another year of life :)

yay it's friday and to make it even better it's my birthday AND on top of that there are all sorts of fun things going on today....

I just got back from my 5:30 am birthday run, (couldn't get a better start to the day :) in my opinion) and then a short walk by the ocean...very refreshing and calming.

I'm off to work with a chai tea in hand for just a 3 hour work day and a birthday bash with my co-workers who are such wonderful people!!!

Then it's off to the airport with my love to fly to san diego for another wedding and before that a bday bbq at the Ford Ranch. Who could ask for more...a run, chai tea, bday office bashes, and then my best friends, family and boyfriend all together at the ford ranch/vineyard!!!

it's a good start to year 26.

happy weekened everyone!

p.s. I plan on doing lots of journaling with a chai tea by my side this afternoon at the airport...bit of an annual tradition for myself on my bday to journal about the past year and to set goals for the upcoming one...can't wait!! perhaps i'll post some snippets when i return!

forgiveness

i'm thinking about forgiveness this morning.

recently, i feel like I've lost a bunch of brain cells or something because I have just been a bit careless and to put it bluntly, plain old dumb lately.

i got my car towed in san francisco last weekend and have been making some careless mistakes at work.

i have a tendency to expect perfection from myself and when something goes astray from my desire for perfection, i am affected by it.

in keeping with my last blog about creating and sending out positive energy, i am deciding to attempt to forgive myself for being human.

i will not allow the fear of making a mistake rule my days and simultaneously i will not allow the guilt of having made a mistake to steal my opportunities for joy each day.

i am a human being, i will inevitably make mistakes, but i will learn to forgive myself for those mistakes and know that in making mistakes I am no less of a good person. I will remind myself that I am trying, I am putting forth my best effort and I cannot be faulted for tha.

I will have faith that through mistakes and occasional wrong turns, I am learning and growing into a stronger and more knowledgeable being.

fake it till you feel it...

i credit my college basketball coach for this quote. she used to tell us to fake it till we felt it on days when we were tired or not feeling completely inspired to give our all. i think that saying this was one of her ways of encouraging us to think positively and to attempt to always to make the most of our time together at practice.

today this is what i am telling myself as I am getting ready to go to work. i must be hitting the 6 month slump because i have actually been dreading work a little bit.

i decided last week though, that instead of harboring these negative emotions, i need to dedicate myself to changing my attitude. i need to count my blessings instead of focusing on the negative.

and so i started this morning...my alarm went off at 5:55 am and for the five extra minutes that i was in bed gradually coming back from the world of sleep, i repeated to myself positive things that I would do and feel today.

i am thankful for my health.
i am thankful to have a place to work.
i will believe in my abilities to learn, apply my learning and face challenges.
i will breathe deeply and take each moment in.
i will find joy, no matter how small through out my day.
i will delight in the company of my co workers.
i will smile.
i will be confident in myself.

good end to a long week...

one of my favorite moments of the week is at 5pm on Friday afternoon. The moment I am officially free from the routine of the work week and have an entire weekend of whatever my little heart desires ahead of me.

this week the moment was a little bit disappointing, friday was a really busy day at work and I was frusterated because I wasn't able to figure out couple of things my boss was asking for. Instead of leaving with a light heart, my heart felt a little heavy and my spirits felt a little down.

i reallly want to be good at whatever I am doing and help the people I am working with, but sometimes I have a hard time really giving something my all when I am not completely excited about the project. I was working on mailing lists for my boss on Friday and as much as I love my boss, I just can't get excited about mailing lists, and to be quite frank some of the menial tasks I do at work have been starting to wear on my spirit a bit.

i am working really hard mentally to try to have a better attitude and to be grateful everyday for the blessing of having a job and what's more than that a job where I work with intelligent people in an interesting place....but I just can't help getting down some days thinking that there must be something else more fulfilling out there and not being quite sure how to get to it yet.

when i walked in the door of my apartment on friday night, this is what I saw....

Joe and I went to an orchid farm last weekend and before that I had been ooohing and aaaahing at orchids that we would see. So when I got home, Joe had gone out and bought the most beautiful purple orchid for us. Maybe this will be the first of the many orchids we hope to have in our garden one day.

Bella and Tough

Toughie
Bella (They're so cute every time we walk up the stairs to our apartment and pass by their balcony, they come and stick their noses out to say hello.)

so in the past I have always thought it would be nice to have a dog, but had never really got to the point where I was just dying to have a dog, like my dog loving boyfriend has been.

this weekend, however, joe and I baby sat our neighbor's dogs while they were away and I absolutely fell in love with them. we hung out with Bella and Tough on Friday night and I can't even begin to explain how much joy those little guys bring just by being their loving little selves.

Tough, the older of the two dogs and also the mellower of the dogs just climbed right up on our laps on the couch and wanted to cuddle and be loved all night long. Dogs like Tough always amaze me in how freely they trust people, Tough treated us like we had been best buds forever.

Bella, the younger dog was just so excited and full of energy and spent the entire night dropping his chew toys in our laps and waiting anxiously for us to toss it so he could chase it down and bring it right back to us so we could start all over again.

Thanks to Bella and Tough's charm, I am sure that I too am now on the road to being heart sick about wanting a dog or two :)! I can't wait to have dogs with Joe one day.

Sing, Sing a Song

it is impossible to have a bad day.....

.....when you wake up to this!

Joe had to work this morning (Saturday) and I slept through his getting ready for work, but when I woke up this was the first thing I saw. i love that man!

just wishin and hopin...

hey look, it's the pic I was dyin to take all day at work!! bear with me i am definitely an amateur at this photo stuff, note the ugly things in the background...ahahh, I will get better!


so it's a SLLLLLOOOOOW (which is rare and I am taking advantage of it by doing some blogging on the clock!) morning here in the office and I am just antsy all over to get out of here and start my weekend!!!

i have been addicted to a number of different photo streams on flickr lately and am gathering up all kinds of inspiration to go out and take a million different photos this weekend, and to tinker with my camera and just learn more about photography in general.

i got some beautiful orchids from a big meeting that took place here at week over the past couple of days and I put them in my sparkling lemonade vases and can't wait to get home and snap some photos of them and post them.

i've really been putting off putting together my own photostream on flickr so I am hoping I will finally get to that this weekend.

i've got so many weekend daydreams floating through my brain right now I am surely going to go crazy today!

i'm hoping to do an 8 mile run this morning as a part of my quest to get back into long distance running shape so I can enter a half marathon SOON.

I am turning 26 in about 2 weeks...AHHHH and I know I am crazy but I am starting to get that life is slipping away pretty darn fast feeling, so I better start working a lot harder on my dreams if I ever hope to accomplish them.

my two big questions of the moment are...

Can I be a photographer?
and
shoot I just forgot the other one....
well if I remember it, I will post it later.


oh, just in the nick of time...I remembered...

how do I get more connected to the blogosphere?? I have been discovering so many awesome blogging communities later and I want in!!!

The Fourth of July or January?

Happy Fourth of July! Joe and I have been really lucky and met two great couples that live in the same apartment complex. We spent the 4th with them, bbqing and having a bonfire complete with our own fireworks at the beach!