Best Words This Week : From Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It

Welcome to Best Words This Week.  It's a recurring post around here. 

This week I'm reading Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It.  It's a collection of writing from people who were inspired to change their lives after they read Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love.  I read Eat Pray Love a long time ago (maybe eight or nine years).  I enjoyed it a lot and said Amen to a number of things Gilbert talked about in it.  It obviously inspired a lot of people to change their lives afterwards, as there are enough stories to literally fill a book.  I think that's because at its core, Eat Pray Love is about change. That's something everyone can relate to.  As Gilbert says in the introduction:

"It wasn't about travel, or spirituality, or divorce.  No, Eat Pray Love was about what happens when one human being realizes that her life doesn't have to look like this anymore - that everything (including herself) can be changed.  After that realization occurs, nothing will ever be the same again."

She goes on to write,

"My friend, Pastor Rob Bell, has a wonderful definition for the word despair.  He says despair is a spiritual condition in which you convince yourself that tomorrow is going to be exactly the same as today."

I love this.  Despair comes from when you're in a bad situation that you think you have no way out of.  But change is the antidote. 

Another bit I loved was Lisa Becker's contribution "Happy Wife, Happy Life".  Becker explains that although she was able to stay home with her children because her husband had a very good job, it completely unmoored her.  Even though she was delighted to be a mother, she had to find a way to go back to work, even if it wasn't the same way she worked before the children.  Her husband encouraged her to go back to work part time.  After some adjustments, she found a way to balance her work-self and mother-self.   She shares a conversation she had with her daughter about going back to work:

"She looked perplexed. 'You don't like being a mom?'

I cupped her face in my hands, kissed her heart-shaped lips, and said, 'No, I LOVE being a mom...and the fact that I work and I'm a writer makes me a better mother.'

She pondered this, 'Are you saying you're trying to be a good example for me?'

I laughed. 'YES!' I said. 'I did not join your life, you joined mine, and it's my responsibility as your mother to show you what's possible...to lead by example...to support all your passions...to teach you how to be creative...how to follow your dreams...and how to love yourself first.'

This reminded me of my own mother who told me that when she was a stay at home mom, she started having terrible anxiety.  She went back to work, and it made her better mother.  And it set a great example for me as her daughter.

Love yourself first.  Then you can love others.  Which brings me to one more piece from what I've read so far.  One of the contributors. Shannon Sykes Westgate, wrote about a change of career. She bought a resort in Northern Michigan even though her background was in integrative medicine practice management.  She is much happier since she made the complete change in career.

She writes that she once heard the quote, "Your job is the excuse through which you get to love people."  I can't credit anyone with those words since the author admits they are not her own but also doesn't know who said them, but this resonates with me.  There's the job you get paid for.  I know these words are true for me in my "job" of being a teacher.  But we all have lots of "jobs" besides the one we get paid for.  Mother, father, wife, husband, daughter, son, sister, brother, friend, neighbor to name a few.  I could go on and on about this, but as I said in this post (and it was number one on the list for a reason) I believe love is doing.  If it's just a feeling backed up by no actions, it's not really love.  So I think that's why these words jumped out at me like they did.  When I hear the word "job", I think of work.  Action.  Love is action.

None of the people who contributed to this said change was easy.  Most of them did not get it right on the first try (or second or third and so on in some cases). But the only way they were able to grow was to take the first step.

If you haven't read Eat Pray Love, you should.  If you have, you would probably enjoy Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It.

Kim

What's Up, Wednesday?

Lots o' recital pictures this week!  The girl danced in three of the four shows this weekend and did a beautiful job.  She had lyrical, jazz/hip-hop, and ballet dances this year.

We had a family dinner after the final show on Sunday afternoon.  I did a pasta bar which turned out great.  I love decorating and cooking for a party like this.  (Longer post about this later.)

Call off the dogs.  The hunt is over.  I have tried ThredUp and it is ahhhh-mazing.  (Longer post about this later too.  I know, I keep saying this, but it's true.) 

The blog's 3 year anniversary was this week.  I was looking back at my first few posts and this one (Thrify Cinderella) reminded me of this purse I scored last week.  If you know me, you understand why this purse was such a thrifting coup.  It's leopard.  It's purple.  I has silver hardware.  It's Coach.  AND IT WAS ONLY $35!!!  It was $70 at my favorite resale store but was 50% off.  It's in perfect condition and is my new favorite thing.

What else?  I finished Mary Kubica's The Good Girl.   Yes, very good, it was.

And I'm just finishing up Emma Cline's The Girls which is dark but written oh-so-well.  

 There was another book in between these two that I got about 80 pages into and quit because, Holy Adverbs, Batman, the writing was driving me nuts. 



Exactly.

Kim

AAB's Third Blogiversary

Today is the blog's third anniversary (or blogiversary), and I just wanted to take a minute to say thank you to everyone who checks in with the blog.  It's funny, but I have changed how I approach the posts over the years.  Some may wonder why I still bother with it, but it still makes me very happy to have this little piece of creative cyberspace.  So thank you if you visit it!  It means a lot to me.

On another note, my husband and I just celebrated another anniversary - 14 years of marriage.  We took a couple of days and had a wonderful time in Southern Illinois.  We stayed at a little cabin known as the Hobbit Cove in Makanda.  We also hit several wineries while we were there, made some amazing breakfasts, and went out to a couple of really delicious places to eat.  Here are a few pics of the highlights of our trip.  I had reserved this cabin back in December if you can believe that.  I'm not usually one to plan so far ahead.  Glad I did this time!

    Tall grass on the roof of Hobbit Cove
 

The view from our bedroom window

  Obligatory reading material

   There is a business in Alto Pass that delivers lots of local good stuff to cabins for breakfast, so that you can make your own.  Eggs, bacon, veggies, fruit, coffee, and pastries were among some of the good things we received.

    Anniversary Selfie

Kim

#LetsGo

I've been a huge Cubs fan my whole life which makes this season all the more exciting for me.  Back in April, I told my husband (also a Cubs fan his whole life, natch) that we needed to go to Wrigley to see them play since this was going to the The Year.  He had never been to Wrigley before and agreed.  I had been to Wrigley several times, but it's been 20+ years since then.  We also decided it was time to start schooling our kids on the right team to root for.

Back in October...#LetsGo

The thing about going to a MLB game is that it's not an inexpensive proposition.  I was totally behind spending the money to give them the experience.  It's just hard to count on it being a positive experience (i.e.  - good weather, a win) when you have to purchase tickets so far in advance.  Nevertheless, I took a gamble and bought our tickets back in May for a June game, not knowing what the weather would be like or who would be pitching.

Turns out, I won the bet big time.  We had a GORGEOUS day - sunny, but not too hot, blue sky, and a wonderful breeze.  The weather couldn't have been better. As we walked a few blocks from the parking lot, we admired the architecture and well-tended landscaping in Wrigleyville.  My daughter was so impressed she asked, "Are there colleges here?"  Our seats were under the upper deck, keeping us from messing with sunscreen or squinty eyes.  And OMG, Wrigley has been updated in the last 20 years.  There are now huge video screens to watch replays and little vignettes about the players in between the top and bottom of each inning.

On our way to the Windy City

   Waiting to get in - It was tote bag day!

   Ball park food is the BEST!

The best part was, THE CUBS WON that day.  They've been winning like crazy this season, but I was really hoping I didn't pick the off day when they would lose.  My kids aren't really into baseball or the Cubs, but by the end of this game they were jumping out of their seats, cheering along with the rest of the crowd.  I know it's a day they'll remember fondly.  That was worth the price of admission right there.

    #LetsGo

Kim

What's Up, Wednesday?

Hey, it's been a while.  Here's what's up:

First of all, I accepted a new job teaching second grade in the same district I currently work in.  To say I was excited is understating it.  On the heels of my elation came sheer terror, reminding me how long it's been since I've faced a big change.  I've taught second grade for 21 years but not at this school.

Change is good, though, and thanks to my husband and some kindness from a teacher at my new school, I've worked through my fear and am back to being happy.  Happy about the prospect of change -  It's a pretty good place to be.

Lots of summer things going on now that school is out, like picking strawberries...

More frequent trips to the library...

Chasing down our local ice cream truck...

Opening up our pool...

My peony bushes going crazy...

Dress rehearsals for the girl's dance recital...

...and Cubs baseball (more on that later!)

You'll hear no complaints from me.  We're in the zone right now.

Kim

May Reading Receipt

Welcome to May's Reading Receipt.  I started doing a Reading Receipt in January and have kept up with posting each month's reads.

First up was The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney.  

I had heard a lot of buzz about this book and could not wait to read it.  I ended up joining The Book of the Month Club because they were running a special for 50% off a 3 month membership, making it just $21 total.  Three books for $7.00 isn't a bad deal especially when one of them is The Nest.  Loved this.  Loved.  It read like a dream.  I loved the exploration of the topic of money and people's attitudes towards it.  As I was reading the last few pages, my husband actually commented on how happy I looked as I found out what happened to each of the characters.

The second book I read for May was the next Book of the Month selection I was sent, The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan.  It told the story of a small bomb detonated by a terrorist in a Delhi market.  Two brothers are killed while the friend survives.  It deals with the aftermath for everyone including the terrorists.  So, not a feel-good read, but it was well done.  I probably wouldn't have chose this to read on my own, but that is what sort of appeals to me about the premise of Book of the Month Club.  I might extend my membership past the three month trial period.  I don't buy a lot of books and depend heavily on the library, but I do like the idea of supporting writers, reading something I normally wouldn't gravitate towards, and I also like to not have to rush to beat the clock with due dates (especially during the school year).  So we'll see.                   

Finally, I finished The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey on the second to last day of May (which was a good thing because it was due back to the library on the last day of May).  It only took me three days to read it, even thought I wouldn't classify it as a short book.  It was one of those page-turners that flies by without you realizing how many pages you've read.  I've read a lot of books similiar to this one recently (The Passage, Station Eleven, The Blondes) , but I still really enjoyed this book because of the excellent storytelling.

That's it for May.  Can't wait for June.  I have lots more time to read now!

The Best Words This Week: "Post-Morteming", "Rant-tracting" and "Pre-leting"

Back for another edition of "The Best Words This Week".  (See this post for the original.)

 My brother commented on Facebook towards the end of the week that he sometimes types a long, angry rant to post and then ends up deleting the whole thing before posting it.  Several people commented that they do the same, which got me to thinking that we really need to coin a term for this.  (Does anybody else remember Rich Hall from SNL and his "Sniglets"?)  I have been known to wax poetic on a rant or two as well, only to eradicate the whole thing before sending it public, and I know some of you do too. In my defense, it's usually only a reaction to someone else's pseudo-noble pontifications.  Anyway, I came up with a few possibilities that I shared with him and other followers of that post.

1) "Post"- Morteming -  Get it?  You kill the "post" before it ever gets any read time?

Then I tried another.

2) "Rant"-tracting (or maybe it's better as a noun, as in, "I did another "rant-traction" today.")  You take your soapbox moment back before you post it.

And finally, I came up with one more:

3) Pre-leting
You have to pronounce this so it rhymes with "deleting".  Because you're reaching for the backspace key the moment you type the last key of that rant.  Because you realize the fool you're reacting to is only to happy to keep right on keeping on. 

Of course, some people also said he shouldn't hold back and just post whatever he wants.  But I'm kinda at this point with the FB by now:




Nope.  You don't.  Boromir for the win again.  Frankly, you've got a better chance of walking into Mordor. 

Kim