Light, Life, Love

I look at this title, Light, Life and Love...  I wrote it a really long time ago.  My life is totally different then it was when I posted last, yet the title is still appropriate.  I am theater lighting designer still, and now I have a new light in my life.  I am the Director of Operations for a nonprofit where we distribute solar lights to people around the world who do not have access to clean light.  3 years ago, I had no idea that light would still be a key factor in my life. I just finished my Master in Nonprofit Administration at the University of San Francisco.  I work part time from home for One Million Lights and part time at the Mountain View Performing Arts Center. Kol is my trouble toddler now and still sleeps in my bed. I am still 25 pounds overweight. Talyah is my growing amazing 1st grader. My husband loves his job. We live in sunny California now and love it. Maybe in my new free time of not going to grad school, I will blog.  We...

This year in Salem, the waste disposal people expanded their compost program. I now compost or recycle virtually everything and ultimately end up with like 2 trash bags a week for my household not including diapers. As a part of my year to a better self I am going to try to reduce our food waste. Step 1: Save cereal crumbs at the end of boxes to coat chicken fingers in or to make muffins with. Step 2: Shred and freeze foods to bake with. Step 3: Puree and freeze foods for Kol's baby food. Hopefully these ideas will help us be better to our environment as well as ourselves!

Yesterday we cleaned the house, I love clean houses. Today I went to the gym for the first time since January and it felt good. Tonight I took Kol and Talyah by myself to gymnastics and handled it fine. Bedtime rolled around and even with yelling, kicking, crying, screaming and whining, I got both girls into bed at 8pm. Not that they are asleep yet, but still I count it as success.

It is April 1st, in theory the sun should be out more and the weather getting warmer. Kol will be 4 weeks old this coming Monday and I am ready to move on with life. I have decided that I am giving myself a one year challenge to become a better person. Everyday I will do something for myself, Talyah, Kol and James. I will lose 25 lbs in this year. I will be a happier person. I will continue to say I love you, Good Night and See you in the morning to each of my girls each night even if all I want to do is throw my trouble toddler in bed and slam the door. I will continue to work on my goals of being a better partner. All in all 1 year from today I hope to be a happier, more relaxed, and truly calmer person!

I am at that point in my life that I start thinking about what is next for me. I was googling grad programs today to see if something inspired me. Funny enough I found an arts management program at U of O that looks very interesting. It is 2 year full-time program which is a bit scary. Committing 2 years to school again is a challenge. The program has a performing arts management concentration and with that you can get a certification in non-profit managing. This seems to be in the right path of what I want to do. I like designing but I am in a location where there is little available. I don't like being a grunt very much anymore, I much prefer the job of telling someone else to do something. I need something for me in my life. Being a SAHM only doesn't seem like a realistic option for me. I enjoy being a mom but I need more than that. I have miscellaneous part-time jobs but none of them really call to me in any meaningful way. The Jew Crew was keeping happy, busy...

We had such a fun day! Yesterday we flew all day, ate dinner at the mall food court and went to bed at like 8pm (CST). We were tired! Today we started out by eating breakfast at the hotel and headed to Touro synagogue for services. It was a very typical reform saturday morning service. Talyah and I played in the children's play area pretty much the whole time. This synagogue however doesn't look like a typical reform synagogue. It is huge, old and gorgeous. We had a nice time looking at all the stained glass windows. After services we headed over Magazine Street where we walked for awhile and found a cute little cafe and had panini's and Talyah had a peanut butter sandwhich. We walked over to whole foods from there and bought sunblock (which I had left at the hotel) and grapes to munch on. We then headed up to Audobon Park to walk around and landed ourselves at Soul Fest at the zoo. It was very crowded but it was a great zoo day and the music and southern fare f...