Category Archives: life lessons

Relationship Advice From The Divorced Girl?

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It amazes me when friends call late at night looking for a kind ear and solid relationship advice. Heck, if I were you I’d be the last person I’d come to for advice. Then again I am known for my blunt, no bull shit, straight from the heart, and tell you like it is advice. You will never get sugar-coating from me.

One thing I can not stand are liars and people who are so fake they make a snake look cool. Be yourself and you can never go wrong. Don’t lie to get someone to like you or to make people think you are better than what you are. Lies start to unravel after a while and you will find yourself drowning alone. An no one wants to be alone. No one likes a person who walks around in a suit when they don’t have to. Maybe that suit makes you feel important, gives you a sense of worth, and protects your secrets from the world. At the end of the day your suit has to come off and the holes in your shoes will collect water. No one likes wet socks, not even me.

Socks are something you should never lose on a first date. It’s ok to giggle your socks off, but never leave them behind. Maybe I am a tad old-fashioned or just a little jaded by my divorce. All to often my male friends call me and say she broke up with me. I kindly ask why knowing full well its 3am and I have to be awake in 2 hours. They tell me what went wrong and usually it ends up with they lost their socks and she walked away. I say hold on to your socks until you build something you can stand on. Then again I didn’t heed my own advice and found myself divorced 6 years later.

Divorce is something I never want to see any of you go through. Trust me no one ever plans on it. People change, things change, and divorce is the only way out. I have seen divorced women who flaunt it like their Mama’s told them not to do and then there are those who cry into their tissues.The same goes for women who are fresh out of a break up. They like divorced women build these walls and start to date like men. Men are an interesting creature. One of these days we will be provided with manuals to figure them out.

Most of my male friends are single. They are the type of man who worked hard to build a career, bought homes/condos, and are over all great catches. Yet their still single. I will point out that most of them are under 5’10”. They are short and for some reason women will not give them the time of day. There is nothing wrong with short men. I tend to date on the shorter side, I don’t try to it just turns out that way. Ladies give the short ones a chance, you will be surprised. Just look past the fact that neither of you will be able to reach things up high and you will be fine.

On the other side of the coin alot of my female friends are young professionals or single mamas. I am the only divorced one in the pack. They often tell me its hard to find a man to put up with their independent crazy work schedule life style. I tell them date up not down. If you date down that person may not understand your schedule and lifestyle. Date someone who can fit into your life and someone who will want to work with you to make those dates. Someone who understands that yup, you may cancel plans last-minute but, you will make up for it later. Heck, he might have to cancel plans and send you flowers the next day to put a smile on your face. Date the person you can’t live without, who cares if he doesn’t fit the mental image of prince charming. Every man deserves a chance to be with a professional woman like you. Go out and make someones day. It doesn’t hurt to grab a drink and have a conversation for a few hours.

Drinks lead to interesting conversations. Yes, I have been drunk dialed by friends and had my door knocked on at 3 am when dates go a rye. Turning them away is not an option. I am not that type of person. I sit with them hand tissue over or utter the words “Its going to get batter. You are an Awesome Ninja. Mr/Ms Right is just hiding on you.” A smile usually breaks when the word Ninja is used and that smile leads to a giggle. Giggles let us know that we are going to be all right and that hey its all part of the game.

So my advice is dust off your dating shoes and try, try, try until something sticks. You are never going to find love if you hide in your office all day. Cruise the streets look for eye candy, talk to a stranger, and be yourself. Invite that coworker you’ve been eyeing to happy hour, ask the barista to dinner, and answer an online ad. So what if they shoot you down. It just means they weren’t worth your time to begin with. So Ninjas what are you going to do? You my friends are going to go get your date on.

School Supplies ~ Encouraging Native Youth to Seek College

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When I graduated from UW-Superior I was presented with an Eagle Feather. Being presented with an Eagle Feather is the highest honor a Native American can receive. The father means more to me than the paper my degree is printed on.

It’s that time of year where stores line their shelves with school supplies, back packs, and dorm room decorating supplies. For me, it’s a sign that fall is fast approaching and I need to get my motivating butt in gear. Each fall I get to meet a new group of seniors/juniors and scare them into going to college. I scare them straight, scare them smart, but mostly I use my love to scare them into discovering apart of themselves.

Native Americans are still the most unrepresented racial group in higher education. Sadly the state of the reservation educational systems are far worse and have yet to slowly get better. Is it that we forgot that these are kids too or were we to quick to assimilate them into main stream off reservations schools. The state of reservation schools are slowly getting better as more tribes realize that the investment in education is a good one. More and more native based learning programs are being developed. Language, arts, and culture are taught right along side, math, reading, and science.

Yet with all of this change and the strong movement of the NIEA we are still not seeing the rise of Native students in higher education. This is where people like myself come in. Many of these students are the first in their families to set foot into the hallowed halls of a University. They come from less than nothing and are afraid that if they leave and don’t achieve everyone will see them as a failure.

I often tell my students that the only failure is the failure to not even dream of a college education. If they never dare to dream, they will never leave the boundaries that hold them in. Boundaries are meant to be crossed and once you cross you can always look back at what you once were. Some of the kids just need someone to whisper you can do it into their ear. Others need us to hold their hands through out the whole application process and be waiting quietly in the wings on campus visitation day. Either way we do whatever it takes to get these kids, accepted, moved in, and stand by them until their degree is in hand.

It takes alot of hands to motivate Native kids, long hours, tears, and strength to show them that they are worth it. Once they know they are worth it, their dreams soar, and they become more than they ever thought possible. Tears are what I cry when they call me and say “OMG AmanadaJean I got accepted to college! Thank you Thank you, for believing in me. Because of you I am going to make something of myself and come back and make my reservation a better place.” Those moments are the moments I live for. To see the sparkle in their eye as they hold that dorm room key in their hand. I look forward to their emails detailing of classes, new friends, and ninja antics.

Reservations are changing as their populations become educated. Tribes that once depended on the outside world to help them run their Casinos, hotels, and other businesses are now depending on their own. Slowly the reservation boarders are closing and the outside higher rate is shrinking. They are depending on the new generation of educated youth to take over the businesses and run the reservations. This very shift is giving me hope that once again these sovern nations can operate independently from the outside world.

The outside world will always creep into the reservation. Students are faced with the stereotypes society placed upon them. If people looked beyond the images of HollyWood they would see the changes that have occurred. Yes, alcoholism, crime, and drug use run rapid on the reservations. People see the Casinos pop up and utter “Hell they have money what are they complaining for?” Not all tribes have successful Casinos, some are small and lie just beyond the paved roads where no one ever goes. I tell my students that they are the ones who will bust through the old image and create a new stereotype. They tell me “It’s easy for you AmandaJean, you half white.” True, I say to them. But just like you I’ve had to fight my way to the top. I never let my race stand in the way and I never let anyone put me down. I expect you to do the same, because you have the power to educate the public and to represent Indian people every day of your life. You are the ones who will change the American way of thought and you will bust the glass ceiling that was set.

Each fall we add a few more cracks to that glass ceiling when a student signs up for the ACTs and puts their name on a college application. Holes are punched through it when a student gets their degree. If we keep up at our current rate I hope to smash through it during my life time. I am patiently counting down the days until the first day of school. A day where I get to make my presence known and scare a new group of kids into go to college.

I lobby So You Don’t Have To Worry

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I never pictured myself as a lobbyist. To me a lobbyist was some old big money man making deals with congress in a back alley. That alley turns out does and doesn’t exist. Every day large companies pay top dollar for lobbyist to head to DC on their behalf. To lobby for things that will make it easier for their company, products, and procedures to succeed. Sometimes money is thrown into the ring to get people to turn a blind eye.

Blind eyes do not provide answers or keep people safe. They hinder our success and keep us from finding the so-called American Dream. I depended on the labeling of the pharmaceutical product I used. It told me only women over 35 were affected by blood clots and stroke. I did my research, the FDA said it was safe and touted it as the best invention in birth control since the pill.

Yea, that little thing called the pill. It was a big deal back in the 1960s and today a pack is found in almost every medicine cabinet. I was like you blind and unaware of how dangerous hormonal contraceptives actually are. It scares me to my core that girls as young as 11 are being prescribed birth control. None of the current studies out on the market look at or even tested the effects in girls that young. Its like driving in the dark without head lights. Labeling is starting to change. Change for the better.

Women like myself are taking DC by storm and demanding stronger warning labels, black boxes, and so forth on hormonal contraceptives. It still amazes me that some companies are still labeling the side effects for women “only over 35.” Come on now, it’s a thing and things do not know age. That magic age of 35 is crap. Tell it to me, wave 35 in front of me and I will tell you “Jesus, I was 26 you idiot. Your product almost killed me and I was under 35.”

After my pulmonary embolism the product I used changed their commercial and print ads to state “all women are it risk for blood clots/ stroke.” Jeeze thanks, that would have been nice to know before hand. This change was reactive and not proactive. We need to see more proactive measures from drug companies and not reactions based on their products failure.

Failures that happen all to often. The FDA has to many backhanded transactions occurring. What really stinks is this: The FDA knew the ring I used was deadly, yet they felt American women were ready for it. So against the warnings they approved it for US consumption. That approval was based on the $ and not on saving women’s lives. To many women have lost their lives because of the ring. To many woman have suffered blood clots, infections, and had their lives for ever changed by it.

My lung is permanently damaged. I will never run again. Trust me I try to it doesn’t work. An now my heart is wonky and it is most likely a result of the PE I suffered in 2009. Thank you big fat drug company, thank you for damaging my lung. I appreciate it. It truly is the best thing to ever happen to me. It was so much fun injecting myself with Lovenox and subjecting myself to twice weekly INR tests. CT scans are a great excuse to get out of work and wow that Angiogram was a blast. It truly was a blast.

A blast is what happens when I travel the country educating women about the dangers and side effects of hormonal contraceptives. Information is powerful and if they know the warning signs of blood clots it will keep them from enduring my fate. A fate that I wouldn’t trade for the world. Yup, it sucks that this happened to me, but now I am a lobbyist. An I will not rest until all hormonal contraceptives receive a black box warning label. I can’t change what happened to me. But I can prevent this from happening to my future daughter, to your daughter, mother, wife, sister, BFF, girlfriend, cousin, and neighbor. This is preventable. We can save lives through education and awareness.

Question: “Why Do You Blog?”

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“In this world we are only as good as our word. We must speak the truth and be who we are. If we are anything less than ourselves, anything less than true, then our words will mean nothing in the end.” ~AmandaJean

Some days I feel like I lead a double life. By day I am a passionate paralegal and by night I am simply a blogger. My blog has often been my out let to explore and share myself with the world. People often ask how can you put your health information out there, how can you share so much with people you don’t know? Its getting to the point where people are recognizing me at Target, the sky way, and other places around town. Recognition is welcome, just don’t sneak up on me and scare the crap out of me. I don’t like to be scared.

To answer the question “How can you share such personal information?” The answer is this: When I was first told I had a pulmonary embolism I scoured the internet looking for information and all I could find was info relating to the elderly. I’m not a member of AARP, I was a 27-year-old woman in search of answers. At that moment the mission of my blog changed. I realized that I could educate and promote blood clot awareness. That my struggle would be a key to someone elses survival. Once I made that post about my pulmonary embolism there was no looking back. The same goes for my miscarriage, divorce, and cancer. This……this is my life. By sharing it with you we can find common ground. Ground that we can stand on and learn together what it means to be happy, to be a survivor, and to find ourselves again.

One thing you will not find on my blog are details about my personal life, the name of the company I work for, and details of my pending litigation against a pharmaceutical company. Those are private. After all I have to keep something for myself. Truth be told, I am as single as a $1.00 bill, so I have no relationship to write about. Friends that appear in posts have given me permission to share our adventures, struggles, dreams, and blunders. I am not compensated in any way for my Local Thursday Posts and all opinions of the local companies are my own. I love to share my favorite spots in the Twin Cities and around the midwest with you. A lot of these people built their businesses from the ground up and I want to share their passion. Life is often best enjoyed with friends, traveled with strangers, and dreamed with dreamers.

Dreams are something that no one can ever take from us. This blog has led me to a lot of great places and brought a lot of awesome people in my life. I am thankful for it, yet there are days I want to turn it off. Turn it off so the world around me can be quiet. Then I am reminded that if I turned it off it would be like losing a limb. Have Bear Will travel has become a part of me. You can bet your buttons that I will be blogging when I am 80. Maybe I’ll blog about, flying cars, real life avatars, and my grand children’s hover boards. Hey, it could happen.

I have so much love for all of my readers and followers. You are what inspires me to blog. Knowing that we are growing together and changing the world one day at a time amazes me. After all “Everyone was Kung Fu Fighting, Their Fist were as fast as lightning.”

You Only Have One Heart

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Minnesota has been hit with an epic heat wave. Every time I go outside I say “Fail Whale Weather.” As many of you know I suffered a pulmonary embolism in 2009. I have gone about a year without any pain or complications in my damaged lung. Over the weekend the old pain started creeping in.

It creeped up on me like a ninja in the night. At first Tylenol took care of it and so did sleep. Yet it hit me hard on Tuesday, so hard it almost knocked the breath out of me. I was at work when the pain started getting worse and had to leave.

This was the first time I had ever gone to Park Nicollet regarding chest pain. I went to Alina before and they had a drill that included EKG, Blood work, CT, and send AmandaJean home as it was nothing. This time things were different.

Different in a good way. The staff concentrated more on my heart than my lung. Blood work was taken and it came back negative for any new clots or clots at all. Since that was negative a CT scan wasn’t needed. Thank goodness for that, those things are not fun. Still it was a mystery. My heart was beating in a normal healthy rhythm of between 60 to 100 beats per minute and then it would race to 163 or as high as 192 beats per minute. An just like that it would go back into its normal range. I don’t feel sick, I just feel like someone is squeezing my heart and have some pain. It hurts when I breathe and it feels like my heart is trying to escape with its fast beats.

Since they don’t know the cause of this crazy heart behaviour all they could do was monitor me and log the fast beats. The DR scheduled a Stress Echo Test today. That is a whole ball of wax in its self. This will show them how hard my heart is working at rest and after stress is applied i.e. exercise or medication is injected. They compare the two videos to see if there are any differences in the heart. I will not get my results until tomorrow morning. So right now I am trying my hardest to be a patient ninja. Patience is not my virtue.

Something tells me that Alina may have missed the big picture. They were always so focused on another clot and on my lung its self. I think they often forgot that hey the original and only clot blocked the blood flow to my heart. Durring that whole time my heart was in sinus tack which is an irregular heart beat. Just like it is now. This is something that’s probably be going on since 2009. Then again heart disease does run in my family. Either way for the first time I actually feel confident that I am going to get the answers I’ve been waiting for.

For me this is just another side effect of that farking birth control I used. Part of me wonders what would my life be like if I never used it. Then on the same coin, that experience has given me more strength than I could have ever dreamed of. Every thing happens for a reason and everything has a reason for happening.

Silent Thank You

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I highly doubt that you read my blog, my twitter or even the text messages I chuck out there. But this this is for you.

I will never regret what went down between us. For as long as I live I want you to know that you are not in no way in hell the reason I left my marriage. Instead you uttered the words I was longing to hear. You told me that it was ok to walk away. That there is no right or wrong in divorce. Everyone loses. That it was ok to be the one who made the call and walked away first.

You were an example. You survived your divorce and managed to find what made you happy. I think of you from time to time. I hope that you are doing all right and that one day your anger will dwindle. You cannot be angry at me forever. When that day comes I will explain it all to you in person (Its one heck of a story). I chose not to air my divorce and the reasons why I left on my blog for the sake of Nylan. After all this blog and one day book is for him. But you are forever part of the story, of my story that I share on my blog and tell to the people I am motivating.

Judgement calls, life comes down to judgement calls. We can choose to stay or go. To be angry or forgive. We can choose to fight or die. It doesn’t matter what we choose as long as we make that final judgement and call it like we see it.

One day, I have faith that your anger will fade. That you and I can sit down adult to adult and I can tell you the truth. The truth that I have been longing to share with you and one that you need to hear.

Just know that I do not desert the people I care about, even thou we no longer speak I still care. I always have and I always will. Mostly I do not give up on good ninjas like yourself. Mainly because no one has ever given up on me. My hope is that one day I can say “Thank You” to your face.

Ninja. What does it mean?

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If you know me in real life or follow me on twitter you know I utter the word “Ninja” a lot and tell folks “wow you have major kung fu.” You’ve probably thought what does she mean by ninjas and all of this kung fu talk. The answers are simple and will leave you harnessing your inner ninja.

A Ninja is someone who puts the needs of others before their own. It is someone who reaches out when no one else will, someone who will stand up for those who cannot, and remains a voice of reason. Ninjas know when to hold em and when to fold em. They also, especially the ninjas who went to college in Wisconsin know how to throw down. Thrown downs happen often and are usually followed by giggle fests.

Mostly your ninja is a tiny person (it’s so true) that lives in side of you. The ninja waits quietly for those moments when you can’t go on. That ninja signals your brain, and says “Go Ninja go.” It takes over and gives you the strength to be, to live, and to conquer this world without question. Sometimes you may yell “To Wanda” when conquering the world and other times you move with stealth speed. Either way your inner ninja uses his/her kung fu to do everything that you feel you cannot do. It never steers you wrong and always always listens to your heart.

Ninjas usually travel in packs. Sometimes they are found alone and are caught doing good deeds. When this happens we shout “Wow that’s some major kung fu you have there.” Kung fu is not a method of destruction, but more as a method of construction. Ninjas use their kung fu fighting powers to bust through their days, love their families, and make our world better. Whether it be through volunteering our time with children, building houses, raising money, or using our ninja smarts to find a cure. We are always Kung Fu Fightin!

So the next time you see a ninja don’t fret, just yell “hey you kung fu fighting ninja you!” If you do this they well erupt with giggles, giggles are contagious, hence the term giggle fest. A ninjas main goal in life is to bring love, laughter, and hope to where ever they may travel.

I hope that you are lucky enough to harness your inner ninja, let her/him take over and let your kung fu fly. Come on now, “everybody was Kung Fu fightin!”

Standing On The Other Side Of Divorce

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June 27th will mark 1 year since I left my x husband. Wow, really wow one year is almost here. I remember the day I left and how broken I was. The woman that pulled the prius out of the drive on Brighton trail, isn’t the woman I know today.

Honestly I was never happy in my marriage. I kept up a good act of making people think we were the perfect couple in the perfect house. The house that was supposed to make us closer turned into a 3,000 sq foot battle ground. A battle that was always raging. In truth I was dying inside. I was trying to earn the love of a man who never wanted me.

A man who shoved my dreams, my needs, and wants to the bottom of the pile. His family (brothers and parents) always came before me. Heck I wasn’t even second on his list. He cared more about his whores, than me. He gave compliments, glances, and his kindness to every woman that wasn’t his wife. He’d sneak off in the middle of the night to warm another woman’s bed, Craigslist was his play ground, and I was left alone. Left trying to make our marriage work.

Work was something he never understood. He never understood that we were suppose to be a team. That it took two to make a marriage. He was always checked out and I was left to take care of his child. A child that I didn’t want to lose. I worked hard to give Nylan a family, a home, and a life he deserved to live. I would count down the days until Nylan would arrive from Texas. Plan outings, meals, and revel in the joy he gave me. Nylan, is the sole reason I stayed.

I felt I owed it to Nylan to make our family work, so I stayed. Soon, I couldn’t take it anymore. I brought it up to the x and a huge argument exploded before my eyes. He told me ” your fat I am not attracted to you anymore. You are the only problem in our marriage.” Thats right in his eyes, I was always the problem and he never did anything wrong. I hate to say it, but his choice in women isn’t the greatest. As long as she was loose, ready and willing he’d fuck her until the sun came up. I’m sorry but your never going to find a quality woman on craigs list. I had enough.

I had nothing left to give to this man and I no longer had the strength to make things work. I was a stranger in my own body. No one has ever made me feel like he did and no one will ever belittle me again.

No one will ever rob me of my happiness, my self-worth, and my kung fu again. The day I walked out of that house, I felt a dump truck lift off my shoulders. I had hope again. My laugh was more bubbly, my smile a little brighter, and my life was mine to live.

I was free. Free from the mental and emotional abuse he laid apon me. Free to dream, to dare, and free to hope for a better day. Mainly I realized that I am worth it. That I matter in this world.

One Year Later:

I realize now that giving up law school for marriage was the DUMBEST decision I have ever made in my life. Yet, it isn’t something I would change. Because each moment of darkness we endure makes us stronger. When I first left, I didn’t realize that I had been a victim of abuse. To me abuse happens when someone throws a punch. Abuse in a marriage takes many forms, for me it was mental and emotional. With the help of my family, friends, and one hell of a therapist I came out on the other side. I cried the first time that someone told me I mattered. It had been five long years since I had heard the words “You matter to me.”

Knowing that I matter heals some of the pain and brings me comfort on quiet nights. The first few months were rough, I was trying desperately to find a rhythm and clinging to anything I could grasp. Slowly I found the rhythm and let go of the safety net. The constant need to be in contact with friends dwindled. Long gone are the months of 8,000 text messages. They have been replaced with independence and the ability to just be. To be me, without my black berry glued to my hand. My hands actually hold other things now. An my friends have grown with me.

We had to learn together. They had to realize that a lack of a text, tweet, or message doesn’t mean I’m dead. In reality I can’t blame them for being concerned, after all I did almost die on my friends and family. They know that I love them and that this is how the pre-marriage AmandaJean used to be.

That I am back, the sassy, stubborn, big-hearted, independent take no bull shit from anyone AmandaJean is back. I have dabbled in dating. Dating provides me with more blunders than successes. I am still single and at the end of the day I am ok with that.

The x husband would tell me “bear you’ll never make it on your own.” Well I’ve got a roof over my head, my bills are paid, the muppet has food in his bowl and my bank account is in the positive.

Fuck you Scott! I made it!

Strength In A Bottle

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There are days I wish I could head to Target and ask the pharmacist “Do you have strength in a bottle?” Imagine the blank stare I’d get from the pharmacist. Trust me I’ve searched and a bottle of Strength isn’t in the vitamin isle nor is it in the beverage isle. Strength is something we gain, something we pull out of our little toe when we have nothing left to go on.

It amazes me how cruel people can be and how quickly they pass judgement on to someone. The other day someone told me: “Ya know AmandaJean your infertility is God’s way of thinning the heard.” I honestly didn’t know what to do, I just looked down at the ground and said “I didn’t do this to myself, I am not flawed, my my body just got destroyed.”

People are so quick to judge. If they only knew what I’ve been through, what happened to me. Then, then they would understand. My body wasn’t meant to carry a child, my eggs are fertile, but I can’t go through IVF because of the hormones. The hormones are what put me in this mess. The birth control I used robbed me of my body and it took away they very thing I was trying to prevent. Yet, that very same birth control that almost ended my life, brought me more strength than I could ever imagine.

The strength to live, the strength to inject myself twice a day for 3 weeks with life saving Lovenox, the strength to endure 6 months of twice a week INR tests, countless CT Scans, and the strength to take a new infection in my lung with a grain of salt. Strength to understand that I will never be the woman that I once was. Time and time again I am reminded of how lucky I am. Reminded that if I had gotten to the hospital 5 minutes later, I would be dead. Thats right I would have been dead at 26.

Death is the alternative and that is one I am not willing to visit anytime soon. Uterine cancer tried to take over my body. It lost I won. Winning is something I’ve been doing a lot of lately. The best decision I made was to fight for my body and bring it back from the aftermath of the birth control.

Slowly my body is coming back. The meds are right, vitamins are great, and today is a good day. Tomorrow is uncertain and constant chest pain reminds me to fight a little harder. There are days where I am ok with not having children and then there are days where I cry into my cheeros before work. I have always been a fan of options.

Options provide me with hope and I don’t want to completely close the door on motherhood. My right of carrying and creating a child was taken from me. An I will be damned if someone or anyone tries to take away my option of adoption or a surrogate. Those options are mine and you can’t take them from me.

So this is what I have to say to the haters and to the people who don’t understand: No, my inability to carry a child is not God’s way of thinning the heard. It is not his way of eliminating my genes from the gene pool. He is looking out for me and that is why God brought me Angela, a woman who wants to be my surrogate. That is why we have thousands of orphans all around the world waiting for a woman like me to be there mom. I am not damaged, I am not flawed, nor am I inferior to you. I am simply me and this, this was God’s plan. You can look down on me and you can snicker behind my back. Go ahead throw your religous garbage at my feet and make me feel weak. Because nothing you can say or do will make me feel inferior. Nothing will break my strength. Maybe one day when I don’t need it, I will bottle my strength and sell it to you.

Drinks, Flats, and Ninja Antics

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I am a firm believer that everything in life no matter good or bad happens for a reason. My last position ended miserably, yet even then I found a piece of silver in the lining. Maybe I was brought there to meet the wonderful Miss. Angela. I am grateful for her friendship and she is quickly becoming one of my favorite BFFs. Yea, Yea I know I’ve got like 300 BFFs. Come on now, every Ninja needs a pack and well my BFFs are my Ninja crew.

Ninjas always travel in pairs. It’s true they do. Friday night we went out to celebrate my new-found employment. I love my job. What can I say its a big giant leap forward from the last joint I worked. Professionalism rules the day and best of all there is no Kansas girl. Thank God for that! An its blissfully quiet no annoying shrill talking about their family in the background, just pure silent bliss. This was worth celebrating. An Celebrate we did. Dinner at Barrio yummy margaritas, The Big Ginger at The Local, and well all evenings must end in cake. Angela was a very good sport, putting up with my ADD brain and the ooo let’s go here, now there mind set.

Saturday morning brought me a nasty surprise. The Prius had a flat. I was on my way into do some work at the firm and didn’t notice that I had a flat tire until I drove half way down the block. Yay for AAA, they came quick, changed my tire and I was on my way. Thanks to the tire protection plan, I didn’t have to pay for the repair. Sadly the tire tech told me that there was a screw in my tire and that I didn’t pick it up on the road. Someone put the screw into the side wall of my tire. What the hell, can’t people just leave things alone. Do you realize how dangerous that could have been if my tire blew while going 70mph? Do you realize I could have been hurt? Thank God I was close to home and only going 20mph when I noticed it. I have a sneaking suspicion of who placed said screw in my tire. On the bright side I didn’t let the flat get me down. Nope not one bit. Tires are fixable, life is to short, and well what goes around comes around.

In deed it does. Life works in mysterious ways. Part of my Saturday plans were tossed because of the tire. Yet, I didn’t let me stop it from my pending Ninja Antics. There is always Ninja time. I had an awesome afternoon teaching a group of kids about CSA’s and helping them plant a community garden. Dirty hands are the best hands to have. It reminds us that we are connected to this earth and that it is a part of us. After the garden was planted, it was time to tackle The Bear at Pizza Luce with friends and sip wine while watching the clouds roll by. This, this is the life. Everything I’ve worked for has finally come to me. Hard work and ninja antics alway pay off in the end.