Friday, March 19, 2010

Simple Inspiration: Travel


I had so much fun with my travel post yesterday that travel has remained on my mind and in my dreams. So today I will leave you with some of my favorite travel quotes:



"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” –Martin Buber
"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” –St. Augustine
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." -Mark Twain
All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” –Samuel Johnson

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain

"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” -Pat Conroy


Thursday, March 18, 2010

Travel: Where I've Been (Update 12/18/15)

I have a travel wishlist. It is long and always growing as I constantly fall in love with new destinations. Sometimes I catch myself writing the names of cities, towns, and countries that I have been. My brain is trying to catalog my trips, for what I don't know. To save myself time and to have a reference, I will put that list here and maybe then I can add to it as I go somewhere new.

Ok here goes (Places that I have been):

Within the US:
Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin

Caribbean:
Aruba
Barbados
Caracas
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Grenada
Guadelupe
Martinique
Puerto Rico
Saint John
Saint Martin
Saint Thomas

Other:
Australia
Canada
England
France
Belgium
Netherlands
Italy
Mexico
New Zealand
Peru
Venezuela








Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Erin Go Braugh: Happy Evacuation Day

On the phone with my Mom last night:
So what are you going to do tomorrow on your day off?
No Mom, I have to work.
Oh right, only Boston.

She lives in Boston. I do not.

St Patrick's Day in Boston is coincidentally (or not so coincidentally as most believe) also Evacuation Day. It is the day that the British evacuated from Boston Harbor. So on Evacuation Day, nobody works and EVERYBODY celebrates St Patrick's Day! When you grow up in Boston, St. Patrick's Day is not an option, it is a birth right.

There is a televised breakfast complete with Irish step dancing, songs, and roasts of local Boston politicians. There is a parade. Green beer. Crowds of people on the streets and in some of the oldest bars (or pubs) in the country. And everybody is dressed in green and happy.















I currently live in the Midwest. Today is still acknowledged but it's not the same. I am at work with a green shirt, green necklace, green cellphone, and scribbling notes with my green pen. But my heart is somewhere else today. (I wish I was here)

(Photo: St Patricks a few years ago. I think I was going for the kiss and he was going for the secret)

I know for most today is a reason to drink green beer but to me it's... well it's that, but it's more too. There is an X-factor. On this day each year I am filled with pride. Proud of where I came from. Proud that my background is so celebrated. proud that I am from a city so full of history and tradition.

So however you may celebrate today and for whatever reason,

May your blessings outnumber
the shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you,
wherever you go.
(source unknown)









Friday, March 5, 2010

Spirit of Good Health: Tricking Myself

I am still not feeling good today. I am getting really frustrated with this mysterious illness and zero diagnosis. I think I am going to leave work early in an effort to find better health.
When I don't feel good, I actually put more effort into my appearance. It's my version of chicken soup for the soul. In the spirit of "fake it till you make it", I will leave you today with this picture, and urge my body to feel like it did on that day and not this one.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Say Ha: The best one of the best ones


Surround Yourself with Your Dream Team.
My cousin Jen said to me one time. I always think about that. It is the best friendship advice that I know. It is so simple and so true.

The last weekend in February, I was in San Francisco hanging out with my best friend. We don't live in the same place. We haven't for five years and as much as I wish (daily) for us to be neighbors, the distance yields adventure.









We have been to eleven different states together (not including Australia or New Zealand) and I would not trade those trips for anything in the world.

She picked me up at the airport and we drove around the city so excited that it was hard to finish a sentence.

San Francisco is so beautiful and surreal
and I was trying to let it settle in
that I was really there.
I wanted to stretch out each moment.
A part of me wanted to stay forever.


Our friendship is what friendship is supposed to be. We don’t live in the same place, we can’t talk everyday, but when we connect, we don’t skip a beat.
She reminds me who I am. No matter what is going on, when I tell her, she has this amazing way of making everything feel like that is exactly how it is supposed to be. It is comforting, it is reassuring, and it adds an element of excitement to everything we do.

I know I am guilty of talking about her. A lot. To everyone. The thing is, we have a lot of really great stories. She was there the day I met the love of my life. She talked me into bungee jumping. She saved my life when we were lost on a glacier…. How do you NOT talk about that?

When we were in Napa she bought a bottle of wine that can age for up to thirty years. She bought it because she had an image in her head of us (significant others included) on vacation together years from now.

I love that.
I love it because with us,
it will actually happen.
We dream it up and then we make it come to life.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Doctor Advice: You'll Breathe Even If You Don't Try

Something is not right. For the past week and a half my body has been experiencing some sort of attack and it's taking everything in me not to completely freak out.
I am having moments where i feel like I can't breathe,
like I'm going to lose consciousness, like my body does not want to work anymore. I feel like I am fighting against myself just for normal function. I have never experienced anything like this before and it is scary and frustrating.

I was in the emergency room on Thursday night/Friday morning and all the big tests were normal so that's good- but it's not getting better. I was back in the doctor's on Saturday and then Monday and on the phone with them on Tuesday.

I am at work now because I am negative with time-off so I feel like I have to be. It is manageable sitting at my desk when I can just keep to myself, interactions can be challenging. And how I feel changes minute to minute. One second I think I'm okay and the next, I see myself hitting the floor.

I had to write about this just to get it out. I have tried so many times to explain the symptoms to doctors, nurses, loved ones. I want so badly to feel better and be okay.
One thing I am grateful for is a doctor who listens and who is willing to test and examine. She makes me feel like I am being taken care of. She is not the only one. Nick has been wonderful. My friends have reached out to me with kind words and even baked goods and my sisters have been checking on me. It is comforting to know that when these things happen, that your support system kicks into gear. It makes the days a little easier. And I know that with every day and new test we are one step closer to solving this. Being patient (or being a patient) can be hard sometimes and I really have to not do too many web searches or self diagnosing. I have to listen to the doctors advice and just- focus on breathing.