13 place I’ve been April 24, 2008

volumne 9: thursday 24 April

I like having a focus. There are so many possible things to write about that having a focused suggested theme is like getting a mind massage; relaxing. The funny thing about this week’s theme “13 places you’ve been and what you liked about it” is that I don’t travel much. Still I’ve been 13 places so here they are with a bit of commentary – not so helpful if you’re looking for travel tips – very useful for the official Thursday 13 goal of <a href=”http://www.multipurposewoman.com”>getting to know me</a>.

1. Eastover, South Carolina is officially my mother’s hometown. I say officially because as a child she traveled the country because my grandfather was in the military. Why would people who are not from Eastover and/or who don’t have family there want to go there? Well, they’d most likely want to go to nearby Columbia, SC. Anyway, starting the list with Eastover got me started. My initial reaction was, “I haven’t been anywhere”.

2. Coco Key, Bahamas is a private island owned by Royal Carribean cruise lines. It’s a perfect little, surreal place. When you go on a Royal Carribean cruise there’s a day when the big ship sits out at sea and they ferry you over to the island and you just chill – I went many years ago and what I still remember are the seagulls and the steel drum music. The water is beautiful so snorkeling is one pastime to engage in. People played sand volleyball, lounged, of course there was a big cookout.

3. New York, NY is a foodie heaven. Besides just being with friends and walking all over the place what I enjoy about New York is that you can have a different type of food for every meal for days.

4. Hedgebrook Writer’s Retreat, Whigby Island, WA is a haven for women writers. I went there in 1998 and stayed in Oak Cottage for 2 weeks. I long to go back for at least a month, 2 would be better. There were so many things about Hedgebrook that makes it worth recommending (if you can get accepted). A seemingly small touch that made a major impression on me – for lunch the chef brings you a basket with freshly prepared food. Imagine it; you’re in your picturesque cottage working away on your labour of love and there’s a tap at the door. You open it and there’s a beautiful, smiling person there with food – not just any food – organic, chef created, nutritious food artistic presented just in the nick of time. Every woman should have a Hedgebrook experience. Oh, and the women I met there!!

5. Seattle, WA doesn’t need me to recommend it. I took a Tickle test and it said that Seattle is THE perfect place for me to live. I’d like to test that theory.

<a href=”http://www.tkqlhce.com/3b111biroiq58EC9CAD576A8AF89″ target=”_blank” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://web.tickle.com/’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=’ ‘;return true;”>
<img src=”http://www.awltovhc.com/2g66r6Az42ORXVSVTWOQPTRTYRS” alt=”" border=”0″/></a>

6. Fort Jackson, SC is where I did basic training after I joined the Army Reserve. I think everyone should experience basic training – “why” is for another post). Anyway, Fort Jackson has some beautiful spots for running, hiking, camping, and just being.

7. Las Vegas, NV is Las Vegas. Again, it’s been years and years since I was there. I took the Greyhound for crazy, stupid reasons that I won’t go into here. That story’s more than a post – it could be a novella – but it’s not all that interesting. So why go to Las Vegas? To do something new and potentially sinful of course.

8. Chicago, IL is one of my favorite places despite the wind and chill that’s there for too much of the year. I went once (again on a bus) in May and had to buy a coat. I like the Navy Pier art show that occurs every May. I also like staying downtown and just walking around.

9. Bahamas (on cruise) actually I should have said, “any big cruise ship”. I’ve been on short cruises with Royal Carribean and Carnival. I love the ships. Carnival ships are big floating art galleries and it’s just relaxing. Unfortunately I’ve lately been reading a bit about the larger picture of the industry and that can be saddening. But as long as you stay uninformed about some things and just enjoy the surface you’ll be okay. It’s like food – the more you know about the industry the more you’ll consider going vegan and organic.

10. Danville, Ky is home of Centre College. It’s a beautiful little campus and a top notch school.

11. Dallas, Tx is scary big. The thing that surprised me when I was there (again a long time ago) is that a lot of men actually had big cowboy hats on AND even though it was warm, women were wearing fur coats. I was there with a college group and we were visiting the apparel mart and related sites. We went to a hotel called the Anatole – we couldn’t have been staying there so it must have been about looking. We also visited a place called the Lone Star Ballroom (I think) . That was fun.

12. San Francisco, CA is where I walked in the Nike Women’s Marathon to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. That was in 2004. That was the last time I flew and the first time I’d flown in a long time. I wasn’t there long and I forgot to go on a Monk tour. Between my fear of flying and walking the marathon I totally forgot that I wanted to do that. Did the normal tourist stuff with a group. The city had a good feel to it.

13. Disney World, FL is a place my sister wants us all to visit as a family. My mother took us when I was about 15. It seemed like a job – all the walking, and standing in line, etc, etc. It was expensive. I was cognizant of that even at 15. I remember some of it favorably and looking at the site I found some things that could make it worth a return trip. My niece is fun to take anywhere so it could be worth doing. I’d read the <a href=”http://mpwoman63.dwinsider.hop.clickbank.net/” target=”_top”>Ultimate Disney World Saving Guide</a> and other insider info first.

Truth be told, my favorite kind of traveling is by book …

<iframe src=”http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=multipurposew-20&o=1&p=15&l=st1&mode=books&search=travel%2C%20women%2C%20&fc1=000000&lt1=&lc1=3366FF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ width=”468″ height=”240″ border=”0″ frameborder=”0″ style=”border:none;” scrolling=”no”></iframe>

2 part plan for upcoming week April 19, 2008

Part one – post about the suggested theme: “thirteen places you’ve visited and what you liked about each place”. I’m not sure that I’ve been 13 places. So that thought alone should motivate me to do something new in the upcoming months.

Part two of the plan: visit 13 of the regular Thursday 13 blogs. That could could as travel since I’m a good armchair traveler. I bet people are blogging from all over the country, maybe even the world. I’ll find out. I’ll add a frappr map – surprised that hasn’t been done (maybe it was and I’ll find it in my travels).

Books I’d Need If I Were Stranded in a Hammock for 13 Weeks. April 17, 2008

If I were stranded in a hammock on a nice island for 13 weeks. These are the 13 books I’d want to have with me. They’re in alphabetical order to keep me from having to rank them – I love them all.

Why 13 weeks? 13 days didn’t sound like a long time and 13 months sounded too long for just 13 books. Anyway, here’s the list. It’ll tell you a lot about me. BTW, as penance for missing last week – I’m including 13 inspirational quotes, one from each book.

fiction …

Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor

“She thought her marriage would set her free, and it should have. It should have. She massaged her throbbing forehead. There must have been some law in this country that made that so. He was just being cruel and trying to frighten her. And she was so happy about that wedding. Finally free.”

Middle Passage by Charles Johnson

“She was as cunning as a Byzantine merchant – that was clear – but I couldn’t rightly fault her. She’d known her share of grief, had Isadora. Her mother Viola, she’d told me, died when she was three, which meant that she and her sisters had no one to teach them to think like independent, menless Modern Women – it was something you learned, she implied, like learning how to ride a bicycle, or do the backstroke.”

Naked in Death by J.D. Robb

“His breath was coming faster. It stunned him how much he could want her still, baffled him that she could be blind to how helpless he was under the clawing need for her. It infuriated him that she could, simply by existing, be his weakness.”

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

“Neither Pilate nor Reba knew that Hagar was not like them. Not strong enough, like Pilate, nor simple enough, like Reba, to make up her life as they had. She needed what most colored girls needed: a chorus of mamas, grandmamas, aunts, cousins, sisters, neighbors Sunday school teachers, best girl friends, and what all to give her the strength life demanded of her – and the humor with which to live it.”

Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush by Virginia Hamilton (A childhood favorite of mine)

“Tree felt comfortable with Silversmith and M’Vy. She could imagine the three of them together for all time, the way they say it in fairy tales. She smiled wryly to herself at the thought, for she knew better than to dream. And yet she could not help herself as her mind slid easily away until she no longer understood what they were saying.”

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler (… may she rest in peace)

“When she realized the years had ceased to mark her body, she experimented and learned to age herself as her husband aged. She learned quickly that it was not good to be too different. Great differences caused envy, suspicion, fear, charges of witchcraft. But while her first husband lived, she never entirely gave up her beauty.”

nonfiction …
A Course In Miracles by the Foundation for Inner Peace

“No one who has a single purpose, unified and sure, can be afraid.”

Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Way to Higher Creativity

“Shifts in taste and perception frequently accompany shifts in identity. One of the clearest signals that something healthy is afoot is the impulse to weed out, sort through, and discard old clothes, papers, and belongings.”

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity

“It’s possible for a person to have an overwhelming number of things to do and still function productively with a clear head and a positive sense of relaxed control.”

Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest

“Religion is the story of how an identified group of people relates to the sacred, and how they perceive the sacred relating back to them.”

Organizing from the Inside Out: The Foolproof System For Organizing Your Home, Your Office and Your Life

“Being organized has less to do with the way an environment <i>looks</i> than how effectively it <i>functions</i>.”

Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings

“We’re searching for the answers so we can destroy them and dream up better questions.”

Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want

“…’who you are’ isn’t passive or static or unchanging. It is a vital design, as one philosopher put it, that needs to unfold and express itself through the medium of your whole life.”

13 things I accomplished today April 3, 2008

I totally forgot about last Thursday, even thoughSandy reminded me first thing in the morning.
Anyway, I’ll add to this list throughout the day until it reaches the magic number 13.

1. decided once and for all to buy an I-phone (I’ll fund it with some extra work money that suddenly came my way.)
2. balanced my checking account
3. called about an issue with a credit card and had a long, drawn out conversation with “William” (my first ESL experience of the day).
4. read some reviews of the iPhone as a PDA replacement and 1/2 changed my mind (I seriously need a PDA, an IPOD would be nice but not essential to my life) – maybe I need a blackberry
5. called the bank and talked with Bonita about a check fee for a service that was quoted as “free”. She put the money back into my account.
6. hung out at the Speed Musuem’s Art Learning Center with a photographer
7. got lunch from J. Gumbo’s
8. took my mother to the airport to start her trip to France
9. spent 3 hours on the phone with Travelocity trying to fix my mother’s lost flight reservation
10. paid the mortgage at a grocery store banking center – it has way better hours then the branch close to my house, it’s even open on Sundays!
11. watched High School Musical 2 (why? it was cute and kind of relaxing). Vanessa Anne Hudgens looks so much like a kid it’s hard to believe reports that she’s gone the vamp route
12. brought wine and printer ink at the same place – the ink cost 4 1/2 times as much as the wine
13. made a batch of my million dollar granola (I’ll have to make an entry about the recipe)

old thought revival: Millionaire Mondays, Wealthy Wednesdays, Financial Fridays.