Who’s In Your Circle?

 

Who’s in your circle?
I have learned over the years that who you surround yourself with
is instrumental to who you become in life.
We are all learning and growing and changing everyday.

 

Surround yourself with encouragers.
With dreamers.
With kind souls who have developed wisdom through their life experiences.
With the ones who are honest with themselves and others.
With the ones who will share their strengths as well as their vulnerability.
With the ones who are doing stuff.
And with the ones who will challenge you to do your stuff too.

 

And the really cool thing is that, if you’re in someone’s circle,
you get to be all those things for them as well.

 

My parents always said that I would be “guilty by association” based on the friends I chose.

They were right.
(as much as it pains me to say that!)

 

So let’s work on being “awesome by association” instead!!!

 

Be the wise one in your circle!

Learning Life a Little Every Day – December 2013

I am a student of life! Learning a little something from every situation is something I strive for, so I am super excited to link up with Emily Freeman’s beautiful blog “Chatting at the Sky” to share what I learned in December. 

Here is just a little taste of what December taught me…

 

I like art projects!  I am not what you would call “artsy” but I am fairly creative and enjoy the process of creating.  In December I decided to test my artistic abilities and venture out a bit.  I made a lovely glass pendant for my Mom using old sheet music from my Grandmother who is no longer with us.  The hardest part was getting the glue-to-glass ratio just right so that it didn’t flood with too much goo!  Mission accomplished and here is the finished product.  So much fun! 

Gifts do not have to be perfect to be wonderful.  Christmas time tugs on all my perfectionist tendencies and often completely wears me out.  This year, I promised myself that I wouldn’t be so wrapped up in what I was wrapping up for others.  I vowed to let what I had to give be enough.  I decided to let go of my self-imposed pressures and I relaxed into the experience more.  Not one recipient complained even the tiniest bit. Hallelujah!

Dogs really are (wo)man’s best friend.  At least MY dog is MY best friend.  I was sick for a few days during December and my sweet black lab, Brody, kept a watchful eye over me the entire time.  How is it that they know exactly how to make us feel better just by being near us?  That may be something I learn another time! 

My quest to simplify things can easily be complicated by others.  Every year I host Christmas Eve dinner for my husband’s side of the family with the help of my Mama.  And every year when we are planning the dinner I express my desires to simplify the menu.  We have prime-rib and all the fixin’s which in and of itself is no simple task. So I try to limit the appetizers and desserts so that I don’t have a complete and total meltdown!  This year when I communicated (again) my need for simplicity, she announced that she had purchased a chocolate fountain.  Ooooh!  Ahhhhh!  Such a festive dessert treat, you might be thinking!  But all I could think about was the things I would need to chop and prepare, present in a million dishes, and clean up, and some big contraption competing for limited space on my countertop.  My suggestion was to keep the dippings simple and stick to just marshmallows and graham cracker crumbs so that we could make little s’mores.  Two items, no chopping, two dishes, effective compromise.  She arrived at my house with 3 different kinds of marshmallows!  I didn’t even know they made different kinds of marshmallows!  Now I do. 

Blood does not make a family. I am so very blessed to have a beautiful two-year old grand-daughter named Carson. She is my stepson’s daughter and has no bit of my blood in her. But she sure has a piece of my heart, and that is perhaps more important. She loves music, just like I do, and insists on playing piano every time she visits. We sit, side by side on the piano bench pounding aimlessly, creating chaotic chords of love. There is not a moment that I am with her that I think she and I aren’t family. I am her gramma no matter our bloodline.

I get motion sickness while playing Mario Kart! My husband and I decided to have a quiet New Year’s Eve celebration just the two of us at home. We ate junk food and played video games and loved being young at heart, even though the thought of staying up until midnight made us feel ancient.  Apparently I was sitting too close to the television and I had spun myself around one too many times, and the sensory overload on the screen made my head swirl and my tummy tumble.  At 11:30pm, so close to 2014, I was laying still in bed with my eyes tightly closed waiting for the world to stop spinning.  Happy New Year!

 

Looking forward to what I learn in the coming months! 

What did you learn in December? Care to share a few tidbits?