Life's Monemtum and Possibility!

Google Me!

If anyone actually reads this they will laugh at my impetus for coming back to my blog and getting myself re-kicked into gear with it! Peter googled me today while he was waiting for a simulation to simulate. He called me to inform me that my Lifelets blog was looking very negative in the Google search! The funny thing is that one of the primary reasons I've haven't blogged much lately is that I've been too busy and happy to have any extra time for it.

Who would have thought that my personal blog would affect my Google results... the image the world gets of me at first glance? I guess it makes sense. It's pretty cool that I'm unique enough to fill several pages of Google search results actually!

A Puppy!

At any rate.. there are LOTS of exceedingly happy lifelets surrounding me at the moment! A puppy for one! Peter and I are excitedly awaiting our labradoodle puppy! He or she will be born in less than two weeks and we'll be picking him/ her up at the end of July. Our summer vacation this year will focus around collecting Hagrid, Emma, or Lola from Denmark near Han's farm. To the right is a picture of the puppy's fantastic mother, Maddy. I LOVE the way this dog smiles. I swear there is a twinkle in her eye. Kimberly, the breeder says that she is one of the happiest, most loving, calmest dogs she has ever had. I hope we get a mini-maddy!

I was giving a phone interview for a senior Ruby on Rails developer for 42 Friends the other day. At the end of the interview the conversation (very unprofessionally on my part) strayed into the realm of dogs and kids. What can I say.. I love them both! Reuven, the really fun guy I was interviewing, said that he really just didn't "get" dogs. Since he said I gave him the best explanation of dogs he'd ever heard, I'll repeat it here.

Gabby loves life so simply and completely that it's impossible to be with her and NOT love life yourself. Running through a field, wading in a creek while we're out on a hike, rolling in the grass: all these activities make her glow with pleasure and me glow with love! A dog can really remind you to be happy, draw your attention to the simple pleasures in life, and make it VERY clear that you do not need money, a fancy car, or designer shoes to be happy. Just get down on the ground and roll in the grass!

Try it sometime.. when no one is watching. Wait until the sun is shining and the wind is blowing a little. As you lay yourself out on the grass, the warm, wet smell of earth will waft up to your nose and the individual blades will tickle and tantalize your skin. Roll around for a minute.. side to side, down a hill.. it doesn't matter! Then simply stop. Breath out, and look up at the sky.

Tell me you're not peaceful after that!

I'm really hoping that this new puppy will be for Peter what Gabby has been for me. She has hands down, made my life better. Peter has NEVER had a puppy before! I will definitely keep you all update on puppy status!

Sunlit Writing

The other lifelet that is sparkling for me right now is my work (which I should be doing at this very instant). I've started working as the manager of Growing Gifts, a fantastic plant gifting application on Facebook. I manage the community of users and designers, help to develop the application, choose and manage all the content for the application and do user support. The part that I like the most is the community and content management :) Check the app out here:http://apps.facebook.com/growing/?link_source=side_nav

ps.. while you're there, please take a minute to RAVE about the app on the discussion board. We've recently done some major updates (yes.. they ARE improvements) and our user base has been kicking and screaming. It's kind of funny since everything we added was by specific request of the users themselves! I guess people just don't like change.

I've also started doing some freelance writing! It's a lot of fun. My old friend Karen Veiera from UF has started a science writing company in the States and she's passing articles on all sorts of things my way. I love doing the research and writing articles in terms that any Joe from the street could understand. In fact, I'm scaring myself into being a veggie head and exercising more (both of which are probably very good things!).

The most exciting thing career wise that is going on for me is that I have officially started my own business! It tumbled into being simply because I needed a way to pay my taxes in Sweden while working for 42 Friends (Growing Gifts) and Karen. After I started writing a bit more though, I realized that I really love it and am quite well qualified for the job. I'm going to slowly develop the writing portion of my "business," hopefully expanding to take on more clients and projects. Ideally I'd love to focus my writing on semi-scientific subjects such as conservation.

I've decided to call my company Sunlit Writing for several reasons. Firstly in honor of the book I've been working on for ages, Sunlit Dust. The idea behind Sunlit Dust (very briefly) is that there are lots of things that affect our lives, responses and personalities which we never even notice. They are there, floating in and out of our beings and lungs, like dust in the air. Every once in a while when we take a minute to stop and look a round, a ray of sun will suddenly illuminate all the dust in the air around us. Suddenly we understand.

This ties in with my writing in several ways, fortifying my decision to go with Sun Lit Writing. I'm hoping that my writing will stand out from the mass as the sun lit dust stands out from the rest! I'm also hoping that my writing will the the catalyst which illuminates the ideas I'm presenting.

Lastly, I would really like to develop myself as a soft science writer focusing on health, lifestyle, and family as they relate to the environment. The only way to stop the destruction of our planet is for all of these subjects to unite and become a lifestyle. The more I think and read about and come into contact with different life issues such as protecting yourself against disease late in life, designing your dream house, being a happy person, planting a garden, almost anything really, they are all connected by a thin green thread. To protect yourself from disease walk more and eat fresh locally grown fruits and veggies. As I day dream about the house that will one day be the home of my family I can't help but consider whether living in the country really is the most green option. When I think about the things that make me happy I realize that walking more, breathing clean air, and living in a socially oriented way really DO make me happy. Shopping, spending large chunks of time in the car, and having access to all the latest forms of technology really DON'T make me happy. Planting a garden reduces stress, which makes me happier and healthier AND helps promote growing green things, which is fantastic for the environment. This long explanation of the focus of my "freelance writing business" was simply to high light that I'd rather use sunlight than oil. I want to keep it simple and natural. For me, sun light is both those things. I feel like the name Sunlit Writing lines up very nicely with my soul and goals!

Here's a list of the projects I currently have on the go with Sunlit Writing:

Growing Gifts- making people happy, green growing things
Medical/ Health Articles- I'm writing several a week
Two Girls and a Changing World- A book I'm helping a friend to write which highlights the many social and political issues we face in the modern world through the story of two friends.
A Sunlit Life- The health, family, lifestyle blog focusing on environmental issues that I am planning to start writing this month.
Sunlit Dust- My book! My book!
Whatever freelance writing projects and can get!