Author Archive
Quiet Time
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I am in serious need of some quiet time. Despite my big plans to slow down in 2012, I feel like I have sped up. I need to follow Laura Fenemore’s advice and listen to what my body is saying. I’m sitting here at home, on this holiday weekend, with a sore throat. I am exhausted. I decided I am going to hibernate this weekend and recover. I’m also going to take some time to reflect on what is really important to me. I’m starting with clearing out the clutter in my life: emails, piles of paper and my closet.
I just deleted 735 emails from my in box. Some junk, some newsletters, some blog requests, others;
letters from kid’s schools and sports teams, personal friends and family, strangers who want something, friends wanting to hang out, responses to emails I sent, endless. So many not read.
Decided I needed a fresh start. Have been trying to get on top of my email account for months and it has been a slippery slope. Every time I opened my email I felt bad for not responding to each person, especially my friends and family. Problem is, each time I respond I get another email back almost instantly. Tried to keep up but couldn’t. Realized today, I was never going to catch up.
Feels good to start fresh. I wish people would be more conscious about the number of emails they send. I know I’ve been guilty of shooting off too many because I’m too lazy to pick up the phone. Sometimes a quick phone call could save 10 email exchanges.
What do you do when your email in box reaches the point of overwhelm?
I plan to spend more time enjoying the sunsets. Thankful to my friend Marilyn who has been getting Poncho and I out on more sunset walks.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Posted by: | CommentsI found love in the strangest places this year.
While hiking.
Playing in the snow on Mt. Tam.
From Felix the Cook!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
For even more love… Like us on Facebook!
PS. If you’re feeling lonely or sad today, give a gift to someone who is not expecting it.
#ValentinesDayTip #SinglesAwarenessDay
Fun things to do in Marin Today
Posted by: | CommentsHappy Saturday!
It’s another beautiful winter/summer day here in Marin County and it is almost Valentine’s Day!
Have you thought about what you are going to give your honey, your child, your best friend or your mom for Valentine’s Day yet? Want to give them something new and different? I have an idea for you!
Go to San Anselmo today!
Tamara Holland is having an Art Sale TODAY.
Where: 2 Florence Ave. in San Anselmo, CA.
When: Today, February 4, 2012 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
More Weird Winter Weather
Posted by: | CommentsThis has been the strangest winter I have ever spent in the Bay Area. The weather has been nicer than a normal Bay Area summer.
Here are some photos from the past week.
Took a walk during my lunch break today and happened upon this friendly seagull near the Bay Bridge.
View from the Golden Gate Bridge taken from my bus ride in to the city this morning.
View of Richardson Bay from the Tiburon Bike path. Amazing colors last night.
Wonderful winter walk with Marilyn LoRusso last night.
Weird Winter Weather
Posted by: | CommentsThis has been the strangest winter I have ever experienced in the Bay Area. It’s been sunny and beautiful. No rain. I know this weather is probably not a good thing but worrying and whining about the fact that we haven’t had any rain is not going to change the fact that we haven’t had any rain. I have to say I have been enjoying the beautiful weather and views. I think I remember last year we got some record rain fall and Tahoe got some record amounts of snow. Maybe it is just the earths way of balancing things out.
Thanks to this odd weather I have been able to get some beautiful photos.
Taken from the bus right after crossing the bridge in to the city.
Taken from behind the Ferry Building.
Taken from the bus while crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge in to San Francisco.
Hope you are enjoying this weird winter weather!
It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over
because there’s nothing you can do about them,
and why worry about things you do control?
The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.
Wayne Dyer (via BrainyQuote)
To see regular morning sunrise photos, taken from the bus, on the Golden Gate Bridge, be sure to like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SallyAroundTheBay
Doggone Good Advice
Posted by: | CommentsMaybe I can’t teach an old dog new tricks but it seems an old dog can teach me some things, about life. I think I am going to take advice from my aging dog and slow down a bit this year. Poncho was a crazy puppy. He had a LOT of energy. Kind-hearted people always told us just wait until he is 2 and he will calm down. Well, he turned 2 and he did not calm down one bit. In fact he made it all the way to 10 without calming down much.
Now he is 11 making his way toward 12 and he is finally calm (most of the time).
Poncho used to go, go, go! Now he spends most of his time sleeping. He still likes to play, but not for too long. He still likes to go on walks, but tires sooner. He still enjoys seeing his doggie BFFs but hardly plays with them like he used to. His younger dog friends try taunting him but he usually chooses to lay down over playing tug-o-war, chase or wrestling.
He is losing his eyesight. His muscles are degenerating and I am watching the process of aging do its thing in the rapid way it does in dogs.
I get sad sometimes seeing him slow down knowing he may not be with us for much longer. But he is not sad. He is just living life, taking it as it comes and enjoying it as much as possible.
I wish I could be more like Poncho. I spent the last year in the go, go, go mode and to be honest it was not a very satisfying year.
Instead of go, go, go I am going to try to slow, slow, slow. Life is flying by fast enough. I see proof of this when I look in the mirror and see the wrinkles on my face. What is the hurry?
I am going to slow down, spend more quality time with my dog in the sunset of his life and maybe learn a little bit from him on how to worry less and appreciate more.
I am not sure how I am going to do this but slowing down is my intention for 2012.
Simplify My Life: Out with the poop in with the new
Posted by: | Comments2012 is the year I am going to simplify my life!
2011 was anything but simple. 2011 was probably the hardest year I have had since coming out of the closet.
Let’s just say 2011 was a bit of a poopy year.
***WARNING*** TMI coming up.
With extended “family” drama taken to a whole new level, a sewage flood that took out a large section of my house (there was literally human poop floating around my house), to the undiagnosed-but-most-likely-Ecoli-poisoning I had that made me poop blood, 2011 was a poopy year.
Me sitting outside of Kaiser hospital with the poop test hat. Laughing to avoid crying.
All this poop turned out to be very cleansing. The shit of the family literally came to the surface and we are slowly cleaning it up. The great poop flood of my home was a symbol of my life. My home is now beautifully remodeled. The food poisoning gave me a serious cleanse and took with it those extra 10 pounds I had been carrying around.
Now that the poop has been washed away I am ready for a clean, simple 2012.
To start with I am going to intentionally plan simplicity in to my life and focus on the things I love: my family, friends, my dog, hiking, cooking, reading, blogging, tweeting, etc.
I’m going to…
- downsize my social life. Taking an idea from Lissa Rankin, I’m making a list of special people in my life that I want to spend more time with. I am going to say no to events and invitations that I feel obligated to attend and only say yes to spending quality time with the special people in my life.
- eat out less and cook more healthy meals at home.
- spend more time reading books, less time on the internet.
- more time hiking with my dog.
- more time blogging.
- more time serving others. (going to start volunteering)
What are your plans for 2012?
Last minute gift idea
Posted by: | CommentsI just love this poem/story written by my favorite farmer Tara Smith from Tara Firma Farms.
Thanks Tara for your inspiring newsletter this week (and all that you do)!
Happy Holidays!
To all the Parents, Aunts, Uncles, Sisters and Brothers…What to get for Christmas…
Twas the night before Christmas
And all across the Farm
Not a creature was stirring
All quiet in the Barn
The children were nestled
Scattered about the house (four sons – 21, 22, 23, 14, a girl that is supposedly just a friend and another kid from who knows where)
My husband I were sleeping (hiding)
I awoke to a SNAP…one less mouse (peanut butter in the trap works really well)
Staring at the ceiling
Feeling the dread
Knowing I would soon
Be getting out of bed
Wrapping the presents
And filling the socks
Wondering if they would think it funny
If they were filled with Rocks
We don’t need any thing
We don’t need more stuff
We don’t need to waste
It’s all useless fluff
The packaging and paper
Our landfills are full
Our buying and buying
Needing more is just bull.
It’s never enough
All the junk, all the stuff
It doesn’t make us happy
Myself I rebuff
It’s not about stuff
It’s not about things
It’s not about toys or gas cards or rings
It’s not about spending
Time in the store
It’s not about giving out crap
Anymore.
It has to change
We have to wake up
We have to think long term
The “stuff” we have to give up
So I took out a pen
And paper to write
I made several renditions
Notes to my boys that night
I wrote of how proud
I am of them all
How we laugh together
They are really a ball
I wrote of their wins
And how they show character when they lose
I wrote of honesty
And lack of drug taking and little booze.
I tried to explain
How a mother does feel
To see her children
Engage in a way that is real.
In the wee morning hours
I drank coffee and cried
The paper was stained
And the tear stains shown as they dried.
With so little stuff
Under the tree
I worried they would wake
And be disappointed in me.
I watched as they gathered
Around the lit tree
Each taking out their letters
Reading silently.
I watched them tear up
As the heart embraces
The emotion it feels
It showed in their faces
The love of a parent
So simple to give
It lasts forever
Any stuff it will outlive.
It takes only time
And a paper and pen
Give them a gift
They will remember when…and always…
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Your Farmer, Tara Smith
P.S. If you add a little cash to the envelope they’re really like it.
(added by @Sally_K) I want to be Tara when I grow up.





















