37 Rocks!!

The girls and me with my loot!

I’ve been 37 for two days now, and so far it’s been pretty awesome.  The presents were great!!  I got a zoom lens for my Nikon D60 digital SLR camera.  I’ve been wanting one for a while now.  It was great at the girls’ soccer games over the weekend and I’m anxious to try it at Addy’s next track meet.  I’m extremely amateur in my photography and someday hope to actually understand the camera and use it to its full potential, but for now, the memories I am capturing are enough.  I also got a beach towel, a shirt, some new towels for the master bath and another Swatch.  The new one is solid bubblegum pink…I love it!!  I did get to run and have dinner out with my family and my cake was to die for.  It was a great birthday…and so far the week has been fantastic too!!

I had to get my driver’s license renewed this year, so I went Monday morning.  I was done in 5 minutes.  That is not an exaggeration.  There was no line, the girl waiting on me was super-quick and get this…my picture is

actually good!!  There really are few things more depressing than a bad driver’s license photo.  You see it every time you open

Reilly at her 1st game

your wallet for four whole years and there is nothing you can do to change it (short of moving to another state).  Then, today I went to the liquor store to buy tequila for my upcoming girl’s weekend (far too many margaritas will be imbibed…blog posts with pics to come later) and I got carded!!  (that is a boost for the ego, I must say) And, to top it all off, “Glee” was back last night.  I’m Jenny and I’m a “Gleek”.  Really, if you aren’t watching this show, you should be.  I’m a sucker for a good musical, which is what brought me to watch it in the first place.  The song and dance routines are fantastic.  I’m not going to lie, I’ve downloaded 1 or 2 or 10 from iTunes.  But what keeps me coming back are the story lines and the  characters.  It is absolutely hysterical…in a dark, twisted, completely inappropriate and totally irreverent way.  I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t watched yet, but suffice it to say, the Spring Season Premiere did not disappoint.

Avery Stopped Playing to Smile for the Camera

I guess having a birthday has me thinking about things again.  What do I want out of the next year?  What did I learn from the last?  I can honestly say that the year of being 36, was the most difficult of my life, and I have big hopes for being 37.  For a long time, I’ve just been going through the motions, taking care of the kids, the house, my husband.  Doing things because they were on my calendar or they just needed to be done.  Taking on projects that didn’t really excite or motivate me.  I was busy, but the busy kept me from being me.  If I was busy, I didn’t have time to really examine my life and figure out what I needed.  If I was busy, it felt like I had a purpose, I was doing things for other people, so I must be needed, my job must be important.  I would have undoubtedly told you I was happy, and that was the truth.  It’s still hard for me to identify exactly what happened last year to change all that.  I think it boils down to this…our lives were getting bigger and busier, the economy was tanking which put a huge burden on my husband who is in sales and financially responsible for five people, I was feeling the strain of constantly monitoring the mood in the house and doing my best to keep everyone happy.  I was exhausted and I was bored and I was feeling alone…and I had a wake up call.  So the last nine months have been about making sense of it all.  The biggest lesson I have learned is that I have to take care of me first.  I have to be healthy physically, emotionally, and spiritually if I want to care for the people I love.  I am not responsible for any other person’s physical, emotional or spiritual health.  I can still care for the people I love.  I can still be kind, generous, encouraging, and do things for them because I want to, but I can’t make them happy and I can’t make them healthy.  Those are things every person has to do for themselves.  I have a vision for the next year.  When I’m quiet and thoughtful and reflective this is what I focus on…

I want to be physically healthy – to continue exercising, to maintain a healthy weight, to eat better and cook better

I want to be emotionally healthy – to continue therapy as long as I need to (maybe forever), to never stop learning how to be better, to choose optimism over pessimism, to do the work necessary to heal when things aren’t going well

I want to be spiritually healthy – to find more time to pray or meditate, to listen to my inner voice and trust my intuition

I want to find a balance between being a wife, a mother, and a woman.  I want to be good at all of those things and not let one identify me over the others.  I want to enjoy all of those things and not have one become more of a burden than the others.  I want to accept that I am human and will make mistakes and not judge myself too harshly when I do and I want to take the time to reflect and learn the lessons that the universe is trying to teach me

Here’s the big one…I want to find my passion!!  I want something in my life that is just about me, that excites me, that I look forward to doing, that I’m good at.  Something that feeds my soul and makes me feel interesting and fulfilled and satisfied.

And finally I want all of these things for the people I love, especially my husband.  I want us to be amazing, whole, healthy, happy individuals who make an amazing, whole, healthy, happy couple and raise amazing, whole, healthy, happy children.

Really, is that too much to ask?  I don’t think so.

Until later…

Thought You’d Want to Know…

I collect Swatch Watches.  Do you remember them?  I got my first Swatch for Christmas when I was in the sixth grade (1984).  It was an all-white band and the face was a white background with a red grid design.  I was the first one in my class to have one because we had a neighbor who worked at The Limited and she got a discount for my mom.  Then I got another the following April for my 12th birthday.  It was blueish-green and it was scented, but I can’t remember what it smelled like.  A while later I got another.  The last one was a clear band and the face was also clear so you could see the inside of the watch.  All of my old Swatches ended up in the garbage I’m sure…who knew I would be wishing I still had them 2o some years later?

I was in Vegas in October 2007 with my husband and some friends celebrating Tom’s 40th birthday.  We were shopping at Caesar’s when I spotted the Swatch store.  I was so excited…I knew that was going to be my big souvenir from the trip (because I definitely wasn’t winning any money).  I really didn’t even know they were still around.  The store was a bit overwhelming.  They now have fancier watches with metal and leather bands and the prices ranged from $50 to several hundred.  I knew I wanted a classic Swatch with the plastic band and a fun design.  I must have tried on fifty different watches,   I know I was driving my friends crazy, but it was an important decision.

The First Swatch In My New Collection

This is the watch I ended up with.  I thought it would go with a lot of stuff and the design was fun.  I also liked that you could see the inside of the watch, like one I had when I was younger.

I wore that watch everyday…even if it didn’t match.  Lots of people noticed it and thought it was funny that I had a Swatch Watch because they too remember them from their youth.  Obviously, the Swatch company has been alive and well all these years and I’m not the only one who has one, but I was the only one I knew who did.

A couple of my close friends kept telling Tom I needed another Swatch.  They knew how much I loved the one I had and quite frankly, I think they were tired of seeing it.  So, after suggesting it for many special occasions, he finally got me another one.

He knows I love all things “pink”, so my Sweetest Day gift for 2009 (I know, you’re jealous that I get Sweetest Day gifts…) was a pink Swatch.  I loved it!!  It was totally different than my other one.  It still had a plastic band, but it was really thin and the face was metal and also really thin.  I think it’s “prettier” than the others.

My Snowman Swatch

Then for Christmas, 2009, I got my third Swatch…my “Snowman” swatch.  You may be wondering what is on the face of my “Snowman” Swatch.  If you are my age, you may remember Swatch guards.  Swatch guards were basically just colored rubber bands that you put over the face of your Swatch to protect it…really more of an accessory than a necessity, I think.  Anyway, I had asked about Swatch guards at the store in Vegas and the 19 year old working there looked at me like I had two heads.  Apparently, they don’t make them anymore.  So Tom had been checking eBay for a while and finally found some…still in the original packages.  It was really cool to twist two together…I swear, it was!!

My husband travels to Chicago often and there is a Swatch store near his office.  He has become a frequent shopper…he has a card and everything.  So in January, he surprised me with my fourth Swatch, for no reason.  This one is my favorite of all.  It’s happy!!  I love all the colors, I can wear it with almost anything, and I get lots of compliments on it.

My Favorite Swatch

We also bought one for my sister for her birthday a couple weeks ago.  It’s silver with a colorful peacock design.  I really like it, but I don’t think I want the same one she has.  I’ll have to see if I can get a picture of it to add to this post.

I mentioned that my husband found the Swatch Guards on eBay.  He has also found a couple vintage Swatches.  The clear Swatch I had in the 80’s (The Jellyfish) is available, but it goes for several hundred dollars.  He also found a Swatch that my friend Shane had when she was young.  She actually bid on it and won it.  She used to wear hers in her hair on a ponytail…seriously!!  Do you have any Swatch memories?  He did buy one vintage Swatch for me, but it needs a battery so I haven’t worn it yet.  That is the latest addition to my collection, but I do have a birthday coming up…

Until later…

The Entire Collection