Well, are you?

Oh, I know. Half of you are just staring at the words thinking, I don’t even understand the question!

Let me back up.

Last week, I was keenly aware of how fulfilling my life was. My son had a successful surgery (lucky number 13, to keep his eardrums from collapsing, because OF COURSE his ear drums are collapsing), work was going well, I exercised, I studied, I had dinner with friends and even had time for Netflix. One day, the sun came out! Thanks, Ohio!

Then something happened which made me realize the joy I felt was only half as good as it could’ve been. I realized only a portion of me had experienced all that goodness because I was really kind of empty inside. I just didn’t know it.

I know you’re dying to know what my realization was, but that doesn’t matter. It was something intensely personal to me.

YOU might get filled up by a well-placed smile on the face of a grocery clerk. It could be a hug from your child or a liver-breathed lick on the face from your puppy. It’s whatever you need, at a given moment, to make you feel like you are FEELING with 100% of you. It’s fulfillment multiplied because your soul has soaked up enough to make it a puffy, smiley-faced sponge.

The trouble is being able to recognize it. I certainly didn’t feel like anything was missing – quite the contrary. So, how do you make yourself whole when you don’t even realize you’re half-empty?

My suggestion is that even when you think you’re at your peak, push on. Try new things, travel outside your comfort zone, let people in, read more, believe in something greater than yourself, give back, practice acceptance, trust people, LET GO.

You may think you have exactly what you need. You may feel complete, but there’s a chance that a new experience will move you away from being a fraction of yourself. And what’s crazy is that you may never know you were missing anything until you find it.

You’ve certainly heard that you should give your best effort, but do you receive with that kind of effort too? Most of us don’t think we deserve an abundance of happiness, because we are defeatists. We believe that bad things happen to good people (which they do…they definitely do), but good things can happen to good people too.

So let yourself be whole. Trust me. It feels 100% good.

Follow

Email

There is something I need. I need it as much as water, air, food, clothing, shelter, coffee and beer. If I am to be a functioning member of society, I need laughter.

For a while, I didn’t have much laughter in my life. The reason I know about that ‘functioning’ thing I mentioned is because I was barely doing it. I kind of floundered through my days. And, we’re not talking about lightly-seared or grilled flounder, but stuffed. With potatoes. And, chorizo. Heavy. With a side of squash.

But, slowly, light began to creep in and now there is laughter every day and I’m functioning again. Sure, sometimes I flounder, but mostly I’m wild-caught, with a squeeze of lemon. Light. With a side of asparagus.

Amid the financial crisis, the turmoil my kids are dealing with, and the loss of touch with family, I can still find something funny each day. It really is the best medicine.

So what’s my secret?

1. Inside jokes. I have inside jokes with my co-workers, friends, kids, and even the pharmacist. When you can laugh about something and no one else knows what you’re talking about, it makes it extra funny. For instance, I can just say the word, “Georgette” and one of my friends is cracking up right now.

2. A funny family. We have been through some awful times together and we can be completely serious if we need to be, but more than likely you’ll find us cracking jokes at a funeral. Probably as part of the eulogy.

3. Three friends who make me laugh every day. It’s not always the same three, but there are at least three people I talk to, text with or see in person who know just what to say to get a giggle out of me. If, by the end of the day, there haven’t been three, then I’ll text one of them so I can meet my quota.

4. Comedies. I don’t care if it’s Paul Blart Mall Cop, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or my current personal favorite, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which streams into my room via Netflix every night – watching something funny does the trick. Bonus, Kimmy and I both have an unbreakable theme going on which is kind of an inside joke, except she doesn’t know it because she isn’t real. But, darn it, if she were, she would totally be my friend.

5. My kids. The surest way to get me to laugh is for me to make my kids laugh first. That’s right. I tickle them. Sure, it’s actually torture and completely cruel, but it’s funny! Or, I can just give my son a Tootsie Pop.

I hope you laugh today.

This post is sponsored by Netflix as part of the Netflix Stream Team.

Follow

Email

This post is sponsored as part of my participation in the Netflix Stream Team.

Don’t tell 2015, but we rang in the New Year a little early.

Last night, we ate good food, hung streamers and balloons and brought out party hats and noise-makers; half the reason was to celebrate my daughter’s birthday, half was to enjoy the new, original Netflix series, All Hail King Julien and the other half was to send 2014 out with a bang. Hey, when we throw a party we give it 150%.

After cake and ice cream, Pa and I nestled all snug in our bed, while the kids stayed up singing Move It, Move It! and watching Netflix until 5:00am. FIVE. A. M. Which, ironically, is when I got up for the day.

So, tonight our ball is dropping early thanks to King Julien and his kid-sized countdown special. (Hey, he caused this lack of sleep – it’s only right that he fix it!) You can start streaming the kid-sized countdown at any time of day and ring in the New Year without staying up until midnight. That word you’re looking for? Genius.

You won’t have as much mess to clean up and you’ll have plenty of energy for a series-long Friends marathon which starts streaming on Netflix tomorrow! Could I BE any more excited?

Happy New Year, everyone! If you need me, I’ll be on Netflix.

Follow

Email

This post was inspired by Netflix. Come see what we’re watching.

If you had to pick one friend with whom to get stuck on a deserted island, who would you pick? I would be hard-pressed to choose between my very sensible, resourceful, crafty friend and the friend I have who would slap me in the face and tell me to stop freaking out, instruct me to enjoy the sunshine, and help me figure out how to make alcohol out of coconuts.

I am fortunate to have a diverse group of friends on whom I can count. They each speak to the different parts of my personality – though, I’ll be honest, I’ve yet to find one who will hang with me at my gym or meet me on the running trail. That’s okay, though, because I don’t usually have enough air to breathe, let alone talk.

I have family-friends, work-friends, church-friends, online-friends and drinking-friends. I even have dog-friends; not people with dogs, but actual dogs. My two Labs listen to me more than anyone else. Sometimes, I get them drunk and I have drinking-dog-friends. Then we play poker.

Honestly, I couldn’t choose just one person to join me on that island; I’d want to bring them all. One thing’s for sure, it would be one heck of a good time. Unless we had to eat each other. That would kind of stink.

Follow

Email