Author: juliette

Ten Things that Make Me Happy

I finally lost – and I couldn’t be happier about it!

Since I joined the Twitter revolution in earnest this past January I have been patiently … well, patiently as in drumming fingers on my keyboard and tapping my toes in frustration(!!!) … waiting for someone to “tag me”  for one of those “reveal yourself” blog challenges. I think I can safely say it’s the first time in my life I’ve been so excited to lose a game of tag (well … except for when I was 10 and let Danny *blush, blush* tag me out during a game of hide-n-seek just because I had a pre-teen crush on him).

A robust online and social media presence is a great way to get to know like-minded individuals you might not otherwise have the chance to meet… especially for someone who works from a home office and spends her days buried in research and writing (two lonely but rewarding undertakings). So when I saw that Karin had tagged me on her blog It’s All Good If You Can Laugh I actually let out a “squeeee!” … which led Husband to jump up form couch demanding to know what the cat had dragged into the house THIS time! *snort*

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Rooting for Hope …

What do you get when you mix groups of Palestinians, Americans, South Africans and a bunch of Europeans? Proof positive of the commonalities we all share as citizens of the world.

Residents in the Gaza Strip got a rare treat this weekend as home region favorites squared off against Italy in the inaugural match Saturday of the United Nations Development Programme-sponsored “Gaza World Cup” – running until May 15. (For the record, the Italians won 1-0.)

Football – or soccer as Americans usually call it – is the world’s game. A great equalizer. A sport with unrivaled global popularity that can – and does – see kids from the harshest megacity streets to impoverished rural villages reach for their dreams. (Yes, yes, cue the Ricky Martin muzak.)

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From Team Haris with Love

In the six months since our son Haris passed I have shed a lot of tears. Most of them have been the reflection of a gut-wrenching sadness I would wish on no one.

But over the last week, as friends, family and complete strangers rallied to support Team Haris in the March for Babies, I’ve been shedding a different kind of tears.

It began with Pauline (a.k.a. @aspiringmama), author of the poignant blog Aspiring Mama, who first urged us to start the team and then became its’ greatest champion.

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Off the Edge of the Map: Cat Poop Coffee

What coffee drinker out there hasn’t stopped at the local convenience store to grab a quick cuppa joe, only to take a sip, spit it out and exclaim “this tastes like crap!” while tossing the offending item into the nearest trash receptacle?

Piece of advice … next time, hold on to your $0.99 cup of crap because it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than the world’s most expensive cat-poop-coated coffee beans.

Yep. I said cat poop. And yep, God help me, I am serious.

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Marching for Change and a Mexi-fro Shot!

It’s hard to find a reason not to participate in the March of Dimes’ March for Babies. The event is all about working to help give babies a more welcome entry into the world – what could be a more noble cause than that???

As a walker, it’s good for your health. As a sponsor, it’s tax deductible. And if those are not reasons enough – how about a shot at seeing @aspiringmama’s infamous Mexi-fro on display?

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Systematic Failure: The Schizophrenia of Air Travel

Maybe it’s the rose-colored nostalgia of pleasant family memories. Maybe it’s impending middle age. Or maybe, just maybe, I am not as patient as I’d like to think I am…. but I’ve decided air travel has degenerated into little more  than exhausting exercise of getting from Point A to Point B in the most frustrating way possible.

Increased security requirements aside – some of which are bizarre and seem somehow foolish, but ultimately serve to protect us all, what has really turned air travel into a patience test is all of the changing individual airline policies, and the havoc they (inadvertently) unleash.

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