cough syrup - jason keogh cover

My Brother - Love you once more

The Bear Necessities

Bear necessities, those simple bear necessities, forget about your worries and your strife! (Yeah man!) I need those bear necessities!

This blog post is about getting back to what's important, and figuring out what I care about most.

Part of the problem was that I never believed I was able to be singleminded enough to be really great at anything.

I always wondered why I couldn't stick to one pursuit and be a great singer, poet/songwriter or dancer. Just to do any of my favorite things as well as I would have liked. I accepted that I was a jack of all trades for many years and that was my excuse for never really dedicating myself to any of it. I never realized that all along I actually was dedicated with a dogged determination to the one thing that mattered the most to me.

For the last 8 years the dream and goal I have been pursuing was to return to Ireland without doing so foolishly. I wanted to still live a full life, keep advancing in my career, and not have to give up true love. Basically it had to make sense, and it hasn't until now. So I can forgive myself for not doing those other things because i have just reached the goal i had for 8 years and can even be proud of what I have achieved in getting here where I am now at a cross roads.

Getting here involved seizing the right opportunity at the right time, and having patience, both of these are difficult and things were harder than they needed to be thanks to the pace I set myself. All the 'milestones of life' I have rushed and pushed, I forgot to enjoy the journey, figure out what I truly wanted and take my time, to enjoy the journey.  It is sheer luck maybe that I actually have been truly blessed in what and who I have.

I don't know what the rush was though, it is one piece of advice I was given that I would try to give to my children, but I did not heed it when it was given to me. Don't be in such a hurry to do everything, especially grow up. Live a little, have some fun. I don't know how I will communicate how important this is to my kids, but I have a little time to figure that out.

but it's time to de clutter my life now. Take my time. Before I could only graze the surface of things that weren't part of getting here, but now that I have, I feel freed and fired up to see what's next. So the real question is,

What do you do when you finally achieve everything you thought you ever wanted?

I am committing myself to the pursuit of happiness, allowing myself to be present in the journey. The first step in the happiness project by Gretchen Rubin is simple, get enough rest, so you can have energy to use. Another is to de clutter your life, and so I will de clutter my goals, to accomodate my new status as a parent. With this in mind in mind, and some soul searching these are my four areas of focus. None matter without the others.

Resting... taking care of me - Stick to doing this, to enjoying the journey, taking my time, and being sure I have the energy to be at my best, so i can give my best. Making myself a priority is a challenge but doing it means I wont let others down.

Family - There is nothing more important than taking care of the most important people in my life. My daughter, husband, pets and family and friends all over the world. I am not doing this the way I want, and being able to love people and make room for them in my life is very important to me. Parenting is the biggest chunk of this next to falling in love with my husband every day, rediscovering all our love and joy, our reasons for being together, daily.

Career - Spending time developing my expertise and keeping current, being sharp and organized while at work, taking it to the next level, owning and taking pride in my work appearance and professional persona.

Self Expression - Song writing, blogging, getting to 'know thyself' (see my professional blog on using technology to do this and why it's important).

Anything else, I don't have room for right now, and will just take away from my ability to enjoy this phase of my life. I'm excited, and not anxious and thats a first, so bring it on, Carpe Diem.

Back Home From Ireland

So I had a great trip home, it was only for a week but MAN did I get a lot done. 

I just want to say thanks to everyone that made the time to come hang out with me, I know everybody can be busy with life, and I took a week to come and interrupt all of that but I saw some amazing castles, and had some great times with the people I love.

The first castle I saw was Humewood in Kiltegan, Co Wicklow. It was astonishing. 12 bedrooms, each with its own bathroom and a canopy over most of the beds and bath tubs. My cousin Ciara came with me and I discovered we have a lot in common, with a family like mine its a wonder I even have friends, because I could score a lifetime of best friends from this amazing group of people. They are my kindred spirits really, and I can't wait to see them all again.

We also looked at Barberstown castle in a small town called Straffan, Co Kildare. The reception venue looked amazing, stunning, truly, but, it felt like it was missing some warmth, or something, well it was hard to put my finger on it anyway, maybe it was the cost??

I found an amazing french baker who used to be a chef but now loves the artistry of decorating, which I think is the perfect combination for a wedding cake maker. His chocolate biscuit cake is amazing, and his ideas for incorporating our theme into the cake design have me really excited. I still have to talk to one other lady about cakes, who I really hit it off with, before I make my decision, but all in all I am in a much better position to make most of the wedding decisions than I was before my week in Ireland.

Being able to see my family too was the icing on the cake, and made the whole trip just that bit more sweet.