Today was the first day of classes for me. Here’s how the day went:

I found my plants survived and even grew while I was away.

I found that I needed a bit more coffee than usual to stay awake.

My window is still awesome!

All my classes were fun!

I get to use the skywalk to get to my third class of the day on Tuesdays. I have to walk from Jonsson to the Engineering building.

I kept running into scary signs on my walk.

After the first day, a glass or two of wine is relaxing!

Overall, a great first day!

Thursday, I went to an estate sale at this house.

They had a box of personal photos for .50 cents each. I’m wondering why anyone would want to sell personal photos. I find it sad.

This little girl’s picture caught my eye.

I turned it over and found this message:

It reads:

Myself. 10 yr of age. I really thought I was the bell of the school in that old time middy-blouse. Was a blonde with brown eyes until I was 12 yr old, have began to turn dark.

Please do not let anything happen to this one. Only one I have of me. Has been in family 24 yr. & I hope to keep some 24 more yr. 

I just find it sad that this little girl’s picture, whoever she may be, is now in a box for .50 cents. She’s unwanted now. I find myself wondering and hoping that she had a good life and that she felt important because today, she found herself in a box with strangers looking at her picture wondering how her life turned out and reading her plea on the back of the picture. I pray she had a blessed life and she felt she was worth more than .50 cents.

Since, Theresa at Red Oak Lane invited me to participate in Thankful Thursday, I decided it sounded exactly like what I needed to do to turn the negatives into positives. I believe a grateful heart is an open heart and when you are grateful, you can see circumstances and things we take for granted in a positive way.

1. I am thankful that the holiday season is over! Whew! Just to survive is good enough for me.

2. I am thankful for my little poodle Lucy. I will probably say this EVERY Thursday! Today, Dad was going for a walk in the park and wanted to take Lucy. Dad led her to the car when he noticed she was gone. She was sitting at the back door waiting for ME to come out. I wasn’t going for a walk, but she wanted me to come too. It was the most loving and cutest thing I had ever seen. Dad let her in the house and said, “She won’t go with me!” She eventually went with Dad only after she kept jumping on me and in her way telling me, “C’mon, C’mon, let’s go for a walk!”

3. I am thankful for friends who know exactly what I need. (like a last minute lunch date at a place that serves beignets)

4. I am thankful for reconnecting with friends  this Christmas season who I haven’t seen in a long time.

5. I am thankful for a job I LOVE! But I still don’t feel like going back yet!

6. I am thankful for friends who had me laughing until I was crying last night. I adore Sharon and Carie. They make me laugh and laugh and laugh.

Thanks for inviting me Theresa!

I don’t know why I like this picture. I think I like the shadow of the hand on the table.

A quiet spot to reflect

Yep, I turned 40 on 11/11/11. It’s a pretty cool birthday to turn 40. I’m just grateful I am here to see another birthday. I can’t say I feel 40. I still feel like I’m 25. Actually, I think I feel better than I did when I was 20. My confidence is higher, my knowledge is greater, and I’m more at ease with who I am. Sounds like the cliche answer, but it’s true. The older you get–the more comfortable with who you are. I know what I want, and I know if I don’t have what I want then I’m the only one who can change that.

I was thinking about what I’ve done in my first 40 years. I’ve had a lot of fun and a lot of hurt.

Life is about dealing with both the good times and the bad. Either way, you just got to do it because we have only one shot at this life and we got to go for it.

Before I was 40 I have made my dream to work in television news a reality, I made my dream of getting a Ph.D a reality. I climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty, made it to the Eiffel tower, went to the Cowboys SuperBowl Ring party after their second win, met some pretty cool famous people, been talking to publishers about my book and have had life come crashing down on me. I’ve experienced LIFE as it was intended.

My philosophy is to never settle. I don’t like talking about what I want to do, I like trying to make it happen. I remember always thinking about getting a Ph.D and right after 9/11 I started graduate school and never looked back. Sometimes getting to our goals is HARD, but well worth it. Why? Because I BELIEVED I could do it and I wasn’t about to settle for a gray cubicle in a dull gray windowless office building shuffling papers around for a corporation who may or may not think I’m indispensable. I never went for those jobs, and when I did try one,well, it didn’t work out. Why? Because it wasn’t my dream.

Life is filled with so many ups and downs. Some people may choose to see me as a failure in the first 40 years because I didn’t play by society’s rules by getting married and having children. I have never been one to play by the rules. Rules are meant to be broken. My goals were different. If marriage and kids happen in the next decade, bring it, but to me love is about finding that person who will want to be your best friend. I just haven’t found that person to spend my life with yet. I’m not in this life to settle. I think about my Mom who just wanted to finish her life. She died too young, at 67, of ovarian cancer. She would want me to go for it. I like to think I’m now living life for the both of us and she’s along for the ride in my heart and soul. She always said I could do anything, and I choose to believe her words.

I think 40 is going to be the decade that is the best yet!

I’m enjoying a glass of wine, reading tweets and then a future student’s view of the world via my photo.  I laughed when the Village people showed up in my picture of the construction outside my office window. Thanks @laurenvoneper!

Have you ever had one of those days where you didn’t make plans and they just sorta happened? Yea, that was last Saturday.

First, I went to Central Market. I love shopping there.

I love Central Market's fresh bread, but it doesn't love me back.

Cheesy Pumpkin

A BLTA + Chicken Tortilla soup= YUMMY!

Later in the day, my friend Carie invited me to go see Collin Raye at The Harbor in Rockwall. It was the perfect Fall night to sit outside and listen to music. We even met him.

A Perfect Fall Sunset on Lake Ray Hubbard

Collin Raye playing at the Harbor

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