The cost of pleasure.

"...all pleasure must be bought at a price. The difference between illegitimate and legitimate pleasure is this: For legitimate pleasure, the price is paid before it is enjoyed. For illegitimate pleasure, the price is paid after it is enjoyed. Turning aside from instant gratification is one of the most difficult things to do. But this is where the battle is often won or lost."

-Ravi Zacharias
for the full article: rzim.com

just dance.

The most inspiring dancer I know: Collin Malaney

Your song comes on, your hips start to move with no coercion. The question goes through your mind, should I let loose & dance or play it cool? There are a few circumstances were the rug should be left uncut, but this isn't it, you should dance. 

My friend told me a story about an older gentleman who decided the first thing he would do every morning was dance. If that man was anything like the rest of us, he probably had mornings that dancing was the last thing he wanted to do. But if we let days like that steamroll us, we will always live life with a sullen disposition. Instead, why not meet the day with a few good hip shakes and a shimmy or two? 

Dance because there is a song that won't let you sit still, dance because you have a body to move and a life to celebrate, dance when no one is watching and when everyone is watching. Just dance. 

If you need some help greasing your hips and an oldie does it for you check this out, for top-40 click here, or if you like musicals this might be more your flavor. 

You may be alone in your room, busting a move when lo and behold your roommate bursts in. Is this the moment to freeze and in utter embarrassment mutter something about trying to shake a cracker out of your shirt? No! This is not the safety dance, we are not leaving our friends behind. Turn the music up and just remind them: friends don't let friends dance alone. 

a snowflake.

A light dusting of snowflakes greeted me this morning as I got into my car. I almost passed them by without noticing, but today I leaned in a little closer and this is what I saw. As the cold chill of winter sets in I tend to forget that each mound of snow I pass along the street contains millions and millions of these lovely, delicately intricate marvels. 

And to think, this fell from the sky today. 

playing at work.

I get the joy of working with creative and fun people. Together we have conversations that provoke thought and weirdness that induces laughter. In the last few months we started the friday ritual of going out for lunch and Friday Funnies before end of day. Friday Funnies is pretty simple: someone pulls up a funny YouTube or Hulu video to share. Then we laugh.

Maybe laughter isn't the best medicine, but it certainly is good medicine. I didn't work today (three cheers for Thanksgiving!), but it is still Friday and I would like to share some of our recent funnies with you.

SNL Hidden Valley Ranch Taste Test:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/284927/saturday-night-live-taste-test

A little work place bonding: 

One more video for you from my mini-friday funny with my mom and sister, Sexy Sax Man:

 Cheers!

how much?

A few weeks ago I was trolling Google to answer a work query. I started typing: How much...before I could finish Google populated a list for me. This is what Google thought I (and the general public) would likely be looking for. Some of it is minor, some major. 

But this is it. This is what a lot of people are counting the cost for. 

What about you? When you ask how much, what comes next?

baby love.

Babies are the sweetest, softest, most helpless things there are. They amaze me - they are so little but will someday become full grown adults (how does this work!). As babies, they are wholly dependent on people outside themselves - a beautify vulnerability. 

My college roommate, Lauren, asked me to take pictures of her little girl Grace, I couldn't say no. She pretty much slept the whole night, and let me just say it, she is cute as a button! As sweet as it was to meet miss grace, seeing my friends as parents for the first time was even more amazing. They are still the same people, but something is a bit different. The joy and struggle of parenthood has been placed upon them, and will be with them for the rest of their lives. I saw a different love coming out of them that wasn't there before. They displayed the sweetness of parenthood with grace...no pun intended :)

I also saw how much work goes into caring for a baby. My friends honestly shared the struggles that come with having a child for the first time. I was so grateful that they let me into their lives and allowed me to see the full spectrum of their experience, especially the hard parts. But nonetheless, of this I'm sure, they will be great parents to little miss gracie. 

hugs please.

I love Shel Silverstein (author of above poem), but I love hugs even more. At my kindergarten graduation we sang a song called "Four hugs a day". The gist of it goes: "Four hugs a day, that's the minimum. Four hugs a day, not the maximum". What profound advice for such little people. My teacher was preparing us for life. The lesson probably could have gone something like this: "Okay kids listen up. I know you are only 6, but life is going to get really hard some day. Harder then you know now. So you guys need to give lots and lots of hugs, and not just on special occasions but everyday. Got that kids. Don't settle for a life filled with tug o' wars, those are never hard to find. I want you to be different, I want you to love and hug and care for others." I honestly don't remember a ton of things from kindergarten. But this song stuck with me, and probably for good reason.

 I'm sure I could quote you statistics about the benefits of physical touch between humans or what happens if a baby is not held enough, but I think we all know that sometimes we just need a hug. Hugs are great for all occasions: when we are happy, sad, excited or disheartened. Hugs let us show our love for each other, share in the excitement of life, and know we aren't alone. 

Most of the time we get the normal, "hey" hugs. But sometimes we get those great, all encompassing, wrapped up in the other person kind of hugs. Those are the best. 

We can all find reasons to have tug o' wars with the people in our lives, I know I find them on a daily basis. Frustrations and shortcomings never seem to be short on hand. But I like this other kind of war better, it is a war I can get behind. So more hugs are in order. 

Hug someone today. Because you need it, I need it, we all need it.