HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

30 years ago after forty two weeks of pregnancy, bed rest and worry a young teacher and her husband rushed to hospital so she could give birth to their first child, a little bundle of joy that they labored to have, a viable pregnancy after several miscarriages and the strong fear that they wouldn't have children, their little budnfle of joy slipped into the world, a 8lb baby girl, with a shock of black hair, beautiful brown eyes, and squall that shook the rafters. She was two weeks overdue and non too happy at having been prodded out before she was ready.... On this day they became a family......

Just for fun I looked up my birthday, man oh man today maybe a good day for my family but it is also an anniversary of JFK's assassination, surely a sad day for many.

I'm not sure how I feel about being born 18 years later, and having to share this date with him, not a good date at all. For those who lived through this, i am truly sorry such an amazing light was removed from our world.  

However this day makes me a Scorpio/Sagittarius with a love of the unseen mysteries so maybe I don't mind so much.  It Feels odd, because I'm clearly no longer a maiden, and I have no children (yet), so I'm not a mother and I'm no where near being a Crone (although I will truly revel in that aspect when I get there Goddess willing).  Where do I fit?? I figured I am a maiden who is a little on the mature side(ok mostly mature), I have accomplished a few of my dreams, I have a ton more to go, although I was too busy this month to really take on as many as I wanted the overall Goal of Midwifery is being worked on daily so that makes the Bucket list a little smaller for the 'new' year. 

I found a letter I had written to my future self as a young freshman in college and in it I had written some of my future goals and what i expected myself to be doing by this age, it was all written before I knew I was sick, before I knew how far my life would veer off the course I was setting,
"Dear future Michaela
by now I expect you have finished school, have found a great position that you love and are living so much better than this. Do we have any children yet?? Is our partner handsome?? If not I hope you have a very good excuse?? Like you have become a wanderer, a voyager to far off lands, and (please Goddess say you have left boring old CT behind)..."  HAHA if I knew then what my diagnosis was going to be a few months later maybe this letter would have been a little less like a punch in the gut, when I saw it; but it was a good reminder of how far I had come, how much better and richer my life is becoming now.

Even though I haven't hit all the milestones society has laid out, hell even the ones I placed there haven't all been hit, but it's great to have another year of goals achieved, dreams undeterred and life lived beneath the belt, now if I can only hit a few more before the world ends on Dec 21, 2012, I will be golden!!!

(Okay I admit I don't truly believe the world will end, but something big is coming and if it changes the world we know into something else I want to be able to say well hell at least I hit most of the bucket list...)

So enjoy this day, light a candle for JFK's family and his spirit and celebrate a little for me
Because It's my BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Ostara 2011- Summer Solstice 2011

Hey My loves,

this is a breakdown of the big Bucket List. "The Way to eat an Elephant is one small bite at a time." As my list is really long and has many different seasonal activities I thought it best to break them down and place them here.

As of course i accomplish each one i will blog and share about it, as well as link to any information if you are looking to attempt them yourself. Once the Spring aspect is done the page will come down and another will replace it. the goal is to keep doing these until all the bucket list is done (so basically hopefully not for a few years). To see my posts about each adventure click on the blue completed ones.

Some info about the colors:

1. pale blue: tracking to completion, when done I will change it to dark blue and place a link to the post about it, 
2. red is the number of items completed in that one item's list.
3.  if the link has turned purple you have read the linked post already.
4.  the one's which are deep red are items which can't be completed due to expiration of the item or items not done by the end of the list date (ostara) and they will either be rolled over to the new list or have to wait til the appropriate season comes around again.

Ok So here is my sorry excuse of why I haven't done anything big on the list: I'm back in school in an accelerated program to move up the ladder in my dream career, which is taking me one step closer to being a midwife. That means i have class Mon-Fri 645-3pm with no time to do anything else but, eat, sleep and study. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish more this summer, and maybe 1 or 2 things in the fall but I can't guareentee that so I'm focused on the big dream so that the smaller ones can be done later with leisdure!!! Ok excuse done by!!

Spring to Do list:

• Rock climbing
• Start bottom half of the Met
• Swimming Lessons at the Y
• go fishing
• Habitat for humanity
• gun range
• Kayaking
• Dude ranch
• horseback riding
• Pirate re-enactment
• wine tasting
• trace family tree
• learn to ride a bike
• stand in two places at once
• fly over of NY
• top of the Empire State buikding
• top of Lady Liberty
• see the Liberty bell
• Niagara Falls
• NY botanical gardens butterfly show in Spring
• ballooning
• NJ Six Flags

Craft Section

• learn to sew
• learn to quilt
• Wood carving
• glass staining (on actual glass not just decorations)
• Sabbat soaps

Spiritual Stuff

• daily yoga practice
• daily meditation
• 10 min to 20 min meditation
• Finish Buddha books
• Study Buddhism

Cooking:

• make our own butter
• purchase from more local markets during the spring
• try to do as many recipes from the hundred mile diet
• find a local source for beef
• find a local source for mutton
• find a local source for eggs
• find a local source (other than my garden ) for some herbs
• go to the NYC green market gardens at least twice this spring
• NYC foodie event
• Meet-up foodie events in the local area
• cooking class in CT at Jones Farm
• use clean eating cookbooks more often
• use as many of the recipes from binder (toss those I don't like or won't use)
• share cooking wins and disasters on blog :)

Gardening

• purchase seeds from mountain rose herbals and heirloom seeds from Johnny Selected seeds
• start seeds indoors in Feb
• look for a local apiary club and classes
• local gardening or farming club
• look into  worm composting, cost and how long it will take
• water bin to place under two of the pipes around the house
• return peach tree that hasn't bloomed at all June 20
• chickens??? maybe two or three
• rabbits? angora? cost?

Exercise 

• 3-5 times a week working out
• Making clean eating meals 2-4 times per week
• Yoga in NYC Times Square event
• Yoga class in Kripalu

Miscellaneous

• re-pierce ears (second hole)
• Complete 12 days of Yule on Youtube left: 7  completed: 5
• Blog 3-5 times per week
• Get new contacts (makes everything else feasible) 
• Complete 3-6 movies from the list
• Complete 5 books from the "classics list"
• Doula Class

Book Challenges:

• finish 25 books for the 100 reading challenge          left: 0 completed: 25
• finish 10 books for the Ebook challenge                   left: 0   completed: 10
• finish 5 books for the Show me the Free Challenge left:     completed:
• finish 5 books for the iChallenge List                         left: 0  completed: 5

Yule- Ostara To Do List

This is the list that I have been working on, click on the links of the completed projects and see my adventures.

 Once the Winter aspect is done the page will come down and another will replace it. the goal is to keep doing these until all the bucket list is done (so basically hopefully not for a few years). To see my posts about each adventure click on the blue completed ones.

Some info about the colors:

1. pale blue: tracking to completion, when done I will change it to dark blue and place a link to the post about it, 
2. red is the number of items completed in that one item's list.
3.  if the link has turned purple you have read the linked post already.
4.  the one's which are deep red are items which can't be completed due to expiration of the item or items not done by the end of the list date (ostara) and they will either be rolled over to the new list or have to wait til the appropriate season comes around again.

Winter to Do list:

• Learn to skate 8 weeks of lessons at the local Rink is $150.00 starting Dec 20th
• Snowshoeing
• Skiing
• Cross country skiing
• Rock climbing
• See the Rockettes, Christmas music spectacular
• See the Nutcracker NYC ballet (season ended move to next winter list)
• Start bottom half of the Met

Craft Section

• learn to sew
• learn to quilt
• Wood carving
• glass staining (on actual glass not just Yule decorations)
• Imbolc candles Jan 31
• Sabbat soaps
• Complete scarf for guy,
• ,hat for girl,  Jan17,2011
• complete baby blanket Feb 2
• blanket for god-daughter and hat, 
• scarf for sister, 

Spiritual Stuff

• daily yoga practice
• Complete 28 day Yoga challenge.
• daily meditation
• go from 1 min, 5 min, 10 min to 20 min meditation
• Imbolc esbat ritual
• Finish Buddha books

Cooking:

• bake bread for the week 01/05/11
• bake our own bagels 1/26/2010
• make our own butter
• purchase from more local markets during the winter
• try to do as many recipes from the hundred mile diet
• find a local source for beef
• find a local source for mutton
• find a local source for eggs
• find a local source (other than my garden ) for some herbs
• go to the NYC green market gardens at least twice this winter
• NYC foodie event
• Meet-up foodie events in the local area
• cooking class in CT at Jones Farm
• use clean eating cookbooks more often
• use as many of the recipes from binder (toss those I don't like or won't use)
• share cooking wins and disasters on blog :)

Gardening

• select garden plan this year 2/10
• purchase seeds from mountain rose herbals and heirloom seeds from Johnny Selected seeds
• start seeds indoors in Feb (too cold )
• look for a local apiary club and classes
• local gardening or farming club
• look into  worm composting, cost and how long it will take
• water bin to place under two of the pipes around the house
• return peach tree that hasn't bloomed at all
• chickens??? maybe two or three
• rabbits? angora? cost?

Exercise 

• 3-5 times a week working out
• Making clean eating meals 2-4 times per week

Miscellaneous

• re-pierce ears (second hole)
• Complete 21 days of Yule Dec21st
• Complete 12 days of Mithra-mas Jan 6
• Complete 12 days of Yule on Youtube left: 7  completed: 5
• Blog 3-5 times per week
• get new contacts (makes everything else feasible) had to reschedule due to snow 3/21/11
• complete 2010 iwitch reading challenge Dec 31st
• complete 2010 holiday reading challenge Dec 31st 
• Complete 3-6 movies from the list
• Complete 5 books from the "classics list"
• complete 5-10 books from the ichallenge 2011 list  Jan 28
• Complete 15 books for the 100 book challenge  Jan16
• Complete 15 books for the ebook challenge:  Feb 4

NY Christmas 2010

I spent all day yesterday, walking up and down Manhattan. I enjoyed with my aunt a day of acting like tourist. (She lives there, and i used to live there) We went to all the famous stores, walked up and down Broadway, watched the lights come on and then made our way over to:

For the amazing show that comes only once a year. If you haven’t seen it, put it on your bucket list, it’s a must see and OMG it’s so amazing

The orchestra beginning the show

.Santa introducing the show,

 There is a Nutcracker homage

with a unique twist

This dance is so amazing the young ballerina was astoundingly graceful

This the the Santa dance, where Santa explains why there are so many of him around:

I wish you could hear them sing

and the precision of these dancers,

 The ending scenes

:the line up of all the dancers

Afterwards we went to Rockefeller Center and took some pictures there, iconic walk-way.

Close up of one of the angels:

The Rockefeller tree

the ice rink beneath the tree

the NYC Skyline

a view from Times Square

Saint Patrick's Cathedral (just about every NY girl dreams of getting married here)

and you don’t even have to be Catholic

And this is where in a few weeks the New Year’s ball is going to drop from.

My only complaint is the fact that they were very blatantly Christian at the end, understand it’s called THE Christmas Spectacular, so we the audience should expect something, but they actually read from the Bible. nothing in the beginning of the show led you to believe there would be a Nativity scene,, although it was beautiful and amazing because they had a live camel and donkey,            

it made me wonder if that was the reason so many of the seats were empty?? However, the show was fantastic and if you ever get the chance go!! have kiddies definitely go.
And that’s how I spent my day. Ever been to NYC?? if so please share your tales in the comment section
Blessed Be

Frankly my dear...

I do give a damn!!!

This is Rhett before he ran into Scarlett. This movie is one I saw several years ago but never saw the beginning or the end, so  I was surprised when I saw a clip in the new Sex in the City movie, when Carrie and Mr. Big ( Rhett 2.0 for the new era)  were staying at home, and they showed the hitchhiking clip.

Carrie has nothing on Ellen, she's a pip. I loved this movie, i took a chance and watched here online at google video no less!!  This movies is amazing!! 

It all starts with Ellen who runs (swims) away from her loving but tyrannical Dad, so she can live the life she 'wants'. She meets Peter (Gables character) and there ensues an amazing array of drama on their way to New York. Throw in no money, a scheming bus passenger, a waiting fiancée and a worries father and you have one helluva movie.

Did I mention it stars Clark Gable??

He's an alpha man through this whole movie, the slap he gives her makes me laugh just thinking about it. The chemistry is just amazing between these two and you just wanted to see them in action especially after their close encounter with the detectives.

Grab a glass of wine, a nice afghan, some popcorn if you like and sit back enjoy because this movie is to die for.

That's one more off the list many more to go

image courtesy of bing.com

Exploring My state: Walk on the Beach

Exploring Connecticut

The North is known for its amazing coast lines, many people when they discuss New England talk about Mass & Maine when they really discuss the beaches, but CT is not to be forgotten. The amazing Long Island Sound creates a gorgeous beach line in Fairfield County, & Block Island; further out there is Mystic and all its amazing views & a short drive into Mass.

My summer plan was to get to know my state better, so it was more of a staycation than a vacation, but i considered the fact that others come to CT to watch the leaves change in the Fall or drive out to Mystic and I live here its not really a boring staycation its a getting to know my state.

So far this summer I have gone up to Mystic, (I went as a child but I wanted to go as an adult), I have also gone into Danbury, where there are remnants of the Revolutionary War, as well as seeing the Danbury Train Museum. I also went to several local farms, and roamed many a trail in the local parks. (My Gods this state has a lot of parks)

I'm putting up a video of my walk along the beach in Fairfield county:



Enjoy the rest of your weekend my loves. blessed be

Monday Movie Review:

This weekend was a great weekend of classics and catching even ones not on the list.  These movies are on completely different spectrum one is a romance the other short story by Langston Hughes which was adapted in the late 1990s.
Both stories were great to watch, and now i get those "inside" jokes about the Empire State building in movies.

An Affair to Remember (spolier alert)is an amazing movie, although i don't believe i would have used her excuse not to let my man know about what happened to me. I did love the theory behind her excuse though, I do love this movie.But don't take my word for it check out what they have to say about it:

In this poignant and humorous love story nominated for four Academy Awards, Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr meet on an ocean liner and fall deeply in love. Though each is engaged to someone else, they agree to meet six months later at the Empire State Building if they still feel the same way about each other. But a tragic accident prevents their rendezvous and the lover's future takes an emotional and uncertain turn.

I also love the movie that is adapted from Langston Hughes' short story:

Langston Hughes' haunting story of an African-American woman's confrontation with death, abortion and loneliness is set in rural Iowa in the early 1900s. Working as a domestic, she lives only for her daughter and the neglected child of her employers. Regina Taylor ("Strange Justice," "I'll Fly Away") and Cherry Jones (A Moon for the Misbegotten, Cradle Will Rock) star.
So I hope you guys check them out, as i will be doing more movies soon.


(Sorry about this being late)
as always my loves, enjoy the shows

Mystic Aquarium:

Hey ya'll these are just some videos from my trip to Mystic Connecticut i enjoyed it the park is amazing if your in the neighborhood you should check it out.

Monday Movie Review:

This weekend was the anniversary of Jamaica's independence, and we had a lot of family over to celebrate, and as always there are movies to be watched and lots of discussions going on. But I managed to squeeze in some really good movies on the side.

This weekend was dedicated to the blondes: Marilyn and Grace.

I personally think that Marilyn is underrated as an actress her movies are amazingly good comedies, and we all know that being a good comedic actress or actor is very very hard.

I checked out "How to marry a millionaire" and fell in love with Marilyn Monroe, she is amazing. A great actress although she isn't the only female lead.



The first "Old" movie (musical) I ever saw and fell in love with was High Society which had Louie Armstrong (and man can he sing), Bing Cosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly(and many others but these are the main characters).  I love this movie, the storyline flows really well, the songs and dance numbers are amazing. The dance number between Frank and Bing?!!! Just too amazing. Don't just take my word for it, here's a clip:



After this amazing movie my sisters and i followed up with the iconic movie of Marilyn Monroe:




"Diamonds are a girls best friend" is one of the most amazing scenes, but this movie is funny as ever, from beginning to end i loved it. I now have on my ipod " Just two little girls" this movie is just too much fun!!

Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe & Tony Curtis what a trio this movie was hilarious and the end is just too much, I mean really really good!! And Marilyn's "dumb blonde" routine is just so good, I loved this movie.




I wish the movies coming out now had even a tenth of some of this stuff, don't get me wrong i love my blow up- shoot 'em up movies but sometimes you need some good hijincks like this.

So the movies i knocked off the list of 1001 :

Monday Movie Review:

This weekend i had the opportunity to knock out a couple more movies from the 1001 List, (just in case you can't tell its Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, and Sabrina, I got in one dvd collection from FYE for $5.99)

I made it an Audrey Hepburn weekend and saw all three movies. Then for fun i threw in "An American In Paris"

Which if you haven't had the chance to see it I highly suggest them, the choreography is amazing, the music and its Gene Kelly so you know its amazing.

There is nothing like these movies out on the market now-a-days. These movies use
innuendo (instead of showing everything and then some), they have wry and witty humor (not brash and in your face) the female leads are amazing & best of all : They don't all have perfect endings!!!
I'm a gal who likes there to be some mystery to how things end so you can think on it yourself, and wonder "Hmmm do they or don't they stay together? Do they get married or does it fizz out?"  I know I know how cynical  but i want more than the perfect ending in my movies.

Either Way
Hope your weekend was as (or more) entertaining