Overwhelming in many ways, week 41 has been pivotal for me in ways I can’t even begin to describe.  Enjoy this week’s collection of words and pictures:

• Words:  I can’t thank you enough for your feedback on my birthday post.  Sometimes, I’m still overwhelmed at the support, space and graciousness I’ve received on this blog from you.  Each of you are in my prayers always.  Words can’t convey how much you’ve each come to mean to me.
• Home made chicken enchiladas!  Can you say yum, yum?!!!!   They were awesome.
• Birthday cupcakes from my co-workers.   The rain and tornado crushed them a little bit but that’s alright … I ate those things like I just got released from jail!!!  LOLOL!   My friend Chris organized everything. With the contributions he collected and what he put in, he got me my favourite cupcakes — red velvet and the middle one is chocolate with purple (my favourite colour) frosting.  The frosting was shaped like a rose.  Added to that, I got birthday balloons, a small tigress (a stuffed toy I named Elisa) since Chris said that my loyalty, friendship and style were fierce.  LOLOL!  He’s so kind to me.  He also added a bottle of  Hennessy Black (from him) (source) and a pen with a purple diamond at the top.  Couldn’t have asked for a better birthday package.
• A beautiful sunset.  Reminded me of God’s amazing colour combo skills.  This was all kinds of awesome and it was a joy to capture in my urban jungle.
• Being able to use my skills to help Andi help someone in need.  My square is late getting to her but I’m sending it anyway.
• Getting the stitches out of my arm.  The swelling is lessening more and more every day.  I’m grateful that I can craft without discomfort now.
• Being able to start my Fall home de-cluttering.  I finished my linen closet and all my makeup.  The makeup is huge since I have a … errr … large stash of eyeshadow, nail polish and lip gloss.
• Getting the news that my friend and Rhinebeck partner in crime was able to exchange a work-day with a co-worker so we’ll be able to go Rhinebeck next Sunday.  Yay!!!!

And yes, there is birthday yarn loot and other yummies, but I’ll do a post on those sometime this week. LOLOL!  😀  And I’ll also post my review of the Dr.Oz experience.

Hope you all had a great week last week and cheers to a wonderful upcoming one!!!  😀

Can you guys believe that we only have 12 more weeks before the year ends!!!!  The thought of that just blows my mind.  I feel like I haven’t accomplished most of what I wanted to do this year because the time went by so quickly.  But that in itself is another post.

• This week was another mixed bag.  And as I looked out onto my neighborhood early this morning, the foliage reminded me that life is truly a mixed bag.  Everything is not the same, even with commonality, there’s still something unique about everything.  Does that make sense?

Eventhough we’re in the Fall season, the trees in my neighborhood represented the mixed bag that life can be and the variation in response to life experiences based on who we are on the inside.

As they respond to the Fall environmental changes, based on their genetic make-up (that would equate (in my mind) to our psychological, mental and emotional make-up), some trees have already shed most of their leaves, some are still sporting vivid green, some have become brown and some are still full of leaves and are as splendidly green as they were in Spring and Summer.  Their response to environmental factors absolutely reflect their “insides”.

As I looked around, I realised just like trees, different experiences bring out different responses in me … in all of us.  However, I do believe that the trick is to stay grounded, stay strong, stay focused and even if we lose a few “leaves” the goal is to stay rooted and stand tall.

• I’m grateful this week for making it through the work week.  My week started with layoffs, then continued with an employee who’s trying to get me to help her cheat the company using FMLA, then ended with a chapter that I’m happy to close.
• I’m grateful for the periods of introspection I’ve had this week.  I’m grateful for the opportunities they afforded me to focus on who I really want to be as a person.  As I get older, my thoughts have shifted even more towards who I want to be over what I want to do.  But more on that later.
• I’m also grateful this week for a very strange interaction I had with someone I consider a friend.  It wasn’t unpleasant, but it wasn’t pleasant either.  But what it did was remind me that we’re all changing, that relationships don’t stay the same, that it’s okay to be uncomfortable sometimes and that every interaction — pleasant or unpleasant — is a learning opportunity.
• One totally fun thing that happened to me this week is that …… I GOT TICKETS FOR THE DR. OZ show!!!!!  I behaved like this when I got the email:    What’s even better, initially, all the people I asked to come couldn’t because of work so I confirmed for one ticket.  Then my friend Ophelia was sad she couldn’t come.  Got an email two days later saying they had extra tickets, Ophelia got the day off so was more: 

The show is part of the plans I made for my birthday and I’m glad that I can at least do that since my vacation is going to cut short because of the departure of my work nemesis.

This week’s post is a little ‘heavy’ since most of the interactions this week were all over the place and not so pleasant.  Despite that, I hope you all had a great week and cheers for an great upcoming week!   😀