Empty Nest Blog?

I need an empty nest blog bad but not one that will bring me down any further. I want one that is funny and makes me laugh. My nest is not empty yet but the months are ticking away and it won't be long now. I'm hoping (praying) that I can get out of this funk. I know that mother's have been doing this since the beginning of time and I've been through it once but it's different with the last one. It's hard to turn off the mothering when you've done it so long. I guess I'll have to channel it to my husband, who has sometimes had to take a backseat. Suggestions anyone?

Featured Artist Aimee Sicuro By Skirt.com, Sunday, January 1, 2012, 0 comments Featured art for 2011 Dec Aimee Sicuro received a BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design. After experience working as a line designer for American Greetings and a Flash animator for a once-budding dot-com in San Francisco, she packed her portfolio and headed to New York. Inspired by circumstance and in search of a new perspective, she took a job as a project manager and illustrator at a design firm in Soho. At Slover and Company she spent three years learning the business of art and the art of business.Featured Artist Aimee Sicuro By Skirt.com, Sunday, January 1, 2012, 0 comments Featured art for 2011 Dec Aimee Sicuro received a BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design. After experience working as a line designer for American Greetings and a Flash animator for a once-budding dot-com in San Francisco, she packed her portfolio and headed to New York. Inspired by circumstance and in search of a new perspective, she took a job as a project manager and illustrator at a design firm in Soho. At Slover and Company she spent three years learning the business of art and the art of business.

I was in Knoxville recently on business and came across a local publication for women called Skirt. The picture below was on the cover and just spoke to me. After Christmas and New Years is generally a kind of let down but this picture said to me that there are still many joyous moments to be had this winter. The picture is so me from the red coat and dark hair to the giant snowflake. Just love, love, love this. You can also go to Aimee's website and see some other really great illustrations. www.aimeesicuro.com ·

www.aimeesicuro.com ·

New year, blank page

I have been a bad blogger, a very bad blogger. I had such good intentions but once I fell off the blogging wagon it was hard to come back. I am feeling the need to get back to my little blog space though so here I go climbing back on that horse. I don't necessarily have any great epiphany on this first day of the new year just a feeling of "the world is my oyster" not knowing what the year 2012 will bring. I don't necessarily make New Years resolutions but maybe if I write down some goals I'll be more apt to make them happen. So a few goals for this year are to exercise consistently, eat less sugar, regularly pray for others, do more volunteering and become better organized in all areas. These are a little lofty but definitely doable so bring it on 2012.

Does getting older have to be such a bummer?

So I was at dinner this past week with two good friends from college and while it was a good time I left there wishing I had said more when it came to one topic of conversation. One of the B's (both have names that begin with B) bemoaned the fact that she is getting older. I didn't tell her but she's already older. What I really wished I had said was if she spent more time doing things that made her younger she might not feel like she's getting older. I realized that the body begins to sag and wrinkle but the mind doesn't have to go there. It made me want to do something everyday that keeps me feeling younger whether it be physical or mental. Today it was listening to Taylor Swift's latest CD Speak Now. She has an amazing way with words and such an innocent optimism in her music.

Sometimes The Best Comment is No Comment

I can't tell you how many times I have gone to comment on someone's blog and then stopped to think about how my comment might be received and decided that it was just not worth responding. Yesterday I went to comment on a blog that I read and ended up just deleting the blog address from favorites after realizing that this person just seemed to set off my hot buttons. The blog was a younger person in my hometown talking about her experiences but she appears to be a complainer and was constantly dogging my town and wanting to live somewhere else. My first instinct was to tell her to just move and stop complaining but after thinking for a few moments realized that she will probably find fault with anyplace she lives and that is just her personality. Do you have hot buttons?

60 is the new Sexy

So I just saw the headline "60 is the New Sexy" on the MSN website. There is a slide show with some gorgeous women all whom I assume are supposed to be 60. While I am not there quite yet it just makes me smile to think that somehow even in this age of youth the media is beginning to embrace the real beauty of age. I truly believe that age is just a number and you can feel and look good no matter what your age.  Meanwhile I got sucked into a recent infomercial promising more youthful skin. The product is Murad Resurgence. It has only been a week but my skin does feel good now let's just see how it works on those "fine lines and wrinkles".

http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/just-dreaming/staticslideshowwow.aspx?cp-documentid=25175917&gt1=32023

She likes us, she really likes us

http://goop.com/?page=newsletter_vn&id=151
I love it when people discover all that Nashville has to offer. I tend to take it very personally when tourists like or dislike my hometown. We don't have beaches (unless you count lake beaches, we don't have ski worthy mountains (although we do have more hills than you can count), we don't have a Nordstrom yet (can't wait until 2012), we don't have Pinkberry or Crate&Barrel but that's alright. What we do have is lots of music, beautiful places to walk, great restaurants and most importantly, some really nice people. I love it when "celebrities" visit us and we never see their picture in a gossip magazine. That tells me that they were able to enjoy their time here without a camera shoved in their face and with most of us hometown folks just letting them be. I was told by the clerk at Whole Foods several weeks ago that I had just missed seeing Gweneth Paltrow and her children who had been grocery shopping that Sunday afternoon. Come see us sometime.

http://goop.com/?page=newsletter_vn&id=152

It Works!

It has been awhile since I have actually been blown away by a product. I see the commercials, the ads and the hype and for so long bought into it thinking that this was the ''thing" that was going to change my world. O.K. maybe that is kind of dramatic. Anyway back to my buildup, right after Christmas my husband wore his brand new BCBG shirt (that I got at an amazing discount) and the first day gets ink all over the front. To be honest I thought it was destined for the GoodWill bag at that point but decided to at least make an effort. I have always used Shout but decided that this job was too big for Shout so found a product that had a hefty name so decided to give it a whirl. Long story short it took out all the ink. I was pleasantly surprised but not totally blown away until yesterday when my son got some blood all over his khaki shorts. Just a minor finger cut so not a horrible accident by the way. Anyway I used the product with the hefty name and sprayed on all the blood spots. This morning I checked the shorts and tada there is no sign of any blood spots! So you ask what is this amazing product. It is OxiClean Max Force Laundry Stain Remover. My new best friend. I know I lead a very dull life but hey it's alright, it's what I can handle.

Snowed In, Kinda

So we finally got snow where I live and while 4 inches isn't much in snow terms to us it's huge. And to make it even better it's a really good snow, like for making snowmen and sledding and four wheeling as my guys can attest since they have been at it since very early this morning. So here's my checklist for being snowed in:
1. really good coffee  - check
2. hot chocolate - check
3. dark chocolate - double check
4. new music from Matt Morris and Lady Antebellum - check, check
5. popcorn - check
6. lots of books, magazines - a bunch of checks
7. whole grain goldfish crackers - ch-hold the phone
I have no whole grain goldfish crackers. This will involve a trip to grocery asap. I know it's a sick addiction but me and all the preschoolers have to keep them in business.

I started my New Years with a run, my favorite coffee and some Wii Fit. Not bad for a 50 something if I do say so myself. I had not trained for the run so was pretty proud that I only walked part of 2 hills. I don't love running but I must say that it felt really good yesterday but it might have had something to do with the fact that it was cold outside and you really needed to be moving to get warm. I am not generally a resolution maker so am not making running a resolution but do plan to be active most every day.
On a side note I fell off the blogging wagon again. I do hope to do better in that category this year. Can you believe it is 2010? Hopefully this is a new beginning for a lot of people and will be a much better year for most. Happy New Year!

What I'm Loving About November

It is early days in November but so far I'm loving this month. October was so busy that it almost seems like a little reprieve before the holidays begin. Things I'm loving this month are leaves even though there will be raking involved. I love seeing them piled below a tree. I'm also loving Gingerbread Lattes, I had my first of the season today. Yesterday was the day that Carrie Underwood's new CD was available and it is so good. You've got to listen to Temporary Home, it's a tearjerker. I love this CD. Days like today are just blessings.

Sometimes Winning Doesn't Involve a Trophy

October was so busy with football games and band competitions. My younger son's band worked so hard this past month in anticipation of the big competition which took place yesterday. You may remember last years post in October when they won the competition so there was a lot of excitement this year among the kids as well as the parents. This one didn't end up quite like it had been envisioned but may be one great life lesson for us all. We all thought they did a great preliminary performance but the judges did not place them in the top 8 who went on to compete in the evening. All of the other bands who did not place were able to leave in the afternoon but our band because they won last year was expected to play The Star Spangled Banner prior to the final awards. That meant staying and watching the other bands. The kids were amazing. Sure there were a few tears shed but they quickly disappeared and they sat in the stands and cheered on the other bands with great enthusiasm and when it came time to march in and play they did so just as if they had won the competition. I think they won a great deal more and I am so proud of each and every one.

Fall is here!

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the weather, the leaves, the food, and the clothes. I spent the past few days changing out my wardrobe from summer to winter. Even with a stuffed to the gills closet (I do live in an older home with small closets) I am still thinking of new sweaters. After perusing the Anthropologie site I have attached a few that caught my eye. If money were no object my whole wardrobe would come from that store but unfortunately I have to wait until the items are deeply marked down. And what are new sweaters without new flats so here are a few unbelievably cute ones. Now I need to find the skirts and slacks that will go with my fantasy sweaters and shoes. What fall clothes are on your mind?

Innocence Lost

I know by now this subject has been hashed and rehashed but every time I see the clip of sweet Taylor Swift having the microphone taken away during her speech I am just appalled. I have since seen scenes of the culprit (will not give him the honor of having his name in print by me) swigging from a bottle of Hennessey at the awards. I am in hope that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated anymore. There is no excuse that is plausible for what happened. I know that Taylor will go on from this and become even greater than before but she has also lost a little of her innocence because of the incident and she can't get that back. That's what makes me so sad. There is so much in our society that causes our young people to lose their innocence earlier and earlier. I hope that we will all take a stand and do what we can in our positions to make a change in the world for good.

I'm Back

I can't believe I have been gone so long. I have had a blogging block of sorts. I have had lots of things in my head that I want to write about but somehow just couldn't make myself push those keys to bring it to the blog. I have continued to read all my favorite blogs and marveled at how those delightful people managed to make it happen almost every day. I decided that part of block had to do with the fact that my blog does not exactly have a theme like crafting, baking, celebrity gossip...you get the picture. It is just a mishmash of a lot of things that just happen to be in my world. After some soul searching I decided that's pretty much me. I have a lot of interests so find it hard to really stick to one particular theme. If you could see my IPOD playlist you would see a very diverse group of music. I have to credit the recent book Blogging For Bliss for pushing me back to putting my thought out there.
Here are some other inspirational blogs I visit frequently:
www.aliciapaulson.com
http://www.self.com/fooddiet/blogs/eatlikeme
www.acottageindustry.typepad.com/
www.blogdorfgoodman.blogspot.com/
lillyella.blogspot.com/

So anyway this is just a blog about me being 50 something and hoping that maybe any who read can relate.

Ugg boots not good for your feet. What?

I just heard on a news report that Uggs are not good for your feet. Apparently it has something to do with the lack of arch support. I have had my Uggs for probably 3 years now and they are the first thing I put on the mornings and in fact wearing them right now. I have never cared if they are considered ugly, it's all about the comfort. The report did say that if you insert an arch support they would be better for your feet. I am lusting after the boots on this page, what could be better than Uggs and flowers. Along the same vein I also love my Mary Jane Crocs. I was never a fan of the original Croc but did fall for the Mary Jane. In fact someone recently told me they had heard they were going to stop making the Crocs so I had to order another pair of Mary Janes, the very ones on this page. The company where I ordered from, www.surfanddirt.com, was amazing. I had the shoes the next day after I ordered them and they were on sale.

New York, New York, Part 2 or Planes, Trains, Taxis and Buses

My second trip to the Big Apple took place in the summer of 2000 with a friend and her teenage stepdaughter. We stayed with the friend's family in New Jersey but went into Manhattan most every day. The one major mistake of this trip was trying to save money and fly into Islip, New York and take the train into NYC. Once you land in Islip you have to get a taxi to get to the train station which means transferring your luggage several times. Once we got to Penn Station we had to haul our luggage around Manhattan to find the Broadway theater where her brother was working. This was not the fun part and unfortunately we had to do the whole process again in reverse only this time the train had a problem on the way to Islip so we had to get off the train and haul our luggage onto a bus that took us to the train station where we then had to get a taxi to go to the airport. It definitely had the makings for a bad movie. Fortunately the rest of the trip was good. This trip we took the boat around the island of Manhattan and you truly do get a whole new perspective including the reason they can build so many huge buildings in such a small geographic area is that it is made of rock. We were fortunate to see the show Footloose from the second row. The stepdaughter was not thrilled about having to do so much walking but other than that it was a great trip.

New York, New York Part 1

I have always had a fascination with New York City and have been blessed to visit twice before my most recent trip. Each time has been a different experience and each just as special. The first time I went, about 11 years ago, was by myself to a conference. I know this sounds strange but I am so glad that my first time was by myself so that I could selfishly choose exactly what I wanted to do and just how long I wanted to spend in each place. This visit was in September and the weather was just perfect. My hotel was one block from Times Square so I was right in the thick of everything. I visited some of the sights but also just immersed myself in walking in the different neighborhoods. It was everything I imagined and more. I kept asking myself why it had taken me this long to get to this place. While I missed my family and wanted them with me I could easily imagine us living here in this wonderful city. I know a lot of people say they love to visit but wouldn't want to live there but I knew I could live there. Each night after I got back to my hotel I would pore over the maps and information to decide which way I was going to walk the next day (after the conference events). I must have walked 50 miles while I was there. As they say all good things must come to an end so did have to return to reality and home but was then able to visit again 2 years later in 2000........to be continued

New Clothes from Old Clothes

I am all about clothes but with this economy I almost feel guilty for wanting and buying anything new. That's why when I saw an article in the paper announcing an event where you could take some of your gently used clothing and swap for someone else's clothing, I hopped right on this opportunity. It was so well organized and just fun. I ended up with 4 great items (dress, top, sweater and purse) and cleaned out 4 items of mine that I just didn't wear for whatever reason(too small, not me). Before the swap began you were given 30 minutes to peruse the clothing but could only look. That gave you the chance to scope out sizes, styles,etc. Then everyone had to go to the front of the space where the event was held and wait until they gave the word to shop. I was fortunate and was kind of at the front of the pack so went directly to the items I had spotted. There was only one sweater that I had wanted that was already taken. The brainchild behind the event, Sunny, plans 3 more of these events throughout the year with one being dedicated to vintage clothing only.
P.S. Don't you just love her event logo.


Don't shop; swap clothes instead to save some bucks
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by Barbara Mathieson | February 7, 2009 at 05:23 am
102 views | 20 Recommendations | 7 comments

At the beginning of the new year, Sunny Becks-Crumpton made a promise to her husband that she would not buy any new clothes for the entire 2009 calendar year.

Her "nothing new'' challenge was inspired by a piece in the news about such a pledge in London, and she decided to go for it in the name of saving money and going green.

Honestly, it doesn't sound so bad when you consider that even with a moratorium on shopping for new clothes, you could still frequent consignment and thrift shops to get your shopping fix.

And to make it even easier, she's holding what she calls an "eco-chic clothing swap,'' where interesting women (hopefully) bring a handful of the best clothes they no longer want and swap them for other people's good giveaways.

"It was a way to bring my goal to me,'' she said, laughing at the notion of creating her own personal "swapping instead of shopping'' event to make her "shopping used only'' mission a piece of cake. "And now that it's public knowledge, I will really be accountable,'' she said.

Beautiful Words

An e-mail came to me recently that included the authors list of their 100 most beautiful words. I have always thought that I had a pretty big vocabulary but I must confess that I had never heard of some of these words. Examples are adumbrate which means to very gently suggest and jejune which means dull or childish and sempiternal which means forever and ever. While I did think that a great many of the words were beautiful, I'm not feeling the other ones whether I had heard of them or not. I am not sure what it took to make this list of beautiful words but I know a few of my favorite words either because of what they represent or just the way they roll off the tongue. Here's some from my list:

Aroma
Ethereal
Versailles
Machiavellian
grace
hilarious
diaphanous
aromatic
verve
plethora
holiday

And I could go on and on because there are a lot of words out there. Now here are the 100+ words that I referenced.



The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English

Here are the 100 most beautiful words in English. How do we know? Dr. Goodword (Dr. Robert Beard) has been defining words and writing poetry for 40 years. For five years he wrote the daily word sent our as the Word of the Day at yourDictionary and since 2004 he has been writing the Good Word at alphaDictionary.

Over the years he has collected these words, with the help of the word colloquium at the alphaDictionary Alpha Agora. Now, here the most beautiful words in sounds and meaning are for you to enjoy. Stay tuned: in a month or two you will be able to download the entire list as defined and discussed by Dr. Goodword in the form of a Microsoft Word document or PDF file that you can print or view in an e-book viewer. Click the linked words for examples of the fully defined words.
1 adroit Dexterous, agile.
2 adumbrate To very gently suggest.
3 aestivate To summer, to spend the summer.
4 ailurophile A cat-lover.
5 beatific Befitting an angel or saint.
6 beleaguer To exhaust with attacks.
7 blandiloquent Beautiful and flattering.
8 caliginous Dark and misty.
9 champagne An effervescent wine.
10 chatoyant Like a cat's eye.
11 chiaroscuro The arrangement of dark and light elements in a picture.
12 cockle A heart-shaped bivalve or a garden flower.
13 colporteur A book peddlar.
14 conflate To blend together, to combine different things.
15 cynosure A focal point of admiration.
16 desuetude Disuse.
17 diaphanous Filmy.
18 diffuse Spread out, not focused or concentrated.
19 dulcet Sweet, sugary.
20 ebullient Bubbling with enthusiasm.
21 effervescent Bubbly.
22 efflorescence Flowering, the opening of buds or a bloom.
23 elixir A good potion.
24 emollient A softener.
25 encomium A spoken or written work in praise of someone.
26 ephemeral Short-lived.
27 epicure A person who enjoys fine living, especially food and drink.
28 epiphany A sudden revelation.
29 erstwhile At one time, for a time.
30 eschew To reject or avoid.
31 esculent Edible.
32 esoteric Understood only by a small group of specialists.
33 ethereal Gaseous, invisible but detectable.
34 etiolate White from no contact with light.
35 evanescent Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.
36 exuberant Enthusiastic, excited.
37 felicitous Pleasing.
38 fescue A variety of grass favored for pastures.
39 foudroyant Dazzling.
40 fragile Very, very delicate.
41 fugacioius Running, escaping.
42 gambol To skip or leap about joyfully.
43 glamour Beauty.
44 gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider's silk.
45 halcyon Happy, sunny, care-free.
46 hymeneal Having to do with a wedding.
47 imbricate To overlap to form a regular pattern.
48 imbroglio An altercation or complicated situation.
49 imbue To infuse, instill.
50 incipient Beginning, in an early stage.
51 ingenue A naïve young woman.
52 inglenook The place beside the fireplace.
53 inspissate To thicken.
54 inure To jade.
55 jejune Dull; childish.
56 lagniappe A gift given to a customer for their patronage.
57 lagoon A small gulf or inlet in the sea.
58 languor Listlessness, inactivity.
59 lassitude Weariness, listlessness.
60 laughter The response to something funny.
61 lilt To move musically or lively, to have a lively sound.
62 lithe Slender and flexible.
63 loquacious Talkative.
64 luxuriant Thick, lavish.
65 mellifluous Sweet-sounding.
66 missive A message or letter.
67 moiety One of two equal parts, a half.
68 mondegreen A misanalyzed phrase.
69 nebulous Foggy.
70 niveous Snowy, snow-like.
71 obsequious Fawning, subservience.
72 odalisque A concubine in a harem.
73 oeuvre A work.
74 offing That part of the sea between the horizon and the offshore.
75 onomatopoeia The creation of words by imitating sound.
76 paean A formal expression of praise.
77 palimpsest A manuscript written over one or more earlier ones.
78 panacea A complete solution for all problems.
79 panoply A complete set.
80 pastiche A mixture of art work (art or music) from various sources.
81 peccadillo A peculiarity.
82 pelagic Related to the sea or ocean.
83 penumbra A half-shadow, the edge of a shadow.
84 peregrination Wandering, travels.
85 petrichor The smell of earth after a rain.
86 plethora A great excess, overabundance.
87 porcelain A fine white clay pottery.
88 potamophilous Loving rivers.
89 propinquity A nearness, similarity, or kinship.
90 Pyrrhic Victorious despite heavy losses.
91 quintessential The ultimate, the essence of the essence.
92 redolent Sweet-smelling.
93 rhapsody A beautiful musical piece.
94 riparian Having to do with the bank of a river or other body of water.
95 ripple A small, circular wave emanating from a central point.
96 scintillate To sparkle with brilliant light.
97 sempiternal Forever and ever.
98 seraglio Housing for a harem.
99 serendipity Finding something while looking for something else.
100 surreptitious Sneaky.
BONUS WORDS
101 sussurous Producing a hushing sound, like flowing water.
102 symbiosis Interdependence of two different species.
103 syzygy The direct opposition of two heavenly bodies.
104 talisman A symbolic object believed to have magical powers.
105 terpsichorean Related to dance.
106 tintinnabulation Ringing.
107 umbrageous Shady.
108 vestige A small fragment.
109 whisper Speaking without vibrating the vocal folds.
110 zyzzyva A kind of beetle.
For the 100 Funniest Words in English, click here

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