Achievements

a·chieve·ment

noun

1. 1.

   a thing done successfully, typically by effort, courage, or skill.

   "to reach this stage is a great achievement"

   
   
2. 2.

   the process or fact of achieving something.

   "the achievement of professional recognition"

Todays prompt in the "101 journal questions for women" book is to list your top 10 achievements. 

This one is very hard for me. For each thing I came up with, a negative thought followed with "but I didn't follow through, or it wasn't because of any great effort on my part" type of thing.  I feel like I have not had to work too terribly hard at things that I have really wanted , I have put them out in the universe and they've happened for me and I have an amazing family that has helped me and given me tons of things/support/love/opportunities to make things happen over the years. 

1. Fostered dozens of children for two years after becoming a foster parent. By far some of the  most difficult and rewarding days for me. 

2. Traveled to Europe while in high school as a High School Student Ambassador with the People to People program. 

3. Coming out as a gay women at age 39 and changing up my entire world as I knew it. 

4. Spending a year being there for my dad as he was dying of cancer. Skyping everyday, making multiple visits to stay with him during his treatments and being there to send him off. Not sure it's what you'd think of as an achievement but it fits in courage and effort and something I'm proud of doing and would do again.   

5. Purchasing a brand new  car all by myself.

6. Growing up.Not just getting older but growing up mentally and emotionally. With the wonderful world of Facebook I see that not all of my school friends have mastered this and seem to be stuck back in high school. Life is so much better when you open your mind, let go of negativity  and stop allowing drama into your space. 

7. Getting the lap band surgery. I had the surgery almost 3 years ago. I am not where I want to be yet as far as weight but I know that I never would have gotten there without it. My health issues were just getting worse and after having both hips replaced my mobility was not at a state to just add exercise and expect to get where I needed to be. 

8. Starting this blog. It's been 5 years now. I don't keep up with it everyday but as much as I love journals, diary's, calendars it's fantastic to look back and see where I was and what I was doing back then. 

August 3 2010   It's amazing when I looked back to that Aug. 3 2010 blog and it was so similar to these 10 achievements..WOW! 

9. On the courage part..I went parasailing. I am afraid of heights and will never go again..but I went. 

10.  An achievement that I'm still working on..is trying  new foods and expanding my pallet. As a child I  was a very picky eater and even into adulthood had very limited "likes" in food. Vegetables were out of the question and now I will eat most or at least try them.  

Holy Cow,where did March go?

I've been meaning to do a blog about March but I've been getting distracted and now look, it's April already! March had to be one of the fasted months to fly by for me.

I am totally enjoying married life. It does feel different. We were together 7 years prior to it finally becoming legal for us to get married in Florida. I've been making all of the calls this week , changing my name etc. We saved money on car insurance..that was a nice surprise. I'm still working on getting my passport changed and banks, doctors records etc.  I'm loving seeing my  new name on emails and signing for packages at work with the new name!

For our honeymoon we are going to Paris! We have booked the hotel already but not the flights yet. We are going in October (our birthdays are in October) and we try and go someplace every year for our b'days -this year it will be a b'day /honeymoon combo!

I am hoping these next few weeks go by just as quickly and we pass thru the Spring Break tenants with little to no issues. Over all I think it's been a pretty good season. We were busier than ever. It was the first season I was not in our Siesta Key office full time.

March was also our first over night babysitting with my great nephew , Devon. It was wonderful! We've equipped ourselves with a pack n play, high chair, toys, baby food, bibs...I hope there will be many more nights with that sweet boy!


My great niece Belle is getting to such a fun age too. She will be 7 months old this month. (Devon will be 8 months old!) I get to see her at work a few times a week. She has not mastered crawling on her knees yet but is smiling and giggling.

Holly and Belle March 10

The fur children are all doing good too. Scout had to go in for a teeth cleaning and ended up with 10 teeth pulled! He's home recovering and almost back to his chipper self. With MUCH better breath ! 

I am really going to try for more frequent updates and even some video vlogs soon. 

Have a blessed day! 

1/6/2015 -1/13/2014 Same Sex Marriage in Florida is Legal!!

1/6/2015   It finally happened. Same sex couples can get married starting today in Florida. We have several friends that got married today, made the front news of the papers , were on the news and made history.Very Exciting. Vic and I are starting to plan for our October wedding...the date is yet to be determined.

I left this morning for work and drove by the Venice courthouse. There was a crowd out front. From US41 I could see the big rainbow flags and the large gathering by the front door (where they perform ceremonies at our court house) All of a sudden tears sprung to my eyes. I honked in approval and called Vic. My tears were not for myself. I really didn't plan on getting married again, my tears were for all of the couples that now don't have to feel like second class citizens ,my tears and emotions were for equality.  The first time I went to Sacramento to see Vic we went to a rally at the capital for Prop 8 and now here we are 7 years later able to get married in our own state! Video from that day :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZOIWJXY-b0

1/13/2015   So , since last Tuesday we have looked at venues , come up with the kind of wedding we want, asked one of my dear friends to perform the ceremony, changed our date from October to November, Picked out and ordered our rings and have had endless discussions about all things wedding. It is so exciting! We both agree that we want a spiritual (not religious) ceremony surrounded by our friends and family that have supported us along the way and share in our journey.

Holy smokes there is a lot to do /consider when planning a wedding! My niece is getting married in December so I'm trying not to step on any toes and duplicate anything she may be doing for her wedding. Not sure if that is a real struggle or just something I've created in my brain but I think it's only respectful. I don't think I'd want a friend or family member having a wedding right before me with any of my ideas/plans etc. I think I'll talk to her and make sure she isn't feeling resentful.

I am not the most patient person and want it all planned and done like yesterday so this is not the easiest thing for me to do. I think once we nail down the venue/reception location I'll feel better. Oh who am I kidding...next it will be "once I order the invitations, or once I plan the menu, or order the cake " it's never ending. :)

I will try and not turn this blog into a never ending bridezilla diary but I can't promise anything ha!
When I get too crazy Vic is kind to remind me "It has only been legal for (fill in the blank number) of days.

Immediate Goals:
Get nails done before we get the rings!
Secure the location for the ceremony and reception.
Start on a fitness plan to get more lbs off by wedding day.

Enjoy my Pinterest wedding board! http://www.pinterest.com/floridaholly/my-big-gay-wedding-planner/

Dreams

Since my last post my father has passed away. I was fortunate enough to get to spend the last two weeks of his life by his side. Exactly one year ago he was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. His prognoses was not good so we made the most of the year. Last March I went up to TN and spent two weeks with him while he started chemo. Over the summer he was in a brief remission sort of thing and he made it back to Florida for a week or so. During Thanksgiving we rented a cabin in TN and went and spent the holiday with him. My sister spent Christmas in TN with him and in January and then again in Feb. I was up trying to fit more time into the hourglass that was quickly losing its sand.

I've been back in FL now for about a week. Vic, my partner, has been having dreams every night where my dad visits her. The first set of dreams my dad was wanting her to count money and balance it on an old ledger. It was very frustrating because it would not balance. The figures just would not be what my dad thought they should be.

The next set of dreams was about two boxes. My dad told her that one box was a "good" box but before she could give it to me there was something she needed to do with the second box...in that order..do something with the second box and THEN give me the first box. For many reason she could not open the second box...it took the form of a safe in one dream, a gift wrapped box in another...no matter what it was her hands would not let her open it.  Finally she gave up and gave me the "good"  box without following the instructions of doing whatever was in the second box first. When I opened it blood and guts spewed out all over my lap. She woke up very upset after this dream.

Last nights dream Dad came and told her about a gay man named Tom that had passed away. He was from a small town and wanted to leave his money to many different gay charities. Dad told Vic to write briefs and take them to a judge to submit them. Vic would start writing and dad would want something changed and she'd have to start over....this continued with the writing and starting over.

I've been doing some research on the meaning of dreams but I just can't figure these out. Odd....