The Passport Party Project

I am a lover of adventure, preferably one that takes me to a foreign land to experience a different culture. When I a wee tot, adventure happened between the pages of the books my nose was always stuck in. In those books I imagined myself in far way places and as other people. I was Anne of Green Gables and Nacy Drew. I lived with Charlotte on the farm or was a Princess in some far away castle. No place or person was too far or different for me to be. But to go to these places one needs a handy dandy document called a passport.

Stunning Iceberg

With a passport you can travel the world and explore it's wonders; touch the ice on a glacier (on my bucket list), swim the bath warm waters of the Arabian Sea (loved it!), float in the dead sea (I finally floated without effort) and climb a dormant volcano on an Hawai'ian Island (Diamond Head is spectacular).

Arabian Sea July 2007

In a effort to enhance my travel knowledge and connect with others who are like minded, I've become a daily visitor to the Twitterverse. Over the last few months, I've met many people who are living their travel dreams and encouraging others to do the same. One of my Twitpals mentioned The Passport Party Project. Started by entrepreneur and travel blogger Tracey Friley. At first I ignored it because, well, I'm reading too many blogs and not writing enough on my own, But funny thing is, I was reading another blog that mentioned the project and it was a whisper from the universe to go check it out. Actually, the first tweet was a whisper, the mention on the other blog was a outside voice and a side eye.

View from Diamond Head June 2009

The project in a nutshell is to host 10 events where 10 girls would be helped to get their passports and a new world view. How awesome is that. I love this project. I got my first passport at age 8, and took my first plane flight at 11 when I emigrated from Guyana to the US. I got my US passport at 27, a few months after I swore in as a citizen. I even got one of those red passports when I was in the military but never got to use it. Needless to say I love having a passport and will make every effort to get stamps where ever I go so I can fill the book up. Check out this project and support in any way you can. With a passport the world is at your feet. You can step out of the pages of the books and into the metal tube that will take you to the far corners of the world.

On left Green Guyanese passport (20+ yrs old!), On right blue American Passport (7 yrs old)

Happy Travels to you ladies and the soon to be travellers of the Passport Project!

Lady LittleFoot

Envision: Monthly Review - July 2012

August is moving along swimmingly, though more hot and humid than July. Can you believe we are into the second week of the month already. My cousins are heading back to school is less than two weeks and my aunt is overjoyed! As I finished up the 31 Day Reset I came across another post by the Happy Black Woman on how to conduct a monthly review. It was right on time.

July, was a busy month for me. I spent Independence day in NYC, going to one of my uncle's for BBQ. His younger son, graduated High School this year and is heading to college. That is mind boggling to me as I held them as newborns. My, oh my, the time sure does fly. I started the 31 Day Reset at the beginning of the month and it was the impetus for me to do some of the things I kept saying I would.  I found a great deal and started going to the gym. This is no treadmill and posh bathroom gym. It is a serious fitness training facility and you work your butt off and ooze gallons of sweat. I complain and cuss the trainers but love every second of it. The experience I am having there confirms for me that for my fitness, I need to make an investment in an environment of small class and intense training.

Hot and humid July is made for indoor activities. One of those activities is letter writing. Yes, those kinds of letters, not emails or texts. Old fashions ink pen to pretty paper letter, folded and placed in stamped envelopes and sent of the friends across the world. I decided in July to write one letter a week to far flung friends. I wanted to do this because I think letter writing is a lost art that has much value. It shores up relationships across distances. Even with all the new technology, there is nothing like getting an envelope that contains a handwritten missive. That alone showed that someone took the time out of their day to put pen to paper and convey their thoughts and feelings to you. My friends are already appreciating the letters.

July also saw me getting back into self care. I have neglected it in the preceding months due to low funds but I made use of the coupon sites and found some great deals. I went for a massage and chiropractic consultation and now I'm seeing the chiropractor several times a week which has led to a reduction of pain in several areas of my back.

The hazy days of July also brought sadness and tears with mugginess when I received a second no for acceptance to graduate school. At first I tried to shake it off, but then realized I had to mourn the loss of that opportunity. So I let the tears fall and said au revoir to that dream, at least for now. I learnt a valuable lesson. Take the time to mourn a loss. You must go through the grieving process. Allow yourself to feel the hurt and pain and let the tears wash it away. I am so glad I did, as it allowed me to focus on the next step rather than on what if and what else I could have done.

Moving across the pond to Europe to go to school, live and work has been a dream of mine since I was in HS. When graduate school didn't come through for that to happen I applied to a few courses to get certified to teach abroad (I'm Barcelona Bound at the end of the month). One door was closed and another opened.

I choose the word ENVISION for the month of July. I finally started envision how I want my life to be and not just the big picture but the details. Once you see the details in your minds eye, you move forward to making it come to pass.

For August I will sell all this furniture in my storage unit. I don't need them and they will become an albatross for me as I move forward. I will continue to sort out my STUFF and get rid of what I don't need and won't use by either sending to trash heap or donating. I want to feel accomplished by these things and I want to let the excitement of getting on a plane to Barcelona be paramount in my life.

Going forward I will be doing these monthly. I will not try to do them. I will do them. Another lesson learned. Declarative statements are best when setting goals. I think I will also add a twice yearly review, that should be easy if I have the monthlies already done. I am going to be my best accountability partner and I will share my goals with my accountability partner, KC Voltron so she can best assist me on the things I aim to accomplish.

Me & KC Voltron when she visited me in SD

What about you? Are you goal setting? Do you have a system in place to check that you accomplishing your goals? I challenge you to a review for a month or two and see how the results make you feel and how if it will help you in your reaching your goals.

Lady Littlefoot

31 Day Reset - Day 31: Create a Vision Board

I made it, I made it. Woohoo! I ran the 31 Day Reset race, and though there were fits and starts, I finished the course. I am super de dooper excited about the discoveries I've made along the way about myself. Some were jaw dropping surprises, like wanting to touch a glacier and for my higher education pursuits to be heavily focused on science. The capstone of the reset was creating a Vision Board as a reminder of all your dreams and goals. You could go old school and build something out of a poster board with images cut out from magazines or drawn, or you could chose the electronic route. My life is one of constant movement and will be so for the likely future so I chose the online option.

Earlier in the year after I left San Diego and was twiddling my thumbs, I saw a You Tube video from the Passionista Abiola Abrams on creating a vision board. So I did. I used My Next Chapter Story Board from Oprah.com. It wasn't bad but it was definitely lacking. It was sparse and I wasn't connected to it. I used some of the images available from the site and they really didn't resonate with me. And it was just plain difficult to do as I tried to figure out what I wanted on the board.

Original Vision Board

After all of the exercises I did during the 31 Day Reset it was much easier to do the vision board. I just opened my reset journal to my Reset 10 (which was fleshed out in Values in Action and Life Map). Whenever the site didn't have a image that represented what I wanted I went to Pinterest (I have several boards or varying interests) and then to Google to collect the images I loved best.

For a refresher here is my Reset 10:
1. travel & adventure                    6. learning/education
2. love & marriage                        7. helping others/being of service
3. children                                    8. integrity & leadership
4. economic security                     9. stewardship of the earth
5. faith                                        10. healthful living

See if you can pick out the pictures that represent or allude to each item.

Vision Board Redux

If you have never done a vision board (also known as a dream board) perhaps it's time to examine where your life is and whether your internal vision matches the external reality. If it doesn't then it's time to reset your life and envision the future you want. Let me know how it goes.

Lady Littlefoot

31 Day Reset - Day 30: Write Your Own Eulogy

I know, I know why in Sam Hill do you go from happy future looking and dreaming to this piece of morbidity. For that have to turn to the Happy Black Woman for an answer. In her instructions for Day 30 she tells us that the eulogy is a speech someone gives about you at your death. For our purposes this eulogy will be a clear picture on how you want your life to look to others.  For an in depth look at how to write your eulogy check out the Art of Manliness, as Rosetta recommends (she acknowledges that it's an odd choice, but hey it's a good resource). They get really detailed. From your geographic history to education, family and relationships, hobbies and interests and the qualities and characteristics that set you apart as well at things people will miss about you.

As I wrote out my eulogy I was able to clarify some things. Or rather some things became clear to me. I approached this assignment with some trepidation but it was one of the best for me. I started writing and my hands starting hurting from how fast I was trying to get every thing written down. I am not quiet finished with it, I'd like to refine it some more and add some areas to it. All in all, if you haven't ever thought about what you want your life to look like and what your legacy will be, this exercise will help you get there.

Littlefoot's Eulogy

Today we gather to celebrate the life of Lady Littlefoot (obviously this is not my real name), known by many others names, daughter, sister, mother, aunt, friend, sister-friend, Marine, teacher and so much more. For these many roles she was called many things, her favorite being Littlefoot, from her time in the Marines when her boots were a source of hilarity for her fellow Devil Dogs. Littlefoot was born in the northern highlands of South America, in a little country called Guyana. She grew up in a small town on the river, where the susurrus of wind in the trees and the echos of the waves on the sands played a soothing lullaby.

*skip a few paragraphs*

Littlefoot and her husband hosted dinner parties when they were home, having lively discussions on the issues of the day over great food and drinks. They took joy in presenting a well balanced and beautiful meal always with a little surprise for the diners. Littlefoot was a forthright woman and if you asked her opinion and/or advice you got it straight, no chaser. People valued her honest and integrity, and when she went to be with the Lord she took many secrets with her. She was a great friend and confident; a listening ear when needed, a consoler in times of sorrow and the best kick in the pants giver when needed.

I'll leave you with these two paragraphs from my self written eulogy, as it is rather long and a little bit all over the place. It is definitely something that I will work on being more cohesive and giving a better flow. There is so many areas I need to elucidate and or expand on that the eulogy in it's entirety will roam all over.

I hope it gives you a glimpse of what I want my life to look like and how I would want to be remembered.

Littlefoot.

31 Day Reset - Day 29: Make a Bucket List

Yippee, something fun to do! (Besides ogling the men swimming and tumbling in the XXX Olympiads)

The title is explanation enough. Make a list of all the things you ever want to do before you die. I thought, how easy is that. This will be done in no time flat. I did not expect to be surprised by my list, but at number 5 I was dumbfounded, because anyone who know me know I hate the cold. As a child of the tropics, I prefer a temperate to warm environment that does not require me to be wrapped up like an Eskimo.

Get an advanced degree (in science - kinda saw this one coming over the last few months)
Get married - no surprise there
Have a few kids, at least a boy & girl - again no surprise
Visit 6 of 7 continents. - Hello have we met?
Touch a glacier - Fall out of my chair surprised at this one!
Swim with sea creatures, dolphins/sharks (I don't like open water & depths I can't touch)
Ride a camel with a Bedouin
Learn another language or two, Spanish & French, maybe Arabic
Learn to swim or rather overcome my fear of the deep
Learn to ride a bike (there is a story behind this deficiency)
Run a triathlon (hence the need for swimming & biking)
Run a marathon
See the northern lights
See the southern lights
Take a round the world trip (preferably with my hubby or w/ hubby & kids)
Own a boat or at least live on one for a little while (where do I come up with this stuff?)
Rock climb (I'm not fond of heights)
Sky dive (hello heights again)
My long shot - see the earth from space
Publish a work of science (climate change, sustainability, environmental science etc.)

Have you made a list like this and surprised yourself? What did you discover about yourself while making the list? For me there were plenty of surprises and I discovered that there are hidden dreams lurking in the depths of my heart. And that alone was worth this whole month long journey!

Thank you Rosetta!

Lady Littlefoot

31 Day Reset - Day 28: Let Go of the Past

Like most of you I am caught up in Olympic Fever so I've neglected the blogging somewhat. However, I made sure to complete my 31 Day Reset Tasks (for the most part). Let Day 28 you were instructed to "Let Go of the Past" with a fairly simple exercise. I say fairly simple because I haven't done the exercise as described. There were 3 steps (simplicity personified).

First, make a list of all the things you have been holding onto, failed relationships, bad experiences, arguments with friends & family, situations you regret etc., etc. Second step was to find a way to achieve closure; pray on it, say a mantra, light a candle and meditate, what ever you can apply to the even that will remove the painful/negative impact. Step three rip the pages from your journal or print them out for the high tech folks and burn them. Yes, take them outside, in the back yard, the park, the balcony and have a little bonfire and burn, burn, burn the it all. As the smokes rises let it all go and reset yourself. Begin anew.

I've described this exercise clearly yet I didn't do it. Why you ask? I'm not sure. Part of the list making was to set on a time frame. 1 year or 30, however long you need to let go of stuff. I've gone through some things in my life and, in a effort to live a more present and forward reaching life I've had to learn to forgive when I'd rather commit murder. Sometimes, the forgiveness had to take place in a vacuum, where the person could not be confronted and made to acknowledge the wrong they did. I am a person that tends to hold onto things, specifically hurts and slights so letting go and forgiving is something that I am constantly doing. I've learned that forgiveness, is on going. When I least expect it an incident that I thought long forgotten and forgiven will be triggered by a present occurrence and I will be taken aback. Over the years, I've learned to acknowledge the hurt and pain and other negative emotions cause by the past incident, because we must acknowledge our hurts then speak forgiveness to the person/persons, and for me I pray as well. I ask God to continue to teach me to forgive and cover the person(s) wherever they are with is love. This works for me.

As I write this I am contemplating, this exercise. I know I will do it. The time frame I am still working on. I think I am a bit afraid to open Pandora's box and find something there that I haven't acknowledge. But we have nothing to fear but fear itself. So I will take a few days and then revisit this exercise. The beautiful thing is I have my Reset notebook and this blog to remind me to address the scary monster in the closet.

Lady Littlefoot