Trust yourself

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when their right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."— Marilyn Monroe

This picture is hanging in my hallway. I think she looks as though she may be contemplating some of her decisions that she's made along the way. I do this quite often, not always believing I've done the right thing. I would like to think that I trust myself, but I don't agree with the statement above one hundred percent because I think you have to trust others as well as yourself. Believe lies? Well that's up to you. What is a lie anyway, just something that you wish had a different outcome?
At the end of the day, the decisions you make, form what will happen next in your life tapestry. I do believe everything happens for a reason. And of course people change, they grow, they become better, sometimes worse, but we all learn new things as each day unfolds. Doesn't that make us a changed person? I think it does. I'm different than I was a month ago. And I'm glad, it means I've learned more about myself, what I like, and who I want to be. Every person we talk to brings something new to the table, if we're listening. 
"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together" well I've discussed that phrase a thousand times. It's that perspective thing again. A friend once wrote a social media status update: "Perception is reality".

I liked it then, and still think about it now. A three word status update, written months ago, yet I think about it often. Pretty cool.
You notice that Marilyn is also smiling in this picture. It could be that she's not contemplating anything at all, she's just happy. Someone asked me once if I was really smiling all of the time, really as happy as I appear to be, or sound. I told them, if I'm smiling and sound happy, I truly am. You can't fake that. Now that doesn't mean that I'm "bubbling over"  24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Even Cinderella had to wash all of the clothes and do all of the chores, come ON. But she sings when she's doing it, doesn't she?
And so do I. =)
You choose what kind of day you're going to have, for the most part. Yes, things are going to happen that you can't control, that may bring unfortunate yuck to your day. That's life. I think the key is what you DO with that "yuck". Develop a skill set to handle it if it happens to roll around again? I think so. Thats what I choose anyway.

Today brings February 2010 to a close.
What shall we do with March?

Until next time,
Tiffany

PS March is my birthday month. Yes, I said month. Why not celebrate me all month instead of just one day. But Breakfast at Tiffany's on the 30th, okay? Bring the noise blowers, I'll make the coffee and breakfast tortilla rollups.

Do you believe in magic?

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."— Roald Dahl

I'm not talking about what happens in the disappearing cabinet, or the girl that gets sawed in half. Not even a magic wand, although I do claim to have one.
I'm talking about what some call fate. Or the cosmos stepping in, and making things fall into place "just so". In the exact sequence to make things happen, almost magically.

"It was like......magic"-Sleepless in Seattle

Of course that movie is one of my favorites, and that kind of magic is referring to the magical presence that comes about when you meet someone by pure accident, or so it seems, that you end up falling in love with. The romantic kind, I can go on and on about stuff like that for paragraphs and more paragraphs. I was talking with a friend who thinks he will never meet the right one for him, that one special girl that will adore him. I refer to this part of the beginning quote in this blog, which is almost exactly what I told him; "the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places." It's going to happen when you're not hellbent on looking, my friend. Just relax. Go do what you really enjoy doing, and be yourself above all else, and guess what eventually happens. You'll meet someone who enjoys that very same thing, then......yep, magic.

This same idea can be applied to just about anything in my opinion. You interviewed for this perfect job, perfect you said, for you. You absolutely had to have this job. The interview went well. But they selected another applicant, and you got the rejection letter or call. What you didn't realize at the time was that there was an even more perfect job for you, posted a few days later. 

You wrote draft after draft of this manuscript, putting the finishing touches on the perfect final copy, placed it in an envelope, and mailed it to the publisher. A few weeks later you get a letter stating they are not interested right now, but to keep writing. Do you give up? No you do NOT. You can either tweak this one even more, or you can start a new one. Do you think James Patterson gave up? I don't think so, look at all of those fabulous murder mysteries he's written now. Very successful, published author.

I can hear you saying, Tiffany none of this is magic, it's either hard work, or dedication, or patience, or all 3 and more.

But I want to believe in magic too. If I could pull a bunny out of a hat I would.

=)
Tiffany

PS Tomorrow is Friday, I hope you find magic in it somewhere. Let me know.....

And now a word from our sponsor

I think commercial breaks during my favorite shows are uncool, well except for the one that makes me laugh or the one with a fabulous song in it. And with Tivo/DVR now available we don't really have to endure those much anymore, right?
What about your life though. If your life is one long movie, and it pauses to hear a word from your sponsor, who would that be?
Let's see:

1.a person who vouches or is responsible for a person or thing.

Well that's me. I am responsible for me, I can vouch for me as well. You can trust me, I won't lie to you and I will support your dreams and wishes, it's how I roll. (unless you dream of robbing a bank, then I may have to rewrite the code, just sayin)


2.a person, firm, organization, etc., that finances and buys the time to broadcast a radio or television program so as to advertisea product, a political party, etc.

My place of business finances my time to broadcast. I'm not independently wealthy unfortunately, I have to work for a living so where that paycheck comes from is my "organization" sponsor. Those lucky peeps, they get to sponsor my movie!

3.a person who makes a pledge or promise on behalf of another.

I'm very lucky in that I can think of a lot of people off the top of my head that will vouch for me with no question. I hope you have people like this in your life, it's a good feeling to know that people believe in you. You already have at least one, because I believe in you.

4.a person who answers for an infant at baptism, making the required professions and assuming responsibility for the child's religious upbringing; godfather or godmother.
 
I don't have godparents. If I translate literally, my mom would be who answered for me at birth. She's one of my biggest fans, and I love her tremendously.
 
*Definitions provided by http://www.dictionary.com/
 
If I paused for a commercial break during most mornings, you already know Starbucks would be my sponsor. It's one of my favorite places to be. I love walking in there in the morning with most of them knowing who I am, and usually knowing what I want before I do. It's that whole "you want to go where everybody knows your name" thing. Who doesn't like that?  
Another sponsor would be twitter because I adore it. Tweeting, one of my favorite activities. But actually this one has no time frame, because I'm random when I tweet. It could be 6am, but I try to refrain from tweeting anything that early, I don't want to wake up any of my favorite twitterites. Social Media in general is an interest but I don't become consumed with it. (I gave Facebook up for Lent, remember?)
P90X, yet another sponsor. This would be an early evening sponsor, unless it's yoga. I seem to have no issue doing yoga in the early morning hours. Most of the time anyway =)
Music would be a 24 hour sponsor, depending on my mood you might hear Eddie Vedder, or The Fray, or Imogen Heap in my life "background", how's that for a leap? There's very little music I don't like. I don't know what we would ever do without it, it adds so much color to the day.
This blog is definitely a sponsor, albeit a slightly new one. Yes I know, it's been in place for over a year now, almost two I think? But I didn't give it much attention for quite a while. I think it has become one of my best friends. See people? I listened to you when you were telling  me to blog, some of you were even rather pushy about it. I'm glad you were, sometimes I need to be pushed. I can be so stubborn (don't tell anyone).
Texting. I still say I'm the queen. A lot of my conversations are through text. I don't want it to replace that verbal communication totally, but sometimes a text is all I have time for, I'm sure you are in the same boat I am.
Books are a definite sponsor. I think they're embedded in my makeup, I LOVE to read, always have. I can thank my mom for that, she read to me every day when I was little. I can still hear her voice, as she turned each page, she made the story unfold in a fun way. (hi Mom-waving)
Movies, ah I love them too. My philosophy is "the book is always better" but I love watching movies. Especially if I fell in love with the characters in the book, that I can now see come to life on the screen, with their stories set to background music.
 
Which brings us full circle. Just thinking about who your sponsors would be, and what music plays in the background of your life story. Right now my background music is REM-"The Great Beyond"
 
"I'm breaking through, I'm bending spoons, I'm keeping flowers in full bloom, I'm looking for answers from the great beyond"
 
And there you have it.
 
Tomorrow for breakfast we're having yogurt and fruit. Okay?
Until then,

Tiffany

"We all go a little mad sometimes"

And you thought I was just doing my thing, quoting a movie. Well yeah, it's from Psycho. Norman Bates scared the hell out of me, I don't know about you.
But seriously, don't we all go a little mad sometimes? Crazy, fast paces we walk, oftentimes RUN, lives filled so full we sometimes don't know what the date is. Appointments and plans and phone calls and working and driving to this place and that place and ..and....and....
Don't let that pace run you down. I feel that sometimes. Then I get that stop.the.world.it's.spinning feeling and I know it's time to take a breath or three and have extreme quiet. Me time. I know people that can't put their foot on the break, even have trouble coasting for a while. Everyone is unique, we're all made differently, thank God or this would be a very boring world.
I'm always in awe of people that tell me they don't require eight hours of sleep, how is this possible? Won't that eventually catch up with them? is what I'm thinking, but not usually out loud.
Now don't get me wrong, I love being on the go at times. I love plans being made at the last second that seem to just fall into place right when they're supposed to.
Oh but the slowing down. I love that too. I have no problem waking up in the morning on the weekend and keeping it quiet for hours, bringing the day in with my thoughts, peacefully. Sometimes I read before I even get up, really like doing that.
There are also days that I wake up with the need for music, and conversation, right away. You wouldn't believe how fast I can clean this house when I'm singing, I'm just sayin. If the sun is shining and the windows are open, it's on.

Tomorrow is Saturday, remember that running around I just mentioned? It's one of those kinds of Saturdays, where you pencil in the parts of your to-do list that you don't have time for during the week.

But it's SATURDAY. I scheduled fun too, it's necessary!

I hope your weekend goes exactly how you want it to.
Much love,
Tiffany

PS Definitely Cafe Brazil for breakfast. The coffee, oohhh the coffee, amazing. Not to mention the food. I'll see you there!

All I can say.....

"Is that my life is pretty plain...."

Inspiration brought to me (and now you) by Blind Melon, "No Rain". I always forget about this song until it comes on the radio, where I then go, oh yeah. I like this one.
I'm not saying this is my life theme song, because not every lyric has a perfect fit. But, seriously, my life is pretty plain. I like it plain. Some may label it borderline boring. I don't feel bored though.

"I like watchin' the puddles gather rain" Absolutely fits. I swear I should have been a weather girl, as much as I am obsessed with the elements and what is happening outside my window. I love thunderstorms, especially spring thunderstorms; lightning, rolling thunder, and the smell it all creates. I don't want to be the one that ends up on the news because I've stood underneath lightning with no cover and it ended badly per se. But I LOVE watching it snake across the sky. Natures paparazzi I say. Sometimes I want to get out IN those puddles and make the biggest mess. Why not?

"And all I can do is just pour some tea for two" another perfect fit. Do you like tea? I love it. Especially when I make two cups, one for me, one for you. Tea goes so well with good conversation.

"and speak my point of view" there's that good conversation. Well I assume speaking my point of view is good conversation. Being a good listener is half of the art of good conversation. I can always tell when someone isn't listening when I'm talking, because they're thinking of what they want to say next. And that's okay. I'm probably babbling anyway, I do that quite often. "Babbling brook" my best friend calls me, but he says it with love so I think he actually enjoys my nonsensical babbling. I love getting different viewpoints on life, and I am always grateful when someone share's their stories with me. Sometimes that sharing brings vulnerability, which can be endearing.

"But it's not sane, It's not saaaaaaane" well who said I was sane anyway?

Definitely having tea for breakfast tomorrow. Earl Grey? Irish Breakfast? English Breakfast? You choose. Then we'll sit on the patio and watch the ducks use my pool for their "pond".

I have to work at noon, so we have a nice morning planned. See you then.
Tiffany

Just sayin

I'm not really sure how I picked this habit up, the "just sayin". I'm sure it was used when I was attempting to help a friend with whatever crisis they came to me with, meaning, I said what I intended to convey but in a much nicer way than what I was really thinking.
An example of a friend telling me her world was ending. Dramatic much?
"I don't understand, he said he would call, reply to my email, come over...."
I had several choices in forming my response. But I believe I said, "Please look at the bottom line here, my friend. Pay attention to what they DO, not what they SAY. I'm just sayin"
What I was really thinking was, he's just not that into you. But that sounds so harsh, and she was already in what she thought was severe emotional pain. I don't like hurting people's feelings.

I don't own the phrase "just sayin" nor did I come up with it originally, but everyone that knows me calls it an "apiphany". (Remember in my world, it's spelled with an A)
I got an email from one of my favorite people on this planet, my cousin.
She wrote:
"I saw a greeting card that made me think of you. It was just a fun, friendship thing for women, but it was kinda funny. The outside said "I should have been homecoming queen. But I'm over that." Then on the inside it said "But I should have."
Made me think of your "I'm just sayin"

Another friend in facebook (gasp! I said the word, but I still won't give in, its day one of lent, I'll see you, facebook, on Easter Sunday) said, "you've got your whole crew saying your "just sayin" I see! He ended that comment with, of course, 'just sayin'. Made me laugh out loud. No LOLspeak today, I'm spelling things out. I told my friends I wanted to have t-shirts made with 'just sayin' on them, giving the profits to charity. Thirty something comments later, I realized I could actually really do this! I have to do some homework on the idea.

My favorite joiner of this following is my niece, Jewels. You remember her I'm sure. She calls me to tell me she likes noodles, or that she's playing with Jenna (my other niece), or that she's going to save the world with that adorable face of hers, always ending with, "just sayin". Yeah, that makes my day.

Oh, before I forget. Marla, I feel like I'm homecoming Queen every day NOW, rather than back then. Better. Definitely better.

I'm just sayin.

What are YOU just sayin today?

Love
"A"piphany

P.S. I skipped breakfast today. I KNOW. Terrible. I won't let it happen again.

Paying it Forward

I'm gonna love this one.

A friend of mine had a really cool status update in Facebook today, I asked her if I could blog about it. Just in time for me to give up Facebook for Lent on a positive note, w00t!

Her story:

Best part of the day, we were pulling into a parking space and I saw a $20 bill blowing by in the wind, so I jumped out of the car and ended up with $70! No one around to claim it so we bought the bagged meals for CCA donation to feed the hungry. It was like being in the money box with the wind blowing the bills around.

I immediately went to Ellen Degeneres's show in my mind, she's always surprising people by sending her crew to their house with a wind money machine. They're asked to get inside the machine, the internal fans are turned on, and they get a small amount of time to stuff money anywhere they can in order to have it "on" them when the machine is turned off. Whatever they have on them, they get to keep. I have to also say that I've heard her say hundreds of times; "oh you get to keep ALL of it by the way". I love this part of her show, she's helped so many people that are down on their luck.

My friend chose not to keep it for herself, but to donate it to CCA (Christian Community Action) to help feed those that can't afford food. I've been to the CCA center in Lewisville, TX. What they have going on there is nothing short of wonderful.

I was wondering how many people would have done the same thing my friend did, or kept the money for themselves. Human nature is a funny thing. It could go either way. It could be that the person that found the money, actually needed it. Maybe they had a bill they didn't know how they were going to pay, or needed groceries they didnt have money for.

But Molly chose to help someone else with it. I love that.

Thanks for the inspiration Molly, and the reminder that there really are good people out there. This post is for you.

Until next time,
Tiffany

P.S. NO idea what is for breakfast at Tiffany's in the morning. But I'm oncall, working from home, beginning at noon. Did you just say CAFE BRAZIL? I thought I heard you say that. =)

Celebrating Love

You didn't think I would let today pass by without discussing did you? Come on, you know me better than that. If you don't, please, read on.

It's Valentines Day! Today celebrates love, of every kind. I heard so many of my single friends doing the "woe is me" thing some often do around holidays, especially the "I heart you" day. I won't say I don't understand, that would appear as though I don't care about what they're feeling. I care, of course I do. But seriously, is it THAT bad, being single?

Love comes in many forms. All different kinds of love, to be celebrated today. A friends love, very important to me. A parents love. Love from your child, can't get any more unconditional than that. How about your grandparents, that soft, warm place to go when you think no one else in the world cares. Siblings, if you're lucky like I am, give an awesome kind of love as well, you share your childhood with them. Even your pet if you have one, that's some love right there. The most celebrated one for todays events is of course, the romantic kind. Your spouse, or significant other. I "heart" each and every kind.

I am single, yet I had a Valentines weekend, yes weekend not day, filled with wine, flowers, chocolate covered strawberries, a spa day, shopping, STARBUCKS, card playing friends....I found myself thinking how awesome is this?

Do I need any of those things to survive? uh well maybe Starbucks =). But the rest is just gravy as they say. I am single, and I felt lucky. I squeezed the hell out of love this weekend. Every kind of love I currently have in my life.

A few friends mentioned Cupid today. I found myself thinking, I bet he's very busy on this holiday.
Today, Cupid and his arrows have become the most popular of love signs, and love is most frequently depicted by two hearts pierced by an arrow, Cupid's arrow.

"Cupid, draw back your bow.....and let, your arrow go.....straight back to my lovers heart, for meeee" -Sam Cooke.

I think that Valentine's day is awesome. But what I want, is for everyone to show the love for whoever their chosen valentine is, every.day.of.the.year.

Yes, some say I'm living in fantasyland with thoughts such as these.

Fantasy Land has rollercoasters right? And snowcones? Okay good, I think I'll stay.

Much love to you this Valentines Day,
Tiffany

You can't park there-Snow Patrol

Although Snow Patrol is one of my favorite bands, I'm not blogging about them today. I'm talkin 'bout some SNOW ya'll! (always inserting that Texan accent when appropriate) The saying goes, "Everything's bigger in Texas!" The weather yesterday was definitely, bigger.

To paraphrase the Dallas headlines this morning:

Snowfall Shatters Record, Leaves 200,000 Without Power

New 24-hour snowfall record now at 12.5 inches for DFW
On Thursday, police across North Texas responded to hundreds of crashes, even before the wet, slushy roads began to freeze.

I really wanted to get out in that sparkly, powdery goodness yesterday and play in it all.day.long. Unfortunately my place of employment had something different in mind, the NERVE. Well, at least I can work from home when necessary, I won't whine. I managed to get a long walk in between working. Although the picture you see in this post may not be incredible from an trained professionals eye, it's my favorite for personal reasons. St.Ann's Cathedral has their bells toll at noon and again at 6pm on the weekends, and oh how I love that sound. I always stop what I'm doing for a second and listen. Those tiny moments, I live for them. I won't be arrogant and say I'm the only one that notices those moments, but I will say that I hope you do too, in whatever form they may come in. It's that whole, "stop and smell the roses" idea, I buy into that as often as I can.

Today brought four collapsed carports where I live, luckily no one was injured and if you can believe this, I don't think any cars we're damaged either as the roof always fell to the side instead of collapsing straight down. Needless to say, all of the cars are NOT under the carports that are still standing, mine included, as everyone frantically moved them immediately. The snow was just wet enough to add some weight to it. Trees, carports, powerlines, a few roofs, all victims of the aftermath of a 12 hour run of falling snow from yesterday. I feel sorry for those still without power, I went without last night too but the response time was much quicker than I expected so there was no suffering, especially with having a fireplace. Another love of mine.

My neighbor built a Dallas Mavs snowgirl that I borrowed for my profile pic in social media for a while. She charges by the hour I hear so she won't be with me long. SO many pictures flooded twitter and facebook with snowmen, snowgirls, snowdogs, there was even a snowbunny! People building forts, and recording their snowboarding experiences, I LOVED IT.

So this is me throwing a snowball at you.

Tag, you're it.

I'm meeting friends for Breakfast tomorrow at ten am, come along if you want to!

Until then, keep warm friend
Tiffany

Should I give up Facebook for Lent?

Odd question for someone who is not Catholic. I still give things up for Lent though, I'm not sure if this is just a personal exercise in willpower or me simply joining the Catholic masses in their 40 days of denying themselves something they really want or enjoy on a regular basis.

"Jesus retreated into the wilderness, where he fasted for forty days, and was tempted by the devil" (Matthew 4:1-2, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-2)

I would say to the above, that facebook can indeed be a temptation of the devil. (Now watch me end up on a facebook organization hate list, or a group developed in facebook called "Breakfast at Tiffany's = fail", become a fan now and we'll send you mafia wars weapons or free ingredients for your restaurant in Restaurant City!!

And then your Home Page will fill to the brim with all of the joiners of this group, because you really need to know when your friends become fans of such groups.

Oh Facebook, I don't know how to quit you. You've made me new friends. You've made me choose to delete some of those friends for various reasons, some not so pleasant. I've even lost friends that I still miss today. But I digress....

The comment threads on my status updates =the bane of my existence. Okay that's not fair, I love that people are interested in what I have to say, I'm actually pretty lucky that people are comfortable sharing their opinions. Most of the time it's all good. Polite, positive feedback. But oh how it can go south sometimes. I can say I like grapes and it turns into a heated debate over something political. For godsake people, I was talking about fruit. This is all tongue-in-cheek =). I just feel bad for anyone that clicks "like" and then has 65 emails in their inbox from my boring status update because there are 65 comments, is all I'm sayin.

And what is UP with the damn changes every few months I ask you? Just when I get used to the status updates and news feeds, you change everything, making me start all over in finding where things are, and learning how to use you. I don't care for your privacy settings. I'm pretty sure my friends don't care when I click like on something, or become friends with someone from my 3rd grade class who I havent talked to since then, but will of course totally reconnect with now.

I've never liked change, but have learned that it comes with good reason, and I need to embrace it. But seriously, enough already.

With this latest change in Facebook, I've had several friends ask me to come over for yet another "teach me how to use facebook" class.

I'm not sure how I became the Facebook connoisseur. But I will say this, if I give it up for Lent, which begins in 7 days, you people better book me now.

I'll give up facebook, but I won't give you up. You're my breakfast partner in crime. What are we having tomorrow?

Until then
Tiffany

American Idol.....inspiring?

I know. I KNOW. But let me explain. I can't believe this happened, but it did. I had an inspirational moment occur when watching.....wait for it.....American Idol. Oh you probably guessed, it's the title of this post.
Was I inspired by Simon and his rude but dead on reaction to someone's voice singing whatever song they were inspired by? Uh no.
Randy 'from the dawg-pound' Jackson's laughing at someone's pitiful attempt at Somewhere Over the Rainbow? Nope.
Kara's hipster attempts at critiquing each person with flair? This is a big hell no because she's my least favorite judge. Don't misunderstand, she's a great lyricist. But I disagree with her often in her judging....

This sliver of inspiration came from someone that auditioned for the show, and made it through to Hollywood mind you, and we knew she would because she was interviewed before they showed her audition and there were no "antics", she was portrayed as a nice, normal human being.

She said: "You can't just take all of the no's all the time. Sometimes you have to turn the no's into yes's"

This can be applied EVERYWHERE in life, oui? *warning, I may slip in and out of French at regular intervals, being a Francophile.

What I gleaned from this one sentence is as follows:

Just because you are turned down for whatever you are trying for, does not mean that you can't keep reaching for what you want. Keep. Going. Have the "everything happens for a reason" attitude. Yes I know, it's a cliche. But one I believe in, wholeheartedly. Maybe your presentation needs tweaking #business. Maybe the person you think you like isn't ready for what you are ready for, or isn't the one for you and you just can't see it #relationships. Maybe the book you're writing needs more editing #dreams. Maybe the interview didn't go well because there is a better job waiting right around the corner #career.

If you say you can't, you can't. If you say you can, you most defintely can, and eventually will, given the hard work required for anything worth obtaining. My grandpa used to always say, "nothing in this life is ever free. If they tell you it's free, there's a catch". Pap, I listened to everything you said. (I wish I had written down more, but I remember).

If something isn't working for you, try a different approach. Don't give up, just be smart about it. There is, of course, always a time to know when to fold your hand, right?

Back to work tomorrow after this lovely four day weekend. I won't say tomorrow is my Monday though, I would never cheat Tuesday like that! TODAY was my Monday, and it was very relaxing. I hope yours went well.

Breakfast at 7a, be there.
Until then, sleep well friend
Tiffany

Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it. -Winston Churchill

Bigger than a quarter she says

There are many people in my life that share my sense of humor. Thank God because otherwise I would be labeled a lunatic. But oh my sisters! I'm already laughing out loud at my thoughts. We speak entire conversations in movie quotes. We speak in half sentences of full truths, without needing to finish the thought on whatever topic has just come up, and these topics appear at random with no warning whatsoever. We begin conversations as though we are already in the middle of them, using words appearing to be shot out of a nerf gun, flying through the air and landing in each others laps, in which, hilarity ensues. Almost always. Getting a random text from either one of them is my favorite thing in the world, because they crack me up, consistently.
So my youngest sister, had to call my Dad today, to kill.a.spider.for.her. I am not kidding you people. I told her that the funny thing is, my middle sister would do the same thing if she didnt live on the East Coast. But she WOULD call someone to kill it for her if she found one. I've never understood this fear. Now don't misunderstand, I do NOT like spiders nor do I want them to move in, set up camp, and raise their children in my home. Because then I would have to name them, form relationships with them, and ask them how their day was when I got home from work. I just don't want the pressure of having to bond with an 8-legged creature. But I digress....
So my sister calls Dad:
S: Dad?
D: yes?
S: are you in town? (he lives just outside of the town they live in)
D: well yeah
S: can you come over AND KILL A SPIDER FOR ME?!!!!! (can you feel the hysterics?)
D: I'll be there in 5 minutes.

See my Dad knows not to mess with the situation, it's better to just get over there immediately and diffuse all emotional trauma.
Apparently when he arrived, my nieces and nephew talked animatedly to him as he walked down the hall "she's been screaming and yelling and very nervous!" etc, following him all the way to the bathroom where he found my sister, standing on the side of the bathtub with one foot propped against the side of the wall, holding a shoe in her hand, where she kept vigil, so she wouldn't "lose" the spider. I believe my Dad took care of him with one fell swoop of his hand, all gone!

I called her after this incident, which by the way, I learned of via facebook. Of course I did, what did we ever do without social media I ask you?

S: TIFFANY HE WAS BIGGER THAN A QUARTER!! Well he was less than a half dollar. But bigger than a quarter! You could see all 8 of his legs, each one rising up at different intervals!!!!
T: I dont understand this level of fear that you and M have of these creatures. Was he really hairy? (I'm thinking this thing has to, in the very LEAST, be a tarantula or something.
S: I dont KNOW, I didn't get close enough to see but I know that if I had, he would be VERY.HAIRY. I was going to spray Lysol on it, I told J that and he said "You cant kill a spider with lysol" so I said "well if I sprayed Lysol on you it would stop YOU in your tracks!"

*J is my brother in law, who is non-plussed most of the time. He kind of just goes along....stays out of everyone's way, stepping in only when he absolutely must comment on something. He's a smart man. I must also note that he was not home at this time of crisis. She told him that she called Dad to assist with the emergency, to which he replied, "are you kidding me?"

This post is dedicated to Melissa and Sara. I love you more than Coffee, more than the sound of the ocean, and even more than Paris. I promise you, I will kill all of the spiders you encounter if I can. Actually is it okay if I just put them outside? Killing is so inhumane.

I better get a homemade egg sandwich for this, for my next breakfast, in each of your homes.
Love,
Tiffany

Breakfast with Tiffany, and her sisters. There really isn't anything better.

Where do you live?

"I know you work in the real world and you're very good at it. But that's work. Where do you live, Linus?" Sabrina Fairchild

Another favorite movie of mine, Sabrina (1995) In a conversation with Linus Larrabee, an overly-serious older brother of the guy she thinks shes in love with, she asks him about the way he's living his life. I loved this conversation because it inspired me to ask myself the same question, and continues to inspire me to ask others.

I know a few people that live inside of their work, leaving no room for play. I also know a few that are like Linus's brother David, who live quite the opposite, inside of their play, leaving very little room for work. Oh to have THAT luxury, right?

I think adding playfulness to work is my happy medium (remember me mentioning that sense of humor I'm so fond of? I take it with me wherever I go).

I could answer the question in a more creative way, like "I live in between the lines" But that invites interpretation doesn't it? In between the lines. Where one can see both sides. I think I should be braver and step outside of the lines once in a while. A work in progress I am.

Living up to my potential is tiring people! =)

Where do you live?

Since I don't have to work tomorrow, lets go somewhere for breakfast. Its still Breakfast at Tiffany's if I'm with you.
Until then, sleep well friend
Tiffany

Slowing....down....the....heart.....rate

Yesterday I saw the sun shinin',
And the leaves were fallin' down softly,
My cold hands needed a warm, warm touch,
And I was thinkin' about you...

Norah Jones has a way of slowing down my heart rate. Her sultry voice, and those awesome lyrics, one of my favorite picks for "chill" music. I don't even have the latest album yet, "The Fall" which is unusual considering Starbucks features it and I'm in there just about every day. I think her music is subtle, and somewhat "jazz-like" but not every song. Each one has its own flavor. Check it out. It may make you want to curl up with a glass of wine...a fire going in the fireplace....

When you sail across the ocean waters,
And you reach the other side safely,
Could you smile a little smile for me?
'cause I'll be thinkin' about you,
I'll be thinkin' about you


And I'm always thinking about you my friend,
Tiffany