Tag Archives: Humor

46 Ways to be a Better Person

Posted on May 2013 | 53 Comments

Thank you for stopping by my blog.

Here’s a quick list that will get your started on having a nicer day now. Good luck and let me know how it goes.

1. Take a deep breath now, hold it as long as you can. Count to 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, release, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and now another.

2. OK, two more deep breaths. Relax.

3. Concentrate on this word <<oooaahhhhmmm>> and close your eyes and take another two deep breaths, in through your nose out through your mouth.

4. Meditate. Concentrate on your third eye and just be peaceful. You can stop reading this! It’s okay!

5. Slow down. Try moving slowly.

6. Start each day as Gandhi did: Be the change you want to see.

7. Look for ways to help others.

It almost always seems impossible until it's done. ♡

It almost always seems impossible until it’s done.x♡o

8. Treat yourself great.

9. Be your own friend.

10. Go to the mirror and make funny faces.

11. Make yourself and/or a friend a nice cup of tea or coffee.

12. Take a long walk without music or distractions.

13. Clean. Go left to right, it works.

14. Be young in your heart.

15. Hug a tree.

16. Jump on one leg. Now the other. Do this in your mind’s eye. Or for real.

17. Spin like a child with your eyes closed. Do this in your mind’s eye. Or for real.

18. Hug someone. Even yourself.

19. Next time you see someone on facebook that’s down, get involved. Try sending links, messages.  Or, how about a phone call?

20. Believe in miracles. :) I do.

21. Be inspirational.

22. Forgive yourself.

6 Simple Rules to live by: Be happy, be nice, be a leader, be organized, be a lifelong learner and be healthy. Listen to the next sound you hear.

23. Push yourself to be a little bit better.

24. Count to ten before reacting. {or better yet, just let it slide.}

25. Pet an animal.

26. Turn off the tv.

27. Sell something on ebay.

28. Give something away to charity.

29. Treat yourself to a day spa.

30. Take a nice long relaxing bath or shower.

31. Bake.

32. Organize your files.

33. Make a list of three things you don’t want to do and then do them.

34. Eat well. How’s a salad sound for your next meal? A big one!

35. Exercise.

36. Take a risk with love.

37. Write a message on someone’s facebook wall saying thank you for being there.

38. Enjoy this moment.

39. You can reprogram your mind to believe anything you want it to. Triy listening to affirmations. There are tons on you tube.

40. Shine the light that God has given you.

40. Shine On!

40. Shine the light that God has given you.

41. Tell someone you love them.

42. No matter what your age, dream — even big if you’d like.

43. Remember a moment when you were blissful. Hold on to it.

44. Accept yourself for exactly who you are.

45. Send a REAL letter in the mail.

46. Give yourself a little break.

Thanks for reading and have a great day. I believe in you. I do.

In the comment section, I’d like to know what you can hear, smell and feel in this exact moment. What is around you? I can hear  boys playing, the washing machine spinning and a distant car passing.

→ 53 Comments

Posted in happiness, Inspiration, learning, lists, motivation

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Life is participation.

Posted on January 2013 | 6 Comments
Vision Boarding

Vision Boarding

I don’t know about you but I keep coming across one crazier story than the next. Humanity always seems to surprise me. For example, I’m reading stories about real stalkers, robbers, ATM blow ups, unfortunate home violence, earthquakes, and flying machines. Yeah right.

I started this blog four months ago and either I think I’m Crazy News Central or my readers do. Welcome. You might be new here, so please make sure to add a bookmark above, follow me on facebook or follow me on twitter.

♥Take me out to the ballgame♥

I KEEP getting some fairly random messages and emails, one more surprising than the last. It must be me. I attract the nutters? Not you, obviously, them. Let’s try to get it on the page and make some sense of it all.

How are you? How are you doing these days? You look great. Really. Strong and Lovely.

So wonderful to see you. Thank you for dropping in for some blog copycoffee. Happy? Well fed? Smiling? Living, loving? Being a good person? Aiming at being a better person?

♥Without my readers I’d only be writing to my cat.♥

I had a talk yesterday with one of my best friends about having over 300 friends on facebook. She said I think you should just stick to a core group of friends.

Hmmm. Made me think.

When I started this blog I had 200 friends, now I have over 300. I’m still the same person sitting at my macbook type typing away. When I started this blog I was writing to my cat. I now have 6,000+ visitors.

After I thought about it I got back to her and told her, Yes, you’re right, you must know who your true friends are. However, I do believe that with internet our lives have become more global. We have to now think in new shiny ways. We are no longer limited to our direct surroundings.

The world is getting smaller. Heck, you can book your own travel. Now THAT’S what I call progress.

What really amazes me is how these names and profile pictures are ACTUALLY real truly wonderful people who have taken a minute out of their day to read my blog. I thank you for that.

You meet them, you share part of your life with them, and believe it or not, you both influence each other and the lives of people around you. Are our comments just random thoughts in each other’s lives? Or, do you think about them, mull them over in your head during the day or before going to sleep?

Making any sense?

As my mom friend put it, Julie, you really are busy. :)

Well, I meet wonderful people in my circle of friends.

Team Update ~ ♥l i t t l e p u n e y♥ ideas ~ BIG results.

By the way, we are doing really well on promoting our little event in our little town. So far we have organized a little stand with coffee, water, drinks, ice cream, and a little bbq with hamburgers and hotdogs. That’s it. That’s the big plan.

The parents have offered to man the booth if I can figure out how to set up the gazebo thing~a~ma~jig. One sweet grandpa in particular is bringing an air popper for popcorn.

Another has offered to donate a coffee machine. My friend and I are painting park benches the worst color or rust I have ever seen.* The mayor of our little town is going to throw the first pitch of the season. He’s hot a handsome gentleman by the way, in case you haven’t noticed.

We’ve organized the event for May 1st, 4:00 p.m. Come!

Now that it’s all organized and going well, I can’t help but think, was it worth all of the trouble? Many words, hours, meetings, fun, ideas, new jackets, pictures and press are all flying about. But seriously, folks, haven’t we got better things to do? Apparently not.

Now it’s your turn. What do you think?

Do you agree with me that life is participation and it is better to be involved and make things a little bit better? Or, do you think life is strictly a spectators sport? Should we just go, grab a drink, have a laugh, watch and cheer as the others run about? Or maybe it’s better to come up with a good idea and try to implement it? Hmmm.

Let me know. Leave a comment.

I hope this message finds you happy and well where ever you are. Be a leader. Change by doing. Smile. Enjoy life. Laugh a little, for goodness sakes. Muah.

You’re gorgeous.

Julie

* It was in my garage for three years. Wrong choice of colors. Don’t ask.

→ 6 Comments

Posted in happiness, Inspiration, Italy, learning, motivation, relationships, travel, writing

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Light thoughts lift spirits.

Posted on November 2012 | 5 Comments

I’d rather have a few good friends than a thousand acquaintances.

♥ If at first you don’t succeed stand close to someone who can take the blame. ♥

Put your best foot forward, that’s all anyone can ask.

Let’s eat Grandma! or Let’s eat, Grandma!

Punctuation saves lives.

иυιια ѕι ¢яєα ~ иυιια ѕι ∂ιѕтяυGGє

What’s your favorite quote?

Aces trump kings.

If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.

♫❀ It’s summer and it’s beautiful. ✩

It’s all just an illusion. Nothing is as it seems.

The sun is so bright and beautiful today.

I’m sorry if I’ve caused you pain.

Always be a little bit nicer than you think you should be, you never know what personal struggles someone is going through.

But I don’t want to go among mad people, remarked Alice. Oh, you can’t help that, said the cat. We are all mad here. 

I believe in you.

Marriage is a journey ~ I wish you bon voyage.

If you need to get something done just take the first step and like a pendulum the rest will follow suit.

I love to read. The answer is not in books.

We all like to get reminded how wonderful we are. Everyone can use a bit of encouragement.

Forgive yourself if you have harmed someone. Let them know you are sorry then move forward.

Change is so easy. All it is is a decision. How cool is that?

Have a great day. Smile.

Thanks for stopping by. :)

JB

What’s your favorite quote? Leave it in the comment section below. Thanks. :)

→ 5 Comments

Posted in happiness, Inspiration

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When people tell me they read my blog.

Posted on November 2012 | 6 Comments 
It's a kind of strange feeling.

It makes me think there are people, I mean real people out there reading these words. Some people think that by reading them they know me. Ha! That’s a good one. Maybe they do.

Do people know someone because of the words they say? Of the words they write?

I’m not certain. I think people who know me are people who I grew up with. They are people who spend time with me just doing nothing, people who stand next to me when we are washing vegetables and preparing meals for our families.

They are friends who stop by my house and drop off odd things that make me smile, like cat food, like coffee, like a book, like cool things like that.

My favortite compliment is that I’m good at computers. Who in today’s world is not good at computers? They are so easy. I like to ask them what they mean. They say, You know, the way you get up your pictures and display the information.

Get informed. Read.

Get informed. Read.

I tell them I think anyone could do it. I mean that. What does it take to write a few words and slap on a few pictures to get your point across?

My friend’s friend said to me, you know what we say about your blog? That it’s kind of weird. That what you write is a bit out there, a bit philosophical.

Oh really?

That’s a good one. Strange, I mean, weird, that people haven’t gone so far as to write that in my comments below. Why not? I don’t know. My favorite comments remain those who say I am good technically or that they feel like they are sitting across the table from me having tea.

I like when people write or say to me that they like my blog. Certainly. Of course that’s a nice thing to say. Thank you to the people who have taken the two minutes out of their day to support my tiny efforts.

But does it make a difference? Does it in my or your world make a difference if a person writes a blog post and then shares it with the world?

I don't think so.

Unless you can learn something from the other. I often say that what I know is very limited. As I get older, the knowledge, awareness, and wisdom seems to be rapidly diminishing.

Ready. Thx JC for pic.

Ready.

I’m not saying I’ve got Alzheimer’s or dementia or Attention Deficit Disorder. I’m saying that as I get older, the 20 year old who seemed to know everything has become the nearly 50 year old who seems to know little. It’s kind of fun if you ask me.

The thing is that as my numbers grow, so does my self consciousness. I mean, there you are reading this, maybe smiling, maybe shaking your head and smiling and nodding. Or there you are thinking, what she is writing makes absolutely no sense at all.

Does it have to?

I have a message for my 3o year reunion friends who are meeting up in July. I was the Class President so I think it only apt to say to you that I hope you are doing well in life. I believe that in life we must always follow our dreams. We should always believe in ourselves. Never give up! I believe in your power to make changes for a positive future. I believe that our future lies in our decisions and the way we talk to people. I believe it lies in our word choices. I believe our children bring forth our values to their children.

Making a house a home.

Making a house a home.

I am so proud of our graduating class! I remember when we stood there during our commencement ceremony all in our rows, in our gowns as they called our names one at a time thinking what an extraordinarily proud moment it was.

Our motto for our high school being Canyon Pride. It remains. Once a Canyon Cowboy, Always a Cowboy. That has remained true for so many of us who have reconnected over the years.

Well, before I go on rambling anymore, I just wanted to say keep up the good work, keep smiling and thank you for stopping by and reading.

Hope you are well.

As always, I pray this post finds you lovely, lucky and in love.

Julie

→ 6 Comments

Posted in journal

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Reach for the moon. ☆ If you don’t make it ~ at least you’ll be in the midst of stars.

Posted on July 2011 | 7 Comments
When they say you can't, show them differently.

10 x No = YES!

Here’s a story I learned when I was young.

There’s a bunch of fleas put in a jar. They keep jumping super high. In fact, fleas can jump 60 times their height! The fleas are now in the jar jumping so high so high.

Then someone comes along and puts a cap on the jar. Bump bump bump. The fleas hit their heads. Ouch. They change their behavior and say in a tiny flea voice I will only jump as high as this lid. Ouch ouch ouch.

Then someone comes along and opens the jar. What do you think happens? Do the fleas jump super high or do they jump just as high as the lid?

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. ღ ॐ Friedrich Nietzsche ♡

Unfortunately they only jump slightly lower than lid. You know why? They learned they couldn’t jump any higher.

The point of the story is that we are all little fleas that can jump 60 times our height.

You can jump higher.

Please don’t let ANYONE ever tell you that you can’t do something that benefits yourself, humanity, your team or someone you love.

Even better do something for an enemy. Forgive them.

More Peeps?! WT~@#?

Surely a vanilla green tea with honey day today.

Tell me when you want me stop talking about this but I have a good number of visitors here. I think that’s unbelievable.

I just don’t know when I am going to get used to thinking I’m talking to more than my husband or children. Still it just floors me. I googled the question How many people visit your blog?

I keep getting referred back to one site and I found an interesting chart saying they get 20,000 visitors per week. I’m not buying it. Maybe they are. I just don’t know of any personally.

I am sure somewhere someone is. If so be brave, come forward, leave a comment. One guy said he got like I don’t know 250 per week when he wrote an iphone review. Probably.

Cough cough cough bull…bull. bologna.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Welcome new readers. I hope you become a regular visitor.

The bottom line is I am completely satisfied with the positive feedback I am getting and the steady increase in visitors. Thank you.

Do you like email – I don’t so much.

What do you think about the box that reads: If you are new you might want to consider adding me onto your email subscription? I wish someone would explain that to me. I personally don’t like email so much.

I do all of my communicating between my friends on facebook. What am I going to do with a HUGE list of emails? Sell them to marketers? No. Why? So they can send me junk mail that I trash?

I’m not going there. Am I wrong in thinking if someone wants to see what I am up to they can go to my site or drop me a line? People know how to bookmark, don’t they? Argh.

The first week I was blogging I added myself as a subscribe to my newsfeed by email button. I kept getting letters from myself and it was awful.

Reach for the moon. If you don’t make it at least your are somewhere amongst the stars.

☆

Have a great day and thanks for visiting.

Julie

→ 7 Comments

Posted in happiness, holidays, Inspiration, motivation, teaching, writing

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

To put the past in the past, completely, now and forever.

Posted on May 2010 | 4 Comments
Thanks LousBoosandshoes.

Sometimes ♡ You have to immerse yourself in an unfamiliar world to truly understand your own.

I deleted my last post because I thought it was totally insane. I learned that you should never write anything in the middle of the night because we think we are lucid but IN REALITY we aren’t. I reread my post this morning, lowered my head in shame and hit delete faster than you can say Hey Mom, what did they put in her Jello?

I went on over to facebook and tried to let my friends know what in the world I was thinking because I had some pretty funny comments in my in box.

It’s one of those days where I think each key on my keyboard should be labeled delete. That way I might stop embarrassing myself with my lama rama ramblings as my friend Pam so aptly calls them.

Back to reality.

It’s spring out here in Italy and the flowers are blooming. Being from So Cal it’s crazy beautiful. It’s the moment that I wish was all year long. I feel like writing.

You da bomb

Well if that wasn’t a bomb of a last class I don’t know what was. I had three hours of teaching today and if you aren’t a teacher you MIGHT not get this but I had a bunch of kids complaining about their grades.

What the mind can conceive the body can achieve.

It got to me because I think of myself a generous teacher so I don’t take to critcism well. One girl wrote the following sentence in English and she wondered why I didn’t give her a good grade.

She had put the following words in order:
discover / will / life / on / No, / they / scientists / won’t / Mars.

She came up with
 Will discover mars life of scientists, no me won’t.

I’m chalking it up to being the last hour of the week and we all were tired.

Counter Point

My other two hours were AWESOME. We laughed and smiled. We spent about an hour translating motivational sentences like like Take 100% Responsibility for your Lives, Stop being a victim, Accept and Love your Body, Dream, etc. I think they liked it because they listen, smile and their eyes look alive.

Another cup of delicious fresh brewed blog copy.

I’ve been actively participating in blog discussions. One of my favorites so far is Barbara’s blog called bloggingwithoutablog. She has set her site up to be an active classroom. It’s fun. I love the people in there. One guy just cracks me up with his post called North Dakota Doesn’t Exist.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I knew it was a myth.

I also follow regularly the blogs you see to the right on the sidebar called Reccomended Reads.

Man On Road – Italian Translation Cracks Me Up

I was driving on the freeway a couple of days ago and there was an overhead sign in GIGANTIC orange flashing lights that said Man On Road. I just had to laugh. What in the world does that mean? I think they meant Men at Work. I don’t think there was a man on the road because I saw the same sign at least three times.

Thank you for sharing my blog journey with me friends.

Care to share?

1. When do you find it is the best time to write? Morning, noon, late evening, or when you are inspired.

2. What’s your favorite season and why?

3. Have you ever written an article in the middle, published it, then went back and not understood parts of it?

→ 4 Comments

Posted in happiness, Inspiration, Italy, journal

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,