Happy Earth Day

Each year, Earth Day — April 22 — marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

When is Earth Day?

Earth Day is honored around the world on April 22, although larger events such as festivals and rallies are often organized for the weekends before or after April 22. Many communities also observe Earth Week or Earth Month, organizing a series of environmental activities throughout the month of April.

Why do we need an Earth Day?

Because it works! Earth Day broadens the base of support for environmental programs, rekindles public commitment and builds community activism around the world through a broad range of events and activities. Earth Day is the largest civic event in the world, celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a billion people participate in our campaigns every year.

What can I do for Earth Day?

The possibilities for getting involved are endless! Volunteer. Go to a festival. Install solar panels on your roof. Organize an event in your community. Change a habit. Help launch a community garden. Communicate your priorities to your elected representatives. Do something nice for the Earth, have fun, meet new people, and make a difference. But you needn’t wait for April 22! Earth Day is Every Day. To build a better future, we all must commit to protect our environment year-round. -taken from http://www.earthday.org

So how can you participate and help save our planet? Here are some ways suggested by parents.com:
1. Be car-free. Walk or bike to school — not only is it good for the body, it’s good for the environment too!

2. Make a bird feeder or house. Use a milk carton, a large water or soda bottle, or a pine cone.

3. Create recycling bins.

4. Make positive promises.

5. Grow something.

6. Spread the love.

Walking or biking to work is not an option for me. But I will be carpooling with my son this morning, and with a coworker later to a meeting. My husband wants to create a birdhouse community in our back yard. We have purchased one that we need to work on decorating, and will add more in the future. We have our recycle bin, and today happens to be garbage/recycling day. We also use re-usable coffee cups and water bottles, and food containers for our lunches. I have been talking about planting a vegetable garden, so that idea is in the works.

Do you have any ideas planned? or things you already do to help keep our Earth clean?

Five Question Friday

Today is National Siblings Day, so our questions will be focused on siblings.

1). In what ways are you and your sibling(s) different?

I try to deal with situations/people more head on, whereas she is very passive.  She overreacts and makes things very dramatic.  I will sometimes overreact, but not to the same extent.  We  have different approaches in our parenting styles.  She has two kids, I have one.

2). In what ways are you and your sibling(s) similar?

Growing up we were told often that we could pass for twins, even though there is 2 1/2 years age gap between us.  We would dress similar (she was always stealing my clothes growing up). We both have sensitive souls.

3). What is a secret you have that you hope your sibling(s) doesn’t find out about?

I don’t have any secrets with her.

4). Share a funny/embarrassing story of something your sibling did.

One time when we were young, I think she was in 8th grade maybe, she decided to bake a cake. She put it in a plastic pan inside the oven.  It burnt and caught on fire and filled the oven and kitchen with smoke.  It was not initially funny, but no one was hurt and we were right there the whole time so there was no damage, we then laughed about it later and for several years about how she can’t cook or bake.

5). Share some activities that you  did with your sibling(s).

When we were very young, we liked to go swimming all of the time, go sledding in our back yard, make blanket forts, play Barbies, spend time with our cousins.  Once we went off to college and moved countries apart, we don’t get to spend time together.

 

“I don’t believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.” – Maya Angelou

 

Have a great Friday and weekend.  Don’t forget to play along by answering these questions in the comments or in your own blog post.

Thank you, Thank you

It was fun to find a nomination from Sarah over at ArtTherapyGirl for a blogging award.  Its so nice to have someone think so much of my blog and postings.  I will gladly accept the award and play along.

 
Rules

• Each nominee must have under 200 followers
• Thank and link to the nominating blog
• Answer their 10 questions and propose 10 new ones for your nominees
• Nominate 10 blogs and tell them that they’ve been nominated
• Write a post containing the questions
• Include these rules in the post

1. Super hero power you wish you had? There are 2.  The first is to be able to read people’s minds bc they tend to have a problem honesty.  The second is to fly/teleport. Living in southern CA there is always so much traffic.  It takes me an hour and a half just to drive the 23 miles from work to home.

2. Right handed, Left handed or both?

I am right-handed

3. Do you write letters (cards don’t count)?  Rarely. The only person I write an actual letter to is the child I sponsor through Compassion International in Peru.

4.  Blogging as a hobby or hoping to pursue something serious? It is just a hobby right now

5.  Your most notable act of “paying it forward”?

I have no idea… I do not keep track.   I try to think of others and do nice things when I can.

6.  On your “before I die____” list?

I don’t have one of those lists. I would love to travel more and fly in a helicopter.

7.  Red wine or white? My answer used to always be white.  But since living out here, I have gone to several wineries and have been introduced to some good reds.   So I guess it depends on the mood and the meal it’s going with.

8. Guilty pleasure? Chocolate and reality tv

 

9.  Have you met anyone in person whom you initially met in the blogosphere?

No, but came close once.

10. Is spring or fall your season of change? I think both have significant meaning and impact.   I’m always striving to better myself and look for ways to change and grow.

 

Now I nominate anyone reading this!

My loss is Heaven’s gain

Today’s Prompt: Write about a loss: something (or someone) that was part of your life, and isn’t any more.

I am coming up on the 5 year anniversary of one of the biggest losses in my life; the death of my grandfather. I think about him all of the time and when April rolls around, I get more sentimental and teary-eyed. My grandfather was such a strong man, and growing up I thought he was invincible. But cancer has a way of making even the strongest man weak. I am truly thankful for the time that I did have this man in my life. I treasure all of the memories and the namesake that we have of our middle name. I am also thankful that his battle with cancer was extremely short. We got the diagnosis on 4/8 and then 11 days later, his journey here on earth ended, and he began his heavenly journey. I have hope knowing that I will see him again.

Today I would like to share a letter I wrote 5 years ago as I was sitting at the airport in NY on my way to see him in FL. The link to the letter is HERE.

Expanding my blogging horizons

Today’s #blogging101 task: pick a blogging event from the Community Event Listings, and participate in the next round.

Why do this?

• Events introduce you to a ready-made community, where it’s easier to find new fans and new favorite reads.
• Events and challenges are a great way to get inspired and motivated — others establish and host the event, so all you have to do is participate! No heavy lifting required.

I love the idea behind today’s task.  In 2011, I had previously participated in the daily post challenge, but the pressure to post every single day regarding their prompt, as well as the pressures and strain of everyday life, derailed me on that one. I did complete a blogging A-Z challenge that year, from start to finish! Each day you posted on whatever you wanted related to the letter of the day, starting with A and working your way through the alphabet. You can read my posts by looking through my Mile Markers category on the right and clicking the A-Z Challenge link. Two other short term events I did were the Five Question Friday, and Sepia Scenes, neither of which are around anymore. I liked 5QF because she would post 5 different questions each Friday for you to answer, and usually some were pretty funny. I am trying to bring that back using her old prompts and did a post last week that you can read here. Sepia Scenes was a weekly photograph post, using sepia toned pictures. You can check some of those out in the Mile Markers link for Sepia Scenes as well.

I am interested in seeing what else is out there, meeting new blog buddies, and challenging myself to keep on writing and posting.  There were a lot of events that interested me, but I want to ease myself in.  I’m thinking of doing the Tuesday Tidbits, which is a short post about something that happened during the week, or the Three Things Thursday, listing 3 things that made me smile/laugh during the week.  I think these two are similar to ones I have participated in the past and can be easily adapted to my life and my blog. I have remained subscribed to the daily prompts to have another source of inspiration for my posts, and will occasionally be posting pictures in the weekly photo challenge.   I’m looking forward to the growth from this challenge and expanding my blog’s horizon.

On this date….March 17th

I’m going to repost today that I wrote 4 years ago, because it helps me to remember where I came from and how I got here. I have also made some modifications to it, as it pertains to me now.

Today marks a couple of “anniversary” dates for me. It was exactly 9 years ago on this date, that I got into my car in my little ol’ small country town in upstate NY and set out to drive across the country and move to Los Angeles, CA. It was definitely a life-changing experience. Also, exactly 8 years ago on this date, I got on a plane and took my first solo flight to another country. I have been to other countries before, but usually with a group of people. This particular trip was all by myself to go visit my sister in England. And 2 years ago, my husband and I told our families that we were expecting our first child!All this nostalgia got me thinking about how I have changed in the last 9 years. 

1) Just moving to LA was a life changer for me. I had never been to the West Coast, except for my interview for the job I was moving out here for. I had always lived in NY and thought I was an East Coast girl. If I had to move, I thought it would be somewhere like Florida or North Carolina, but never all the way out to California. I sold some of my things, boxed up the rest, and set out across the country to start my life all over, not knowing anyone or anything out here. I was following my heart to come out here for what I thought would be very short-term, to work with abused and neglected teenage girls who were also pregnant or just became mothers. I wanted to make a difference in their lives and help them learn how to become independent and take care of themselves and their babies. But it also taught me how to be self-sufficient and fiercely independent as well.

2) Taking the solo flight to England was also a life changer. Just having confidence in myself to make the trip and having no one to help me deal with customs and all things involved in international travel was an interesting experience. But it allowed me to gain confidence in myself to be able to do things on my own, no matter how big or small. I now am more open to going out to eat by myself, going to movies alone, going to events like hockey games alone, random road trips alone, etc.

3) I have become emotionally stronger and no longer allow people to walk all over me or treat me poorly. Before, I would allow men (or others) to treat me bad, use me, yell at me, etc and would not really stand up for myself, and would find myself settling, just because I wanted to feel like I was loved or was in a relationship. Over time, and through much heartache, I have learned that I matter and I am worthy of the right kind of love, and deserve to be treated with respect. My feelings and desires matter, and since I have learned I can be okay on my own, I no longer feel like I have to settle or depend on anyone else. I now have an amazing husband, who loves me unconditionally, and treats me so well!

4) I have learned who my true friends are. One of the hardest things about moving, is leaving behind some of the ones you love. It is hard to keep in touch, especially as we get older and LIFE gets in the way. Most of my friends both back home and now here, have gotten married and have recently become parents, and now I, too, am married and have a little one. And I think that “out of sight, out of mind” also applies. When you don’t see someone for a long period of time, you tend to forget about them, and often lose touch. The same holds true for people that you can see on a regular basis, such as at work or church, or were even in a small group with. You shared your lives together for a time and then life happens, and they are gone, most of the time without warning or a word as to why. You sit around for awhile wondering what happened and if you will ever get an answer, and eventually you again learn who your real friends are and move on. I am thankful for things like Facebook and Skype, which have allowed me to keep in touch with family and close friends, but I do get sad sometimes when I “see” some of those friends that I used to be close with update their Facebook status, and I am not really part of their life anymore.

5) My expectations are not Your expectations. This was, and still can be, a hard lesson to learn. It’s not that I want control of everything (yes, I am a bit of a control freak, but I really appreciate some structure and a plan and think some things are common sense), but I have learned, especially living with various other people, that we all have different views on life and how to keep a home, and even how to be a friend and interact with others. Every single person in the world has been raised with unique values and morals and expectations set (or even NOT set) by their parent(s). Sometimes you embrace those expectations and carry them out into your own life when you become an adult, or you go the opposite way and rebel against how you were brought up. It has been a humbling experience at times, but it has also helped me learn how to let go a bit of my expectations of others, and has forced me to be more open with communication. I hate confrontation, but I am learning to not be so passive and to appropriately deal with a situation when it arises. This applies in all situations, not just home life, but at work, at church, etc.

I know that God isn’t done working in my heart and growing me into the person He wants me to be. Though I am not always a fan of change (the control freak in me), I know that some change is good, and I could always use some refining. I look forward to seeing how I continue to change and grow, and what experiences await me.

Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights. ~Pauline R. Kezer

If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.
~Gail Sheehy