Yeehaw!

I love this time of year in Texas. Between Texas Indepenence Day and loads of Rodeos, there are plenty of opportunities to wear our cowboy and cowgirl gear. What could be more fun? I guess I need to buy some boots for me.

Bathroom Conversation

Hubby: What do you use that sandwich making thing for?

Me: Um....You mean my flat iron (pointing to it)?

Hubby: Yeah

Me: It straightens my hair so it isn't wavy.

Hubby: Don't women want curly and wavy hair?

Me: (I suddenly get a flash back to the late 80s & early 90s, when big bangs and perms were the in thing.) Curly hair is fine, but a little wave is annoying.

Happy Valentines Day!

Proximidade Award

Del from My Relish Blog has kindly selected my blog for an award, which kind of makes me feel guilty since I have been neglecting it lately. Maybe this is the motivation I needed.

The Proximidade Award is described as:
‘This blog invests and believes in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes for self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!’

This blog award should be sent to your favorite eight bloggers and they, in turn should forward to eight of their favorites. You should include the text for Proximidade (above) in your announcement blog.

As you know, it is not easy picking eight blogs for an award. All of the blogs I read tend to draw me in because they are charming and/or candid. I guess I'll select some of them that I can imagine being friends with in the real world and I am going to list them in random order:

Tropic of Mom: Her blog contains beautiful pictures of Florida, fun stories, and she is pregnant. What mom doesn't like reading posts about pregnancy?

Brand New Tatoo: There is a lot that has happened to her in life and she writes openly about it all. I love her honesty.

Crazy Bloggin Canuck: She is a popular blogger who writes very creatively and really pulls people in. Who doesn't love her?

Amyeliz: She is witty, funny, candid, and a million other great things.

Aimee-Enchalada: She is kind hearted, yet makes me laugh with her sometimes snarky comments. Plus, she organized a whole Valentines exchange, which is super fun.

Aerin's Cranberry Blog: She always has interesting and well-thought-out topics. We've even exchanged a few wondeful e-mails. She is a very understanding person.

Now, for 2 recently discovered blogs by people I know in real life, but don't know about this blog and will only discover it if people click over there & they track it.

Pixie Chick: She is a free spirit who is extremely creative and kind. I knew her in high school, when people thought she belonged in the 1960s because of the way she dressed, played guitar, and loved the Beatles. I always liked her. She lives in SLC and started having kids at a fairly young age. Now, she is going to the University there and is about to have a book published.

Mortensens: I also knew the writer of this blog in high school. She has one of those cute little family blogs and has become quite the cake decorator.

Here I am at the end of the list with a few more blogs that I had intended on awarding. I don't read a whole lot of blogs anymore. If I read yours and/or your blog is listed on my side bar, please know that you are worthy of the Proximade Award in my eyes.

Everything is Fine

Two weeks ago, I called a friend. Immediately, I knew something was wrong. She denied it and tried to make small talk. We have been friends for a long time and I know probably all of her secrets, but I played along. A few minutes into the conversation, she burst into tears and said she couldn’t talk right now.

Every few days since then, I have called her and slowly she divulged all the different issues bothering her. Mainly, she was worried that her career had taken a nose dive. For the past seven years, she has been working for the devil-incarnate. I have been hearing some rather extreme horror stories since she started. The whole thing finally blew up and she is suddenly without a job in a time when the economy is frightening. On top of that, every shot she has had turned sour as soon as they checked with past employers (we all know which one). I am actually listed as one of her references, because she assisted me with Marketing at a company where we worked together. I have yet to receive a call.

I gave her a few words of advice, but nothing very helpful. Two nights ago, the answer suddenly came to me. I knew exactly who she should work for and no other references besides mine would be necessary. Yesterday, after I made a few calls, she was offered a dream job working from home. Maybe I shouldn't say "dream job," she isn’t making an ideal salary to start off. However, by the end of the day, she was walking on sunshine. She went from the depths of despair to the highest of highs.

I have been thinking about this situation since then and I realize that opening up to others and networking can really work miracles. You never know who will be your link in the chain. For a while, I didn’t even realize that I was that link for her. This world really is small. Now, I just have to take my own advice and stop keeping all my problems bottled up. ...we'll see.