the evolution of Leni

Today is December 1st

I honestly can't believe it's December 1st. Where has this gone?! In an attempt to not freak out or have a panic attack, I have decided to make a "To Do" list for the things I'd like to accomplish while staying with my parents this month. I love lists. More than anything, they help me keep my life organized. I'm not sure that I could function with out the many lists that I have. Even though I use Google Calendar and the calendar and notepad on my cell phone, I like to have an actual planner where I can write everything down in one place. I like to visually see my month and what I have to do and actually write things down. For some reason, I can not do this with Google Calendar or the applications on my cell phone. I need an actual physical calendar that I can flip through and write in. I bought my 2010 calendar a few months ago and wrote down all of the important days, birthdays, etc.

I am currently using some calendar pages that are stapled together. I was tired of carrying around this huge planner thatM gave me for 2009, so I pulled out the pages of the remaining weeks/days. It's much lighter and, although it's not very pretty, it works. My 2010 calendar starts with the week of December 27th and I can't wait to start using it.

Coming up tomorrow: my Ultimate Happy Playlist.

Image credit: ffffound.

Hello Monday

I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving. It's been several days since the official Thanksgiving dinner and I'm still full!

I'm home visiting my parents for most of the month of December. It's my first day alone here with them and they're already driving me crazy! I have the intentions to help clean up a bit, but it's a little overwhelming to tackle by myself. I'm getting pretty annoyed at the fact that my Mom plays farmville 80% of the time. I am also finishing up my Ultimate Happy Playlist and will post in the next couple of days after I find all the song links.

I am making bean soup from the Thanksgiving ham bone, so I have to get back to cooking.

Here's to a fabulous week for everyone!

Above image credit: Hannahavelena.

Do you Mystery Google?

Have you heard about Mystery Google? Head over there and type in any search. Instead of your searches coming up as they usually would on google, you get the last person's google search on mystery google.

The best part is that they even have "missions" from random people. Go try it. Click herefor Mystery Google.

Thankful [Project Me]

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm spending today with M and my family. I like that M and I have worked out a deal where we are able to split up sharing Thanksgiving with both our families. Our families are too far apart to visit both on the same day. Last year we spent it with his family, this year it's my family's turn, and so on.



WEEK 12: Thankful

Being Thanksgiving, today is the perfect day to reflect on the things that you are thankful for in your life.

• What are you thankful for?
• Who are you thankful for?

Start off by saying "I'm thankful for ..." and then go into why you are thankful that thing/person. Surprise yourself by how many thankful things you can come up with!

As an extra challenge, you can take it one step further by telling all the people on your thankful list how much they mean to you.

FREE MUSIC MP3s

Amazon is giving away $3 worth of MP3s for FREE to everyone ... all you have to do is click here and follow the directions! Don't wait too long, the promotion ends November 30, 2009 at midnight.

Need some recommendations? Perhaps you might like a song suggested here.

Here's a new song that you may not have heard yet:

Thanks Timms for sending me this song!

Lets Say Thanks!

XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL

If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com   you can pick out a
thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier
that is currently serving in  Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but
it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!
 It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these?
Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to
know we are behind them.

This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you.
Please take the time and then take the time to pass it on for others to
do.  We can never say thank you enough.

Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

A Personal Letter

Dear Beverly Hills & West Hollywood Parking Enforcement,

I understand that it is your job to enforce laws and ticket as necessary. I also understand that I did not have a front license plate on my vehicle. Thanks to the ticket I received two weeks ago, I now realize that in this economy, you are desperate for every penny you can get and that by ticketing vehicles under vehicle code 5200 you can successfully ruin a person's day while issuing a $25 ticket for not having a front license plate on your car. I accepted that ticket and paid it in full, even though you failed to mention that I could "fix it" and only pay a $10 dismissal fee. I have since kept my front license plate in my dash board in full view while parked on your streets. On Friday, you decided to give me yet ANOTHER $25 ticket for not having a front plate, this time going one step further to say that it was not sufficient to have it displayed in my dash. Let me mention here that I spoke directly with a sheriff that stated that it WAS sufficient to keep my plate displayed in the front dash of my car.

I would consider forgiving you for issuing that second ticket seeing as how you may not have known that I still have time from the issue of my first ticket to FIX THE PROBLEM, but the fact that you had to be an ignorant, heartless jerk and "not accept" the display of my front plate in the dash automatically put you into the "Douche-bag" category.

I extend a personal thank you to the Beverly Hills & West Hollywood Parking Enforcement team for the FOUR NEW HOLES that were drilled into the front of my car in order to appease your ignorant and heartless meter-maids/men from continuing to ticket my car.

I would like you to know that I have cancelled payment to that $25 ticket that I should not have payed in the first place I payed last week and will see you in court to pay only the $10 dismissal fee for ONLY one of the tickets.

Best of luck when that bad karma comes around to you,

Leni

P.S. I am considering having my personalized plates changed to "EF YRSLF". As in, go eff yourself and find something better to do with your time, like finding stolen vehicles instead of issuing pointless tickets meant only to ruin a person's day.

Haven't Met You Yet

I can't stop playing this song over and over ... even though I've already met my other half.

Reflection [Project Me]

WEEK 11: Reflection

"Only when the clamor of the outside world is silenced will you be able to hear the deeper vibration. Listen carefully." -Sarah Ban Breathnach

I'm sure you remember the struggles of having to sit down and come up with a list of 30 things that you are committed to in this life. Take a moment to pull out that list of 30 non-negotiables that you made and ask yourself if you're being true to each and every one of them. [If you have not made a list, refer to this post on how to create your own.]

If you find that you're having trouble or struggling with any of the items on your list, find a way to be held more accountable. Perhaps you need to print out the list and post it in places where you will always see it. You can even create a daily check list where you score yourself on how well you did that day. Don't forget that there are always people around you (a spouse, friend, family member, etc.) who can help. Figure out what works for you and how you can be your best self. With time, you will learn to live your list.

Remember, you will be happiest when you are being your true authentic self. When you uphold and live up to each and every item on your list, you are being your true authentic self. Take the time to revisit your list and to live each day as your best self.

Past Project Me prompts can be found here.

A Pleasant Surprise

Last week M came home in the middle of his work day just to surprise me with these beautiful flowers.







 


Every time I walk in the room and see them, I can't help but smile. They're the perfect little pick me up and I definitely need it right now.

I'm still working on my ultimate happy playlist. If you have any suggestions of happy songs, please let me know! Michelle over at Feminine Modern made her ultimate happy playlist which you can see here. If you have a playlist of your own please send me the link. I'd love to see it and will link it on my blog.