Thanksgiving and Black Friday Aftermath

Another holiday has pasted.  Our stomachs are overstuffed.  Our fridges are loaded with leftovers.  Our wallets feel a little loose.  And some of us have secret purchases hidden somewhere in our homes.
After Thanksgiving dinner I brought home enough leftovers to feed me for a week, at least.  Vegetarian Shepard's Pie, Fried Pierogies, Stuffed Mushrooms, Green bean Casserole, and Brown bag Apple Pie.  If I were to eat all of this alone, I'm sure I would start the holiday weight gain, but that is not going to happen this year.  Being the controlling type A personality that I am, I have frozen most of it and have planned meals so that I won't find myself entering a food comma every night.  A delicious food comma it might be, but food commas are not healthy.  I am trying really hard to enjoy a healthy(ish) holiday.  This is not the best time of year for healthy(ish).  To those of you trying like I am, I wish you good luck.
For the last few Black Fridays, I have purchased gifts for family and friends, in addition to getting necessary things for myself.  This year however, due to financial strain, I did not purchase gifts.  I instead got the neutral bras I needed from Victoria's Secret and tea candles from Yankee Candle, small treats for myself this holiday season.  From what I noticed, the Walmart parking lot was full, as well as most of the other shopping centers.  It was nice to see that people were still going all out this time of year, buying gifts and thinking of others.
So now that we are done with Thanksgiving, it is time for prepping for Christmas.  Though honestly, I prefer saying X-mas.  I've got a box of lights to hang to spruce things up and the gifts I am making this year have been prepped.  I am really looking forward to what I am going to be making.  It will be meaningful, simple, and delicious.  
So let the holiday music begin! Can everyone make special requests for Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong?! They are who I enjoy listening to this time of year.

The Beginning of the Holiday Season

It's that time again... Time for lavish homemade dinners. Time for decorating our homes. Time for bringing our families together. Time for crazy shopping excursions. Time to amp up the stress level in our lives and surround it with sparkly lights.
The holidays have always been a game of Russian Rullet for me.  I love planning the meals and subtly decorating my home.  Decorative candles are my favorite tool.  Robust scents and glittery flickering lights  set the tone for my holidays.  I have never been a religious person so I keep away from the angels, crosses, and other religious connotations.  The risk for me lies with my family.  I know I'm not the only one who thinks this.  Every year we begin with making plans in a pleasant and cooperative mood, but the issue is when we get to the dinner and we start talking.  Everyone has their family dramas.  I have spent the last few years of my life becoming the person who is always upfront and honest.  If I have an issue with something, I say it.  I don't bury it deep inside and let it fester.  Of course there are times where discretion is mandatory and I acknowledge that.  I look at the family holiday dinners as a truse time.  No one has to surrender anything, just sit together and joke about the good times.  Essentially remember why we are family.  But I know that certain members of my family don't think that way.  So whether or not my holidays are like those Hallmark commercials or a hellacious screaming match is determined by who is or is not willing to play nice.
So this morning I began my holiday season by baking a family staple, the brown bag apple pie.  The carving of the apples and sprinkling of sugar, flour, and cinnamon is mesmerizing for me.  Now my apartment smells like a warm homemade apple pie.  Let the festivities begin!
To everyone, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.  And good luck with your family encounters.

Everyone Needs A Little Routine

They say practice makes perfect, but what they don't say is that half the battle is the desire to practice.  If you are like me, you enjoy creating routines, you need to practice something.  However, sometimes you just want to stay in bed, you want to watch the next episode of that TV show, you want to sit and do nothing.  But once you get a taste of doing nothing, it can be hard to get back up and get back into the routines, to start practicing again.
Lately, getting back into my practice has been the hardest thing I am trying to do, even harder than getting a second job.  My practices include yoga, running, training my two silly dogs, and studying Italian.  I am a workaholic, so in order for me to avoid my practices, I work.  I choose to accept this because I love my job.  I believe that all the work I do for my job contributes to a great cause, educating others.  So being the logic based person that I am, I argue that if I am doing good for others, then I am doing good for myself.  But here's the thing, you have to have a balance of what you do for others and what you do for yourself.  You have to take care of yourself.  You have to invest time in yourself so that you can be at your best if you choose to help others.
So what is the point of this post you might ask?
Honestly, part of it is to guilt trip myself into getting myself back into my 5am run.  Another part is to try and put out a little inspiration for others.  Truth be told, it's hard as hell to get our acts together.  Why put in all the effort when you can just do nothing... it's so much easier, don't you think?  But then we would be rather dull, and fat, and boring.  People like that are sad and a bit pathetic.  Do you want to be like that?  I sure as hell don't.  I'm not going to give a Carpe Diem speech, because those annoy me.  Yes they can be inspirational, but we need to be better than that.  Make up your own mind.  Make your own choice.  What do you want to do?
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Don't you think it's time you started doing it?

Beginning To Feel Like Fall

It is finally coming to my favorite time of year.  We are reaching the end of summer, beginning of fall, which means chilly mornings, warm days, and cool evenings.  It would be so much nicer if I had patio furniture so that I could enjoy the cool breezes while drinking ice tea and reading my newest novel choice, or studying Italian, which is probably more likely right now.  Since I am in the south, this is also the time for high school football.  I am an alumni of Station Camp High School, but I have a feeling going to Hendersonville High School games will be much more entertaining.
I have a feeling it is going to be another beautiful day, so to everyone, I request that you all enjoy the fresh air.  Take the time to go for a walk, maybe even a run.  Find a patio and drink something cold with a friend or group of friends while discussing old times, new things, fun ideas, or make plans for even more people.  Or if you are like me and just want to enjoy the sounds of nature and solitude, grab a book and find a bench at a park and people watch while you immerse yourself in a story.
Carpe Diem.

Getting It Together

So now that the family stuff is under raps and I have got my thoughts in order, it is time to get things done.  I finished working on my resume today and now I am looking at a massive pile of magazines and printed pages with reference to articles that I would really like to reread and write about.  May the excitement and anticipation of things to come begin...

Bloomberg Business Week

"The Future Retail Wasteland" - Brad Stone and David Welch, with Jim Aley

We all saw it coming.  As the Internet made our now everyday products available online via Amazon and Ebay, the once popular mega stores, like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy, began their decent to the retail wasteland.  

This essay uses the rise and fall of previous chief executive officer Brian Dunn's career with Best Buy to illustrate the inevitable change in sales for the company.  What was once the key selling point for Best Buy, as Dunn enthusiastically explains, has now become it's central reason for decline: choice.  "Shoppers are finding more choices online - primarily at Amazon.com - where they can often find a better deal. At the same time choice has narrowed in product categories such as HDTV's and PCs.  There's hardly a reason anymore to line up various models in a showroom."  We all remember the days when we would physically have to go to these mega stores in order to compare the differences in products due to the variety that was available.  We also remember the issues that came with going to these stores, essentially that the sales clerks never knew the facts about the products, and that the whole ritual of buying was more like a game of Russian roulette.  Now however, in our tech savy society,  the standards of products have gone to whatever is up to date and mainstream, thus making them essential.  Instead of having to peruse through stores, we can view our desired products online in the comfort of our homes.  Instead of having to deal with unknowledgable sales clerks, now we can find all the information we need on product pages, which are conveniently accompanied by personal comments and ratings from other buyers so the risk of a bad purchase on our part is almost obsolete.  And then, if we would still prefer to purchase at a store instead of online, popular brands like Apple and HP have opened their own smaller stores focusing only on their products, thus giving us a reliable location to go to for purchase, instruction,  and repair if need be.

So what are these once mega stores doing to compensate for the market changes?  In order to compete, these stores have opened up to the online market and are now working to downgrade their physical stores to focus on whatever is keeping that particular retailer afloat. Walmart, for example, has been closing several of it's once heralded mega stores and traded them for smaller stores focusing mainly on grocery products.  

Our choices have lead to the fall of these retailers.  If we continue on our current heading, will these stores eventually become ghosts in our towns?  Or is it possible that we will leave the digital market and see the resurrection of these previous icons?  Honestly I don't see the latter happening.  As much as I might dislike it, we are on our way to becoming a digital world.  If these stores plan on surviving, they need to adapt quickly and try to get ahead of the market, or I am sure they will become only entries in our digital archives.