I am thankful for…wireless internet at this camp and this mediochre laptop both of which have helped me keep my sanity these past two weeks and have kept me in touch with the outside world.

 From the kitchen… using up what food we have left before we depart back for home early Saturday morning. Tonight, maybe sloppy joes.

I am wearing… black capris, flip flops, and a breezy brown top with short sleeves.

I am creating… thoughts on what to blog on next. Thinking about doing my version of Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life.

I am going… on a pontoon boat ride tonight at 7:45. It’s now 6:42

 I am reading…Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life.

I am hoping…My brand new sterling family tree necklace I ordered from Lisa Leonard Designs is in my pile of unopened mail when I get home.

I am hearing… Faint voices of children playing by the beach, just outside of the lodge where I am tying this, and the sound of the wind blowing through the trees.

Around the house… it is quiet. We have been gone for almost 2 weeks. The cats are undoubtedly wondering when we will be getting home.

One of my favorite things…my sterling Tiffany Paloma Picasso knot necklace. I never take it off.

A few plans for the rest of the week…read, relax, email, write, enjoy the northwoods for one more whole day, then it’s a 6 hour trip back home where I’ll be for the rest of the summer.

Last night I was reading my book, EAT, PRAY, LOVE.  I came across the following quote that so moved me, I felt compelled to share it.  Maybe it will hit a chord with you, too and give you hope, if that is something you might be needing right now at this time in your life.

“But I felt a glimmer of happiness when I started studying Italian, and when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt-this is not selfishness, but obligation.  You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.”

I am in the process of moving my blog over to WORDPRESS…for a variety of reasons that I’ll explain later. Just check here as you normally would. I’ll keep you up to date on when I’m finished and ready to sweep the floors here.

For now, if you care to read my father’s day post, click on this.…

A – Age: 46

B – Bed size: King-waterbed

C – Chore you hate: Washing and waxing cars

D – Dog’s name: Lilly

E – Essential start your day item: Coffee

F – Favorite color: yellow orange

G – Gold or Silver: silver

H – Height: 5’8″

I – Instruments you play: My IPOD Nano (I can’t play a note!)

J – Job title: Mother/domestic goddess/artist

K – Kid(s):5-David, Scott, Caroline, Andrew and Jeff

L – Living arrangements: Big, 5 bedroom house in the suburbs with a front porch and a weeping willow in the back yard.

M – Mom’s name: Ann

N – Nicknames: Em, Emmy, Emmerson, Baby Cakes-(hubby’s)

O – Overnight hospital stay other than birth: pneumonia 2X when I was a kid

P – Pet Peeve: People who talk incessantly about other people in their life whom you know nothing about, or worse, people who talk incessantly about their kids. Yawn…

Q – Quote from a movie: Carrie to Mr.Big: You can’t leave New York! You’re the Chrysler Building! The Chrysler Building would be all wrong in a vineyard!

R – Right or left handed: right

S – Siblings: I’m an only child

T – Time you wake up: Summer hours? Noon and I go to bed about 3am.

U- Underwear: I like those cheeky boy shorts

V – Vegetable you dislike: Okra

W – Ways you run late: Spending too much time on the computer

X – Xtra things you like: sewing, painting and reading

Y – Delicious beef stew, stuffed green peppers, chicken bruschetta

Z – Wild Cats

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Feel free to copy and paste this and post your own version on your blog. If you like memes like I do, you’ll find this one irresistable. Thanks Kim!

Last Friday I began the South Beach Diet. I was sitting in the waiting room of the outpatient care center where my mom was having her eye surgery. I felt fat. I looked fat. I felt out of breath. That morning, I brought my South Beach book with to read. As I read, the words just gelled with me and made so much sense. I felt empowered by the book in my hands and in the course of a moment, I decided this was the day I would begin making changes. I have two weeks before my upnorth vacation. Phase one is two weeks. The time is NOW.

I am on my 4th day of phase one and I feel very, very good! This diet, (although, I argue it should be called The South Beach Lifestyle), is amazing, because if you give up the bad carbs (white stuff-rice, potatoes, sugar, white bread and fruit) for the first two weeks, you totally lose hunger cravings and feel full most of the time. There’s so much you can eat in phase one, although I miss strawberries dipped in Splenda. I can resume them in a week and a half when phase two begins. My nightly treat is a bowl of sugar free chocolate pudding made with skim milk. It’s so good and really hits the spot.

I need this weight loss. Lately, I feel so heavy. Almost so heavy, it’s difficult to lift myself off the sofa. My bones ache. My feet hurt. I’m shooting for fourty pounds. I am going to pray every night for the will power to carry this diet to it’s completion and for success. During phase two I can eat everything except sugary stuff…and I can have bread and rice as long as it’s whole wheat and brown rice and in moderation.

South Beach just makes so much sense to me. It’s all about eating the right foods and giving up the crap we’ve been stuffing our gullets with all these years. America is getting fatter and fatter and it’s because we all consume processed, bad stuff and eat too many bad carbs. SB is all about relearning how to eat healthy foods. I’m ready.
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I love the new Starbucks coffee blend. It’s called Pikes Place. What makes it so good is it’s much milder than other Starbucks coffees. It doesn’t have that bitter, strong bite that is so characteristic of their coffee. I brew it at home and I love it. It’s my little luxury on a daily basis. Try some.
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Lately, money has been tight and I’ve been enjoying the simpler things in life and I haven’t been going shopping. Surprisingly, I don’t miss it. I really don’t. I have turned to free things for fun, like reading and blogging and taking Lilly for walks, enjoying the very balmy weather we’ve been having here in Chicago. If I want a new book, I take a quick trip to the Goodwill and choose from their selection. I’m amazed at the fantastic books I find there. I usually score lots of contemporary novels and almost always take home a lucky find.

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I’ve been thinking about some of the things I’ve been reading in the Sylvia Brown books. I want to believe her in the worst way. I think she’s truthful, it seems like she’s authentic, although on YouTube videos, she seems to have been caught making mistakes and seems complely off base. A fellow bogger wrote me privately and told me of a lady ghost she had in a house she lived in for 18 years. She actually saw her several times and the story seems just so amazing to me. I definately believe there is something beyond our life here on earth. There just has to be. Gosh, I really would love to see a ghost. Have you seen one? I’d love to hear about it.
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I have been so inspired by Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is such an incredible book. Easy, entertaining, interesting, heart wrenching, spiritual and inspiring are the adjectives I can throw out there to describe it. I can only recommend it with all my heart to you reader. The first ‘4 Beads’ is probably the most powerful thing I’ve read to date. It almost moved me to tears. ”As far as the ‘beads’ are concerned, you’ll have to read the book to find that out.

Why does this post seem like I’m a spokesperson for South Beach, Starbucks, Sylvia Brown and Elizabeth Gilbert? I don’t know…I just love them all!

I have been feeling disappointed in myself for not writing the kind of quality blog posts I’d like to be posting. But, as much as I’d love to turn a crank in my brain and pop some quality content out to the internet, it just doesn’t happen that way. Inspiration has to come naturally, on it’s own. It’s not something to be forced. One must wait patiently for the words to flow. Since I consider it a delicate balance, I wait with anticipation for my future inspiration to arrive. Comm’on universe, I need some help.