Blue Lollipop Road

Today was the day. 

I QUIT! 

Yeehaw!

Cheers to knowing when it’s the right time to say peace out rabbit.

Dear Life,

Thanks for another great lesson in why none of us should surround ourselves with people we’d never want to be.

International Pillow Fight Day was yesterday. What’s not to love. Try to participate in a festivity like this and not blow off some steam and get some good laughs.

Oh how the simplest (and free!) things can be so much fun.

I’ve waited tables for years on and off. So much of those wait shifts involve drama, smelling like bacon and salad dressing, running around exhausted, irate customers and all that other glamourous stuff.

Even with all the above, I have to admit I have actually loved my occasional restaurant jobs because of the customers and conversations I get to have. Today I was a part of the best interaction in all my years of slinging burgers and beers.

3 young guys, probably not more than 22 came in, sat at my table and ordered lunch. They were clean-cut, very nice and polite. A couple, probably in their early 50’s then came in and sat at a table next to these young guys. Somehow the two tables got talking and I overheard that the young guys were in the military. Next thing I know, the husband of the couple was giving me the signal and telling me to put the food the young guys ordered on his bill on the sly. Lunch ended, I told the guys that their bill it was taken care of by my other table. The guys got up, thanked the couple and shook hands. The couple told them “Thank you for your service. Stay safe and take care of yourselves.” The young guys said “Yes sir”, thanked me and walked out. I literally teared up.

I will likely never see any of those people again and they will likely not ever see each other. Total strangers, a treat, simple thanks and respect from a couple to 3 young guys who help protect us all and allow me to write and share this story with you now.

Thank you strangers. You are great examples to us all. You will be one of the added reasons why I’ll be thankful for all that I have in my life and continue to try to pay it forward like you do.

If you’re wondering if your most ridiculous thought or idea won’t work, just take a look at companies like this.

Molded, wobbly, glow in the dark jelly. For an actual business. (Go ahead, read that line again. Yes, I am shaking my head and laughing too. Awesome.)

I’m going to go hang out in a kindergarten class to get the next big idea and give these guys a run for their money. 

Yeah, that’s a lot of dough. You could make an extra mortgage payment or something and save a tree or two. (I buy jars of Nutella to eat by the spoonful with my savings.)

I am a proud and daily “dumpster diver” for the papers I read. You should try it. Saving loot and the environment? That sure starts the day off right along with that cup of joe.

1.) To dance and skip about in play; to frolic

2.) A skipping or leaping about in frolic

Frolic. 

How can you not love that word? 

This was part of a speech I listened to at a lunch I went to last year. It’s pretty simple, but so smart.

I’ve been lucky enough to travel and move all over the place for the past several years. The people and experiences I have had in search of the “perfect place” are irreplaceable. I hate to admit though, I have learned there isn’t one. Nowhere is perfect all the time. One of the best lessons I have found to be true though, is that if you live a place that you love, it’s such a big part of being happy. There is something to be said for waking up on a free day, seeing exactly what you want to do, then being able to do it right where you are. I have lived and been in places where I have woken up on those free days, shrugged my shoulders and hit the snooze button. That is a total bummer. It is not a bummer however, to live in that spot where you want to jump out of bed to take advantage of what’s all around you. 

Me? Thankfully I’m not hitting the snooze button anymore.

The spot that you love living might change as your life does. It might stay the same forever. What works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another. Either way, you owe it to yourself to be able to “hit the” whatever- on those completely free days or after work when you want to. 

Here’s a fun little site to play around on if you have a few minutes.

Call me when you’re ready to pack the U-Haul. I’ll help.

These young guys started mixing up granola in their tiny NYC apartment kitchen and have created quite the company. FEED Granola is filling belly’s with healthy yummy food, giving back to the community and a great example that working hard and consistently at something you really believe in- pays off. 

Their story is great. Makes me want to start slicing and dicing and see what I can come up with.

I am reporting today to tell Debbie Downer and Negative Nancy and whomever else that’s trying to infect the world with negative crap to take a flying leap. 

Seriously. 

Please go back to your planet depression and leave ours alone. 

This is actually a positive message. It comes from a lot of places, but particularly a conversation with a stranger this morning. We were rolling- laughing talking about our collective debt, break-ups, heartaches, family drama and all other life issues that each and every single one of us has. Not to take these things lightly. Awful things happen to good people. Life hangs you out to dry sometimes and it is NOT fun. It’s the actions you take when you’re hanging out to dry that make all the difference.

We all make choices. With the exception of those few who have a legitimate medical condition, the rest of us have the power to pass on our misery or shut it up and smile.

My sister just told me a kid she went to high school with died of Melanoma last week. She’s 23. My friend’s Dad is going in the hospital tomorrow for colon cancer surgery. They just found out. Shes getting married in 6 weeks.

Yeah. Cry me a river Debbie and Nancy. I bet your life really sucks.

I have been guilty of it too, but come on people who have nothing to feel sorry for yourselves about. Stop feeling sorry for yourself! If you really think your life sucks that bad, DO something to change it.

The boo-hoo boat can leave without me as far as I am concerned. I will happily drive off barefoot into the sunset with my 9 year old car that has 200,000 miles on it, a file folder full of debt, to my job that I pretty much hate. I’ll be smiling, and jamming out to the tape player (yeah, you read that correctly.) on the way. Once I get there, I will be nice to my customers.

Why? Because I am so much luckier than that guy who’s dying from something awful, or that lady down the street that has real problems.