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Happy Anniversary My Love

Thirteen years ago today, my love and I said "I DO."

It was a beautiful July day with all of our family and friends surrounding us we joyfully became Mister and Missus Guthrie.

What a wedding it was! We started the celebration the night before and finally ended it the day after, when we all were just pooped!

Looking back at the past thirteen years, I wouldn't change a thing. We have three beautiful children and each other and all the ups and downs that go along the way. We look at the family and friends that surrounded us then and even that scenario has changed. My Dad, cousin Ben, Jim's Dad and Grandma have all gone on to watch down on us from heaven. The friends around us have come and gone but we are still grateful that they were there to share our joy.

So today, I wish my love a Happy Anniversary, and to all that love us, Thank you for doing so!

Believing in Yourself

It is interesting to observe how someone's death came move so many people. Naturally I am speaking about the passing of Michael Jackson.

Now, I would be fibbing to say that his passing did not touch me in some way. How could it not? His music fall in the "Soundtrack of My Life" catagory. In fact he had recorded so much, I forgot half of what he did and the walk down memory lane was neat.

I will also say that I have watched part of the coverage on him and even the memorial service (that was very touching by the way). I think that now I am done.

We have this "thing" going on in society. It has always been there even from the earliest days. We latch on to our "heroes" and live our lives through them. It is the truest form of escapism, we do not have to live our mundane less fulfilling lives if we revel in the greatness of another's. We have sold ourselves a crappy bill of goods right from the beginning!

In this past week, I have heard words like "icon" and "idol", both which are relating to religious symbols. The church of Michael Jackson? Really? I enjoyed his music but worshiping him? Not so much. Same goes true for Elvis, Princess Diana and even Princess Grace of Monaco. These were folks that lived out their gifts as far as they could. Should they be a kind reminder that the human condition can be successful? Sure. Should they be worshiped? No.

All the people that I used for examples, lived very turbulant lives. We all knew that. Overall they were human. They faced the extremes of the human condition via their gifts and they had a very hard time with it all. Was it because they were selfish and wanted more and more? No I really do not believe that. I believe that it is the world around them that let them down. We let them down.

While we cannot go back and change history, we can learn from it all. It seems a common condition that most successful people are plagued with "Yes Men." Other people around them, telling what they want to hear. Overall it is the failure of these "Yes Men" that causes all the trouble. These people, the ones that only feed the egos of the others they are doing themselves a greater disservice than the "greats." The "yes men" forget or even ignore that they are great themselves, but they might have to work at it a little harder. So they ride on the coattails of the "greats", sucking out whatever they can instead of living their lives and being a supportive human being.

Most in society are all "Yes Men." As long as we call the people with nurtured gifts "Idols" and "Icons" we are feeding the cause. Should we enjoy the fruits of their talents? Absolutely, they are the very expression of what we are here to do. Should we worship them to forget what we are missing in our own lives? No never.

We all have gifts, it is our birthright, from God. They are all special and unique and they all are needed in society. But anyone one person's gift should not be more important than another. Whatever the gift is, we should recognize it and nurture it to it's fullest.

While some might say that they are not a great orator like some, a great entertainer or any other notable profession, there is something special in each and every one of us that the world needs to know. You do not even have to put a name to it. You just have to cultivate yourself and let your self shine for all to see!

So while we should enjoy the demonstration of one person's gift, we should also be nurturing our own and demonstrating it for others. We can support others and they will support us and we can enjoy all of what everyone has to give, not just a chosen few.

At the end of the day we are all people, glorious souls with lights that are made to shine. Light them up people! Light them up!

20 Words

Hi Everyone!


I wanted to share something cool today. This video is called "20 Words That Can Change Your Life"



It seems so amazing that 20 common words to us, some when we began to read can make such a big impact when you put them into the right context. These are definitely food for thought and something to inspire me in the future!

Have a wonderful day!

The Doctor replies "Well, then don't do that!"

So this woman walks in to the doctor's office and says "Doctor. It hurts when I do this..."

So my topic on the mind at this moment is why we keep repeating our mis-steps? We know that an action or words said are going to end up right back at us and still we insist on doing it anyways.

And I think the worse is even when we believe we are totally justified in our actions we go ahead and perform the faux pas knowing full well it will turn out badly.

It's our ego you know. I thought I knew a lot about my "friend" Matilda (that is what I call my ego), after all she is part of me, but when she gets awakened in the wrong manner, well I guess that she is uncontrollable.

The upside (using this tongue in cheek) to this is Matilda is in good company. In fact when she encounters more of her ego friends, well their stuff mingles with her stuff and it is a negativity fest to end all negativity fests.

So now my biggest challenge is to remember what an awoken Matilda is like and what she can set off without really trying. I am sure this goes the same for so many people. Matilda is in really good company.

So I am taking this online course called ILD---Intelligent Life Design. I am trying to learn all the tools necessary to put Matilda to sleep, a restful one where she doesn't need to be up for a long, long time. Anyway the first week of the course we are supposed to avoid all news from typical resources, online websites, newspapers, TV and so far I have not been real successful, but I am still trying.

The developer of the course JB Glossinger from Morning Coach has a good point about controlling the ego by picking and choosing our battles, be assertive to make our point when necessary and then leaving it be. We don't have to be right or accepted, we have spoken our point and that is all that needs to be done.

I guess the next time Matilda rears her stubborn, opinionated head, I will have to remind her the punchline of the joke..

the Doctor replies "Well, don't do that!"

Ahhh.. The Sweet Sound of Success

Good Morning Friends!

I am here to report first hand on the success of this years recital week!

Our daughter Jacki has been dancing since she was 2 1/2. When her first recital arrived at the prime age of 3, she and her group of dancing cohorts dazzled us with a ballet rendition of "I'm A Little Teapot".

Through the years we have seen a tap number, a few ballet numbers and some jazz as well. About three years ago, we had decided that she had outgrown the typical park district one dance a year program and she was ready for something more. The we found the exciting world of competitive dance teams and Stacie the teacher.

Her first season under Stacie, Jacki competed in one dance and took lesson for two so in the recital she was in three dances. The second year, three competition dances, three lessons dances, six in the recital.

This year was the big daddy so far. This season she competed in 5 dances, had 6 lesson dances and filled in for one where a girl was unable to attend the recital for a whopping 12 dances in the recital!

Now aside from Jacki, dancing flirts with our other family members as well. Joey took jazz/tap when he was 5 and appeared in his first recital, the only boy in the group to a tap rendition of one of the popular 60's dance songs that I cannot think of right now. The lights scared him so we put him in some cool shades. He was the only boy in the recital that year and if I must say he, like my other children are just adorable! When the song started and he started to move, he was the hit of the show!

This year we had another family member bitten by the dancing bug. For the recital there was a "Dad's Dance". And my husband the brave soul he is agreed to participate. There were practices both at the studio and with Jacki, but the details of the dance and even the music were top secret. Ohhh.

The music was a mix of "Catwalk, I'm Too Sexy" and "Sexy Back" and the guys did all these moves and stripped off their shirts to reveal t-shirts that were air brushed with muscles on them. They were so good.

For the rest of the recital, I loved watching all the dances and the 12 that Jacki were in was superb! Her ballet dance featured the debut of dancing en pointe which is something that she has just learned this season and has taken to very well!

So after all the weeks of practicing, Thursday night pictures, Friday night full dress rehearsal and finally the recital yesterday, I can declare that this household is pooped, but well satisfied with the family's accomplishments!

So typical with anything in one breath we are glowing about the wonderful season and in the next we are planning for the next year. Jacki will be competing in 7 dances this next season, so that will mean 13 in the recital, Joey has decided to give hip-hop a whirl, Jonathan we are trying to convince that dance would be cool (he always dances at home) and Jim, well he is the remarkable story out of this years recital. He and his fellow dancers loved it so much, they have asked Stacie to organize an every other week men's dance so that they can practice during the whole year!

So that is the wrap of this year's season. We have two weeks off, 8 weeks of summer support classes and in late July the competition team starts it all starts again! It is funny, given Jim's background, we always thought we would be just a car family, but it seems that dance is a permanent resident in our household!

Sticks and Stones...

I was thinking about name calling today. You know what we say about people, something derogatory that we say behind someone's back. Sometimes we even say it to their face.

Anyway as a general rule we feel that it really harms no one if we call the driver that just cut us off in traffic a jerk or the clerk is having register problems an idiot once we leave the store. Again, they cannot hear us so no harm no foul right?

And what we call people is a big one as well. It might be jerk, idiot, stupid and hundreds of other terms, some more salty than the others. But they cannot hear it so what does it matter?

The reality is that it does matter. A lot. For one reason is while we are venting our displeasure with that individual, we are not only allowing our ego to make itself superior ("I am a much better driver than that jerk!") but the negative energy that we are spewing into the Universe is accumulating. In you, around you. And suddenly everything just blows up because our ego is so fed with this verbal venom, that everything is tainted.

The other reason we should not call names is it really does hurt people, because it gets back to them somehow.

What made me think of this is I was watching a Michael Jackson interview with Diane Sawyer. He was mentioning being called "Whacko Jacko" and how much it hurt. He asked Diane Sawyer if she wanted to be called whacko?

When we were kids we all had someone that called us a name or said something mean to us. We were upset and any good mother told their child this, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." And in theory that may be true, because if we are confident and have great self-esteem, anyone can say anything about you and it would bounce off the shield that you have. But the fact of the matter is there are sometimes weak spots in our armor or we might call a name back just to one up the person. It is just negative energy perpetuating itself.

So when we run into a situation that we are displeased with we have to let it go. Seriously. It doesn't matter. It can't. There is so much more to be accomplished with moving on from things. If it is a situation that you can address, just do that address it. Say I am unhappy and tell why and let it go. If you are in a situation where you cannot address it that is an even bigger reason to JUST LET IT GO! In the end it hurts you more than the recipient of the momentary anger.

Life is too short my friends, life is too short!