Monthly Archives: December 2013

100 Word Song – Happy

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Within my fleeting moments of angst and strain,

when I have to look deep within myself,

I draw from a pool of joy that can only originate from one place.

I open the photo album in my memory

and search for the one face that can pull me from under those dark covers.

I seek out the look that shows me love in its purest form.

I find my happiness in that unwavering sense of devotion,

that loyalty that can bond friends forever.

The angst and strain melt away knowing this face will greet me.

She is my happy place.

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Written for the 100 Word Song Challenge over at My Blog Can Beat Up Your Blog.

I’m outta here

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Today’s post will be short because I’m getting ready to head to the city to see The Tenors!!  If you haven’t heard of these guys, they are a very talented foursome of Canadian singers whose voices blend to make absolute magic.  You can listen to them here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E6-AYce-_M

Mondays are difficult for many, so if you are looking for a little escape and want some romance in your day – head over to see Edward Hotspur’s Romantic Monday.

Have a great day everyone and stay warm!!  It’s -35C here today with the windchill.

Dream a little dream of me

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While your eyes feast on the dancing lights

shimmering upon your tree,

I hope you take the time to remember

and dream a little dream of me.

Though worlds apart, I cannot dismiss

the memory of  your smile.

Knowing that you hold me close to your heart

only makes the longing worthwhile.

Moments spent suspended in your gaze

seem like a lifetime ago.

But those emotions bubble under my skin,

the seed just waiting to grow.

While visions of you dance in my head

and your laughter hangs in the air,

I long for the day I can look in your eyes

and the feelings we have can be shared.

The vast chasm of our realities

hold you so far out of touch.

My one wish for Christmas this year

is that I didn’t want you so much.

~~

Written for Romantic Monday

Holy Christmas Spirit Batman!!

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I initiated a Toy Drive at the Lodge where I work and this is the first year I have taken on such an enterprise.  Shamrock Lodge agreed to donate an off-season weekend for two as our way of saying thank you for donating to our toy drive.  Family names who have donated to our cause will be entered for a chance to win and a name will be drawn on December 21st.

The first picture is round one of the toy drive which was overwhelming in itself.  We delivered the first round of toys to the OPP Toy Drive last Saturday and made Natalie, the OPP officer, a bit weepy.

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Today I went shopping once again with the generous donations that continue to come in from all areas of our lives.  Friends, family, hotel guests and local residents have gone above and beyond to help us with our toy drive and make sure every child has something under the tree this year.

The next picture is only the beginning of round two.  We are still collecting for another week and I am already excited about donning the Elf hat again and delivering the toys to their rightful destination so they can find their way into the hands and heart of a child.

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I will definitely be making this an annual event!!  Have a great weekend everyone and when you are out shopping, be sure to pick up that one extra toy and donate it to a cause that wants every kid to have a Christmas!!

Let your heart be light

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If there is one thing the holidays should teach us, it’s to let our worries go.  It may only be for a few precious days while we focus on the things that are truly important but if we can embrace that serene feeling while it is in our presence perhaps we can carry that feeling within us for an extended period of time and not have it fizzle out with the digestion of all that turkey!

Every year it seems stress increases exponentially around the Christmas holidays.  The days that we get a reprieve from work are meant to be our “down time” but the pressure and time constraints of creating our own Hallmark  holiday are overwhelming.  The influx of family from all parts of the globe, the search and rescue mission for the perfect Christmas gifts and the attempts to give Martha Stewart a run for her money at the dinner table all compound to make the stress level reach its maximum capacity.

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I had the Christmas Carols gently soothing my mood the other day and I took a moment to really listen and absorb the words.  “Have yourself a Merry little Christmas,  let your heart be light”.   That was an “a-ha” moment as Oprah would say.  That simple string of words had such a profound affect on me and I realized that it doesn’t matter if the presents I wrap look like my dog wrapped them.  Nobody is going to care if I spend Christmas day in my pajamas and my hair looks like I stuck my finger in an  electric outlet.  The holidays are for just being, not for being perfect.

Take a moment to ask yourself what the holidays really mean to you.  Is your definition of Christmas a perfectly wrapped gift?  Or is it the precious moments when you share a laugh or a hug?  Let your heart be light and enjoy what the holiday is really meant to represent.  If you worry too much about the perfection of the celebration you’ll miss the beauty of the holiday.

Soul To Body – A book review

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I love to read.  I don’t make as much time for it as I would like because I am consumed with writing, but when I do ignore the incongruously fueled ideas that seep into my conscious hours I love to immerse myself in the written expression of others as consumed by words as I am.  I have been fortunate to meet many talented writers and genuinely nice people on this blog site.  And I also consider myself lucky to have read some of their published works.

I have written my amateur review on Amazon and wanted to share it with you in hopes that you would read the books written by this talented author, Lance Burson from My Blog Can Beat Up Your Blog.

Let me start this review by saying I began reading this book one evening after work and continued reading until it was finished.  I couldn’t put it down.

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Soul to Body is a compelling tale of love, loss and recovery.  Lance takes us on a journey through a memory portal and back as a man struggles with losing his wife and coping with raising a daughter while finding the strength to move forward.  Thoughts of his past sprinkle his present with poignant memories of his wife and he struggles to carve a path to the future that will please, not only himself but, his daughter and extended family.

It is a well constructed story of our connections to those closest to us and feeling lost within ourselves.  The characters Lance has created go beyond a mere story line and, as you delve further into the book, you become emotionally invested in the outcome of their journey.

If you haven’t already downloaded your copy, I highly recommend it!

Did you hear what I hear?

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So, the beginning of the subject line is a slight deviation from a Christmas song…but it is appropriate on more than one level.  For those of you who love Romantic Mondays as much as I do, I am channeling my inner high school geek and perpetuating a rumor that has piqued my curiosity.

Romantic Monday will breathe life once again this coming Monday, December 16th, or so I have heard and am hoping.  For those of you acquainted with this special day, I hope the holiday romantic in you will join me in making sure this rumor comes to life!  Be sure to stalk Edward Hotspur and let’s make this rumor a reality.

Merry Romancemas!!

Unspoken words

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The way your eyes look into mine is unfair.

You hold me in your gaze.

You see me.  You see into me.

Your eyes travel the contour of my face and rest on my smile.

Your eyes know every wrinkle around my eyes.

Your eyes know the emotion in every facial expression I have.

Your eyes know me.

But it isn’t fair.

Your eyes will never be able to look outward with mine,

they will never be able to look towards a future together.

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For as much as we are drawn together,

the vision in your reality keeps us apart.

But your eyes continue to speak to me,

volumes of implied feelings are expressed with each blink.

My eyes read those thoughts and answer back.

The emotion in our unspoken words is palpable.

Hold me in your gaze for a while longer.

Hold me there forever.

~~

(image credit: michellealva.com)

A little witty banter

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Small talk is an art form.  It is the informal banter that covers no functional topics of conversation yet seems to fill the void of silence. People generally find dead air uncomfortable and prolonged periods of silence can be unbearable.  Regardless of whether or not we know the person, something compels us to bring up some inane conversation and we generally state some very obvious rhetoric to pass the time.

Small talk is a social skill that some have honed over the years and others struggle with it on a daily basis.  Perfect strangers may feel comfortable enough to talk about things on a more personal level but the bulk of small talk is made up of conversations about things as uninteresting as the weather.  Who knew we all had such an obsession with meteorology?

Depending on where you are when engaging in small talk you can certainly make it more interesting than the state of the atmospheric pressure and relative humidity.  It doesn’t have to become completely personal but you can lift the mood of someone’s day by having an intriguing conversation about something they weren’t planning to discuss with a stranger.

Make the first move and initiate some witty and enlightening repartee that will leave both of you in higher spirits.  Compliments are always welcome and interjecting some kind words into your small talk will go a long way.

Don’t let your cartoon balloon of small talk remain empty.  Fill it with something that will make people think and will allow them to leave your presence with a smile on their face.  Be original and be appealing but most of all keep it simple and honest.  You never know what new connections you could make by starting with an elementary bit of small talk.

I’ve been bitten

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The Christmas spirit bug has ruthlessly stalked me and finally dug its long incisors into my flesh.  I feel like the Grinch after his “A-Ha” moment and my heart has grown three sizes and then some.

As you may have read in an earlier post, we came up with the idea to do the first ever toy drive at Shamrock Lodge this year and the response has been overwhelming, to say the least.  Not just toys have entered our Muskoka lodge, but monetary donations have been flowing in from all over the map.

I had the fun of shopping on Thursday at our local toy store where ALL toys are 50% off – so not only did we get to buy toys for the kids, we got twice the number of toys than originally anticipated!  Win, win.

Today is the day we deliver the first round of toys to the OPP Toy Drive and make what will be the first of two contributions this year.  The money is still coming in and people have until the 20th to drop off toys to the lodge.

I hope this bug bites me every year!

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