Sahweet. •*¨*•✩

I’m reading about everyone’s lives around the globe, from India, Texas, California, Louisiana, Georgia, Nairobi, Naples, Acton, Canyon Country, Oregon, New Mexico, Spain, Singapore, Africa, Australia, Italy, Turkey, New York, Florida, San Diego, North Carolina and Tennessee who are reading my blog and most of my friends are reporting scorching temperatures.

How to deal with the heat?

Today I’m offering 8 tips to stay cool in the hot weather.

1) Ice Cream.

I don’t know about you but I eat an ice cream a day. It’s good for your spirit and good for your soul. I try to eat natural ice creams that are hand made because they seem more genuine. I hear if you are concerned about your weight you could always go for a yoghurt or sorbet.

2) Water Park

Kids and adults love water parks. How fun are those?

3) Beach day.

Yesterday from noon to 6p it was hot. How hot was it? It was fry on egg on the cement hot. It was so hot, the squirrels were hiding their nuts in ice cream.

It was so hot the birds were asking for extra crushed ice in their bird baths.

It’s SO hot, that when you dive into the lake from the boat you have to go down a couple of feet until the water feels cool.

✿ ♫ ❀ Did someone say cocktail? ✩ ♥

4) Swim pool. Just dive right in.

5) Jump in the shower to cool off.

6) Take a drive to the mountains or higher altitudes.

7) Wet your hair I remember when I was a young kid at the Hume Lake, my mom would say just get your hair wet. It seemed to keep me cool for at least a half an hour.

*8) Sleep during the day, go out in the evening. Maybe you’ll see a shooting star.

Nothing makes me happier than throwing on light clothes and going about in the evening’s hot air. There’s a special magic about it that reminds me of my carefree youth.

Enjoy your summers. Hope you are well.

Every Three Minutes

We got back from our second vacation. Boy are these kids in Italy spoiled when it comes to summer vacation. I spent the last two summers in California, so this is a new experience for me ~ that is, staying here in Italy. The kids have spent tons of time at the beach playing. Then they came home and we all left for the mountains for a week.

Believe it or not we still have a couple more vacations lined up our sleeves, but they are top secret. It looks like we are getting a much longer vacation than the states as school is slated to start September 15th.

I love coming home after being away. You get a fresh look at things. It’s peaceful and calm.

What I didn’t expect would happen is that da boyz would grow up over night. When they were littler, I heard my name called non stop round the clock. Then suddenly, seriously, from yesterday to today,

silence.

It’s a crazy silence. It’s beautiful and sweet, but boy do I miss them. They have been out playing with their friends and haven’t come home for any reason what-so-ever. I keep going outside and asking them if they are hungry. I have hamburgers ready for them in the oven. It’s so sad that we love our kids with all of our hearts and then they grow up.

My mom told me that all of my life. She said, you’ll see, one day. Now I see. So?! What’s the point? We did a good job? Yes, we did. Still, the silence is loud, the burgers are ready and today, now, at this moment, I miss my boyz calling me, bugging me, every three minutes.

Click on over for great Italian summer vacation info. ❀◕‿◕❀

Hey kids, welcome.

The month of August in Italy is dedicated towards tourism. So for your reading pleasure I’m directing you over to one of my favorite blogs, Bleeding Espresso.

Gita means trip.

Click on over. I know the blog writer Michelle has put some fantastic information together that not only is inspirational and informative, it’s like going on virtual vacation.

Julie

For you. ╰☆╮¤°.¸¸.·´¯`»¸¸.·☆

I don’t know why

For some reason people like to give me gifts. I think it is because they know I have way too much stuff and I’m always giving it away ~ so they think they I need more stuff. Stuff.

One of my friends recently moved states with 10 tons of stuff. We aren’t taking it to heaven with us, are we? Still, I love all of the gifts my students and friends give me. Just today one of my son’s friend’s parents gave us a water filter that goes under our sink, including the time and effort it took to install it, refusing payment.

At university, my best friend and I would order frozen yoghurt and the clerk would say no charge. We were baffled.

On my daily walk, the farmer told me I had to come back with the car to pick up my fruit and vegetables. Truly. I have so many pears I have to give them away.

At the end of the school year, I got the sweetest little elephant, earrings, cards and letters from my students. During class, a lot of the kids write “Prof Angelos” on cards and decorate them. I especially like the ones with stickers and stories. I think people just like to give.

For you. ╰☆╮¤°.¸¸.·´¯`»¸¸.·☆

My sister sends me the most stuff of everyone.

I cannot tell you how much. She’s sent me a slip ‘n slide from the US. I am certain we are the only family in Italy with a slip ‘n slide. She’s also sent boxes upon boxes of toys for my kids and pressies for us.

One of my all time favorite gifts was when one of my dear readers who read my book was so thankful, he insisted on sending me a check. I didn’t want or need the money. I told him he could send my plastic baggies since I can’t find the zip lock ones here like those in the states.

My husband never walks in the door empty handed. He’s super generous with me and the boys. He buys them far too many clothes and shoes. And games. In the US, he and the boys surprised me a diamond ring. On a holiday in the French Italian border I was given a credit card and told to buy whatever I wanted. I bought a trinket ring.

My mother in law FILLS my fridge and freezer with hand made tortellini, broth, ready to eat foods and home made cakes and jams.

Fighting over checks. Always offering to pay.

In US, my friends ALWAYS have gifts for me to the point of embarrassment. They’ve given me bags of new clothes, you name it ~ gifts for the boys.

Most recently one of my facebook friends sent me a film to watch, that was just LOVELY of her to do.

For you. ╰☆╮¤°.¸¸.·´¯`»¸¸.·☆

But I must add, one of my all time favorite things to receive is your long letters or short comments. Each story is like a jewel to me. I almost wish we were in the age of letters so I could open each one and re read it slowly over coffee or hot tea. You guys opening up your lives to me and telling me about your adventures is just about the sweetest thing around.

So thanks for your gifts.

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Venice ~ just remembering when.♥ Young, carefree, without a thought in the world.♥

People who read this ~ God bless you ~ know that I had to overcome a lot of fears to set up this blog. You know why? Because writing for the public is similar to public speaking. You talk to people and they can smile, judge, laugh, agree or disagree. Sometimes they throw tomatoes right at the computer screen. I don’t suggest it.

Another point I like to to emphasize is the learning by doing aspect. For example, if any of you have ever travelled, I bet that what you saw first hand is different than what you read in books. It’s like a thousand reflections in a mirror. Until you go and experience something first hand, it’s all just stories on a page.

Writing a blog is an ongoing learning experience. Please don’t think I know what I’m doing. I’m a new comer to this @$#% blgng bznss.

When I first moved to Italy, I was overwhelmed that I had somehow become the United States information ambassador. I remember in particular a somewhat funny story of wanting a cappuccino. You see, even though I have lived here for over 15 years, I still have an accent. Maybe I will never lose it. I’ve come to live with it and accept it.

I would walk into the local corner shop for a coffee and would ask for a cappuccino. Ma lei non e’ italiana? was the most common response. It means, “Oh, so you aren’t Italian?”

At first, I would be kind and tell them a little bit about myself, but in the end, I just wanted my coffee. I learned so much though, about myself, from that harmless question. I asked myself what in the world am I doing in Italy asking for a cappuccino. Is there a straight forward answer to why we find ourselves today where we are?

If you know the answer, please formulate a response and put it in the comment section below.

You are one in a million. ♥ And your striking.♥

When I put up my art work last week, it was the exact same feeling. Sure, some people have no problems writing and talking and showing off their work. I do. I have enormous insecurity problems. That is EXACTLY why I feel like this blog is growing steadily. It’s because I’m so darn afraid of failing, I putting every ounce of myself into making succeed.

I am willing to take a risk and show you my work. Put DOWN that tomato. If you want to succeed in today’s market, I believe you must be willing to talk about your work.

I don’t see what is wrong with it. Like I told my blogger friend, Barbara, it’s fat free. Unless, of course, you are eating a lot of food while writing.

I also love reading and studying and learning from other people. That’s why I spend a lot of time on other people’s blogs to see how they approach the same question as mine. How do you, as a blogger or website owner, reach an audience, connect with them, share information, and grow as an individual?

Give and ye shall receive. No, it’s ask and ye shall receive, isn’t it?

I’m willing to try. I’m willing to learn.

♥ Your encouragement is what pushes me forward.

God bless.

Julie

Blog copy. Try saying that ten times fast. I wanted to start off by saying I’ve had a few readers who have been such loyal blog followers leaving comments, hitting the facebook ‘like’ button, encouraging me. I thank you for being my constant inspiration. Believe it or not, some of you wonderful readers have sent me long inspiring letters AND super cool REAL presents. That’s just too cool.

Now my readers are going to ask What does blog copy mean? Then they are going to ask me what fresh brewed has to do with blog copy. I’ll have to send them to an expert because I have no idea.

I’m digging myself quickly into a hole on this post. I can feel it spiraling down. Can you tell I’m rather new to blogging? Is it showing? Sorry about that. I still have froemds who don’t know what blog means. Should I start calling it an on line journal?

❀ It's okay to take a break. ❀

1. I love my readers. Some of them I have known for ages and others are new. They continue to inspire me to write. They tell me nice things like you never know Julie, maybe you will make someone’s life better. They say things like they love to read my blog. I don’t know if that counts though because that was probably my mom.

2. I love writing. To me writing gets my thoughts on the page and out of my head. Yesterday while shopping with my kids I sat down and wrote a list of 15 things I had to do. I felt overwhelmed and getting my list on the page made me feel like I could accomplish it. I’m just taking baby steps one at a time.

3. The more I give the more I receive. My friendships have been growing steadily and so is my reader base. I feel like I have never learned so much about life, love, laughter and people as I have in the last couple of months since sharing my life with others. I had a lot of fears to overcome. I think we all get used to talking to our inner circle of friends or to ourselves we think that if we wrote it for all the world to see we would be drastically made fun of.

4. My learning curve is out of control. The minute I hit the publish button on my first blog entry most of you know I couldn’t sleep. I thought, Oh great, delete, delete, delete. My husband is currently worried about me because it has been almost all consuming. I just read and read and read. I want to know what makes a blog successful so I just click all day long. And read. Luckily I’ve been super peaceful and smiling.

Dude, 'tsup? ´¯`»¸¸.·☆

I’m not so certain that spending more time on line is a good thing though. One of the reasons I moved to Italy is because I feel like Italians know how to live. I have always sustained that a to be happy in life you have to find a balance of work and pleasure.

I’ll give you an example. Say you are successful. I ask you how you are spending your days. Are you spending them alone or with other people? What percentage of your time are you dedicating to your family, to your work, to entertainment? How much of your time are you dedicating towards being a good person, toward helping others? How much of your time are you dedicating toward making yourself a better person?

As my best friend says it’s the doing that makes the difference. In writing and sharing, I’m a do-er not a be-er. Note to self: don’t forget to hyphenate the word be-er.

I can see you. Just tell me everything is going to be okay. It will! ´¯`»¸¸.·☆

5. People are curious. I think one of the reasons people are reading this now is because they want to know what it is like to live in Italy. I think I should write more about that. I’ll tell you. I spend a lot of time with children in class rooms, a lot of time with my friends – as much as possible, a lot of time with my family and the major part of my time taking care of life. I got super angry today at my class because I found one of the kids copying during a test. On the other hand in another class they sang me song after song. Children’s voices are so sweet.

I have a ton of things on my plate at the moment. The biggest two are selling my house, buying another house, selling my car, buying another car and writing my ebook. I’ve decided for the moment not to do any of them. I’ve decided to keep life simple, enjoy the things I have and live in gratitude.

6. I push myself to succeed. I strive for excellence. I strive for peace. I model good behavior. I strive to be a better person. I’m crazy scared that I’m going to bomb in front of all of my peers so I’m doing all I can do to make this great. I know it’s not. But like I tell my kids, I’m not a great mom, I’m not even a good mom, but I do try. I make it a goal. I know they know that. Making it a goal shows you care. I tell them I love them every day so many times. They know the story because I tell it to them every night before they go to bed.

I tell them I love them more than the moon, more than the stars, and more than all of the oceans.

Tell people you love that you love them. I don’t think you can ever say that enough. Be the change you want to see. Be inspiring. You think you don’t know how? I’ll give you a start. Smile at someone you don’t know. Live your life with passion. Pursue excellence. Take care of yourselves. Promise.

Until we blog again. Uh hmm, I mean journal. Have a good one.

Julie

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♥ sweet read?, short story єzmє ♥ by J.D. Salinger

Woke up this morning a new fresh person. Today is a new day. It’s a calm day. I’m not the same person I was yesterday and nothing is quite as it seems. Isn’t it all an illusion, anyway?

Got the fresh American coffee in my Italian garden while kids are busy running back and forth inventing new imaginative games. It’s lovely.

Picture deep green garden, flowers on the well, fluffy white clouds in a fresh blue sky.

I walk around the lawn barefoot. It’s a dream come true to me actually. I remember years back when house shopping I told my husband I wanted a garden with a kid’s pool and he laughed. How we laugh now.

We get a lot of compliments on our garden because it’s a group project although the lines aren’t always severe. More or less, I’m in charge of flowers and the lawn and my husband handles the vegetables and the trees. I’m counting down the day until my figs are ripe. It should be any day now. Today, I’m proud to announce, the cherries are ripe red. The more you pick the more they grow. It’s amazing.

hold onto your heart ♫

I wonder how plants grow? Isn’t God amazing. I like to say some things just grow out of nothing ~ like friendships, children, diamonds, songs, and ideas. Or? What about you?

I’ve also got the dark violet berries nearly dripping off the vines. Unbelievable to pop into your mouths. Move over vitamins in jars, you’ve been replaced. The kids ask ‘Can we pick some tomatoes?’, ‘Oh, yes, please do.’, I smile.

What do you think about me going out and collecting some of these berries and figuring out how to make jam out of them? I can ask my neighbor who I adore.

You guys who follow my blog know that after dinner at sunset I like to go for a nice country walk. Well, I’ve met a farmer who one day asked me if I liked onions. Now every time I come home, I have bags of fresh produce. Magic.

♥ think simply ♥ now

I’m not a HUGE peach fan so I don’t know what to do with the couple dozen peaches in my fridge. Any ideas? I’m on a permanent diet so nothing with sugar, please. Honey, yes, I’d be happy to hear of a honey peach cobbler type of pie. Just remember, I’m in Italy, so I have no pre prepared pie crusts at the market. Also I’m not so handy with messes or dough, so make it simple.

Hope this post finds you lovely, happy, blessed and appreciative of God’s many blessings. You’ve all been just a wonderful audience to write to. I’m starting to get a huge crush on you and I don’t know where to put it.

For the time being, I’ll be out in the garden watching da boyz play on this glorious day.

Julie

иєω уσяк ¢ιту♥ Be lovely. ♥ Be inspiring. ♥ Be generous. ♥ Be kind. ♥ Have integrity. ♥ Believe in love. ♥ Believe in yourself. ♥ Never give up. ♥ Be the change you want to see.

Hi guys, welcome back. Good to see you. New visitors, welcome, join, comment. Grab a cup of fresh brewed blog copy. Sugar? Milk? Beuller? Anyone?

Here are the 12 best blogs who have gotten my blogging bum in gear and motivate me to be a better blogger. Try saying that 10 times fast.

1. Tana @ From Kenya with Love If you haven’t read about Tana, my friend from Junior High School, who moved to Africa from California when she was young and raised three gorgeous girls on her own, then now is your chance. Tana tells awesome stories of adventures in Africa that will have you cry, laugh and worry. You’ll love her blog.

2. Michelle @ Bleeding Expresso The Godfather of blogs. I kiss her ring. Based in southern Italy, when I got the nod from Michelle my visitor hits soared. Her blog is FULL of useful information, wit, charm and pictures. She captures the spirit of Italy way better than I can. But best of all, she’s got a goat. Actually three goats.  I’m telling you I have yet to see a cuter goat.

3. Matt @ ma.tt This cool blogger who designs blog platforms likes to play jazz in his free time. DID YOU HEAR ME? He’s 26, talented, traveling the world and has provided half of the world with a FREE place to write your words. We bow down to our youth.

4. Chris @ The Art of Non-Conformity This guy is AMAZING. I admire him. I came across his blog when doing research for my ebook Zero to Blog and saw the fantastic headline 279 days to overnight success. Unlike me, his ebook is FREE and downloadable now.

Capitalist! Hey I heard you, I’m right here. Someone’s gotta keep feeding her chocolate addiction. That’s me talking to me for the record.

Chris’s mission is to travel the world and share his stories. Let’s see if he will dominate the world with his World Domination Manifesto. I found his blog absolutely packed with valuable information – for bloggers, travelers, doers and dreamers. Not only THAT, he’s making this world better place. Five star blogger.

5. Anne @ Anne on Life http://anneonlife.com/ – This lovely mom gets an A in my book for being excellent. She does it all, the mom, the blog, the math, the homework, giving her kids the jeep, but what I love about Anne is NOT only did she go back to continue her education in the later part of her life, she got outstanding grades. When she commented on my list of 7 killer buzz words, she got me to snicker when she wrote:

I love ‘hiney’. Uh, that didn’t come out right.

6. Barbara @ Blogging without a blog I can NOT emphasize enough how much I love clicking and going back to Barbara’s blogging without a blog. She and I have similar tastes in books and motivators such as Wayne Dyer, Byron Katie and Tony Robbins. Written in a classroom like setting, when you click over to Barbara’s blog you a guaranteed to learn something new every time.

I smell spring.

7. Pam @ bored cook Good recipes, good stories and a good blogger. She’s actually gets you cooking delicious food. I love her stories about being young and visiting Italy hoping to bet pinched in the bum.

8. Jodi @ Joy Discovered Kudos to Jodi because she’s been blogging for over a year AND publishes her visitor counts. I should double check on that, but I love Jodi’s blog Joy Discovered because she gives us the ins and outs of new books. She reads them cover to cover and tells us what we need to know. More than that, we have the similar blog layouts and with her kind help I was able to put my ‘shop’ tab up. Thanks Jodi!

9. Katie and Krystyne @ Tres Chic – Two newly graduated high school students embark on their journey to France to study abroad for four months. Read about their adventures and share their journey.

10. Dr. B @ Dr. Tom Bibey Blue Grass Physician I love love love love going back to read Dr. B’s blog. His visitors are like his patients and he takes good care of us all. His mom was an English teacher and his best friend passed away. He keeps his soul alive telling us what it is like to grow up in a small town where you get to the local diner by turning left at the oak.

Plus, he does it with grace, beauty, dignity and love for his wife and family.

There was not a whit of culture or refinement in me or my brothers.  We were just wild sunburned boys who ran all day and stayed covered in red clay dust.

10. Jeff R @ The Anti ignorance Blog
This young fellow is discovering the world through his words. He’s not bothered by visitors or by growth. He’s just writing. Isn’t wonderful that we have the opportunity to read about what our youth think? Give him a visit and let him know we aren’t all bad.

11. Miss A. Topp @ Love, Literature & the Pursuit of Happiness Enthusiasm, smiles, friends, a big family and willingness to tell the truth. Miss Topp is a young teacher and a lover of books. She’s working on her latest novel. In the mean time, feel free to follow her blog at http://msatopp.wordpress.com/

12. Julie @ local food.

One of the perks of coaching our 13 year-old son, Jack’s soccer team is getting to know the parents of our team members. Disclaimer: Joe does the coaching, I do the Starbucks run and cheering. One of the families we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know is Vince and Denise Brigantino. As a thank you gift for coaching (and cheering), they gave us a lovely bottle of their family grown Cabernet Sauvignon. We uncorked it tonight, let it breath for about an hour, and served it with Baked Ziti – yum!

When Julie writes you enjoy the northern California lifestyle along with her.

Thanks for joining me. Leave a comment. It’s how we little blog writers get paid. : )

Julie

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Hi guys, welcome back. New visitors, welcome. You might be new here, so please make sure to add a bookmark, add me on facebook or follow me on twitter at jbuliesblog.

✩ ♥ ❀ be a better person ✩

I just now am relaxing down to write about my latest vacation days at the beach with my family, old and new friends. I spent twelve total days at Marina di Ravenna on the Italian Adriatic Coast. Also, I had four visitors come by to keep me and da boyz company that included two great friends from Bologna, and my husband and mother in law when they weren’t working.

How do you feel about camping? Do you like to have your vacation in a five star hotel, at the lake waterskiing, or do you prefer camping? I think camping for kids is a great experience. As adults, I think we get used to our comforts.

Since I walked into my home only three hours ago, I have what I call fresh eyes on the entire vacation. Even though we had a fantastic time, this is one of those vacations when you kiss the floor when you walk into your house.

all work and no play makes jb a dull boy ✿ ♫

I joked a couple of weeks ago because I said I won’t be too sad about not going to California this summer because I’m consoling myself going to the Italian Riviera. I got a couple of laughs out of that. Now I’m going to give you the entire story, the good, the bad, the heat.

The good.

I finished two books. Yay! I love to read. I finished The Power of Now by Eckhart Toole and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Both were excellent. I came home to some great news.

you inspire me ╰☆╮¤°.¸¸.´¯`»¸¸.·☆ Thx Tana!

For one, my friend Tana has dedicated a blog article to me and I love her for that, so sweet. Another friend of mine, Liz, bless her heart, sent me the film Julie & Julia because she knows I don’t get to see films here for months after they come out.

Next time, when I go on vacation, hopefully I won’t have to be without internet for five days. I didn’t bring my camera, because quite frankly I had enough on my mind caring for two rather small kids.

Okay. The trip.

We went to a place called Marina di Ravenna which is found straight east of here. You can drive it in about an hour. We stayed at my mother in law’s camp ground that is private. BUT there is NO running water in the camper, or better yet, no drainage. Well, there is running water, but I didn’t use it because I didn’t want to empty the containers by hauling waste. Yikes!

The GREAT parts.

I like to think of six impossible things before breakfast. ✿ ♫

We were walking distance to the beach that took no more than five minutes. My mother in law has a reserved umbrella set up with two chaise lounges available for the summer season.

Who is coming to keep me company?

The nonna is working so she has left the camp site to our complete disposition. That is so overwhelmingly nice of her.

Here in Italy, the kids have entertainment. The way it works is that you can leave your kids with counselors at the camp ground park 10 to noon and four to six. I never did though, except yesterday when my kids did some coloring.

In the evening around 9:00 p.m. there is music and dancing. The kids love this because they are free to roam around the camp ground. Literally, I think there were about fifty kids running around playing hide and seek. They found some cats. They exchanged t shirts. They made friends. They played endlessly.

The WORST part.

There was no running water. Or, as I said, I didn’t use the running water in the camper. That meant to brush our teeth we had to walk about three minutes down the gravel path to a common bathroom. Sure, it was super clean and organized but I just hated having people look at me while I brushed my teeth. I ended up brushing in the camper. Ugh.

It wasn’t so easy to get my kids to brush either.

Great

The Adriatic sea water was clean, salty ~ the air good for you. The kids got a little inflatable boat and spent hours upon hours playing in the light waves while I read.

Bad

There was too much sun and I don’t like being tan. I seriously don’t like being out in the sun too long. I stayed in the shade as much as possible worrying about my kids getting too much sun.

Great

Watching my boys being brothers. I cannot emphisize how happy that makes my mother’s heart. My little guys were playing billiards together, helping each other. Every time I look, they are together. We all spent HOURS on bikes. That was super cool because there was a shady bike path.

Overall

A nice Italian vacation on the coast? Well, why not. I liked it. I just have certain things I cannot live without, like internet, like my washer dryer, like running water, like a cool place to hang my hat.

Next time

Time share of course. I married a man with a time share. We still have two or three more weeks of vacation coming up and love my honey, we get four and five star treatment from here on in. Yay. We plan on going to the mountains to cool off and to Umbria that is just striking.

Well, thanks for reading, thanks for your comments.

My question to you is this. Camping? Can you take it? Does it build character? Best holiday? Worst holiday? Any stories you care to share are appreciated.

Julie

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Be your own critic~there are enough people out there to be mean to you. Be nice to yourself ¸¸.·☆

A couple of things on my mind that I’d like to share today that have to do with reading, writing, creativity and comments.

Everyone is a Critic

When I made the decision to share my words with the world it wasn’t a self satisfying idea that I could help one person out there. It was more the idea that I wanted to learn how to blog. I thought of instead of writing in my journal, I’d do it online.

It’s actually a bit of a risk, if you ask me, putting yourself out on the line to be judged by your peers.

►ℓife is nσt abσut waiting fσr the storms to pass. it's abσut ℓearning hσw tσ dance in the rain.►

I like the idea of learning by doing. It’s one thing to think about doing something and a whole other ball game to put yourself out there and actually do something. What inspired this post was seeing the amazing things that are going on in your lives. I feel each one of you reading this is successful in your own way.

I’ve seen my friends overcome numerous obstacles to achieve their goals. I’ll give you some examples. One friend overcame the death of her parents at a young age to go forth and have a beautiful big family of her own. She figured it out. Others have dreamt of becoming writers, business people, dads, teachers, artists, musicians, you name it. They haven’t given up and they are doing it ~ pursuing their dreams. Doing it. Loving it.

I have a friend who is scared of making a change in her life ~ that is to change cities. But she did it. She said yes to life with the insecurity that comes from the future and not knowing what it would hold. Kudos.

Life is a journey. ♥ Set yourself up to play a winning game.

Another fantastic woman is traveling the world on her own. Such courage. Others dealing with heartbreak, love, life, raising families and work. They are figuring it out.

The more people who read my blog, of course, there seems to be always someone who doesn’t like it. That leaves the question to me of how to deal with it. I either forgive, forget, overlook, pretend they aren’t there, or accept.

When I’m in the class room, after 15 years of teaching, I’ve come to learn that each and every class I’ve ever taught (with the exception of you guys and you know who you are) there is one person who doesn’t like me or the class. It’s part of life, isn’t it?

While I was on vacation for a week and didn’t have internet access I found myself missing my online community. I have made friends with unbelievable people I wouldn’t have otherwise met. We share videos, stories, pictures of our lives, you name it. For me being so far from my family I find it a great way of knowing what they are up to.

I have also met people from all over the world. I love that. Our world truly is getting smaller. So on a spiritual path to enlightenment, I believe we are all interconnected. All of our actions effect each other.

I’m working through this confusion with the help of my friends and so thankful for them. I just sometimes wonder why God puts certain people in your life. There’s always a reason? I don’t know. I wish I did.

Well, thanks for reading this random post.

How do you deal with the critics? Is it better just to not share?