Almost!

Well, my goal for the month was 10 posts, and including this one I have nine for January.  Oh we'll, I'll try again next month!

But since I'm here, here's a Flashback Friday post for you.

Remember this guy?

Good oldl  Justin Timberlake from back in his NSync days.  I actually like him - he's hasn't gone all 'child star meltdown' and he's playing decent music.  And when he and Jimmy Fallon's get together they're wicked funny.  

Today's his birthday - Happy Birthday JT!

Birds at the Feeder

If we were still living in Southeastern Massachusetts we would likely be waking up to 8 or so inches of new snow on the ground.  I remember the sound of the snow falling.  You don’t think it should really make a sound - each snowflake being weightless and so delicate, but you really can hear it during big storms.  And that much snow changes the landscape for man and animals.  We had lots of birds around, and when the plants are dormant and the ground is covered, they can’t find food.  

We always kept bird feeders filled for them, most of the feeders we could see from inside the house.  This one was outside our dining room window.   The red bird on the right is a Cardinal - a male.  I think the other two are Nuthatches - a little hard to tell from this angle, but I think that’s what they are.

Linking up with Chrisy at Living a Good North Coast Life

A Change is Gonna Come

It's great to have an extra day off, isn't it? A long weekend, another day without an alarm clock. But lets not forget why we celebrate today, and what this day has become. We are not celebrating one person, or one movement, we are celebrating positive change and the difficulties that are overcome through persistence. The Civil Rights Movement was not successful through the actions of one person, but through the actions of many. It wasn't easy, it wasn't quick and it certainly wasn't painless. But it was successful. So when you think that just one person doing something good won't change anything - think again. If everyone thought that way, there would never have been a Million Man March. But there was - and every person there contributed to making a difference. So go out a make a difference - today, tomorrow, it doesn't matter when or how, it just matters that you do. And if you're not motivated yet, watch this video and remember that all of the hardships and struggle are helping to build a better world. Somewhere there is someone who will benefit from what you do. We all have a dream.....

A Change is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke (1964) with American Civil Rights Movement Footage from Sidrah Zaheer on Vimeo.

 

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Happy Martin Luther King Day

Resolutions, Smesolutions

So there's this whole mindset that we need to set New Year's Resolutions.  Those are the same folks who think that once we break that resolution we're done for the year.  What?!?!?  If I miss one day of dieting / working out / doing a good deed [insert your own resolution here] I shouldn't even try again until next January?  Seems a little silly, doesn't it?

For me it's better to set goals.  I think a goal is something to strive for, you don't have to be perfect, you don't even have to achieve it right away.  You just need to work towards it - slow and steady is fine.  When you fall, you get back up and try again.  No one (and I really mean me) expects that I won't fall off the wagon once or twice.  It's human nature to want to hit the snooze button once or twice.....  Much more enjoyable than getting up and on the treadmill.  And if I occasionally forget my FitBit?  Not the end of the world, I'll try to remember tomorrow.  I have finally learned that it's not about being perfect right out of the gate, it's about getting better at it over time.

So this year one of my goals was to blog more.  My Virgo tendencies want me to pick a number of posts per week - I felt like two wasn't enough, and three was too many, and I wondered why I was stressing over something that simple, so I settled on 10 new posts per month.  I admit I will count Wordless Wednesday as a post, so don't even try to tell me that throwing a picture up there doesn't count.  I've already decided that it does.

I also want to work out more.  I'm not really focused on a number of pounds to lose, but more about feeling good.  So I'm trying to get on the treadmill more and taking Pure Barre classes - those are a workout!  They may not look difficult, but you have to dig deep for those muscles and make them work.  It's a great workout - just painful :)

So stick around and hopefully you'll see more posts this year - I'm not sure what I'll tell you about in this predictable life I lead.  But maybe this will be the incentive for me to pick up the camera more often, or share some of my innermost feelings.  Nah, I won't do that to you.  I'll share some old pictures and movies, some home cooked meals (Jim's cooking most likely), some sewing and even some more of what makes Nashvegas such a unique city.

Stay tuned - The best is yet to come....

Wordless Wednesday

She's Almost Here!!

Last Saturday was Kailleen's baby shower - Mia is almost here!!!  Laura and I went down for her baby shower.  There is another picture like this of Laura and Kailleen - from about 5 years ago.

The cake was adorable - little pink shoes!!

 

   

And we got her some really, really cool Briuns stuff  ;)

Best of luck Kailleen, Rob and Jason!!

A Traditional Southern New Year's Day Meal

Black-Eyed Peas, Collard Greens and Cornbread. And some folks say you should have hog jowl with it.

It is said that eating these Southern Classics will help bring a prosperous year. The greens represent dollar bills and the peas represent coins, ensuring wealth and luck. According to folklore this tradition dates back to the civil war. After Sherman burned the south the only thing left in the fields were black-eyed peas for animal fodder. Eating the pea represents humility and lack of vanity. "Eat poor on New Years and eat fat for the rest of the year"! Another saying says, " Peas for pennies, green for dollars, and cornbread for gold".

The pork (hog jowl is cured and smoked cheeks of pork) symbolizes forward progress -- A pig roots forward. A chicken scratches backwards. A cow stands still. So, for a meal that symbolizes your year ahead, it's definitely pork that you want to eat.

Okay, so that's not exactly what I made. I did make black-eyed peas and cornbread, but we had pork chops and spinach. I hope it still counts!!

 

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Happy 2014!!

I know I posted this before, but I'm posting it again. Because it's awesome.

First of all, its Calvin and Hobbes. Second, it's a great attitude. We are what we are. Or to quote another great cartoon character

 

Embrace your individuality. There's a reason you are one of a kind. Okay, I know you're thinking that maybe for some people it's a really good thing, but truly for all of us, it's a great thing.

 

I wish you all a healthy, happy, prosperous 2014.

 

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