Before You Leap

I love books that motivate and lift the spirit. I recently read a wonderful book written by Kermit the Frog. Yes, as in the cute green frog from the Muppets. It is called Before You Leap A Frog's Eye View of Life's Greatest Lessons. When I started reading it I was feeling pretty down. After the first couple pages my spirits were lifted and I found myself smiling and laughing. I had originally gone to the bookstore looking for a book for work and just happened to see this book. I have always enjoyed the Muppets and reading a book by Kermit sounded fun so I picked it up. Complete impulse buy! It was not a coincidence that I picked that book up. I needed to read it. Not only did it lift my spirits but I actually learned a few lessons. There are two quotes in the book that really hit me at the time and I share them with you now.

Always be happy.

When people are in a bad mood, the last thing they want to do is hang around with happy people.

Life is great.

But without bad times, we wouldn't know the difference.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Hope everyone wore green today!

May your blessings outnumber the

shamrocks that grow,

And may trouble avoid you wherever you go.

-Irish Blessing

My Favorite Place

I love Disneyland! To me it really is the happiest place on earth. It a place where I can be a kid again. When I walk through the gates all my worries are left behind. Lately that is something I wish I could do. It has been a tough couple of weeks and I really need a trip to Disneyland. I wish I could just pack my bags and drive to California and visit my favorite place. I just feel refreshed and renewed when I have been to Disneyland. I have been so many times that I don't even need to plan anymore. I know the hotels I like to stay at and I know where everything is in the park. I know which shows to attend and at what time. I know how to avoid the crowds. I know the little Disney secrets and where to find many of the Hidden Mickey's. Yet there are still things I have never done in Disneyland so there is always something new and something to look forward too. This past year my sister and I took a trip to Disneyland just the two of us and we experienced several new things that I have never done with my family. We had the opportunity to tour the apartment that was originally going to be built for Walt Disney himself. It is in New Orleans Square above Pirates of the Caribbean. They were getting ready to start remodeling and finishing it for this year's Year of a Million Dreams Dream Suite Stay and it was open to explore. We went out on the balcony that overlooks Tom Sawyer Island, Frontierland and New Orleans Square. I stood there and imagined that Walt Disney had once stood where I stood and viewed his park. It was a pretty special moment for me. I will never forget it. The picture is of me on that balcony.

I have tried to visit Disneyland every year. Last year I managed to visit two Disney parks, Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida. It is my dream to one day visit all the Disney parks throughout the world. Not in the same year of course. The past two years have been the Year(s) of Million Dreams at Disney and when we were in Walt Disney World last January we were the recipients of a dream. We won Dream Fast Passes at Epcot. It was so much fun actually win one of the dreams. Even though we didn't need to use our Dream Fast Pass as it was not crowded, it was pretty cool to win it.

This year I turn 35 and the only gift I want is to spend my birthday in my favorite place. I am going on the Ultimate Disneyland Trip and I am going to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. It has been a dream of mine for years. People keep saying "if you are going to do the Ultimate Disneyland trip why don't you stay at the Grand Californian hotel". I have had the opportunity to stay at that hotel and it is by far the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in but to me the Disneyland hotel is the ultimate because it is full of the nostalgia of Disneyland. It is the hotel of Disneyland to me and I have dreamed of staying there since my second trip to Disneyland when I was seven. I was only 18 months old on my first trip so I don't remember much but I remember walking past the Disneyland hotel when I was seven and I thought it was so amazing. So that is my dream for this year.

Make Your Feet Your Friend-J.M. Barrie

I am walking to Lava Hot Springs. It is 161 miles to Lava from my office. That is a long walk. Okay, so I am not literally walking to Lava Hot Springs. It is actually a challenge for work. We started at the beginning of the month. We have to log all the miles we walk and turn in our log once we have completed the goal. I have walked 17 miles so far. If we walk the full 161 miles (I think it may actually only be 150 for the challenge) we are entered into a contest to win a fun weekend at Lava Hot Springs. I am determined to win. The race is on. I have a schedule all figured out. We have until July but with my schedule I should reach 161 miles by the first part of May. It is easier to walk when you have a goal in mind. Even if I don't win the trip to Lava I will be getting in shape and that is something I really need to do.

I never thought I would enjoy walking. Today I found myself anxious to get home so I could do my walking. It has become a time when I can just set aside all thoughts of the day and just enjoy the scenery if I am walking outside or enjoy a movie, television show or music if I am walking on my treadmill. I don't have to think about anything. It has become a time to relax from the stresses of my busy days. It has become something more than exercise to me. It has become a special time for me and I look forward to it more and more everyday.

Imagination

I have the cutest nephew ever. He is almost 4 years old. He came over to our house last night for a spontaneous pizza party. His parents took the opportunity to run a few errands. He wanted to play Star Wars so we pulled out all the old vehicles and people. He was so excited. I watched his little sister, who is almost one, while he played with grandma and grandpa. He came over to me at one point with two of the storm troopers. "Lisa, what are their names." I just looked at him and said the first thing that came to my head, a quote from one of the movies. "Roger, roger" He laughed and said, "Okay, his name is Roger and this guy is Darge." I think he meant Sarge, one of the cars in his favorite movie "Cars" but decided to change one letter. He smiled and went back to playing. I overheard him telling my Dad (grandpa) which people he got to be and which vehicles he got to use. A few minutes later an X-Wing fighter was flying over our heads. He was narrating the flight with scenes he remembered from the movie. He put the X-Wing fighter down next to me and I noticed there wasn't a guy in the pilot seat. He looked up at me and said, "I am pretending that the vehicles can fly and talk all by themselves." What an imagination. After about ten minutes I switched places with my mom. I got to be Princess Leia because "only girls can play girls". We acted out the rescue scene and a few other made up scenes. Princess Leia was climbing cliffs at one point being chased by "all the robots". I grabbed my laptop and loaded the Star Wars soundtrack and he had a great time figuring out the scenes that went along with the music. We had a great time. Star Wars really came to life in our living room last night. Roger, Darge, the robots, Princess Leia, three different Han Solos and the vehicles who could talk and fly by themselves. I miss those days when everything was real even if it was "just pretend."

Too Much Information

Have you ever wished you could just open your mind and clean out files you never use so you have more space for the information you really need? That is how I am feeling lately. I have too much information that I need to retain and not enough room in my brain to store it. At least that is how it feels. It reminds me of a fun Disney cartoon, Donald in Mathemagic Land. They go into his mind where it is a mess. Some of the file cabinets in Donald's mind are Aniquated Ideas, Bungling, False Concepts, Superstition, Confusion. The narrator goes in and cleans house so he can work with a clean slate and so Donald can think straight. I need to do a clean sweep of my mind today. This morning I found myself sitting at my desk trying to remember what I was just working on. Two hours later I walked down the hall to my boss's office to tell her something and the minute I walked through the door I forgot what I was going to tell her. However, I suddenly remembered what I was working on at my desk hours ago. It is so frustrating. I just stood in the doorway trying desperately to remember why I came down the hall because I didn't want to have to make the long trek back. After 5 minutes of mental confusion I gave up and walked back to my desk. The minute I sat down in my chair I remembered what I needed to tell my boss. I must be opening all the file drawers in my file cabinet and causing it to fall over and knock information out of my mind temporarily.

My mind is so bogged down with information that I am amazed I don't have words and letters floating out of my ears and surrounding my head. I am going through training at work right now. We have moved to a new computer system and because of my position I have to learn everything I can about this computer system to help train employees and troubleshoot issues. It is a lot of information to store in an already overused brain. I have so many different file cabinets and most of those have exploded or are too full that you can't put one more sheet of paper in them. It is time to clean house. But where do I start. For now, I guess I will just put all the papers away and buy a new file cabinet because it hurts to think.

Dreams

"Dreams are how we figure out where we want to go.

Life is how we get there."