It's been a while since I was sleepless at 4am. Something about the time change slash everything else that's going on in my life.

You know, I keep telling myself that I am really doing too much, but the more stuff I get rid of, the more stuff I pile on. I like to do. I'm convinced that I'm doing so much to make up for.... something. But that's me thinking too much.

Sometimes I enjoy the discontentment. It's not the whiney, bitchy kind, but the hate-the-world blahs that make me feel like a artist dressed in all black. I look at zee world and see zee lab rats running zee endless circle of life. It's kind of fun. Definitely a break from the smiley mask I most often don.

I took this picture for day 18 (!) for the 365 days project. Just one more thing that I've signed up to do. The thing is, with all the stuff I do? I really enjoy! Now if I could just quit working and "do" all the time.

Many thanks to Jimbo for this week's theme!

1. On the highway are you a passer or the one being passed?


2. Overall are you an aggressive driver or a passive one?


3. What's your biggest driving pet peeve?


4. Do you enjoy long road trips?


5. When was your last one?


6. Where are you driving to this weekend?

Janet came over on Friday and whooped my ass on Sequence. Mmmm. mushroom pizza.

Saturday I shopped for the party and then cleaned for a really, really, really long time. Then we finally put pictures up on the walls (nothing like company to make you get your act together), and Jimbo even cleaned his room.

The party was tons of fun. I've got some pictures but they'll have to wait for tomorrow. I gots lots of good stuffs ;)

Today I slept in, quickly got over the nice hangover, then raked all day long with Jimbo. I really enjoyed it. It was nice to clean up the yard and make it look nice. I still keep looking at it and saying, "Jimbo! This is OUR house!"

I got a tick bite on my back that I'm watching and a plastic bag full of pine cones for a yet to be determined craft project.

I did a lot of strenuous work this weekend and I've been pretty good about staying on points, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Now I must sleep. Ughhhh tiiiiiiiired.

I did my part. It was nice to be able to walk to the polls from our new place. Of course I messed up my ballot and this caused much bally-who and ended with a condescenting old man saying, "you're not from here, are you?" It was a VERY stressful day and we all have Jimbo to thank for keeping me from opening up a can of whoop-ass.

Speaking of which, I'm pulling my hair out doing way too much, not enjoying any of it right about now. Poor Jimbo had to come home to me bawling because I have a zillion things on my plate and I can't seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Since meeting Jimbo i've been much better about using the "N" word, but I think I'm going to have to use it a heck of a lot more if I don't want to end up in the padded room.

From Jan

You are The Sun

Happiness, Content, Joy.

The meanings for the Sun are fairly simple and consistent.

Young, healthy, new, fresh. The brain is working, things that were muddled come clear, everything falls into place, and everything seems to go your way.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon's Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

You Are 68% Democrat

You have a good deal of donkey running through your blood, and you're proud to be liberal.
You don't fit every Democrat stereotype, but you definitely belong in the Democrat party.

I didn't even bother to take the republican test, I didn't check a single box and I suspect that means I'm zero% republican, especially since Janey was 48% dem and I'm like 68%. Like my mom would say, bleeding heart liberal. I don't think bleeding heart is the right choice of words - I just care about people.

I believe...

• in free national healthcare because we ALL deserve the same quality of health care no matter how many bills we have in our wallet.
• we have an obligation to help the poor in our country. I believe that teachers are underpaid and that we should spend more money on education and less money on a war in which we should not be part.
• I believe that the rich are getting richer, the poorer are getting poorer and the middle class is also getting poorer.
• I believe that corporations in America have too much power over our legislation because of the almighty dollar.
• I believe that the government is way too corrupt, that the president is a cocky and arrogant who doesn't seem to have the common sense to even pretend like he cares about the people in this country.

I will also say, in fairness, that I don't believe that the democrats are much better than the republicans. I think that all politicians have a hidden agenda, and not necessarily America's best interests at heart.

I do think that democratic control of the house and senate is just what the country needs right now. Perhaps it might have been better to have a little more balance of power, to keep them dems from feeling a little too cocky. But I am confident that Americans voted their conscience and that they knew that change was needed.

I just hope that things get better and not worse and that we all work together to bring good things to all of the people of this country.

Many thanks to Janet for doing the fill-ins!

1. Do you have any plants? I have a few at work and then we have a bunch of plants in the yard. We don't keep plants in the house because of the cats.
2. Do you like any of the Starbucks holiday lattes - Pumpkin Spice, Gingerbread latte, Mint Mocha, etc?
   All of the above, but I hold a special place in my heart for the Peppermint Mocha.
3. What magazines do you subscribe to?
   InStyle
   Mary Engelbrieght's Home Companion
   Real Simple
   Cooking Light
   Just subscribed to Martha Steward Living and Entreprenuer. I got great deals on eBay!
4. If you could grant one person one wish this upcoming holiday season what would it be and why...
   Love for those who are lacking.
5. If you had a magic wand what would be the first thing you'd use it on?
   my closet.
6. What are you looking forward to most this weekend?
   I was looking forward to going away with Jimbo! It was a blast!

Day 31
This is me getting ready for my interview with the Lowell Sun . They're doing an article about me and my shopping site A Girl Must Shop. Yeah, you think I'm all so non-chalant about it but really I'm jumping out of my skin. First person I called - Jan. Got the vm. Then I called me mum.

Bwaaaaaaaaa!!!! Pizza and a beverage are now in store for me!

It all began with blogher. I was so inspired by all the successful bloggers and thought, "I can do that!" And I believe I just proved to the world that I could do that, and really well, too!

You know, I was telling Janet the other night that I had no idea that I'd ever end up here. I was telling my mom the same thing tonight. When I ever thought about how far I'd come and what I was capable of, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think it was this. Boy was I wrong. I am in love with this lesson I've learned:

That you can do so much more than you think you're capable of. Let that sink in and then move on. Got a dream? Go for it! You can do it!

So getting back to blogher, I met so many wonderful, inspiring, intelligent women with some amazing ideas that inspired me to take that inspiration and create. Driving into work one morning, I was thinking about the different types of blogs that I could create and I stumbled upon the idea of a shopping blog. I love shopping blogs and had collected a handful of them in my feedreader and just couldn't get enough of them. I especially love mighty goods and outblush the former which was the actual inspiration for my shopping site, A Girl Must Shop. I just hope that the author (who I was thrilled to meet at blogher) believes that imitation is the highest form of flattery.

I immediately fell in love with A Girl Must Shop and had just so much fun with it. I soon gathered a number of regular contributors (including Janet and Krista [by the way, I'm always looking for contributors!]), I was gaining a loyal readership, and companies started sending me samples. I was doing pretty good when I approached a client about swapping some design assistance for a PR plan that I launched late last week.

The first little nugget (BIG nugget) of PR came in the form of an article in the local paper. They emailed Wednesday afternoon, showed up that evening, had an interview, took some pictures and by Friday, I was on the front page. Wow. It's been a great week!

Not only that, but I had my review at work on Thursday which included lots of good things all of which I won't go into here due to the 11th commandment - Thou shalt no blog about work.

So without further ado, here's the article.

Dude, I'm on the FRONT page!

This is the feature on the Lifestyle/Arts section. it takes up nearly the entire page!

Possibly the worst picture of me ever taken.

Guess how many copies I bought?

'Twas a lovely weekend. Friday night was quiet. Me, my laptop, a half bottle of Veuve Cliquot, and fudge. Goodness.

Saturday Jimbo and I headed up to Nashua where we hit The Peddlers Daughter up in Nashua, then The Handbag Boutique where Jimbo bought me an adorable purse in celebration of my first newspaper feature. He then promised to take me to Paris when I end up on The Today Show. I should get my passport, then, shouldn't I?

We stopped for a bit at B&N then off to dinner at Kristen & John's where we ate the best Carvel cake ever made and talked raunch over a game of hot damn.

I met up with Kristen again on Sunday for lunch at Panera and a co-therapizing session at B&N (again) then Jimbo and I hit his bro's house for his other bro's birthday. Mmm. cake.

So it's been like that. Oh, and the UMass Lowell Sunrise Radio Program has invited me to be a guest on their show next Monday. Eeeeek!

Gratitude has been an important part of my life since my friend suggested the book Simple Abundance which focuses on gratitude as one of its core principles. The book inspired me to create a gratitude journal.

A gratitude journal is a book where you write down the things that you are grateful for. The books suggests that you go out and buy yourself a blank journal (buy one that you LOVE) and some fancy pens and put it next to your bed and at night, right before you go to bed, write down in this lovely journal all the things that you are grateful for.

It can be anything, big or small. For example, many days write down big things like my health, my family, and Jimbo, as well as small things like the comfort of my bed or something simple that made me smile.

The book tells us that we will "simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you." It's totally true. I wasn't always grateful for what I have and have been given, but I have found that since I focus more on the good in my life, I have more faith that good things will continue to happen and then do.

As the months pass and you fill your journal with blessings, an inner shift in your reality will occur. Soon you will be delighted to discover how content and hopeful you are feeling. As you focus on the abundance rather than on the lack in your life, you will be designing a wonderful new blueprint for the future. The sense of fulfillment is gratitude at work, transforming your dreams into reality.

A French proverb reminds us that 'Gratitude is the heart's memory.' Begin this day to explore and integrate this beautiful, life-affirming principle into your life, and the miracle you have been seeking will unfold to your wonder and amazement."

This year I've had so much to be grateful for -

• The continued love and support of all my family and friends and Mr. Jimbo
• My adorable chickens, Belle and Buddy, who always meet me at the door, love to snuggle, and bring out the kid in me.
• Beginning Weight Watchers. Not only has it helped me lost a little bit of weight, it's also given me more confidence in myself and allowed me to spend more time with my mom and my sister and meet new friends. I always look forward to Wednesday nights.
• Mending a very important friendship with Janet, who means so very much to me. I think that every relationship has it's conflicts and it's when you resolve those conflicts that the relationship grows stronger than it was before. Janet and I may not be alike (sometimes completely opposite) but we just have this aura about us when we get together and everything is just so much more fun around her. She may not think so, but I do learn a lot from her and she's someone who I can count on.
• The inspiration and motivation that drove me to start web design and my new shopping blog. I sometimes underestimate myself, but I am capable of pretty darn cool things.
• Work. It has been a pretty crazy year at my day job, but I've stuck it in there and it's totally worth it. I have a great boss and the people I work with are like family. I look forward to going into work every day.
• Health. I think we tend to not appreciate this good stuff we have until it's taken away from us. Health is one of them. I'm thankful for every day that I and my loved ones are living.
• There's so much more I'm thankful for, like B&N, the comfort of my bed, the smell of my kitties heads, and ice-cold martini.... and I can go on for hours and I do!