Pam's Chart and Virgo Horoscope

Just for fun I thought I would post my chart so you can see why I am the way I am. Have fun trying to figure me out!

And here is the Virgo horoscope via Astrology.com

You like your routines, but every now and then you like to shake things up, too.
Right now, you'd rather try something new than stick to the tried and true, so
think laterally and come up with something sweet!

Hmmm....hopefully tomorrow's is better.

Cheers!
P.Hobbs

Thursday Thoughts

Pic of NW 23rd via Portland Ground

1. Why is it so damn hot in Portland today and why don’t apartments in Portland come with AC?
2. Money, Money, Money. Steve Pavlina is so inspiring.
3. Book Club. We are officially starting book club next week. We have to come up with a snazzy name so if you have a good one please share. The book we are reading is Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss. I will be re-reading it tonight!
4. LA. I am starting to look forward to it. After talking to Dana last night while she was falling asleep, I realized that I need to shift my focus to the people I adore down there.
5. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOLO. You are so incredibly loved you have no idea.
6. Sydney’s Café in Portland is absolutely AMAZING. Not only do they have a Vegan friendly menu, their espresso is to die for. Tim and the rest of the staff are really amazing. Thank you for an uplifting experience.
7. Shopping. My friend Lyndsey and I went shopping on NW 23rd and heard this spoiled 20 something year old call her mom an ass…and was completely serious. Karma is a bitch and I hope it hits her hard.
8. Jewelry. I am designing some new jewelry. I hope to build an esty shop soon.
9. Twitter is crack. Follow me! If you have not signed up, you should! Its loads of fun and you can text in updates. Brilliant.
10. My mom. Thank you for being you!

What is on your mind right now??

Cheers!
P.Hobbs

If I had all the time and money in the world....

Stock Photo

I had this work meeting yesterday and we played a fun ice breaker. We were given five personal questions to answer on a piece of paper and the group had to guess which person said what. Well, one of the questions was if you had all the money and time in the world, what would you do? I answered: I would travel the world (with my bf who has never stepped foot on non-US soil...absurd I know!), take pictures and blog about my experiences.

Thinking about it after the fact, I would add one more thing. I would volunteer while I traveled around the world and write about that too. Plus, I would love to see Nick experience the joy of helping people less fortunate than he. Nick has such a big heart but has never had the opportunity or taken the time to reach out to the needy. I think it would be life changing for him.

Ever since I was little, I have been blessed with traveling abroad. Having your passport is something that is completely normal to me, and if you don't have one, it just baffles me. My mom is from Singapore and is one of 11! All but 3 of her siblings live in Singapore. I have cousins in England, Australia, and Japan. That isn't even counting the 2nd cousins. We have a family that stretches across the globe.

Being able to travel to countries and see how other people live has really opened my eyes to how awesome I have it here in the US. It also opened my eyes to other cultures and I learned to be respectful of the cultural differences we share. I learned so much at a young age that growing into adulthood and not being able to travel and have the same experiences due to financial constraints pisses me off!

Hence, my answer to the ice breaker question. I would love to document the journey and share my experiences with people who don’t have the financial means to travel and experience life outside our 50 states. There is so much for us to learn from each other. In a time when we seem to be at war because of our religious and cultural differences, I think it’s important to take notice that behind all the bloodshed, we are all people who struggle through life. If everyone just reached out a hand and helped someone in need for the sake of helping, think about the world we would live in.

Anyway...those are my thoughts for the day. What would you do if you had all the time and money in the world?

Cheers!
P.Hobbs

Happiness

Pic via Donna Cymek

Going through your quarter life and navigate through it with a smile on your face can be difficult at times. While I was reading my favorite blogs today, I ran across this post at The Change Blog.

Advice on how to be happy used to be the purview of self-help
gurus. However, over the past few years scientists and psychologists have begun
to give serious study to the subject of happiness. Although they’ve discovered
that about 50% of happiness is determined by a person’s genes, and another 8 to
10% by life’s circumstances–such as income, health, and marital status–, the
remaining 40% is up for grabs. In addition, scientists have found several ways
to create true happiness, six of which are explained below.

1. Find Meaning
2. Increase Daily Pleasures
3. Seek Flow Experiences
4. Cultivate a state of mind that conducive to happiness
5. Practice Acts of Kindness
6. Stop thinking “if only…”

Check out the blog for details. A little extra happiness in your life won’t hurt you!

Cheers!

P.Hobbs

Quick and Dirty Breakdown

Posting this video simply because I love this song.

I had a quick and dirty metal/emotional breakdown last night. I learned one of the most important life lessons one can learn. What’s funny is that I thought I had already learned this lesson, but apparently I got back in the same bad habit. The universe had to hit me in the face with this lesson. My swollen, puffy eyes were proof this morning.

If you can learn one important lesson during your short stay here on earth, it is to put yourself first. Sounds so easy, right? NOT!

Here is where it all went wrong for me....I thought I had to work 12 hour days to be a good store manager. At the end of the day, I have no energy to go to the gym. I also find myself wanting to take care of people and end up in one way toxic relationships. I have MASSIVE anxiety about my upcoming trip to LA. My crappy body image even showed its ugly face last night. Where does this all stem from? Not putting myself first.

If I put myself first, I would work 8 hour days like normal retail employees. Then I would have enough energy to get my butt to the gym and have the best work out of my life. If I did that on a daily basis, my guess is I would feel a lot better about myself than I did last night. If I worked out my body image would get better, and then I wouldn’t have so much anxiety about walking around all the beautiful people in LA. If I put myself first, I would know when to get out of a toxic relationship instead of staying in the relationship to feel “needed.” I need myself, damnit.

This 30 minute breakdown took 2 weeks to manifest. I didn’t really see it coming. I blamed it all on hormones. My mom always said not to blame your emotions on PMS. There is always something underneath; the PMS just magnifies your emotional state regarding said issue.

Let’s see if I can keep this one going. I will let you know how it goes.

To do:
Monday. Check.
Tuesday. Get there when I wake up at 615.

Cheers.
P.Hobbs

Virgo Horoscope

Pic taken from Horoscoper

According to Astrology.com's, this is today's Virgo horoscope:

You may feel a deep and abiding curiosity for a new topic or person, so dig inand see what you find! It's a good time for you to lay aside old issues or projects temporarily and tackle something big.

What would be considered “big?” I HATE it when horoscopes are so vague (i know, i know...they are always vague)!! Well, I did meet up with my friend Nona and we decided to have a book club before she moves to D.C to chat about a book on past life regressions. Would that be considered tackling something big?

P.Hobbs

Insecurities

Pic of Portland Coffee Cake taken by Brook Rademacher

Why am I feeling so darn insecure today??

Maybe it has to do with the fact that Nick and I are traveling to LA for my birthday in a few weeks. Sigh. Birthdays. I love celebrating birthdays, just not my own.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I am turning 26 and I am not a millionaire yet. One of the many affirmations that I put on my wall in Sherman Oaks was “I will be a millionaire by the time I am thirty.” I still have not figured out how to reach the goal. Any ideas???

MAYBE…it’s the fact that 2 months ago I swore to myself that I would lose 15 pounds before we traveled to LA and I then I gained 6 pounds. Killer Combo = stress + Starbucks Portland Coffee Cake. BAH.

Maybe it’s just the fact that I am traveling back to LA. I never felt like I fit in down there. I always felt like kids looked down on me because I didn’t wear $300 jeans and designer gear. I never felt skinny enough or pretty enough. I know I know…who cares.

MAYBE it’s the PMS talking and I will wake up tomorrow and the bloating will go away and I will feel like I am queen of the world again.

Yeah. I’m going to go with the last one. I am blaming it on the hormones.

Self Love to the Highest Power

Pic by Seahorse Photography

There are times when you meet someone and you swear you have known that person your whole life. That's how I feel about my friend Dana. I know for a fact (no past life regression needed) that we have shared many of our past lives together. Since the moment we met each other, we have had a pretty strong bond. She is one of my soul sisters. This is her email to me about one of her recent "ah-ha" moments. She allowed me to share it with you...

Like most kids, I had a rock collection growing up... I found them everywhere and some I polished myself with my very own rock polisher! There were beautiful ones- shiny, colorful, exotic... ones that you never want to lose or forget. There are the average filler rocks that usually get tossed and replaced every so often... and then there are some really jagged, spotted, cracked rocks that are so intriguing because of the dirt, the grit, the drama.

I got to thinking that the process a rock goes thru is not too different from life actually… As a rock, you spend most of your time getting caught up by the elements. I've spent most of my life like many others in a frenzy of ego, confusion, emotion and passion. But each time, another chance comes along to smooth out the rough edges once again and hopefully take the next round a bit more gracefully.

“To live is to be aware. Serenely, divinely, completely aware.”

I have come to truly believe that each and everyone of us are radiant, brilliant, perfect. I guess somewhere along the way, we forget. We become conditioned to thinking that we have to swim upstream and suffer in order to get what we want and thus be happy. How twisted we have it.... We create something that isn't there... drama, chaos, confusion, fear. All of which are nothing other than a lack of love. The ego would have me believe that surrendering to something higher than myself means giving up, admitting that I don't have all the answers and control. Time and love have only reminded me that that surrender is the biggest indicator of strength there is. You can't fully experience life and love til you surrender, because only then are you fully open to the divinity that flows thru your veins.

That divinity, call it Jesus, Buddha, Angels or Shiva has given me the most beautiful miracles in the form of my friends. I was recently reminded of just how blessed I am when my soul sister, Pamela, served me up a big ol slice of humble pie. It's funny how the deepest expressions of love come to you sometimes. In this case with was a amazing friend offering a nugget of honesty with no tinges of judgment but only love and support. These are the a-ha moments that I have learned to just get in, hang on, shut up and listen to. Like rare gems, you don’t want to let go of a great friend’s word.

So now I humbly ask am I focusing on the circumstances of my life instead of the lessons? The answer- the circumstances are the tools. Be involved in them. Feel the pain of loss and the elation of victory. Let compassion work its way into my soul. I vow to ride the wave and thus I pray for my desire and priority is inner peace. I want the experience of love. I don't know what will bring that to me, so I give the details up to someone who knows better…

As I think about my rock collection as an adult, I realize there only ever was beautiful rocks... some of them just needed a little more polishing.

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear of falling down or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom goes on as fruit.
~Dawn Markova


Self Love to the highest power.

Cheers.
P.Hobbs

Christian the Lion

My friend Lolo sent me this YouTube link last night and I just about died. It has to be the sweetest video ever. If you are feeling a little down, let this warm your heart. If you are already feeling fabulous…this might put you over the edge. Beware.

Cheers!
P.Hobbs

Finding Serenity

Pic taken by Today is a Good day

Nick and I look forward to watching Intervention every Monday. As weird as it sounds, it helps us in our recovery. It’s our weekly meeting with A&E. Every time I watch it I think about the steps and the Serenity Prayer.

Pic via Holly Monroe

People use drugs and alcohol to escape reality. It’s a way for people to feel in control of their life that may seem out of control to them. Some things we simply don't have control over. Dealing with control is my problem.

I love to control my surroundings and I strive for perfection in (almost) every aspect of my life. This prayer reminds me that some things I don't have control over. Learning to let go of things and accept it for what it is, is one of the biggest lessons I have learned in my twenties. I have not perfected the act of letting go but my life has gotten a lot easier.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

P.Hobbs