QOTD: BOOORRRR-RRRINNNGGG

Only boring people are bored.

-Betty Draper

Scott and I are planning our 3rd intoxicology party. This highlighted liquor is GIN. It's a Mad Men theme. And having never watched the show before, we are now catching up on all old seasons off Netflix and watching about an episode a day. It's truly brilliant. No wonder that show is getting such rave reviews.

Turns out I have a love/ hate relationship with every single character. I think that's why the show is so phenomenal. Just about the time you've figured out how you feel about someone, there's a twist. And I am completely conflicted about Betty. I love her, I hate her, I pity her, I empathize with her and then I judge her. Over and over. Good stuff. If you haven't watched that show...do it. Great writing, great acting, great, well, everything.

QOTD: The Road of Life

The Road of Life:

I expect to pass though this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature let me do it now...for I shall not pass this way again.

I work with some pretty amazing people. Including my associate Kate, who I feel in many ways is my spiritual twin. We are both Catholic. Both questioning. Both spiritual. I had a birthday Sunday and she brought me a pretty awesome gift. A St. Jude medal and a couple prayer cards.  I needed all of it. One of the prayer cards had that gem of a quote on it.

Prayer card along with a picture of this week's calendar. In case you needed to find me later, I'm

 probably somewhere. Meeting myself coming and going. That saying never quite made sense to me

until I was a mama...now I'm pretty sure someone just like me coined the phrase!

QOTD: I'm Gonna Let it Shine

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

- Marianne Williamson

QOTD: True Story

“There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."

-Madeleine Albright

I am lucky to be surrounded by women who support me and build me up. That has not always been the case and I just wanted to share that one of the greatest minds of our time gets it.

Now that I'm getting older (and by older I mean hip and awesome and hot and 29-no really, I'm super young still, seriously, stop giving me that look) and more in a position to help than be helped...gotta keep this in mind.

Professionally, personally, in whatever capacity suits you. Help the women around you. Make them soup when they have a new baby. Share your secrets to being a good law firm associate. Tell them they are beautiful when their confidence is shaking. Help them see themselves the way you see them. Because some days we all need support.

So today, try to find a way to support your sisters-in-life around you and just do it without being asked. Being fake, acting passive aggressive, speaking unkind words, cutting someone down...it only promotes more of the same. And can we all just agree that more of that stuff is the last thing we need?

QOTD: How to Love

10 Ways to Love

listen without interrupting

speak without accusing

give without sparing

pray without ceasing

answer without arguing

share without pretending

enjoy without complaint

trust without waivering

forgive without punishing

promise without forgetting

-unknown

I consider myself a loving person. A loving wife. A loving mother. A loving daughter. A loving friend. Then I read something like this and dang. I am such a work in progress.

Sigh sigh sigh. You'd think at age 34, I would have figured out a little better how to love. But I guess that's why you just keep at it. When I read this my first thought was, I can love everyone in my life better. And truly, if you think about it, a lot of these concepts are sort of based on principles from someone we are probably fairly familiar with...Jesus. This is the sort of love he describes (Do I forgive my brother 7 times? Jesus: No. You forgive him 70 x 7 times. [another way of saying infinity]). As someone who is pretty obstinate and particularly gifted at holding a grudge...sigh. Work in progress.

QOTD: Great Running

That's the thing about running: your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success. They are moments in time when running allows you to see how wonderful your life is.

-Kara Goucher

I had a great run this morning. It was slow but somehow it was MUCH less ugly. I ran 5 miles, walked a lot, but did not experience the aching, tweaking and flat out loosy-goosey ligament discomfort that has sort of overwhelmed my running of late.

So my quiet happy run was a wonderful celebration of a little gained strength here. A little progress there. So happy with my health and my body's gradual strength. Happy Thursday.

QOTD: The True Gentleman

The true gentleman is a the man whose conduct proceeds
from good will and an acute sense of propriety,
and whose self control is equal to all emergencies;
Who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty;
the obscure man of his obscurity,
or any man of his inferiority or deformity;
Who is himself humbled if necessary
compels him to humble another;
Who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power,
or boast of his own possessions or achievements;
Who speaks with frankness
but always with sincerity and sympathy;
Whose deed follows his word;
Who thinks of the rights and feelings of others
rather than his own;
And who appears well in any company,
a man with whom hoor is sacred and virtue safe.

-John Walter Wayland

Went to a devastating funeral of a friend lost suddenly and far too young. This was on his memorial card and just was beautiful. Since it was written in 1899, I will forgive the author for not making it a gender neutral piece :) But these words moved me. And I hope to live my life in such a way to meet these standards.

QOTD: SILLY

There is power in looking silly and not caring that you do.

-Amy Poehler

I harnessed this power and made it my own just yesterday. When I spent a good portion of the day frolicking with my 4 year old in the snow. Looking like a fool. At one point I might have told Scott I was annoyed with him delegating work to me because I wanted to go outside and play. Holy cow, I am such a kid still.

True and Yikes and Why Must It Be So?

"Growth demands a temporary surrender of security."

- Gail Sheehy

I would prefer my growth happen with comfort and a warm blankie. SIGH.

QOTD: GUARD YOUR THOUGHTS

"If we understood the power of our thoughts, we would guard them more closely. If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative. In our thoughts and words we create our own weaknesses and our own strengths. Our limitations and joys begin in our hearts. We can always replace negative with positive."

- Betty Eadie

QOTD: People Pleasing

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

-Bill Cosby

QOTD: Keeping Busy...

Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others.

H. Jackson Browne, Jr.

Found it on facebook. Snagged it. Love it. Wouldn't the world be a wonderful place if we were all so focused on expending positive energy that we were unable to create anything negative?

QOTD: Ironman

Many people ask "why do you run" or they ask my husband "why on EARTH would you want to run 100 miles?" As if there's just a simple neat little answer like to lower your cholesterol or something.

I watch the broadcast of the Kona Ironman with my husband every year. Every year I bawl my eyes out. Al Trautwig's voice will make you cry like a baby as he tells the story of these AMAZING people. They highlight specific stories and at the end, when all the "slow" (yet still amazing) people are crossing the finish line and the finish line announcer is saying "Joe Six Pack YOU. ARE. AN. IRONMAN." I usually bawl like a baby and have goosebumps. Because I'm a sentimental fool like that.

So, in my typical fashion, I sit on my couch. I sit next to husband. I bawl my eyes out. A chubby balding man tells the story of his Ironman and of how he cannot describe how strong he feels as he crosses the finish line. He discusses how amazing the experience is to complete this amazing race. And he sort of hit the nail on the head.

If you have to ask why, you'll never understand.

-Random Ironman Finisher

QOTD: Urgency

In discussing the crazy state of the upcoming holiday season, one of my fave bloggers, Kelle Hampton, said on Wednesday:

Nothing is more urgent than being kind to ourselves and present for our families. 

-Kelle Hampton

Preach it sister. There is happily busy and there is urgent and crazy. I hope this holiday season to be the former. Slow down, soak in the little happy moments. Feel calm in the quiet and the peace of family and friends.

QOTD: Jedi Truth

I think Yoda speaks a little truth here. I know more than anyone that you have to try and sometimes you won't always get the desired result. That said, in life, sometimes you just gotta put up or shut up. And in the movie, at this moment, Luke is whining about something being too hard in his training. Oh Luke...just get it done :)

Do or do not, there is no try.

-Yoda

My kid might be a bit obsessed with Star Wars. And when we gave him full license to be whoever he wanted for Halloween, he decided to be Darth Vader and assigned roles to all of us, including his then unborn brother.



Eliot provided a lot of dramatic breathing while in costume. I was thankful not to be 41 weeks pregnant and as usual, I have too much hair to fit in a wig.  Scott's Luke Skywalker but didn't make it in the shot and Nicholas is just flat out angry. He was resting comfortably on my mama when we disturbed him for the photo shoot.

QOTD: Goals

A goal without a plan...is just a wish.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Thank you pinterest for not only SUCKING my productivity but making me stop and think once in a while. Oh Pinterest...the time I would spend with you if time were not an issue.

QOTD: Daring Greatly

This seems timely...in our current political culture, where all anyone does is hate hate hate, rather than come up with solutions. That plus I generally love this quote and try to be someone whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Makes life MUCH more interesting and in turn, rewarding.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.

 

-Theodore Roosevelt

QOTD: "Big Stuff"

I am addicted to my iPhone. I am obsessed with Facebook. I adore Instagram.  I have a full schedule and a demanding career. I have 101 things to be doing, all the time. In this day and age of 5 million distractions, added to just the incessant background noise of life, I stumbled on this quote on pinterest (another glorious distraction).

It was a very humbling reminder of the need to be a good listener and to be present in our conversations with our children. Not distracted, saying 'mm hmm' while we check our work email on our smart phone. Frankly, there isn't any person in our life we shouldn't really give 100% focus and attention to. But when your kiddo (or coworker or mother or anyone really) is telling you something that maybe seems a bit mundane and unimportant, solid reminder, right here.

Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what.  If you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they are big. Because to them all of it has always been the big stuff.

-Catherine M. Wallace

QOTD: "Do It Anyway"

I love hearing wise people's words. I decided to share words that inspire me when I stumble on them...that way they are at least easy for me to find later. Hopefully, anyone reading will find some good stuff in them as well.

People are often unreasonable, irrational and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend year creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and peace, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

-Mother Teresa