A few weeks ago, I was watching Rosie O’Donnell’s interview with Suzanne Summers.  I’m a big fan of Suzanne’s – not so much the Three’s Company days – although who didn’t watch that if you grew up on the 70s? – but I’m more a fan of her cookbooks and entrepreneurial spirit.  She was really the first celebrity chef that I started to follow and gained a lot of knowledge from her writing about processed carbohydrates and the way they attribute to weight gain. I credit those books with my first forays into gourmet cooking and I developed my own style through experimentation with those first books.

I’ve followed along with her alternative treatment choices for her breast cancer and with the bio-identical hormone replacement therapies as well as the stem cell, breast reconstruction journey that she’s been on.  She strikes me as a very intelligent, determined woman who makes the best out of the situations that she encounters. And I mean, really the best out of them, seeming to thrive in situations where many of us would have thrown in the towel.

In this interview, Rosie would bring up these harrowing experiences and Ms. Summers responded to each one with a very believable “What a gift that was!” It struck me and as I listened to her interview I really started to think about it.

Alcoholic, abusive father? What a gift!

Getting fired from Three’s Company for expecting as much money as her male co-star, when she was clearly the break out star?  What a gift!

Finding a lump in her breast?  What a gift!

Fighting to get approval and her years’ long journey to have the stem cell, reconstructive surgery done in an American hospital, by an American doctor on an American woman, even though she could have gone to Japan and had it done years before?  Again… What a Gift!

I started to think about my own life and let’s be honest, I’m pretty much a “Silver Lining” kind of gal – but I set aside some time and really thought about it. Could I really look at everything in my life as a gift? And while I’m not sure that I’m quite ready to think of the loss of loved ones as a gift, I was quite surprised to think about how much I do view as a gift.

Let me explain:

It’s no secret that my family went through a financial upheaval over the past couple of years and that we had been enjoying a pretty good run of abundance before hand – but thinking about it, I really have to say that so much good has come of it.  I’ve learned so much about who I am and what my values are, where I want to spend my energy and resources for the highest good of my circle of influence. I have found that as a whole, my family and I are nothing if not resourceful, that we are fearless in trying new ideas, and that we can have fun in a paper bag if need be. I have gratefully learned that my husband is willing to do whatever is needed to support his family and that as a work at home mom, I’m pretty capable of earning a living myself, even in the harshest economic climate.

Yep. Gifts.

About a year and a half ago, some people whom I thought were friends decided that they didn’t want to be friends with me anymore.  Instead of just ending the friendship they decided to drop a bomb into the middle of it, making up lies that they told other “friends” that I had said about them.  I reacted very badly, going into a deep mourning, even though in hindsight, I can see that I was already pulling away from these people.  It was very public however, with them saying things about me in public forums and to other friends. I kept quiet, never responding to the public attacks, even though when I tried to contact them and discuss what happened, I was denied, even told that they didn’t know what I was referring to.

I never thought that I would see the gift in that at the time, but there were so many gifts looking back that it’s stunning. First and foremost, the people who stood by my side, who knew me well enough to know that these things were not true. They were the biggest gifts of all. However, a very unexpected gift was the deep understanding that the more success one has, the more likely the small people will begrudge it. In the long run, after many months of going through the cycle of grief, I have come away with the surety that whomever criticizes me, whether it’s warranted or not, it will not ruin my day, nor detract from my accomplishments. That’s certainly not to say that my feelings can not be hurt, I’m actually hypersensitive, but I’m able to discern what is constructive and what is not.

Oh look, more gifts.

I think that we’ve all, at least most of us, had a very challenging couple of years. But I’m grateful for all the gifts that have come of it. I may not have loved living through it, but in the end, I can see the process. I just hope that I’m able to remember this during my next struggle, instead of having to wait for so long.

Silver Lining in the midst of it…

Photo Credit: Arjan Almekinders via Compfight

Update:  We have two winners!  Congratulations Melissa C. and Ronda!  The winners have been notified by email as well.  Thanks for playing, everyone!

I gave up diet soda about a year ago and I’ve been drinking much more water as a result.  I try to drink at least 100 oz. per day. I live in Florida and it’s hot here for most of the year, so dehydration is a concern in our every day lives. Unfortunately I don’t like the taste of the water and I really don’t like to buy bottles of water. Fortunately for me, this house has a reverse osmosis filter, so I feel better about the water, but I still don’t love the taste of it.  It’s sort of metallic and I can only drink the water when it’s freezing cold. Needless to say, when I came across this opportunity to review the Zero Water pitcher, I was very interested.

The pitcher comes with detailed instructions on testing your water straight from the tap with the included tester, a URL to check your average local levels of TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) in the water and the pitcher and filter.  First I checked my local levels on the website, which were 250 (ew, right?), then I checked my tap water which was 168.  Next I checked my reverse osmosis which was 008. I followed the directions, and carefully poured the water through the filter.  This took a few minutes to filter and when it was done, I tested it.  Guess what it was… 000. I tasted it and it tasted like the most delicious pure water ever. Better than most of the bottled water out there, even. I was really impressed.

The pitcher is a nice size, and fits very well in my refrigerator, but I think I’m going to purchase the larger one because my whole family insists on drinking the “Zero Water” and we’re going through a LOT of it.

You can check out their website: Zero Water and their Facebook Page to learn more, but on March 22, which was World Water Day, the company kicked off a campaign and two of my readers will receive their own Zero Water Pitcher and Tester!!  That’s right, two! Just head over to Zero Water and enter your zip code to find out what the average TDS levels are in your area and then come back here and leave me a comment letting me know what your number is. I’ll randomly choose two winners on April 10!  (Sorry, Continental US only)

In addition to that, I have a coupon code!  Use code MC30, which will give you 30% off of a 10 Cup ZeroWater pitcher here. How cool is that?

 I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of ZeroWater and received a water pitcher to facilitate my review, two pitchers to giveaway, and extra filters to thank me for taking the time to participate.

I belong to a food cooperative, which I have mentioned before – the pick up is on Thursdays between 3:30 and 5:30 PM about 20 miles from my house. The pick up also happens to be about 20 yards from my very favorite Fish Market, Simply Seafood and Thursday also happens to be the day that I pick up my farm fresh eggs. Thursday afternoons have quickly become my favorite part of the week.  My children are old enough now to be left alone, so I use this time as my “Me Time”.  I leave my house at about 2:30, set up my phone to play my playlist of the moment, through the car radio and I start to make my rounds.

First I hit the egg pickup, an office that has some of the nicest people working there.  We have some pleasant chatter and I pick up my eggs.

Photo Credit: ANDI2.. via Compfight

Then I take the long way into Dunnellon, singing along with whatever I’m listening to, or making phone calls to friends that always cheer me. It takes about a half hour to get to the fish market where there is always something yummy and again, some of the friendliest people on the planet. We talk about what’s fresh, what’s coming in, how to cook it, what’s going on in the town, upcoming events, etc.

Photo Credit: Luis Eduardo Zamorano Saavedra via Compfight

Next I’m off to the co-op pick up.  Where, (are you noticing a pattern?) some more wonderfully friendly people, who are also passionate about chemical free, whole foods are waiting to give me my beautiful tomatoes, onions, peppers, herbs, and pasture raised, grass fed, meats.  Again – we talk about upcoming events, new things coming to market, what to do with the veggies, etc. Not only are the people I’m picking up from, delightful, but so are the other patrons.  That goes for the fish market too. Everyone is just so dang nice. *gasp* I said “dang” without even flinching.

Photo Credit: Faith Goble via Compfight

When I’ve got all my goodies loaded up into my cooler and in my reusable bags, I head for home.  Sometimes I stop along the way to take pictures of the horses, or herds of cattle lazily grazing in the sun.  Sometimes I sing Adele and Amy Winehouse at the top of my lungs.  Sometimes I just enjoy the silence. If the sun is shining, I open the sun roof and get some Vitamin D.

Photo Credit: Steve-h via Compfight

When I get home I’m so wonderfully relaxed and happy and ready to make a wonderful meal with the great foods I’ve just received; food that I can happily serve my family and feel really good about giving them the best, most nutritious, wholesome foods possible. Every Thursday I feel very lucky, just to be me.

Oh and the pictures?  They’re all from Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons licensing and I added them to my posts using Compfight.

Quickly find the perfect Creative Commons licensed photo every time. Add them to your blog posts with the proper attribution every time with just one click!

Brilliant!

Wow. ColorMePink.com is 10 years old today.  Isn’t that crazy? Here’s proof.  I had been blogging for a short period of time (actually there’s two posts from 2000, but I forgot all about it and didn’t start again till 2002) on Blogger.  I moved the blog over to my main domain at the time (dancingstar.net) and installed Moveable Type. I chugged along happily with that and then there were pricing structures and I got cheap and then WordPress appeared.  I’ve been happily using WordPress since it came out.  I purchased ColorMePink.com because I thought it was cute and it implied how I usually feel embarrassed by things I do or say.  I wanted it separate from my business site as I tended to get a little “ranty” and ColorMePink was a phrase I thought I made up.  Really, no one was using it, it didn’t mean anything.  Now there are lots of ColorMePink sites and names, but most of them are not me -

I used the Internet Archive Way Back Machine to take a trip down memory lane and laughed at how many different designs this little site has had to endure. But that’s what designers do.  They design and redesign and redesign. It was fun to look through all the different manifestations of my corner of the web. Some seem to be missing though – designs that I’m almost sure were archived when I looked a couple of years ago.  Oh well, I should have thought to take my own screen shots.

I think of how much things have changed.  I had two small children at the time, now they’re almost grown.  I was a Catholic, fairly conservative and was just starting to learn to cook.  Now – I’m liberally moderate, a member of no organized religion and pretty comfortable in the kitchen. In my earliest posts I was looking forward to the children starting school and getting a traditional job.  We can see how that played out, right?  I never thought for a million years that we’d stay in Ocala.  In the end though, ten years later, I’m still the transplanted Long Island girl, although I love Ocala and can’t imagine living anywhere else. (I wouldn’t say no to a summer beach house or an apartment in Manhattan, however).

So, for those of you who’ve tagged along from the beginning all the way to the few who wandered in for the first time today. Thanks for reading. Thanks for giving me a sounding board, for helping me celebrate my triumphs and cried with me through my struggles.  Here’s to another 10 years.

Wanna see what the first day looked like?

I have all these great ideas – designs for sewing, music, photography, writing, teaching, business, home, cooking, etc.  And I have ideas every single day, multiple times a day – but my follow through?  Not so great. I decided that what I needed was a “studio”; a formal, gorgeous, “this is where I go to get my creative on”, room that would house my computer, peripherals, piano, sewing machine, photography equipment, art supplies, books for inspiration and treadmill (that I don’t own yet) for when I needed to walk for inspiration.  The master bedroom in this house is huge – I figured I would put everything in there and I’d have a working space that would really be inspirational.

Then.

I decided that the azure blue of the walls wasn’t really conducive to my creativity and that I should paint the walls a light, clear, orchid.  Not a muddy perriwinkle, or a cloudy lilac, but a clear, saturated, orchid.  And then?  Well, the carpet would have to come up – I would put down bamboo mats, you know the ones, they’re usually under deck chairs at really swanky resorts.  They feel so nice on my feet and if I happened to spill something I could just wipe it up.

This was going to be perfect!  I’d have the most wonderful studio, with light streaming in from the big windows and everything I need right there.  I thought I’d go pick out paints, I posted that I was considering hiring someone to paint if for me and was looking for quotes.  I started to look on Craig’s list for the perfect furniture for this perfect studio of mine.  I’d paint everything very creative colors to again, inspire me to work!  Gosh, with all these ideas my studio will be ready in a matter of months!

But.

But.

I had to look, really look hard to realize that what I was doing was just postponing my art, my work. See?  I’m a great planner – I may be the Empress of Great Plans. (yes, that’s an official title) here’s my throne:

- and what I decided was that I have everything I need right here. The blue?  It’s actually quite nice and I have a framed sailboat lithograph and some lovely, matted and framed Russian Duck Stamps that look like they were made for the room. And I have plenty of desks and tables, that can go in there now and what I’m going to do is give the room a great, big, spring cleaning and then just start working.

Photo Credit: Cliff1066 Very cool throne made with silver and gold aluminum foil, craft paper, and other less than throne worthy materials. I thought it was perfect!