Body Language and Other Miscommunications…….

/ Gina Marie / 1 Comment

Dare I even suggest ASSUMPTIONS?

We, as humans, are very complicated creatures.  People like me tend to read signs or communicate in indirect ways.  This leads to assumptions and that is OFTEN not a good thing!

Some examples I am learning from – if someone does something that upsets me, it is better to share that with the person because they may not even be TRYING to send a message, or might even be shocked to know their actions hurt me!  However, if they WERE sending a message, the issue can be addressed and maybe even resolved!  Otherwise, you end up being hurt, they are oblivious and/or the issue is not really addressed, and resentment builds.  Never good.

I have also learned in the last few days that people can send mixed messages rather easily.  Like they can share a portion of the truth, but their ACTIONS create a signal or tell you that they are moving toward something when they are NOT.  In moments like this, I have learned it is better to be direct, ask straight out, and then know what the truth is.  Try not to read their ACTIONS and put too much weight on them because you could be way off!  I always say actions speak louder than words, and at times that is very true, but sometimes people send the wrong signals through their actions……

Also, don’t assume moods or messages in MySpace or other forums are about YOU!  They might be, but what if they have NOTHING to do with you?  You could be feeling pressure, pain, or other negative emotions that are a waste of time……..

I can be very direct, but I DO have a problem sharing when my feelings are hurt or I think my truth will cause rejection or anger……so I am working on that.  And I hope me sharing my experiences with the above help at least one of you!

The Idea of Loyalty

/ Gina Marie / 3 Comments

Merriam-Webster defines loyalty as the quality or state or an instance of being loyal.

Loyal meaning unswerving in allegiance: as a: faithful in allegiance to one’s lawful sovereign or government b: faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due c: faithful to a cause, ideal, custom, institution, or product.

Overall, I believe loyalty is commendable AND necessary. It is true in all relationships, whether they are romantic, platonic, related to your job, etc. And yet, I am finding out loyalty is either one sided or fickle. Maybe I am the same way too, I am not sure, but it sure irks me that loyalty is more of a theory than a common practice nowadays!

For example, it is true that my friends expect me to be loyal to them…..to honor them with honesty, keeping my word, etc. I don’t blame them. Yet, I have witnessed that when it comes to ME, excuses are often given to explain why commitments can’t be kept or why “the rules” don’t apply to them as well. But it’s not PERSONAL or anything, right? And I am realizing this “problem” is my fault too, because I let it happen and don’t stand up for myself. Something I am working on.

However, I would be remiss to not share that I have people in my life who are extremely loyal; two of whom are Martin and Kathleen. Even when I don’t remain loyal to them (I keep saying I will visit their church and then don’t!) they always check up on me, send me emails, pray for me……I can certainly learn a thing or two from their example! Thanks to both of you for being true, loyal friends. And Martin – two things; 1) I have “I’m A Man” on my iPod so that’s where I heard it, and 2) I agree with your comments regarding the Jesus pic I posted!

Challenge for the day – think about someone else today and try to act loyal, if just a little bit!

Gina OUT

Photos of Disneyland

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Okay, I am not feeling very into creative writing right now, but didn’t want to hold off on the pics, either. No, I did NOT find the cable, but instead bought a cheap card reader!

I am also too tired to pick out one or two, upload them, format them, and get them in this post.  So instead, go here to see the pics!

Oh, and today on the way to the beach I got a speeding ticket.  22 Fwy near Euclid going 80 in a 65 zone!  Yes, I usually drive 80.  Yes, I know it was just a matter of time.  Too bad I got my car fixed….just think, if I couldn’t accelerate, I wouldn’t be in this position!  Doh!  Naw, I would find a way.  Dang it!

Gina Out!

More Disneyland Vacation…..

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Okay, so I had intended on showing some awesome pics this morning……but you see, something happened.  Before I left on vacation I asked myself, “Should I bring the cable for the camera?”  And I can’t remember what I answered and now can’t find the dang thing!  Am I dumb?  YES!  So I hope to resolve this little fiasco soon, but for now I will just bore you with my witty writing…….

On Tuesday, we were brave little travelers and got up early to take advantage of being able to access Disneyland before it opens to the public.  My boys woke pretty quickly for sure but this body was so-so.  Hannah is so cute – we would say, “Hannah, we’re going to Disneyland!” and she would respond, “We’re already here!”  (This conversation was a staple for the entire trip!)

I have to say that I haven’t been to Disneyland with a little one for quite a while, so it was neat to see her get enthralled by so many things.  The boys still get excited too, don’t get me wrong, and we had so much fun.  Nemo was one of our first rides, and it was cute.  We drove Autopia and Kenny was not as thrilled as we are now regulars at K1 Speed, lol.  The boys and I went on Space Mountain and it was a blast!  All the time was great and the boys love Hannah almost as much as she loves them.

Okay, here’s an honest moment from Gina – I am too tired to write more!  So I will do this later!

Recap of Our Vacation – Monday

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Well, despite my technical arrogance, I can’t get the internet to work for my laptop and despite my excitement for having JUST RECEIVED MY NEW 3G IPHONE, I do not have the patience to type this post out on its tiny keyboard, one finger at a time!  So instead I am writing down my “blogness” in Word to post at a later time!

I can’t remember if I mentioned this or not, but Kenny, Josh, and I are taking a last minute, quickly planned, mini-vacation at the Disneyland Resort!  It’s kind of funny because we live so close that every night we hear the fireworks go off, so when the employees here say, “So where are you from?” they laugh when we tell them.  But heck, even us Southern Californians deserve a trip to the happiest place on earth!

Anyway, my friend Cathy and her granddaughter Hannah are with us as well, and that just adds a level of fun to the adventure!  Hannah is 2 ½ years old and gets SO EXCITED about things……but I am getting ahead of myself……..

So we are staying at the resort through Wednesday – we checked in a little after 3pm and the boys were EXCITED.  When we entered the parking structure (where I happened to nab an AMAZING space), there was a security officer doing something nearby.  Josh wanted to meet “the officer”, to say hi.  But as much as he was excited to do so, he was “too shy” to go alone.  So we walked over and he said, “Hello Officer!”  We had a very nice conversation and he was VERY good with Josh, so that was a great way to start.

Checking is was cool too and I must say, I JUST made these reservations days ago and had requested adjoining rooms for me and my friend Cathy.  It worked without a hitch and the service here thus far has been stellar!

So we spent several hours at the pool, which is located on the 3rd floor of the hotel and includes a cool water slide, although Kenny didn’t like it too much.  He has been to several water parks AND he said it scratched his back.  Josh was not interested in going at all.  He seemed a little hesitant to do anything at first……

Cathy and Hannah went to go get drinks and the boys and I jumped into the pool.  Suddenly, my REAL Josh appeared!  Swimming, laughing, goofing around with his mother.  Kenny was having fun too, and is a very good big brother.  We had a blast and were happy when Cathy and Hannah returned so we could commence the bonding.

Hannah is a little shy at first…..since I haven’t seen her in a while, it was like starting over.  She was shy with the boys at first too.  Then, suddenly in the pool, the giggles started again and I was like, “YES, she is remembering me!”  But that elation was short lived.  Why?  Because she started having all her fun with Kenny and Josh!  She would sometimes push me or splash me, more because when she did Kenny would say, “Good job Hannah, give me five!”  Sigh.

We went back to the hotel, got changed, and then went to Downtown Disney.  Hannah saw Rain Forest Café and really wanted to go there.  Cathy was very sweet and said, “well, let’s see if the boys want to go there” to which Hannah received two thumbs up.  There wasn’t a long wait – we totally lucked out because the masses arrived shortly after us – and we got a great table upstairs.  That’s when the fun REALLY started.  For, you see, Hannah has a new crush……KENNY!  You should have seen her face light up as she sat next to him, the way she practically sat in his chair the whole time, the way that she would give him food (she passed cheese sticks, etc.)  She likes Josh too, but she LOVES Kenny!  Afterward, she only wanted Kenny to push her stroller!  And you must know, she is VERY attached to her Nana, so this was a big deal!

Also in the restaurant, she was adorable when the thunderstorm started!  When the lights would flash her eyes got SO big!!!  It was adorable!  The second storm she covered her eyes and then afterward said, “I was scared of the storm!” but then giggled at Kenny.  Sigh.  Wow, young love!

Josh entertained Hannah as well.  They shared small pirate knives, checked out items in the lego store, and the three of them would play games and giggle and run, etc.

Cathy and I had fun, too – the food was great, the kids were very well behaved, and although Downtown Disney was crowded, it wasn’t crazy.  It was very relaxing!  I think it was a great first day of the mini-vacation!

Oh, I almost forgot!  Cathy bought boulets (I don’t know how the hell to spell it!  If I have internet access I would look it up!) but those delicious donut like things that are famous in New Orleans.  YUMMY!  They were warm, covered with powdered sugar, and an EXCELLENT ending to a great evening!

Okay, I need to get back to bed!  I woke up at 2:30 am and need my sleep for our first day at the theme parks!  GOOFY, HERE I COME!

Gina OUT!

August 15th – An Awesome Day

/ Gina Marie / 2 Comments

Okay, I have been having a little too much fun with the convertible, because I missed an important post!

August 15th would have been my Grandma Minard’s 90th Birthday. I wish she were here to celebrate with all of us that love her……her last birthday on earth was her 80th and she was amazingly fit at that time! Of course I don’t have any of the pics from the occasion scanned, so I can’t share, but I do recall asking her to walk more slowly as I couldn’t keep up with her…….

My Grandma – Mary Catherine – was an amazing woman. She grew up during the depression and had many siblings. I laugh now in fondness, but the woman would bend over for a penny! I would tease her, say, “Hello Grandma, it is a PENNY!” and she would come back with a witty response. All of my life she was a strong woman, and I remember sitting enthralled listening to stories of her youth, the early years of her marriage, some of the trials she experienced over the years, and so much more. I remember when she passed away, well meaning people would say, “Well, at least she had a long life….” which really ticked me off at the time because she was so RESILIENT and FIT! I wish you could have met her so you’d know what I am talking about. I see these qualities in my Dad and Aunt Kay as well and that helps to fill the empty space my Grandma left when she was called to heaven.

There are still many times when I feel the loss of her – I STILL have thoughts when I say to myself, “Oh my gosh, I need to call Grandma and tell her this!” Or there are times when I have vivid dreams about her, I am SO EXCITED that she is alive, and when I wake up I have a mini loss/grief session again when I realize it was just a dream. Or small things like I will be on the phone with my Dad and he will say something that sounds SO MUCH like her and my heart does a combo sigh/sob. But most of the time I smile at the many memories and life lessons Grandma gave me and I walk through my life with the heritage she provided through my veins.

Christine – I know you TOTALLY understand this so it brings me comfort that you’re out there!

Some quick memories:

  • When I was VERY young, we had cats in my house. I have a faint memory of them jumping on the back of her robe in the morning and she was not happy. LOL
  • Grandmas was always way cool. She would come visit every summer and that meant ACTION for us kids! Dineyland, Knott’s……yep! I rode my first roller coaster with my Grandma, who actually shamed me into it! I didn’t want to go but she said, “Are you going to to tell your friends that you were too chicken but your GRANDMA went on it?!?”
  • When Grandma came out for my graduation from high school, I had the privilege of body surfing with my Grandma! YES, body surfing! She was 68 and kicked butt!
  • One of my fondest memories is of Grandma and Kirstie singing and dancing to “Achy Breaky Heart” and “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”

There are many more…….

I know this may sound two dimensional to you on this blog – can one really get the essence of a person in this medium? But this post is more for me – a granddaughter who loved deeply, was loved deeply as well, and who is proud of her Grandma beyond measure. Happy Birthday Grandma – I am glad you got to spend it with Grandpa and Jesus…….and I love and miss you very very much.

Gina has her brain on again…..

/ Gina Marie / 2 Comments

…..and well, thinks she smells smoke!

When I was at the Museum of Tolerance (MOT), I was touched very deeply.  (To hear some thoughts already posted, check out this blog entry.)  When I was there, seeing the propoganda the Nazi party shoveled out, see the faces of so many tortured…..seeing the faces and hearing the stories of the millions who were murdered…….well, it made it easy to despise those who caused such carnage.   Hearing Hitler say, “I am doing the work of the Lord” DID tick me off pretty well, and directing the bulk of my anger towards him was quite easy.

So, the last few days I have lived with this anger, judgement, and actual hate for Hitler.  Thinking of him burning in hell day after day, being tormented as he so deserves.

But yesterday, a thought hit me (and also collided with a picture a friend sent….) – what if this whole time Hitler has been in heaven because he repented and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior?  To be candid, my first reaction to such a thought was, “Please Lord, tell me You didn’t save HITLER!  He doesn’t deserve it!”

That was a painful place for me to be…….actually thinking someone didn’t deserve to be saved!  Let’s think about that…….I could go on and say “Well, I am not as bad as Hitler, so I deserve to be saved.”  Or maybe, “I would rather see Hitler in hell and learn that Christ’s blood is not strong enough than see him in heaven!”

Is that blasphemous?  Can I really call myself a Christian if 1) I don’t want to see EVERYONE saved, and 2) don’t fully acknowledge that the blood of Christ can and does cover ALL sins to those who love and accept Him?  (Now, I am not a theologian and have no desire to get into predestination/elections and so forth, so please don’t take me down that road!)

ANYWAY, as a Christian, do you thin we would REJOICE to see Hitler in heaven?  I mean, seriously, to see him there knowing that Christ totally did an amazing work would get me stoked.  (And as I am writing this, my body is STILL saying “I can’t, I really can’t want him there!”)  But what about me?  I did not participate in a horrible genocide of an entire culture, as well as include anyone that opposed me, but do I deserve to be saved?  I mean, I cuss like hell, I hate, I lose faith, I am a horrible rendition of what I was created to be…….except for that guy named Christ.  And I haven’t done anything remotely good enough to make myself deserve to be saved…….that’s that guy’s job too.

So, on that note, what does this picture do to you?

Okay, don’t get all political on me.  OF COURSE I am not suggesting that actions on this earth do not lead to consequences – hello!  But let’s think about this…….if Hitler repented and accepted Christ……..and what about Bin Laden?  What if he had a Damascus road moment?  What if that moment was seconds before his death – a death so many would probably celebrate – and then we run into him in heaven too?  Would that tick you off?  Does the mere image of Christ washing his feet send you over the edge?

It did me, and that has really gotten me thinking about this Christian thing!

John 3:16 (New International Version)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

More on this shortly………….Gina OUT

Update on Gina – yeah, I know- HOW EXCITING!

/ Gina Marie / 3 Comments

Some updates to my loyal readers. You know who you are!  Special shout out to Martin – “I’m a Man” by Chicago I think of you!  (Note to other readers:  Not that I need reminding Martin is a man or anything like that, but he LOVES this song and told me about it once and yeah, so there you go.  It’s a great song, BTW).

THE SHOULDER – Okay, remember I hurt it about 2 weeks ago surfing? The doc at the time kind of blew me off. Said doc was a man. Now, I am NOT trying to be mean or over generalize, but women I have a question. Have you noticed that male doctors often blow off issues we have? It seems to be a trend with me…..at the time he was like, “Yeah, you probably pulled a muscle. Wear this sling and take some motrin and if doesn’t get better come on back.” (Incidentally, my male Chiro moved it all around, said “yep, you hurt your shoulder” and nothing else!). So, since it was NOT getting better at all, I went back yesterday. The FEMALE doctor was much more attentive, asked about 100% more questions, actually TOUCHED my shoulder, took x-rays, and determined I had a partial rotor cuff tear. She prescribed steroids, showed me some physical therapy moves to make sure my shoulder doesn’t lock up, and was cool. So yeah, I guess I will NOT be surfing again this summer…….lol.

HANGING WITH KEN – Kenny called me at 11:30pm Wednesday night asking if he could hang with me and spend the night Thursday. Yes, he was awake at that time and calling! LOL So we did hang out. We went on a “date” too – dinner at Red Robin and tooling around the Brea Mall. Of course we had a blast at the Apple Store, checked out the animals at the pet store (“Why didn’t you pet the rabbits, mom?”), went to Radio Shack (he loves this store and likes the remote control anythings….), and ending the fun at Champs where we got two caps for him.

Here is Ken with one of his new caps

MY CAR – Okay well my cute little car has been a little sick. When I accelerate especially, it won’t shift and then I can’t go faster and – well – that’s bad on two fronts. First of all, I could get killed. Secondly, I like to drive fast so it really crimps my style! So I took it into the shop yesterday. Since I hadn’t made an appointment, I figured I wouldn’t get a rental car so had planned to get one on my own. Sure enough, they told me they could get me one Monday. ANYWAY, turns out it is NOT my transmission, but rather my catalytic converter! I don’t know enough to really understand that, but this fix will also take until at least through Monday. They are getting me a rental car Monday morning so that is cool. AND I am having my 30,000 mile service – this is an American car people! Not dissing, but I have found you need this sort of thing to make sure they don’t die……

MY RENTAL CAR – So, I had made reservations for a car through Thrifty……it was a good deal actually. Kirstie was nice enough to pick me and Kenny up at the dealership, take us to breakfast, and then take me to John Wayne Airport to get my rental car. We get there and it’s empty except for the LONG line at Thrifty Rentals…….a line that moved about 5 feet in 30 minutes! I am NOT exaggerating! So, about that time two guys that were behind us decided to check with Avis. One guy left and then came back saying, “Hey, they have a car now and its cheaper than our quote here!” So Kenny decides to go on his own to ask them if they have a convertible! He comes back, tells me to go with him, asks Kirstie to stay in line “just in case”, and we head back…….YEP! They had a convertible for LESS money than Thrifty and I didn’t have to wait any longer in line! Kenny was SO excited because we got a Spyder and its very sporty and FUN! He cant’ wait for me to come back today to drive him around! He even hopped into the car without opening the door and was STOKED! And truth be told, I am having a blast with it too! Special thanks to Kir for calling Thrifty to cancel the reservation – LOL! AND being my taxi!

Here is my car for the weekend!

MY MAC – for some crazy reason, but CD burner is dead! I am sad! It seems the problem I am experiencing is a BIG problem for many peeps and I am sad. I have an appointment today at 4pm so we shall see.

KIRSTIE – many of you know that Kenny and I are very goofy. At times Josh joins in the ranks and lets loose a bit in the goof factor. But Kirstie? Not so much. She is more serious in nature and is usually one who is bemoaning the way we act, especially in public. It’s kind of fun to embarrass her sometimes (shhh, don’t tell her!). But yesterday she surprised me not only by putting in these gag teeth, but also letting me take a PICTURE of it!

MY UPCOMING MINI-VACATION – I was sitting here this week kind of sad that summer was coming to an end – maybe Josh’s song put this sentiment in my mind. Anyway, I got a bee in my bonnet and thought it’d be fun to take the boys to the Disneyland Resort. It morphed into getting a package and staying at the resort for a few days! Woohoo! So we are doing that next week and they are EXCITED! I am looking forward to it, too! So yeah, woohoo to summer!

Okay, that’s it for now! And hello peeps, where are the comments???? LOL