

I received a call tonight from Mr. Patterson of Patterson images to complete my order. http://pattersonimages.net/  One would think that Mr. Patterson lives in the great state of Texas, or at the very least out West…ummm nope, he is from Pennsylvania.  If I was thinking I would have asked him about the photo and how he happened to take the picture.  Maybe some things are left to be a mystery?

I’m looking forward to those cowboys with lassos to handle the 4 ladies in my apartment. 

Just sayin’ they do have lassos after all….it couldn’t hurt!

“My idea of Feng Shui is to have them arrange the pepperoni in a circle on my pizza.”

~ Author Unknown

Another year older…

My birthday was on Sunday.  It was an event filled weekend spent with a friend exploring my new corner of the world. It was fun to play tour guide.  I love showing off the places that make me happy.  I’m comfortable in my space, and it’s fun to share my Texas life and adventures with others.

Saturday was spent at The Stockyards in Fort Worth.  It was a rainy day, but still filled with joy and laughter.  I got to have dinner at my favorite eatery in Cowtown, The Star Cafe.  After dinner it was a box seat at the rodeo.  I had no idea we would be that close to the action.  “Commercials” at the rodeo consist of a young lady riding her horse around the ring waving a flag with a company name.  It was a hoot.

Of course, a Saturday night in Cowtown would not be complete without stopping at BIlly Bob’s the Texas Tea with Sweet Tea vodka was tasting mighty fine.  I loved watching the dancers, checking out the people and listening to Neal McCoy in concert.  Admission was free with the rodeo ticket, so it seemed like a two for one night.

Today a group of us from work went out to celebrate my birthday at Masala, an Indian restaurant that we like.  I always have to ask what it is I order, chicken tikka masala, it was yummy.  My friends surprised me with a nice looking shopping bag, a book “Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl”, and a gift card from Macy’s.  They told me they had originally thought a gift certificate for the yarn store, but they knew I would use it to buy yarn to make something for someone else…that is so very true.  I am so thankful that I work with such a terrific bunch of people.  They challenge, encourage and inspire me every day to learn more and to do more.  I believe they keep me young, yep, I feel that I have gotten younger since moving to Texas.  There has to be a fountain of youth here somewhere…

I started reading a new book last night, “Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life, How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect, and Happiness.” I only read 2 chapters last night, but I was up after midnight trying to track down purple things to put in my prosperity center. Umm..the best I could come up with? Some purple sock yarn and a headband.  Pitiful isn’t it? Tonight I stopped at Hobby Lobby to pick up some yarn to knit more slippers for Hospice and found more purple things..candles, a basket, a candle holder and a wrapped box.  At this rate, my apartment is going to look like a clown car exploded.

There are big storms moving into Texas tonight.  My sinuses have had me struggling all day.  I came home and fell asleep at 7, woke up at 9.  It’s hard when your sinuses believe they are a weather barometer…ouch.

I can’t wait to see what this next year brings…

If you want to be happy, be. – Henry David Thorreau