Just Pretty Pictures Today — that is all.
blogging
#6 My Amazing Friends also known as MAFSS guest M. Risser
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Run the Hill by guest blogger Michele Risser
Run the hill is a phrase I use when things get hard. Run the hill is focus. Run the hill is determination. Run the hill is tenacity, strength and endurance. Running the hill is the thing you have to do to become a better runner.
On a long stretch of highway you can see the hill, ahead in the distance waiting for your arrival. There are certain things you must do as you approach it. You must unclench your fists and relax your shoulders. You must straighten your back and expand your chest. You must raise your head. Most importantly, you must turn up your music.
Stay focused.
As you begin the ascent, you must find a point just ahead of you to become your mini goal. It may be a crack in the road, a sign or a post, a tree or a flower. All you aim for is that next little goal. It is very important not to look, glance at, or focus on the top of the hill, it is overwhelming.
You must stay focused on your mini goal until you pass it and then hone in on the next crack, tree, post or flower until again you must select a new one.
As your music keeps your pace, as your eyes look forward, as your chest expands to receive oxygen and your head is held up to supply that oxygen, you begin to realize you are running the hill. Little by little, breath by breath, one leg and then the other stepping up, up, up. You are running the hill.
Those things in life which are the hardest to do are the things we must do. They make us stronger, more patient, compassionate, they improve us.
They give us the experiences in life which require focus, determination, tenacity and perseverance.
Doing hard things helps us to grow. At times those hard things may seem overwhelming and so you set a mini-goal.
Perhaps solving one problem at a time, improving a fault little by little, mending a relationship, gaining knowledge, overcoming pain, hurt, anger, depression or addiction. One hour at a time, one day at a time, one lesson at a time, one achievement at a time.
Triumph
When you reach the crest of a hill and you know within a minute you are will be at the top, you must push with that one last burst of energy that is hidden deep inside of you, but is always there.
For a brief second, just an instant, you are able to see the view from the top of the hill. The view is glorious, spectacular, breath taking and not because of what you may see, but because of what you feel ~ your moment of triumph.
You will feel your strength, your determination, tenacity and endurance, all of the those characteristics that helped get you to the top of the hill.
Then, you begin to run, down, down. No longer is a mini goal needed. Your breath begins to relax, no need to concentrate on the song to keep pace.
For a moment you have a repose, a rest from the intensity of pushing yourself, from doing something physically and mentally challenging.
Even though you know that there will always be another hill, you immerse yourself in the glory of running without effort. You feel light, you are floating, you are free from the burden of climbing the hill and all you can do is look in wonder and gratitude at what is around you.
You feel like you can fly.
Becoming a stronger you.
We cannot avoid running the hill, we must run it when it is there before us. We must not be discouraged if it not our best run, or our strongest, or fastest or our most successful. Running the hill will be different every time, because all hills are different. The constant lies in us and the tools we use from experience, to make the run bearable, to finish. Remember that each time you run the hill, you become a stronger you.
Run the hill, run the hill, run the hill. It is what I repeat over and over in my mind as I make the climb, both in running and in life.
If you’d like more information about Michele and running you can leave a message here below, contact her on twitter, or contact her on facebook.
OOH, I LOVE THIS GIRL. NEW AND SHINY!
Some people have asked if they can send me a gift — are you freakin’ kidding me? Of course you can. Gifts are always welcome and greatly appreciated. New gifts will support: 1) Kiva 2) Me getting out to see my family 3) New paintings 4) You! Because you are awesome. Choose between: She’s funny $10 She’s freakin’ hilarious $20 She’s inspired me $50 Just for fun. $100.00 USD I’ll have what she’s having $500 I’ll drink the koolaid $1,000 Thanks!
Click on card, it’s free!
Swim away from the cake — updated motivational technique.
Hi friends. Welcome.
I am putting every ounce of myself to becoming a better blogger, writer and communicator.
More importantly is that I am trying to make a positive change in life.
Thank for visiting if this is your first time here. Welcome back visitors, feel free to leave comments, I truly appreciate them.
What motivates you?
My best friend kicks my bum in tennis and probably anyone elses. When we were playing at university we were great partners. We spent our time between matches actually doing cartwheels on the court.
We were paired up with a couple of strong guys who were so serious about tennis. One day our coach pulls us aside and assigns us new partners. Not those guys, Not those guys, we chanted — they’d kill us at tennis.
Sure enough, we found fantastic new partners, the super strong guys.
I’m building bridges here.
Stay with me folks. There IS a reason I’m telling you this.
The reason is this. I like to find what is behind someone’s motivation. Is it someone who comes over, puts your hand on your shoulder, smiles, and says good job, or is the person who gets behind you and yells ‘DO IT!’?
When I was on swim team in high school, my sister was my best motivator. She’d follow me back and forth across the lanes and scream ‘Go, Go!’ Her coaching strategy was swim toward the chocolate cake and away from the shark.
Just pretend
Be a kid and pretend you are the best. Walk across the room at this moment as if you have a cape on your back, I don’t care if anyone’s watching — all the better. Our mind will literally follow suit.
When my best friend and I were back playing singles tennis, she’d say Julie — You’re going down with such conviction, I had no other choice then to believe here. Guess what? She usually won. She still does.
The point is, get out there, do your best.
Go! Go! Just get out there and do it! Be the positive change you want to see. That’s all we can ask, isn’t it?
Have a positive mental outlook and a strong belief that you can win. If you don’t believe in yourself, well then, I do. Go!
Have a nice day and thank you for visiting.
13 excellent blogs for your reading and viewing ♥ pleasure
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?
Today I’m talking about what makes a good blog based on scientific evidence also known as my opinion. OK OK, I’ll throw in some scientific evidence.
Here are the 13 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. BJ at Tiny Island This blogger lives in Singapore. She has a nice style of writing. I go back to her blog because not only is has she become a blogger friend, she has great information on living in Singapore. I feel like I’m travelling without leaving my home when I visit her blog.
2. Ducks @ Counting Ducks If you haven’t read about Peter, my friend from blogging who is so creative, then now is your chance. Pter tells awesome stories that will have you laugh and cry, such a talented writer, so creative. You’ll love his blog.
3. Michelle @ Bleeding Expresso The Godmother 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.
4. Matt @ ma.tt This cool blogger who designs blog platforms likes to play jazz in his free time. DID YOU HEAR ME? He’s young, 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.
5. 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. His ebook is FREE and downloadable now.
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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
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. Linda @ Lindaloumac This nice English lady moved to Italy after she raised her lovely girls. She keeps us up on her adventures at her blog. She’s also an avid reader and shares tons of information and book links.
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.
11. 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.
12. 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/
13. 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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Reach for the moon. ☆ If you don’t make it — at least you’ll be in the midst of stars.
Here is a story I learned when I was young.
There are 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?
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~@#?
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.
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 like it 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
To blog or not to blog? That is my silly question.
What do you think are the aspects of a good blog?
Is it quality writing, quantity writing or both?
Do you like more pictures, less pictures, or something in the middle?
If you have a blog, what kinds of things do you like to write about?
Have you ever deleted your facebook account? Are you glad you did?
What do you think about people who have way too many friends on facebook? Do you think that social media is just getting out of hand, like an unkept closet?
I have a couple of questions about blogging lately. I’m just thinking about my blog that I started a year and a half ago and how my life has or has not changed because of it.
Before even publishing a blog I had in mind what I what I thought a cool blog would be like. I think the first time I had ever even read was one that seemed like a Portland Oregon Taxi Driver Conversations blog. I thought, I bet that’s interesting or funny and it was.
I don’t have the link. It was like six years ago.
Then, I thought about what I liked in a blog. I thought, I want to make sure it has an order, chronological, or whatever, and a coolish design. I mean easy on the eye.
I thought one of the most important things on a blog was a place that people could comment.
Then, I thought, Gosh, if I were to ever publish a blog, I want a bunch of those comments that you see on the back of the book. You do know what I am talking about, right? Like when you read Best Book Ever or I just couldn’t put it down.
Or
Five times on the NY Times Best Seller List.
I’m not sure if it is true or not but I’m quite certain that that last comment is on every book out there. At least it seems to me it is.
{Hmm. Note to self. Check if you only read NY Times Best Seller Books.}
Recap
In my humble opinion, a good blog should have a nice design, easy user interaction by means of comments and easy navigation.
I’m not so certain if it should have self promoting comments like the ones I have in my right side bar that I hear I should update now and again.
To blog or not to blog?
A positive aspect of blogging is having a creative outlet to share my thoughts that people can comment on.
A negative aspect of blogging is having a creative outlet to share my thoughts that people can comment on.
That begs the question if it’s good idea to have a blog. I know I love reading about people’s lives around the world and have become friends with many bloggers.
My eyes have been open to friends lives in New York, in Seattle, in Japan, in Singapore, basically, EVERYWHERE there is internet.
Bloggers are the friendliest community I’ve ever hung out with. They are sort of like computer hacks in my opinion in a little way because you have to understand some basics like how to type and how to do some silly coding stuff called widgets and things and html. Fun fun stuff. I actually love it.
Bloggers are also super great at helping each other, like when we exchange ways of adding links known as a blog roll, or graphics, or recipes. You know, exchanging information. I remember one nice lady who helped me out with my five tabs I have at the top of my blog. Just ask, they say.
I will never forget the kindness of people who have sent me gifts and encouraged me. That’s just way too nice. Thank you again if I haven’t said it lately. I also got so many nice REAL cards too saying things like thank you for giving me a glimpse into your life. That’s encouraging.
Then of course, my facebook account got totally out of hand. I accepted friend requests from all kinds of friends. When I had like only 100 friends on facebook I remember looking at people who had like 500 friends and thinking, wow, how could they know all of those people?
In fact, I even wrote a friend and asked, How do you know all of those people?
The reply I got back was I just do.
Ha ha.
Ask a silly question, get the answer.
I used to love sharing pictures. Now I just like feel like wow, everyone can see my pictures. But the problem is that I want to share pictures but not all the time. I want to share pictures when I feel like it and not all pictures with everybody.
Also, once I add a friend I feel guilty removing them. I think, well, I could just leave that persons picture on my account. What difference could it make? Then I think, you don’t know that person. Just remove them. Then I think, well, what if I hurt someone’s feelings. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
Then I think of the brave friends who have just deleted their entire accounts. It’s kind of like stopping smoking I’d imagine if I smoked. I don’t.
Then there are the true friends who I couldn’t live without having in my facebook account. I get excited and happy when I see your lives, when you joke with me, when you like my silly quotes, when you share a link, when you tell stories about your lives. I like that.
What’s your take?
Thanks for leaving your comments. You know I love them.
Hope this post reaches you with love, luck and happiness.
Julie
My favorite teacher
If we can all agree that we got here now today thanks to the support of friends and loved ones I think we can also agree that it is also thanks to people who have motivated us.
One of my favorite teachers whom I’m grateful to is a man named Mr. M. For some reason when I was going into high school I was told there was an experimental math class where ‘bright’ students were going to be experimented on. Like little hamsters. I still consider myself to be lucky that I was chosen to be in this class because the 24 of us had the honor of having the same students with the same teachers for the four years of high school.
Consistency, Relevancy and Going the Extra Mile.
Mr. M was a great teacher for so many reasons but mostly because he took the time to slowly explain everything from the start to the end. I always felt I could ask him at any time any question with out him getting angry. I loved the way he wrote on the blackboard because he had nice writing. He was consistent because he did things like draw squares around the answers. He also seemed to choose relevant homework.
Even though I had him for four years I remember one day when he asked who was interested in getting straight As – he was offering a Saturday workshop. Like most of my students they’d LOVE to have straight As but for various reasons their grades are all over the board. Most of them do follow what Mr. M called the Bell curve where he demonstrated that most students lie somewhere in the middle. I always wanted to be one of the students with the As. Maybe if I just did that little bit extra it would pay off.
Pay attention ~ here’s the key.
I attended his class and after doing various exercises and reading he got to the point of the argument. He said,
If
If
If
If you want to get straight As then all you have to do is develop a love for learning.
I was shocked. I was little bit disappointed because I thought he was going to give me the answers to that Friday’s test. I had to love learning?
Who loves learning? We only went to school because we had to. Love learning. That was the key. He was right. I don’t care how many times my mother could tell me about the starving children in Africa who didn’t have shoes or school it still didn’t make me want to study.
I don’t actually remember doing homework although I do remember it was assigned. I’m pretty certain I did it either during another class or before the class started. I’ll have to check with my classmates on that one.
I do agree that the key to learning is to develop a love for learning. I since have gone on to become a teacher. I found something even more important and that is the love of teaching. I truly love being in front of the kids and seeing them smile. I feel like it is an enormous privilege and honor to have this responsibility. I try to do my best with it.
One day I’m going to retire from teaching and just be an person with her family and garden. God willing. In the mean time, I’m going to love learning.
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Reporting Live — Rested from our Seaside Vacation
Hi guys, welcome back. New visitors, welcome.
I just now am relaxing down to write about my latest vacation days at the beach with my family, old and new friends. We spent twelve total days at the coast.
Also, we had four visitors come by to keep me and da boyz company that included two great friends 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.
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.
For one my friend has dedicated an article to me and that is 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. Another sweet heart sent me a video.
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 the beach 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.
We were walking distance to the beach that took no more than five minutes. We 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, the kids have entertainment in the evenings. The way it works is that you can leave your kids with counselors at the camp ground park 10a to noon and four to six. I never did though, except yesterday when my kids did some coloring.
In the evening around 9p 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 stress 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 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. 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 the country that is just striking.
