Hello! It's a rainy Monday morning, but I'm feeling pretty good! Just to follow up on the latest news around here...we finally got our washing machine fixed last week. Yay!! And so far it is working okay...fingers crossed.
As I'm sitting here writing this, I'm watching Serena Williams playing against Yaroslava Shvedova at Wimbledon. I'm not actually there, but I'm planted here in my comfy chair in Wiltshire as I glance at the television periodically. Thankfully it's not raining there :-)
This sporty talk goes along with another thing that I'm thinking about...and that is the Olympics! :-) I can't believe how close the Olympics are now. I'm so excited! Over the weekend, Brit Boy and I had a bit of a messy situation with our accommodations for our time in London though. We had a call from the people that we were supposed to be renting from during our Olympic trip and basically they had pushed us out of the way in favor of some bigger spenders...typical! They offered us some other place to stay, but we had a look at it online and it was a mess. We paid good money to these people five months ago and they have had the audacity to push us out after they were all too glad to take our money back then. I would say that we were surprised, but we're not sadly. I will spare you the long story and their response to us wanting what we paid for. Lousy, lousy, lousy customer service!!! I'll just say that we asked for a full refund/compensation and will not be using their pathetic service ever again! We found somewhere else to stay, and it wasn't easy because it's so close to time now, but I'm glad we have somewhere to stay again. I get so tired of people thinking that they can take your money and not provide the service that they are supposed to be offering. I know that this happens way too much these days, but I'm done with just accepting it! End of vent.... ;-)
On to more positive news, as I said at the beginning, I'm feeling pretty good, despite our accommodation speed bump. Brit Boy and I won't let all of that craziness get us down. We haven't been away for this many days for a long time, so we're really looking forward to the chance to have some fun! I was reading online this morning about the US Olympic Trials and I read what my friends were saying on Facebook yesterday. It looks like there is going to be a really good group representing the USA. I'm happy for all of the athletes from everywhere getting their chance to compete in the Olympics and it will be great to see everyone participate. However, I'm going to be cheering on the USA team since I'm a USA girl and I hope that they can do us proud! Brit Boy will of course be cheering on Team GB (Great Britain). We respect both teams in the Yellow House, as I mentioned in this post four years ago :-) And in the event that "our own team" isn't playing, we gladly cheer on the other one and it works. It's always fun ;-) And if neither of our teams are playing, then we're just gonna cheer on everyone because we're happy to be there! What a blessing...
So we're counting down the days until our Olympic trip and I'll definitely be sharing some photos here...
See ya next time...
Showing posts with label United States. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United States. Show all posts
Monday, July 02, 2012
Friday, November 11, 2011
A Special Day
Now that I've completed my latest assignments for school and I'm FREE for a couple of days, I'm so glad to come back here to my blog. As I mentioned in my last post, I had planned on sharing some photos that I've taken recently, but I've decided to leave them for another day.
Today I'd just like to highlight this special day of 11-11-11. Today means so much to so many and I wanted to use my little corner of the internet to share what I am thinking about today in particular.
First, I'd like to add my voice to honoring those who have served our various countries. I remember them all and their sacrifices on this Veterans Day and Remembrance Day. I grew up knowing it as Veterans Day growing up in the United States and over here in the United Kingdom it is called Remembrance Day. But to me it doesn't matter what you call it...the respect comes from the same place.
And also, this day this year has an interesting significance. It is of course 11-11-11 and even though I've read some things here and there where people think it's just another day, I don't think that myself. I'm totally respectful to how other people feel...that's cool by me. But I just think that this day is cool. I mean, I won't ever live again to see a day, month, and year where it's all ones. And it may seem much ado about nothing to some, but for me, it is one of those times when I pause and realize how amazing life is and how much we are all a part of everything. I'm grateful to be alive everyday, but today I'm vibing off of being alive on this day when all the ones line up ;-) Sometimes things are just cool to think about and that's what I'm thinking about today!
Have a great Friday! :-)
Today I'd just like to highlight this special day of 11-11-11. Today means so much to so many and I wanted to use my little corner of the internet to share what I am thinking about today in particular.
First, I'd like to add my voice to honoring those who have served our various countries. I remember them all and their sacrifices on this Veterans Day and Remembrance Day. I grew up knowing it as Veterans Day growing up in the United States and over here in the United Kingdom it is called Remembrance Day. But to me it doesn't matter what you call it...the respect comes from the same place.
And also, this day this year has an interesting significance. It is of course 11-11-11 and even though I've read some things here and there where people think it's just another day, I don't think that myself. I'm totally respectful to how other people feel...that's cool by me. But I just think that this day is cool. I mean, I won't ever live again to see a day, month, and year where it's all ones. And it may seem much ado about nothing to some, but for me, it is one of those times when I pause and realize how amazing life is and how much we are all a part of everything. I'm grateful to be alive everyday, but today I'm vibing off of being alive on this day when all the ones line up ;-) Sometimes things are just cool to think about and that's what I'm thinking about today!
Have a great Friday! :-)
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Presidential Medal of Freedom
I had planned to blog today about one of my new favorite things as I mentioned in my previous post. However, that has now been bumped to my next post. Something happened yesterday that I want to highlight because it warms my heart every time. I guess in a roundabout way you could say this is a post about a favorite thing after all :-)
Yesterday, President Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to fifteen honorees at the White House. This is the highest civilian honor given in the United States. I always love when this ceremony comes around because I love getting the chance to see who is honored and also to really “see” these people. When I watch this ceremony I always look at each and every face and it’s like you can almost feel the honor along with them. Their life’s work is laid out in front of them at that moment for the world to see, but most importantly, for them to see the great expanse of their own lives. In those moments, I see their humanity and I feel my own.
Often I will know several of the recipients, but there are many that I’m usually becoming aware of for the first time. I’m always drawn afterwards to learn more about the contributions of these extraordinary people. That is what I love about this award…you have the well-known and the unsung who are honored. These people have just been themselves and served in their own ways and that is a what life is all about as I see it.
The honorees this year are as follows:
Rep. John Lewis – civil rights icon (He was called early in life to do the right thing)
Maya Angelou – poet, author (I’d love to have her gift for words)
Yo-Yo Ma – amazing cellist (Listening to him play makes me want to play music again, even more. By the way, I played the flute in a former life ;-) )
John H. Adams – Natural Resources Defense Council – Co-founder
Bill Russell – NBA Hall of Famer, basketball legend, and human rights activist
Stan Musial – Baseball legend of the St. Louis Cardinals
Angela Merkel – German Chancellor
Jasper Johns – artist; considered a major influence upon pop, minimalist, and conceptual art
Gerda Weissmann Klein – Holocaust Survivor
Dr. Tom Little – optometrist killed in Afghanistan while on humanitarian mission
Sylvia Mendez – civil rights activist
Jean Kennedy Smith – Former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland
John Sweeney – AFL-CIO President Emeritus
George H.W. Bush – Former U.S. President
Warren Buffett – Berkshire Hathaway CEO, philanthropist
Congrats to all of them and I look forward to seeing the honorees next year!
Yesterday, President Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to fifteen honorees at the White House. This is the highest civilian honor given in the United States. I always love when this ceremony comes around because I love getting the chance to see who is honored and also to really “see” these people. When I watch this ceremony I always look at each and every face and it’s like you can almost feel the honor along with them. Their life’s work is laid out in front of them at that moment for the world to see, but most importantly, for them to see the great expanse of their own lives. In those moments, I see their humanity and I feel my own.
Often I will know several of the recipients, but there are many that I’m usually becoming aware of for the first time. I’m always drawn afterwards to learn more about the contributions of these extraordinary people. That is what I love about this award…you have the well-known and the unsung who are honored. These people have just been themselves and served in their own ways and that is a what life is all about as I see it.
The honorees this year are as follows:
Rep. John Lewis – civil rights icon (He was called early in life to do the right thing)
Maya Angelou – poet, author (I’d love to have her gift for words)
Yo-Yo Ma – amazing cellist (Listening to him play makes me want to play music again, even more. By the way, I played the flute in a former life ;-) )
John H. Adams – Natural Resources Defense Council – Co-founder
Bill Russell – NBA Hall of Famer, basketball legend, and human rights activist
Stan Musial – Baseball legend of the St. Louis Cardinals
Angela Merkel – German Chancellor
Jasper Johns – artist; considered a major influence upon pop, minimalist, and conceptual art
Gerda Weissmann Klein – Holocaust Survivor
Dr. Tom Little – optometrist killed in Afghanistan while on humanitarian mission
Sylvia Mendez – civil rights activist
Jean Kennedy Smith – Former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland
John Sweeney – AFL-CIO President Emeritus
George H.W. Bush – Former U.S. President
Warren Buffett – Berkshire Hathaway CEO, philanthropist
Congrats to all of them and I look forward to seeing the honorees next year!
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