Scrooge + Piano Guys transform

Posted by random olio

The holidays are really not my thing. Maybe it is a by-product of growing up so quickly. From the age of twelve, holidays only just sort of happened in my family. My parents were divorced, and my mom was sick, so whatever happened, happened.

Due to the fact that most years Thanksgiving and Christmas either barely happened or did not happen at all, I have a bit of a Scrooge mentality about the holidays. Yet. Yes, there is a yet. Every once in a while I will hear a song and it will hit me hard. Tears will pool in my eyes and I will be infected by the music, the emotion, and the moment. So when I found this video by “The Piano Guys” I was impressed, and had to share it with you.

Hopefully for any of you that feel Scrooge come out at any point in the next few weeks, you will come back to this video. I think you will be impressed, it will calm the Scrooge in you, and for those of you that love Christmas, you will just smile and get in the groove.

Which doors to open…

Posted by random olio

It has been a while since I have written about a book I have read. Two reasons: I have not had the time to read as many books lately, and I have not read as many books that have inspired me. However, over Thanksgiving I read a novel that I could not put down. It is called: “The Time Between” by Karen White. I am not even sure where to start in explaining this complex storyline.

It is about two sisters (Eve and Eleanor), their stories of loss, anger, longing, and forgiveness. One is in a wheelchair, and the other does everything she can to take care of her sister. She works long hours in an investment banking firm, plays the piano at night to bring in more money. The other sister sews gowns in her wheelchair. Such pieces she herself would have worn in past beauty pageants. Music is weaved throughout the story, second chances, and the beauty of an island. Of course there is so, so, so much more to the story, but I do not want to ruin it for you. There is one line near the end of the book that I had to share with you:

“There is how we were before, and how we are now, and the time between is spent choosing which doors to open, and which to close.” page 319

I thought this was the perfect morsel of insight from the book. White discusses this in different ways throughout the book. She is right. So often we are stuck in how we were before, that we cannot be okay with where we are now. As White alludes to throughout the book, there are many doors to which we can open or close and the choice is 99% ours to make. Do we forgive someone and move on, or do we stay stuck in what they have done to us? Can we get over the one that did not choose to love us, so that we can be present and ready for the one that we will love so deeply? Such good ideas for really anyone. Even with the sisterhood theme, it did not feel like chick lit to me. Just a great novel, and really I can see it made into a movie.

Open a new door. Take a few hours to read “The Time Between.” It is worth it.

Black Friday sucks

Posted by random olio

If you are reading this at home, it means you have not left home to brave Black Friday crowds. If you are reading this on your phone while trying to pass the time in line at a big box store in order to get some crazy deals, then you are brave. Maybe you are home and online waiting for that right moment to click “place order” for that bargain Black Friday deal. Hopefully if you are out shopping, it is at your local boutique because you like supporting your neighborhood business.

If you are like me, you are hiding from it all. A colleague from Japan was asking about Black Friday last week. We told her about crazy Americans who trample each other for discounts on TVs, electronics, you name it. A new bra, toilet paper, a trash can? We are crazy!

A week ago Chris was in Hong Kong and happened to be near an Apple store when the new iPad Air was launching. CRAZY. Take a look at the picture taken from outside, and to think that he actually went inside to check it out from the inside. Look at all those people. It is similar to Black Friday craziness in the US.

In all seriousness though, you have to read this Huffington Post article about Black Friday, capitalism, and consumerism. It is so well written, and a good reminder that we really need to get control of the consumerism that is eating into Thanksgiving. Let’s leave gratitude and family for Turkey Day, and let’s leave shopping to Black Friday. We saw that an outlet mall in Washington opened at 10 am on Thanksgiving and would not close again until 11 pm on Friday night. Why? Why? Why? I agree with the author, if we do not shop for that deal for socks on Thanksgiving, they will stop opening on Thanksgiving. Let their employees be with their families.

#SeriouslyAnnoyedAboutBlackFriday

Turkey Day Gratitude

Posted by random olio

Turkey. Mashed potatoes (with herbs and goat cheese). Cornbread stuffing. Yeast rolls (maybe pretzel yeast rolls). Veggies. Canned cranberry sauce (yes I said it, I eat it straight from the can, bumpy can imprints and all). Pie. Don’t touch my pie.

We all have our favorite foods, traditions, and things to do over holidays, and sometimes specifically for Thanksgiving. Yet, do we have traditions for Thanksgiving that actually carry into each day of our year? I have been thinking about that recently. Chris and I have a jar for 2013 where we put a note in it for when we have things we are grateful for. We will open and read them all on New Years Eve and then start again for 2014. I feel a bit like wanting to go and shake the presents under the tree, because I want to see all that we have put into the jar for the year, but I will wait and not peek.

So what are your Thanksgiving traditions? What will you be doing with your family and friends? I will be with my better half. I will miss being with my family, especially my mother-to-be sister, but I know that she is starting the beginnings of traditions for her new family. Her life is about to change in big ways and she has so much to be grateful for — each day is a blessing. Sometimes I am not sure we have the grace to see and feel the awe and wonder of all the moments around us that teach us to be more patient and kind.

Take a slower day on Thursday. Give thanks to all those that have taught you wonderful lessons this year. Hold those that have struggled dear in your heart as they need your love too.

Much gratitude to you today and every day.

Staying True to Yourself

Posted by random olio

Fitting in or not. It is a fact of life. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t. What matters most is what we do when that happens. Do we try to change ourselves to fit in, or do we stay true to ourselves and not let who we are go even if it means not fitting in?

You would think that it only happens in school. Right? No, it is part of the world we live in, whether we are in school, at work, with friends, and sometimes even in our families. I definitely struggled at different points in school with fitting in. First, there is the question, do I even like the “cool” kids? Do I want to hang out with them, or are they annoying, mean, you fill in the blank. If there is a desire to hang with those so-called unattainable kids, then maybe you want to solve the magic 8 ball to find out how you can hang with them. You might find though that it is not always what it is cracked up to be.

It happens from toddlers to an old folks home, fitting in is just a fact of life. We all create tribes and cliques. We all have preferences and choices of who joins us. Yet, through it all, the most genuine way to fit in is to be yourself. I can remember countless times in my life when I never really felt I fit in. When I was younger and my mom was sick, my life was different, and it made it hard to relate to my peers. In high school when my mom died, I was back at boarding school within a week, and it made it hard to process and who I wanted in my life at that time.

Eventually something happens in your life and you learn that you just have to stick to who you are, regardless of whether others do not like you for who that is. It was in college when I finally said: “I don’t give a shit what others think. I am going to be me, and if others like that person, great, and if they don’t that is fine too.” We just have to stay true to ourselves, and let the rest happen. Otherwise if we divert from ourselves, it will take us that much longer to find our way home.