Day 312 ~ My Glass, Half Full!

We're half way there!  Really?  Wow... it's been a hair shy of two weeks already?  How time flies when you're having fun!  Honestly, I knew I just finished with the 13th letter, "M"...  
However it did not dawn on me that I was half way through my little challenge (Blogging A to Z...).  In other words even though it was staring me in the face, I did not see it.  Make sense?


BTW... tonight, Sunday is a bye night... we take a break from the "bet" (short for "alphabet", trying to sound hip.  LOL! trying being the operative word. 


Moving right along... 


This has been a fun experience... and one that has had me looking at things in a more "positive" light.  Just as I ask my five year old daughter... "don't you get tired of whining?"  


I swear, each time I hear those words come out of my mouth... well let's just say that it keeps me in check!  As a matter of fact, anytime I hear words come out of my mouth which are directed at Calley to better herself as a person... I give it a second thought.


What I lacked as a child, structure, love etc...  I  am seeing to that Calley will will never have to endure the same..


With that said... Is my challenge halfway over OR am I almost there?  That question is no different than asking if the glass was half empty or half full... 


Now, you can choose to look at this one of two ways.. 


(1) It's half over.  The glass if half empty...  Sounds so negative... as if you do not have anything to look forward to after it's over.


OR


(2) The glass is half full.  I am halfway there.  I have so much to look forward to, so many possibilities with this choice.  Even if that's no the case, it put a positive view on it.


Excuse me... I just want to interject something a little off subject here...  


I would like to make something perfectly clear here.  I do not enjoy being negative.  Nor do I enjoy bringing up my past... I can not help that I have been through quite "an adventure" in my life (trying to put a "positive" twist on this.. wink, wink.)


Also, keep in mind (directed more so to those reading TBML for the firs time) I want to leave this for my children, family and friends.. those I know and those I have yet to meet,  A handbook on "How & Why is Carla, Carla?"  A "how to" of sorts... or better yet... Carla for Dummies!    


After all what I write in my posts is about my life, my thoughts and/or my experiences, etc... and are all my accounts, memories and my truths.   


I was challenged once by a family member against something I had written.  However, as far as I am concerned this person "challenged" me with their opinion being based on "hear-say".  


All I had to say to that was ... "it was and is my life. I was there, this is what I saw, this is what I felt, this is what I experienced.. you were not there..."  That's it. There's no argument.  Zip.


I have nothing to gain by not being honest here, only credibility to loose.  As is I can not control who reads and doesn't read my blog.


No one has said anything to me to suggest anything of this nature... however... my blog has received over 23,000 views and 421 total comments.  You do the math.  Okay, I'll do it for you... 17% of readers leave me a comment.  If you haven't done so yet... please leave a record of your visit by commenting.  Become a part of my blog.


What I am trying to say is that not everyone of the 23,000+ views have left me a comment... 


Leave your thoughts in the comment area below each post.  As opposed to Facebook.  You'll be helping me put my book together.  It'll be easier for me to print out my complete blog.  Fear not... your comment left on Facebook will still be included in my blog-  I just have to look it up and include it that way. Whether you agree or not. Even if you think I may be crazy, or not... I want to know what you think, and I get to hear from you.  .       


Back on subject...


I am choosing to see the "glass half full" and to look forward to the next 13 letters of the alphabet.  Most importantly i am excited to see what I will be learning about myself the  second half of the alphabet.      

Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.  

~Doug Firebaugh

If you aren't sure who you are, you might as well work on who you want to be. 

~Robert Brault 

Blogging A to Z Challenge April 2012... What will "N" have for us tomorrow?

Blessings to all!!

53 days to go...  (This is starting to become bitter-sweet)

... for a, l & c.  You are my sunshine(s).  

Images are courtesy of google or Bing images.  Some images maybe labeled property of Carla Barila Karam and of this blog, Taking Back My Life ~ Making It My Own.  U.S Copyright laws apply.  ©

Day 182 ~ Once Upon A Christmas

Ocean Fron Walk, Santa Monica, CA  cica 1970
courtesy of Bing images

I remember being around eleven or twelve, at Christmas time.  Los Angeles in the early seventies was such a charming city.  Although a little, for lack of better words, run down.  The Hollywood of the 70's, was not the Hollywood of glam of the 40's, 50's and 60's, let alone the Hollywood of late...  and Santa Monica, well it most certainly was not the Santa Monica of today.  Everything was simple, compared to today at least.  It wasn't so... Hollywood.  It just wasn't like it is today.  Let's leave it at that.

Back then... are you sitting? ... well they actually did not put out Christmas decorations, lights, let alone have Christmas sales until the day AFTER Thanksgiving.  The official start of the Christmas shopping season.  

Familiar sight to most Los Angelenos who travel into
Beverly Hills, Ca during Christmas time

I do not recall many Christmases from when I was a child, except for maybe three of them.  When I was about 6 or so, 10 and this one.  One thing my father did do for us, as children, was Christmas.  He'd put lights up on the house, a small tree to start with, and every year we would drive through Beverly Hills to see the lights and the "real" reindeer.  


One of the local department stores in Beverly Hills had reindeer in their cages, on the roof top of the store, along with a sleigh.  I think it was in the eighties that I last saw them there, if not the late seventies.  I wonder if the store, along with the city of Beverly Hills still do it (probably not,) or if People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) would allow it?  (Probably not.)  

courtesy of Bing images

I remember that my father would go as far as having us write letters to Santa, make cookies, leave them out for Santa, as well as leave carrots out for the reindeer.  Christmas morning he would go as far as making hoof prints from the patio door (we did not have a fireplace at the time) to the dining room table, where the milk, cookies and carrots were left. 

So today, I try to make every day special for my children, not just Christmas.  I wish for  Calley to have wonderful childhood memories.


On another note... just wanted to point out the day, 182... and how many days are left... 183.  This is as half way as I can get!!  WOW!!  I must say it is bittersweet.  I can't believe  that I more or less have six months left.  WOW!  Sorry to come across at a loss for words, but this has been an awesome six months that really has me somewhat in disbelief and more motivated than I have ever been!

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.  God is awake.   ~ Victor Hugo 

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today.  I can choose which it shall be.  Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet.  I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.    ~ Groucho Marx.

Blessings to all!!

183 days / 26 weeks to go...

All contents herein are protected under Copyright laws and can not be used, altered or copied. All accounts herein are written by Cali-Gal/Carla B Karam and are true accounts of her life. Some names may be changed to protect the innocent.