BLERD c h i c

If you have found your way to Blerd Chic, you can probably relate to my sometimes overzealous embracing of New Year’s Resolutions. Like the original Blerd Girl Idol, Sondra Huxtable, I tend to be a chronic overachiever, and self improvement enthusiast. I often become addicted to the idea of setting goals.  It seems that I am always working toward…something. As 2012 came to end I found myself once again, exhausted, yet overeager to take on something more.

In one of our increasingly frequent moments of Blerd Chic Synchronicity, early December found Teffanie and I eagerly entrenched in New Year’s Resolution preparation discussions.   From across the country we turned down NPR and discussed multiple new career options on speaker phone as we multi tasked our way through that excessively derided working mother’s  “Second Shift”.  So what I’m saying is, this conversation took place as picked kids up from school; sternly gave reminders to start homework while we ran to the grocery store for that one missing ingredient; picked up another kid from school; replied to text messages about upcoming weekend visitation arrangements; tried to remember what exactly we were supposed to put on the never ending to do list on the Notes App,  and somehow managed to squeeze in just one more load of laundry while we waited for the rice cooker to ding . 

Here we were in the midst of all this busyness focused not on simplifying, but eagerly anticipating ways that we could add more to our Working Momma Blended Family Diva Artist Social Activist Educator Blerd Queen repertoire.

We are both full time Mommas and Educators. Yet in the past year, between the two of us, Teffanie and I have attempted to become near experts  in the subjects of  copy editing, hula hooping, wedding planning, blending families, codependency, cross country relocation, sign language, iron deficiencies, tarot card reading, natural beauty treatments, narcissists, nutritious family meal planning, juice fasts, PTSD,  Bedazzling(#isthatreallyaverb?), gender identity, Capoeira, nonprofit organizations and camp management.  

Yeah, I said hula hooping.  

Clearly, none of that seemed to be exciting enough, so here we both were considering big career changes. You know…Something Big. Off the Chain. Paradigm Changing. Fabulous… or maybe we should just go back for our PhDs?

Eventually the conversation turned to the inevitable question.

“So. The Writing. How’s it coming? I mean REALLY. “

The truth was that despite bringing in some income with our writing this year, neither of our careers was where we wanted them to be.  That realization led us to begin to ask each other WHY we would consider adding just one more credential to our Blerd Queen resumes. What was really the important thing we were trying to get to with this entire exciting but sometimes disconcerting Blerd Chic’s Excellent Mid Life Adventure?   We were left with two words.

L  I F E.  S T Y L E.  Not the compound word kind.

More like with a pause in the middle.

Take a b r e a t h.

Breathe In LIFE. Downward Facing Dog on STYLE, and well you know.

e x h a l e .

As I have started to take this journey of examining my life and trying to pair it down,  Zen style, to the most essential elements, I have found myself entrenched in this idea of Mindfulness.  I decided to start my resolution early this year as our Blended Family Christmas had me searching for ways to bring consciousness and meaning to our children with Mindful Gift Ideas. All this simplifying even left me with some time to have a brief get away from all the holiday busyness and go see Django with my Honey.

So this year, we are calling you g a m e c h a n g e r s to join us on our journey to m i n d f u l ness. We know that all of you enthusiastic members of the Clair Huxtable Fan Club, will most definitely keep every New Year’s resolution you make.  

You are a m a z i n g, s e x y, f a b u l o u s. You can do anything and everything you choose.

W e are hoping that like us, that you will c h o o s e  this year to do less. Instead of making yet another New Year’s Resolution do each thing you do, with all of you.  

The Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh describes the concept of Mindfulness in our everyday lives in a way we Blerd Queen’s can all relate to.

“I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh,The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

We invite you to join us.

Embrace your inner Blerd.

What is your L I F E and S T Y L E?

How do you Blerd Chic’s and Chic Blerds navigate your way through your corner of the universe?

Get in the Tardis! We are ready for a Resolution Revolution! (By the Way…The Blerd Queens L O V E this year’s  Doctor Who Series  7, Episode 3   A Town Called Mercy  when the Tardis accidentally ended up in the Wild West!  The Doctor in the Wild Wild West? YUM!)

Sasha-Nicole