2010 Olympic Closing Ceremonies Tonight

Tune in to the Closing Ceremonies tonight on NBC at 5:30 Pacific/8:30 Eastern time.

I can't believe these winter games are almost over! I have spent hours watching, reading and talking about the Olympics in my zone of being a super fan these past two weeks. I wanted to write so much more during the games, but got caught up in just watching and that has been fun for me.

I think I love and promote the Olympics so much because I am in awe of the drive and physical human capability to be the "best" at something- in the entire world. That coupled with the fact that as far as I know, there isn't another event/thing other than the Olympics that bazillions of people come together, to either participate in or watch. It's pretty amazing to feel like a part of all that. Not to mention the cultures that we are able to learn about and incredible stories of some of the athletes, the sacrifices they have made and the road that got them to where they are. I guess I am just one to be in awe of humans overall and the Olympics are a good excuse to see what other people do and how they live. After all, exposure to new and different things is what makes us open our eyes to things we wouldn't otherwise. 

The Olympics are a fun and free way to drink in what any of us can do or be if we put our hearts and souls into something. They're like a showcase for all that's possible and out there for the taking if any of us want it badly enough.

Go world.

Congrats athletes and families of. Thanks for inspiring us all to go for it.

Ahhhh...

I know my posts and have been a bit slimmer that in the past here lately. I want to explain why, and share some news I am really proud of:

Work and life have been so good and busy, I have chosen to ride that wave of goodness and disappear a bit. For the first time ever, I have selfishly taken these past few months to sit in silence, read, write, run, work, learn and more often than not, sit on my ass alone on my couch doing absolutely nothing with my phone on silent and computer off. This has been my personal journey to and most true attempt to best understand myself. To really understand how I work and why I do what I do.

HOLY CRAP! 

Is this what I have been missing out on? Making me happy for ME? Literally stopping, scratching my head and yes- even most of the time saying out loud to myself; "What do I want to do for me right now?" 

It's the freaking BEST! This whole taking care of me thing. Now when I go to work, social events, etc. I am super fun, really smart and totally awesome because I am actually happy with myself, my life and just feel plain good. 

Um, I can't necessarily say I'm embarrassed that I just caught onto this sweet thing called true happiness and peace within yourself, but man do I feel like a doofus! I now feel like I have found the holy freaking grail. Incredible. I would have started this process years ago if I had smartened up before. I've heard the world taunting me "come and get it Diane!" for all my adult years, I guess I wasn't ready to have/get it/do it/feel it until now.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for every last person and thing that smacked me, dumped me, reminded me and forced me to look in the mirror.

I am finally free! Yipee, yippee, yippee!

I highly recommend the disappearing act or running fast and furious away from anything and everything that is familiar and easy to you. Basically the recipe for success is picking what you think would be your personal ultimate in holy hell/solitary confinement/so not fun thing or place and doing that/going there. Then go for that ultimate hell 110% until you think you are about to throw yourself in the ocean because you just cannot take it anymore. At that point, the bottom of the barrel comes, you become hysterical in whatever that means to you personally and pretty much when you think the world could quite possible end right there, something unexplainable happens and things just make sense all the sudden. See, I am convinced that unless you participate in most to all of the above, it's nearly impossible to really see what you are made of. When you do though, it's friggin awesome. You feel like you can actually do all those things you ever dreamed of. You become this strong, fearless and mature grown-up.

It is all so so possible, you just have to bust you ass to get there. Totally worth it. So? if you feel like you are going through hell- keep on trucking. Trust me- you'll get there.

More soon and Blue Lollipop Road lives. Watch for changes and keep following. Thank you for all your love, support and sticking by me. I can't believe it life gets even better than it's already been! Yay!

Never Run Out Of Toilet Paper

Here's a cool company. They can help all of you out there with the to much to do, too little time life. (Oh- yeah, I guess that's most of us.) It's like having your own personal assistant. 

This service sounds fantastic for the 80 hour a week over-worked and exhausted corporate rookie, or those moms that could use another 5 arms. 

Dear Alice,

Hire me as a consultant! I'm still convinced that no one gets a better deal than me and I could probably add a few ideas to your savings bucket. Until then, congrats on a very smart business idea.

Don't Stop, Get It Get It

(I cannot find the lyrics to the above titled song. Bummer. It's the perfect booty-shaker.)

Anyway!...

After sending me a receipt from a work errand, I responded to a young guy I manage over text message this morning: Sweet! Thanks!!!

He then responded with: GEEZ, I have never seen someone get so excited over a bill.

I said: Life is short, play hard.

I own my geek-ness.

They make fun of me being all "Pom poms, Go Team! and Spirit Fingers." I love this and take full advantage when sending out work orders, etc. adding things about unicorns and rainbows. (I have to make sure they re paying attention!)

This made me think. Being happy, positive and excited about your days is a choice. If you want to be pissy, have a bad attitude and hate your life- you will. If you want the opposite- it's a choice. You can have whatever you want.

My life is certainly not all butterflies and rainbows, nor will it ever be. I have however taken life by the balls (I will hide my class for just a moment there- sometimes it has to be done.) and I am "killing" it. I'm no different as a soul that I was a month, year, or 5 years ago- I've just realized I have the authority to make a choice on a daily basis to get up early, stay up late and keep jumping up when life kicks my ass. It's hard to do this when you feel like garbage and oh have I been there. I could share a laundry list of screw ups, heartbreaks and hurdles that could move a mountain. We all could. Life is a cycle of ups and downs and learning how best to deal with cards we're dealt and mistake we make. I have made a million.

The thing is though, even when you're in the worst of dumps, after a while something has to click. You then realize the truth in the fact that we all have ONE life. Then the- WTF am I waiting for?! smacks you in the face pretty quickly. 

Butterflies, rainbows and pom poms it is for me. It's so fun owning my toolness and feeling like an 8 year old. Punishing yourself in a different negative and unhopeful place (I have done this plenty before) for no good reason is a total waste and man does it make you feel awful.

ONE life. 

Off to skip on the yellow brick road...

Miracle On Ice

I have become a total boy/sports-fanatic/addict/junkie during this Olympic time. I'm 31 years old and today is the first time I've been rallying the troops to go to a sports bar to watch the game.

I love every minute of it.

I have scratched my head about 100 times now wondering why I didn't go to work in Vancour for this one. Oh well, there's always Sochi. Only 1,446 days left to wait 

Until then, we could have another miracle!... Tune in tonight!

Dude- Could You Be any More Obvious?!

I was cracking up the other night when I rolled up behind this car at a red light. not the greatest photo but you get the point. Driving and snapping pix on my cell phone is not my best talent.

This gives a whole new meaning to owning what you love.

Um, could you really deny anything if the cops pulled you over?

Still laughing and shaking my head...

Get Real

I think I'm finally smartening up as years pass, surrounding myself with real, like-minded people and understanding myself better than ever. It's the best.

I just had a long conversation with a brand-new friend. (One of those lucky strikes; You meet and 22 seconds later you think to yourself- done! This one is a lifer! YIPPEE!) We have only know each other for about 3 weeks but you would think it's been years. We have very similar stories having to do with our 20's. (Typical young-adulthood things) having no idea who we were, relationship failures, feelings of being lost, insecure, over-committing to people, jobs and volunteer work, becoming "successful" then losing it all, moving to unfamiliar places- all that stuff.

Like comfort food or going home to see Grandma, it is such the best treat when you can have an at length conversation with another human who just "gets" it/you. It feels fantastic when you get through a very difficult period of growth and can sit on the other side with someone who relates and just laugh and laugh. 

My favorite part of today's chat was when I shared the single best place that I've personally gotten to. The:

Really, if I'm not good enough or what I'm doing is not good enough- screw off. 

Yeah, that place.

This is not negative or bad- it's the exact opposite. How many countless times have we all shrugged our shoulders and said something along the lines of: "I don't even care anymore, it's/he's'/she's not even worth it", "Whatever if they don't like me-oh well!" or "Screw them- I don't give a shit."

You know, that cocky and pretend bad-ass place you think you are at the time you say something like one the above but you actually do totally give a shit?

I've nearly killed myself the past 1.5 years trying to come out of a dark hole of immaturity and life cluelessness. Having no idea who I was or what I want. I sure don't have all the answers now- nor will I ever, but damn have I gotten to a place now that I feel more at peace, happy and just plain old chill than I ever have. It's friggin awesome. Working hard to get to this place comes with GREAT reward. (That above "place" I was talking about.) Feeling 100% confident that yes, you have tried your best, you've put heart and soul into "it", you've been been honest and forthcoming, gotten up early- stayed up late and earned ever bit of whatever it is. The reward of the very first time you say "screw off" and you actually really feel that way, as in please don't come running after me because I won't turn around, I don't really care if I ever see you again-yeah for real, no thanks-I'm over it-you're a day late and a dollar short.

It is soooooooooo nice. That place feels like a million bucks. It's like this freedom that's unexplainable. Like putting a stake in the ground saying I have conquered! All that blood, sweat and all those tears were worth it and I've really gotten to know myself. I came, saw and kicked ass.

Here's to kicking ass, taking names and finding incredible comfort in your ability to say if it's not good enough; "Screw off!" and walk away smiling...

Thanks L. or should I say thanks JW? HA!

I Agree!

As the chocolate tres leches cake tries to hide behind this sign...we happily scarfed down our piece while sipping on a cafe cubano.

Yeah. That was our after-dinner treat last night. 

Yippee, yay, me so happy, love this stuff, life is good, ahhh...I love a de-lish meal with dessert and especially when it's accompanied by the whole-shebang of fantastic restaurant experience, sigh- what a great way to end a work day, (Oh I could go on and on)...

Have I mentioned I Love The Olympics?

It's like my crack for two weeks.

My fellow home state Vermonter; Go Hannah Kearney!

Go China's Shen and Zhao! Pairs skating- a couple on and off the ice. Together 18 years- win gold!

The best of the best kicking a** and taking names all over the place. Love it, love it, love it.

More soon on my Olympic hoorah...

The Valentine Scramble

I saw a man come out of a store today looking stressed enough to be on a trading floor. Before the doors of this certain retail establishment had a chance to shut behind him, he and his roses took off in a sprint.

Yes- he sprinted to his car.

I was in a store yesterday and a gent in that place nearly elbowed me in the face to get ahead of me in line.  Knock yourself out dude- I'm just picking up some milk and eggs. (He purchased a few ridiculous pink and red plastic wrapped trinkets along with some bad boxed chocolates.)

I'm gigging, shaking my head and rolling my eyes as I type this. Oh the Hallmark Holidays.

No one shopping/spending? Bad economy? Are you kidding me? During my errands this weekend I saw people spending enough money on Valentine's Day junk to pay off the National Debt!

Where The World Comes Together

Ahhh...the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.

I have always been a huge Olympics junkie. I froze my butt off working in Salt Lake City in 2002, but it was easily one of the most incredible experiences of my life. As a surprise for employees who worked hard and didn't miss a shift during the games- we got a surprise free ticket to the closing ceremonies.

Holy moly. Somebody pinch me.

A few of my fellow employees saw $$$ signs and sold their tickets for tons of cash. I think I remember face value of those tickets we were given to be something ridiculous like $800. (I just poked around for prices on tonight's opening ceremonies and saw a ticket for $1,100. Yikes.) Our gifted tickets were a hot commodity but hell no was I selling mine! I went. It was indescribable. 

Standing in a stadium of thousands with a goody bag of stuff (which I still have) and participating in the show knowing that literally the entire world had eyes on that place was just...gives me shivers. Sounds cheesy but it's true. Talk about a once in a lifetime. 

We went to medals ceremonies/concerts, short track speed skating, the gold-medal round of men's figure skating, met celebrities, athletes and people from all around the globe, actually held some of the awarded medals, were on the Today show and worked directly with FBI and Secret Service and other insanely cool things that I couldn't even keep track of. As I type this now, knowing how thrilled I was then to be a part of it all- 8 years later I'm realizing in a whole different way how lucky I was. What an experience.

I'll be tuned in tonight like a kid waiting for Santa on Christmas eve. I hope you will too. I'm so excited to drink in the next two weeks watching the best of the best in awe of it all.

Here's to Vancouver 2010! YIPPEE!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY M!

Would've been 32 today. I'm celebrating for you and promise I'm still going down that Blue Lollipop Road...

Cheers to living it up. Miss you tons.

Caught My Ear

I had the TV on this morning (typical morning background noise while scurrying to get out the door for the work day) and overheard this line in an interview:

"Sometimes leaving something alone is the best thing you can do."

A very wise line I thought, perfectly fitting for this day for me and good to share with you all here too.

Refreshing

Below is an email from a reader whom I have never met. We have become good pen pals over the past year and a half. It's pretty cool when strangers reach out like this. It's so interesting and promising to me how random humans can relate and impact each others life. Most the time we never even know it. 

Thanks G. Look forward to getting to NYC so we can hang at some point!

Hey there Ms Diane,

I'm just writing to tell you something I saw today that reminded me of you - an ex-work colleague of mine decided to start his own blog and is advertising it amongst people he knows, he's a consultant as I was and lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil. His blog is about his adventures of being from that city. I read 2 posts and that was enough - his is the opposite from yours, only complaints and naggings about the stresses of his day-to-day life, about stressing events, and how annoyingly he reacts to it all - I'm never going back to his blog, while yours is my google's first page and I read it everytime I need to take a break and feel like reading something refreshing.

Just wanted to let you know...

Sigh. It's Snowing Again

Boo.

Have I mentioned I loathe snow unless I'm on a vacation somewhere amazing with mountains, lot's of hot cocoa and hot toddies? I pretty much think it's a tragedy if I can't wear flip flops every day. 

But! In an effort to find humor (you may as well laugh and enjoy right?) in the past week anyway, a list below. This is what happens when a few little inches of snow fall in the southern parts where I live. Just a slight list of things I've witnessed from the small "storms" that have hit here. Holy moses. It is a sight to be seen. Absolute comedy.

1.) People scraping off their cars with a frying pan.

2.) People spinning out so badly they blow their tires.

3.) People "sledding" on a piece of cardboard.

4.) Lines to the back of the grocery store with all humans in a panic the day before these so called "storms" hit, God forbid go a day without ho-ho's.

5.) I'm listing this one again because it was one of the most insane things I have ever seen; lines of humans stretching front to back of a 50,000 square foot grocery store. (See photo above. Only could do what I could do with a cell camera.)

6.) A guy with a bloody knee because someone ran into him in a furry while grabbing food for the oncoming supposed armageddon. (He pulled up his pant leg and showed me this while he watched me drop my two items and give up after I realized there were 47,000 people in line. We couldn't stop laughing. I then took a few photos and left empty handed.)

No, I'm not kidding. The list goes on and on. People scraping off windows with spatulas and other items found in the kitchen....

"When A Snowstorm Hits The South."

This would be a fantastic reality show.

To My Loyal Readers

Hey hey hey! 

So it's been almost a week since my last post and you know I don't like that to happen, but see here's the thing; I have been so busy getting a life, taking care of me (like for real. God it's like the best thing ever and something I'm not sure I've truly ever done before)- that I haven't spent much time here.

As usual- my cup runneth over with people, places and things going on- random thoughts, events and the other 2 million things that happen in my day that I want to share and write about but the minutes fly as they do so here we are- a week without.

I will come back and with a happy vengeance and have plenty more here soon. Just wanted to drop a hello and thanks for checking in and being the reason why I continue to see all the hope and fun life has to offer. 

It's no lie that life gets better and better with time. 

I heart my BLR readers and the people (like the ones I stuffed my faced with tonight at the Chocoholic event) who are just those easy, fun and awesome types that when you turn around- the place is shut down and you're still there chatting away and laughing. (Thanks S, B, L and M)

Here's to hard work, open minds, changes in life and chocolate ganache!