#16 Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

There is nothing like the taste of fresh squeezed Orange Juice, it is such a treat. The best orange juice isn't so much about the juice but more about where I enjoyed it. I have wonderful memories of sipping a cold glass of OJ sitting in a little cafe in Florida or Arizona. I know it sounds cheesy but it tastes like sunshine in a glass. As much as I like fresh squeezed orange juice, other than ordering on rare occasions, I have never actually made it myself...so I decided that #16 was going to be making "fresh squeezed orange juice".

The lesson I learned at the beginning of this venture was to make sure you have the right equipment. Day 1, I didn't actually have a juicer but had the lemon and lime squeezer that I got for Christmas last year I thought that would be good enough. I purchased two large bags of oranges and planned a great breakfast of a Greek scramble and of course orange juice(Ben made the scramble while I squeezed). I set out to accomplish my goal. My God, I squeezed and squeezed after all that I got enough juice to get (2) very small glasses of orange juice, a small slice of sunshine. There had to be an easier way??? I wanted more. Ha! Day 2, that is where having the right equipment comes in, a trip to Target and Taada! an electric juicer. The whole process made so much easier. Fresh OJ with Cinnamon French toast, sausage and hash browns. Ben suggested adding a few "blood oranges" to add to the flavor, mmmmmm. I love my new juicer, Now I can have fresh squeezed orange juice anytime I want it and in the summer fresh squeezed lemonade. I can also make all kinds of memories and have my littel sip of sunshine any time I need one. #16 completed and enjoyed!

Girlfriends!

"Men will slap your ass, your girlfriends will save it". unknown

I had a wonderful dinner tonight with a highschool girlfriend. There is nothing like spending time with someone who knew you back then! you know, back before you had all the baggage you carry around today. She knew me before jobs, marriage, kids, divorce and all lifes ups and downs. She knew me when there was a hell of a lot less of me to know. We knew each other, and that is what makes female relationships so rewarding. I love my girlfriends. I can't imagine my life without the women who have been such an integral part of it. At every phase women have showed up to help. They gave advice, pointed the way, extended a hand to help me up when I was flat on my back and didn't think I had the strength to move into the next day. They packed me up when I needed to move on, they put away the dishes in exactly the right cupboards. When my Grandma died and I thought that I would never survive the pain a girlfriend sat with me while I cried. Tonight, I pay tribute to all of them! Thank you!

Don't Do That!

“How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being.” Oscar Wilde

Like many women, when I became single I did what many women do. I looked to the great shelves of Barnes and Noble, Borders and Amazon.com to find books that would help me ease the transition to the dating world. I read all kinds of things from "Dating for Dummies", "Why Men Love Bitches", (or something like that) and of course the classic "He's not that into you". Well ladies, I have decided that I am going to write a book and I am going to call it "Don't Do That"! I didn't have to go far to find the contents for the book, any kitchen or cubical conversation usually involves the subject of some man who is causing some sort of grief for one of my sisters. Don't get me wrong, I love men! I love their strength, their presence, their perspective. I want my life to include a man or men. I love my father who gave me a solid foundation on what a man should be. I love my son, whom I believe I raised to be a caring considerate human being who is now a loving husband and father. I love the other 50% of the human species!!!! However, books like "He's not that into you".... prompt me to share a bit of my knowledge with some of the men in the world, (those secure enough to listen) as what NOT to do.

Giving my new project some thought and knowing men to be visual I decided that the packaging of my new book will be as important as the content. I will make it the size of a "Golden Book" and the front cover will yield a beautiful woman shaking her finger as to suggest "DON'T DO THAT"!(ya ya I know that may be a turn on, but worth the risk). Inside there will be some very key points as to what NOT to do when dating. If we know you are 'NOT THAT INTO US"... You should know we don't like it when you do THAT! All is fair right? So men.... be looking for this new wealth of enlightenment to hit bookstores soon, along with a very visible book signing tour and media campaign. If you have had trouble sustaining a solid relationship, getting to that second or third date or simply understanding the female species, this book will be for you. It will give you simple suggestions of what not to do, which translates to what to do, to make us happy! I think you may be surprised~! stay tuned.

Disclaimer: The contents of my book do not necessarily implicate my boyfriend. However, it has become a great tool to suggest that his actions or lack of could land him in my book. Sorry honey!

2011 A Blank Page

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”
Anne Lamott


2011 is a blank canvas and I get to place the pigment and oil upon it. If my past is any indicator, not only does it hold the potential of a year but it is the beginning of a new decade that promises to bring many lessons. As any artist, I will sketch the outline of my painting in pencil so that I can erase it and make adjustments and corrections, a list of 31 things that I commit to doing in 2011. Why 31 you ask? I took 20 plus 11 which gave me 31.

A special thank you to my dear friend Janet who helped inspire me to do this. Below I will list all of the items on my list and I will document and blog about each of them. I am so excited to begin, and I am certain that at the close of 2011 I will not be left as I am found now, but new and changed! Let's see shall we?

Thirty One Things I will do in 2011

1. Purchase a guitar and take lessons

2. Write a poem or story and make a photo book to support it.

3. Go to church (at least once)

4. Loose those crazy pounds I let sneak up. Wear my sexy dress for my birthday!

5. See a musical

7. Ask for six people's book recommendations and read them

8. Display family photos in my home

9. Host a girls slumber party

10. See an Opera

11. Make homemade pizza

12. Do an "at home" spa weekend

13. Send a Birthday card to my parents, grandchildren, children and their spouses

14. Have a picnic in the living room in midst of winter

15. Have a body wrap, (seaweed or mud or something)

16. Make fresh squeezed orange juice

17. Travel to Belgium

18. Learn a little french

19. Take a frame worthy photo, frame and display it

20. Prepare an ethnic meal six times... Indian, Italian, Chinese, Greek, French, Cajun.

21. Sing Karoke in public

22. Vist a palm reader or psychic

23. Give $250 annonymously to someone who really needs it.

24. Take Opera voice lessons

25. Camping (twice)

26. Make homemade salsa

27. Don't complain for one week

28. Write a letter to open in 5 years

29 See an opera

30. Do reflexology

31. Send 3 people (not realatives) a surprise

Happy New Decade!

I do believe, Kim, that if people would just start by saying "it's fun," when it seems hard; "I'm happy," when they seem sad; and "I know," when it seems as if they don't, they'd finally discover that it really is, they really are, and they always have.

Works for me,
The Universe

I get daily quotes sent to me from the Universe, sometimes they are thought provoking other times humorous and sometimes they tell me something that I forgot and needed to be reminded. I chose this quote as a way to end the decade. Yes, the END of a decade.

Ten Years have come and gone and while on vacation I reflected on the meaning of the past decade and I was amazed, simply amazed. I couldn't believe how many experiences, lessons and wonder I had experienced. Below is a recap of some of the highlights.

I made 5 different career moves and promotions and moved 5 times. I lived in Madison and Milwaukee Wisconsin, Rochester Hills, Michigan... and back home to my hometown Sauk Rapids, Minnesota and landed here in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Ten years ago Samantha had just left the nest since then I have become a grandmother 5 times. Beginning with the birth of Julian, then Avrie, then Simon and then came Violette and ended the decade with the birth of Nim.

I bought 4 brand new vehicles, a 2000 Celica, 2002 RAV 4, 2009 Camary, 2010 RAV 4.

I traveled to Europe...Belgium,Luxemborg,France, Neatherlands, Germany, Holland. I also traveled to Bermuda. In the US I visited Las Vegas, Nashville, St Louis, Chicago, Phoenix (more than once), Florida 3 times. I had the breath taking experience of gazing upon the Grand Canyon and floating near Niagra Falls.

I am in awe of how I reinvented my life. There have been endings like that with my divorce but new beginnings as well. I fell in love a couple of times and I grew in ways I would never have imagined. I gained and lost weight,(I even did a glamour photo shoot to show it off). I attended numerous concerts and plays. I swam with wild dolphins and parasailed above the ocean, I climbed out on an overhang above the Grand Canyon. I rode roller coasters, took boat cruises, danced the night away in Nashville.

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened", Anatole France. I loved my dog Sophie whom I left in the loving care of my ex-husband when we divorced. She died this year after so many years of unconditional love. I have a new furry friend Hazel who brings me love and joy. We have an interesting relationship and I say relationship because we "break up" and "get back together" often.

While all of this was happening on the outside, so many things transpired internally, I grew in ways I never could have imagined. I learned to dance... the swing, fox trot, tango and walz and yes even belly dancing. I learned yoga and took french.

Spiritually, I followed my spirit, my soul and my love of God. I said goodbye and I said hello. I loved and I let go.

It has been a wonderful decade but most importantly it gives me such hope and optimism. I mean, if my life could have been so full the past ten years, I can't even begin to think of what this new decade can bring. I am so excited! I love my life. I love my friends and my family and my work. I love all of the things I dislike, and as much as I love the comfort of happiness and peace, I love the other stuff too because without the contrast I don't know that I would realize what wonder there is in every single moment. That is what life is, it is made of moments, so much dependent upon how I choose to view them. Thus the above quote. As I begin the journey to 2011, I pray I can keep my spirit alive and that spark of realization that I am choosing how I respond to the everyday gifts and challanges around me. It is not easy moving closer to the end of life but I certainly have more of an awareness of the movement. In my youth I thought it would go on forever, now I know understand it won't and I live to make everyday count.

Goodbye wonderful, wonderful decade! Hello to the new! HAPPY NEW YEAR~!

Immmmmm Baaaack!

"You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think. "
— Marianne Williamson

It has been months since my last blog and I feel as though it was another life. I have since relocated which was a whole process. The process of letting go of so many things and of new beginnings. I would say that I am now in the process of another beginning. I am trying to find me AGAIN. Is it that I hide from myself, or is it that I never really have it as figured out as I think I do? I have left the comfortable to the unknown and although I have done that many many times in my life, this time is different because it is "Kimberly" who is calling all the shots. At first the thought of that seemed overwhelming. Oh, I didn't realize it at first. I was busy determining what I was going to pack, what kind of housing I would look for and tending to all of the business that needed doing. I don't know at what point I realized that I was writing my life. I guess I am still in a state of shock about it all. I haven't settled into a routine, and without a daily commute my days seem to hold much more potential. It still feels like I am on retreat and I am going to go home but then I have those moments where I realize that I am home.

My relationships with others have also taken on a new dimension. I am either closer or more distant. Some because of location, others because perhaps our paths of split in the road for a part of the journey. Regardless, I mention the quote above because I realize perhaps the most interesting and powerful relationship is with ourselves. I think I am just a little weary, and I need a moment to just quiet myself again. Being back here is a good place to begin.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Eleanor Roosevelt

Some time has passed since I have added to my blog and it is not without reason. I love writing and as I mentioned before it is really a very therapeutic creative process to sift through the thoughts and feelings that this precious life of mine evokes each and every day. Like any other creative process it does not go without vulnerability. I realize that I take a risk by exposing the inner crevasses of my heart, mind and soul. In the weeks passing since my last blog many of you asked when I would be writing again. Thank you! I am glad that I can make you smile, laugh or reflect. In my life, there have been many who have taken a risk, exposed their vulnerabilities and shared their souls and I am so grateful because they made me smile and reflect. I chose the quote today because someone tried to take this from me and I almost allowed it. I nearly allowed it until I realized that they couldn't, not without my consent. I am not sure why we do this to each other and I am even less sure why we allow others to do it to us. I only know that we each get to decide for ourselves how we live, whom we love and how we serve. Above all, hold self love superior and consent only to that which you fully agree.