Label or Maslow?~ Day 38

I am with these thoughts today. 

A little bit of textbook- like thinking to share with you in my blog. 

Why this subject this morning? I don’t know! :)… It is just where I am with my cup of coffee as I sit by the window. :) lol haha

You may think that Hai's going through her midlife crisis, a re-defining moment, self enlightenment, metaphoric, womanly changes, self-discovering, soul searching mode, etc., as I boldly express myself in blogging and writing my inner thoughts to you the past 38 days, and counting up to 100 days, to reach my personal goal. Good entertainment for some or who cares for others, and that's okay. That's not my real personal purpose anyway.

I thank you, my reader, and give thanks to God, for this opportunity to put my thoughts down on paper and send my vibrations into the Universe. It’s not a must "vehicle" for everyone to take, but it happens to be mine. :) 

We all have our ways of creatively expressing our souls through art, music, crafts, physical, intellectual…whatever that is for you. I encourage you take on the self-expression of your choice, to discover a bit of you!  

There’s no right or wrong way to express yourself, it’s only your way, as unique as you are, to the Universe! There is NO ONE like you! Amen to that! :)

Well, my point to all this is the label you hear or think of as you make a new discovery of who you are. You can label it, if it feels better to you, but it really does not matter that much.  What matters is the self expression itself.

For me, I can say Yes, I AM all the above and if there are more labels out there, bring it on! :)

I am simply enjoying my "Finding Self" mode through blogging, and that is where I am today!  Who knows how I will express myself in the future, after my 100 day commitment is completed.  What is important is that I continue to find an outlet to express and discover who I am and how I can connect with others through my work! :)

I want to keep it very simply with you, as I share the road map that has influenced me. Remember studying Maslow's hierarchy of needs, with a pyramid drawing of human existents in High School?

I may be different or strange, to say I DO VIVIDLY! :)

I still do today because for that young teenager, lost in the world, that class gave me a road map of where my existence was headed.

I was then, and still today, wanting to know what life is all about? I am always very puzzled, full of questions with the meaning of life for me on this earth.  I am no different from everyone else.  I'm sure you have pondered this basic question at different times in your life.  

I remember understanding the basic concept of where I had been, which was on the bottom of the pyramid, having only the basic needs met for food & shelter as a result of growing up in an orphanage in a war torn country.   But 30 years ago, my goal was to reach "the top of the pyramid,... Self- Actualization. "

Whatever that is, unknown to my young mind at the time, but it gave me some sense of “purpose”, to head to the top of that pyramid.  And it is still today! :)

Without getting too deep into the study and the definition in the encyclopedia of Maslow’s hierarchy, I will share a link here for you to do a little research later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

The gist of what it meant for me through the years was living and accomplishing these needs as he described.

Below is an interpretation of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, represented as a pyramid with the more basic needs at the bottom.[1]

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation.[2]

“What a man can be, he must be.”[8] This forms the basis of the perceived need for self-actualization. This level of need pertains to what a person's full potential is and realizing that potential. Maslow describes this desire as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming.[9] This is a broad definition of the need for self-actualization, but when applied to individuals the need is specific. For example one individual may have the strong desire to become an ideal parent, in another it may be expressed athletically, and in another it may be expressed in painting, pictures, or inventions.[10] As mentioned before, in order to reach a clear understanding of this level of need one must first not only achieve the previous needs, physiological, safety, love, and esteem, but master these needs.

Am I there...?  LOL hahaha

HARDLY!!!!!!~ but I am striving to gain insights in each level of life to simply live life to the fullest. I tend to gauge myself against this pyramid once in awhile to understand my fluctuation on that pyramid.

It is not the ONLY answer to my Self- Finding Search but it has helped me through the years. This may be a bit of helpful or interesting information to you,  not to even bring the spiritual realm of self discovery into the equation ( That's another blog),  but by sharing with you today, you might get some interesting studies or insightful answers for your journey.

With Love & Study,

 Hai

With An Open Mind ~ Day 37

I am starting my blog bright and early today on a Friday! :)

Remembering, we have a very busy Friday with our lunch date and dinner date so I am making sure my discipline of writing/blogging is accomplished early,  so I can go play! :)

I am kind of giddy about my Friday already! lol ha-ha  Life is good! :)

I am up at 5AM and it's actually COLD here!  I have a sweater on, as it is 57 degrees outside!  James has been sleeping with all the windows open for weeks up here with cool weather while I was back in Georgia fighting the heat and getting heat rashes! Ugh. 

I am so DONE with the summer heat!!! 

That alone is worth me escaping the Georgia's heat & humidity to migrate North but the best part is being together with my lovable fun RV man!  :)

It's so much FUN being married to my one & only RV Man! :)

I am NOW so signed up for this RV lifestyle wholeheartedly. I totally get the concept of why people live in RVs to travel North in the summer and South in the winter! WOW! What a great idea!!! We have options!!!  We don't have to tolerate those miserable months of heat or snow!
 ~~~~Hello, where have I been????~~~

It wasn't like that at the beginning!!!!!!!!!!

Admittedly, I’ve had prejudgments of "RV living" as something "less than of my preferred lifestyle image' without understanding ANYTHING about it! Yes! There goes that "outside image ego" to get the best of me, five months ago when my husband and I discussed about this RV idea.   

I knew I wanted to support him to have his childhood's dream of owning one and to live out his wishes, like his grandparents did. Everything about the RV living and traveling was "his" dream while I had reservations that life would be "awful" for me in it. 

Can you tell how awful it has been for me? lol haha

Well, I can say this today with a great big grin... I am SO THRILLED we own one! 

I love our many options to travel anywhere and stay in our very own "hotel comfort" and not worry about disinfecting our "borrowed room" before I can enjoy our stays. 

Life is so simple within its limited space. We buy what we eat and we don't have extra things we don't need. Keeping it clean is so easy and we have more time to enjoy LIFE on this smaller footprint! 

It is so freeing to not be "tie down with STUFF!"

We got everything!

As I am maturing to a "hopefully" a wiser soul, I personally try very hard to let go ALL judgments about people and/or life's circumstances.  Until you live the other person's journey and/or their circumstances, you have no idea what you are talking about. 

Life is simple good!

I believe "being OPEN to life" is the hardest discipline to practice each day... but then, life has a way of teaching us what we need to learn in our lifetime.

May you embrace your life's unique experience that has in stored for you with an open mind today!  :)

With Love & Acceptance,

Hai

Vacation Playtime Mode ~ Day 36

Since I've been here with my husband, I 've been off my "writing wagon" per say.

We have been at this "long distance communting lifestyle" for almost a year now.  There are advantages and disadvantages to this lifestyle.   Although, we find more "pros" than "cons" as we both enjoy changes and adventures.

We are not the normal marriage for sure!!!!! :) :)

Being apart brings us closer together!   When we get together, we are like teenagers on our first date all over again. It does keep our marriage new and fresh!  It is like there is an automatic "Vacation Playtime Mode" switch that comes on in both of us.

We enjoy being together so much that nothing else gets done and we tend to get off track!  Always time for  going out to dinner, walking along the beach, eating an ice cream cone, or taking in popcorn and a movie.

I am loss for words tonight, but then I am not at loss for fun!!!!

With Love & "ice cream " Fun

Hai

Addicted to Love~ Day 35

I made a choice~ I am HERE, and not there!
I am where I want to be ...with the BEST part of me today! :)

After an eleven hour drive, I arrived at my husband's front door at 4AM this morning and he was awake, eagerly awaiting my arrival.  He even stood in the middle of the road with a flash light, directing me to my parking place.

With plenty of quite time on the road, I thought to myself, if today is my last day on earth, what would I be doing ? I knew I was doing it.

God granted us another day so we are blessed to be in each other arms, today! :)

Life is that simple.
We made it too complicated with other worries, with other wants, and with other ideal expectations. We make choices and we live within those choices~ good or bad. We own it all!

I feel very blessed to have my life. I wouldn't want anyone else's life.
I am at the MOST PEACEFUL state of mind when we are together!

Love is the most valuable possesion to have...,over silver, gold & jewels

I am addicted to HIS love...

May you find your own "addiction to someone whose love makes you whole".

With Love, & love, love, love....

Hai

Get There If You Can... ~Day 34

I've been awaken all night long, feeling overwhelmingly SAD that I am ALWAYS "apart" from the ones, I love the most! ~ My family: my daughter and my husband.

My daughter and I have been apart for so long, that it has become a normal part of our independent family lifestyle. Sadly, as if my childhood history has repeated itself in my daughter.  I was separated from my own mother in an orphanage by war.  And again today, I am separated from my daughter by a different kind of " today's contemporary" war.  

My teenager daughter and I have become interdependent of each other. 

She is happy, healthy and back to school and back to her own routines of living her High School years, knowing I am always nearby when she needs me. She doesn't need me on a daily basis, she said; while she is fighting for her own independent, to find a place in this world for herself. 

I've accepted the space between us with a familiar pain of love I've known all my life.

We all have experienced, being separated from our loved ones by some form or another everyday...

My separation from my loved ones still comes from my early years, as an orphan. 

It lives in me everyday of my life, still today! 

I woke up this morning, still feeling that strong emotion, all too real that I am still "apart" from my family! It's not a dream. It's MY today's reality. 

These sad emotions surfaced in me strongly. That familiar gnawing pain of "waiting" to see my family again one day, like it was just yesterday that I waited at my orphanage's front gate. I waited 25 years to find my family. I still only remember the sad emotion that they never came for me. 

I am still waiting for my family today...

That "sad girl" still LIVES in me, DAMN IT! :)

I can't wipe enough of her sad tears away, no matter how old I get or how strong or wiser in my "emotional intelligent," as I become an adult. Why is that?  I know better! 

I woke up, missing the BEST part of me~ my husband. My best friend!  :(

It doesn't make any sense... Of course, we have been apart many times before, and NO, we are not newlyweds, but this strong feeling is real! We've been apart for only a week!

On the other hand, as a responsible adult, I have much to do to tidy up the cottage, laundry to do, rose bushes to plant, dogs to feed and two acres to mow... But they don't seem to matter or make good enough reasons to be apart from the one I love. (Especially, the one I can be with.)

Let's get ONE thing straight... I am a grown woman. I am an independent woman and I do require my alone time in our marriage before! But.... I miss him (my family) terribly! 

I reached for the phone to hear his voice on the other end of the line to make sense of my sad feelings.  

I couldn't help but to hear that same "sad girl in the orphanage" saying these words...

"I don't want to be "apart" anymore"...  "I don't want to "wait" anymore!"

As I write my today's blog.... I am not that "sad girl, in the orphanage" or that "sad victim" today!

I am an empowered adult to make my own choices to get there if I can! :)

Life is not perfect, ever! but we have the freedom to make our own choices everyday to be where we want to be! :) It's your life! It's your choice!

May you choose to be a "little closer" to your loved ones today! :)

So, how would that be for you, today? ...

~ A phone call, a text to your family to say "I love you"

~ Or stopping by their house to give them,  "a surprise hug just because you can"  

~ Or get on a flight, a train, a road trip to get there if you can?

Love is all we got, at the end of the day!

With Love & Family,

Hai

It's such a TURN ON! ~ Day 33

I am a city girl, trying hard to live a simplier,  country 'green" life for the past five years...

A woman can get alot done with her man if she does it with her "girly" way! :)

I am all woman, not trying to be a man. I am NOT a natural "handy girl" at all but I do try really hard to do what I can for my size.   

I keep telling my BIG husband, who is 6'2" 220 pounds to think of a 10 year old child when he sees my petite size. I am 4' 11" at 100 pounds with an adult ambitious mind, trying to use his big tools to do our handy tasks. I can't do as much, physically but my mind thinks I can! Don't get me wrong,  I am not helpless.  I am just limited in seer size, weight and strength as a woman, to do as much as my husband can, when it comes to physical handy work. 

Living with my strong handy husband, who is very talented, and he loves working with his hands, we do everything ourselves in our cottage renovation for the past five years!! 

Mr. Jack Hammer!

Let me correct that statement... HE does everything that I come up with in our renovation ideas :)!  

I am always with admiration to watch my husband's handy work around our cottage. I confess, it's also such a turn on for me to watch my man in action. I also find that it's a turn on for men to see a woman, working with tool, too! :) It's true! haha

Well,  in my case,  it's a "happy marriage security" for me to say this...there are many more projects to keep my marriage "hot & bothered" for many more years to come with our cottage renovation! lol haha

My "handyman husband" has stretched my city girl abilty to do many physical jobs around here that I didn't think I could do. He is patient with his coaching and has a way of making projects fun and we do get things done together!  Our best memories are of the home projects we did together through the years!

We both found out to NOT let me near a paint can~ It's not my talent!

We discovered my other talents: How to build a 500 feet fence and get an awesome tan too! 

I also found a useful tool for my jean's back pocket

We've had good days and bad days, living in the country! It's not always as romantic as you see in pictures of finished projects. Living DURING the renovation has been hell at times!

Plowing my country garden...

Last Wednesday, it got the WORST of me! It was not a pretty sight when our riding lawn mower had a flat tire! It was such a HUGE ordeal for me to solve this problem by myself without my husband!
You would think it would be easy, right?
Well lets just say... It got the Best of me when I fired off this email to my husband with my FULL BLOWN frustration with the subject title:    I QUIT!
*********************************************************************************
I can't get you on the phone! NEVER MIND on the tire or anything else outside!!!! I am not going outside again! I am sweating, LIKE cats & dogs....with a heat rash, trying to get one @#$%^#*  flat tire on the lawn mover fix!!!!! I CAN'T EVEN DO THAT! I AM PISSED OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've been at this simple thing for hours! xox%#467!!!!!!!

I HATE LIVING LIKE THIS!!!!~  I CAN'T DO THE HANDYMAN SHIT!!!! and I DON'T WANT TO! I am NOT made to do these things..... You married the wrong girl. :(
I am not tough or handy. I've tried REAL HARD all these years but I just hate it!

I might have big dreams for this cottage but I CAN'T LIVE IT OR MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!! I was not made to be a MAN around here!  I QUIT! ~ I am moving BACK to  be the city GIRL and get my city life back! Bye!!! 
Love, Your pissed off wife! :)

**********************************************************************************
I have NEVER EVER heard my husband LAUGHED~ SO ~ HARD~ on the phone when he finally called me back after his corporate conference call and read my email. 
We both had a great laugh through my "handyman" bad day! :)

My Corporate HandyMan

Well, the good news is that the lawnmower tire finally got fixed TODAY, of course with more "talk me through the process" with my husband on the phone, asking my neighbors to come down to help me and a trip to Ace Hardware Store! :)

Viola!!!!!A new lawnmower tire to mow my pasture tomorrow!:)

God made women & men differently and HE granted each one with different talents to contribute in our marriage, in our physical abilities and generally, ... in LIFE! 

I truly love being a woman but I hate being limited in the " handy department" when my husband is not around. This week reminds me  how much MORE I appreciate so many big and small things my handyman husband does around our home to make my life so much easier. 

I love, love, love you,  my handyman husband!!!!!!!! xoxoxo

The moral of today's blog is that men & women need each other!!! :)  We compliment each other!



We are the yen & the yang of life.  So, lets make sure you have HIS tool and HER tool!


NOW.............................Let's turn it ON and Let's play HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

With Love & Marriage,

Hai

Thank God for My Little Girl! ~ Day 32

I feel so very blessed to have a great weekend with my little girl more and more as she gets older. 

I just have to remind myself that she's not THAT little anymore! :)

My Lauren has become quite a lovely young lady! I am so proud of you!
What a summer of growing makes! I thank God everyday for granting me a girl! :)

We cherish our "Mother & Daughter" happy times together, more & more... I am thrilled to have that with her. We shop, dine & do the girl things together too well! That's just what we girls do in our society! :)

Welcome to our "girly" world of shopping until we drop...

It starts here in her Mom's closet...

Our favorite store! Anything against our skin has to be soft and not scratchy. I've always appreciate well-made under garments and taught my daughter that same philosophy too early in this department! Yikes! 

 She has become my best shopping partner!

Hard to believe she's so grown up!

Shoes, shoes, shoes... She's my kind of girl!

But...She's still my little girl and I am still her MOM, with my camera, ready!

One tired shopping Mom!

One empty wallet! ( Honey, keep working!)

One happy "back to school" girl!:)

Mission accomplished!... Now, Mom gets a day of rest, appropriately on Sunday! :)

Thank you God, for my little girl!  I love you, Lauren! :) xoxo MOM

With Love & Light,

Hai