30 days flew by.

It was fun to watch everyone who was playing along and it made me think that doing photo challenges would be an easy way to complete the 366 project. I started searching for some fun ones and thought… you know what the world needs? A FRIENDS themed photo project. Such a thing doesn’t exist because no one has quite the awesome brain that I do so I sent my Chandler a text with the idea and then… the Friends Photo Challenge was born.

If you think some of the days might be hard, that’s the great thing about this. Get creative. If you can connect anything to Friends, you’re pretty much doing life right.

We’ll be starting on February 1st. I hope you join us. If you are, let me know! Follow the hashtag and add your pictures to the Flickr pool and most importantly, have fun!

34 more days until Pitchers and Catchers

A few months back, I got laid off again and at that point, I had to really make some decisions. Temp work has not been kind to me. The money I was making at my last assignment was awesome and that was the only reason I was hoping they would hire me. If you’re unfamiliar with temp work, there’s usually a certain amount of time that goes by, that you have to put in, before you can be considered for hire. My time there came and went and I was still a temp. Then I got the call that my assignment had ended. Just from one day to the next.

That’s tough. And abrupt. And unstable.

So I had to decide that there would be no more temp work. No more working my ass off only to be cut off. So then what? Jobs are not falling out of the sky, in case you haven’t job hunted lately. I had to really soul search and figure out what was more important to me and my future.

I’ve chosen simplicity. I’ve decided to chase dreams. Part of that is improving not only my quality of life but also my health. While I do love money, I can do without it. Sure it means cutting back and missing out on some things but it won’t be forever.

All will be revealed in time but for now, I’ve gotten a job somewhere that is just about perfect for me: Starbucks. Holy crap, there’s a lot to learn. Making drinks makes me nervous because there are a crap ton of drink recipes and each one is made in a special way and omg I’m never going to remember them all. But I’m happy. And I’m smiling before and after and all throughout my shift. I like greeting people and taking that 30 second interaction and maybe making them smile too. I don’t mind wiping tables and sweeping the floor. I can do without cleaning the bathrooms but even that I can handle.

Oh and I get to drink all the coffee I want.

It’s going to take some time to adjust to the occasional 4AM start time but time sure does fly when you’re making coffee.

I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

in·spi·ra·tion/ˌinspəˈrāSHən/

I don’t know if you know my friend Megan, but you should. She would never admit it but she’s incredibly magical. “If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.” Life with Megan is never without flavor. There is nothing better than getting swept up in her momentum, as she goes balls to the window (or the wall, whatever your choice may be). Ask anyone who is lucky enough to know her. I’m sure you will find few protests. She IS inspiration.

Today is her birthday and it’s also the last day of 2011. I’m pretty excited about it all because I know she’s going to kick major ass in 2012 and I’m so happy to have front row tickets and maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll get to jump in as well.

Hey Megan – *whispers* Happy Birthday! I do love you so. You’re the only person I’ll let wake me up at 3am singing about your balls, I can guarantee. Thank you for seeing me and giving me the opportunity not only to be your friend but also, your employee. Our weddings are some of my best memories. Thanks for being the Chandler to my Monica. xo

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’
-Eleanor Roosevelt

It would be really easy for me to sit here and list a bunch of people I am thankful for. I could make the list longer by being thankful for all the things in my life that make me very lucky. But I don’t need to remind myself of that today because I think about it all the time.

What I would like to do is talk to you about an amazing organization called Feeding America. I know it can be hard to imagine, but there are people here in America, where we feel we have so much, that are hungry. People are unable to have the Thanksgiving feasts that we are having on this day. 1 in 6 Americans! And there are a lot of us!

Feeding America is doing a great thing and making it really easy to donate. For as little as $1.00, you can feed 8 people. $1.00 for 8 meals. Can you even believe that? Now, imagine $5.00. Now math isn’t my strong point but I believe that equals 40 meals. I know a lot of us won’t miss $5.00 and donating such a simple amount would mean so much to so many people. You can even set it up so every month, you’re donating any amount without having to think about it.

Our donations can change a person’s life, even if its just for one day.If you’re reading this with a full stomach, think about how many people out there today aren’t going to be able to eat at all. It really changes you.

If you’ve seen more posts like mine today, you have Megan to thank. This move for change is her baby and you can read her post about it here.  She’ll even give you a Starbucks card for donating so go find out how!

Operation Eleanor is a 30 day challenge. It’s nothing specific, no guidelines to follow except one simple rule: Do one thing that scares you, every day, for 30 days. It doesn’t have to be huge, but it does have to be personal. You don’t have to document every step for the entire internet but you might want to keep your own log of what you’ve done.

Some of the things I’ve been considering include taking on the 365 project again (which I’m scared to fail at) coupled with another photo project, vlogging (which I’m not a huge fan of), possibly getting some ink, and seriously debating a lifestyle change that would be huge for me.

I’ve got 30 days to make that decision, to make a lot of decisions about how brave I am and how able I am to face those fears. I’m excited to see where this goes.

Care to join us? You can link up here on Megan’s blog.

A lot of those bloggers still blog, some by different names, some by the same. Some are still very much in my life, see my BFF there at the bottom? We had just become friends. That was over 3 years ago.

3 years ago, I was a regular commenter on these blogs and they on mine. At the end of that blog, that list should have been much longer as my network had grown because we were just being introduced to social networking. Facebook, Plurk, Twitter, even MySpace; these were all new and you know what we did on them? We talked. We shared photos and laughs and had fun together.

Oh blogging, how you’ve evolved.

See back then, we would connect, add each other’s blogs to our blogroll or our reader and that was that. Then we engaged. Now my reader has over 1000+ unread items, I have no blogroll, and when I end up reading someone’s newest post, it’s because of a link on twitter or Facebook. I’ll be honest, I read and leave. 9 out of 10 times, I don’t comment.

I’m a terrible blogger. The concept of personal blogging is slowly dying and I know there are people out there who hate this. While I happen to be one of them, I haven’t done anything to change that. Until now.

I want to be a better blogger. I don’t think that only writing here every day will do that. I believe there is more to being a blogger than just sharing what you’ve got and expecting people to read it and talk about it and share it. I used to respond to every comment I received. I haven’t done that in awhile. I used to comment on blogs. I used to share the good stuff I was reading.

I miss all of that.

So here’s what I’m proposing: Better Blogging.

I don’t think its a terribly hard concept but I know I’m going to have to push myself to do it. Some ways I’m going to try and be a better blogger:

• Read more blogs and actually comment.
• Clean my reader out. There are so many in there I don’t even LIKE (and yes, there are bloggers I don’t like. Guess what! It’s ok. It’s ok to go against popular opinion and dislike someone. Since meeting some bloggers in real life, I’ve learned that some people are downright nasty IRL and basically, that makes me not give a shit about their blogs. Some are still sitting in my reader so, bye bye). I’m going to put new blogs in my reader and make an active effort to read them and comment.
• If I see something I like, I’m going to share it. If I comment on it, I’m going to share it. I’ll share it on Twitter and probably my Facebook page. I’ll tell you why you should read it.
• I’m going to start with about 5 blogs a day, with at least one new blog I’ve never read before.

This is going to take work and effort. Is it going to pay off? I have no idea. Am I doing it to get more readers? Partly. Honestly, I just want to start connecting again. I love the relationships that blogging has brought me but my twitter stream is tired. I feel like I’m in a small town and it’s the same stuff over and over. I feel like branching out and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

So. Is there anyone who wants to join me? Is there anyone you think I should be reading? Is there anything that you have posted lately that you really think I should read?

Let’s hear it.

When you were 9 years old, did you know what you wanted to be when you grew up? Most of us probably did. Did you grow up to be that very thing? I’d bet most people would say no.

Kevin Clash knew what he wanted to be. He knew, at 9 years old, that he wanted to be a puppeteer and that one day, he wanted to work with the Muppets. He started by making his own puppets, (his first out of the lining of his dad’s new winter coat) and putting on shows for the kids in the neighborhood and then around town at hospitals and events.

Can you even imagine working from the age of 9 at making your dreams come true? This documentary by Constance Marks chronicles Kevin’s journey and it is truly inspirational. We all know who Elmo is but learning where he came from really provides a whole new depth to the man who IS Elmo. An explanation of what we see when we watch these characters really stood out to me: “When a puppet is true, and good, and meaningful, it’s the soul of the puppeteer that you’re seeing.”

Elmo is the very best parts of Kevin. He talks about being given the puppet that would become Elmo, cast off by another puppeteer who was fed up with trying to make the puppet come alive. He said after a while he realized that Elmo should represent love and with that, he turned Elmo into a puppet that has changed his life and those who love him.

I can’t say enough good things about this documentary. It’s special. As a parent, you want the very best things in your child’s life, you want them to be great not just because you know they are, but because they know they are. Kevin Clash represents that. He’s doing things in his life that are helping the people he comes in contact with and through Elmo, he can reach millions.

Being Elmo absolutely touches your heart. Hearing Kevin himself explain his love for what he does and the way he worked hard to meet, work for, and befriend Jim Henson is awe inspiring.

Being Elmo is not being released world wide however, in NYC it opens today at the IFC Center. As of right now, Being Elmo is playing in select cities through the new year. I was invited to a special press screening of the movie at the Laemmle Theaters in Hollywood. It will start playing there to the public starting November 4th. If you’re a local reader, this is a great venue and I highly recommend you go see it. If you aren’t local to Los Angeles, you can go here to see if Being Elmo is playing in your area and when. If your city isn’t on the list, demand it! There’s a link at the top of the very same page.

I very highly recommend taking the opportunity to see this movie. You will walk out of it feeling inspired. If you’re anything like me, bring tissues!