The French Babbette

Today is my sister Margaret's birthday. I feel so truly blessed to have her, Scott and Chloe in our lives. WE love you dearly have a wonderful day!

It is about how you live your life and so with that I would like to share some insight as I wrap up the 'Last Lecture' book:
1. Dream Big
2. Earnest is better than hip
3. It's ok to raise a white flag
4. Don't complain, just work harder
5. Treat the disease, not the symptom
6. Don't obsess over what people think
7. Look for the best in everybody
8. Watch what they do, not what they say
9. If at first you don't succeed...try a cliche, my favorite is 'luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity'
10. Be the first penguin, you'll have to read the book to find out what this means, very funny & cool
11. Get people's attention
12. Hand-write a thank you note
13. Show gratitude
14. All you have is what you bring with you
15. A bad apology is worse than no apology
16. Tell the truth
17. Get in touch with your crayon box - Sephra's Favorite!
18. No job is beneath you
19. Know where you are
20. Never give up

Labels: grateful, words of wisdom

I could easily work at NASA with my current countdown skills :) So checking the pregnancy calendar I'm at exactly 26 weeks 3 days. Which means it's time to do the glucose testing, woo hoo, yummy yummy! Baby boy is moving A LOT, Sephra must have really stretched things out in there. Posting some new pics from the tattoo shop event over the weekend. Enjoy!

I just had to blog about Brent and his handsome ways. For Christmas my Mom got him an argyle sweater vest and he has been happily sporting it for a couple of months now. For his bday/valentines day I got him some new converses, blue and white, to match accordingly with the sweater vest ensemble. And over the weekend he picked up a couple of short sleeved button down shirts to wear under the sweater vest. Quite the dapper man I must say. I told him recently that he should have been a college professor in Montana because he's so intelligent, yet comfortably conservative, and now with the new duds, its' a perfect match for the college campus. Oh yea and the tattoos just add that extra flair, a contradictory in terms to some, but really he's just an open book. What you see is what you get, or is it? I'm often taken aback by stranger looks of Brent, pre-judgment if you will and wonder is this no different than giving someone odd looks because of skin color, dress, or the like? The assumption being that he's some rough and tumble biker dude. Quite the opposite once you get to know him. Infuriating at times for me because I'm the ultimate protector of my family, and disrespect is right up there on my pet peeve list. Brent tells me not to worry about it, who cares what they think, let em' look, and he surprises me by killing them with kindness and sincerity, often leaving them speechless. Now I try to replace fury with a chuckle and think if they only knew that his destiny is to be an old school college professor skipping through campus in his sweater vest and chuck taylor's, orating to young minds about info wars, ron paul and conservative republican values...oh if they only knew, they would be wishing they had a sweater vest too ;)

I finished the Laird Hamilton book that Brent got me and got so much useful information out of it and some life lessons too. I think it's one of those books I'm going to have to read again or at least keep close by to reference. There was so much good stuff about eating right as well as mindful inspiration. I was able to finish the 2nd half of the book while laying in bed with Sephra one evening/night. She was sick, fever over a hundred and was sleeping more than usual. I imagine her little body's way of recovering. Which she did, but at the same time I felt compelled to lay next to her checking her temperature every 1/2 hour, reapplying the cold press and hoping she was going to be okay.

Once finishing Mind, Body, Soul, I started a new book Mom gave me, 'The Last Lecture'. It's probably not one of those books I'd make a special trip to the bookstore for, only because I usually find myself buying fictional, bargain paperbacks. But I had heard good things about it so asked her to pass it along when she was done. And I have to say Randy Pausch is a great orator. Funny, witty, determined, and dying. The book is his last legacy to his children and students and is truly about living in the moment. I find myself staying up to finish just a few more pages after Sephra goes to sleep. Randy reminds me of those few professors that truly inspired me in college. I'm in that place with books again where I can't wait to lay down and read. Using my imagination to play out the stories and conceptualize the characters. I'm quite complacent with a James Patterson book, I can't deny that. But it's actually been quite fun reading some things outside of that, especially when you can feel the emotion and aliveness in the writing. I think both Laird and Randy, though polar opposites in some regard, had a similar message, Live Life, it's more than just being alive, every moment try to be present, focused, purposeful. It's not easy to do, especially when you have things in front of you that you just plain don't feel like doing, or people you just plain don't feel like dealing with. Find a purpose in those things, find some sort of complacency. Strive to find your desires, a direction, a mecca in your mind. Take the time out to look your children in the eye and really listen. Step back, outside of yourself and be kind to those around you, say hello to a stranger, enjoy each and every moment.

Labels: being alive, life, moments, randy pausch

So I haven't been a'bloggin' for a while, 3 weeks or so, my apologies. Life's been getting by and February always meets the expectation of being a busy, but short, month. Michelle, Mom and Sue all have bdays right at the end of January and then February comes in with a boom, both Brent and I back to back and then our anniversary as well. 7 years we've been together, crazy how fast time goes by! Brent, Rory & Sephra got me a couple of new hoodies which I absolutely adore and they fit over my belly!!! WOOHOO!!! I've been living in them. Kristie and Michelle came down with Magnus a couple weeks ago and it was so good to see them. Kristie brought that amazing german chocolate cake from the great dane bakery, SO GOOD!!! I can't believe how much Magnus is changing already and he's so sweet!

February also brings in one of my favorite celebratory days...Valentines! Brent and I had a date night and ended up finding a hole in the wall or should I say a hole in one sushi joint in OB (Ocean Beach). It was so good and didn't break the bank. It was really nice to spend time together and by the time we got back to get Sephra I could tell she was ready to head home, tired, poor thing, but not too tired to stop at the 'yogurt place'. YUMMY!!!

Made some new greeting cards with Sephra last Sunday, one will be going out to my sister Margaret. Her birthday is in February too, the 23rd I'm looking forward to getting the card and some new pics out to her Chloe and Scott! I'll snap some photos of those and post too.

Labels: birthdays, valentines day