no jacket today.

everyone's in a good mood.

it's friday. it's sunnny. it's warm. there is an abundance of smiles going around in buffalo this afternoon. enjoy!

i'm outisde on the porch drinking a beer with (e:bridgette), and a couple other friends, next door to pano's if you happen to be in the neighborhood...

this feels so good.

my lack of a jacket gives me so much extra ability to MOVE. i have so much energy. i'm loving spring. i feel like a plant getting energy from the sun.

goin' back outside to get some more...

love!

i had a seriously bad day. so many things went wrong, and i was having a hard time getting out of feeling bad.

so i decided to make a list of ten things that were good about today. and they had to be today specific (like, i couldn't say that i am healthy, because i am healthy every day.) it actually took me a while to come up with the list, but i stuck with it. and i do feel much better now.

here it is:

1. we got a whisk broom. we haven't had one for about a week. me without a whisk broom is like (e:paul) without a computer.

2. carlos, the UPS guy, who is one of the few people in buffalo who know my last name (peace) drove by when i was waiting for the bus, gave me the peace sign and shouted out PEACE!

3. i had this intuition that i would see someone i know while on mass transit today, and i did end up seeing two people i know. (actually three, if you count carlos, but i don't really know him...)

4. i had people to talk to. i talked to my nursing friend matt while in class and had conversations with three of my roommates when i got home.

5. i read the article in buffalo rising about our coop. i thought it was a nice article, and i was impressed with the quality of the articles in the magazine in general. (i don't know how to add a link, but if i did, i would add one here of that article.)

6. i learned something i have wondered about often. ever since i saw trainspotting, i wondered about the fascination with heroin. i saw people in the movie shoot up and immediately lie down. it didn't look that fun, but i always wondered why they lie down like that. it turns out (as i learned in pharmacology today) that it's because heroin makes your blood pressure drop a ton if you're standing, so you're likely to pass out. (your blood pressure doesn't change nearly as much if you're lying down.)

7. i chose to walk to the subway instead of taking the bus this afternoon, and i enjoyed the walk.

8. there was an absolutely amazing sunset this evening. there were clouds low in the sky and due to the sun tinting on the ub shuttle, it literally looked like those clouds were an ocean. i have never seen anything like that before. words can't suffice.

9. the weather was much warmer today.

10. i got my jeans back. i know i don't get excited about possessions, BUT for the past two months, i have only had two pairs of pants i can wear. now i have three. that is much better. (to avoid having my double x chromosomes taken away by admitting that i only have two pairs of pants, i want to say that i have many more pairs of leggings and pants that go underneath the two pairs of pants i have been wearing.)

my roommate and i hung a few more strings of christmas lights tonight.

one of the strings of lights was all pink, so we hung it in part of the apartment that needed some love in the form of a big HEART.

love!

so this christmas, i have time.

time to share talents, time to spend with people.

i'm interested in helping people out. and i was thinking that maybe this could make the season of giving more personal.

here are some of my talents i can share:
relaxing
house cleaning/cleansing (i am especially good at doing deep cleaning involved with moving)
reiki
picking up trash
taking care of children
spreading peace
arts & crafts
cooking (vegetarian) meals for groups of people (especially brunch)


here's my wish list:
massage
use of a vacuum cleaner
pot
money (only because of school, which has peace as the greater goal)
peace
guitar or djembe lessons on your guitar or djembe
a beautiful spring day
rides to run errands around town
positive vibes
drum circles
love


let me know when you'd like to get together! actually, let me know of any of the nice things you're doing with people this holiday season! i would love to know.

i have a suede coat that belonged to my grandmother. it's really old and has a lot of character.

i love this coat. every time i go out when i'm wearing it, i give thanks to miss gertie or bessie or whatever her name was that gave her life to keep me warm.

animals are definitely made for weathering the strong winds and intense cold. i am grateful that i have this wonderful coat to keep me warm in the winter. wearing an animal helps to keep me connected to how life used to be.

today i got to hang out with hannah michele, who has officially been here on earth for 16 days. she weighs just 6 pounds and she's so tiny, a little-itty-bitty human.

this evening, for the first time ever, she lifted her head up and held it there for quite a while. she was lying on my belly at the time, and we were in a darkish room together. when she learned that she could lift her head, she practiced again and again. you could tell she was working hard because she had found new strength and she was ready to develop it. she ended up doing it a number of times and i could see her advancing and getting stronger.

blessings!

this was such a special moment to share with my new neice. it was the first time she'd been awake and alert for so long, other than at a time when she was eating.

it is so amazing to see her learn so much. and to learn so much with her.

babies are glorious miracles. thank you, lord.

yes, indeed, we are all one.

i had an amazing day.

i started out working, doing some leaf blowing. i decided to pretend that i was high when i was blowing the leaves. surprisingly, it worked quite well. i was totally enjoying everything. the weather was perfect today and the sun was shining strong.

then i went over to my dad's new house to help out tom with a few things there. my dad was at the doctors, and it was just me, tom, and buck, some of my dad's friends (and handymen).

for the first time (i guess because my dad wasn't there), i had a some good conversations with buck and tom. i was talking about my life a bit and mentioning that i have lived in communal places with a lot of hippies. buck saw that tom and i were getting friendly, and he pointed out that tom is a biker, not a hippie. i said "i like them, too." and i really mean it. i like everyone who is real, not afraid to be who they are.

after we finished most of our work, tom said those magic three words that have sparked many a friendship. :-`D

indeed, tom is definitely a biker. he just spent last week at biketoberfest (or something like that) in daytona beach. and he's super patriotic, at least to all the bumper stickers he has on his helmet. but i really like him, i always have ever since i met him a couple years back.

so we hung out for a bit and then i realized how little i've been outside. and really, it was absolutely gorgeous out today.

then i went for a drive by myself, over to topsail island. the beach is very pretty there. it was destroyed by hurricane fran some years back (probably about 10 by this point), but it was nice to see just how well they've recovered. (the island looks better than ever, and it really is great that it's so clean there, especially because i recently spent three months in louisiana doing hurricane relief work. it touched my soul.)


smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smiles

for the first time in a while, i went to fairy land for an extended period of time. i will try to describe what it's like when i have a permagrin on my face.

smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smile-smiles

the perfect moments come when you realize that every experience you've ever had in your life has come together and you are just filled with so much joy. every memory is pure love, every single thought helps to make you realize that you have manifested everything that happens and that it is all love. i enjoyed discovering the beauty here today.

i enjoyed driving my 1989 honda on cruise control. you see, i am not really the best of drivers unless there are things on the road that i need to pay attention to. i like to be on auto pilot, driving along slowly and seeing all the beauty that is everywhere. each song that came on the radio fit my life perfectly. i even tuned in to "peace train" at the line:

now i've been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is.
why must we go on hating?
why can't we live in bliss?

which is telling my life exactly as it is right now. and i got to enjoy all the clapping and good vibes for the rest of the song.


i passed fairytale lane
...and i smiled for all the time i've spent in fairy land
i thought of my new biker friend
...and i smiled that i now have a friend in north carolina
i went to the beach
...and i smiled because i had forgotten how salty the ocean water was
...and i smiled because the birds were calling out to say "love"
i thought how i had called out to my soul mate the other day when i was feeling down
...and i smiled because he responded
...and i smiled because i don't need to be with her, or even to know where she is because he is ALWAYS with me, inside me
and i talked to my friend kimberly
...and i smiled because i was able to put at least a little bit of a smile on her sad face
and i enjoyed the sunsine, and i enjoyed the water
...and i smiled for everything that was manifest today.
...and then i smiled some more.

we are all one
many, many blessings to you.

LOVE!

i feel so much better after going on to estrip this morning.

i don't think this is all coincidence:

ajay posts about benfits of sex
the sugar gliders have sex forever

paul posts about the sugar gliders
mrdeadlier dreams about the sugar gliders

lilho makes a comment about the circus
at the time she was writing her journal, i literally was wondering how i could join a circus.


i'm sure there are many more connections, but these three obvious ones jumped out at me first thing this morning.

i had a really tough sleepless night, thinking way too much. now i wake up to good news: we are one.

much love to all and many blessings!