My Grandma is without a doubt one of the most amazing women I know. We traditionally call her "Granny," although I don't know why. Just like how I don't know how or why "Auntie" Brooke was coined by my nieces and nephews either, I suppose it just is. My Grandma is wise even beyond her years and I can always be myself around her. She always has stories from when she was my age and going through a similar situation. She always says something to me that means so much and she never really even realizes it. She is a true granny and a true friend.
She also is well into retirement and is notorious in my family for knitting, crocheting, gluing, sewing, you name it, she will make it. She will write her own little stories, make little hand puppets, when I was little I remember she made me dolls, and as I got older she would make me glamorous pre-tween Easter dresses. She has made me books full of quotes, and a quilt which I sleep with every night. I even have a box full of kid's toys and books she made all set to go for my future kids. The joke of the family is that not all things she makes are necessarily the most adorable thing to look at and sometimes I think she just lavishes in her creativity and likes to experiment and never lets it go to waste.
I love her and I can only hope when I am older and retired and have children, grand-children and great grand-children I possess her wittiness, cleverness, creativity, and the notion to make things for my loved ones. Ive started in my 30's making things for other's, but not like her. She is one driven woman.
Her latest invention I received in the mail last week. Its one of the best ideas Ive seen in while and so incredibly useful. It's a little mini-mit ( made out of a kitty pattern that looks just like the cat I grew up with , Murphy.) I have never told her that now these days kitties give me asthma attacks because I just love the idea of her seeing me as that little girl who just loved her Murphy.
I opened the package and thought it was an oven mit with less than enough padding to protect me from 450 degree heat, and than I read her note: "Brooke, here is something I made just for you. It is a lil microwave mit. It also has magnet sewn inside it so you can just stick it on your fridge"
I thought oh cute, and thoughtful.
Then i used it for the first time. This thing is genius!!! I love it. It works perfectly and she should patent this thing. I couldn't ask for a better grandma to look up to, nor a quirky creative lady to bless me with cute little gifts that mean so much. And who, in true granny style , would be so clever as to think of something useful , practical, just so darn cute.
She is an inspiration to me. I hope this week and the weekend brings you inspiration, and it gets dumped right into your soul and stays there for eternity.
listen to the song by Chicago. peter Ceterra inspires me too.
Inspriation is everywhere.
*I will post pictures of the mit once i figure out how.
xo
Friday, May 28, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
You're the Inspiraaaaaaaation!
The title of this blog comes form two things that happened last week that inspired me. Due to time constraints I can only divulge on one for now. And yes, in case you were wondering while I type this the infamous song by Chicago is running through my mind, and after I write this I will be having some Pandora fun finding that song.
My dear friend Charlene and I were at a place quickly grabbing a drinkie poo before listening to some great home grown music in Pacific Beach last week. I asked Charlene to come along to meet with Catheryne Beeks of KPRI to discuss her involvement with The Relay For Life event I am on a Committee on. At any rate, the story of Relay For life deserve an entire blog all its own which I am processing in my head as I go through the experience of it all, so please look forward to that soon.
So... Charlene and I are enjoying some beverages and we noticed this adorable woman who was trying to find her way to the Gaslamp from Pacific Beach ( for any non-sd residents, it is about a 20-minute ride or so). The man in the restaurant was diligently trying to find a cab company willing to come to Pacific Beach, equipped with the capacity to take lovely Alexandria and her Electric Mobility Scooter apparatus back to Gaslamp Village.
Apparently, this was a tall order to fill, even the company that brought her out that way simply stated they did not have any automobiles equipt to do that. ( Huh? then how did she get out there in the first place?)Instead of being frustrated with the cab companies and their blase (blah-say)efforts to accommodate, I quietly started a campaign of my own. We all got on our phones finding a way to find her a ride. After a couple calls, Charlene and I took a moment to talk with Alexandria.
Boy, was she an inspiration, a little light coming form nowhere but everywhere . Aleaxandria was visiting from Germany. When I asked who her travel companion was, she smiled warmly and said, "just me!" She told us how she loves The U.S., and just loves to travel. She had a fancy camera dangling from her neck, and spoke perfect English with a beautiful German accent.
The thing I connected with the most in what she was saying is this: Ive always wanted to take on the challenge of traveling alone to a foreign land and see whatever destiny would lay before me. I was always so nervous, primarily for safety issues. Ive traveled alone once on my way to San Diego from Michigan, just me and a car full of a lifetime of belongings on a four day cross country trek. I must say, I enjoyed the time alone, but when i did long to talk a little, I was afraid to talk to anyone for fear of the wrong person knowing I was alone in my travels with a car full of stuff ( not worth much but it was still all mine). I suppose I let fear get in the way of experiencing more. I think that is how my Mom raised me though, always to function of the error side of caution. Which is smart, do not get me wrong, but something about Alexandria that just inspired me to let go of fears a little more, to try it out, to have a little blind faith in the notion that it might be worth the risk. To trust myself more, using my instinct and judgement. I suppose when I have children i will teach them to be cautious too, but I'll also teach them that risks are worth it.
Alexandria was so happy, such a joy to talk to. And the next day she came out to visit Charlene who works at Balboa. Balboa Park was already on Alexandria's agenda and she knew of places I had never heard of in San Diego.
She finally got a ride to where she needed to go and the waiter even came over to our side of the venue to tell us she was safely picked up.
Im not sure if I'll be booking a trip alone anytime soon, but if lovely Alexandria can do it, then I maybe I can too.
Please refer to photo up top as I still am not photo uploading savvy....
Meet our friend Alexandria: She loves to travel, loves American food ( she especially likes all of our "creams" , or condiments), rarely brings technology with her on her travels, has an amazing joy and zest for life, and is my latest inspiration.
Who is your inspiration today? At this moment? Just a simple conversation sometimes is all it takes. Who could YOU inspire today?
And now I have a date with Pandora and Peter Ceterra....can I loop on Pandroa and out the song on repeat?
My dear friend Charlene and I were at a place quickly grabbing a drinkie poo before listening to some great home grown music in Pacific Beach last week. I asked Charlene to come along to meet with Catheryne Beeks of KPRI to discuss her involvement with The Relay For Life event I am on a Committee on. At any rate, the story of Relay For life deserve an entire blog all its own which I am processing in my head as I go through the experience of it all, so please look forward to that soon.
So... Charlene and I are enjoying some beverages and we noticed this adorable woman who was trying to find her way to the Gaslamp from Pacific Beach ( for any non-sd residents, it is about a 20-minute ride or so). The man in the restaurant was diligently trying to find a cab company willing to come to Pacific Beach, equipped with the capacity to take lovely Alexandria and her Electric Mobility Scooter apparatus back to Gaslamp Village.
Apparently, this was a tall order to fill, even the company that brought her out that way simply stated they did not have any automobiles equipt to do that. ( Huh? then how did she get out there in the first place?)Instead of being frustrated with the cab companies and their blase (blah-say)efforts to accommodate, I quietly started a campaign of my own. We all got on our phones finding a way to find her a ride. After a couple calls, Charlene and I took a moment to talk with Alexandria.
Boy, was she an inspiration, a little light coming form nowhere but everywhere . Aleaxandria was visiting from Germany. When I asked who her travel companion was, she smiled warmly and said, "just me!" She told us how she loves The U.S., and just loves to travel. She had a fancy camera dangling from her neck, and spoke perfect English with a beautiful German accent.
The thing I connected with the most in what she was saying is this: Ive always wanted to take on the challenge of traveling alone to a foreign land and see whatever destiny would lay before me. I was always so nervous, primarily for safety issues. Ive traveled alone once on my way to San Diego from Michigan, just me and a car full of a lifetime of belongings on a four day cross country trek. I must say, I enjoyed the time alone, but when i did long to talk a little, I was afraid to talk to anyone for fear of the wrong person knowing I was alone in my travels with a car full of stuff ( not worth much but it was still all mine). I suppose I let fear get in the way of experiencing more. I think that is how my Mom raised me though, always to function of the error side of caution. Which is smart, do not get me wrong, but something about Alexandria that just inspired me to let go of fears a little more, to try it out, to have a little blind faith in the notion that it might be worth the risk. To trust myself more, using my instinct and judgement. I suppose when I have children i will teach them to be cautious too, but I'll also teach them that risks are worth it.
Alexandria was so happy, such a joy to talk to. And the next day she came out to visit Charlene who works at Balboa. Balboa Park was already on Alexandria's agenda and she knew of places I had never heard of in San Diego.
She finally got a ride to where she needed to go and the waiter even came over to our side of the venue to tell us she was safely picked up.
Im not sure if I'll be booking a trip alone anytime soon, but if lovely Alexandria can do it, then I maybe I can too.
Please refer to photo up top as I still am not photo uploading savvy....
Meet our friend Alexandria: She loves to travel, loves American food ( she especially likes all of our "creams" , or condiments), rarely brings technology with her on her travels, has an amazing joy and zest for life, and is my latest inspiration.
Who is your inspiration today? At this moment? Just a simple conversation sometimes is all it takes. Who could YOU inspire today?
And now I have a date with Pandora and Peter Ceterra....can I loop on Pandroa and out the song on repeat?
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Be Berry Quiet.. I'm hunting wabbits...
I had a rather nostalgic conversation this weekend concerning childhood memories of classic cartoon wonders our generation has known as classics... Bugs Bunny, Sylvester the Cat, Pepe la Pew, and so on. We laughed and talked of our keenest memories and realized how adult-like alot of these cartoons are even though most were made in the fifties. So I just had to look some up to share with you on this relaxing Sunday evening.
I mean , come on, just cant NOT love a bunny that is so clever dressing in drag to deceive his own hunter, or an extremely affectionate French skunk who tries to swoon his true love (as she darts off in lightning speed) and he is left kissing his own tail.
As I was you-tubing, I came across plenty of inspiring Carmen Miranda impressions too. Here's some memories in video. I was laughing out loud when viewing some of these. Really most of them are genius. Not to mention, the music score is amazing too. They just don't make them like this anymore...
enjoy these..
And now of course I just had to add a clip of the real Carmen Miranda and her amazingness...
And th-th-th-that's all folks!
I mean , come on, just cant NOT love a bunny that is so clever dressing in drag to deceive his own hunter, or an extremely affectionate French skunk who tries to swoon his true love (as she darts off in lightning speed) and he is left kissing his own tail.
As I was you-tubing, I came across plenty of inspiring Carmen Miranda impressions too. Here's some memories in video. I was laughing out loud when viewing some of these. Really most of them are genius. Not to mention, the music score is amazing too. They just don't make them like this anymore...
enjoy these..
And now of course I just had to add a clip of the real Carmen Miranda and her amazingness...
And th-th-th-that's all folks!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Cosmic Deities
Last night I watched a special on the 4 outer planets of the Solar System. I had randomly taken an Astrology class last summer just for the sake of my keen interest in the cosmos, and to keep me out of trouble. I really wanted to take the viewing portion where you go up in a tower and view planets and constellations and write reports about their movements in orbit etc. However, I learned that the viewing class had a pre-requisite and I had to take the lecture first. I signed up right away.
I am so amazed sometimes about how much we know of the cosmos and the planet Earth, but even more so I get taken back by how little we know. To take that a step further, how much we will never know.
The special I watched was the Voyager project that NASA did in 1977. By that particular time we had landed the moon, put a dog and monkey up into the unknown and moved leaps and bounds to new discoveries. However, by the late 70's we really didn't know much of anything of the outer planets in our solar system, besides some blurred images of the four outer planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. We knew nothing of the surface of the planets, the atmoshpere, there was very little detail in any pictures to make an educated guess as to how they functioned. Afterall, Jupiter is located 5 times further than the sun than Earth and Earth (us) are a whoppin 93 million miles from the sun. So take 93 million X 5 and, well, its really astronomical to think about, but that's how far you have to travel to reach Jupiter. (And by the way, a light year is about 5.7 tillion miles, so imagine in today's world how we talk about a planet that's 42 light years away.)
There was a genius guy by the name of Ed Stone. ( so think, might want to google that ...) and he started looking at the planets and their rotations around the sun. He realized in 1972 that those four outer planets would be in alignment on the same side of the sun on a particular day. If they ( NASA) could plan it just right, they could use the trajectory of the planets to swivel around one another picking up images NEVER seen before. In 1977, their launch became a success and this idea worked and yielded results truly beyond any one's wildest imagination. And they launched not one but two.
They discovered Jupiter has a gaseous surface but actually radiates heat because the core is made of gas that is so dense that it is a liquid. They discovered the moons of Jupiter are intricate and could have bodies of water lying beneath the surface. Furthermore, that all of Jupiter's moon are radically diff rent in their own rite.
They saw clearly the rings of Saturn and what they are made of, and even the rotation of the dust, meteors and patterns in the rotations. They even noticed little smaller moons called Shepard's that surround the rings of matter in orbit around the planet.
When they reached Uranus was flabbergasted at that the polars of the planet were made of frozen nitrogen.
Watching these scientist reactions of the first glimpses of these clearer images of the planets was incredibly moving.
Here is a glimpse:
* you will have to copy paste, sorry new blogger I am
http://science.discovery.com/videos/the-planets-giants-saturns-rings.html
And that is only in the realms of our own galaxy. The Voyager then transcended into interstellar space and is still out there projecting images far, far, far beyond our lil Milky Way.
After watching this, I went to bed thinking this:
Knowledge is endless. Time is relevant to our perception. Possibilities are endless. The Unknown is endless. Discovery is endless.
Most importantly, life is precious. There is so much out there to know and understand, and yet we are all very connected to. Afterall, we are made of the same energy and components of the stars and more.
We are small and so fragile. Saturns rings will continue to orbit, Jupiter will continue to have wind storms in hundreds to thousands miles per hour, we may never know what the core of Neptune is made of. We will NEVER know it all. So appreciate your life everyday. Don't hold back in life. Go for it. Let wonder carry you away into a blissful imagination of a child. You never know whatever you conjour up, it could exist somewhere.
Life is precious and we are all special and unique , but small for the keeping. Respect our wonderful Earth and be thankful that the conditions are just right for us to exist with water, sunlight, gravity, an atmosphere, and a magnetic field.
Overflow with gratitude for the Sun and the natural energy and light it supports from our entire Solar System to giving your body vitamin D to feeling the sun on your back on a chilly day. One day the helium and hydrogen will burn and our beloved Sun will be black hole. But it will not happen today or tommorrow or even a couple millions of years.
So gaze at the stars, make wishes on them. I make wish on stars, clouds, raindrops, my dreams, all the time. (One time I realized I was accidentally wishing on Jupiter.) Watch a sunset and gaze (with SPF protection glasses on) at the wonderment for the moment you are in. Share that moment with someone. You never know what will be discovered tomorrow. Until then, swim in the knowledge that surrounds you. Swim in the minscule notion that we are small and precious. Swim with an unforsaking heart that you are here now.
(Oh and by the way, I still have not taken the viewing portion of the class. I still need to do that. I have a telescope gifted to me by my friend Kore, however, I really don't know how to operate it. )
I am so amazed sometimes about how much we know of the cosmos and the planet Earth, but even more so I get taken back by how little we know. To take that a step further, how much we will never know.
The special I watched was the Voyager project that NASA did in 1977. By that particular time we had landed the moon, put a dog and monkey up into the unknown and moved leaps and bounds to new discoveries. However, by the late 70's we really didn't know much of anything of the outer planets in our solar system, besides some blurred images of the four outer planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. We knew nothing of the surface of the planets, the atmoshpere, there was very little detail in any pictures to make an educated guess as to how they functioned. Afterall, Jupiter is located 5 times further than the sun than Earth and Earth (us) are a whoppin 93 million miles from the sun. So take 93 million X 5 and, well, its really astronomical to think about, but that's how far you have to travel to reach Jupiter. (And by the way, a light year is about 5.7 tillion miles, so imagine in today's world how we talk about a planet that's 42 light years away.)
There was a genius guy by the name of Ed Stone. ( so think, might want to google that ...) and he started looking at the planets and their rotations around the sun. He realized in 1972 that those four outer planets would be in alignment on the same side of the sun on a particular day. If they ( NASA) could plan it just right, they could use the trajectory of the planets to swivel around one another picking up images NEVER seen before. In 1977, their launch became a success and this idea worked and yielded results truly beyond any one's wildest imagination. And they launched not one but two.
They discovered Jupiter has a gaseous surface but actually radiates heat because the core is made of gas that is so dense that it is a liquid. They discovered the moons of Jupiter are intricate and could have bodies of water lying beneath the surface. Furthermore, that all of Jupiter's moon are radically diff rent in their own rite.
They saw clearly the rings of Saturn and what they are made of, and even the rotation of the dust, meteors and patterns in the rotations. They even noticed little smaller moons called Shepard's that surround the rings of matter in orbit around the planet.
When they reached Uranus was flabbergasted at that the polars of the planet were made of frozen nitrogen.
Watching these scientist reactions of the first glimpses of these clearer images of the planets was incredibly moving.
Here is a glimpse:
* you will have to copy paste, sorry new blogger I am
http://science.discovery.com/videos/the-planets-giants-saturns-rings.html
And that is only in the realms of our own galaxy. The Voyager then transcended into interstellar space and is still out there projecting images far, far, far beyond our lil Milky Way.
After watching this, I went to bed thinking this:
Knowledge is endless. Time is relevant to our perception. Possibilities are endless. The Unknown is endless. Discovery is endless.
Most importantly, life is precious. There is so much out there to know and understand, and yet we are all very connected to. Afterall, we are made of the same energy and components of the stars and more.
We are small and so fragile. Saturns rings will continue to orbit, Jupiter will continue to have wind storms in hundreds to thousands miles per hour, we may never know what the core of Neptune is made of. We will NEVER know it all. So appreciate your life everyday. Don't hold back in life. Go for it. Let wonder carry you away into a blissful imagination of a child. You never know whatever you conjour up, it could exist somewhere.
Life is precious and we are all special and unique , but small for the keeping. Respect our wonderful Earth and be thankful that the conditions are just right for us to exist with water, sunlight, gravity, an atmosphere, and a magnetic field.
Overflow with gratitude for the Sun and the natural energy and light it supports from our entire Solar System to giving your body vitamin D to feeling the sun on your back on a chilly day. One day the helium and hydrogen will burn and our beloved Sun will be black hole. But it will not happen today or tommorrow or even a couple millions of years.
So gaze at the stars, make wishes on them. I make wish on stars, clouds, raindrops, my dreams, all the time. (One time I realized I was accidentally wishing on Jupiter.) Watch a sunset and gaze (with SPF protection glasses on) at the wonderment for the moment you are in. Share that moment with someone. You never know what will be discovered tomorrow. Until then, swim in the knowledge that surrounds you. Swim in the minscule notion that we are small and precious. Swim with an unforsaking heart that you are here now.
(Oh and by the way, I still have not taken the viewing portion of the class. I still need to do that. I have a telescope gifted to me by my friend Kore, however, I really don't know how to operate it. )
Friday, May 7, 2010
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