I live in a small city that boasts low cost of living, excellent schools, safety, short commutes, growing downtown, and numerous jobs.
And yet, I find so many people who "hate" Iowa, would never live there, or hate that they do live here. I understand that those things that I listed are not necessarily the priorities of all people. But for many, they are exactly, so why don't people LOVE Iowa!? I do!
The number one reason people hate Iowa is because they don't have any idea what Iowa actually is. I've lived in 3 cities of Iowa. The smallest was 59,000 residents. That's pretty small, but not definitely doesn't add up to small town living as many see it. The others were 100,000 and 127,000 residents, and have larger "metro areas." I've never lived on a farm, although similar to many other Midwestern states, there is a lot of farmland. Small town life is fine too of course, but even as an Iowan, I've never lived the small town life that many people assume. Even when I went to school in Milwaukee, which is in Wisconsin (that touches Iowa, in case you didn't know, and I think has more small towns and just as many farms) people assumed that I rode a tractor to school and wouldn't know anything about "big city living" in Milwaukee. Yikes.
We've made a great life for ourselves in Iowa. We enjoy Farmer's Markets and other outdoor festivals. We enjoy biking, running, and walking around parks, trails and neighborhoods. We enjoy road trips to nearby towns and cities when we want to visit friends or just experience something new. We enjoy local restaurants and trying local food. We've gotten into the local craft beer scene, which takes us to local breweries and festivals. We've enjoyed local theater productions and concerts of both big and local bands. We've played on volleyball (indoor and outdoor), soccer, softball, and other leagues. We've gotten involved with the occasional service project with housing, local schools, and other opportunities. We've loved meeting new friends and having cookouts, game nights, dinners out, and other fun nights. All of these things are affordable, fun, close to home, safe, and part of why I love to call Iowa home.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
A Quote
Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day.
Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course?
Each of us has such a bank. It's name is TIME.
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against "tomorrow."
You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!
The clock is running!! Make the most of today.
Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course?
Each of us has such a bank. It's name is TIME.
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against "tomorrow."
You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!
The clock is running!! Make the most of today.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
I've touched on this subject before, but here I go again.
There was a day in the last year or two, where my husband and I had a conversation about friendships. We've gone through frustrations of "why do we have to always be the ones to visit" or "why do we always have to plan things" or "we seem to be the only ones that care about this." But I think we made those comments because we thought maybe we should feel that way, but the truth is, we don't mind. So we were having a conversation about some of our friendships and we made an active decision during that conversation.
No matter how inconvenient it seems, no matter how "one-sided" it appears, it is our job to reach out, to make plans, to visit, and not necessarily expect anything in return. Now, there are some people that we will never be good friends with, and that's fine, we won't push it. But, we have a good sense about who is worth maintaining friendships with. And we have agreed that we will continue to make this effort. Our relationships are the most important things in our lives. Now, sometimes you have to pick which ones are more important.
For the last couple of years, we have made a pretty big effort to make sure we are able to create friendships within CR, our new home, so that we can make it a good place for us to live. That has definitely meant not traveling to see other friends as much, and, frankly, we only have so much time in our lives. However, we continue to strike a pretty good balance of making sure we spend time with friends at home, further away, and of course, our family. That's not the easiest thing in the world either, because although not far, our family is a little spread out. I also recognize that this way of doing things doesn't work for everyone. My husband and I have made an active decision on this, and it works for us, because it is in both of our strengths set to maintain relationships and be givers of our time and energy. We are also both extroverts, getting our energy from others, and so although it can still be tiring to travel or host people, we thrive on it. That is not how everyone functions! For us, it works out well, and we can share our love, and get our own energy from operating this way. This is how we stay balanced and happy in our lives.
There was a day in the last year or two, where my husband and I had a conversation about friendships. We've gone through frustrations of "why do we have to always be the ones to visit" or "why do we always have to plan things" or "we seem to be the only ones that care about this." But I think we made those comments because we thought maybe we should feel that way, but the truth is, we don't mind. So we were having a conversation about some of our friendships and we made an active decision during that conversation.
No matter how inconvenient it seems, no matter how "one-sided" it appears, it is our job to reach out, to make plans, to visit, and not necessarily expect anything in return. Now, there are some people that we will never be good friends with, and that's fine, we won't push it. But, we have a good sense about who is worth maintaining friendships with. And we have agreed that we will continue to make this effort. Our relationships are the most important things in our lives. Now, sometimes you have to pick which ones are more important.
For the last couple of years, we have made a pretty big effort to make sure we are able to create friendships within CR, our new home, so that we can make it a good place for us to live. That has definitely meant not traveling to see other friends as much, and, frankly, we only have so much time in our lives. However, we continue to strike a pretty good balance of making sure we spend time with friends at home, further away, and of course, our family. That's not the easiest thing in the world either, because although not far, our family is a little spread out. I also recognize that this way of doing things doesn't work for everyone. My husband and I have made an active decision on this, and it works for us, because it is in both of our strengths set to maintain relationships and be givers of our time and energy. We are also both extroverts, getting our energy from others, and so although it can still be tiring to travel or host people, we thrive on it. That is not how everyone functions! For us, it works out well, and we can share our love, and get our own energy from operating this way. This is how we stay balanced and happy in our lives.
Starbucks
I find an odd amount of joy by going to Starbucks. I mean, yes, they do provide me my daily dose of caffeine, which is totally necessary. But beyond that, there is always something I find to make me smile.
First of all, kudos to the baristas. I don't think I've ever had an unpleasant barista. They really have the customer service thing down! And really, I interact with the barista for less than one minute probably total. Take order, take money, have a nice day. And even with that they always seem to make me smile.
I have also heard that Starbucks is an excellent place to work. They give benefits to even their part time employees, good pay, etc. Starbucks is my backup plan. I have thought, for many years already, that some day I need to work at a Starbucks. I need to be a part of what gives me so much happiness, and see why the baristas are always so happy! Do they really like their jobs so much? And if so, I'm in! But seriously, whether its a part time job while the kids are at school, or a retirement gig when I'm old, jobless when we relocate for Chris's job? I'm going straight to the nearest Starbucks. Do you think I'm qualified? My last retail/customer service job was at Panera in high school... but I have a master's degree, and I know my lattes, so I think I can cut it as a barista.
Oh yeah, Starbucks is also a sponsor of really great humanitarian efforts, creating jobs in America, building greener stores, and free trade coffee. Too bad their coffee is so expensive. Unfortunately, it is also superb. I guess that's pretty good business.
My favorite Starbucks experience? Oh wait, I have two. See? I told you I loved this place. First one: Going to the first Starbucks in Seattle. Now those have got to be the superior baristas. The place is always packed with tourists of course, so there was a greeter who told you which line to go in, the person that took your order and the person that gave you your coffee. They had it down to an art, and in those 45 seconds, still managed to ask you where you are from, etc. What an interesting place to work! I bet you would meet so many interesting people. My second favorite Starbucks experience is when someone in front of me paid for my drink. I've done this before, especially around Christmas time, but man did it make my day when it was done for me. What a wonderful tradition that Starbucks has encouraged, random acts of kindness. Nothing better than giving back a little hope for an overall rundown society.
Genius: http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information/mission-statement
First of all, kudos to the baristas. I don't think I've ever had an unpleasant barista. They really have the customer service thing down! And really, I interact with the barista for less than one minute probably total. Take order, take money, have a nice day. And even with that they always seem to make me smile.
I have also heard that Starbucks is an excellent place to work. They give benefits to even their part time employees, good pay, etc. Starbucks is my backup plan. I have thought, for many years already, that some day I need to work at a Starbucks. I need to be a part of what gives me so much happiness, and see why the baristas are always so happy! Do they really like their jobs so much? And if so, I'm in! But seriously, whether its a part time job while the kids are at school, or a retirement gig when I'm old, jobless when we relocate for Chris's job? I'm going straight to the nearest Starbucks. Do you think I'm qualified? My last retail/customer service job was at Panera in high school... but I have a master's degree, and I know my lattes, so I think I can cut it as a barista.
Oh yeah, Starbucks is also a sponsor of really great humanitarian efforts, creating jobs in America, building greener stores, and free trade coffee. Too bad their coffee is so expensive. Unfortunately, it is also superb. I guess that's pretty good business.
My favorite Starbucks experience? Oh wait, I have two. See? I told you I loved this place. First one: Going to the first Starbucks in Seattle. Now those have got to be the superior baristas. The place is always packed with tourists of course, so there was a greeter who told you which line to go in, the person that took your order and the person that gave you your coffee. They had it down to an art, and in those 45 seconds, still managed to ask you where you are from, etc. What an interesting place to work! I bet you would meet so many interesting people. My second favorite Starbucks experience is when someone in front of me paid for my drink. I've done this before, especially around Christmas time, but man did it make my day when it was done for me. What a wonderful tradition that Starbucks has encouraged, random acts of kindness. Nothing better than giving back a little hope for an overall rundown society.
Genius: http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information/mission-statement
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