Showing posts with label Advice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Advice. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Morning Has Broken

As I cracked an egg into my mug of Vietnamese coffee I scanned the Classified's job section. Vietnamese coffee is made with eggs. In fact, the whole egg, shell included! Relaxing for me includes watching coffee videos on Youtube. 




                                Vietnamese coffee has a rich flavor of tiramisu. It's a great variation to the ordinary cup of Joe. Its layers are similar to custard and the taste is absolutely exquisite. Besides,  eggs have protein. If you're looking for that extra protein boost plus caffeine in the morning, then this might be your answer. The eggs used in this coffee are processed in boiling water so there is no need to be intrepid about the raw egg factor. 
Tasting coffees from all over the world is a favorite activity of mine. I have been experimenting with everything from Mexican to Vietnamese coffee preparation styles. Drinking coffees with preparation styles from all over the world is an exciting way for me to begin my day. I enjoy reading the paper in the morning, knitting and reading my Bible. I wake up way too early, generally speaking. Which, in a sense is a blessing and a curse. My mornings I try to be productive but recently I've been in rather a glitch. It seems that I'm stuck on trying to escape my ordinary life. I want a change of pace but I want to make an epic move in life. My grandmother, who's an amazing lady!, has a refrigerator magnet that says "Ordinary women did not go down in history." 





                                              Is being unordinary bad, I think not! So with my quirky early morning waking coffee habits, and my endless flame of new ideas and inspirations I'll travel on through this life being grateful for every day I'm blessed with. Thank God for Vietnamese coffee and early mornings!

Monday, October 30, 2017

My Sunday Full of Purpose

Sundays are days of much-needed rest in a farmers household. Most Sundays begin with sleeping in past the old rooster crow! Aaah, those glorious days of sleeping till 8:00 😊.

Urggh... chickens, my detest of chickens will be discussed later... (clenching my teeth)

 On the farm, it's usually bright on Sundays with the sun glistening over the long shadows cast by the oak trees. This Sunday was different though. The sun was late but I wasn't.

This is later in the day





I woke to the long drawn call of a coyote harking to the black sky above.



Somewhat disgruntled at this rude awakening I awoke to a still sleeping house. It was a different kind of day though. 

A day full of integrity and a new found awakening to achieve what others said I couldn't. I dressed in my workout clothes and two hoodies, yes, I could still see little puffs of my breath as I did pushups and planks. 

The quiet night that surrounded me provided a thoughtful workout that filled me with motivation and a sense of purpose.



A workout in a still cold night with the wild cries of coyotes surrounding me. I was awake to this new life of fitness and doing what others thought I couldn't achieve, it was a splendid triumph of my own self-doubt. Self-doubt that said I couldn't be fit or have a purpose to make a dime and that I was someone who had missed the ship for the beginning of life.



Which had happened. Most of my friends are in colleges spread far and wide or following jobs far away. They were all making their own beginnings

This was just my beginning slow, steady and plagued with many boundaries.

I am too creatively distracted for my own good. I like having breakfast for lunch, reciting 19th-century poetry on a whim, listening to classics #Audible and getting to know new people.  

I've had lots of dreams over my life and never really any sure path until I read a book that changed my life. 

"Living Forward" is a book written by Micheal Hyatt, that truly set me on a different course and way of thinking about my life purpose. I am thoroughly enjoying it's helpful and thoughtful analysis on setting life goals and creating a plan to stop drifting and get the life you want. For this I commend Hyatt as I'm sure others have read and been changed by this, well, to say it simply, life-changing book. 

This quiet morning that was like black velvet I completed the chapter on writing your eulogy. Cheery stuff, I know, just kidding. Really though, writing your eulogy really puts your life in perspective. It provides a whole new kind of clarity that strengthens the reader's endeavors for this life. 

It's a challenge in this life to determine what our drive is and why we're here. It's a challenge to find happiness. Our own little niches of artistry that keep us from day-to-day madness. Yes, the kind that Lewis Carroll talks about in the quote from Alice and Wonderland as the Cheshire cat tells Alice, "We're all mad here." 

This quote by Carroll is truly a thought-provoking which I will explicate in an upcoming b log post. 


But for now, back to the velvety night and coyotes...

My phone was I'm sure very chilly, as the temperature upon my waking was a balmy 27°, just kidding not balmy at all!

As my dad jokingly says when it gets really cold, "Well, at least we don't have to worry about mosquitoes!" Point taken, thanks dad for elevating the conversation 😄.

After completing this workout, I moved onto a neurological kind of workout. I recently downloaded this dandy little app on my phone called Vocabulary Builder and being quite a word buff, let me tell you I am a huge fan! One of my recent favorite words being "Euphoria- extreme joy or Jovial- happy." I must say these words complete my personality.


Two other curious and unexpected things happened this morning.


After I dressed in leggings and a snappy bright turquoise and white striped little sweater that really just was perfect for the day, I made scrambled eggs and homemade espresso,. Sometimes, I think outfits are just suited for certain days. 

 I made my espresso in a little antique teapot. looking contraption that had a metal straw and a coffee chamber/ filter. I'm not entirely sure what it was called but it made a fine brew of coffee. 

With this brilliant early start, I was so happy to accomplish so much more in my day!
So for good books, early mornings and life goals I will raise my coffee mug!

For this, I am grateful for that mangy coyote that woke me up before the sun. 

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

"Be Yourself Everyone Else is Taken"

This quote written by Oscar Wilde is true inspiration for the conformist in most of us. If everyone were to conform to everyone else this life would be no more than many of one person. How boring, am I right? Living life as yourself is so important in today's thriving culture, which is so alive and full of lots of different thoughts and opinions. As if we didn't conform to someone else's thoughts we would be unapproved or downgraded in a sense of honor.
Inspiration is what feeds the human mind to do the unordinary. If you express yourself through the unordinary you can create new life, new ideas, new buzzing thoughts, your future. The world is yours for conquering.





So today, I dare you, be YOURSELF everyone else is taken.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

I Write to Discover What I Know

This quote, came from one the better known female Catholic writers of the 20th century, Flannery O'Connor. Some of her more prominent works are, A Good Man is Hard to Find, Revelation and Good Country People. These books reflect the fallen goodness of human nature and reflect on the choices we're given in this life. How Flannery shows the good through an overwhelming amount of bad is amazing. Her work is chalk full of satire and underlying meanings that are both witty and all-knowing. She has been compared to William Blake in her prestige and delivery.

A woman who taught a chicken to walk backwards and later developed her mascot as a peacock. Mary Flannery O'Connor was born in 1925 in Savannah, Georgia. Growing up as an only child she quickly developed a creative mind. When she was six, living at home she experienced her first brush with celebrity status. Her trained chicken broke headlines and she was featured on Pathetic News as "Little Mary O'Connor" with her trained chicken. She later claimed that that was the climax of her life and everything thereafter was anti-climatic. She attended the Women's College of Georgia before going on to receive her master's in fine arts from the Georgia State University. In 1946, after her graduation she was accepted into the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. Their she developed several of her short stories including Wise Blood. This workshop also helped her develop a Southern Gothic style for her writing. As later mentioned her work has a somewhat brutal unrefined finish that relates to Christian realism. She felt moved by the Thomist notion that the world is created by God and her sacramental upbringings. With her morally flawed characters in a Southern grotesque setting she portrayed them as touched by divine grace. She later wrote, "Grace changes us and the change is painful." 
Flannery has been an inspiration to many of my fictional works and the simplicity of her life has contributed to my writing schema. I hope this has been an informative little ditty for you to learn a little about the fantastic Southern author, Flannery O'Connor.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Formal Education vs. Practical-- The World is your Oyster

How far you take your education depends on where you want to go and how much determination you have to get there. A four-year college degree has become the expected medium for everyone to follow. This is not true, their are tons of other opportunities besides a 4-year degree.
In this post I will discuss some possibilities to advance yourself through practical education, without a four year college degree.
I'm sure their are many folks thinking how they missed their chance at getting a good education and a good job because they missed their opportunity to attend college. College is an avenue to accomplish great things, BUT IT IS NOT ALWAYS THE ANSWER!
Many of us are physically, financially or mentally unable to attend college. THIS IS NOT THE END! It's OK, their are lots of other options. Here are some possibilities I've come up with:
Start a business- Entrepreneurship
Start sending in articles you've written to your local newspaper
Start an Etsy store and sell unique homemade crafts, like: origami greeting cards, handmade rugs, herbal soaps, fabric softeners.
Take free online courses: University of the People
Community College
Become an artist
Get a well-paying job: realstate agent, painter, assistant Para
Apprentice
Join the military
Volunteer (At your local food pantry, homeless shelter)
Some other great volunteer ops:
can be found here: https://www.volunteermatch.org/, http://cjd.org/http://www.nascc.org/index.php
Good luck!
The world is your oyster!