Happy RIGHT HERE

Today we have beautiful company. Steve's two lovely daughters and their gorgeous children are visiting. I know, over the top adjectives... but seriously these people are beautiful. They are also active and smart and vocal, and it's a real houseful. I am a fan of a houseful, and this is tons of fun, but it doesn't make me feel the need to have more kids or add more noise or activity to my life. This is the best of both worlds, we get to see the kids, hold the babies and the responsibility goes home when they do.
It's true what they say, grandchildren rock.
I am so lucky to get to share in this family time with these awesome kids.
How often can you truly look around and just be OK?
It was worth noting.

Dude looks like a lady

My little sister, and I use the term loosely (she towers over me), is obsessed with the idea that as we age, we begin to look more like men.

She calls it "Lady looks like a dude." She has always, always, ALWAYS been the funny one.

I love her so much, and as we have grown older, in spite of our childhood competition and various spats, she remains now and always the person with whom I will grow old. We call it "Blue hair and shoes."

She used to work at a shoe store and she would delight in these little old ladies with blue rinsed hair shopping together. So we made a pact that that would be us. Men shmen, there would always be each other, blue hair and shoes.

Anyway, yesterday I sent her this email of all these sayings about how your friends grow more special and women need each other as we grow older. All true of course. But what does my sweet little sister write back? "The one in the middle toward the bottom LOOKS LIKE A DUDE."

I'm sitting a thousand miles away from her right now literally laughing out loud.

I love you Renee.

AND, I absolutely refuse to look like a dude. With all the science and hormones and advances, I will find a way to continue to be a Little Old LADY.

Got Property? Got Friends? Please Read...

Hey folks, I continue to have people looking for property that does not match the current listed inventory. So I'm writing here and in some other nontraditional places to put it out there, that I have clients in the market for retail, office, and light industrial properties (buildings and land). If you have any or know of anyone in Thurston County who may want to sell, but hasn't listed, please have them give me a call at 360-480-7917 or drop me an email at lisacosmillo@gmail.com and let me know. I would be happy to tell them a fair opinion of value, and if I can sell their property, I'll do that too.

Eat, Pray, Worry????

I'm reading Elizabeth Gilbert's book, "Eat, Pray, Love," one word. WOW.

I don't usually go down the path of nonfiction outside newspapers and magazines, so this is outside my comfort zone a bit. But this book is such a nice read.

Not only am I enjoying the writing, but I'm finding that it makes me feel like I'm not alone. This woman's experience is easy to connect with. I want to go to Italy and eat my way through 4 months. I'm not a good traveller either, but I still love it. I love yoga and I too suffer from depression.

Ironically, she has given me so much to contemplate and some real tools that can help with my constant search for peace and grace. She struggles with silence and meditation as much as I do, and she kicks its butt... so maybe I can.

At one point in her book, Ms. Gilbert personified depression and loneliness. It was such a good description of how they kind of take you over, that I put the book down and thought about how anxiety works its way into my life. It's like those cartoon monsters huge and dark on the wall of your bedroom at night... but if you look really close there's a little tiny two-inch monster standing in front of the light making the shadow.

So I decided to picture this little fella in my mind and invite him to jump up on the bed and talk to me. When I finally got ahold of him, he was wily, strong and muscular. So, I grabbed him, held him down, hugged him and cuddled him close. I calmed him with my voice and told him, he didn't have to go around scaring me anymore. He was just a little guy, and we could try to be friends.

He's still creeping around and jumping out at me, but now when I see a glimpse of him, or he wakes me up in the middle of the night, I try to calm him down and tell him to settle in, I'm not going anywhere, and everything is going to be alright. Afterall, I'm almost 50, and I haven't starved yet, my kids are doing ok, and I have a roof over my head.

And he's just a little guy --Really.