Maggie's Portrait

Maggie's spirit will live forever in this beautiful portrait by Kellie Straw. It brought me to tears yesterday when I saw it for the first time. Please visit her website at http://www.strawdogart.com/. She can also do a portrait of your best friend! I miss Maggie terribly, but having this painting of her will bring me some comfort. Thank you Kellie!

A Few Of My Favorite Things...

What brings me joy?

It's a good thing to think about what you have in life and give thanks for the simple pleasures.

I am thankful.

In no particular order, here are a few things that bring me joy:



Dogs (here with Maggie)

Sushi

The pigeon stretch (try it..it feels amazing)

Toes in Sand

Travel

The Beach

Laughing

Music (with Elvis)

Art

Friends

Coffee

Campfires

The After Workout High

Baths

What brings you joy?

Pride

This weekend was Long Beach Pride. The festival is the second largest event in the city behind the Grand Prix.

It's always a good time with great energy.

This year, Shawdee, Caroline and I rode our bikes to watch the fun.

Here are some pictures from the day:

I Am Inspired

By YOU!!!!

Really.

I put together more profiles of people today for AmericanLifeToday.com and am inspired by your story. Everything. All of it. Thank you.

Please be sure to submit your 5 answers today if you haven't already.

Look at you!

You're incredible!

Finish What You Started

I had this idea last fall about introducing you to your fellow Americans by asking each person 5 questions about their life. I launched www.AmericanLifeToday.com on January 1st, 2009 with the idea of profiling a person each day of the year, for the entire year.

That was my hope.

I am not one to quit, so I will continue to search for people to introduce you to. It's simple to participate and I hope you do.

Answer the questions below and submit your answers to AmericanLifeToday@gmail.com Please incude a picture. If you know of someone that we should meet, plase forward this post to a friend on the button below. Thank you so much! I can't wait to learn more about you.

Name:
Age:
Sign:
I grew up in:
I currently live in:
Occupation:
You can find me:
You will never find me:
Your website or Charity you are passionate about:

1.) Who or what Inspires you?
2.) What would you want to change about yourself?
3.) What is your most prized possession?
4.) Who has been the most influential person in your life? Why?
5.) How do you want to be remembered?

Life and Coffee

I love coffee.

I drink it everyday.

I was never one to go out for coffee until recently. Dave and I would chat about drinking coffee and how we thought that we could change the world after 3+ cups. Or, more along the lines of how brilliant and creative we are after 3 cups. I am sold. Why not?



So, after 3 hours sitting here in the same spot, my mind started wandering to the people that came into the store rather than what I came in here for...

Actually, I wanted to get out of my head and I did just that. I crawled into the heads of everyone else.

People hang out here all day. I had no idea. This is all new to me. It makes me feel smart to hang out at a bookstore, so why not? Feeling smart with a caffeine buzz is not a bad thing, well...until later. We won't talk about that now.

It's like an airport. People coming and going, wandering, sitting, reading, staring, thinking, drinking, eating.

Living.



Found out a refill is only 50 cents. It's why I am here for 3 hours. And to stay out of the house. Yes, I still have Maggie's beds all over, food and bowl still out. Being away gets my mind off of it for a little while at least.

Students, retirees, mothers, kids, me. We're all here.



This blog isn't much of anything but to say I am "being."

I am here.

I am aware.

Home Away From Home

I want to start off by saying that I continue to miss Maggie everyday. She will forever be in my heart. The past week I went to my home away from home (Chico, CA) to help mourn her loss. It was a nice to have a change of scenery for a few days.

I love it there.
I went to college there.
My college room mates and best friends live there.
It's home to me.

I tried to take it slow and not do much. I did for the most part. It was relaxing to see everyone and doing simple things that I enjoy. Since I arrived during the week, everyone was working so I met them in different places to share their life with them.

I did spend moments alone in the park (trying to avoid snakes)but I had no idea about the other fun activities that were in store for me.

I walked with Rose and Jake, went to Hannah's (John and Heide's daughter)softball game, and had the privilege to attend a "clothes party" at someones house with Heide. I was oblivious to this "secret club."

Women gathering in a home, watching a clothes paring demonstration, being served wine, and once it's completed...off come their clothes! It was a flurry of half naked women grabbing articles of clothing...shoving and pushing, screaming at each other, falling on the floor. Pure chaos!! Well, sort of.

They didn't appreciate me being there not partaking in the wine, taking pictures and not stripping, but I had an entertaining time watching all of the fun. To protect the innocent, only photos before the strip down will be included.

Here are some pictures to give you an idea of the excitement. :)

Presenting the clothes...

Starting the wine and cheese fest...

Heide and Connie with their game plan...

Hannah (on left) and friend at their softball game

Up to bat (with dad coaching in background)

Jake running in the park

Jake

Enjoying Bidwell Park

Bear Hole

NOT enjoying a new friend I almost stepped on:

I am so thankful that they are in my life and that I can go visit them on a moments notice. Until next time...

Love

Thank you.

I want you to know how much I am touched by your thoughts, comments, well wishes, and words of kindness. I am truly blessed. My friend, Caroline made this piece for her memory.

I was lucky that Maggie chose me 10 years ago.. We had so many adventures together, especially last summer. I put together some moments she had in the last year on this slide show.

She loved you all.

I am healing. It's a day at a time. I miss her everyday.

My Bed

For the past few days, I have not left my bed. I don’t ever remember doing this before.

I need to do something different.

I did it. It was hard, but I decided to take my happy pill.

At first, I was hesitant. Why not? I know it will be good for me. Once I did it, it was ok. Then after a while, my breathing got harder, my throat started to burn, I started sweating…yes, it felt gooood…. Ahhhh…

The hardest part about not having Maggie around is coming home. I look forward to it so much because I see her head through the cut hole in the fence greeting me. If not there, she is slowly waking up and walking through the dog door.

Now it’s silence. I walk into the house looking at her half eaten bowl of food.

Thank you all so much for the kind words and well wishes. It is so appreciated! Even though I haven’t been out of the bed, I will get there soon. I know it. There are too many things in life to experience and blog about. Thank god for blogs.

I miss her terribly. Here’s a video of her trying to swim (She HATES swimming, but likes to bite water) at Lake Vermillion in South Dakota. We stayed there 3 nights in the most beautiful campsite on our trip. School was out so it was empty. Just us and the lake.

At least one of us looks like we're having fun in this picture.

Her favorite is barking at waves. Here we are on Lake Erie in Ohio.