Hang Ten

It's something I tried as a kid, but never stuck with. I was never successful, so I didn't continue to try.

Getting back in the water Wednesday, with a wetsuit and a 10'10" surfboard and Nanci by my side, certain things came back naturally.

I hopped on the surfboard and paddled out, only to need a break by the time I got to where I needed to be. Yep, I remembered that. Then...turn around to get ready for a wave...check. And paddle, paddle, paddle...and didn't catch it.

That's when Nanci stepped in. She got in front of me. Timed the wave. Told me when to paddle. Gave me a little nudge....and I WAS OFF!

As the waved picked me up, I started to pop up and got to my knees. So awesome. So exhilarating!

The best part...everyone out for Mom's Morning was cheering me on. Cheering each other on.

It didn't matter if you'd never surfed, been there once or were a regular to the morning group, because everyone is still learning and it's amazing how things feel with a little hooting and hollering to keep on rolling.

Granted after nearly two hours in the water and then an hour long training session in the gym, I can hardly lift my arms today, it was all totally worth it.

I found what I had been missing and am psyched to get back in the water. My summer's goal was to learn to surf (for real), and I've finally started working toward that goal. Just because I'm unemployed doesn't mean I can't have a little fun....right?!?!

New Chapters

After nine months of planning, there was a wedding that brought two people together. United their families and opened a new chapter in their life...a chapter "together...until death do us part."

It couldn't have rained harder the morning of the wedding. A slow moving storm hovered over the southern coast of Maine dumping rain by bucket fulls as everyone prepared for the event.

Hair was styled, make up fashioned, clothes pressed and each detail of dress checked and re-checked. As the day progress, the rain lightened to a fine mist as everyone filed into the church.

Katie and Adam came in as woman and man, and as they left the church wife and husband the sun was trying to shine. The sun came and went into the night as family and friends celebrated the wedding and the union known as marriage.

Festivities continued into a sunny Saturday beach party, recanting stories of the previous night. They enjoy calling each other husband and wife, and the smiles on their faces are telling of the happy future they will create.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As one door closes, another opens.
Turning the page on a new chapter brings a new outlook on life.
For every mishap there is opportunity.
Be positive. Don't wallow.
Live without fear.
Everything happens for a reason.
It's meant to be.
It's a sign.

The couple start a new chapter in their life, just as one of mine is ending. Just more than 14 months out of college, I'm finding myself without a job.

It's the economy.
You're not alone (Dave too).
We've saved jobs for months now.
I've been waiting for this to happen.
Everything will be fine.

"We're going to have to let you go," he said almost a week ago.
And my mind went blank.

In my first week of unemployment, I have gone through waves of emotion and realization.
Woohoo, I don't have to go back to work.
Oh God, how am I going to pay for stuff...my apartment, my loans, my insurance, my food...
It will be fine. Totally fine.
Why should I even get out of bed.
Apply for jobs. NOW...FIND SOMETHING.
Nope, just ride it out. Everyone else does.

While everyone had told me all the cliche phrases in the book when someone loses a job, I have to agree with every single one of them. It's time for a change and I think this will be a great learning experience.

The best one yet - "This will make you stronger," Adam told me.
He's right.

It won't be easy, and I'll go through the waves of emotion. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the pause between the chapter in my life "first for-real job" and the next chapter yet to be determined.

Because maybe, no probably, all those cliches are right.

White Wedding

Celebrating Freedom

We prayed, we pleaded...I resigned myself to believe it would be sunny regardless of the forecast....


...and at last, the sun made a miraculous return for the Fourth of July.


It was a whoopla of activity at 77 Fortunes Rocks Road as the Croteau clan descended with food, drinks and beach gear galore. The concept of "bring your own sandwich" turned into "bring your own mini sandwiches that will feed the army.

I was just happy to be in the sun shine, with the family.

Dad and Gordon went on their annual brigade to BPool dressed as if they were hailing from a different decade in the refurbed WW II Jeep. (Watch out for the mounted machine gun boys).

And it was Memere's 81st birthday, with Miss Hailey's first birthday just around the corner. For her first trip to the beach, I'm not so sure she was keen on the sand and the waves, but she'll learn.

Then, my collaborator on life joined me with two friends from the workshops. We dabled on the beach, enjoyed the OOB firework show and explored Palace Playland...yes a bunch of 20-something-year-olds on all those rides.

This, my friends, is what summer is all about.

I never want it to end.

Les Fleurs

Since I can't grown them, I just take photo after photo of BEAUTIFUL flowers.

It makes them last longer too.

The King of Pop

Michael Jackson – regardless of media stunts and "wacko" moves – was truly the "King of Pop."

His death is tragic, but so is the media obsession. While I admit, his life needs to be commemorated, the news last night and this morning focused on him, his death and speculation of cause. This overshadowed the late, great Farrah who lost her battle to cancer. No one really made mention of Ed McMahon. Oh, right, and all the countless people that died in the world yesterday anyway.

I'm torn in my feeling of his loss. I definitely enjoyed his music – ABC, Thriller, The Way You Make Me Feel – because he makes you want to dance. Can you honestly say you don't do the head bob classic to the music video when the rhythm of Thriller hits the speakers?

But why focus all the news coverage energy on one person's death?

See (Sea) Roses

The scent of sea roses is something I've never been able to describe in words, but I'll try.

It's a sweet aroma that you can almost taste as it mixes with the salty air. Subtle at first, but pungent up close.

The fragrance is something that reminds me of days spent at the beach as a child, and its tone mixes with that sun-kissed smell after a day playing in the sand.

A long line of sea rose bushes can literally make me stop, and well, smell the roses.

(RED)delicious

It's officially summer when I receive the first pint of strawberries from my grandfather's garden. Fresh picked, they still have that sun ripened taste and are SO sweet and juicy – nothing in the grocery store can compare.

Of course, they aren't the gargantuan things packed in plastic containers, they are tiny in comparison. However, they are a prelude to more fresh food – raspberries, blueberries and other various vegetables.

I'm going to make a concerted effort to buy local, eat local this summer and follow a mantra of the latest book I've read...If it didn't once have a mother and if it didn't grow from the ground, it's probably not good for you.

Not to say I'm going to go be that crazy-organic-everything lately, but the concept that all the pesticides, genetically modifications, preservatives and processing can't be good for you kind of makes sense. I looked at some of the labels on the food in my pantry, and I can't pronounce 99% of the ingredients. That also can't be good! And the idea all these unnatural things in the majority of the average food people eat is screwing up hormones – yes, that makes sense too.

It's just another experiment in the journey...

The rain in Maine falls simply on the....

...leaves?

I couldn't resist trying to snap a shot of the rain drops on the leaves outside my apartment.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast is not looking so bright for the next week or so, which is dampening my mood. I love the sunshine, even when I'm stuck in the office. It's such a rejuvenating force of life...

...and I'm praying next weekend will be sunny in Delaware, or else our bachelorette beach weekend, may be just filled with drinking inside. (well it will be filled with drinking either way...but better out than in)

Hmm, it's hard to believe we're already mid-June and my cousin's wedding in seven weeks. I feel surrounded by wedding-ness between Adam&Katie and Amanda&Jeff. There's been a wedding to attend ever year for the past three and will continue for the next two...it's really crazy.

That's all my random thoughts for now....
(can't think of much to write)

oh BABY!

oh baby!

Little Miss Hailey came to my jewelry party.
She met Fuzzy Froggy and sat on my lap.
Such a beautiful, happy baby :)

The "F" Word

While I was contemplating gym or no gym this morning, it was on the third phone call from my mom that she psyched me up and convinced me to go...
...and it was at the end of my work out – the last 15 minutes on the elliptical – that totally pissed me off.

I picked up a People Mag to pass the time on the machine and started reading an article about Jessica Simpson and all the latest criticism of her being "fat." The article said she's been branded with the scarlet letter "F" and I think it is TOTALLY ridiculous to be calling Jessica Simpson FAT! Come on now people...

THEN I flip to the next article about Nick Carter...
While the Web site doesn't show Carter when he weighed 224lbs. the article had an inset photo of him at his biggest and then him now.

How come we never heard about Nick Carter being FAT?

And sometimes karma knocks you off your feet...

So I've been sick since Saturday/Sunday and I'm convinced it is all because I was in high gear, ahead of the game...and stressing about getting a lot done in a little time.

All in order to take one day off, and now I've been out of work Monday and today, pushing myself to meet deadlines yesterday and business reviews and the beginning of budget season.

I couldn't speak this morning...and I felt worse today than yesterday. I've spent nearly the entire day on my couch watching talk shows and reruns with the box of tissues by my side ad my best friend.

It's like natures twisted way of telling you to slow the F down and take a break (even if it's when you least want to be incapable of work).

Ugh...more later.
;-D

One nasty nor'easter...or so the meteorologist said

I'm sitting in a house that's not mine with two birds, two cats and two dogs that don't belong tome...petsitting on a stormy winter day in Maine.

I went to work uber early this morning, was overly productive for a Wednesday and left the office by 11:30 a.m. to avoid treacherous roads later on.

Thus...I've been sitting the this house that's not mine, with (crying because they miss mama) pets I don't own, with nothing much of my own other than my laptop and a book ALL day...and I skipped the gym yet again to avoid the fun driving that goes hand in hand with Maine winters.

Anyway, we've got another foot on the ground, and I'm sure more to come before I get to sit on the beach again. Sadly, I've been too busy to indulged in winter fun and games...making this for a much longer, drawn out winter than I wish to experience.

It's the first time I've considered living somewhere that doesn't experience such hard winters, but then of course that would make the taste of summer less sweet.

Well, I leave you with one thought....
A group of turkeys can be termed a rafter, or better yet a gang.