Birthdays and Facebook Fatigue…

Look at all those smiles… we had a marvelous birthday celebration for everyone in the family who had a birthday in July… I’m one! Here are two of the others… Laura, my daughter in law, and Alejandra who is married to Laura’s brother.

The family came to my house for a barbeque. The weather held up, there was lots of good food, the kids running around having fun, and I felt a smile throughout my body as the day went on. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate with such a large group. As the kids get older maybe we’ll see some futbol out on the front lawn…. hope hope hope. It was so weird watching the US vs Costa Rica last night on tv… I’m just getting into futbol and really enjoying it.. the time just flies by… it reminds me of a game of chess, except in motion.

Before the party, my granddaughter Lorelei came over and we made cookies.

Such a cute cookie… both of them! HA!! And so photogenic… Here’s another shot of the decorated goodies

Many were ‘left over’ at my house and I am sorry to report that they are now banashed into the gut of a newly 63 year old!! Loved every single bite.. but the party’s over, it’s time to go through sugar withdrawal and welcome the next 30 lb loss, while I learn the rules of futbol to replace my Facebook addiction.

Yes, sorry to say I now have too many friends on Facebook to leave it to an hour to peruse all the new posts… jeesh, too much of a good thing? Or time to cull the list of those who mysteriously have appeared as friends whom I’ve never heard of…

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What To Do With A Blog, Plus My Latest Paintings…

First I want to share with you a representative photo of the geography of where I live in the mountains. Here is a soccer field, usually found in the middle of town or at least close to the central square and the church. Mountains in the background are close to where I actually live… where the Gods have wars throwing lightening darts and huge boulders at one another during the rainy season.

One of the reasons to write this post today is a result of my beginning my adventure into creating blogs for others. This is alot more work than I thought it would be. I’m using the first one as a test case to determine the amount of work and to experience the ‘client’s’ response to the effort. Check out

robertoscostaricatours.wordpress.com

and let me know what you think of it! This site was difficult because it’s a very complex template, most of which I couldn’t figure out. At this point it’s an okay structure – primarily because Roberto isn’t using it! HA!! There’s alot more text that could be added, and better functionality could be impressed upon it so that the sidebar isn’t separate from the Home Page, but I haven’t figured out that part yet and he doesn’t need it yet, thank goddess! At any rate, probably the most profound part of this experience thus far – for me – is Roberto’s question…. ‘What do I do with this?’ Made me pause and after a couple of days pondering his question… the question remains. I know I write my blogs out of a compulsion to not only write, but to stay in touch with friends (even tho they don’t comment… I know they read it and it’s a way to bridge not being with them). There’s also a component of writing my blogs that has to do with painting word pictures attractive enough to compel others to visit me and Costa Rica. But what if I were a business… like Roberto’s? I guess his blog is a moving, ever evolving business card. From a marketing standpoint how would you utilize his blog to help him build a business?

Okay, enough on that, although that thread is not going away until I can answer in a tangible manner… I’ve completed two new paintings I’ll share with you here… next weekend is the family July birthday party gathering, so there will be pics galore to share! It’s at my house this time and I’m going to ask the kids to take the pics… should be fun!

 

Okay, here’s a weird post…

Ever heard of Masaru Emoto? The scientist guy who did the research on how water crystals change based on the feelings directed at them? I decided to try it on myself and see if how I looked while I was feeling my happy carefree self, and then again how I looked as I felt as a grandma self (the old woman self)…

I’ve been wallowing in doing nothing and getting everything done. In cooking for the freezer and taking naps after lunch. In waking up at 4am and dozing until 5:30. In creating a blog for a friend and doing readings for clients. In warm humid mornings and chilly/monsoonish afternoons.

I’m on vacation from babysitting, but not from being a Grandma. That’s the real work I’m doing this week. Wrapping my head and heart around looking old and feeling young… So… I began wondering today …. do I really look old or do the emotions behind what I THINK of a grandma/old woman impact how I look? So, I took two pictures, one after the other… see if you can pick out which one is the grandma.

This one, or…

This one? Shocked my own self with this experiment today. Need to learn something from this exercise. How you feel definitely impacts how you look. I wonder what I’ll look like if I start calling myself the New Barbi??