Celebrating Friendship and Life and A Giveaway

So I'm doing this fun and exciting project with my friend Christine. Here's what it's all about, what we are all about and how you can win a very cool hat.


                           *******

Christine and I have been friends for forever. We met in middle school and grew up to have very different lives. But we share a history, a love of life and a hope for the future that started when we played games like MASH.

We used to dance our hearts out at school dances. We spent the night at each other's houses, staying up late talking about the boys we liked and the lives we wanted when we grew up. We played MASH. We watched scary movies. We swam in her neighbor's pool on hot summer nights.  We were good friends living the life in middle school in the late 1980s.

In high school, we got even closer. We shared milestones like getting our driver's licenses and special events like being on the homecoming court. We still danced our hearts out at school dances and talked about boys we liked. We dated best friends for a little while. We spent hours and hours at each other's houses.  We filled out the quizzes in magazines and watched MTV and talked about the lives we wanted when we grew up.

The closer we got to being grown-ups the more we saw that being a grown up wasn't always as magical as it had seemed in 1989. The more time Christine spent at my house, the more she saw the troubling sides of my troubled mother. She knew more than almost any of my friends what was really going on in my home. Her house became a refuge for me. Her mom became a mother figure to me too. When my mother didn't come home one night, I called her mom. When one of my mom's boyfriends got too touchy feely with me, I called her mom. 

The more messy my life got, the less Christine and I hung out though. We had silly fights like girls do in high school. We were teenagers being teenager-y. Then we graduated and went to different colleges and moved away and sort of stayed in touch and sort of lost touch and ultimately didn't really know what happened to each other (this is how it was pre-Facebook, remember pre-Facebook?).

Fast forward 13 years, we literally ran into each other on the stairs of a gym. We talked. We realized we lived within a half-mile of each other (we live 3 hours away from where we grew up). We had lunch and caught each other up on our lives. Then we had lunch with her mother when she visited and we all caught up some more. 

We saw each other at the gym. We trained for a marathon at the same time and cheered each other on and supported each other. We had more lunches. Then Facebook happened and we found all the friends from all the years. We started having dinner with another good buddy from middle school that we discovered lived near us too (thank you Facebook). We danced our hearts out at our 20th high school reunion. 

Here we are on the dance floor at our 20th reunion
having so much fun and I think kind of owning the floor. 

In some ways, it was like nothing had changed. 

Something that hadn't changed however was my complicated, troubled mother. During one particularly rough period, I was talking to Christine and she said "You need my mom." And I did. Her mother met  me at a Cracker Barrel in Kalamazoo (our hometown and where my mom lived then). Her mom gave me advice and helped me and hugged me. Just like she had done in high school. 

Then Christine told me her mom had cancer. She was worried and heartbroken. So was I.

Christine dove into research and ways to help her mother. She devoted her life to it. Her mother is doing better, so much better than doctors thought she would be. 

                            *****

Being a grown up is messy and complicated and can break your heart. Friendships that last a lifetime can offer support and perspective and strength. Remembering the hope and excitement Christine and I felt for each other and the future as we filled out the quizzes and dreamt about what it would all look like makes us smile now. Friendships that last a lifetime are like going back in time a little bit. They feel like home. 

Christine and I have very different lives and are very different people in so many ways, but we have a history and we have lunch and we have laughs. And we are doing fun projects together to support each other. Christine created an apparel line, inspired by her mother, called BawareL.  

"I created the "B" with the modified cancer ribbon to symbolize my personal journey with my mom's battle with cancer and my positive result for the BRCA1 gene," she said. "The modified cancer ribbon signifies my desire and hope to see a shift and integration of more natural, alternative methods into the world of conventional prevention and treatment of cancer and other diseases."

She hopes to raise awareness and inspire people. I'm helping her spread her message. And hopefully inspire a few people with my own positive outlook on life. I'm so proud to be a part of her mission and help people live a more positive, healthier life. And to celebrate friendship and people that stick with you and moms that look out for their kid's friends and love and ahhhhh! 

Here's the link to her site- click here. 
If you live in the metro Detroit area, her merchandise is in two Rochester area Hallmark stores. Sharon's Hallmark at The Village and on S. Livernois. Go check her out!

And here are a few of our videos:

(Click here to watch the video.)

(Click here to watch the video.)

Here's how you can win a hat from BawareL.  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank You

Yesterday I was on the phone with the guy from AT&T and I was a little overwhelmed.  Not only by my bill, but also by the kindness of the AT&T guy.  He was helpful and calm and patient and very nice.  He was good at his job and I appreciated it so much. The AT&T guy helped me figure out my bill and how I could switch to a new plan to save money.

"Not one thing has been easy lately, thank you for making this so easy," I told him.  "And thank you so much for being so nice."

"Oh ma'am, it's my pleasure and thank YOU for telling me that," he said to me laughing a little bit.  "Merry Christmas!"

                              *****

A woman I am lucky to call a friend/mentor, Satori Shakoor, lives and breathes gratitude. She said once that she believes "in thank you and that service with a smile is the possibility of love."  Satori is a master storyteller and she spoke in the Listen To Your Mother show I helped produce in Detroit last year.  In the show she talked about how gratitude is her only religion and "thank you" is her only prayer. (Click here to watch her story, it will blow you away.)

Two Sundays ago in church I taught a class about saying thank you.  I feel like I teach a class like that a few times a year. But I think we need reminders--we need classes, stories, Satori's and AT&T guys and Christmas--because it's easy to forget. Sometimes life can be really hard and confusing and frustrating.  Life can make you want to wring your hands in the air and ask why/how with an occasional you've got to be kidding me, instead of raising your hands up and saying thank you. 

But then, the reminders, the thank yous, the gratitude...you remember the possibility of love.  It shines through the smile you give someone, the nod of respect, the thank you at the store, the thank you on the phone, the acts of service, the appreciation you give your friend or your child or a stranger, it's all love.

I have a lot of love for Detroit.
We spent time at Eastern Market in Detroit this past weekend.

I love that I have so many kids that they can play a pretty legit game of basketball together.

I am thankful for this space where I get to share my life and be creative and talk about storytelling and my friends and their wisdom; and where I get to try and be funny and post dance videos and maybe make someone feel less alone.  

I am thankful that I get to do fun giveaways and give you a chance to win stuff.  Today, my friend Katie Redmond is giving away a $50 gift card to stella & dot.  Have you seen their jewelry?  They have beautiful stuff- click here to check it out.

These are just a few items that are each under $50!  

Katie is also selling another line called Keep Collective (click here to check it out), you can use the gift card there if you wish to do that. 

Enter and win! Leave a comment about what you are thankful for right now.  Is it somebody?  Go tell them thank you.  

Spread the joy, feel the love, remember to believe in thank you. Tis the season of gratitude and love and kindness. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Back-To-School Coping & A Giveaway

A few days before school started I freaked out.  I was so worried.  I was worried my friends had made all new friends because I didn't live in their neighborhood, I was worried I wouldn't like my teacher, I was worried that I had forgotten how to write.  Hiding in the small space in between my bed and my closet, I took a deep breath and I attempted to write my name.  A-N-G-I-E...phew, I still remembered how to write.  I cried with relief.  I cried because I didn't want the best summer I had ever had in my entire life to be over.  I cried because I didn't know what the future looked like.  It was August of 1984 and I was going into the fourth grade.  

Going back to school was always anxiety inducing for me.  It got a little easier over the years, a little more exciting.  Laying out my outfits the night before helped--like the yellow and red paisley shirt I paired with the red belt, pegged jeans and red flats, oh and I even laid out the red plastic pearls I planned to wow the new middle school wearing in 1986.  Calling my friends the days before school started helped.  Crying a little and taking deep breaths helped.  Watching my favorite soap operas and eating chocolate helped.

These back-to-school moments of mental anguish became the training ground for my version of coping skills that would get me through/haunt me into my adulthood.  Every year the back-to-school terror/excitement had me laying out outfits, reaching out to friends, eating chocolate, watching soaps and crying and breathing.  

Even when I was done with school, Fall became a time of heightened nerves/emotions.  I started realizing that it wasn't just going back to school that had me all messed up, it was Christmastime, it was a hectic job schedule, it was any kind of change or pressure that I couldn't completely control. 

Now that I have my own children, I try not to put all my shitty issues onto them.  We have fun rituals and traditions centered around the first day of school.  In the weeks leading up to school I spend a little extra time with the ones that genetically are so screwed, and need a little more soothing and reassurance that their friends will still like them, they can still write and even though we don't know what the future looks like, it will be okay.  I'm hoping to give them coping skills that don't involve General Hospital, chocolate and so much crying.

I feel confident and loving in my mothering, but as far as taking care of my own anxiety, not so much.  Once again, I am feeling all kinds of anxious about the new school year for my kids, the fact that one of the best summers of my entire life is almost over and that I have no idea what the future looks like.

The other day my friend Amanda who knew I was probably struggling came over to give me a gift.  She gave me a bracelet she made, Mala beads made out of wooden beads and gemstones.  

It was beautiful.  She told me that I should meditate with the bracelet.  When she saw my skeptical look, she said "It doesn't hurt to try."

This friend radiates peace and love.  Amanda is a bad-ass hippie mother who has dedicates herself to "spreading peace."  She started a business called Little Bird Soul and creates Mala beads that she hopes inspire people "to love themselves and take care of themselves."  

She includes a note like this one with each piece she makes. 

After giving me a quick meditation tutorial and a hug, she left.  I wore the bracelet everyday, but held off on the whole meditation idea because you know, I have my coping skills already.  But after a late night crying to Tim about how the lady at the kids' Meet the Teacher looked at me funny and I just knew she was judging how rough the boys are and I can't organize anything and I don't want the summer to be over and I can't breathe....it felt like it might be a good time to give the whole meditation thing a go.

I sat on my front porch and tried to center myself.  

Per Amanda's instructions I rotated each bead on the bracelet and tried to focus.  Deep breath in...Wait what did she say dedicate a breath? a meditation? Deep breath out...are the kids fighting....take a breath dummy...oh my god was there a skunk out here last night...rotate the bead...oh shit did I put out the garbage last night...that's the garbage truck coming...can I open my eyes...breathe dammit...I should peak and see if the garbage cans are out...the kids are too quiet what does that mean?...okay, good garbage cans are there...breathe, rotate...this is pretty easy, I think I totally got this meditating... I am awesome at mediating, huh, who knew? rotate, breathe...

Amanda told me it might be like this and I've read Eat,Pray,Love.  I pretty much guessed that meditating for the first time for me and my monkey brain/ADD brain/mom brain would go like that.

But she was right, it didn't hurt.  In fact, it felt good to sit and be intentional.  It felt good to be quiet.  It felt good to not be catching up, searching, looking, reading, scanning emails and Facebook.  

I am adding this to my list of skills with which I use to cope. Here's to peace and love and meditation and soap operas.  Here's to coping and maybe not knowing what the future looks like but knowing that it will be okay.  Here's to meditating.  Here's to going back to school.  

How do YOU cope?  Do you meditate? Do you stress out during back-to-school season?

I'm doing my part now to spread the peace and love.  You get a chance to have your very own, custom made, beautiful Mala bracelet. 

And Amanda is also giving away a copy of her favorite book about meditation and mindfulness (for children and grown-ups)--A Pebble for Your Pocket. 

It's a great way to start out the school year with new coping skills and a great reminder to take care of yourself.  Here are a bunch of ways to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway


To find out more information about Little Bird Soul click here littlebirdsoul.com, and here Facebook  and here Twitter.

The Bathroom and a HUGE Giveaway

I spend a lot of time in the bathroom.  We all do.  I bet next to the kitchen, it's the room where we all spend the most time.  And I'm not being all TMI here.   A lot of life happens in the bathroom.

Going way back, I can remember as a kid watching my mom get ready in the bathroom mirror and watching my dad shave.  And my sister and I measuring our bangs while Milli Vanilli's Blame It On The Rain blasted from the pink jam box that sat on top of the toilet.

My sister and me circa 1988 in the bathroom
seeing who had the bigger hair. 

Years later, the bathroom is where I took all my pregnancy tests and found out I was going to be a mother four times over.  The bathroom is where I bathed my sweet toddlers as I sat next to tub on the floor. 

So many cute toddler moments/antics happen in the bathroom.
Here's Wade a couple years ago.

The bathroom is where we celebrated potty-training victories of each of my kiddos. The bathroom is where I now go if I want alone time or if I want to hide from all those sweet children.

Spending a lot of time in the bathroom is just what we all do.
Even at blogging conferences.  Last week was my first time at BlogHer and I found myself sitting in a bathroom in the middle of an expo hall. 

Me in the Angel Soft® Booth at BlogHer.

It was the Angel Soft® booth at BlogHer, Angel Soft® was one of the conference sponsors.  Their booth was full of nice people that were having fun and that weren't afraid to talk about spending time in the bathroom.  They asked personal questions like "do you hover or cover?" And didn't make it feel too weird.  We laughed and talked toilet paper.  It felt so comfortable and easy, I expected someone to blast Milli VaNilli any minute.

And did someone say photo booth in the booth? Why yes, they had one with props.  There's nothing I like more than a photo booth with props (and stellar lighting!).

I don't know this lady, but she looks like she's having fun.

I'm prepping for the camera by curling my eyelashes.

My buddy Greta from Gfunkified.com and me and hamming it up in the photo booth.

Not only did I have fun in the booth, I also learned a thing or two about Angel Soft® products.  I learned that their bath tissue is made with two layers and has 60 percent more sheets per roll than some other brands.  All of their messages speak to me on so many levels-- "An ideal balance of softness and strength" and "all the quality you need at a price that won't break your bank."  But my personal favorite message Angel Soft® is using right now is the best hashtag maybe ever-- #sheethappens.  Since I spent time at the booth, I've not only been using Angel Soft® bath tissue, I've been using the #sheethappens line everywhere in my life.

Have you seen their hilarious videos highlighting #sheethappens moments?  Check out one of my favorites:


(Click here to watch the video.)


Check out the Angel Soft® web site to watch more.

Now I get to give you a chance to win a year supply of Angel Soft® bath tissue and Angel Soft® facial tissue. Yeah, that's right.  You can outfit the room you spend so much time in with Angel Soft®.  

The giveaway ends at 12 a.m. Eastern on August 12th. There are several ways to enter. So go ahead, enter and win.  Imagine not having to go and buy toilet paper for a year!    


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Check out the Angel Soft® web site.
And the Angel Soft® Facebook page and on Twitter.

I received financial compensation for this post from Angel Soft® however all opinions contained are my own.

A Thank You Kind of Weekend

This past weekend was good.  We were all together which is rare.  Usually, Tim and I divide and conquer shuffling and chauffeuring kids to various activities.  But this weekend it was different and it was so good.

This weekend was one of those times where I looked around me at my little corner of the world and said, "yes, this is it, this is my dream life, and thank you, thank you, thank you."

I was less scattered, more focused; less nobody is listening or doing what I say!, more I'm going to sit back and take it in; less I'm so full of stress and tired, more I'm so full of love and tired (um, yeah, even though it was a good weekend, I don't think I'll ever not be tired, that just seems never ending).

Fifteen years ago, I watched my boyfriend playing football with my little brother who was seven at the time.  I watched how patient he was and how he looked him in the eyes.  I marveled at the connection he made and the time he devoted.  I fell in love with him and dreamed about what kind of father he would be to my own kids.  This past weekend, I thought of that boyfriend and once again marveled at the man, the father, he is today and found myself saying "yes, this is it, this is the dream life and thank you, thank you, thank you."

Tim is the dad that plays, teaches, coaches, reads, provides, comforts and did I mention play?
He really is Super Man
(just like his costume for the
Kids vs. Dad wrestle mania event).

And he makes the kids laugh and laugh and laugh.

This has sort of turned into a mushy, belated Father's Day post. But really it's a post about those weekends, those moments in time, where you look around filled with gratitude.  Those moments where the same messy closet that drove you nuts the day before just doesn't bother you; or the stack of bills that gave you a mini panic attack the night before doesn't even phase you the next morning.  Those moments where you look at your husband and you fall deeper in love.   Those moments when it's all good and you want to say thank you, thank you, thank you.

This is is drop the mic and walk away all big and bad moment, because well, he's Super Man.
Ha. Ha. I'm kidding this is on the way home from our walk to Dairy Queen.

****Giveaway Reminder****
In honor of living in the moment and loving it  I'm giving away a quick-change camera lens for your iphone--the olloclip.  A lens that can make the awesome pics you already take on your iphone um, awesome-er.  It is a $70 lens and is perfect for capturing all the summer memories you are making.

All you need to do is leave a comment here or like my Facebook page and leave a comment on the FB page and you will be entered.  You have until this Thursday to leave comments and enter.  A winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Friday.

Summertime, What I Know For Sure & #iPPP

There's an air of love and of happiness. Oh wait that's the Fresh Prince's new definition of summer madness. Yeah, it's Summer, Summer, Summertime. Sorry to go all old school Fresh Prince, but I love that song and he raps the truth.  Because we are all love and happiness up in here.

Sure, the kids fight, the house is a mess and all of that.  But who cares?  It's summer!  I love summertime.

Not to get all Byrds on you, but come on, just like Will Smith back in the day, they were right too.  To everything (turn, turn, turn) there is a season (turn, turn, turn)and a time to every purpose, under Heaven.

A time for running through neighbors' sprinklers.

A time for sticking our feet in muddy rivers.

A time for hiding and seeking outside.

A time for monkey bars.

A time for lacrosse sticks and broomsticks to be swords, top hats and flags and wild imagination in the middle of the day just because.

I think they were chanting "for Narnia!"

A time for clover flower crowns.

A time for climbing mountains, chasing rainbows, jumping waves, soaking up the sun and looking up and grabbing every minute of wonder everywhere.

I love summertime, I know that for sure, always.

Here's what else I know for sure (this week):

• Giveaways are good and this one is really good.  All the pictures above were taken with my iPhone.  In fact, that's my go-to camera since it is ALWAYS with me.  In honor of living in the moment, loving it and capturing it on your iPhone, I'm giving away a quick-change camera lens for your iphone--the olloclip.  A lens that can make the awesome pics you already take on your iphone um, awesome-er.  It is a $70 lens and is perfect for capturing all the summer memories you are making.
  

  

  
  
  All you need to do is leave a comment here or like my Facebook page and leave a comment and you will be entered.  You have until next Thursday to leave comments and enter.  A winner will be chosen randomly and announced next Friday.
  
  

• Our obsession with RummiKub lives on.  It's such a fun, all-ages, any-season kind of game.  Perfect for my favorite place in the whole world, our front porch.

• I'm still loving Twitter.  If you want to come play, click here and follow along @AngelaYBlood.

• The little boys are in love with two books right now, actually we all are.  Here are two of our favs right now:

Pete the Cat is such a fun book about staying cool no matter what.  It's fun to read and a great message.  

Blackout is a perfect summertime book and a book about unplugging and spending time together as a family.  We all relate to this message, everyone from the 3-year-old to the 39-year-old in the family.

• I'm not so anti-technology for my boys when it gives them bonding moments like this one.

Checking baseball scores before lights out.

• Subscribe to my YouTube channel here, so you don't miss out on how-to videos like this one.  You know, where I tell you every way not to put on false eyelashes. Subscribe!

• Nature is scary.  My kids think I'm nuts, okay everyone does, but nature doesn't like me and I don't trust it.  We literally almost ran into this deer on a family walk after dinner the other night.  Look at the deer, there's no fear there, just a challenging, menacing stare.  

I was crying while taking this picture,
too afraid to move (no lie).

• Bitchy resting face is real and I have it.  Have you heard of this?  I laughed out loud after I read this and watched the video.  You must, especially if you are an aging woman who doesn't use Botox, watch this video.  Personally, I'm so glad there is a movement to accept "BRF." :)

Click here to read all about it.

What do you know for sure (this week)? C'mon, we're friends, share what you know. What do you love about summer?  Leave a comment here or on the Facebook page (and don't forget you might win the super awesome iPhone lens).

  Please come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed.

I'm linking up today with my friends Greta from  Gfunkified.com and Sarah from SundaySpill.com for the #iPPP link up.  They host a link up where they encourage people to share "your funny, your yummy, your heartfelt, your favorite photos of the week" from our phones.  
Check them out.

Oh yeah, and because it was a post full of music references, here you go:

Summer, Summer,Summertime

Drums please...

Turn, Turn, Turn
Bruce Springsteen style...