2012

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist,your cardiologist, your gastro-enterologist,your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your plumber and the I.R.S.

May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise.

May New Year's Eve find you seated around the table,together with your beloved family and cherished friends. May you find the food better, the environment quieter,the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night.

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, may the commercials on TV not be louder than the program you have been watching, and may your check book and your budget balance - and include generous amounts for charity.

May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parent, your siblings; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your masseuse, your hairdresser or your tennis instructor.

And may we live in a world at peace and with the awareness of God's love in every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile, every lover's kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our heart.

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!
XOXO

T is for THINK Before Buying Season

Four questions to ask yourself before you take the holiday spending plunge:

This year’s Black Friday retail success is fascinating. It’s a wonder how millions of consumers around the country who have reduced their shopping habits to focus on paying down debts have also caused retailers like Walmart and Target to be sold out of the bulk of their inventory by Black Friday! According to data released this week by the National Retail Federation, shoppers bought more electronics like televisions, tablets, and video games already.

I love the holiday spirit but I feel we Americans get so taken by the spirit of gift-giving which drives the excessive consumerism we are so infamous for, especially during uneasy economic times. While smart spending is a year-round strategy, especially the idea of staying away from unnecessary expenses, it is even more so valid for holiday season. This time of the year is a great time to consciously prioritize and analyze buying habits. Here are 4 questions to ask yourself before you jump into “buy” mode:

Do I Really Need It?
We all get sucked into looking for or buying items but the holiday retail mania makes that so much easier to fall for. Ask yourself routinely prior to a purchase: Do I/we really need it? I even ask my teen sister this question all the time so that she also gets into the same habit early and feels a need to evaluate buying decisions.

Am I Taking Care of Myself?
The “Do I need it?”question is a gateway to more analysis. One question to follow up on after the need versus want is determined, is the clear ability to know if there is any place for an extra expense that is a splurge. Are the bills paid off? Am I saving enough? At all times, such priorities should be foremost—perhaps writing them down sounds silly but it can help. Priorities such as paying down credit card debt should be immediate because such debt is expensive and tends to have a snowball effect.

Is It Really Necessary?
Shopping for an absolute necessity is usually a no brainer. But the list of necessities is rather large these days. Food, utilities, auto insurance, rent/mortgage and transportation expenses are the most basic, not to mention many more. So if your necessities are taking away most of the paycheck, it’s even more important to learn some patience, take those deep breaths and learn to fight the urge to spend beyond your means. Everyone has their individual means to work and balance. So if there is no emergency to buy, shop around and consider used items to save a significant amount of money. Waiting to make that decision will save a lot of money.

Can It Wait?
Because of the current seasonal influence, a lot of people get carried away with buying things that can be waited on and perhaps obtained at a better price at a later time. So even if you can afford to make the purchase, you might save more by holding off until a later date. I recommend taking the time to comparison shop so you can discover the best time and place to purchase the product you need.

Last but not least, it is incredibly important to think about what consumerism means to you individually. Think of all the things you have that are not being used. Such an exercise should motivate all of us to donate and/or sell items that we don’t need thereby giving more to the needy as well during this season. And most of all, let’s not forget to be thankful for what we have in our lives rather than what we don’t.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
XOXO

 Boys think of girls just like books. If the cover doesn't catch their eyes, they won't even bother to read what's inside.

 Love is like a lost object. If you search too hard, you wouldn't find it. But if you just forget about it momentarily, it will show up in the most unexpected time.

 Everybody has the power to make someone else happy. Some do it by entering the room, while some do it by leaving.

When a person cannot answer directly to your question, probably the answer is too painful for you to know or too hard for them to admit. 

 So you know what makes letting go of a crush so hard? The fear that the moment you let go, they'll catch on.

  Never be totally dependent on anyone because even your own shadow leaves you when you're in the darkness.

  Some of life's best lessons are learned at the worst times.

  I guess you can say I'm complicated, but I'd rather be difficult than easy any day.

 Sorry is like a band-aid. Just because you use it, doesn't mean it's gonna heal the wound.

I really enjoy spending time with you, even if we're just going to be sitting around and talking about nothing. There are a million things I love about you, like the way you smile, the way you look at me in the eyes too. And I just get the greatest feeling when I make you laugh, I feel as if my company makes you happy, and that's what I wish for you. For you to be happy. And when I see you laugh at my clumsy ways, it just makes me want to spend the rest of my  life with you so I can see a smile on your face.

 

Waiting is a torture when you are uncertain if what you're waiting for will ever happen.

  “When you love someone, you gotta love all of them, not just the good things. Otherwise it ain’t love.”

  There are times when I wish certain people could read my thoughts. So they’ll know what I’m too scared to say.

 “Difference between mind and heart? Your mind will tell you the smart thing and your heart will tell you what you are going to do anyway.”

 Life is like a party. You invite a lot of people; some go, some join you, some laugh with you, some didn't come. But in the end, after the fun, there would be a few who would clean up the mess with you. And most of the time, those were the uninvited ones.

 Your friends are your release; they're who you have the most fun with. And yet when the going gets tough, those people turn around and suddenly, they're not just making you laugh. They're being this rock and giving you all their advice, even though you're so much your own person. If you dissect yourself, I guarantee you, your friends are in there. Their influence is incredible. They're the people whom you need most in your life.  

There's a story behind every person. There's a reason why they're the way they are. They aren't just like that because they want to be. Something in the past created them, and sometimes it's impossible to fix.

 You can close your eyes to the things you don't wanna see, but you can't close your heart to the things you don't wanna feel.

 

Don't ever use someone's past against them. You're just reminding them of the mistakes they made back then. If you watch their facial expression carefully, then you'll see the hurt in their eyes as they reminisce everything that happened. Never use emotion as a weapon, it strikes deeper than you can imagine.

I think sometimes you have to lose someone completely, before you can figure out what they really mean to you.

Never reject anybody in your life, because good people give us happiness and bad people give us experience. Both are essential in life.

There's a hell in every hello. Be careful. There's a good in every goodbye. Be grateful.

I'm not miserable, but I'm not happy. I'm not strong, but I'm not weak. I'm not rude, but I'm not polite. I'm not popular, but I'm not a loner. I'm not sexy, but I'm not horrid. I'm not dumb, but I'm no genius. I'm not you, but I am me. Accept it.

Life's not supposed to be easy but sometimes don't you think that it could cut us a break? I mean when you wake up in the morning knowing that you're going to get hurt, what's the point anymore?

 There comes a time when every bird has to fly, at some point every rose has to die.

She's the girl that has a few best friends and doesn't need anymore. The girl that laughs the hardest at her own jokes. She's the girl that will hang up on you, but then call you right back and say sorry. She's the girl who will never leave your side when you need her. The girl who will go out of her way to cheer you up.

Truth is, I get jealous easily because what's mine is mine. I'm stubborn as hell, I say sorry too much. I act like I don't give a fuck because I care too much. I over analyze the smallest of things & probably come off as a bitch to simply guard myself.

I don't care how far you are from me, or how long it's been since we've talked. I don't care how mad I got at you, or how mad you've been at me. You're still what matters most to me, and I'm never going to give that up.

 You have to get hurt. That's how you learn. The strongest people out there, the ones who laugh the hardest with a genuine smile, those are the people who have fought the toughest battles. Because they've decided that they're not going to let anything hold them down, they're showing the world who's the boss!

Here's a piece of advice: Never put your happiness in someone else hands.

 I'm not a back-up plan, and definitely not a second choice.

      

There isn't a moment of my day that isn't spent wondering where you are, what you're doing or how you're feeling. Even in the quiet of the night, when everything is still and I am nearly asleep, there is a part of me that is still wondering. Just think. there's someone out there dying to get you to notice. Just think. someone's laying up staring at their ceiling thinking only of your smile.

I'm scared of the future. I'm scared of growing up and failing at my life. I'm scared of being old and alone. I'm scared I'm going to find someone who actually loves me.

Remember your friends won't give you the right advice until they've been through what you've been through.

Superman's not brave. You can't be brave if you're indestructible. It's every day people, like you and me, that are brave, knowing we could easily be defeated, but still continue forward.


The mind may have forgotten, but the body remembers everything -in the melody of a song, in a rip of a dress, in a taste stuck at the tip of your tongue, in the freckled constellation splattered across your light skin, in a look not meant to be a look, in the movement of their hips against yours, in a graze between nervous hands, in the loud beat of your beating heart. In one moment, the body remembers everything so vividly, so wildly, as if it were experiencing it the first time & the last time combined - an explosion of sorts that will never seem to leave with time. These things have become pieces of us, that have found a way to stay forever, as much as we deny it ever happened. But the reality is that it was never a figment - in fact, it was our realest dream somehow brought to life.

 As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn’t supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it’s harder every time. You’ll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You’ll fight with your best friend. You’ll blame a new love for things an old one did. You’ll cry because time is passing too fast, and you’ll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you’ve never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you’ll never get back. Don’t be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin. ♥ XOXO

As I put down my pen, I know someone, somewhere is picking up theirs. I know that someone, somewhere is playing a guitar for the first time. I know that someone, somewhere is dipping a paintbrush and marking a field of white. I know that someone, somewhere is singing a song that's never been sung. Perhaps someone, somewhere will create something so beautiful and moving, it will change the world. Perhaps that somewhere is here. Perhaps that someone is you. ♥

 

I think one of the worst feelings in the world, right behind heart break, is that disgustingly empty feeling you get, right after you spill your heart out and lay all your cards on the table. Right after you get the courage to say everything you have been feeling and be completely and recklessly honest. It's that feeling you get right after you risk everything, and he just walks away. Because then you realize that you just lost. You lost everything you didn't even know you had when you said "what do i have to lose?''

Never settle for being someone's "other" when you have the potential to be someone's "only". What goes around comes around. That's what people say. So all the pain you caused me will come back to you someday.

 Too often we don't realize what we have until it's gone, too often we're to stubborn to say 'sorry, I was wrong too often it seems we hurt the one's closest to our hearts and we let the most foolish things tear us apart.

 For all the lies I've tasted, just looking for the truth. For all the dreams I'm chasing, well what am I to do. When everything's against me, and the answers are all wrong; I'm hoping that I find out it was worth it all along.