The Little Things

Positive Post #5

You know what makes me happy?

The little things.

I am a simple person (maybe simplistic, maybe just simple). I smile at the little things. Here is an example.

My little good-smelling-wax-melter thing. Yes, that is the technical name for it.

First I got these.

Then I got the warmer device, THEN I got the tea lights. So it was a little out of order, but when all was said and done, it is a simple thing that brings a smile to my face.

Let little things make you smile, but don't base joy in little things.

Because things fail you. Things break. Remember my joy at getting a crockpot for Christmas? Ross was also excited.



Remember how this happened about a week or so later?



Crockpot met it's fate on a deathly date with the tile floor.

Not only the crockpot, but my hopes and dreams were shattered. And I bawled my eyes out like a child who dropped their ice cream cone. Only more pathetic.

I had a good friend once tell me (shortly after I had ruined something and become frustrated), "Kristen, they are just things!" How right he was.

Don't depend on things for joy, because surely they will not give you that. But let small things help you smile.

Look around for something small that makes you smile. Maybe it is a scarf that your mom gave you, an e-mail from your dad. Maybe you see the nail polish your best friend let you borrow, or a Halloween costume your brother helped you make. Maybe the aroma of your good-smelling-wax-melter thing.

Let something small turn your day, and frown, around! :)

Keep Going, Finish the Race

Positive Post #4

Don't let the little things trip you up!

The best way I have thought to illustrate this is a literal example. It is a tear-jerker and SUPER embarrassing but I hope it is inspiring in the end.

For a couple years in high school I ran track. In my heart I am a cross country runner, but the cross country coach always roped the team into running distance for track season.

I sometimes ran the mile, but mostly the two mile race. Two miles around a 400m track means ... 8 laps. Running in a circle 8 times. I definitely did not like that, but I gave it a fair shot for a couple years.

In track you wear a specific kind of shoe called "spikes." It is a lightweight shoe with some plastic protrusions as well as about 8 spaces or less for metal spikes to be screwed into the bottom of the shoe. This helps give your foot traction as you run.

 

Since I ran on a variety of tracks I had a variety of spikes in my tool kit. They ranged from what was appropriate on a fancy schmancy "real" track (*cough* Oxnard) to what was appropriate on our low class dirt tracks in the Antelope Valley.



At one particular track meet I was prepping my spikes from "low class" to "fancy schmancy," when I couldn't get some of the spikes out. They had been ground into my shoe and were stuck. My coach reassured me that it would probably be fine if I used a variety of spikes in the bottom of my shoe. Off I went to run the two mile race!

The first time I fell on that awful spiky red track, it hurt my pride more than my knees. I picked myself up and kept going, a bit surprised at the fall. I took my strides more carefully. Then I fell again. And again, and again, and again. With each fall I became more frustrated and my knees seared with pain. I didn't know what I was doing wrong. I was trying as hard as I could to be focused, to pace myself, to take long strides, to pick up my legs and feet. My bony knees became raw and each fall hurt more. I felt that lump building in the back of my throat and tears welling in my eyes.



I remember falling at least 10 times that race. Yep. Over ten times in 8 laps.

But I kept going. I kept up my wobble jog.

I was lapped, the next race started. My failure was out there for the world to see and every time I lumbered past the grandstands I felt it. But I knew I had to finish.

That would be cool if the crowds in the stands gave me a standing ovation as I stumbled across the finish line. That would be fantastic if the director gave me a bouquet and medal. That would be nice if hot EMTs whisked me away to administer to my raw bleeding knee caps. That would have been satisfying if my team bore me up on their shoulders and carried me away.



But none of that happened.

The specifics of the story seem so far away, the exact spikes in the bottom of my shoe, the number of times I fell, my final finishing time. When talking to my coach afterwards, he figured it must have been the variations of spikes in my shoe were responsible for my downfall (haha get it?).

But with all pride now vanished, I learned an important lesson that day.

Keep getting up. Keep going. Finish the race. 
Don't let your falls, your perceived failures, stop you from continuing and finishing.

Recently I stumbled up this quote by Jeffrey R. Holland, taken from a speech you can read here.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/118082280/jeffrey-r-holland-quote-made-on

Your wounds will heal (albeit with much pain and maybe some scars). And you won't even remember how many times you fell. But you will remember crossing that finish line.


And what more? You'll run again!

Happy -The Documentary

Positive Post #3!

Now that I am a mature responsible adult (bahahaha!)

I have found that I very much enjoy documentaries. Is it the aging process that makes you crave "boring" films about real life?

*enter Netflix*

The awesome thing about Netflix is that you have tons of documentaries at your fingertips. Gone are the days of having to research a good one that you have to be 100% certain is worth your money.

A few weeks ago I watched "Happy" (2011) a documentary written and directed by Roko Belic. The film "explores the secrets behind our most valued emotion."

One of the biggest things that stuck with me was how the scholars talked about service. They discussed how there is great value in working for something bigger than yourself.

I highly recommend watching it.  You can rent the movie from their website for $2.99!

I also highly recommend being happy. :)

So grab some popcorn and treat yourself to a "TGIF Movie Night!"

Allow Happiness for Yourself! (Positive Post #2)

Positive Post #2!

Sometimes, you have to be your biggest fan. I love myself for previously writing this blog post. My optimism overwhelms me and reminds me of my potential. So read that post.

It occurs to me that sometimes the biggest hindrance to happiness is... wait for it...

YOUR SELF! 

Yep. I said it. Some people are so good at being unhappy that I might've thought they were making salary with benefits off it. They make a daily routine and lifetime career out of it.

LET YOURSELF BE HAPPY!

http://www.ilovedoodle.com/products/bad-hair-day

Stop wallowing. Stop being the martyr. Stop making excuses.

Allow yourself the opportunity to be happy! Why? Because you deserve it!

Pull yourself up and out of your pity party pit.

This is the first step. Because no matter how intensely you try to be happy, if you don't allow happiness for yourself... it will never happen. :)

QW # 12 Being Happy is Productive

The other day I had some one ask me quite incredulously, with an edge of disdain,

"So... what do you DO all day."

It's no secret that I don't have much to do, but I would like to think I do more than twiddle my thumbs and wait for my husband to come home.

But what is the deeper issue here?

Why do we never give ourselves credit for the things we accomplish?

What did I do today? Would it satisfy you if all I did today was to be/stay happy? Is that good enough for you?

Because I believe that it is. I believe that:

http://feelingabitartsy.tumblr.com/post/12317911787

"Being happy is productive"

I believe that in the world we live in today, it can be hard to be happy. I believe that it takes work. What if every day we focused more on being happy than running errands and losing weight and catching up on the latest gossip and making money?

It's not an either or, but I am saying that if the only thing you did today was work to be happy -you had a productive day!

The other meaning I find in this quote is that when you are happy, you have a greater capacity to be productive. I think of some of my laziest days where nothing was accomplished. Associated with them was a great feeling of sadness. The reason I got nothing done was because I was not happy, I was mopey.

The subject of happiness has been weighing very heavily on my mind in the past couple of weeks. So this post is kicking off a series of positive posts. These "Positive Posts" will include happy quotes, thoughts, cartoons etc.

Stay tuned and be ready to smile and be uplifted!

Valentine's Day

Another week has flown by and I am sitting, wondering what to blog about.
This week was Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, and Valentine's Day.

I've always wanted to make a King Cake, but due to my overwhelmingly short supply of plastic nakey babies to put in a King Cake, I didn't get to it this year.

For Chinese New Year I celebrated with fried rice and won tons.

They turned out great and it tasted a lot like New Year's Eve or Superbowl... because that is commonly when my family would gather 'round and make won tons.

Ross and I have never been huge Valentine's date crazies. I guess it's the hipster in us that deep down thinks it is a bit silly. This year we ate at a fancy Italian restaurant.

*cough* My kitchen *cough*

Haha. If we have one, our Valentine's tradition is to eat a fancier meal at home. This year I made homemade ravioli, heart shaped of course.

Our fancy table for two, complete with candles and plastic goblets.

And for dessert we had mock mini cannolis. I say mock because the shells are just baked pie crust things. Nevertheless, they were incredible!

Dinner was truly once in a lifetime! ... because I seriously doubt I will ever spend all that time rolling out homemade pasta again. Haha. Unless, I got this $200 pasta roller attachment for my kitchen aid. Ya know, never too early to start planning for future Valentine's gifts.

The Month of Love

February rolled around and Valentine's was on my brain. I usually like to do small things that I believe to be super creative. This year was the perfect year to perfect the art because I certainly couldn't over do it with $$$. Haha.

What I tried to do was come up with little Valentinesy things to do everyday. Trust me, it isn't as cute as it sounds.

Here is the love tree. The pink and red hearts have the lovey thing of the day. Some are already ripped off the in picture, leaving little bits of paper on the wall. Classy.

As you might surmise, most of them involve FOOD glorious food. Mostly, just heart-shaped food. Here are a few pictures from the 14 days of love.

Heart shaped pepperoni on heart shaped pizza. I think that is like a double negative or something.

Heart shaped carrots in chicken noodle soup. Just because I like to pretend it actually gets cold enough to appropriately have soup here.

My favorite, heart shaped apple pieeees! Of course with some vanilla ice cream.

Workboat Regatta

Last weekend Ross and I ventured to Grand Anse beach to check out the annual Workboat Regatta.

It started out as an absolutely gorgeous day. I got a ride with some friends and we headed to IGA, the grocery store, to get some snacks for the beach. The boys were ready for the beach and therefore had no shirts on. Well, the security guard didn't much like that.

The ever inventive Patty came up with a plan. Maybe it is a mom thing? She grabbed a grocery bag, poked a hole for the head and some holes for the arms and viola! Instant shirt. The security guard was absolutely satisfied with this solution and gave her a re-affirming thumbs up. Haha!

The other boys got a little jealous and wanted one too. They continued wearing their new "shirts" after we were all done at the grocery store.

Some sailboats on the horizon, looking towards downtown Saint George's.

Here is a boat pulling ashore.

Boats all lined up.

I love all the colors! And the bright blue sky.

Boats boats boats!

























Unfortunately it didn't stay sunny all day, a storm rolled in but the races continued! Here is the beginning of another race, all the boats are pushing off.

The menacing sky.

I love the sail of this boat.

It was so nice to see Ross on a Saturday! We relaxed and munched on snacks and tried to stay dry.

My Rasta Poncho

Did the title get your attention? Are you thinking that I have turned into a crazy white girl with clumpy matted dreadlocks who hasn't showered in weeks? Because I might think that. I almost embarked on that slippery slope.

Weeks ago when I was downtown I found this cool rasta/ hibiscus fabric that was on the discount table. It took me a few trips downtown before I bought it because I didn't think I could be that crazy.

But I did.

I wasn't entirely sure what to make with the fabric but I knew I could only pull off wearing it on Grenadian Independence Day.

With the day quickly approaching and knowing that I have a love hate relationship with my sewing machine, I had to get down to work.

With the help from my crazy friend Patty, she decided I should make this pattern.

http://thesoutherninstitute.com/2010/06/the-anna-maria-horner-museum-tunic-tutorial.html/

Here is the thing with Patty. She makes me crazy enough to believe that I could pull that off in RASTA colors. So of course I decided it was a fabulous idea. She said I should do the stripes vertical because the long lines would have a nice slimming effect.

Here is what I learned.

All ponchos are slimming.

Because as you stare at a human swimming in yards and folds of fabric, you realize that there very well could be an extra tiny human in there somewhere. 

Now THAT ladies and gentlemen, is what we call, "too much." Imagine me showing up to the national stadium in full rasta-poncho glory...

It's like I don't have any limbs!

Because I was lacking in crazy but full of confidence I decided to scrap the poncho and try a maxi skirt. Any self-respecting woman with short legs like me knows it can be troublesome to pull off a maxi type skirt but it could only go up from here right?

Well, that is where I was somewhat wrong. I learned that my tiny, primitive sewing machine doesn't want to shirr. So I had to go over on my hands and knees and bribe Patty to shirr the top of the skirt for me on her handsomely powerful sewing machine.

I don't think the long length looked half bad, and I was even somewhat convinced that rasta might be my color. But after hemming the bottom I thought it might be a bit of an awkward length.

So I did what I do best... scraped that idea to sew something else. I opted for a shorter length.

And that is what I settled on!

I wore it to the stadium for the Independence Day celebration. When Ross and I stopped at a restaurant for some Ting a lady looked at me and exclaimed,

"You are wearing Grenada colors! Did you know? It's Independence Day!"

She was really excited. I told her I did know and we had just come from the stadium. She thought that was pretty cool too. :)

Grenada's Independence Day!

February 7th is Grenada's Independence Day!

This year the country celebrated 39 years of independence. I'm sure many people here can remember it!

Ross had the day off from school but studied for a little bit anyways. I stayed at home sewing a skirt for the occasion which I will blog about later.

Late in the afternoon when Ross was done we headed downtown for the celebration at the national stadium. The streets were absolutely deserted. That is one difference from America's Independence Day! The streets would be packed with cars and people hustling and bustling.

I was surprised we found a reggage bus so fast but we hoped on and were on our way. The driver was serenading us with some pretty sweet tunes like Karma Chameleon and the Macarena. Another bus patron was surely lovin' it because he knew all the words to every song. Haha.

When the bus was driving through the Carenage we got stuck behind a truck with a steel pan band! I thought it was awesome, the bus driver was less amused and sped passed. Fortunately I saw the truck again at the stadium and got a picture.

Ross and I arrived to the Stadium pretty late and I think we missed the more exciting parts of the celebration. First we saw Grenada's military... I think? There was the Special Services, Police Force, Coast Guard, Prison Services, Cadets, then I forget who was next, the boy scouts or something?

They had these cute little Red Cross kids.

The crowd adored them! But do you blame them?
Love that little boy, front and center marching.

There was also an address from the Prime Minister, Tillman Thomas. It was a little depressing, him talking about how the economy is failing etc. but he threw in some hope too.

It has been an exciting year for Grenada because the country produced their first ever Olympic Gold Medalist -Kirani James! We got to hear (kinda-the quality was pretty poor) a recorded message from him on the Jumbotron.

I loved this dog running around on the field, I am sure he/she will go home and tell all his/her doggy friends that he/she met Prime Minister Tillman Thomas.

It was fun to go to the stadium and see all the Grenadians so proud of their country. Everyone was draped in yellows, greens, and reds. Lots of folks had homemade outfits.

Some other highlights were the effervescent smell of weed during the national anthem.

And this guy, dancing and balancing a soccer ball on his head for a reaaally looong time in the corner of the stadium.

Before we headed back to our apartment we stopped at the church building because our branch was supposed to be having a celebration with Oil Down, the national dish. But upon arriving we found a empty parking lot and no one in sight! Oh well. The sun was setting so we took the rare opportunity to walk along the beach together. Here is a picture from right by the church building.

Along our beach walk we got offered and heavily persuaded that we wanted to buy some weed. We declined and decided to instead celebrate independence with some Ting.

I absolutely LOVE Ting, a popular grapefruit soda here. To me it tastes a lot like Squirt but with more grapefruit flavor. Also it has little bits of grapefruit pulp. I was determined to find some to celebrate and luckily I found some at a restaurant that happened to be open. As Ross and I walked back home we sipped our Tings and almost got accosted by a very angry, very drunk, soaking shirtless man. It was a little scary. Haha. Oh Grenada!

It was a fun day! It may not have been the most exciting or exhilarating day, but it was definitely something new to try. I feel like the past couple of months have flown by so quickly. I know we still have roughly a year and a half but Ross and I are really trying to make the most of our time here. I feel like before we know it we will be on a plane headed back to the States for good.