Nashville – A music city!

This past weekend I was in Nashville. It was a lot of fun. I did feel like I was back in College. You can see the strip here is full of bars. Each one had a band. Lots of drinking, dancing, partying. Lots of cowboy hats and boots. Enjoyed seeing the cowboy/cowgirl styles.

I was surprised to see one of these old fortune teller machines.

A lot of people were jumping up on the bar to have a picture taken with this sign behind them.

This was a band from another bar.

I did buy a shirt. Don’t they say, “When in Rome, dress like the Romans.” So, when in “Nashville, dress like the cowboys/cowgirls.” It is easier to dance to country music with cowboy boots on, my opinion.

This bus went by, I think it would be fun. We were only there two days, so not a lot of time for touring.

I look forward to going back. Next time dressed like a cowgirl! 

Netflix – A show called, “FISK.”

I was looking for a show to watch on Netflix. I felt like a little kid, so many choices, but everything seemed BORING. Until I clicked on this show called, “FISK.” It’s an Australia comedy TV show. The show takes place in a small solicitors office focused on probate law.

Remember The Office? FISK has similar humor in an office setting. However, this show is focused on clients and their wills. The show has great characters, amusing story lines, and lovely Australian accents. It’s a bit slower paced, which might have you yawning from time to time. Still, the chuckles over the clients are worth sticking it out. They really do come up with some comical skits. I don’t want to give it away…

Right now, there are two seasons, hoping for a third.

Have you watched the show? Would love to hear what YOU thought about it.

Who is DATING out there? GREAT idea for you…

Look what’s been coming to my Junk folder lately. A lot of these dating messages. Obviously, some spammer has my email. Without even opening the messages, I smiled. So, THIS is how it’s done.

Like writing a job resume, crafting an online dating message takes skill. I admit, I don’t have it. Years ago, I tried online dating. I’d last for about 2.5 weeks, realizing there were a lot of strange people out there and I had just wasted 3 months of money!!

The issue was with the profile. First, you need that GREAT photo. Even if it doesn’t look like you, it has to be great. When I say, “even if it doesn’t look like you,” I mean that it sometimes takes zillions of photos to get ONE winner. That winning photo, might not represent who you are on a daily basis; however, it doesn’t matter. For purposes of the profile, it’s a glamour shot. DONE!

Next the profile message. I was never good at this. That’s why I smiled at the dating emails coming to my Junk folder. My message to attract someone was boring. Basically, imagine fishing without any bait. That’s how my dating message was. If you fish without bait, it means you don’t really want a fish.

Now, if you REALLY want to catch the fish, you need good bait. These messages in my Junk folder made me smile. Such fake love messages, but they work! I admit, I was drawn to them. Take the one that says, “Are you ready for some magic and romance mixed together?” Who would say, “NO?”

So, I’m sharing this idea. If you are still dating and having trouble writing your profile. Draw writing inspiration from dating emails you find in your Junk folder.

Guaranteed — You’ll increase your online match results!! 

Marketing is marketing, even in the dating world.

Canada (Whitehorse, Yukon) – Hair Freezing Contest

Have you heard of the Eclipse Hot Springs Hair Freezing Contest in Yukon? It’s been taking place yearly since 2011. They have different categories you can win, ie best female, best male, most creative, best group, etc. Each winning category receives $2,000, not bad for sitting in warm water, dunking your head, pulling head out, sculpting hair and having photo taken. Done!

Visit the site and you’ll see so many fabulous frozen hair styles. Don’t worry, as soon as you dunk your head back into the water, the freezing hair melts. So your hair does not break into a million tiny pieces.

The site doesn’t have details on timing for this. However, I was reading in past articles that photo taking takes place in February. Last year they said with warming temperatures, it was becoming hard to find the right cold days for hair to set. Maybe that’s why the website doesn’t have contest dates.

Well, right now, Chicago has been having freezing temps. We could certainly do a Freezing Hair day here.

So… Are you in? Do something FUN, win $2,000!

Germany, Customs & Arnold Schwarzenegger, BIG fines over Luxury watch…

Have you seen this in the news? I still don’t understand it completely. Why did Schwarzenegger have to declare the luxury watch. I travel to Europe quite often and I’m never asked to declare anything. Only when I am coming back to America. I don’t think Germany allows for dual citizenship unless that law changed.

Maybe this is because he was going to Auction off the watch in Austria, so then it goes from being a “personal watch” for himself to “selling goods” for profit? So, he had to declare it at the first point of entry into the EU? Someone must have alerted Customs to this.

He had to pay hefty fines: $38,000, including $4,000 tax value and approximately $5,000 penalty. The comedy in this, is that Custom’s credit card machine was not working. So, they brought Schwarzenegger to a bank, which was closed and he could not withdraw enough money due to withdrawal limits.

Curious, the value of the watch was $30,000, so he was paying more than the watch was worth? But then he was going to Auction it starting at 50,000 euros.

Luckily, Schwarzenegger had good humor. His mind immediately went to — GREAT COP MOVIE!

It would be funny to see a movie made out of this situation, with him as the main actor!! Did you know he is 76 years old now. Wow, getting close to 80.

Here is the YouTube video from the Today show.

Great movie idea. I’d go see it!  

Winter has arrived… Time for knitting!

What do you do when your weather hits -1 degrees? The weatherman says if we are out for more than 10 minutes, we can get frost bitten. We don’t believe him/her. So, we bundle up (just in case, they’re right) and head outside. We don’t last more than five minutes and we are back in the house.

As I was house bound, I wondered what to do. Ok, read a book, watch TV, call a friend, clean the house, writer extra blog posts (LOL)… you get the idea. I needed something different. The light bulb went off.

Where was all my extra yarn? 

I found it after a good search. I decided I’d make a lap blanket. So, I’ve been happily knitting in the evenings. Inside a knitter’s mind.

Knit, knit, knit…REPEAT.                                         Next row.                                                  Knit, knit, knit… REPEAT. 

It’s like we are in a trance. I’m using an Alpaca yarn, it’s very lush and warm. Perfect for cold weather.

While I’ve been knitting, I started listening to The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown. The movie is out now, but usually the book is better. Isn’t the recommendation to always read the book first? 

Has anyone seen the movie yet? Would love to hear your review.

Start here…

IPhone – Photo Memories… 2023 New Year’s Eve already?

If you have an IPhone, you probably have the feature where Apple shares a daily “memory” from your photos. Sometimes the photos are endearing, other times, I think, “WHAT, why haven’t I deleted that!”

Today, the memory was of New Year’s Eve. I’ve moved on from 2023, so why did Apple choose THAT memory. At the same time, I felt I needed to be respectful, as it was the Virgin Mary or my Guardian Angel who might have wanted me to have this nice memory.

On New Year’s Eve, I was visiting a friend. We needed exercise, went walking. At a long stop light, I happened to look up and I saw this gold dome with the Virgin Mary. Of course, I had to walk over.

I thought I would have a view of the golden dome in front of the church. Instead, I saw this Manger scene on the top of the building. This church had no grassy area, so they got creative.

I walked to the side of the building, again, I could not get a clear look of the Virgin Mary on the dome. Even on the back side, NOPE. Interesting design for this building. The Virgin Mary looks down into the church.

So, I’ll admit, I am smiling. Signs from Heaven come when we least expect them. Like today.

I have a 94 year old friend who is not doing well. I take this as a sign, a reminder, check in with her.

Have a wonderful day! I’m off to make that phone call! 💕

2024 STARTS… Make things happen!

It’s a NEW YEAR, I’m excited. Time to Make Things Happen!

This photo is how my brain works. A vision board full of sticky notes, depicting all the exciting, creative and crazy ideas going on in my brain. What I like about sticky notes is that I can move my ideas/goals around. If a goal is not going to meet a particular date/time, no problem, move it to bottom of the board. Focus on what I will accomplish by deadline, then circle back to the goal I moved to the bottom of board.

Years ago, I worked for a man who thought like I did. He was big on white boards. Every office had huge white boards. Whenever we had a meeting, everything went on the white board. Discussing root cause analysis on a product failure was great. One person wrote on the board, everyone chimed in, it was easy to erase, move text over, etc. When we filled up board, someone took a photo. THEN we erased and continued. Later someone wrote up the notes and sent to all the attendees. My type of meeting!

So here’s to MAKING THINGS HAPPEN in 2024!

A Bavarian puzzle leads to Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany

Last year, I found a Bavarian puzzle. I fell in love with this Bavarian city, but the puzzle box did not mention where this city was. I sent the photo to different people asking and asking, “Does this city exist?”

Finally, someone told me, it’s a medieval town in Germany called, “Rothenburg ob der Tauber” north of Munich. So, I started to formulate a plan to visit Bavaria. First Munich, then Rothenburg ob der Tauber for the Christmas Markets. Then fulfill another dream of seeing Andre Rieu in concert.

My daughters were on board and we started our pre-Christmas journey to Germany a week ago. Munich was lovely, so fun and festive to be there this time of year. We had plenty of sausages!

In Munich, we saw the Haribo store. Of course, we stopped in.

Then we headed to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. They had a Teddy Bear store, you can see in the photo that there was a Teddy Bear blowing bubbles from the window. What a great idea! It did catch our attention.

This was a lovely Advent Calendar. Each door we opened would play music and surprisingly there was enough space behind each door to put a chocolate or a small ornament as a surprise.

In Rothenburg, this was the main market where they had a lot of shops. It was wonderful to see the people out with their families enjoying the Christmas Markets, the food, the wine, etc.

Finally, after our visit in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, we headed to Maastricht in The Netherlands to attend the Andre Rieu concert. I’ve watched Andre Rieu on PBS for over 20 years. Always with a goal to see him in person. Realizing that he is now around 74 years old, it was time to go. Perfect for Christmas.

The music and his orchestra were fabulous. We had good seats, row 7 to the left of the stage. He had dancers on two ice rinks on either side of the stage and dancers also came in between the isles where we sat. So, it was extremely festive.

I wish all my Blogging friends a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! If don’t celebrate Christmas, I wish you a very HAPPY HOLIDAY!

On to 2024 soon!

The SECRET: What you focus your mind on, you attract!

Years ago, I read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. The book has been around since 2006, so most of you must have heard of it. Basically, the premise of the book is that you can have ANYTHING you want by just focusing your attention on it. I wish that was true for “everything,” but it is true for “some things.”

A few weeks ago, I wrote about wanting a pair of slippers. I really had slippers on my mind. I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew I wanted a pair. I admit, I was FEELING that I would have a pair of slippers.

Now, The Secret does state that you have to passionately believe in what you want, so the vibrations go out to the Universe. If you wish for something, but in your heart, do not believe you will receive it — YOU WON’T! So, your wishes have to be strong and clear.

DEAR READERS – I have to THANK YOU for this favorable outcome. Your interesting comments, kept my slipper thoughts on HIGH – UNIVERSE – FREQUENCY!

GUESS WHAT, a miracle – A friend, who I rarely talk to, sent me a pair of slippers for Christmas!

An unexpected surprise gift! Kudos to Amazon for the nice gift wrap! Cozy, warm, fuzzy slippers that are machine washable! Laughing! Oh, and another miracle, the slippers were the right size.

I am so very grateful! I could not decide on what I wanted, the decision was made for me. PERFECT!

So, now I’m wondering if I can manifest something even bigger?

A boyfriend, a car, a trip… stay tuned! The Secret says there is nothing that is off limits! Dream BIG!