Category Archives: Momma Needs a minute…

pregnauguration

Posted in advantageous adventures, Momma Needs a minute... by

preginauguaration photo preginauguaration_zps4ff41dd6.jpg

i meant to share yesterday when this was more culturally relevant but i’m slow. you will have to accept it at a less culturally relevant level.

i am pictured above with 2 of my favorite people in the world. the one standing next to me is my cosmic cousin friend. the one in my belly is my baby girl. i was a weepy mess yesterday watching the inauguration footage, thinking about hauling my pregnant self down to the mall to watch president obama sworn in the first time. i can’t believe it was 4 years ago…AND i still can’t believe i braved that choas a week before she was born. i will forever be thankful to those friends that helped me accomplish such a feat. i will also forever be thankful to those friends who got me into a pizza joint immediately following. momma was hungry!

i know this trip down memory lane will occur for me with each inauguration. it’s part of the reason i was set on braving the elements and the crowds 4 hence. i wanted to be a part of something historical for my own selfish reasons and for darla. and don’t think i wasn’t secretly trying to will myself into labor because then darla could have been a historical birth. like a woodstock baby! only colder temps and a smaller population of people in attendance on drugs.

at any rate, i just wanted to reminisce. there’s going to be a lot of that in the next few days to come.

thanks for taking this trip with me.

life (dot) next

Posted in advantageous adventures, Momma Needs a minute..., Travels by

guess what, friends…sharing time!

hmmm, well let’s start with what has been on my mind pretty much 24/7 since we had that nice little warm-up that snapped us back into cold weather: upcoming Life(dot)next retreat in Palm Springs in 15 days!

i can feel the sunbeams upon my face already. and i just received a nice little packing list today:

invite-2_pack

did you see what was on that? swimsuit, flip-flops, sunglasses…i might not return. it’s going to be really, really hard to come home to grey…..ugh scarlet and grey. sorry osu fans. just had to put it out there that i think the school’s colors are derived from all the slit wrists the grey winter ohio skies provoke.

but my wrists are going to see sunny skies in 15 days!!!

but i’ll progess with this post because this retreat is not death(dot)next…it’s LIFE(dot)next.

Life(dot)next is the creative baby birthed by my friend Meg Buzzi. I credit her retreats for the following:  the majority of my personal and professional growth in the last two years, the inspiration to start this blog, quite a few hangovers, the evaporation of excuses surrounding my hesitance to start birthwork, an empty jar of pickles by my face in the morning, some of my best all-time karaoke performances, and a slew of new, inspiring, kick-ass ladyfriends. {they’re all really pretty and ride unicorns too!}  i don’t want to get ahead of myself but i’m pretty sure we’re going to discover the cure for cancer at this next one…or just give palm springs some of the best karaoke they’ve ever seen.

either way, i’m stoked.

i hope to come back with more inspiring, words o’ wisdom bullshit that will make you first want to throw up, then go and conquer your world.

in all seriousness, i think these retreats have accelerated all attendees on their life path. the retreats are just that right mix of strength and vulnerability that spark long-lasting change. well…there’s something about them because a lot of us keep coming back. Or, it might just be the copious amounts of boxed wine and signature cocktails. at any rate, i hope to bring more friends and readers to the life(dot)next table.

do you know any lady-loving organizations? or organizations that believe in empowering humans to make healthy strides and impacting changes in their lives? life(dot)next would be a great avenue for sponsorship. send some sponsorship support and ensure the occurrence of a future retreat. this one’s all full up, lass.

view

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morning view

these are more or less my surroundings when i wake up in the morning. i woke today feeling sore from my first gymnastics lesson in 15 years. that is a long time out from tumbling and my body is feeling it. i decided the last-minute to sign up for it. i don’t know why it struck me now as a great idea but i think it has something to do with my desire to reconnect with some of the things i grew up doing that made me really happy that i don’t do as often as an adult. i mean singing, dancing and gymnastics. i really miss it. really miss it. A LOT. i even still identify these things, actually.

i guess i’m just experimenting on how my inner person will be affected if i bring these activities that are core to my self-identity back into my everyday {more like weekly in the gymnastics case} life. already i feel a little more in touch with myself. and a little bit less in touch with my toes or any other extremity that i can’t reach today because i’m too sore to bend over. but it was worth it. it really was. not to mention it was a great workout.

not seeing the correlation with this photo? well, i thought this was going to be my view all day. i thought i wouldn’t be able to move from my bed and would have to stare at the wall and enlist darla’s help to roll me out of the bed. BUT i’m ok. I did get up even if it was a little late.

in short, engaging myself in an activity i love has helped me feel really, pretty fantastically good about life this morning. maybe this old dog still has a few tricks to learn.

a wish for the new year

Posted in love and happiness, Momma Needs a minute... by

i’m really excited to leave 2012 behind me. even years are always bad for me. odds are with me on the odds. i feel it brewing in me bones that 2013 is going to be a great year.

look, my life is the bomb diggity. i know that. i really, really know that. I believe it in a way today that i didn’t believe it 6 months ago…or even 2 months ago. but this year has been marked by pain, grief and anger and I’m just ready to move on and into a new year. because… i feel this positive energy out there in this “new year” future. i wanna step into it.

so i’m sending out a new year’s wish to the universe: let this next year be as flourishing, wonderful and fulfilling as it could possibly be. let’s just take it to the max. i’m really ready to go all in. i’m placing all my bets on happiness. there’s no other alternative.

radical support

Posted in love and happiness, Momma Needs a minute... by

“what if we were all just radically supportive of one another?”

i posed this question yesterday on facebook. it seems that it was well received. a friend posted a response of “I could be radically supportive if I was radically supported.” hmmm. that’s something to think about now isn’t it?

so why not? could we all at least give it a shot? it’s really not that hard. i feel that i was raised in a sort of natural cheerleader environment. i see it in my daughter, too. she’s naturally enthusiastic about whatever any one else is doing. i would like to believe she learned this from her father and i but whatevs. it’s there and that’s all that matters.

the thing is, i really REALLY believe in people. i do. i believe in leaps of faith. all kinds of faith.  and right now i just wonder how different everything could be if more of us started saying “you can do it” to each other. i have received this support countless times in the past few months and i can’t even begin to tell you the transformation it has ignited inside of me.

“you can do it” is now a mantra for the work i am doing. I have seen the difference a simple “i believe in you” sentence can have on a mother in her vulnerable birthing moments. the thing is…more of our moments could be birthing moments. we could be birthing new ideas, life goals, hobbies, movements a lot more if we began operating in a culture of support.

so why not? could we all at least give it a shot?

who do you admire right now? someone you know that you could contact in just a few minutes to say “i really believe in you” … “i admire your work” … “i see how much growth you’ve had and it’s been beautiful to watch” … any of those would do.

maybe 2013 will be my year of radical support…

overwhelmed

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i’m feeling just a bit overwhelmed over here. excuse me this, if you will.

there’s normal life stresses. there’s the list of things i want to be able to force myself to accomplish on the spot. then there’s the holidays. i don’t need to elaborate. you all know what i mean.

but on top of it all is the overwhelming emotion of this craziness that is happening all over our country.  i feel we’re a people united by the feeling that it’s almost just too much to take. a gandalfian voice keeps ringing in my head saying “how can we endure it?”

we are not naive enough anymore to think that this will never happen again. we know better. we will just wait until it happens again. and again. and again. and our hearts will break and we will wonder how we will endure it.

we know better than to think that it could never happen to us. the fact that 2 other men were arrested on the heels of the connecticut shooting for plotting the EXACT SAME THING means that this is reaching epidemic proportions.

how can we endure it?

i don’t have any answers. my for-the-moment solution is to just share my feelings of being overwhelmed by it all, of standing beside those of you who feel the pain and the fear and the disbelief, sharing my need to just crawl in bed tonight and have a good cry because i’ve been holding it back for days.

sometimes we need to just stand in that flux and flush our emotions before we start scrambling for a solution. good luck sorting through yours.

sending lots of love and positivity out there. huggie wuggies.

weekending

Posted in familyness, Momma Needs a minute... by

window

i have no pictures of my little lassie running around this weekend because…

she wasn’t here. darla spent the weekend with my parents and hubster and i enjoyed a lovely weekend.

so here’s how i spent my ample amounts of time: dinner date with husband. put some finishing touches on the holiday decorating. cleaning. rearranging darla’s room into a “big girl” room. accepted a spur of the moment movie lady date to see anna karenina. costumes and cinematography were exquisite. consumed my first white russian in about 7 years. dinner with friends. i rocked the mic at karaoke with husband and friends. more cleaning. reading. extra long gym time. extra long shower time. extra long everything! weeeeee!

but i’m ready to have her back.

everyday

Posted in Momma Needs a minute..., parenting apparently? by

it’s an ongoing discussion in our house about the proper use of the furniture. most objects in life become darla’s personal trampoline.

i just put on a movie for her after lunch and removed myself to the kitchen because for the love of zeus i need to get some stuff done. i heard her jumping but decided to just let it go for today. shortly thereafter she came running into the kitchen visibly excited and exclaimed “i wish everyday could be just like today!”

“what do you mean?”

“i wish i could jump on the cushions everyday! it makes life so wonderful!”

oh geez. is it really that big of a deal if i let her jump on the couch. it’s old and busted up anyway. why do i make such a big deal about it on a regular basis? do i need to continue to set the boundary of no jumping on the furniture or do i need to give it up as one less thing i need to control?

if anyone has any ideas let me know.

ps. she kinda regulated herself after a couple minutes and moved the cushions onto the floor and jumped on those. maybe the universe is trying to remind me that things work themselves out when i just let go.

bed time

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darla had a less than stellar bedtime tonight. one in which i probably could have been a little more patient and kinder.

sigh.

my client has messaged me that she’s having signs that baby might be on it’s way soon. now i am heading into a guilt spiral thinking about my first night cuddling darla almost 4 years ago annnnnnnnd i’m wrestling with the urge to bring her into my bed. the fact that i might be absent from her day tomorrow is leaning me towards yes on this one.

either way i’m going to bed. good night!

it’s come to this

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i just made oatmeal cookie dough without the egg so i could eat it raw and watch game of thrones…by myself.

i just want to take this vulnerable moment to express that i feel pretty lonely here most of the time. i’ve lived in ohio for 3 years and i’m only now starting to feel like i “know” people. making friends as an adult is hard, yo.

i don’t know what alchemy produced my social composition in DC but i can tell you it was golden. this means i don’t know what is out of balance here. i can say the thing about midwesterners is… they have their friends they’ve always had and they don’t make much room for newcomers. i can say that b/c i’m a midwesterner, just not this mid….further west.

having said that, i know the true agent here is me. i’ve made lots of changes and i’m starting to see the social growth here but i still need to really put myself out there. i would like to leave with this open letter:

dear columbus,

i have tried to woo you with my feathers, fringe, sequins and all sorts of shiny. these are my usual tricks to make friends but i guess i just need to come right out and ask…will you be my friend? please?