Moving In

WELCOME TO THE NEW AND IMPROVED LAURALIVINGALOUD!  This is Much more ME!  I'm a die hard purple person so I hope it's not too obnoxious. 

This is akin to moving into a new home and slapping it together for a few months and then finally getting one room redone.  My old blog was all canned templates and I custom designed this one.  Laugh if you want, it's a simplistic start.  What fun!

Purple brings me JOY!  Completely obsessed would be an understatement.  I went way overboard and turned our home into a purple and green fiesta!  Yep, purple carpeting!  My husband banned me from ever decorating with purple again and I've complied.  Thank goodness he can't  ban my Sister from giving me purple gifts!  ; )

The second thing I'm celebrating today is that this blog is actually MINE!  I own http://www.lauralivingaloud.com/!!  Very exciting! 

Thanks guys, I'm loving life!

Drumming Song

The thing I love about blogging the most is that I can do whatever I want.  There are no rules!  Freedom is amazing! 

I got the Florence & The Machine CD for Christmas but it wasn't until I started walking to and from the bus each day that I discovered the power in the music!  I want to share this song with you because it's a great song with fun lyrics.  The thing I love about it is the beat.  The cadence lifts my body right off the sidewalk and transforms it from a walk into a celebration of life and love!  Thank you Lafe!

ENJOY!

The Dark Side

I discovered something interesting about the blogosphere.  The audience seems to like it more when it's less polished, pleasant and politically correct.  Two of my most popular posts are The Freak Show and I'M PISSED! These posts came screaming out of my fingers fast and furiously without much editing.  Their subject matter is a bit more unsavory then some of my other pieces.  Hmmmm.....interesting.

My friend and I had lunch the day I wrote I'M PISSED and I asked her about it.  She said "well it's shocking, you are usually so nice on there".  Ok, so if I wasn't nice at all, if all my posts were unsavory would you prefer it?   Nonetheless, I love that I can capture the nice and the dark shitty side of life.  I guess that's blogging balance. 

Meanwhile, it's Friday (Thank God)!  I'm trying to stay positive.  I never blow sunshine up my ass and pretend I'm happy when I'm not.  I have to keep it real.  I was sucked into the dark side this week with some negativity I didn't see coming.  Mean People Suck!  When they start messing with me, my family, my friends or my livelihood I get furious.  To them I say KISS MY ASS!

I'm attempting to let this negativity go and move back to neutral if for no other reason then to maintain my sanity.  Self respecting, grounded, loving people might be the antidote for mean people.  At least I hope so.

And hey, if y'all want more of the dark side of life, I'll gladly oblige!

I'M PISSED!

I'M SO PISSED!  I have to get this off my chest!

Last week on my way to work, I came upon a very bad car accident just seconds after it happened.  I was stopped in the far lane and thought about getting out to help.  There were already several people working so I didn't.  The wreckage (news photos below) was unreal and the dead body of a 63 year old man lay mangled on the grass. 

It was announced this morning that the 31 year old male driver was under the influence of heroin, marijuana and alcohol.  It was 7am in the morning!  I'M SO PISSED!  The Jackass that did this broke his finger. A broken finger!  Really?  He is now under investigation for vehicular homicide.  I hope they fry his ass!

Look at the wreckage.  It's unbelievable. In that moment, sitting there silenced in awe, all I could think was 'How the hell did this even happen?'  Now that I know, I'm just furious!!!

How many people were changed forever that morning?  I will never get these images out of my mind.  I'm pissed on behalf of the family that lost their loved one that day.  I'm just plain pissed that people do things like this. 

We should all be pissed!  I don't have the solution to stop this from happening again.  But, we have to do something about assholes like this that use two ton weapons!!  We have to stay pissed!

MEN!

As promised in my second blog I will take a moment to pay homage to the men in my life!  I love you guys!!

The guys I live with, Hubby Mark and Son Lafe are wonderful!  They are both very tall and can change light bulbs by reaching up.  So cool.  They have habits that would never fly with women like stealing each others clothes.  If we encounter a bridge on a hike, they climb under it to see how it's built with fascination and excitement.  They are amazing cooks, make me laugh and are incredibly understanding of my girlish quirks.

I have no brothers, although I have 9 brothers-in-law.  They are diverse, interesting and always willing to help me out.  I have called them to help me move and fix things.  I still tease two of them for destroying my favorite couch on one move.  Having brothers is fun!

My Dad was the only man in our house with six women.  He always makes us laugh but ultimately he is the Patriarch to be reckoned with.  If all six of us are yelling at each other, he need only say "STOP" and you bet we will!   

I was having lunch with two of my guy friends last week and they talked about being "whipped".  They love their spouses very much but they have been programmed to believe that the wife wears the pants and their freedoms disappeared when they said I DO.  They said that "guy time was a thing of the past"  One even said "if you are giving more then you are receiving, then you know your in the safe zone".  Oh my god, what the????

Go ahead and ask my Husband, he's not whipped.  I have to admit, this concept is so foreign to me.  I don't want Mark to tell me what to do and limit where I go.  Nor do I want to spend every second of my life with him.  Giving more then you receive is crazy!  We want balance.  Sure, we're together but we're separate.

Men, my greatest wish for you is that you have freedom to be who you are and do what you want!  You deserve it!  You bring me so much joy and diversity!  I'm ever so blessed and grateful!

I want more...Day 10 The Conclusion

Who knew that crashing my car and riding the bus would change my life forever?  Not me, I'll tell ya that!  I've been looking for more time to give to myself and I found a way!  Twice a day to be alone outside, experience the elements, rock my ipod and move my body is liberating!  I feel more invigorated and balanced than I have ever felt in my life!

I have a confession to make.  I don't really "ride the bus" in the morning.  I do walk a mile down the hill to the highway, however my two awesome workmates drive right by and one or the other picks me up.  One who made a very scary u turn across the 5 lane highway because she looked up my street and saw me.  Love those ladies!

I want more...2011 has taught me a million things about myself.  I have opened up in a way I never thought I could.  Writing this blog for 10 days religiously was an interesting experiment in creative energy mixed with self exploration.  Talk about an invigorating experience!  Thank you for coming along for the ride! 

Now I'm taking a few days off.  More from me soon.

CONCLUSION:

I WANT MORE...

• Love - I can't get enough of the vibration of love.  When it flows from within there's nothing else like it!
• BALANCE - Can't say it enough!
• F Words - Family, Friends, Faith, Fun, Forgiveness, Freedom, Facials, Fortune, Fragrance, Frogs, Frisky, Fires, Foliage, Freaky, Foot Massages and definitely Florals.

I want more...Day 9

Do you have purpose?  Are you living purposefully?  That's what my life is about and I can answer yes!  I want more of that! 

I don't know if I can see the whole grand purpose of my life right now but I know it has to with helping people.  That purpose manifests itself in a variety of ways.  Often I land in a situation where people are stuck and need someone who can step forward and clear the B.S.  I'm not afraid of confrontation or getting into the middle of something mid-stream.  It can be stressful but also a great experience. 

Handling logistics and arranging details is something I'm good at that is so much fun!  Add in the fact that I'm a Mom and it's like dynamite!  My spiritual community is my playground.  I routinely cook brunch for 40-50 people without breaking a sweat.  Coordinating events is particularly fun!  I receive so much from the community that this is my way to balance by giving back.

I love when opportunities to help come up organically.  I have a friend going through a rough time.  Lord, how I would love to take away his burden!!  Of course, I can't and it seems that there's nothing I can do to help.  I meditated and prayed about it and realized that just by being a grounded person in my friends corner, I am helping!  It's amazing how all I have to do is be on my path of self healing and that can help someone else.

Just yesterday I had a rough time.  Sure, it was a ridiculously petty tummy ache whining about the rain thing.  But my friends reached out.  They made me laugh and just let me know they were there.  It turned my day around.  It wasn't the best day but it was far from the worst and it really did help!


Today, I want more...

• Purpose
• Faith
• Balance

I want more...Day 8

Today may be a difficult day for me.  First, it has been pouring down rain for days.  This is more rain than even the natives are used to.  Second, I caught a bit of a stomach bug over the weekend so I'm not 100%.  I got my car back from the body shop on Friday (she looks amazing).  Tough decision to walk to the bus in the pouring rain or jump in the car and drive in this morning.  I'm torn.

It's tempting to get back in bed when I feel this way.  I want to hide under the covers and watch movies all day.  I try to stay positive in this blog but as you can see, I'm not able this morning.  Besides, this blog is definitely not about bullshit, it's about being real.  Please allow me to be a bit low today.  Negativity could get the best of me but I feel more like I'm treading right on the line.  Under the heading of validating exactly where I'm at in this moment I'm gonna give it a 4.  Bleck!

On a lighter note, I got almost nothing done yesterday because I wasn't feeling well.  This is a great opportunity to forgive myself.  Who wants to run around cleaning and organizing when your tummy hurts?  If only I could forgive myself for the smaller transgressions as easily as I can the really obvious things.  Haha!

I hope you have a great day and I hope I survive mine.

Today, I want more...

• Forgiveness
• Slow pace
• Jokes, please people I need a laugh : )

I want more...Day 7

Spring Forward!  It's always painful to lose an hour on a weekend.  It's well worth it so I'll try not to complain.

I'm so excited to have the whole day today without anything scheduled.  This is rare these days.  My husband doesn't understand how much I love an entire day at home.  He says it's absurd to refuse to leave the house for an entire day.  Well we will just disagree on this!  I have plenty to do right here and I need some rest.  Today, he has some things scheduled so I will make an exception and venture out for groceries.  He's a very lucky man.  : ) 

Seriously though, there are very few things that make me as happy as time at home.  I view this place as my headquarters.  I touch down for a couple of hours each night before sleep and then on to the next crazy day.  Here, I plug in and recharge.  It's a centering force.  

On another note, I want and need more organization and less clutter.  This is an ongoing project.  There's just way too much crap in this house.  I'm not blaming anyone, I'm a serious pack rat and actually we all are.  It's like a disease.  We're not quite as bad as the folks on that Hoarders show but we're kind of bad.  We've made some progress in the last few months but we have a long way to go!

Today, I want more...

• Freedom from my stuff!
• Time at home recharging
• Prep for the busy week coming up

I want more...Day 6

This morning I'm thinking about change.  Change is the only constant thing we can depend on right?  Change can be frightening but it brings me joy!  It proves that life is moving forward and that the path you're on is going somewhere.  Of course, the flip side is having to let go of the familiar and sentimental and leaving precious things behind you.

Long ago, when we moved into this house, we let our kids paint their rooms anyway they wanted them.  Here's the strip of hand prints my daughter chose.  They are four different colors and five different sizes.  The hands belonged to my daughter, myself, my husband, our son and some girl who's name I can't remember (sorry).  Creating them was so much fun and even though they have drips and imperfections, to me they are a thing of beauty.

My daughter moved out almost 3 years ago so it's time now to repaint and repurpose the room.  It's only appropriate that we prime over them together as a team.  She's so stinkin' cute isn't she?  Man, I love this girl!!!!



I know, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal painting over some hand prints.  To us though it was almost like grieving.  We were a little sad and melancholy but we moved on and now they're gone.  We will carry the memories of the hand prints with us forever!  In fact we made some new memories painting over them!

Today, I want more...

• Precious memories
• Joy
• Change

Keeping it simple!  Have a lovely day!

I want more...Day 5

Happy Friday everyone!  We've reached the half way point on this challenge.  How do you feel?  Are you adjusting your life to create a little more of what you want and less of what you don't want? 

To celebrate Friday, let's do something totally outrageous and unheard of:

VALIDATE OURSELVES!!! 

So often, we seek validation outside of ourselves.  Don't get me wrong what a blessing it is to be given an achievement award, promotion or pat on the back to validate a job well done.  This type of validation is not really what I'm talking about.

The definition of validation is "to make valid".  Validation is not positive or negative it just IS.  To validate, one must only see and accept things as they are.  Let's say you validate your car (come on humor me).  It would sound like:  'My car is green, it drives smoothly, gets good gas mileage, it has scratches on it and a bad coffee stain on the carpet.'  It's the whole package, the good, the bad and the neutral.  It just IS what it IS! 

What does it sound like to validate yourself?  No, I'm not asking you to put it out there publicly.  I'm asking you to take a few minutes today and validate yourself.  Validate exactly where you are in that moment.  There's no limit to how much you can validate yourself so go crazy, you can validate yourself anytime anywhere! 

Today, I want more....

• Validation! 
• Self Love - I want to love myself more each day.
• Courage - To prepare me to deal with things that feel larger then  me. 

I want more...Day 4

TIME!  There, I said it.  Jeanne posted a comment about it yesterday and it's out there now.  I want more time!!  I know, I know there's a finite amount of it.  I have been flirting with the notion since day 1 of this challenge but only scratched the surface with the time spent outdoors post.

Can more time be created?  Let's explore that.  The thing about time is that if you want more of it you must borrow from another area right?  If I slept less, I could read more.  If I spent less time commuting I would have more time to spend with my family.  Lord, how I would love to work less!  I can't think of a way to make that happen, although it's worth trying! 

Is it about prioritization?  What's important to you is what you spend your time on?  What's demanded of you is where you put your attention?  The idea of mapping out every moment of time is so difficult and fraught with pitfalls.  If you take an unexpected call from a friend for one hour what do you do when you hang up?  You missed your allotted time for paying bills and now you have to get out your map and reorganize the whole thing?  Or you could just not pay your bills.  Oh wait, that won't work.  Besides, you can't spend your entire life reorganizing your map.

Maybe I'm taking this too literally and it's more simple.  Each day we have 24 hours.  We can awake each day and make choices about how we spend it.  I guess there can be more time!

Today I want more...

• Sleep!
• Comfortable places to put my body - A new desk chair is in order at home and at work
• Time to meditate

Let's hear how you finish this sentence:  I want more...

I want more...Day 3

Here's a question for us: 

Can we receive the things we want?

I tell you what, receiving is tricky business!  I can give all day but to receive is a much bigger challenge.  Receiving from myself is even more difficult.  As a Mother, I tend towards giving until I collapse, it's in my blood.  Now that our kids are older I am learning to put myself first.  This is one of the reasons for this I want more... challenge.  In order to balance this, I have to know what it is that I want.

Writing these things down has helped me to keep it at the forefront and follow through on it.  It's very much a new habit of nurturing myself the way I did my children.  Fascinating turn of events!

Yesterday I posted that I wanted more time spent outdoors.  Due to my car accident I've been riding the bus to and from work.  This means about 3 miles of additional walking each day.  Turns out I love it!  Fodder for this blog abounds when out in the public on foot.  When you drive your car, it's like floating through the city.  When you are walking, even if you have an ipod screaming in your ears, you speak and interact with the people around you.  The main thing this did was give me so much more time to focus on me.  Receiving this exercise, time for pondering, interacting with strangers is amazing!

Today, I want more...

• Music that is new to me
• Friendly interactions that make me smile
• Relaxation (Thank you K Baby, I love that one so I borrowed it)

How about you?

I want more....Day 2

First, let me celebrate a milestone for me and this blog.  We hit 500 page views in 9 countries.  That's pretty exciting!  Thank you all for your interest and support!!

I want  more....Day 2

I was thinking about this challenge yesterday and one thing kept coming up for me.  I don't want this challenge to be about the negative.  It turns out that most of the things I want are born from or related to something I don't want.  For example, I said yesterday that I wanted more amusement.  More accurately, I want less drama and negativity dragging me down. 

I figure let's embrace what we want, no matter the cause.  This exercise is so valuable to turn a negative into a positive, proactive and conscious way of creating our lives.  So here goes on Day 2 I want more...

• Personal Pampering (baths, facials etc)
• Time spent outdoors
• Organization

What do you want more of today?

I want more...Day 1

Welcome to a new series:  I want more...

Come along on a journey that I hope we can all enjoy!  For the next 10 days I will explore the end of that sentence.  There is only one rule.  You must start the sentence exactly that way.   I mean this to be interactive so please play along and post comments.  I can't wait to hear your perspective.

I like this concept because it's so positive.  Let's curb the complaining:  I'm sick of.... or I hate...  It's strictly the things that bring us joy, make us happy, give us that something that puts us over the top.

The challenge is about creating the life that we truly want and it's also about communicating with our bodies.  It's so easy to run around crazy busy and let life happen to us.  We tend to ignore our body's needs and desires entirely.  If we want to shift that and create life intentionally, we must listen and learn.  No matter what your religious beliefs I think we can all agree that we only get one go round in these vessels on this trip to the planet.  We can create whatever we want!

Today, I want more...

• Amusement, laughter, giggles, belly laughs, snorts.  I want all of it!
• Produce.  I'm not sure why it seems like so much effort to peel an orange. 
• Water.  I drink so much water already but my body wants more!

Your turn:  I want more.....

Do you feel it?

Do you feel the shifting energy?  2012 is happening now!  That's the name of the workshop I went to yesterday at The CDM Spiritual Teaching Center. 

**Disclaimer**  This blog is in no way affiliated with The CDM Spiritual Teaching Center, nor does it  represent the views of the organization.  I'm a CDM member who has benefited for 14 years from the training and community that CDM has to offer.

Newsflash to some of my blog audience - I am Reverend Laura Petersen.  I attended the 2 year Seminary Program at CDM.  The program teaches meditation and healing.  Sure, I can marry them, bury them or baptize them but I haven't chosen to take my ministry there.  The program was life changing and directed me to the path of self healing I'm on now.

Ok, back to 2012!  The notion that the planet is going to explode on 12/21/12 is not a theory I subscribe to.  It's reminiscent of the Y2K craze that rained fear down on us causing us to drain our bank accounts and hold our breath at midnight on 12/31/99.  That too was a time of great change and shifting energy as people awoke to see the reality of the hype.  We buy these stories and our fear and worry cripple our ability to handle the impending doom.

It is true that the energy on the planet is rising.  I don't know about you but there have been times lately that I feel like I can barely hang on!  Can any among us stand up and say that they have not been more aware of fear lately?  Turn on the news, read a paper or check the internet.  There are people uprising in places that would've never dreamed of such action.  The presenter yesterday said "if you don't feel it just go drive on the freeway for a few miles".  I so agree!  Everywhere I look the pace is faster, the need is more desperate and the world is whirling around my head.  The war for control is so great that people do the most outrageous things within the blink of an eye.

What do you believe about 2012?  I believe in the theory of cosmic cycles.  The energy shifts and rises you either rise with it or you fall.  The world doesn't explode but some people do.  I watched a video from a church group talking about calls they get from people that are desperate to act now to prepare for the end of time.  Women who say they will kill their children and themselves.  That's absurd!  I do think that some spirits will just leave their bodies and die because their fear is too great to be there in 2012 to experience it.  Others are using the theories to live every moment like it's their very last.  That's a pretty fun way to approach it.  It sure beats being paralyzed with fear.

Whatever you believe, I sure think it's fascinating to watch the planet change and grow.  In my mind every single thing in the universe is connected so whatever happens we're all creating it together.  Let's at least enjoy the ride.

Weather Schmeather

How can you tell a native who was raised in the Pacific Northwest?  We are the ones walking in the rain with no umbrella.  That said, we also don't buy coats without hoods.  I was walking across campus yesterday in the pouring rain and a coworker yelled "where's your umbrella?".  My response was "I was born here!"  He laughed and yelled back "put up your hood at least".  Yes, I was wearing a coat with a hood and it never occurred to me to use it.

If you take my family out of the equation, about 85% of the people I know are from somewhere else.  We natives are the minority.  The trouble for me are the folks who bitch about the weather, especially the rain.  I find it amusing how a lot of people complain when it's raining and then come August they complain about the heat!  I find that kind of annoying too.  I believe I'll respond from now on by screaming "If you don't like the rain get the hell out of Seattle you idiot!". 

The other thing about us natives is that we don't have a clue how to drive in true winter weather.  Half inch of snow cripples the streets here.  I'm no exception, believe me!  Just the other day I plowed into someone on the icy streets.  Generally speaking we have very mild winters so how would I know how to drive on ice?  I'll walk next time.

I would not change the weather in this state for anything on the planet!  I'll put up with the rain any day of the week.  How else are you going to be surrounded by lush gorgeous beauty like this: