Motivate Me

This year has been hard

I've been drawn to change and growth

and I think a way to ensure I keep positive and keep learning in this process and not feel too burried under all the work, is to stay motivated

and to stay motivated, I'm going to share it with others

I wanted a name of something that was bare and honest, and this was it years ago, and it's still it today

I went to write a new blog and start fresh, and right now that's not what I think is right. I want this to go here

I've never used this regularly, and I'm not going to delete old posts. I'm just going to start again

so here we go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGmAekTPD5c&feature=g-user-u

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi04oCcCICQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=IPsVQHu5lA4&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=_56nx3eHK4c&NR=1

I went to a counselor for the first time today with the intent to keep going, not just to see if I'm crazy real quick, but to actually look into what they think I can do for myself and how to make myself better

and she told me to quit my job and to find something that makes me happy for my day to day, and to keep nurturing myself and finding what triggers my problems and to find what helps me run on optimum modes.

She gave me two books to read, and some homework to do, and I'm scared she's a quack and a salesperson in one moment and I'm excited that she's describing things that I have found on my own and wants to help me to do it better. To be happy and find the full well-rounded me.

And I came home and my favorite bloggers wrote these TODAY

talk about motivating


so I'm sharing and I'm ready to keep sharing what motivates me, and excites me, and what I've been learning that is awesome.

WOOHOO

I'M SCARED AND THAT'S OK

Wonderful Day

Today I woke up, after pleasantly sleeping in

enjoyed an out-of-the-ordinary breakfast with two of my friends who are normally out-of-town, and my wonderful boyfriend

had several more friends arrive at my house to carpool to see the Monarch butterflies in Pismo beach, and we enjoyed a brisk but sunny afternoon in the shade and sun, and walked our way out to the beach

I touched the ocean, TWICE, which I see on my commute most days of the week, so it's nice to remind myself of why I enjoy seeing it so often, and to really experience its bigness

then we walked along the beach, and back up to the cars, where we decided to go to lunch at a nearby restaurant which I haven't been to in quite some time

Some of the friends got margaritas, some dinner-sized portions of mexican cuisine, and I GOT A NACHO SUNDAE, who says you can't have dessert for lunch?

then it was back home, to get a surprise phone call, asking if I wanted to join for some hot-tubbing, which conveniently allowed me to drive a friend's bike to his house after he had adventured with us at Pismo.

Confirmed that Liza could come work on an art project with me later that night, right on schedule!

a nice hour of soaking, back home to see what my video-gaming friends wanted me to make them for dinner.

Liza and David, James, Lindsay and I organize dinner, the boys take care of the shopping while Liza and I work, and Lindsay cleaned the dishes! (hooooorayyyyyy because I hate hate hate hate dishes)

play a board game while we wait for the nachos to cook, back to working on the art project afterwards

DINNER om nom amazing, with good company and just the right ammount of girl-scout cookies afterwards

final touches on our art project, I swear we are 95-99% complete with EVERYTHING need before printing!!! so excited to see how it all turns out

then goodnight hugs, goodbyes with out-of-townees, and a quick shower before bed. A recap of the day with Aaron made me think I want to write all this down, make sure I don't lose this afterglow of such a fun and peaceful day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

this was an amazing way to wrap up the weekend, and it feels like the whole week was leading up to today. Planning the Pismo trip, working on this art project, getting the house cleaned up and some personal goals met (ie: taxes nearly done and filed). Surprise visits with friends and excellent food and silliness, and a wonderful place I call home.

Home is where my loved ones are, and I'm so glad to have so many in my life.

Excellent weekend

... but very very busy

laundry, doctor's visit, helped a friend move the largest of his furniture to a new home, he buys us all lunch. More moving, the back home in time to get doll-ed up for a photo-shoot!

Here's a preview picture, the rest will be in MAKE magazine!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianjmatis/6699678145/

Water to Wine will be described in full detail, with a breakdown on how to make it :D I can attest to the goodness of wine out an easy dispenser with a fun twist for your expectations!

Then we all celebrated the occasion with sushi! The next day I joined in wedding planning for Jacinda and Andrew's wedding, as I'm one of the bridesmaids. Then off to Baby Castello's baby shower, MOAR sushi, and now home to rest and recuperate from the full weekend.

My fave pic from yesterday's shoot?

Let's just say it was quite delicious...

I also noticed I haven't posted much from December, and there was a fair amount of fun and antics to share. Thus the lack of posting.

I made a chair more awesome

https://plus.google.com/photos/112618236640627300525/albums/5685135542021433873

chair + speakers + new upholstery + fuzzy fun fur = pimp

I was worried it would be too... absurd, but it turned out quite nicely and met my expectations leading into the project, and Gina didn't leave the chair for the rest of the night, so I'm pretty sure she liked it :-)

light reading for work

more silliness with wine!

- wait, you say, wasn't this January? YES, yes it is. it's just too good not to share!

last weekend's random night at our house; BOARD GAMES

New Years at Ben and Jean's, with Pierre maintaining the delicious drink-delivering Party Robotics device

Wine tasting with Aaron's family

cute!

Christmas gifts from Gina! amazing coats! so fuzzy! so ridiculous!

Some of my family having a good laugh down in San Diego. We were celebrating donating to a major charity to bring affordable farm animals to developing nations.

This is how my Great-Grandma rolls.

ummm... WHAT!?!?!?