Happy Birthday and #47

So by birthday isn't until next Sunday but family gifts usually come in the mail early, so I really get to celebrate for about a week. My loverly Mother and Farther are pretty generous in the love and support department. This year they were also generous in the twentyfiveth birthday girft department.
I present #47 - Own a REAL designer purse! I didn't think this would happen so quickly! But I'm so thankful and grateful and excited. I know it is "just a purse" according to the husband. But still. I'm a big girl now and can handle the responsibility of wearing a quarter of my rent on my shoulder.

Thanks mom and dad! I love you!

#32 - Show gratitude daily

Although #32 – Show gratitude daily – isn’t something to “accomplish” I am feeling very gratuitous lately. Not for any particular reason. Nothing fabulous or awful has happened. I am just happy. Satisfied really. Gratuitous. I have wonderful friends who put just as much effort as I do into maintaining a fulfilling and functional relationship. My friendship/marriage is the best it has ever been. I have a wonderful family who supports me what ever I decide to do. I love my job. I just feel great.

I think part of this “awakening” – if you will – has to do with the book “The Power of Now” that I recently finished as part of my August Self Improvement. I think about the message and lessons in this book daily. I feel like I FINALLY get it. It really helped me decipher my true feelings about faith, spirituality, religion, and controlling my mind in my every day life. It is both all about me and all about my relationship with others. Energy. I have control of the energy I project. I have control of the energy I choose to let into my life. The people I hang out with. I won’t judge people for their energy, but if it doesn’t fit into my field I’ll move on.
Forgiveness is key. Immediate forgiveness. Of self, of others, of situations that I do not control and of those I do control but didn’t think through very well.

I’m grateful for my mom for recommending this book. I’m grateful for Tim for putting up with all of the “lectures to myself” that he listens to. I’m grateful for my friends and family for loving me for who I am (even if I’m really really bad at calling people back). I love you all.

Thank you.

50 Things in 5 Years - #25

Last weekend I embarked on my first of 50 experiences to complete my list of things to do in 5 years. I attended the McAllister Oklahoma State Penitentiary 68th annual Prison Rodeo. Along with the usual rodeo events, the inmates participated in 3 rounds of the signature Prison Rodeo event Money the Hard Way and the Wild Horse Race.

-Money the Hard Way- Angry bull released into the ring with a $100 bill tied between his horns. If an inmate can retrieve the money they get to keep it...and GO!

Round 1: Inmates enter the rodeo arena. Some are wearing helmets and vests resembling a swat team. Mostly men but some of the female bareback competitors joined in. The bull enters the ring with the prize tied between his horns. One crazy, i mean, brave guy comes running toward the bull but at the last second changes his mind. TOO LATE BUDDY! The bull charges the guy (not wearing a helmet or vest) head butts him up in the air and slams him against the wall a couple of times then tramples him. The inmate doesn't move nor does he retrieve the money. All the other inmates are on the opposite side of the arena and have obviously decided that it isn't worth $100 bucks.



So the above pictured inmate medical crew escort trampled/body slammed by a bull guy to the medic room directly below our seats. His face was mangled and swollen on one side almost to the point he couldn't open his eye. His shirt was torn, he had busted lips, and he was covered in the rodeo dirt/horse poop from the ring. It makes me wonder if the inmates practice beating each other up in preparation of Money the Hard Way. I'm sure it happens.

Round 2: no one even gets close the the bull.

Round 3: The announcer upped the ante and had all $300 bucks tied to the bull. All the inmates in "the cage" watching the event went wild although they don't look like it in this picture.

This time two guys tried to tag team the bull. One guy got trampled and thrown in the air and the other guy got the money and the bull never touched him. He better be sharing that money!

-Wild Horse Race - a three man/woman team of inmates are given a wild horse on a rope. They must saddle the horse and ride it across the arena in less than 3 minutes to win. Hard to describe so here is a video. Watch through till the end to see the best part.

It was the most exciting event of the evening. There was a documentary film crew there for the second year in a row filming this gladiator event. I will be watching that film. It was a great event and people drove in from all over the place. The arena was almost full and the weather was beautiful. I am happy that I got to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary system in this way.

1 down 49 to go.