for every monday ever.

this is a post-lift, plain & pure,
from one of my favorite blogs, simple mom.

blog-mistress & key voice tsh oxenreider
penned this one, & it's just such a
remarkable reminder, it's well worth repeating.

enjoy:

as you start this new week,
may you find a sliver of inspiration in an unexpected place —
your preschooler’s scribble on the back of your grocery list,
the first daffodil in your backyard,
a harebrained story retold by your child as you chop the onions,
a lovely shade of nail polish on sale.

may you remember to stop & really listen to
those little bits of inspiration gifted to you.
during the carpool line & the costco shopping,
may you tune in your ears & eyes just so,
so that you stop & remark on the loveliness of that yellow bell pepper.
may you find that song on the radio
that makes you want to crank up the volume,
sing along, & maybe roll down the windows.

& when things are hard this week —
& there will be hard times this week —
may you remember the good parts of your day, too,
so that you resist labeling the whole day “horrible.”
& if your day truly is a train wreck,
may you find solid sleep,
so that you can wake up again,
ready to roll up your sleeves
& start over.

every new day is a gift. remember that this week.


image source: iris @ the natural gardener, 4.13.13, by me.

secret no more.

a week ago, an infamously thick glass ceiling was shattered
with president obama's selection of veteran agent julia pierson
as director of the u.s. secret service.

pierson is the agency's 23rd director & its first woman leader.
the key responsibilities of the secret service are protecting the president,
& investigating counterfeiting & fraud.

a native of orlando, pierson was an explorer with
the boy [yes, boy] scouts of america,
in a post chartered by the orlando police department
specializing in law enforcement.

she earned her degree in criminal justice
at the university of central florida,
& became one of the first women to serve
as an opd patrol officer.

pierson joined the u.s. secret service in 1983 as a special agent
& has steadily climbed the ranks of the agency,
serving on the presidential protective details of
both presidents bush, as well as president bill clinton.

since 2008, she has served as the secret service's chief of staff &
assistant director of the office of human resources & training —
already the agency's highest-ranking woman.

president obama chose pierson as the woman for the job
following criticism that his second-term picks for high-level posts
have not been diverse enough, & criticism that the secret service's
notoriously male-dominant culture has gotten out of hand.

a year ago, the agency's reputation was sullied when
several secret-service agents took prostitutes to their hotel rooms
during preparation for the president's visit to cartagena, colombia.
in all, 13 agents & officers were caught up in the scandal.

pierson — who as a high-schooler worked at disney world
as a parking & watercraft attendant, as well as in costume
in park parades — is now tasked with turning
her agency's fratboy image around.

it's no secret that this woman — whom her colleagues call
smart, experienced & even-keeled — is up for the job.


image source: www.heavy.com.

no-foolin' gratitude.

authenticity is easy
when you're showing your light side.
your good side, your up side,
your i've-got-it-together side.

but it's not so easy to be the real deal
when your shadow side is showing.

when you're down, depressed, stressed.

when you're struggling with something, or several things,
you feel like you should be handling handily.

when you're making mistakes you've made many times,
errors that with repetition turn your embarrassment
to shame.

when your typical self is bright & happy & helpful,
& you desperately don't want to be a debbie downer.

because you don't want people to know you're failing falling.

so, in the spirit of true authenticity, i'll own it here & now:
i am. struggling. making mistakes. falling. down.

i have shadows. i am imperfect. i am human.
i err. i do it again. i am trying. & it is ok.
[& if i repeat that to myself enough times, maybe it really will be.]

so, according to amazing shame expert brené brown,
joy + gratitude are inextricably connected, & not the way we might think.
it's not joyful happenings that lead to gratitude;
it's a gratitude practice that leads to joy.

quoth dr. brown: "without exception, every person i interviewed
who described living a joyful life or who described themselves as joyful
actively practiced gratitude & attributed
their joyfulness to their gratitude practice."

so rather than listing what's wrong with my life at the moment
[a horrific habit i use to try to justify my negative mood,
but which actually serves only to worsen it],
i'm trying to practice gratitude.

[again, easy to do when things are going swell,
not so much when things are going not-as-well.]

so i've stuck a postit onto my bedside dresser & it says 'thank you.',
to remind me to say "thank you for this day & all it holds"
as soon as i open up my eyes in the morning.

& now, here's my list of gratitudes for today:

:: my talents as a writer.
:: my partnership with karen barry.
:: my new auxiliary biz as a petsitter [creature comforts pet care - austin].
:: my stable of sweet, solid clients.
:: my sweet, patient, understanding husband.
:: my dear, supportive, listening friends.
:: our terrific kids, good dogs, beautiful home & happymobile.
:: the rain.
:: the internet.
:: jazzercise, zumba & hula.
:: oprah, water & sleep.

joy will come.
hope it's soon.


image source: me!

hey, saint francis . . .

ok, so yesterday, i blogged about america's worst-paying cities for women.
today, i'm blogging about our country's healthiest cities for women.

from women's health magazine — partnering with men's health magazine —
comes their fifth annual survey of the top 100 healthiest cities nationwide,
ranked according to 41 different categories, like
nutrition, cancer rates and cost-of-living.

#1? well, it turns out if you leave your heart in san francisco,
it will likely be in great shape once you retrieve it.

& here's the rest of the top-ten best:

2. salt lake city, utah. [#1 & #2 worst-paying were utah cities]
3. san jose, california.
4. boise city, idaho.
5. burlington, vermont.
6. minneapolis, minnesota.
7. seattle, washington. [#10 worst-paying]
8. austin, texas. [holler!]
9. st. paul, minnesota.
10. portland, maine.

thrilled but not stunned my hometown, the atx, is among the healthiest;
ten texas cities are included in the top 100,
with lubbock bringing the bottom with a ranking of #67.

& the least-healthiest of the top 100? birmingham, alabama,
where southern comfort food is king ... apparently, for the queen.


image source: whatsyourbucketlist.tumblr.com.

hey, pope francis . . .

i'm not catholic [thank god].

but i love the concept of patron saints,
good guys [+ gals!] turned super-specific guardian angels,
available at a prayer's notice to help a believer out
with anything from girl scouts to lumbago.

lately, my work flow has been awfully, painfully s . l . o . w.
like, leech-like-money-bleed slow.
& candidly, i'm just about drained dry.

so, today i'm calling upon a sainted trifecta:
nicholas [patron saint of money problems];
cajetan [patron saint of job seekers]; &
john the baptist [patron saint of prosperity],
to send mama some good money-making opportunity.

& while i wait for my prayers to be answered,
i'll send up one more prayer, one of gratitude
that i don't live in one of the ten worst-paying u.s. cities for women.

for the past five years, the u.s. pay gap has remained
essentially unchanged: women earn not quite 79% of what men earn on average,
which comes out to an annual difference of about $10,000 less.

based upon a review of america's 100 most populous metro areas,
24/7 wall st. has identified the top ten worst-paying cities for women.

24/7 wall st. compared the median earnings for the past 12 months
of both men & women working full-time, year-round in the country's
100 largest metropolitan statistical areas, based on u.s. census bureau data.

& i'm seriously relieved to reveal texas has no cities in the top bottom ten.
can i get a yeehaw, y'all?!?

the winner biggest loser [spoiler alert!] was provo-orem, utah,
where being a homeschooling mom apparently pays better than professional employment.
women there earn not quite 62% of what men earn,
which calculates to just about $20k less a year.

*sigh.*

here's the rest of the list of cities not to go to for a self-value lift, ladies:

2. ogden-clearfield, utah [women earn 65 cents for each dollar men earn]
3. lancaster, pennsylvania [almost 69 cents]
4. baton rouge, louisiana [69 cents]
5. palm bay-melbourne-titusville, florida [almost 70 cents]
6. colorado springs, colorado [70.5 cents]
7. wichita, kansas [almost 72 cents]
8. bridgeport-stamford, connecticut [72 cents]
9. tulsa, oklahoma [almost 73 cents]
10. seattle-tacoma-bellevue, washington [73 cents]

& again, i'm pleasantly puzzled by the scarcity of southern states represented here.

now i'm wondering how "we" get a patron saint of women's rights named? hmmmm . . .


image source: mary's prayers @ etsy.com.

celebrate a woman.

what happens on a mama blog
when international women's day
happens during spring break . . .

we honor! we celebrate! we sing! just a dozen days later.

a pair of iwd items i must share,
both courtesy of the huffington post:

she's the reason:

a call to honor the unsung women who have helped shape us,
the ones who changed our life path in some essential way,
who made an important difference for us with their
presence, words, works, kindness or example, but might not know it.

huffpost requested readers to submit their "she's the reason"
stories via email & twitter for future publication up on the website.

but i'm going to go much more personal with mine.
this month, i will write a personal note to three such women in my life
to let them know they're the reason for something i cherish . . . & thank them for it.

wouldn't it be amazing to receive a letter like that? i think so, too.

one woman, y'all:

25 songstresses from 20 countries around the world
come together to sing a song of solidarity.
"one woman" was written for un women,
the international organization for women's rights.

it's beautiful & moving & available for download internationally:




image source: brazilian artiste bebel gilberto.

hooray, renée!

my dear friend renée trudeau
— life coach, author & balance facilitator —
has done it again.

her newly released book, nurturing the soul of your family:
10 ways to reconnect & find peace in everyday life,
clearly lights ten paths to experiencing greater ease,
flow & harmony amidst the daily navigation of
stressful commutes, homework squabbles, hurried mealtimes &
other challenges so many of us face as modern parents.

tomorrow, in conjunction with & celebration of
the first day of spring, renée is hosting a
book-release party like none other, a
"rejuvenating, joyful & connective evening of self-renewal,
storytelling, exercises & creative play"
based upon the book's themes.

here are the deets:
wednesday, march 20th, 6-9p
mercury hall @ 615 cardinal lane
austin, texas
tix will be $45 at the door

for the price of admission, participants get:
:: a two-hour self-renewal retreat led by renée;
:: wine + bevs with culinary delights by spoon & co. catering;
:: a private house concert by austin singer-songwriter tricia mitchell; &
:: an autographed copy of renée's new book.

a portion of the event's profits will go to benefit
the children in nature collaborative of austin.

for more info about the event —
which is sure to be both amazing & inspirational,
just like my dear friend renée —
click here.


image source: belief network.