When Plans Change It Can Still Make For Some Good Times

Several things were planned for this weekend but lucky for me a few plans changed which gave me some unexpected free time.  It was wonderful to have fewer scheduled activities and more time to catch up on a household tasks and errands, meet up with a friend for a trip to the movies and a chance to gather with a few friends for an afternoon gathering.  The afternoon gathering was at my girlfriend's condo with the spectacular view.   Thought you might like seeing a few photos of her beautiful condo.  Several of the snapshots are upside down and if I can figure out how to correct them for posting I will add them later. 

Since I’m on the topic of décor I have to boast about  a fellow blogger and my cousin, The Milkweedpods.  She’s a DIY blogger and recently some of her projects have been popping up on The Pottery Barn blog!  Check out my cousin’s blog here.

Aren't the dogs adorable!!

This weekend the Cathedral Antiques & Tour of Homes kicked off and I’m really hoping to attend the Miles Redd lecture and tour the Inspiration House in the coming week.  It's going to be a great week!

Still Thinking About My Resolutions

Starting the new year with a rainbow.

We’ve Only Just Begun – And I’m Pooped! - The New Year kicked off a bit too fast for me this year.  Work was already in high drive for the year and already this month I’ve:

-       Attended an all-day board retreat and two half-day planning retreats for organizations;

-       Volunteered at the Alliance Française;

-       Helped produce an inaugural radio program for visually impaired children that will be airing monthly (the program aired yesterday-I’m so proud);

-       Prepared for our annual A Day On, Not A Day Off MLK Day volunteer event (it is going to be a great one!);

-       Hosted an event for the Latin American Association’s legal community;

-       Planned a nonprofit board training event in Dallas being held this week;

-       Organized a music benefit event for the GeorgiaInnocence Project (an amazing and very moving fundraiser event);

-       Worked on a firm-wide celebration...whew! I'm tired!

A Word of the Year  -  With all that has been going on it’s almost as if there was no room for thinking about anything but the tasks at hand at the beginning of the month but I was amazed at so many bloggers that were setting goals and making changes in their lives with just one word. The My One Word movement looks interesting and I did see some bloggers posting really good words like BETTER, EXCELLENCE SIMPLICITY but my favorite word is NO.  If I had to pick one word, NO would probably benefit me the most.

Visioning - So here we are near the end of the month and I’m ready to work on my plans for the year and I’m so thankful to be a part of a circle of women who come together for personal planning. For the past couple of years I’ve been working with these women not just in creating a vision for the things we want to achieve but holding one another accountable. Here’s how it works.  Our group comes together with magazines, poster board, glue sticks, etc., with the purpose of sharing our goals with one another then illustrating our goals on our vision boards.  Then mid-way through the year we meet up to talk about the goals we set and how we are progressing towards those goals.  The process is amazing.  It’s also fun because this group formed casually and most of us didn’t know one another very well but we’ve developed a very high level of trust and support for one another.

Vision Boards Go Paperless! So next Sunday is our vision board session and this year instead of using poster board to make our vision board, we decided to use cork or a magnetized board. (We will be photographing our boards as they change so we have an easy way to track our progress). Finding the right board has stressed me out!!! It’s a great idea and it gives us a lot of flexibility in creating our board but have you shopped a cork board or memo board lately?  After much looking around I decided this adorable magnetized board by Curly Girl Design.  

We will be visioning at my friend’s home – a gorgeous apartment in a high-rise with this amazing view. 

A great iPhone picture from her balcony.

How did she end up with such an amazing place?  It was part of her vision planning process two years ago and if I hadn't been a part of the process to see how effective visioning can be I wouldn't believe how hopes and dreams can become reality.

It’s a great new year with plenty of opportunity ahead.  I’m excited!

It Can't Be Over. It's the 7th Day of Christmas!

Christmas wasn’t what I imagined this year.  In fact there were a few events that if it were possible, I would ask to do over but on the other hand there were a couple of things that worked out perfectly.  One of the perfect things happened to be an unexpected event that made me want to stop the clock and freeze time.

My grandgirls came to stay with us on December 7^th.   We weren’t expecting them until December 21 and I would be lying to you if I didn’t admit that at first I was completely overwhelmed.   When they arrived, Christmas preparations were barely underway and things were busy at work with a lot of year-end activities.  It’s been nearly 8 years since I had to juggle the working mom schedule but it didn’t take long for me to get a schedule figured out.   Lucky for me after a week of rearranging and scheduling, our workplace day care center kicked off a winter camp program so the girls got to come to work with me every day. 

There were some week days that I was completely exhausted after getting them fed, bathed and ready for the next day but on the weekends it was incredible to have plenty of time to bake cookies, go ice skating, go Christmas shopping, volunteer, have tea parties, sing carols, read stories, play games and watch movies. My youngest granddaughter loves Gidget!   Can you imagine?   Every day really was a holiday – just like the words that Karen Carpenter sang.

I just took my son, his wife and the girls to the airport and I’m back home completely overwhelmed with an empty and silent house. While the girls were here everything was always out of place, something was being broken or spilled or someone was needing help with something but the for the past three weeks the house has been full of joy, excitement and enthusiasm.  In the evenings we would sit together in “the talking room” (my living room which has no television) and simply enjoy family times, telling the Christmas story nightly.  The mornings were so special. Nothing can take the place of a waking up to a child’s hand gently reaching for your face in the early hours of the morning just checking to see if you are awake.

Today my heart aches from having to say goodbye to such precious moments and at the moment it is too hard to think about much of anything else.  I am reminded that there is joy in being able to recognize precious moments when they happen and they happened a lot this Christmas.

May 2013 be filled with more wonderful moments with friends and family. Happy New Year.

Silent Night

Going caroling has always been a Christmas tradition for me and tonight I’d like to share a story about a very special song and why it's so meaningful.

Several years ago I joined together with a few singer friends and we set out to go caroling and visiting a list of senior citizens living in our community.  We’d visited five or so houses when we arrived at our last address.  As we knocked on the door of this house an elderly woman opened the front door and invited us in.   We stepped inside a darkened living room and the woman quickly explained that her husband, who was lying on a bed in the middle of the room, was on hospice care.  She went on to say that Silent Night had always been his favorite Christmas song and while he might not open his eyes she was sure that he would be able to hear us if we were to sing it for him.

I was a bit emotional as I started to sing and I could hear my voice cracking but as our small group continued to sing, the song became more ethereal as we sang the words, “sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.”   By the time we finished the song silent tears were streaming down our faces.  The man’s wife began to weep as she thanked us for our visit.    

As we opened the door to leave we realized that it had been snowing and there was already a dusting of snow on the walkway.  The night sky was a beautiful midnight blue which was lighted by the snowfall.  Somehow the snow was muffling outside noises turning a busy weeknight into a silent night.  As I drove home I couldn’t stop thinking the last visit and the dying man.  It was hard to sleep that night. 

Early the next morning as I was getting ready for work the phone rang.  It was one of the carolers from my group calling to tell me that the man we’d visited had died just a few hours after our visit.

Since that night, Silent Night has held a very special place in my heart.   

Still Catching Up

It has taken me a little time to get back to blogging after my Thanksgiving trip to Zimbabwe.   I returned to U.S. and went straight to work on November 29th and I've been in overdrive ever since.  

Thanksgiving weekend is usually when our family does all of our decorating, shopping and other holiday preparations so being away during that time put me a bit off schedule.  

Zimbabwe - A group from the seminar

The trip to Zimbabwe was a very emotional trip.  It was amazing to have the opportunity be a part of an incredible program and to have the chance to introduce the idea of corporate volunteerism in Zimbabwe but during the course of the seminar we heard about so many areas of need.  It wasn't just hearing about issues of poverty, health and human rights, but in some instances, emotionally I struggled with coming face-to-face with AIDS orphans and poverty.  

It took me a couple of weeks to process the things I saw and experienced and to get to a point that I could speak about some of these things without crying.  Since then many of my friends have been helping me think of ways to help and their suggestions and input has been helpful. 

In the coming weeks I hope to post photos and tell more stories but for now it is nice to share some holiday happenings.  

Our grandgirls arrived early!

The girls and I have been busy baking cookies, bell-ringing for Salvation Army, going to Christmas gatherings and making memories.  

During the coming week they are going to a winter camp, going to the Shakespeare Tavern for a performance of A Christmas Carol and working at the local food bank.  It's really been fun to have them with us as we celebrate the season. 

Like the rest of the country, we were so saddened by Friday's tragic events.  I must admit that I was challenged by trying to figure out how to discuss the tragedy with the girls but at the same time my heart was heavy for a community that was suffering with so many losses.  Last night we decided to light candles last night and say prayers for the victims.  

We did a lot more hugging and snuggling this weekend and will continue to join our country in prayer for the families of the victims.