Another Vacation

Forget Christmas: The launch of vacation season has to be the most wonderful time of the year. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, millions of us will be taking advantage of the warm temps to indulge in some much needed R&R. Exciting! Except for the fact that most of us come back from a trip feeling like we need another vacation.  

Head to the beach. 

When trying to decide whether you should spend your week in the city, country, or at the coast—opt for the shore. According to a recent study from the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, people who went to the water’s edge for a holiday reported more enjoyment, serenity, and refreshment than people who spent time in an urban setting or wilderness. 

Stash the smartphone. 

For a vacation to be rejuvenating, you need to be completely present in the moment. “That means put away your phones, your iPads, and laptops,” You need to be on vacation in both body and spirit to reap the benefits of being somewhere else—and your pinging Blackberry doesn’t exactly help with that. “If you’re distracted on vacation, it’s not worth it".

Step outside your comfort zone. 

Sure, lounging on the beach all day with a strawberry daiquiri in your hand is a restful way to spend your afternoon—just don’t spend all your afternoons like that. Your physical and mental well-being will gain a lot more from an out-of-the-box activity, Plan activities that offer novelty and variety, like taking a surfing lesson or venturing off the resort for a local meal. 

Go out with a bang. 

While you may be tempted to jump into every single activity as soon as you land, consider holding something back. Psychologists say there’s something called the "peak-end rule," which means we remember an experience by its peak—and how it ends. In other words, save the best activity for last to have even happier vacation memories. 

Good Morning Baltimore I'm Back

I woke up way to early and ready to meet my day, so I am having coffee without the glorious Sunrise

that has met me the last 9 days with all of it's splendor and beauty. I find myself in Andrea's guestroom 

again only this time I feel better about moving on and into my new place. It is not the townhouse I looked 

at originally, but much better a friend helped me find it and it is safe and in my price range.. 

Although it has been a while since I slept in my very own bed alone I am very much looking forward to it. 

Blake and I have have salvaged as much of our relationship as we possibly can and are moving on in very

different directions at this time to explore different avenues in our lives as friends only. I find it important  

remain friends with those who we shared our lives with

I am ready to return to work, I admit I needed and desired to be off work for a while because I felt so

burned out. I had originally wanted to pay it forward and going to Kenya, but I listened to others 

instead of my heart but when it all comes down to it I am the only one to blame. It did not help when

I opened my email and this pic from a friend greeted me. Way to go Abby.

I am going to go for my run and come back and start my day. Smile today .. :)

My Love

"My love is not a joke but it is all what drives my creativity towards the achievement of 

my dearest goal of having one & only one true friend in my life."

I had closed the door upon my heart
and wouldn't let anyone in
I had trusted and loved only to be hurt
but that would never happen again
I locked the door and
tossed the key as
hard and as far as I could
My heart was closed for good

Then you came into my life and
made me change my mind
just when I thought that
tiny key was impossible to find
that is when you held out your hand
and proved me wrong
inside your palm was the
Key to My Heart
You had it all along

When Reality Comes Full Force & Slaps Your Face

Have you ever thought you knew how your life would turn out and it turned out the total opposite

than how you imagined? Things you thought true was anything but? Yet, you are forced to go on 

with life the way it seems and how it is dictated to you?  When people we think care for us find 

it there main goal in life to mess up yours. 

I will not sit here and act as if I am incompetent and nothing was at all my fault, but I put trust in

people I thought loved and cared about me. I was very sick some years back and trusted my friends

and family with details and passwords for the sole purpose of keeping up with friends and being a 

firm believer in prayer I would ask for prayer. I was so afraid, but to all who know me I would

never show fear. I always said, Everything is going to be fine, but underneath I was afraid, alone and

without the one person I asked for.

 Looking back now I realize I made it and there was nothing to fear, yet I felt deserted. 

Looking back now I am saddened at what might had been. But, through my determination to show 

this person I would survive with or without him in my life I made a full recovery. 

I just feel better knowing the truth and once again completely trusting in someone I thought

I never would again. I have always known this to be a good and true person yet let down 

by the fact that I then thought them to be very shallow. 

I began to believe as long as we are perfect we have nothing to worry about, but let us need

help or care and we are someone else's problem. 

I have picked up the pieces and moved on in life, but nothing ever comes easy for me

and I am constantly plagued what if's? My short relationships are to my fault as always

having to be the dumper rather than the dumpie. 

I know this knowledge changes nothing but does give me the peace of mind that things

were not as they seemed and the person was willing to help me at that time. Yet, life

has a way of moving on with ya or without ya. I am so happy for this person and

so happy that they never meant to hurt me. 

Beautiful Days

I am blessed to be here and have this time to reflect on my future. The days are

bright sunny and this is as close as I have been to paradise. Saint Pete Beach 

is pronominal with a beautiful clear blue ocean, and the bluest skies I ever saw.

I wake up each morning waiting for the sun to rise while drinking coffee and I start

to write my blog for the day. I find that writing has given me a outlet to put things out 

there I normally wouldn't say  to anyone. I think a lot about the past, but I cannot 

dwell there but must live in the present. I have so much to be thankful for in life 

a career that I love and a great family outlet to lean on, two wonderful Godmothers

and many friends and colleagues I adore. 

I see life as beautiful no matter what clouds may appear I must find my sunshine 

and rainbows to carry on with my beautiful life. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

and I can find mine in a sunrise, sunset, flower, butterfly, hummingbird,the sun upon

my face, the wind in my hair, a baby's cry, a child's giggle, the roar of Harley, skydiving,

 snorkeling, sitting on a beach with my feet in the water and sand in my bottom or driving my 

bike on a mountain road. I know it seems as though I do a lot, yet I am only living life and

living it to it's fullest. I don't want to grow-up I like being a big kid. A kid that makes fishy faces 

and watches Disney movies and children love me. 

I love life and I have an amazing one, but only due to my and God's making. He can

mold me into what  I need to be cause he's still working on me....

Amazed

I am truly amazed that without speaking a word a friend can know exactly what I am thinking 

from a 1000 miles away. Most men do not get what a woman thinks or feels standing in the same 

room with her and her shaking her finger in his face. I am simply blown away at how a subtle hint

coming out of left field could find it's way to the right person and there be a complete understanding 

on there part. I know nothing will ever come of it because it was never meant to be, but this does give 

me hope that someone that cares is truly listening to my plea, and that someone truly understands me.

  

                                                    

                                  

Tragedy Strikes 2ND Amendment Rights In Cross Hairs

                                                                               

When I first learned of the shooting in Aurora  Colorado, I was appalled that yet another tragic

event by a mad man was to be remembered in American history. I first prayed for the families of

the deceased, their families and for the recovery of the wounded. Yet, right away I remembered 

election year + fatal shootings = 2nd Amendment rights coming under fire.

As I always say guns don't kill people, people kill people. As long as there is a sick demented 

mind there will be chaos and destruction with or without a gun.  

  

James Holmes, 24, is seen in this undated handout picture released by The University of Colorado on July 20, 2012.

On Friday at 12:30 am, at the midnight premiere of the newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, at a Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, a shooter set off a smoke bomb and opened fire, wounding 50 people and killing 12. It wasn’t twelve hours before the issue of gun control was raised; even the shooter’s suspected identity, 24-year old California native and University of Colorado PhD student James Holmes, had not been released at the time.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on November’s presidential candidates to detail their stances on gun control, operating off the assumption that guns were the problem, and the reason for the shooting. “And this is a real problem. No matter where you stand on the Second Amendment, no matter where you stand on guns, we have a right to hear from both of them concretely, not just in generalities - specifically what are they going to do about guns?”

Others pointed to the fact that the shooter owned an assault rifle as one of the four guns he owned, raising questions of what type of weapons should be legal for a person to possess. They question whether it serves any positive purpose to keep such weapons legal.

The neglected fact when addressing gun control issues in the wake of a tragedy, however, is that there are two ways to achieve the equality of power which could have prevented such a tragedy. The discussed solution is to remove all potentially dangerous power in the form of gun (and later, in some places, knife) control. The UK, for instance, has had severe gun control laws in place since a 1996 school shooting in Scotland prompted the legislation’s passing. This did not, however, stop a shooter in 2010 from killing twelve people before taking his own life, a rampage which neither civilians nor police were able to stop.

The other option, however, is for everyone to have more power to protect themselves, through encouraging rather than discouraging people who would use guns as positive tools from obtaining them. When one person with harmful intentions has a gun, it becomes a tragedy, but, as a 2007 Colorado church shooting  showed, when another armed person is prepared to stop them, such situations can be averted or severely lessened. The reverse of this situation is the 2010 Ft. Hood shooting, in which 13 highly trained military personnel were gunned down in a situation in which their being armed was forbidden.

Guns make the news when they are the tool of a tragedy, but not when they avoid it, because an avoided tragedy is rarely news. Even discounting immediate and ridiculous finger pointing, the politicization of tragedies such as the Aurora theater massacre does not lead to as nuanced an understanding of issues as is needed to form an informed opinion on them.