Today is Chuck’s birthday.  As I type this I wonder if he cares that I just told the whole world his age, hmmm I hope not.  He treats his birthday just as another day, which I really don’t understand.  No really, it blows my mind.  I’d celebrate birth week or month if people would let me.    In honor of Chuck’s birthday here is a list of  35 things that have happened on March 29th in the past 35 years.

1976
The storm of March 29,1976 was the greatest catastrophe to ever hit a Nebraska utility

1977
March 29 page of Jimmy Carter’s Diary – Up at 6:30am and bed at 1:06am – long day, huh?

1978
Hockey – New England Whalers star Gordie Howe becomes the first 50-year-old to play professional hockey. Hartford, Connecticut (northernblue.ca)

1979
Delhi beat Karnataka by 399 runs to win Cricket’s Ranji Trophy (brainyhistory.com)

1980
Pink Floyd’s 1973 album Dark Side Of The Moon marks its 303rd week on the Billboard album charts, passing Carole King’s Tapestry for longest stay on the “Billboard 200.” (oldies.about.com)

1981
Hockey – Jacques Richard of the Québec Nordiques scores his 50th goal of the season against Montréal Canadiens. (northernblue.ca)

1982
Constitution – Canada Bill given royal assent. London, England (northernblue.ca)
(I was born 11 weeks later, just FYI )

1983
International An American arms control initiative was reported by Reagan Administration officials. They said the American negotiator at the talks in Geneva would propose to Soviet officials today that they agree on an interim solution as a step toward the elimination of all medium-range missiles in Europe. (nytimes)

1984
NFL Baltimore Colts move to Indianapolis (brainyhistory.com)

1985
Wayne Gretzky breaks own NHL season record with 126th assist  (brainyhistory.com)

1986
Beatle records officially go on sale in Russia (brainyhistory.com)

1987
A total solar eclipse occurred on March 29, 1987. It is a hybrid eclipse, with only a small portion of the central path as total, lasting a maximum of only 8 seconds. (wikipedia)

1988
Detroit Red Wings played Washington Captials: 2-2 OT (hockey-reference)

1989
Former Nhl Ref Aims A Few Shots – NHL Referee releases a book (chicagotribune)

1990

1991
Allergic To Exercise? It Can Be A Genuine Problem (chicagotribune)

1992

1993
Saddam, Still: With power his only objective, Saddam has rebuilt Baghdad, rewarded his supporters and convinced his people they are the victims of Western aggression (time magazine)

1994
Japan’s newest museum pays homage to a noodle (baltimore sun)

1995
Washington Capitals at Tampa Bay Lightning: 4-2 (hockey-reference)

1996
1996 Women’s European Ice Hockey Championships were held in Russia; Sweden won (wikipedia)

1997
3 days after the “Red Wings – Avalanche Brawl”

1998
Detroit Edison Co. shut its Fermi 2 nuclear power plant after an inspection found a backup cooling-water system might not work during a severe accident. (nativenewsonline)

1999
Gretzky puts his stamp on hockey history once again on March 29, 1999, scoring the 1,072nd goal of his professional career. Between his NHL and WHA career, Gordie Howe tallied 1,071. (gretzky.com)

2000
The Future of Michigan’s Radiation Machine Regulations presented at a meeting of the Great Lakes Chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in Detroit, Michigan by Tod Van Wieren, Health Physicist. (michigan.gov)

2001
Tie Domi vs. a Philadelphia Flyers fan, March 29, 2001. While most NHL fights typically occur on the ice, this incident pitted brawler Tie Domi against an unruly Philadelphia Flyers fan. (sports illustrated photo)

2002
Pet cloning arrives (cbsnews)

2003
In Boston, Massachusetts 50,000 people attended the largest rally in the city since the end of the Vietnam War. Thousands of people blocked Boylston Street in a die-in along the Boston Common. A handful of arrests were made. In the UK hundreds of protesters marched from Cowley into the centre of Oxford and thousands took to the streets of Edinburgh (Police estimated 5,000, while organizers estimated more than 10,000). Edinburgh protesters marched along Princes Street to a mass rally in the city’s Meadows area. (wikipedia)

2004
The Republic of Ireland, on March 29, 2004, banned smoking in all workplaces. (patch)

2005
Detroit Hockey team Visits Yekaterinburg, Raises Money for Youth Sports (yekaterinburg)

2006
Chuck drove back to Michigan from Florida – exciting way to celebrate your 30th, yo

2007
17 Additional People Indicted In Large Scale Drug And Money Laundering Case (justice.gov)

2008

2009
We were at the Hawks game to witness this

2010
Oilers eye sweep of Wings on Sportsnet (sportsnet)

2011
No suspension for Bertuzzi’s hit last night against Chicago (freep)

Ireland in 9 days!

May you live to be 100 years, with one extra year to repent.
Irish Blessing

Wishing Chuck a very happy birthday. Be ready to celebrate in Ireland! ♥ ♥

{image from weheartit.com}

Every year from back before I can remember I’d help my Mom make Christmas cookies.  We would start early, I’m guessing November, making sugar cookies, Russian tea balls, shortbread cookies with the ends dipped in chocolate and then we’d freeze them.  As Christmas started getting closer my Mom would get the frozen cookie tins out of the freezer chest in the basement and we’d mix different bowls full of icing for the sugar cookies.

We’d also break out the spritz cookie gun.  Have you ever used a cookie press?  It can be a pretty tedious afternoon if the dough and press are being a pain in the rear.  I can still hear my mom hastily scooping up all the ugly cookies and throwing the dough back in the bowl, grumbling the whole time.  It was usually my job to decorate them with sprinkles before they went into the oven or help put them on plates with green or red plastic saran wrap and ribbon.

On Saturday mornings I’d hear her in the kitchen before I even got up and she’d even make some after she got home from work.  She was so deligent at making sure that all the cookies were made to give out to family members.  I know that my Aunt Dor was one relative that always got her cookies early because she couldn’t wait to enjoy them with her tea.

I tried to keep the tradition alive after she died but it’s hard to have the motivation to make a bunch of cookies by yourself.  There wasn’t anyone to listen to cheesy Christmas songs with, especially I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.  So after a couple years of doing it, out of something other than joy, I gave up.  I still make a batch or two of cookies but I miss spending a whole day in the kitchen with someone giggling and dancing around.  I have all the recipes in my polka dotted binder and I’m hopeful that I’ll get back to baking all those cookies one day.  I’d be happy to make you cookies, all you have to do is ask.

Dec 10 – Wisdom – What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out? (Author: Susannah Conway)

Deciding to buy a cottage. It gave Chuck and I a project to work on together and some place for us to get away. It’s a great place to just let go and unwind. It was hard to fathom the money that we put out while the economy is so down, but with the place we are in it seemed feasible. As things stand, I think it was a very good investment for both of us.

Dec 11 – 11 Things – What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life? (Author: Sam Davidson)

I need to revist this one – maybe for a post of its own…

Dec 12 – Body Integration – This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn’t mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present? (Author: Patrick Reynolds)

Not surprising, the most integrated I’ve felt with my body has been in yoga.  One of the goals in yoga is to be present in the actions you are creating.  Your breath, body and thoughts are all in the same place at the same time.  I’ve found it takes a certain amount of focus to align the 3.  While in Bikram yoga I found it’s almost impossible to not be completely integrated.

Dec 13 – Action – When it comes to aspirations, its not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step? (Author: Scott Belsky)

Money and time management are the next steps for the future adventure. These are the two hardest things for me.

Dec 14 – Appreciation – What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it? (Author: Victoria Klein)

The little things in life that you miss if you don’t take the time to see them.

Tape on the door, tomatoes on top of my sandwich, bringing dog blankets in, being a pipe fitter/mechanic/heating & cooling, grilling, getting in crawl spaces, driving, etc…

Coming to let the dogs out, calling to check on us, asking how we are, giving advice, not prying, teaching, etc…

Being there to listen, giving me a wine glass, making me laugh, sharing secrets, not offering a solution only an ear, etc…

Dec 15 – 5 Minutes – Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010. (Author: Patti Digh)

- Eating sushi with Chuck in San Diego
- Laughing at the ridiculous amount push ups Grand Master made me do for my blackbelt testing
- Laughing hysterically with Lisa and Jenni while tubing down the river
- Girl talk on the river, not being afraid to just say what was on my mind
- The bantering act Michelle and I pull off so well when we are together. Completely in sync – good cop, bad cop
- All the hard work Chuck and I put into the cottage together (Lisa too)
- Calling into work because we decided to stay in California for an extra day
- My Dad’s 60th birthday with all his friends
- TKD – “my foot in your mouth”
- Flying high in aerial yoga – completely my first and only drop at the end of the series
- Wine tasting parties – silly girl talk and laughter
- Putting Christmas lights up with Chuck
- Chuck’s tape obsession
- Eminem Concert
- Watching the Red Wings
- Power Outage – where our house was warmer with the heater Chuck installed and the fire going than we normally keep it.

Reverb 10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. With Reverb 10, we’ll do both.

Dec 2 - Writing – What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?

I always have good intentions – I’ll just finish this before I start that – Oh shiny.  What was I doing?  I have at least a thousand things in my head that I need to do, should do, haven’ t done; you know the feeling.

Take this blog, for example.  I neglect it, only writing when something very interesting or special happens.  That wasn’t the intention.  The problem is when this was started it was without intention.  It was a little something I spontaneously decided to do one day and not wholeheartedly.

The answer to today’s questions?   I’m spontaneous to start things that I don’t see myself finishing or think all the way through. Can I eliminate it?  Maybe.  Do I want to?  Not fully.  I like being spontaneous in the projects that I create because some things turn out to be these awesome things that I can’t believe I finished or even thought to begin.  I need to have a more follow through.  I’ll work on that.  Maybe in next years reflection I will be able to say that I gained better control over finishing what I start.

Reverb 10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. With Reverb 10, we’ll do both.

Dec 1 – One Word – Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

Friendship

Imade a lot of connections this year.  I met wonderful people through blogging, through their friends and classes.  I’m not constantly meeting new people every day, week or month.  In the “real world”, after college, I see the same people day after day after day.  This year has been filled with friendships and experiences that were brand new.  Aerial yoga with Sarah, Mandy and Jenni – who knew I’d be performing some cirque de soleil tricks and it was also an opportunity to interact with people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.  Other examples are wine tasting with Jenni and her amazing friends and Bikram yoga.  Groupon and Living Social contributed to some of these new things, man, where we would be without the good old internet?  Who can pass up 10 classes for $20 or a chance to have an in-home wine tasting for $7 per person?  Clearly, not me.

My hope is that 2011′s word of the year will be Adventure.

I have many plans in my head and I hope some will become a reality.

Responsibilities start piling up and before you know it you’ve lost touch with people that used to consume your life.  You weed out people you don’t need to talk to and squeeze in minimal amounts of time with others.    Those goofy pictures you saw of adults juggling all these balls and looking frustrated and miserable?  It’s for real, it really does feel like that.

Simply put, this sucks.

(Yes, I’m a college graduate who still uses: For real, this sucks, no way, that’s cool, bummer and many other phrases that would have both my English and journalism professors cringing.  If I close my eyes I can see Lessenberry’s chicken scratch all over this post.)

I’m a firm believer that life doesn’t have to be as complicated as we make it.  I think the first step is to stop being so complacent, letting life’s current just take you.  I’m extremely guilty of this.  It’s much easier than to actually make decisions, especially hard ones.

The past year seemed like a game of monopoly.  Buying properties because it was feasible and it’s a “good time to buy”.  I’m grateful for it all but it just adds a lot more pressure.  More bills to pay, more things to clean, more plans to make and less time to chill.  Yes, I’m 28 and sometimes I would really just like to be 18 again (let’s be honest, I only act my age 75% of the time).  18 was a very good year, the first 6 months anyways.

This is getting ridiculously off track.

Lisa and I have added one more participant to the 3rd annual girl’s weekend.  Sad it’s only one but I’ll take it.  All relationships take time and effort, including friendships.  If you haven’t seen your friends in awhile maybe you need to take a step back, re-evaluate and simplify.  Things don’t make us happy; it’s people, experiences and memories.

*jumping down from my soapbox*

We took the barely 5 minute walk to Lake Huron yesterday.  It was balmy and dreamlike with the steam coming up off the pavement.

Really, how can you go wrong with a view like this?

sunset: view from the front yard

For all of you that laugh and joke about how I can’t cook, I would like to stick my tongue out at you.  I’m a closet cooker.  There are days that I actually cook dinner and bake dessert just like a good 1950′s housewife.  True, they are few and far between and if you actually referred to me as that I’d have to round kick you to the head to knock some common sense into you.

Most recently I’ve made homemade granola bars, chocolate chip walnut cookies, artichoke and mushroom alfredo pasta bake (I adapted the recipe from my friend Sarah. And yes I said I adapted it!), black bean tacos and macadamia nut and tropical fruit pancakes.

In other news, I’ve been missing photography like crazy lately.  I haven’t owned a  nice camera since my 35mm SLR was popular.  Sure I carry around my handy Canon Powershot but there are more and more days I’d like to capture the world with something more professional and powerful.  I’ve looked into the Canon XSI Rebel but as stated, money is a little bit tight.

Trying to supplement my income has been a bit of a challenge too.  I had a freelance job but it’s on the back burner because getting me content is an issue.  I’m a little disappointed, but hopefully something else will come along.

I’ll have some exciting news to announce in a week or so!

Enjoy all this lovely sunshine we are getting in April!!

For someone who is a tiny bit afraid of heights, I never thought I’d be taking aerial yoga classes at the Detroit Flyhouse.  I didn’t think I’d be trying to flip myself upside down while I have my foot locked into fabric.  And I certainly never envisioned myself flying in mermaid pose on a trapeze.

This step of leaving my comfort zone has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had.  A month ago I didn’t even know something like this existed.

Clearly, I need to open my eyes to opportunities that  are less mainstream.  I’ve never felt particularly trendy or with the “popular” crowd.  I’ve tried, but it never felt right.  The more I embrace marching to my own tune, the more like me I feel.

For someone who is slightly antisocial I never thought I’d attend a blogger meet up.  I didn’t think I’d have so much to laugh and talk about.  And I certainly didn’t know that after meeting these 6 awesome ladies, I’d have wonderful new friends.

2010 is the start of exploring things I would never think of, going places I didn’t know existed and putting myself out there.  I suppose that is what living is.  Not only learning each day but taking chances and risks.

If you take a good look at your life, is that what you are doing?  And if not, what’s stopping you?

Probably the most exciting hockey game I ever went to was Game 7 of the Red Wings vs the Anaheim Ducks in May 2009.  I was with Chuck, my Uncle Andy and Aunt Liza.  It was beyond the edge of your seats game.  I’ve never heard the Joe so loud before. It really was an experience.

Unfortunately, I picked that night to forget my camera!  We had a really good time and we were definitely high on the crowd’s energy and ready for the next round to start when we left the arena!

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