Happy New Year!

2008 was pretty tough on all of us...in just about every way!
I, for one, am very glad to see it go.
Here's to the BEST in 2009

Live, love, laugh and enjoy each day.
You are loved and life, no matter what,
is still good.

This was sent to me...and I'm passing it to you. I gotta admit, there are quite a few good tips here...(and I fixed a few of them too...)

1. Take a walk every day. And while you walk, smile.
2. Be silent for 10 minutes each day.
3. Get more sleep.
4. Pick a sport, a team and start following them!
5. Live with Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
6. Play more games and read more books than you did in 2008.
7. Make time to practice meditation and prayer.
8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of six.
9. Dream more while you are awake.
10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants. Eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
11. Drink green tea and lots of water. Eat berries, fish, vegetables and nuts.
12. Make at least three people smile each day.
13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new energy into your life.
14. Donʼt waste your precious energy on gossip, or issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like history class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
17. Smile and laugh more!
18. Life isnʼt fair, but itʼs still good.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
20. Donʼt take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
21. You donʼt have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
22. Make peace with your past so it wonʼt spoil the present.
23. Donʼt compare your life to othersʼ. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you!!
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?ʼ
26. Be forgiving.
27. What other people think of you is none of your business.
28. REMEMBER 'this too shall pass.'
29. However good or bad a situation is...life will go on!
30. Stay in touch with friends and family!
31. Get rid of anything that isnʼt useful, beautiful or joyful.
32. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
33. The best is yet to come.
34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
35. Do the right thing!
36. Return calls, emails, texts and, once in a while, go ahead and 'chat' with that old friend on Facebook...
37. Each night before you go to bed think of three things you are grateful for.
38. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
39. You only have one life---make the most of it.

40. Stay curious about the future!

Thoughts for my next tattoo...

Before you laugh, please know that I DO have a tattoo.
And, if I had a dime for every time I have thought about having it removed...well, I would have had it removed...Ugh!

If only I had gone to this place...
Oh yes, I am sure my regrets would be fewer!

How great would THAT look on me!
(Especially love the LA on the middle finger!)

Seriously, why didn't I go with something more like this?

Or even this one! Classic...how come I didn't think of a Fernando LBT?!

Honestly, I would freaking LOVE if this (above) was my tattoo!

Probably NOT gonna get another one...
but I might just go hang out at this place one day.
I think I would like these people.
And they'd probably even like my tattoo.

http://www.truebluetattoola.com/shop.html

My favorite epsiode of friends

Just getting home from our FIRST annual "pajamas & wine night" at Sharel's house!
(Hmm...kinda like EVERY night at MY house!)

These are my BEST friends....from HIGH SCHOOL!
Sharel, Elisa and Kelly...

My GREAT apron was a gift from my sister, Gina, for Christmas!
Yes, we definitely poured our dinner tonight!I LOVE these people! I am my BEST with these people!
And, damn, do these people love me!Twelve pictures later...Oh goodness...if you could see the pictures that DIDN'T make the blog!
(Nope, you'll never see them!)
Delicious food, incredible wines, and
AMAZING friends I've known since I was 14! Seriously...life is OH SO good!! I am the happiest girl in the whole USA!

Note to Self

Each year, as I put away Christmas, I write myself a little note. I jot down what I am feeling or what's going on in my life, and I usually write down WHO I am thinking about (read: obsessing over) at that very moment. It's just a "here's where I am today" kind of note. I always end it with, "So...how are things now?" and then, I pack it away in one of the boxes of Christmas ornaments.

OK, as I re-read that last paragraph I realize that it sounds kinda cuckoo. But, I gotta admit, it's very interesting to find and read these year-old notes as I prepare to decorate the following Christmas. I always laugh out loud when I read it....I laugh at what I was worried about a year ago and, over the last few years, I am truly amazed at the WHO I was so concerned with one year earlier! Sometimes, even the paper the note is written on has a special meaning at the time of its writing, which I find hysterical (read: ridiculous) the next year. But it reminds me of where I've been and the progress I've made and how life just keeps getting better.
Actually, more than anything else, each note is a great little lesson in perspective. The things I am so concerned about today are very rarely a concern at all a year later. And, that person who took up so much of my time, thoughts, feelings and energy--yeah, a year later I realize I haven't really thought of him for months.
Life went on. And, year after year, my notes are reminders--or proof--of just that.
So I just finished putting away this year's Christmas...and tucked my little note inside one of the boxes to be found and read as I decorate for Christmas 2009. Where will I be next year at this time? What will I be concerned with and worried about then? And WHO will I be with (or be obsessing over) at that point?
Not gonna worry about it right now. The house is clean and quiet.
Christmas 2008 was wonderful and life is really good.
Actually, that's exactly what I wrote on the note...

Some of the greatest people I've never known...

I love to blog and I definitely feel like I have to blog every day. Yep, my name is Julie and...well, I love to write. I love to share, not just my life, but all the JOY I have for life! Blogging has been the perfect outlet/hobby/pastime (whatever) for me over the last few years...it has fulfilled me, and enriched my world in so many ways! It has also brought with it one surprisingly satisfying bonus which was completely unexpected--the amazing people I have "met" along the way! The other people who love to write and who share their joy through blogging. These folks have been an especially enjoyable addition to my life that maybe only other bloggers can really understand. All week I look forward to seeing new pictures of Sarah's children and reading about their adventures. I love to see where Shannon's photo shoots have taken her and enjoying her unique style! I anticipate Trevor's next YouTube discovery and value his opinion on baseball trades. And I SO enjoy Dick's memories (especially the photographs!) from the good old days.

Oh, by the way, I've never actually seen or talked to any of these people. We only know each other through the Internet, through blogging, through comments to one another. But I gotta tell you--they are some of the kindest, most loving people I've never met. Reading and keeping up with their blogs has invited me into their life! I care about these people and, over the years, they have become genuine friends. They have encouraged me. They have supported me. They have been happy for me! They have not only shared my joy, they have become part of it. Each day I look forward to reading their blogs and sharing their joy and returning their love and encouragement...be it ever so virtually.

Here are a few of my favorite people that I have never met.
Love you guys.
(Click on their name so you can share in their joy too...)Shannon

Sarah

Dick
Trevor (TS) Harrison

Christmas past

Gotta admit...
it used to be a lot more fun to get up on Christmas morning...

It's December 25th!

Merry Christmas to all...
and to all a good life!

Afternoon Delight

Today was the annual "Hibbard Christmas Luncheon" with my favorite nieces and nephew and sister in law! I met Tiffany and her kids (in order above) Collette, Shane, Chantel and Kori at Olive Garden for a gift exchange, time to relax and catch up a bit, to eat a little and laugh a lot!

Though technically we are no longer sisters in law, Tiffany and I have remained very close friends these last few years and have been a great support to one another for the last 20!
(Don't you love the guy over our head??)

I am SO very proud of these girls! Kori will graduate from Cal Baptist in May with a degree in Psychology and will start her Masters soon after. (I told her I could be her first patient!) Chantel is a freshman at UC Davis--there on a gymnastics scholarship--and also studying psychology! Each of these girls is so full of love and life as well!
Gosh I admire them!

Collette and Shane provided the laughter and the ever re-appearing pepperoncinis in my salad.
They love sports and video games and their dog, Jake.
And each of them is so fun to spend time with!

I am not sure what this was called...Delicious? Amazing? Incredible?
Something like that. Yes, we needed two of them...

Each time I am with these people I am revitalized! They encourage me, lift my spirits and I am reminded of how happy and blessed I am to be part of their lives!
We missed you Allison...we each ate a pepperoncini in your honor!

So...are you ready for Christmas?

I always think this kind of a funny question...and people seem to ask it year after year around this time. Um, yeah, I'm ready for Christmas...I've known it was coming all year! Seriously, it's not like Easter which can come on random Sundays from early March to late April. Nope. Christmas is December 25th--on the dot--every single year!Come on, the lights have been up all over the city shopping centers since before Halloween. Christmas cards, decorations, ornaments and trees have been available at the stores for at least six weeks now...did it really sneak up on anyone? Yeah, of course I'm ready! My cards were addressed in late November and mailed out on the 12th. (And I love all the cards I have received!!) My gifts have been wrapped for a couple of weeks and are organized to go out over the next several days. Oh yeah...the stockings are hung by the chimney with care and everything else is set to go!Today I danced around the kitchen to Christmas music as I baked date chocolate chip breads and made my WORLD FAMOUS BTS (arranged it in the eggnog cups above.) As you probably know, BTS is best on day three...which will be Christmas Eve. Yummy!

Everything for my family Christmas Eve dinner has been purchased and is ready to be cooked as soon as I get home from work on Wednesday. We're having Pot Roast (my sister Gina's favorite!), turkey, sweet potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, home made macaroni and cheese, green beans and Hawaiian bread sweet rolls. There's a bottle of Tommy Lasorda Chianti for me and my dad and a bottle of Good Daughter Chardonnay for Gina and my mom.

And Veuve Clicquot for all!

Am I ready for Christmas...?
Are you kidding...I can't wait!!
Hey everybody else--ready or not...here it comes!