A - ?

I've been away from my blogging far too long, and haven't even managed to participate in April's A-Z blogging challenge which makes me very sad! Instead of trying to catch you all up with what's been going on in my life, maybe some of the A-Z's below will help. While these should have been individual posts for each letter, I'm condensing for your reading pleasure! The plan is, that there is no plan and I'll blog about what ever pops into my head for each particular letter.

A is for ASL
I've completed my 3rd class of ASL and am looking forward to starting my 4th tomorrow! I'm slowly learning about the deaf culture, and improving my signing (of course, some could argue I don't make much sense when I'm tired!) and best of all, I'm meeting wonderful friends and people along the way!

People ask me what made me decide to learn ASL (American Sign Language) and the fact is, it seems that it has always been in my life in some manner, acting almost like a nagging little voice in the back of my head reminding me over the years, "You should take me, learn me!".I've been surrounded by deaf people growing up, whether they were relatives or neighbors and always find myself more fascinated at theater outings by the interpreter then the actual performance. However, the final "nudge" to take action came last year when I could not communicate with a deaf customer. While I tried, I felt awkward and ultimately pissed off that I couldn't communicate clearly what I wanted to say. With that said, I was signed up at the Center on Deafness a few weeks later for my first class. Now, with some education under my belt, Diana is becoming more of a friend then a customer, and with a little more knowledge (on my end) I think dog training lessons in ASL are in the near future!!!
   
B is for Bike, Bibfolio and Bowling
I actually got out on my bike BEFORE July this year! March held some unusually good weather, so I actually took the first day of Spring off from work (March 20th) and went bike riding along the lake with a new friend (now boyfriend - hey, that's a "B" word too!). The day was amazing, filled with lots of riding, lunch at Navy Pier, and a sunburn to boot. It was amazing, and reminded me of how much I miss riding and need to get rolling!

I ordered my first bibfolio ever and am stoked! Now, I have one scrapbook-like album to house all of my race bibs in! Woo-who!!!

Bowling - when done with the bestest of friends, is awesome - no matter how many computer glitches and technical difficulties occur with the automated scoring system!

C is for Cat
I still proclaim I have the world's craziest cat. His latest and greatest antics include "barf and run" incidences, wherein he (unknowingly) eats straws from the broom and then turns around and barfs. Of course, he doesn't stay stationary while projectile vomiting. He is a "barf and runner"! He barfs, then proceeds to run to a new spot and then barf some more. This makes for great clean up fun for me all while he sits and watches as if nothing happened. I swear he smiles when I'm cleaning.

D is for Dogs and Del
I love training them!!! Also, I get to visit mine (who is currently living with my sister) in a week. Can't wait to see my baby girl, who, is not such a baby any more. She's actually going on 10 years old!

I went to San Diego for work, and while I didn't really get to leave the hotel grounds of the Hotel Del Coronado (after all, it was a WORK trip), I did manage to get up early every morning and spend some time on the beach jogging and participating in yoga. I also got to listen to, and meet Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A's. Billy was very personable and an inspiring speaker. I am glad I had the opportunity to listen to him speak, and get his autograph on the now critically acclaimed novel, "Money Ball".

E is for Excited!
I have so many great plans in the works for this year!!! Races, events, trips, projects and volunteering - I can't wait to tackle them all! I have a triathlon coming up in a few months, two mud events this year, and a return trip to California and the dude ranch! Additionally, I'll be volunteering with the local zoo this year, and even participating in a street mural painting!

F is for Forgot
I forgot to include this letter originally!

G is for Good
I say it all the time, but life really is good. Of course my life isn't perfect 24 x 7, and heaven knows I have my ups and downs, but I just don't focus on them! I focus on my friends and family, and of course, all the events and stuff above that I'm excited about. I try my best to not look back and just focus on moving forward. I've made one of my mantras for this year, "THE BEST IS YET TO COME!" and ya know what, it's coming!

H is for Harley and Hercules
Damn it, I WILL be signed up for riding lessons in June this year! There have been some technical difficulties with my ability to sign up - 1) the website doesn't take gift cards, 2) the place I want to ride is moving - GAH!!! but neither will stop me damn it! Due to my schedule, as insane as it is, I'll be officially signed up by May for lessons.

Shorty and Hercules, Shorty Rossi's #1 dog, are on tour this year and I will be meeting them both in July - so stoked! If those names look familiar but you can't quite place them, check out Pit Boss on Animal Planet.

I is for Idiots
I get to witness quite a few of them in action more often then I'd like to, but the take away is, patience and gratitude. Patience that all people are not created (educated, or raised) equally, and gratitude that I have more common sense then they do! 

J is for Jogging
I completed my first 7K in March (versus my favored 5Ks), and have to admit, it was addictive! When I crossed the finish line, I just wanted to cry. The oddest thing is, I couldn't tell you why, other then it was just a big release and sense of accomplishment. But the best thing was, that since starting my "one per month" events this year, I have gradually reduced my time per mile. I've been able to shave 4 minutes off of my mile in 3 months.

K is for Ketchup and Kilometer
Ketchup is my favorite condiment, but how the hell did it ever, at one time, get called CATSUP?

I'm addicted to 5K's, 7K's and think I might even be insane enough to try a marathon. We'll see about that one, though!

L is for Left Handed
I write left handed, eat left handed, but bowl and throw things right handed. I can't use left handed scissors to save my life, and actually cut things (with scissors) with my right hand. I play tennis with both hands interchangeably to avoid a backhand swing, bat right handed and kick right legged (does that count?).

M is for Mantras and Margaritas
I've never really focused on a mantra until now, and I'm realizing it totally helps!!! My favorite this year has been, "The best is yet to come!" I'm reminded frequently through quotes, that thoughts become words and that words become actions so I better make sure I'm thinking with a positive mind!!! What's your positive, feel good mantra? (Make it a good one!)

Margaritas are best when shared with friends and loved ones, especially really, really big margaritas!

N is for Never
Never give up! Even when you're this far behind in a blogging challenge, just do what you can and move forward! : )
 

Mouse Trap

Goals and Goods

Here's an update on my 12x12 in 12 goals. I haven't touched on all 12 original goals just yet (hence the odd numbering), but I'm improving!

1) Schedule and attend a minimum of 12 monthly chiropractic visits.OK, so it's only February, but I've been to the chiropractor a number of times already in January (sadly) and made and attended another appointment this past Wednesday - yay me!

2) Volunteer 12 times (in any capacity) throughout the year.

I just got set up for a volunteer orientation at Lincoln Park Zoo and will be attending it in March. For the month of February however, I'm super duper excited to be volunteering with one of, if not my favorite cause, The Cheetah Conservation Fund! Africa here I come!!! (Well, some day!)

4) Face and conquer 12 fears (at least!).
I am signed up for a triathlon! My check has cleared and I am "in"! The triathlon isn't until June, but this is definitely a scary thing for me. As this particular triathlon replaces swimming with kayaking, I am looking into taking some basic lessons as I don't want to flip the dang thing over on event day! Also, I sent in an application to become a AKC (American Kennel Club) CGC (Canine Good Citizen) test evaluator AND I will be testing for my CPDT-KA (Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed) certification this Fall. I have a lot of prepping and studying to do before hand!

5) Attend or go to 12 new places.
I'm contemplating going to an oyster bar restaurant, but find it very scary (OK, maybe more gross then scary?). Anyone out there actually like oysters?

6) Participate in 12 events (one per month) throughout the year such as a 5K, charity walk, etc. January I did the New Year's Day 5K, and I JUST finished the North Shore Love Run this weekend! I'm super excited that they cut this run down from a 4 miler, to a 3.1, but have to admit the wind and the cold were painful for both events! Brrrrr!!!

8) In efforts to make more friends, meet and talk to 12 new people!

I've officially be-friended more students from my ASL  (American Sign Language) class and met some really cool girls through my Meetup group! I'm excited about the opportunities ahead to hang out, but know forging lasting friendships will take time.

9) Learn some new things, by taking 12 new classes/seminars!

I took a painting class/session and a hand building pottery class and they were both awesome! At first, I was intimidated by both, but I love my painting and found it to be very relaxing. I wasn't quite sure what the pottery class would bring, and expected something that looked like a 3rd grader made it, but fingers crossed that I will like my finished product!

12) Get back down to a size 12 (or less) this year!Well, I am happy to report that I am down about 14 pounds so far! I keep telling myself, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!" (Or, in my case, just keep going to Boot Camp!)

Pottery

This weekend I attended a hand building pottery class with some new girls, and hopefully future friends! We had our choice of working with coils, or slabs of clay and a pretty wide range of vessels we could create. I decided to create a bowl, with coils. Below is the progression of my bowl.

First step, choose a mold and wrap it in plastic. (That was pretty easy!)

Second step, create the first layer of your bowl while remembering that this will be the inside of your bowl. I have to admit, it was a bit challenging to work not only upside down, but from the inside out!

After my first layer was completed, I started working on my second layer of coils. This will now be the outside/bottom of my basket.

Here, layer two is complete and I LOVE my bowl.

That was, until I had to rivet it together in order for the two layers to "stick". I really think the rivets take away from the fluidity of the coils and I am only hoping that a dark glaze will help hide some of the "dents". In this last picture, you can see I added a foot for the bowl to rest on as well. I figure, if I don't like the final product (as it now reminds me of a bicycle chain! Eww!), I might just take the class again and compress (flatten) the two layers to get them to stick together!

I won't get to glaze and fire the piece for another few weeks, but I'll be sure to post the final product then! Fingers crossed that I can live with the rivets!

It

Note to readers: I started this post in the midst of dealing with the changes written within, but now that I've got some hindsight and distance from the initial shock, I think I'm gonna love where I'm headed with the company! At this point, I thought about deleting this post, but decided to share it anyway.

While I'm trying to follow the positivity from my last post, I have to admit a current change up in my job is making it difficult to do so. What's going on you ask? (Even if you didn't, I'm gonna blog about it anyway.)

Recently the company I work for full-time conducted a round of lay-offs. While I am fortunate to be able to keep working, my role is indeed changing. I am going from a Supervisor role with a staff of three, to a slightly unknown entity. While I've been assured that this is not a demotion in any way, shape or form (and if I play my cards right, it may actually be a promotion!) I am having a very hard time with the idea that, I will now be reporting to a Supervisor who used to be my peer.

I'm in total control (as much as one person can be) of writing up the new job description for myself, giving myself a title (Rockstar Extraordinaire?) and pushing for a pay increase if I can prove the new work load warrants it (which I honestly think it will!). Of course, everything has to have upper management's approval, but I figure I'll shoot for the moon and even if I fail, I'll land amongst the stars, right?

So with all the "positives" mentioned above about the changes in my "career", you'd think I'd be able to focus on them, right? But instead, I'm stuck looking at what I consider a negative. The fact that I am reporting to someone who used to be my equal is just baffling to me and totally contradicts (in my mind, at least) that this is a possible promotion.

This change in leadership was not performance based, but rather due to downsizing and eliminating duplicity of Supervisor roles. While I am okay with not having staff members reporting to me (although, I do miss them already!), I am having trouble with the idea that my new manger hasn't met some of It's key goals over the past year, yet I did. The new manager admittedly knows very little about the business, but I do (and I have to train It's staff on my skill set!). Ultimately, I feel like I am setting the new manager up for success by training It's team, and telling It how to do It's job where my knowledge base is required, and that I'll be forgotten about once my knowledge is transferred.

Of course, the optimist in me tells me that this is my time to shine, create my own role, and hey, I might actually achieve some rewards and recognition along the way as this manager is more in tune with rewarding It's staff. But still, I'm human, and have to admit, I'm a little bitter about It. Here's to hoping I can set this all aside and "play ball" with the big dogs. Woof.

Life is Good

Life is good, and here's why...

Recently I updated my Facebook status with the saying, "Life is Good." and someone asked me a few days later, "What's so great that's going on in your life?". I had to stop and think about it for a moment, but quickly realized (being the eternal optimistic that I am, or at least try to be) there wasn't one big thing going on that makes my life great, rather lots of little things. Being of the mindset that life is indeed what you make it, I believe if you decide you're going to be in a bad mood and have a shitty day, that's on you. There are ways to make the most out of your day, whether you choose to do so or not, but don't blame "life" and the general universe as to why your life sucks (if it does). Rather, change your mindset and mantra.

Too often I hear people bitch and complain about everything that sucks (and I am one of them at times, I admit!) but the difference between me and them is, I don't stay in that place. I make the conscience decision to try to do better, and to make my day better. There are so many things I can't control, but I can control me, my thoughts, my words and my actions. I am still clinging to the new year's hopefulness that only the clean slate of a fresh year brings, and remain excited about everything the new year has to offer me. New friendships, new events, new  adventures and of course, new lessons to learn.

Here are some of the small "things" that help make my life good right now. Some are achievements, some are upcoming plans, but all of them help keep me hopeful that the best is yet to come!

I have officially gone 23 days without any type of soda/pop beverage...

I just mailed my registration form to participate in a Mini-Triathlon!

I survived my first two weeks of Boot Camp (and keep going back for more)!

I'm super excited that I am rallying a team of great women together for the 2012 Dirty Girl Mud Run. We will officially be team, "Mud Puppies"!

I started my third session of ASL (American Sign Language) classes and despite being "voice off" I can actually follow the instructor's signing (for the most part).

I donated blood the other day, and despite not having a blood pressure, I'm still alive. (The technician couldn't find/read my blood pressure!!!).

I have great friends that encourage me to pursue my dreams.

I just mailed my application to be a Canine Good Citizen evaluator/judge!

Most of all, I'm just happy to wake up each morning, pain free (coming from someone with frequent headaches this is AWESOME!), and thankful to God for the air in my lungs and for all the wonderful things I can do and have to look forward to!

Wee!

I love this pig!