What am I busy about?

I'm not sure if you have noticed, but I changed my quote last week to one that my friend Bryn passed along. It seemed so very indicative of my life...and not just my life lately but always.

It is not enough to be busy;

so are the ants.

The question is:

What are we busy about?

~Henry David Thoreau

I don't know about you but I seem to be constantly saying "I've just been so busy lately" or "I wish I could but I'm just too busy" or here is my favorite "I can't wait 'till_________is over and I'll have more time". The thing is... ________ is never over is it? So if I just give in to the fact that I'm always going to be busy and let that be okay; the question now becomes "what am I going to be busy about?" As I see it, I need to be busy doing 4 things... 1.) Busy at work - whether work is at the office, taking care of my family, getting an education or something else entirely I owe it to myself to put good effort into it. 2.) Busy giving back - to other people, to my society, to my earth, to my children - you name it - giving is the greatest form of receiving. 3.) Busy with enjoyment - I guess good 'ol hobbies would fall here - for me it would be reading, taking photos, writing, cooking, hanging with my family. 4.) Busy resting - I don't forget this one! Sleep is my preferred drug of choice. So when I really sit down and look at it, yes I am busy. And that is not likely to go away, but I think I'm busy doing a nice mixture of the right things. Like stopping to smell (and take a picture of) the flowers :-)

A walk with Coop

Took a walk with Coop around the lake this past Saturday. I absolutely love one on one time with my kids. Love the conversations and love the just quiet "togetherness".

I did it!

Remember my post about trying to be more green and planting the seeds? Well the seeds grew; they grew and grew and grew. They grew so much we finally had to make a home for them outside. We mixed some dirt and some sand and some potting soil and in our plants went... And we waited. And watered. And waited some more. And although things seemed to be growing - somehow I'm not sure that I really believed it would actually produce food. So you can imagine my utter amazement when I found THIS!! 'Bout fell over! It's a green bean. A real honest to goodness green bean! I stood in my garden (I use the term "garden" loosely) and said to myself "well would you look at that!" Now mind you, I'm not sure I'm quite ready to start taking reservations for dinner. My crop is...well...you're looking at it. But I do believe it may just be a sign of things to come!

Praise for PA

Ya know...I gotta say...

there is something to be said for living in Pennsylvania.

Given enough time

If you know just a little bit about Astrology, you may know the four elements are Earth, Fire, Water & Air. I'm probably going to botch this a bit...but I believe we each have 3 elements (maybe more?)...something like your "rising" and maybe your "sun"...oh who knows, but anyway, my mother always told me I was all Earth (instead of maybe Earth +Air+Water for example). And by having 3 Earth signs it meant I was solid & immovable (like the Earth)...I believe stubborn may have been another adjective but I can't be sure :) So mom, I thought you might like the quote above...apparently I just need time.

Hello Tuesday

Promise to post more later today... Side note: so sad to hear of Tim Russert dying on Friday. I really liked him, in fact I just recently did a Wikipedia search on him to learn a bit more history. My heart jumped a bit when I saw he was only 58...my thought was "o good, he's young, he will still be doing this for a long time". I actually cry each time I see something in memory of him on tv - I wonder how it is that we can get so emotional over someone we never even knew?

Within us

Learning more in Adobe Photoshop. If you can't read the quote, I think you can click on it and it will enlarge.

Canyon

The photos of the Grand Canyon actually began on the ride there...

with the snow topped mountains (in June). Elevation peeked at 8046 ft.

With my love of quotes I couldn't resist. This was on the glass wall of the Canyon observatory (you can see some of the canyon in the background). I really only took a few photos of the Canyon - which is surprising for me; but what I realized once I got there, is that the Grand Canyon is something you not only need to see for yourself, but it is something you need to feel . There is no camera, no matter how complex or fancy that can capture the enormity of the place. You truly need to stand on the ridge and look to your left, then look to your right and try and wrap your head around 277 miles of enormity. Then stand on the edge with the dizzy sickness in your stomach which is a cross between terror and excitement. I stood there with a sense of vertigo looking 10 miles across to the north side and looking 1 mile down into the canyon. I understood that my camera was no match for the place. The few photos I did take were more picturesque vs. documentary. I highly recommend it.

Out of Africa

Moving on with our trip... After my convention the family

showed up and we were off to the Safari.

Feeding the giraffes was definitely the highlight. It certainly seemed like each day I saw something amazing, something beautiful and something breathtaking on this trip. It is doubtful that my boys will remember much of the trip as they get older, but I'm still glad that I had the opportunity to expose them to this as small children. Next we were off to the Grand Canyon...stay tuned!

SO proud to be a Comfort Keeper

Wow, where do I start? At the beginning I suppose. I just got back from beautiful Arizona. My Comfort Keepers convention was in Tucson this year. First, may I just say...I LOVE MY JOB. Comfort Keepers owners and staff must be THE nicest people I have ever met. Every year, going to convention is like a family reunion (with family you actually like). It is three or four days with the kindest, most generous people + I have an opportunity to get re-energized about my job and my business. The creme de la creme this year was location... I got up at 5:15 to walk the golf course with a friend/CK Owner. These photos are for Dad and Annie (and any other golf fans out there)...

Don't ask me what holes these are...I haven't a clue.

I personally could not get over the backdrop. Then there were the 5 (yes I said five) swimming pools...

This year I took a Stacie and Tammy from my office...

Couldn't complain about the food either. Here is breakfast...eggs, green pepper, onion and cheese in a tortilla...with guacamole!! For breakfast!!! Can it get any better???

The answer is yes...because this was the view.

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. Think only of the best, work only for the best,and expect only the best. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. Live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you! ~Christian D. Larson