Courage.

I've been on a weekend kick of watching videos and reading blogs of people who have chosen to become RV "Full Timers" or "nomads." There's a couple favorites I enjoy, but my favorite is Robin of Creativity RV.

...

Back in June I was asked the question, "what do you want your life to look like in a year?" 

I'll say again, while this is not a new question... it has been the first time that I've thought of my answer(s) almost every day. 

I've also been trying to figure out what I really want. 

I've been incredibly blessed in my life. I'm grateful for all that I've been given. But when given much, much is expected, and I'm afraid I've not lived up to my potential, and am disappointed in myself.

I heard on either an Amy Porterfield or a Marie Forleo podcast the other day about the 10-year Question... which is this: Will I regret NOT having done something/tried something in 10 years? Will I kick myself for having ignored the voice inside asking to try something.

I want to be able to be financially independent while traveling around the United States. 

I want to see every state, and while I wouldn't mind sharing some of the adventure with a good friend, I mainly want to do it myself as a self-confidence building, personal growth challenge.

To simplify my life by decreasing the unessential ~ “It is not daily increase but daily decrease, hack away the unessential." ~ Bruce Lee

Goals. I am creative. I have skills and talents to offer... I am a natural teacher, but I've not ventured into YouTube or even just videos here in blogland. I can write. 

I love learning. Learning about people and our tendencies, habits, the reasons behind why we do things is fascinating to me. I love learning about natural health, food as medicine and healthy eating.

What can I teach that would be worth a $9.95 eCourse or eBook? I come back to singing, but that is usually something taught one-on-one in person. Using learning to sing as one of the pathways to personal growth and development is real, and is something I am passionate about.

Life is short, that is a lesson that keeps showing up every day. 

What will it take for me to have the courage? Will I ever "feel ready?" 

Just start, right?

 

 

Penny Starr, has it really been 4 years?

It’s been 4 years since you had to go away. I miss you every day. Every single day. I miss being able to call you up and vent about a real estate situation… you were a Realtor, so you understood so much more than others, without telling me what I needed to do – you would just listen, laugh when appropriate, be angry and outraged when necessary… you were the perfect one I could call.

Your laughter… so contagious! You were so very generous. With yourself. With your time. With hospitality. Offering to help out whenever possible, in whatever situations needed help. But you also were an excellent delegator.

“Carry.” The inside joke between you and me when a now-former chorus member sent me an email spelling my name as the verb. Like I was a pack-mule. And we laughed because I do carry a lot of crap with me in bags… then we laughed because maybe it *was* appropriate! LOL. I still think about that person who did it and your response and our giggling stupidly about it.

I want to share with you all my news… I miss calling you up and you’d say, “What do YOU know?” and then off we’d go… talking about whatever. I miss your “Idiot of the Day” stories from the apartments, or variety of rental units you and Tez owned and managed.

I’m starting a book! On singing!! You’d be so thrilled for/with me! You’d be so encouraging and excited and want to hear ALL about it. There’s not a lot of people currently in my life who want to hear all about it like you would want to. And singing! You’d have so much good feedback from editing (lol) to input, from stories of us singing together to encouragement of me pursuing this dreamed-for opportunity. You’d ask me how it was going every time we talked! You would help keep me accountable with just writing every day. You were a brilliant writer and editor. I wish you were here.

I haven’t written very much about you, it is still hard. You were one-of-a-kind and were loved by so many people all around the world.

There's no one else I would want to sing duets and harmony with ~ with our guitars and ukuleles, traveling in our separate travel trailers over the United States singing to whoever would listen. And possibly pay us.

I love you, Penny Starr. ♫

Comfort Movies

Courtney Carver from "Be More With Less" is one of my favorite bloggers/lifestyle influencers. She posted this link in a recent weekend "Favorites" email/blog post and I wanted to put this list in a place where I could find it again, and then add my own few to the mix. There's only a few on her list that I haven't seen, and it has inspired me to watch them.

Here I'm going to list my own "Favorite Comfort Movies" list, inspired by Grace at The Stripe, the link above. There's a lot of movies I agree with, some I haven't seen (yet). I've got some catching up to do!

My Comfort List, in no particular order ~

Singin' in the Rain

About Time

Four Weddings & A Funeral

About A Boy

Love, Actually

Notting Hill

Pretty Woman

Runaway Bride

An Officer and a Gentleman

Steel Magnolias

On Golden Pond

Saving Grace

The Devil Wears Prada

Benny & Joon

Father of the Bride (original with Elizabeth Taylor, 1950 & Remake in 1991 with Steve Martin) *eager to see the newest remake which is culturally diverse. Lots of drama in all families!

Made of Honour

When Harry Met Sally

French Kiss

Sleepless in Seattle

You've Got Mail

The Lake House

The Blind Side 

While You Were Sleeping

Mr. Holland's Opus

The American President

Dave

Jerry Maguire

Bridget Jones' Diary (all of them)

Pride & Prejudice (1995 with Colin Firth and 2005 with Keira Knightley)

Sense & Sensibility (2005 with Emma Thompson)

Enchanted April

Under the Tuscan Sun

As Good As It Gets

Fried Green Tomatoes

Driving Miss Daisy

Grease

Mamma Mia

The Sound of Music

My Fair Lady

Oklahoma! (1955 Film with Shirley Jones & Gordon McCrae)

The Princess Bride 

Julie & Julia

A League of Their Own

The Replacements

Remember the Titans

Bull Durham

Sweet Home Alabama

Legally Blonde

Three to Tango

Harry Potter Movies (All)

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 

Star Wars (the first 3 released)

Circle of Friends (despite the worst fake Irish accent ever by Chris O'Donnell, whom I adore)

Ghost

Sister Act

Heal (a documentary)

Good Will Hunting

The Shawshank Redemption

Honorable Mentions:

The Birdcage

Freedom Writers

The Ron Clark Story

The Adam Project

The Commitments

Silverado

Princess Diaries

The Starling

Definitely, Maybe

Music and Lyrics

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Pitch Perfect

Akeelah and the Bee

A Walk in the Clouds

Cocoon

Field of Dreams

What about you? What are movies that make you feel? Movies that give you hope? Movies that you can watch again and again?

Everyone Can Sing (Part I in a Series)

I've been saying this for years. 

For various reasons, so many people believe that if they don't sound like (my idols) Shirley Jones or Julie Andrews, Hugh Jackman or Michael Ball; or the more well-known super stars of the past 25 years or more ~ Whitney Houston, Josh Groban... Adele* and Taylor Swift... Paul McCartney, Steve Perry... or Barbra ~ if you believe that you cannot sing because you do not sound like those folks, I'm here to say that I believe you are wrong.

*Adele developed vocal issues - 2011 & 2017 - because while her voice is way cool, how she was using her instrument was detrimental to her health.

Just because you don't sing like the folks you hear on the radio... does NOT mean you can't sing. Seriously, it's a fallacy. And, believe it or not, Pop Stars and Celebrities are not always the best example of good singing. I'm not criticizing what sells records. Making music and The Music Business seem to often be at odds, strangely enough. 

When I tell you that yes, you can sing, I'm talking to the younger you who was told by "the expert" aka your music teacher whom you might have had in elementary or middle school. That music teacher was either too lazy or too overloaded or overwhelmed to help you learn to match pitch, so told you to just "mouth the words." This breaks my heart. Then it makes my blood boil. Truly.

Singing is for everyone. Science is catching up... proving that Singing Together is good for us. ALL of us.

Every Body. 

Singing together is for the masses. Singing Together has been done since humans started hanging out together, and the joy that singing together brings to us ~ our heart, mind, spirit, body and soul... well, it is difficult to put into words.

“Singing is a deeply human thing — the human voice is the most expressive instrument of all! It allows us to join in the solidarity of community, or to express the innermost stirrings of our soul. Singing is not just for some of us — it is, indeed, for everyone!” ~ Tziporah Miriam Halperin, Voice Teacher

“For many cultures singing is not performing at all. For these cultures, music is an act of compassion. By singing, these cultures make the world a more beautiful place. Music becomes an act of sharing. There is no audience for this act of compassion; everyone participates.” ~ from this website (Unitarian Universalist Association Website Ariticle on Making Music Live)

I don't "should" very often... but I'm passionate about this, everyone should be singing. 

Remember what Henry Ford said? "Whether you think you can, or think you can't - you're right." 

Stop with the can't, start with the "I'll Go For It."

Deke Sharon, who, if you don't know who he is yet, if you continue reading this series... you will, I adore Deke! Anyhoo... he has a fantastic, short, entertaining video, "So You Think You Can't Sing" which helps me prove this point. Deke has done an amazing job sharing why everybody should be singing, all the reasons we should be singing together.

Science is catching up to just how healthy it is to sing. Sing in and with a group of people.

"Research has found, for example, that people feel more positive after actively singing than they do after passively listening to music or after chatting about positive life events. Improved mood probably in part comes directly from the release of positive neurochemicals such as β-endorphin, dopamine and serotonin." ~ from "Choir Singing Improves Health, Happiness - and is the Perfect Icebreaker"

Honestly, I don't know yet how parts to this series there will be. There's lots of people who believe what I do about how we all should be Singing Together. 

But here's one of the many many things that may stop us from singing, from my completely unscientific experience of the general population... the reluctance (fear?) of singing with (in front of?) other people has more complex reasons than just "I can't match pitch."

Social Media

Recently, two negative things have happened to friends of mine on Facebook... GOOD friends of mine; IRL (In Real Life) Friends. These events make me question if staying on Social Media is worth it. Again. I question myself. Again. Bring out the Pro-Con List. Again. 

What kind of negative things, you ask? Well, this quote sums it up quite well.

 

To have a presence as a Real Estate Agent is one thing, but a professional page is much different than a personal page. And I have threatened to delete/deactivate my Facebook presence at least twice before. 

I bought the book "Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now" by Jaron Lanier because I watched the documentary on Netflix last year, "The Social Dilemma" and I've mentioned it here before, but I believe that it is worth mentioning again ~ it's an eye-opening watch.

Now I really intend to read the book.

I've downloaded my Facebook Page twice previously - so I have my history, if you will. Messenger is a separate thing, so in theory I could keep that going, at least for a little while, in order to "catch" the friends who are only on FB once in awhile.

That said, as I'm obtaining more birthday candles every year, I realize that there isn't enough time to really *be* as good a friend as I would like to be. The phrase "a mile wide and an inch deep" comes to mind... 

Speaking of deeper friendships. I've tragically and unexpectedly lost another great friend in a car accident about a month ago - an accident from which he should have awoken. Dan and I sang together in high school in the Advanced Mixed Chorus as well as the 'elite' smaller group, Ensemble (aka 'The Sounds of Santa Rita'). He walked up to me in the hallway outside of the chorus room the first day of school our sophomore year and showed me a newspaper clipping and said, "my dad died." And that was my introduction to Dan. How we met. He was there, a fixture in my life from then up until I got married and moved away for 5-1/2 years. 

When I returned home, we were still friends, but it was different. Pre-Scotland, people who know, hinted to me that he "liked me" as more than a friend, but I had never felt that way about him... though I did consider it at one point... but realized it had always been and would always be, at least for me, a brother/sister love I had for him. 

My memories of Dan are so very many... I can't sum him up, or my memories in this post, which has, somehow, meandered into sharing this profound loss not just for me personally, but his incredible family and our community. For Dan was the definition of "Community-Minded" or "Community-Focused." He worked as the Community Outreach Director first for Casa de los Ninos and then later for The Southern Arizona Children's Advocacy Center. 

But... going back to the point - I've lost 2 incredible people that were significant to me and impactful to my life (helping me become who I am today) and I didn't know them or meet them because of Social Media. Neither of them put much time or thought into those platforms, come to think of it.

With such big changes happening in my life, I'm thinking I don't need to have 1.7K friends. Or 90 followers. My dad once asked if I actually knew all those people... and that was a number of years ago when I was only at the under 1,000 friends mark, I think. I actually now have a Facebook Group in my friends list that I named "People I Don't Actually Know IRL" lol! They are people who were (or are) part of my former singing organization, which I don't care much about anymore as an organization... or other Real Estate Agents that are in my local community, or part of the network from the RE Coaching Company to which I belong.

I've started unfriending people when their birthdays come up if I have no idea who they are, how I know them, or how we became FB Friends. I'm thinking if I don't know who they are, they are not likely to know who I am, either. I figure if I continue doing this, then in a year's time my friends list will be significantly reduced. A good thing.

I have another friend, a person I've known since my middle 20s, who is only friends with 70 people on FB. She goes through and regularly 'culls' her friends list, and I know this because I've friend-requested her at least 3 times previously...We're friends, then we're not friends. We're friends, then we're not friends. We're friends... lol, you get the idea. This last time when I friend-requested her I actually asked her how this is happening... was she culling her friends? She's another person who has significantly impacted my life (and I believe I was there for her a few times in her life, too), and watching her family through events and photos via FB is a privilege.

But then, there's the couple of people whom I've only met in person once, became Facebook Friends with and wished that he or she and I could actually pursue a connection. A person whom I believe to be a person of character, integrity, humor and significance that I wish were in my circle, or that I would be in theirs. This is only a handful of people, but I wish that these few were more "inch wide and mile deep" friends. 

I've wandered around a little in this post. Social Media. There's good. There's bad. There's in-between. I am an addict, I know - where will I spend hours of lost time if I'm not scrolling? 

I'm thinking of having my own website, my own domain. Where I can share ('cuz I love to share funny, useful, weird and interesting stuff) anytime, anything I want. I want to ensure that those who want to find me will be able to find me, however... so - should I first set up that domain...? OR just share this blog site link as a "space to watch" for future developments. Hmmmm.....

Creating a Day Worth Living - Canva Creation.

I took someone else's creation that had 11 things to do toward "Creating a Day Worthing Living," then added a few of my own to make it personal for me. I created it in Canva and had some posters printed. I plan to put 4 in and around my house so I can remind myself more than once a day that there's still a lot of fun to be done! I also plan to give some away.

I've already determined 2 folks to give them to ... I'm just waiting on the mailers to arrive. Let me know if you'd like to be included (maximum 3 people)... if there's more, then I'll share the creation via a Canva link and you can order your own :-)

 

My Voice

I've been thinking a lot about My Voice. My voice used to mean my singing voice. I am a Mezzo-Soprano in the classical singing world; a Lead/Baritone in the Barbershop a cappella world. 

Like so many of us, my whole world is shifting. I have quit my affiliation/membership with Sweet Adelines International, a women's Barbershop organization with which I began singing with in 1991, fresh out of college. And my quartet has broken up after 11 years. Those stories are for a different day, but suffice to say that after 30+ years of singing barbershop, and now I am not - well, it has left a huge gap in my life. 

 My Voice isn't my singing voice so much anymore.

Once I joined Sweet Adelines, the Chorus & Quartet were, for the most part, priority number 1 in my life. Singing excellent Barbershop a cappella takes a lot (A LOT) of time, thought, preparation, planning - lol, not to mention practice. I started grieving the loss of leaving my tribe of like-minded, passionate-about-this-art-form women and friends in 2021, so my feelings of loss are managed - but Who Am I without all of *THAT*?!

I say all that to say now... I've got time to focus on something I really want, but it feels so incredibly loose and wide open that I'm not taking steps toward what I really want! I feel like I'm just kinda floating along in all this 'free time' - enjoying the luxury of no deadlines, no obligations.

 

So if My Voice is not my singing voice for awhile; at least, not for now... then I need to find my Writing Voice. I want to pursue writing. 

 

So... what is my Writing Voice? Just how do I find it? What do I write about? What do I care about? What am I passionate about? What do I have to say? What can I write about that will allow me to be financially independent? Or, to put it another way; what will I write about that someone else wants to read and for which I will be compensated?

* * *

I'm going to be doing a real estate course called "100 Days to Greatness" and it starts 8/24. So I've been mulling around the whole "100 Days" theme:

• 100 Days of Blog Writing Every Day
• 100 Days of no spending (lol, no Amazon!)
• 100 Days of Reading for pleasure again
• 100 Days of commitment to Whole Food, Plant Based No Oil eating
• 100 Days of learning to cook delicious (and new) vegan recipes
  
• 100 Days of No Processed Food (another way of saying the above, sort of)
• 100 Days of Journaling

There's so much I'm interested in... Focus is a discipline of which I have often fallen short in the past. And yet, I can lose myself in projects. I can "super-focus" and time falls away. I love when that happens!

 

* * * 

What do I want my life to look like in a year?

This was the answer given to me when I asked the question, "Where do I start?"

I would like to be able to financially support myself from anywhere. Ideally, from my truck and trailer rig that might be parked at the White River campground at Mount Ranier National Park in Washington, for instance; that I can hang out in the summer for about 3 weeks or more... writing, reading and enjoying the cool weather. 

I would like to be able to play my guitar and ukulele, cook healthy meals in my Instapot, drink delicious herbal tea and meet other travelers. Perhaps I can even perform a little at some of the RV Parks around the country.

 

I would like to make learning tracks for those who still sing Barbershop, lots of talented musicians don't read music and having a track to teach you the song and your part is helpful. It keeps my "voice in the game" and since I love learning, I'll always be learning a new song!

 

I see myself with a little four-footed furry companion or two, canine preferred since I am allergic to cats :(.

I see myself on my own, but seeing friends and family along my journey. I see myself blogging my adventures - Instagram and maybe even a YouTube channel as well.

* * *

Let's start with blogging, I think. To write every day, starting with a goal of writing every day for 100 days, building the habit and the discipline of writing even when I don't "feel like it." Of writing even when I have nothing to say. Writing about people, places and experiences that have impacted me and what I have learned or gained from these things?

New Mug ~ Smiling Me

Using my phone to write this post... to share my new mug (rather than sharing to FB "by default). The phone isn't my first choice, but, hey, I'm sharing!

I bought myself this mug a couple months ago, and it makes me smile 😊. As I'm de-cluttering my life, it means I will be getting rid of a few mugs. 

Himself has 2, sometimes 3 mugs he uses regularly. I have 3, sometimes 4 that I have in rotation.  Then there are the "good" mugs,  the Rennie Mackintosh designs that are for special occasions, and the "fun" mugs... the Darth Vader mug I gave himself for Christmas a few years ago, and the mugs we bought in Hawaii in 2013...*rarely* used here!

There are only 2 of us living in this house! When we have people over, it's rarely enough folks that we have to resort to styrofoam... imo we should have 6 spares. Six extra mugs for when we have Burns Nights or Guy Fawkes Bonfire Nights. 

How many spare mugs do you have?

 

Quote on Contentment

 This is my thought for today.

“You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.”
― Charles Spurgeon

 

 

The Hike

 

I understand the meme. A patient seeker will be satisfied in due time; patience is a virtue. Nothing worth waiting for happens fast. All (good) things come to those who/that wait. The reward comes after the struggle. When we are persistent and patient (and consistent) we will be rewarded and achieve our goal(s). When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

But what happens when we hike a difficult road, only to find ourselves back at the same point from where we started?

For me, destination is 'somewhere new.' 

Merriam-Webster has this to say about destination ~

    :the purpose for which something is predetermined or destined

    :an act of appointing, setting aside for a purpose, or predetermining

    :a place to which one is journeying or to which something is sent

    :a place worthy of travel or an extended visit

* * *

I have a Girl Scout Camp memory of an All Day Hike.

It's important to know... I don't like Hiking. Detest Hill Walking (as it's called by some in Scotland). Loathe. Despise. You get the picture.

At least, I hated Girl Scout hikes for the most part - maybe that's a subject for another rambling rant of a post... for this post, let's just suffice to say how much I abhor Hiking ALL DAY LONG and ending up where I started. 

EXACTLY

THE 

SAME

PLACE

FROM

WHICH

WE

STARTED!

I had two different Girl Scout Camp experiences - Hidden Falls and Skylark. I think the Hiking I hated was at Skylark. One good memory, I think the only good memory from that camp experience is that I received mail (one of the lucky ones) from Nana, my paternal grandmother who died when I was 8. The other memories of that time are miserable.

This was an extremely traumatic week (?) or couple of weeks for me.

The Hike that I appreciated was hiking to the beach, spending the night there (campfire and sand in our food, the whole nine yards) then hiking back to our camp... where we had tents with wooden floors, and squeaky springs in the beds to hold our sleeping bags up off the ground.

The Hike that I was disgusted with was the hike where we started out, walked ALL FREAKING DAY and ended up RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED. What was the point? The journey? okay. Nature. fine. But I don't remember anything significant on that hike except that we didn't GO anywhere - we didn't arrive somewhere new. We just walked in a big circle and there was no reward but the wasted time of walking around for itself.

Inefficient. Wasted Energy. It was the kind of hike where it was difficult in spots, scary for me... climbing up steep paths and trying not to fall as you make your way down slippery rocks and pebbles. I had no friends before I went - I just was "sent off to camp" by myself. 

I remember being dropped off in the morning, the bus and that there was one girl I knew, Stephanie, who was a brat, who was also going. I don't seem to remember where I knew her from... but she had some Cheetos and when she offered me one, and I said yes, she threw it on the ground and said, 'there it is' - or something like that. I don't remember if I picked it up and ate it, or just left it there. Knowing me, I probably picked it up and ate it. We ended up being in the same tent and it was a pretty long hike to the latrine/outhouse - treacherous at night and you needed your flashlight. There was some trauma associated with that, too.

I'm kinda smirking-laughing at myself because we do this to ourselves - in life. I fail to learn, grasp a new concept, change my habit or thinking and end up at exactly the same place. Huh. Maybe this early life experience was meant to show me something along these lines.

* * *

Girl Scout Camp... those hazy memories aren't great. My experience at Hidden Falls was slightly better. I was older, I'd been to camp before, I met a friend. But it was still rough.

*This post was started in April 0f 2018. I'm publishing it today, 6/22/2022. I still hate hiking.