2009

Is it just me or did this year just pass by in a flash? Overall it was a great year...and ended with a bright clean slate for me to reinvent and start my life all over again. What a great opportunity...to surrender and embrace the surprises this uncertainty will bring. I am ready...for a vacation! I am off to Miami for 10 days to recharge and share with family and friends. I will be making my list of plans for the year and crossing out my accomplishments. Filling myself with drive and energy to find a new job and create a wonderful new year.

I am so happy and excited about my life right now and what it too come. 2008 was great, 2009 can only get much much better.

my path

These have been trying weeks. I needed to read the wise words of Sue Monk Kidd to remember that the path of spiritual growth in never one of comfort. God allowed me allowed to catch my breath for twelve months and decided that for my own blessing it was time to move on. Funny thing because this is the first job I did not want to run from. So I am not looking at myself as part of the statistics or a victim of the economy, I am simply living this as a blessing that will take me closer to where I am supposed to go. I have had a lot of supportive friends, I feel moved to continue on the career path I had begun....but...there is a bit of tingling in my heart that has made me open to moving to other places and starting over...

Of course I always think of Simone and the support and love we have around but there is a big part of me that wants to expose her to the world and how our actions can transform lives. So we watched this together and found it very inspiring.

I am releasing to the universe that my soul is maybe ready to move on. The only thing that I am attached to I can take with me, so why tie myself down?

lucky

So I got laid off last Friday. To say the least, I was SHOCKED! and then devastated...that evening while talking to my sister-in-law, she says "you've been through divorce and tough times in the real estate market but you've always had money and you've always been fine and things have always turned out for the better"..."you are the luckiest person I know!"

To this I answered"...really? because to me it has always felt that anytime in life when I've felt I can breath and relax, the carpet is pulled from under me so that I fall on my ass AGAIN!" I then went on to say that I am resilient and I choose to make the best of any challenge and dust off and start building and creating the next chapter of my life but that it takes great effort and I was hoping to save myself from that work right now. The truth is that I was happy at my job, I enjoyed coming in everyday and I really liked my co-workers. I tire easily at jobs but at this one, I did not feel I was done yet...plus no one gets to see the dirty work of being resilient!

On the other hand it really helped me see my life from that perspective, if anything all these falls have caused is that my world has expanded and I have grown. I get up faster now, cry less and get ready to fight it out sooner. I have to go back to my old lessons and remember that I have always done best when I let go quickly, do everything that is for me to do and let God take care of the rest. The details are not my problem...yesterday as I was leaving after picking up my things from work I did what I do at the end of yoga practice where you breath in the experience and it's gifts and then as you breath out you let it go. Namaste. and you move on.

So here I am, with all these plans to keep me busy and learning...and happy to have time to relax this holiday season. And as that old colombian new year's song says "Ano Nuevo Vida Nueva" New Year New Life - I am ready for my bigger blessings and my lucky new year!

a guide to living life

UCHUVA

UCHUVA was born from two friends' desire to bring art and fashion back into their corporate careers. Pilar and Giselle have known each other for over 18 years and although they received degrees in Fashion Design and Architecture, the path of life has taken them on an alternate route in the corporate world and motherhood. UCHUVA’s creations come together on a large antique table surrounded by children playing while their mothers immerse themselves in a world of beads. UCHUVA is a luscious mix of natural materials brought from their native Colombia and a variety of elements they find on their beading shopping sprees.

For UCHUVA's latest checkout www.3littlebirdstoldme.com

girls just want to have fun!

These have been crazy times. A lot to keep me busy and entertained. This fall has been filled with small trips, the last of which whisked me away to Orlando with my colleague. We had lots of fun and even got to attend a Lionel Richie concert. We were so close we almost got LR sweat...I am actually happy we didn't get LR sweat. My colleague profoundly disagrees.

My parents who have been living in my home for the last year and a half, left a week ago for Colombia so this weekend was the first weekend in a long time that Simone and I had alone time.
I must say that I am so impressed by my ability to multi-task.

In just one weekend:

1. Staffed a table for UCHUVA at a Holiday Show...we ROCKED!
2. Went with Simone to my nieces cheerleading practice.
3. Did laundry.
4. Shopped for a babyshower gift.
5. Had a yummy lunch at a restaurant with Simone.
   
6. Attended the babyshower.
7. Watched a very good family movie with my sweet princess.
8. Read a book with Simone.
   
9. Did more laundry.
10. Cleaned Simone's room.
11. Went to church.
12. Went to get a snack and a craft for Tuesday's Brownie meeting that I will be hosting.
13. Went grocery shopping.
14. Cooked lunch.
15. Cooked lunch for tomorrow.
    
16. Cleaned kitchen.
17. Spray painted boxes for Tuesday's craft.
18. Watched 2 movies with Simone.
19. Checked out Facebook.
20. Cleaned my bathroom.
21. Read with Simone.
22. Tucked her in bed.
23. Went online...it's an addiction.

I did SO MUCH...I even managed to get 10 hours of sleep last night. Simone and I had so much fun, we chatted, joked, ate, played and loved each other tenderly all weekend. It was beautiful.

motherhood

This is the most beautiful of the journeys I embark on everyday. I say everyday because each day is different and comes with its challenges and it's blessings. I am now in Orlando on a business trip and I miss my sweet Simone dearly. To hear her little voice on the phone is so exciting...to listen to her excitement as she recounts the daily events in her life.

I can say the 7 is a challenging age. There are more of their own person and you begin to see a bigger influence of the outside world and the baggage even small children carry around. You see there insecurities and their dreams, you guide them through struggles. They become more imperfectly human and you as a parent have to conquer your own fears and struggles to help them navigate their own.

I find myself reacting like my parents reacted and I am trying hard to be a present and conscious parent. To let her to bloom into her own little person and maybe have her carry as light a baggage as possible.

Tonight I will be once again reunited with my baby girl...she is dreamy and I am so looking forward to it.