christmas

gearing up part 2.

1 December 2016 / christmas, life, pictures, ronni

I might look my age here.... nah. 😁 #selfie

Wow, 2016 has been a doozy, hasn’t it? So much has happened, and keeps happening—on a global scale, a personal scale, a national scale. Sometimes it’s overwhelming. I have to step away and remind myself that I can’t, and shouldn’t, try to save everyone. I have to take care of me, too.

November was busier than I anticipated! I’ll break it down in list form. You know how I love lists!

– got sick a few times and had to take time off work either due to severe pain, and once for a stomach bug! neither were fun. at all.
– doctor diagnosed me with anemia and prescribed me iron supplements and red meat. the anemia explains my obsession with crunching on ice (rumored to be a pica for people with iron deficiency), why I’ve been so run down and well, maybe even why I’m so bloody cold all the frakkin’ time.
– attended TWO cons. windycon the weekend of November 11–13 and ChamBanaCon the weekend of November 25–27. had a great time at both. met really cool people, ate really good food, and had wonderful conversations. plus, ChamBanaCon had bananas all over the place. plush bananas. banana artwork. bananas bananas bananas. my only regret is that I’d never come to the con before.

Me with a giant banana! #ChambanaCon 😂😂🍌🍌

– got hypnotized for the first time and I liked it a LOT. not as entertainment, but as a relaxation exercise. it was very similar to meditating and yoga nidra. I really liked the floaty feeling, and also feeling like I had permission to deeply relax.
– got to be at a panel for the first time at a con! LOVED IT.
– Had the History Channel in my home *twice* filming Adam talking about HH Holmes stuff and some such. that was pretty neat.
– been keeping up with my therapy and medication.
– enjoying the work I do for Envision. a lot.
– started buckling down on Christmas shopping.
– had a low key Thanksgiving. worked in the morning, ate good food for an early dinner, napped and read, then went to the radio.
– hung out at the Pretty Late with Patti Vasquez radio show for a second Thanksgiving. So much fun!
– went Black Friday shopping at Kohl’s after the radio show, and scored some gifts for people, some fun things for me, and had a great time!

December is here, and it’s actually one of my favorite months of the year despite winter officially starting on the 21st. This month’s going to be on the busy side as well, with the following things coming up:

– a massage (praise the Lord please and thank you, so needed)
– a ChiYA brunch
– finishing up one of my contracts
– The Nutcracker
– doctor’s appointment
– my birthday
– Aidan’s birthday
– Christmas & all its accoutrements (cards, gifts, food, etc.)
– holiday travel (and seeing mommy!)

… and I know I’m forgetting stuff. Don’t feel like pulling out the ole planner to check.

I also hope to squeeze in some writing. I tried to do Nano this year. FAIL. That sort of furious writing rarely works for me. And it’s OK. We all have our processes. I would like to work on becoming more disciplined, though, so I can get more words out sooner. The sooner the writing part is done, the sooner the revising part can start. And I’m excited about the ideas coming in. I just need to focus and do it. JUST DO IT. Anyway, we’ll see how it goes. (plea to Universe: please have it go astonishingly well, thank you)

And I think that’s enough for now. Till next time…..

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and so this is christmas.

27 December 2014 / christmas, pictures

I always feel a little bit let down the day after Christmas. Part of the magic of the Christmas season is the anticipation of all the parts of the holiday: the food, seeing loved ones, giving and getting presents, watching the A Christmas Story marathon, and so on and so forth.

So now I am dealing with that post holiday let down. One good thing is that I have Aidan with me here and his birthday is coming soon. So we have that celebration to look forward to.

I had a good Christmas, despite being sick and developing a cold sore. The cold that had been threatening me all week finally came into fruition big time on Sunday. It had started to feel icky on Friday, but Saturday was my birthday so I made myself enjoy it despite just wanting to lie in bed all day.

I had a great birthday! I slept pretty late, as usual, but also because I wasn’t feeling that great. The macaron place in the neighborhood was open for retail, so we went in and Adam got me a bunch of yummy macarons! My friend Jen had me over and took some photos of me. Here’s one of them:

long hair don’t care!

After Jen’s, we went to the UPS store where we picked up packages and mail and stuff, then we went to a late lunch/early dinner at Longhorn. I had prime rib! It had been years since I’d had prime rib. Then we went to Michael’s, which sounds a lot more fun than it was. It took me AGES to find the Christmas washi, the place was crowded and over warm, and my cashier was kind of a bitch. It wasn’t a great shopping experience, but I really don’t care that much. After that, we went and drove around looking at Christmas lights! Hung out with the upstairs neighbor a bit, then crashed. It was a low key birthday, but it was a lot of fun. Ivy sent me a pack of Staedtler Fineliners (my favorite!), Grandma Bel sent me a scarf that is battery operated and therefore heated! (I have to say I haven’t had to use it yet, and I am grateful. It can stay in the 50s all winter for all I care!) And Adam gave me a beautiful Tiffany necklace. He’s getting really good at picking out gifts! 🙂

Sunday, I was completely out of commission. I was sick and exhausted. I slept the entire day. I was frustrated because I had so much to do, but no energy. Monday I made myself prepare for traveling, and Tuesday morning I slept a nice, drugged up sleep most of the way to my mom’s. I don’t remember too much of Tuesday, to be honest. We got a Honey Baked Ham, I took some photos, I visited with my mom, set up the gift I got for her and Greggy (a computer!), and was annoyed because I couldn’t smell any of the good things cooking and baking or taste anything!

By Christmas Day, I felt much better, though. Still sniffling and plowing through the Kleenex, but I had more energy and didn’t feel like sleeping the day away. Which was a miracle because my mom and I stayed up talking literally all night. Until after 8am. It was my favorite part of the visit!

Mommys tree. ????????????#christmas #tree #holiday

my mommy’s tree

Christmas Day was great! I slept in, everyone liked their presents, and the food was good. My taste was slowly coming back. Not fully, but enough that I could enjoy my dinner! And the company as well.

Once upon a time I used to write out long lists on my blog of the stuff I got for Christmas. I don’t even know if my readers care, but I like reading my past entries and seeing what I got that year. Let me see if I can remember what I got this year:

From Adam:
– Nintendo wallet
– Frederick the Literate blanket (!!!)
– lenses for my iPhone camera
– a pink lightning cable for my iPhone
– all of my favorite snacks in my stocking
– tons of hair ties (somehow he remembered that I kept breaking all the ones I had!)
– a light box (on its way)
– Mean Girls on Blu-ray
– Epic Mickey 2 for Xbox
– Nag Champa incense

From Aidan:
– Maleficent on DVD

From Chris & Matt:
– Kate Spade bracelet
– Kate Spade pouch
– toe socks
– cute Panda headband/ear warmer
– wax melts
– tote
– a bunch of gift bags (LOVE it, I always gather up the gift bags that people want to toss so I can reuse them–I’m touched that Matty remembered that)

From Mommy & Greggy:
– a bunch of cute sweaters and tops

From Leah:
– a pink lava lamp (aw yeah!)

From the In-Laws:
– awesome polka dot umbrella
– prints with Bob Dylan lyrics on them
– Doctor Who Dalek ornament
– super warm leggings
– Divergent Collector’s Edition
– woven blanket (I’ve been wanting this blanket for four years. SO glad I have it now!)
– canvas print of the family for the whole family
– Selzer family 2015 calendar

From Ivy:
– a cute canvas bag that says “I’m correcting your grammar in my head.”

From Andy:
– the large size Mickey Mouse Tsum Tsum plush!!!!

I’m sure I missed some things. I am so grateful to have the people in my life that I do.

Now, Aidan and I are both sick and kind of loopy from medicine. And I’m fighting the post-holiday melancholy that comes as we transition back to ordinary time and I wonder how we get through the rest of the year without this to look forward to. But I’ll be OK. I go through this every year and I manage.

Wrapped in one of my favorite gifts, a Frederick the Literate blanket. Thank you @adamselzer and thank you @laurendestefanoauthor for introducing me to it!! #christmas #love #cats #books ????????????

wrapped in my blanket 🙂

So, the weekend is coming and that means a lazy Saturday, a sorta busy Sunday (kid’s room and Pretty Late), and back to normal on Monday. Work for a new freelance client, I need to go to the bank, bills to pay, boring business stuff to do, and so on. So I should enjoy the downtime now, right? 🙂

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

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holiday wish meme 2014.

5 December 2014 / christmas, meme, positivity

For the 2014 holiday season, I have so much to be excited about and thankful for!

– My awesome Aidan. He’s now eleven years old, in sixth grade, and absolutely the best little boy ever. EVER.
– My family.
– All the cool stuff I got to do this year! Acting classes, TV shows, movies, and more.
– The neat places I got to visit this year: Los Angeles, New Orleans, Jekyll Island, Disney World.
– My work study opportunity at Moksha Yoga. It’s still awesome.
– My friends, old and new!
– The abundance and blessings that have been and keep being rained down on us.

It’s now time for the Holiday Wishes meme. I started doing this in 2006, and I encourage you guys to do it as well.

Step One
– Make a post (public, locked, filtered…whatever you’re comfortable with) to your LJ/blog. The post should contain your list of up to 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fun (“I’d love a Doctor Who icon that’s just for me”) to medium (“I wish for _____ on DVD”) to really big (“All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.”) The important thing is to make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
– If you wish for real possible things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it’s your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
– Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your entry, or link to this post (it’ll be public) so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two
– Surf around to see who has posted their list. And now here’s the important part: If you see a wish you can grant, and it’s in your heart to do so, make someone’s wish come true. Sometimes someone’s trash is another’s treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don’t want or a gift certificate you won’t use—or even know where you could get someone’s dream purebred Basset Hound for free—do it.
– You needn’t spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn’t to put people out, it’s to provide everyone a chance to be someone else’s holiday elf—to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not—it’s your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just…wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you’ll have the joy of knowing you made someone’s holiday special.

With that said, here are my wishes for 2014.

1. A gift card, or for you to make donations to, DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose focuses on education. Teachers ask for classroom project materials. We donate. The kids learn. Most of these schools are high poverty, and the teachers are already doing all they can. Any amount is welcome.

2. Donations to Paws Chicago, the shelter where we got Helena. It’s a cage-free, no-kill shelter, and they are run completely on donations; they receive no city, state, or federal funding. It’s a great place. A shelter situation is stressful for the animals involved, and every animal I came in contact with there was happy and friendly. They have an extensive screening process to make sure you’re aware of your decision and commitment, and if somehow things don’t work out, the animal always has a home at PAWS.

3. Anything from my Amazon wish list. BUY ME ALL THE THINGS I mean wait what?

4. Gift cards to bookstores. I love bookstores. And books. But you already know that.

5. I also wouldn’t mind gift cards to Old Navy, Nordstrom Rack, Target, or Kohl’s.

The things that I’d like your prayers/happy energy for:

1. My mom to be as healthy as possible and to live a long time.

2. My friends and family to be happy, healthy, comfortable, and secure.

3. Myself to be happy, healthy, comfortable, and secure.

It’s December now, the holiday and giving season really is here! YAY!

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(extra)ordinary time.

8 January 2014 / aidan, birthday, christmas, life, pictures

The Christmas decorations are down and put away. Chicago’s been in a deep freeze for days now. It’s a whopping 0F as I write this, which is somewhat of an improvement over the -14F we had on Tuesday. Although, when it’s this cold, it doesn’t even matter what the temperature is. It’s just effing cold, and I effing hate it. Truly, I have not been out of the house since December 30. I don’t get cabin fever like a lot of people I know, but even I’m ready for this to be over. Thankfully, temperatures are predicted to be normal by the weekend, so I can get start going to yoga again, and I can start acting classes. (I’m also out of some of my favorite foods, and I need parmesan cheese. We also need cat food.)

Freelance work is starting up again–I have a gig with VSA later this week. Aidan heads back to Columbus later this evening. (One good thing about this horrible weather? I got extra days with Aidan! Always a good thing. I will be sad when he’s gone.)

I realized that I didn’t really do any Christmas posts on my blog in 2013. Truthfully, I found it really hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year. I nearly didn’t decorate, but knowing that Aidan was going to be here motivated me. (He seemed to appreciate my efforts, but he had more fun twirling in the beads when I took the tree down.)

I had a nice Christmas, though. We rang in the holiday at Rich’s place (Rich is one of my favorite yoga teachers), where he and loads of other people were cooking all sorts of pancakes. There was also wine. Delicious wine. It was a really great way to bring in Christmas. Even Santa showed up. We sang Christmas carols and kirtan and talked and took pictures. It was a magical, beautiful time, and reminded me of how blessed I am to be a part of the Moksha community.

can you find me and aidan?
my friend jaylen took this photo.

After the party, we went to Hollywood Grill. That place is open 24/7, and we were still hungry. Good times.

Christmas Day was relaxing because we didn’t have to travel, nor were we hosting anyone. I liked all my gifts. I really enjoyed watching Aidan open his presents, and he was happy with everything (which was mostly LEGO and more LEGO).

see?

My birthday was low key as well. I spent most of the day with Aidan, and I got some cool presents: a Tiffany necklace from Adam, a Mickey Mouse watch from Chris and Aidan, a Mickey Mouse ring from Ivy, and $25 to amazon.com from Grandma Bel. I also bought myself a Ralph Lauren sweater. And a TARDIS blanket.

For Aidan’s birthday, we took him to a LEGO store and spoiled him some more, then we let him pick where to eat for dinner. (He wanted Harold’s, but we were in the suburbs and knew it would be a while till we made it back to the city, so we had Red Lobster instead.)

happy birthday, aidan!
i can’t believe i have an 11 year old.

All the big time partying has ended, and it’s time to trudge through another Chicago winter. This one is extra hard because it started so early. I get the feeling the North Face coat and new shell I got a couple of months ago was an excellent investment.

But I do have things to look forward to. I’m excited to start going to yoga again. Betty’s Vinyasa 1 class is the perfect amount of challenge for someone whose practice is so sporadic (like mine). I’m also excited to take acting classes. Right now, Living Social has a voucher for a 10-week workshop at Chicago Actor’s Studio. I felt like it was the Universe nudging me, so I went for it. Now I just need to go register and actually start taking classes. It’s going to be interesting to see what comes out of this. I love that I can learn for the sake of learning, and it’s affordable and accessible. The Universe opens so many possibilities when I can take advantage of those opportunities.

That’s all for now. Computer’s battery is like “meh” and I’m like “I should go to bed” and my domain is like “I’m not previewing this anymore dang it” and plus, I’m cold and want to get under my electric blanket. So, till next time……

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Holiday Wish Meme 2013

17 December 2013 / christmas, meme, positivity

I realize I am late this year with this, so I probably won’t get any wishes granted. Ha. I’m not sure where my mind was on December 1, but whatever. I think it’s because Thanksgiving was so late, and Christmas is sneaking up on us so quickly! I can’t believe it’s just over a week from today. Aidan arrives tomorrow. I still have so much to do!

For the 2013 holiday season, I have so much to be excited about and thankful for!

– My awesome Aidan. He’s now ten years old, in fifth grade, and absolutely the best little boy ever. EVER.
– My husband. It’s amazing to have someone so supportive of of the fact that I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. (Wait til you learn what I’m going to be up to in 2014!)
– My families. All of them.
– Being able to take my mommy to Disney World. That trip was the most awesome trip ever!
– New York City and Central Park. Yes.
– My work study opportunity at Moksha Yoga. It’s still awesome.
– My community at Moksha Yoga. Such love and abundance there.
– I got to be an extra in a major motion picture. Eeek!
– My friends, old and new! So blessed to have their love and support as I chase my dreams.
– My Plurk crew. They are hilarious and fun. Love them!
– The abundance and blessings that have been and keep being rained down on us.

It’s now time for the Holiday Wishes Meme. I started doing this in 2006, and I encourage you guys to do it as well.

Step One
– Make a post (public, locked, filtered…whatever you’re comfortable with) to your LJ/blog. The post should contain your list of up to 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fun (“I’d love a Doctor Who icon that’s just for me”) to medium (“I wish for _____ on DVD”) to really big (“All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.”) The important thing is to make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
– If you wish for real possible things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it’s your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
– Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your entry, or link to this post (it’ll be public) so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two
– Surf around to see who has posted their list. And now here’s the important part: If you see a wish you can grant, and it’s in your heart to do so, make someone’s wish come true. Sometimes someone’s trash is another’s treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don’t want or a gift certificate you won’t use—or even know where you could get someone’s dream purebred Basset Hound for free—do it.
– You needn’t spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn’t to put people out, it’s to provide everyone a chance to be someone else’s holiday elf—to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not—it’s your call.

With that said, here are my wishes for 2013.

1. A gift card, or for you to make donations to, DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose focuses on education. Teachers ask for classroom project materials. We donate. The kids learn. Most of these schools are high poverty, and the teachers are already doing all they can. Any amount is welcome.

2. Donations to Paws Chicago, the shelter where we got Helena. It’s a cage-free, no-kill shelter, and they are run completely on donations; they receive no city, state, or federal funding. It’s a great place. A shelter situation is stressful for the animals involved, and every animal I came in contact with there was happy and friendly. They have an extensive screening process to make sure you’re aware of your decision and commitment, and if somehow things don’t work out, the animal always has a home at PAWS.

3. Anything from my Amazon wish list. BUY ME ALL THE THINGS I mean wait what?

4. Gift cards to bookstores. I love bookstores. And books. But you already know that.

5. I also wouldn’t mind gift cards to Old Navy, Nordstrom Rack, Target, or Kohl’s.

The things that I’d like your prayers/happy energy for:

1. My mom to be as healthy as possible and to live a long time.

2. My friends and family to be happy, healthy, comfortable, and secure.

3. Myself to be happy, healthy, comfortable, and secure.

It’s December now, the holiday and giving season really is here! YAY!

2 Comments