Happy Holidays 2012

All is well with the Coopers! Morgan as a 4th grader is still a child of living in hugs and cuddles. Mark and I have had a great year with its many ups and downs, although I have learned alot about myself in the down times. Still I keep my faith and trust with God knowing all is well.
Blessings and lots of Love,
Gaelen

BTW what's you favorite thing to BBQ?

BBQ Time

It's the Fathers Day present BBQ! that has finally arived. For sure it is Summer now. In a hurry one night I put 2 portobello mushroooms on the grill all dressed up with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and got involved in something Morgan was doing so... 20 minutes later I took them off the grill. Wow really Dog Food tasting mushroom. They went straight into the compost bin. I do love the BBQ especially when Mark isn't home and I get to use it :).
Enjoy your summertime as it's almost over.

July Already!

Amazing that summer is here and the weather is great and I haven't been bitten by a flying bug.
The above picture is my Mothers Day gift from Morgan. I entered it into the Marin County Fair (as I usually do with her art) and we went to the fair to see it. I got my usual BBQ Corn (with Pepper and Parmesan Cheese) and we spent most of the day at the 4H exhibit, the Pig Races and the petting zoo. Then we went to the Adult Art and Bonsai exhibit. It was 5pm and we told Morgan we were going to go home. Morgan was saying "I haven't gone on any of the rides!!" I then said, "Tomorrow you are going on a field trip at camp and coming to the fair and I am sure you will get to go on the rides". So when I picked her up from camp on Monday I asked her what do you all do at the fair? ( I was thinking she showed her camp friends her painting?) Morgan said,  "Well... we went on rides until lunch and then we went on rides after lunch." Interesting. I thought maybe they would see the Chinese Acrobats or the Puppet Show. Not go on rides all day. Morgan said her favorite was the Haunted House which she went on 7 times.
Summer this year has included going down into the garage looking in the boxes and deciding what we no longer need. Boxes of books now being given to the library. Innumerable items went in the box for Goodwill. I like the Summer give away. Mark found the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library Grilling cook book which I brought back upstairs. I am so excited because the Fathers Day BBQ present is coming into fruition on the 18th when Ace Hardware has its 25% off everything sale. My plan is Grilled Halibut. Of course I am sure Mark will want Baby Back Ribs. Well now its 3pm and it is time to get dinner started. I like to eat at 5pm and go for walk. I just looked down at my pedometer and I have taken 8,107 steps today. 10,000 steps is my daily goal which is about 3.5 miles.
Happy Summer.    
 

April is my mandala month

Yes, I did use crayons to color this. I like it. It is now the screen on my blackberry. Funny as I was typing blackberry I looked down and it said lackberry. I am sure there is something I could say about the lackberry but that was not my intention for this months blog. Anyway as I mentioned I like my mandala. It is not something I am going to destroy. Hence why it is on paper and not sand and now on my phone as a reminder. I use it to settle down into my silent prayer time. To get into my feeling of atonement. My at one with the world feeling. Actually it is my at one with myself. At one with my family. At one with my community. At one with the US. In the larger picture at one with the world.

Lately I am bugged by the soon be be presidential election news. I don't want to hear Obama this and Romney that. I am being silent. I am finding silent is feeling really good. I am silent.  

What, St. Patrick's Day Again?

OK this is a Christmas Ornament that we kept in the garage this year but hey it's Spring-ish right?

Yes, it is the last day of March but it does count as my March blog.......

Much to say about March... St. Patrick's Day.

This year Mark and Morgan went bird watching in the 40 degree morning weather as I got ready to go to a memorial.
Funny though as St. Patrick's Day is the day my step father passed away 19 years ago.
So at the memorial I felt strange as my friend Bea who passed has a twin sister and it was amazing too see her sister, not only does she obviously look like Bea but she had Bea's voice.
I was sad, sad, sad and crying too. I know and believe we are eternal souls but the loss of someone is hard on me.
I trust I will see Bea again yet I am scared thinking about the loss of my life on earth one day. Everyone leaves eventually myself included. We all sang the Irish Blessing song which now I can't hear with out wailing.

May the road rise up to meet you;
May the wind be always at your back;
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
And the rain fall soft upon your fields;
And until we meet again,
May God hold you
In the hollow of His hand.

Rev. Karyl who did the eulogy did say that when people are passing they don't say "I wish I would have worked harder" they say "I wish I would have said I'm sorry" or "I wish I would have forgiven a particular person" this memorial has asked me to remember to tell my friends and family how much I love them. To remember to apologize when I need to. To say sorry when I need to. To appreciate when it rains. To appreciate when its sunny. To appreciate life when I wake up and go to bed. To live in Gratitude.

Spring cleaning.... well this year we are putting new windows (double pane went bad in a few) so that means I don't have to clean any windows... I do have to get the step stool out and clean the top of the refrigerator... I am thinking of how I am feeling lazy and glad I can claim it as a once a year thing although it probably wouldn't hurt to clean the top of kitchen things more often. I guess I can pass it off to Mark. Sounds like a good idea. I do know sometimes things that sound like a good idea turn out to be a not so good idea but we shall see.

Pasta sauce has been in the crock pot 2 hours which means its dinner and movie time Kung Fu Panda 2
amazing you can get a movie at the market from a Blockbuster box.

Spring Blessings to you.

Gaelen

February+Valentines+My Birthday= :)

Well, what can be better than an espresso with a heart on it? Actually that is what I would like to drink right now but I don't feel like driving to a Cafe where I can get someone to do the heart. Sorry Starbucks and Pete's I wish you would do that because your all of 2 minutes away.
Yet have to declare its 4pm and no espresso for me after 2pm.
It has been a great month with lots of things that I wished for have come to fruition.
A really yummy dinner at my favorite restaurant (pasta and parma for Morgan) and food that Mark and I enjoy! Oh I think I forgot to mention the Lemon Drop Martini.
Wait did I tell you there was no rain on my Birthday? No freezing cold wind? It felt like So Cal. and almost even made me miss Manhattan Beach but no too much.
A good friend of mine even went to South America to get married. It is the Love month you know.
Even received many Happy Birthday email's (thanks to facebook) and a few phone calls too.
Ate more than 1, 2, 3 Dark Chocolate bars! Maybe even 4 :) this month.
A new purse/backpack/messenger bag. Have I mentioned I have a thing for purse/backpack/messenger bags? I am hoping if I save them long enough Morgan will want to use one before I decide to send them off to Goodwill.
One thing about a 9 year old. I cried when Morgan gave me the Valentine card she made for me. The card was too cute and loving in a nine year old way. Today, I wish I was nine. I can hear Morgan and her friend playing wii in the living room. Giggles. Giggles. Giggles.
I did email out Valentine cards. Now as I write this I sort of think maybe it would have been better if I had actually sent them out snail mail like. Now that I just wrote that I think Gaelen give yourself a break. It was the though that counts.
I see 4 deer out the window and call for the girls to come look. Yes, I do remember seeing the ocean out the window. I am thinking how can I compare them? I am unsure of what to say. Its probably a matter of how am I feeling. The ocean has a certain energy to it. The waves hitting the sand. The deer slowly eating the grass. Both are good. Actually in essence everything is good. Even Great.
I am happy to say when I take the time to sit all things are great in my life.
Gaelen    


    

Happy New Year 2012

Just when I thought maybe I should re post last January's this year because it is still all the things I believe in I found this. Something that made me cry because it was so beautiful. Please click on this link for a short video. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Hzgzim5m7oU&vq=medium

Happy Holidays

Remember to take a breather

Ok, long time no see.
Been busy.
Very Busy.
Busy with things I do not really want to talk about.
Thinking of ways to do everything differently.
Living in gratitude.
Laughing at this picture of myself and remembering that laughing is a very good healer.
Wishing everyone reading this Happy Thanksgiving.
Gaelen

HIGH ANXIETY (Very Very Nervous)

This is a story, not necessarily about the movie High Anxiety by Mel Brooks which I saw in 1978 and I was 13 and that movie made NO sense at all, but a story of MY HIGH ANXIETY!!!

Looking at the picture above Morgan was 2 hours old. This is the picture I have in my head every day of my life. Morgan is my 2 hour old baby. In her 8 years to date I have never seen her really hurt herself, not fall down, no tripping and falling, yes, a couple of scrapes but nothing really serious.

While at work I happen to look down at my cell phone which was vibrating and notice a call from her summer camp. I answer it thinking "Oh God please don't be another Lice at the summer camp call!" and the camp staff member says "Morgan has fallen on the play structure and has hurt her lip." I hear Morgan crying in the background and ask to speak with her. Morgan is crying yet says, "Mom I love you".
I leave work immediately to pick her up. Driving there I was getting nervous so I call Mark and tell him she fell off of a wooden ramp way between 2 play structures. He was leaving his work to go to a meeting and would not be home for a few hours.
So I put on my smile face and walk into the camp. I notice there are no kids there. I think why are all the kids away from the gymnasium? I walk in the gym and there are 3 staff members sitting on chairs blocking Morgan. At this point I become very, very, nervous! Now I fully understand the feeling of High Anxiety!
I call out, "Princess Burrito Mama is here!" I then see her and there is blood all over her jacket. Her mouth is bleeding and her lip has swollen to 3 times larger than normal. I think, please let her new front teeth be in her mouth. I just want to cry. Even writing this I want to cry. So I pick her up and tell her everything is all right and we are going to go home and we will just sit on the couch and I will hug her. She speaks real low, its hard to hard to hear her.
We sing the, "All is well" song. Her mouth is bleeding and I hand her a new Kleenex. I start to sing the "Every little cell in my body is happy, every little cell in my body is well." I change it to "Every little cell in my body is healing me, every little cell is healing me now." We get home and her lip is still bleeding. I ask her to open her mouth and her teeth are still there. I ask are they loose? She says no and I don't want to stick my finger in her mouth to check. I quickly call my sister and ask her to Google "What to do when mouth is bleeding" and tell her to call me back so I know what to do.
I have Morgan lie down on the couch. My sister calls back and I say "Yes, I put an ice pack on her mouth." Morgan says "As I was falling the wood hit my gum." So it wasn't her lip that was bleeding but her gum. I didn't really understand because at that moment I though I was going to have a heart attack anyway.
Her lip bled for two hours. It was too late to take her to the dentist and I was too scared to take her to the hospital. I did start giving her little little pieces of bread to eat. It was so hard for her to open her mouth. Round about this time I started looking in the medicine cabinet and the only children's medicine we have is allergy medicine.
I did give her plenty of water to drink though.
Finally Mark came home and he looked about as scared as I was. He is certainly a braver soul than I am. He started looking around for Tylenol or Motrin too. I mentioned we had none. Mark went out to get her some pediatric oral electrolyte freezer pops. Her mouth was no longer bleeding and she wanted to go to bed. We put her to bed and Mark and I went into our room and just looked at each other and said nothing. We were so scared we had nothing to say.
The next week her mouth healed and the swollen lip went back to its normal size.
Summing it up I guess I have to say, time does heal all things.
I feel better, Morgan feels better and I asked the camp to use a broom to wipe all the sand off the wood so no one else slips.
I think, "Wow I do worry a lot". I also remember I must have written that before in my blog, yet I am to tired to check and see. I actually don't want to know because I don't want to feel like there is one other thing I have to fix about myself.
So, time does heal all things but LOVE heals everything too! So I chose to love myself, trust God and know that All is Well.
Happy End of Summer!

10 Years Ago

Yes, this picture is 10 years old. It is a little weird even writing that because in some ways it seems like yesterday.  Of course BIG things have happened in the last 10 years. I guess I am just in the mood to appreciate what has happened and mix in some gratitude with that. I have even forgotten that I liked when Mark had that 1980's George Michael beard. Well, I fell in love with Mark in the 80s so maybe it makes some sense.
Coming back into 2011 Morgan is now calling me into the living room to see what she has created. The Airstream is parked in the Sacramento River Delta and not often used.
I am now a licensed insurance agent with State Farm and work full time. I am semi missing being a stay at home mom yet it feels good to go to work.
Although I am strong willed I am congratulating myself at accepting this life change with not so much boo-hoo-ing, OK maybe a  little.
I am feeling good in a different way. Tired in a different way. Most nights now I sleep thru the night, don't wake up at 2 and finally fall back to sleep at 5. Now I just wake up at 5 :)   I am using my blackberry more to send emails mixed in with ipod emails as opposed to being on my laptop at home. I find it more important to just be with Morgan now that I am not near her all day. Which means I have got to post this blog and watch Arthur with her.
Happy Summer.
Blessings,
Gaelen

I really must be lazy

If your sitting in bed and too tired to get up and go to your laptop to write your blog does that mean your lazy? Maybe I am just inventive. Laying here in bed and thinking wait a minute I can post my late April/early May blog from my bed using my iPod touch is inventive and handy.
I was going to talk about how I am not into Easter so much but more into the feeling of spring and the growth of life all around me. Plants, animals, flowers. Oh yes now I remember why I am in bed alergies. Spring the flowers my stuffy nose and headache. The over the counter medcine that kept me moving yesterday and then kept me up all last night. I actually even slept for an hour in the middle of the day which is something my body never let's me do.
Yes that is why I am doing my blog in bed so please excuse the spelling due to finger typing on a small screen.
Spring and the energy of life. Today I was sad. I noticed on the Internet the killing of bin laden. At the bank the tv was showing the news and rejoicing the death of the enemy. I am not happy that the united states spent years and years chasing down a man, a bad man as people say and delight in the fact of his killing. Hate is not good in my opinion. Forgivness,light, love is what fuels life, not hate, killing and condeming others. I do not feel right telling Morgan he was a bad man who killed others so now we killed him and that's his just dessert.
I would rather see myself as a unicorn not as a zombie.
Enough of that rant. April did have earth day and earth hour and the use of candles which I love and things that grow and things that change which helps me remember all things change. Even me and accepting change and growth as great things and nothing to be afraid of.
Maybe tonights blog in bed is a reminder for myself that there is nothing to be afraid of.
That the source takes care of me and I live in trust and love.
xo,G

The Luck of the Irish

Well since I am Irish and all Erin go Bragh, I have to admit I am happy that I do not have to make green pancakes this year for Morgan. I am also happy that I choose to honor myself on St. Paddy's day and not wear green because: 

1. I do not like green.  

2. I do not look good in green. 

3. I do not own anything that I like in green. Except my mini-backpack which is chartreuse.

I guess having the Luck of the Irish this month (not that I don't have luck always) but significantly this month means to me: Listen. 

When two friends that live 3,000 miles apart say the same thing to me, it is time to listen. 

What both of them said, "Do Not Over-think It"

It is what it is. This is my new motto. It is what it is. When I get in my Over-think it mode I tap on my eyebrow, I tap on the side of my eye, I tap under my eye, I tap under my nose, I tap my chin, I tap my collarbone, I tap under my arm and I tap on top of my head. I feel relaxed/calmer when I tap.

It is what it is means that I have faith that the Universe has the answers and all will be well.  It is to wonder not worry. 

Over-thinking it is a reminder to me that although I am dependable, I am unpredictable. Today I am choosing unpredictable and I am happy to do so.

By the way that's me in the photo (the one in the back) when I was, never over think it and never worry Gaelen. I love that me.     

Punxsutawney Phil and early spring?

Ok, how do you even pronounce that name? Our little cactus tree is sort of blooming. Before 8AM the spiderwebs on it glisten in the fog with dew. Not even sure why I am on the deck with my camera at 8AM. If a cactus is in bloom does that mean early Spring? I don't really know. I suppose I could look it up but that's not what I wanted to blog about.

February the month of: my birthday, the month my Dad made his transition, the month of "All you need is LOVE" the month of Morgan is out of school for a week, its even called Ski Week.
Let me tell you, being in the cold snow doesn't really make me feel like Spring is coming. I want Spring to be here, not coming but here. I guess my insides are telling me that dinner needs to be on the table. Not coming, but on the table as in right about now.

I do have faith that I can make a 30 minute meal like Rachel Ray.
Faith, I like Faith. No doubts, no questioning, no worries. I remember now that I no longer use the word worry. I use the word WONDER. I wonder about that. Not I worry about that, I just Wonder about it.

Happy Month of February to you,
Gaelen

2011 I believe mini repost

I believe its ok to have spelling errors when your trying to post your blog quickly.  :)  Gaelen

2011 I believe....

January 2011

I believe in Spiritual Living. I believe in saying I'm sorry. I believe in having good friends. I believe in sitting in silence during the day. I believe in laughter. I believe in knowing that all is well. I believe in getting a good nights sleep. I believe there is a divine right path for everyone to follow and each person has a right to follow thier own path. I believe in love. I believe in peace. I believe in happiness. I believe in forgineness. I believe there is time to get things done. I believe in being organized. I believe in writing things down. I believe in saying, "I love you" to myself. I believe I have made mistakes and that it is ok.

Happy New Year. 

Love, Gaelen

Happy Holidays 2010

Missed November Blog

It has been busy, busy, time. We drove to San Diego for thansgiving, then on Fri. to Palos Verdes and on Sat. to City Walk and at noon drove back to San Francisco. Thank God for the itouch. Morgan played with it most of the drive, as you can see from the above photo she figured out how to take pictures of the game she was playing. I am happy about that but not so happy about all the itouch pictures appearing on iphoto.

Well its December and the busy, busy continues. I have 9 minutes to finsh this and pick Morgan up from school. There is so much to say, but I will have to wait for another day.

Peace, Love and Blessings this holiday season.
Gaelen

Halloween 2010

We went to 3 Halloween events last night and home by 9:15! Morgan made a cute little cheer leader, Mark and I wore our usual costumes. Actually I wore my usual borrowed costume.
I even had a good time at our Spiritual Center's Halloween party, Mark's work party and a Montessori family party.
Morgan only hit me in the head accidentally one time while taking this picture. Cheers for us.

Sitting here writing this I realized what is stressing me out about Halloween. It is the marker of how busy the next 2 months are for me.
This year we are driving to San Diego to have Thanksgiving dinner at my sisters and on the way home we are stopping at Mark's Aunts house to see his cousins + his brother who is flying in from Montana.

November is filled with 5 scheduled meetings so far, 1 Saturday 9-5 retreat, a week of teachers conferences where Morgan gets out of school at noon and the middle of the month is when the Spiritual Center I attend gears up for a Holiday Dinner for Homeward Bound of Marin (training and housing for homeless family's) and I recruit volunteers to help cook the dinner, set up the Hall and just writing all of this sent me into the kitchen to make some espresso.
Lots to do.  I don't even want to start thinking about December. Oh and I just remembered that I want to see a friend in San Diego while we are down there and I don't think that is going to happen.

This is screaming to me the need to remember to take car of myself first. Get some sleep, eat well, drink tea, enjoy friends and family, meditate and remember that all is well and miracles occur each moment when you slow down to witness them.