2-4-7 - Was that a sitcom...

... with Florence from the Jeffersons? Or was it 2-5-7? Either way, it's just another indicator of my age, past the 40 1/2 stage. But the best, or should I say worst, indicator of my age is the rapid influx of gray hairs!!! I can't take it. I can take a lot - the sagging of the you know whats, even a wrinkle or two, but the grays just feel like nails on a chalkboard. Everyday it's a new squatter on my head. So I bit the bullet, purchased a box of L'Oreal's Feria Natural Black, and went to town. I got 97% of the infiltrators and when I realized I missed a few, out came the tweezers. Yep. Pluck, Pluck, Pluck!

So enough about the bad stuff. This year has gotten off to a fabulous start. I really like my new job. Of course it is still the honeymoon period, but I see a lot of potential for my professional growth and development and upward mobility. Everyone has been wonderful. I miss many of the people from my old place, especially the students and my right hand TB, but we are still connected, so I am not worried about losing the strong friendships that I have formed there. I have absolutely no love loss for residence life. I am thankful for the valuable experience. There is no replacement for the skills you obtain in the field, but transitioning out was the right thing to do on so many levels. Where I am now, I am in charge of Orientation, Commencement and a wonderful student leadership program. OH, and lets not forget the commute. What's there to miss? NADA!

So, as I slowly ease out of my first year of 40 and ease into my second year, 40 is turning out to be a fabulous age, minus the grays of course!

Pictures of the Month:
Ethan is having a hard time adjusting to our new commute, especially that long walk from 7th to 10th Avenue. I personally love it. I walk a lot now. I don't have to pay gas and tolls. And I get to relax while I commute. It's hard to relax on the Whitestone Bridge or the Jackie Robinson Parkway. Ethan, however, has found a way to relax on the subway. I wasn't thrilled about half his face on the seat back, but isn't he the cutest little hobo you have ever seen? He was knocked out!

Ethan is an observer. I guess he noticed the biggest past time on the subway and decided to try it out. Too bad he can't read yet.

Focusing on Me

It's the 12th of the month and that means my blog post is about, you guessed it, me. I'm focusing on all the ways I can feel better about myself which is not always so easy. I invite you to photograph yourself each month and love yourself.

It's been 10 days since I started my new job and it's going great. Ethan is having a harder time. He went from being chauffeured in the lap of luxury every day to taking the subway and walking 3, very long city blocks to get to his school. Me? I love the change of pace. I'm not especially thrilled about taking the subway, but I do appreciate the fact that my commute doesn't require me to pay much attention to my fellow commuters or red lights. I don't have to worry about road rage, tolls, running on E, or obnoxious drivers.

I do appreciate that I walk 20 blocks roundtrip every day as a result of my commute. I'm starting to feel really good and while I haven't lost weight, yet, I know this is a good start to moving more. I'm actually wearing makeup and blowing up my fro more often - more put together. I was in a rut and that's over. Thank God!

Are you in a rut? Are you down on yourself? Don't be! Take a picture of yourelf and admire your best feature. Just like we have a feature we hate on our bodies, we all have a favorite feature. Focus on that for starters. We'll work on the other body parts later. I focused on my face with these pics with a little creative cropping. I actually like my face. It has it's flaws but they don't drive me too crazy. It's the neck down on I'm working hard on. The 2nd layout is a group of photos that my 4 year old took with my camera or iphone. He always cuts off a piece but overall, not bad!