My entire life I wanted to be a singer. Not so much a professional singer, as just a person who could sing.  Carrying a tune is not one of my strong points and I am admonished by my family son Max all of the time for singing.  My mother's admonishment comes in the form of her turning down her hearing aide.  Can you imagine being told not to sing?  "Don't sing when my friends are in the car".  "Mom, I can't hear the TV, please stop singing".  I am constantly reminded of a quote I read long ago that said something like if the only birds in the forest that could sing well were the only birds singing, the forest would be a very quiet place.  I'm sure I've written about this before but it's still not out of my system so I am equally sure I will be writing about it again.  And again.  

My second passion in life is words.  Some writers have such a way of stringing words together that I take the time to reread the sentence just to savor the quality of the sentence.  I'm reading (or rereading as the case may be) a book by Richard Russo called Straight Man.  Mr. Russo is a very funny man and some sentences are laugh out loud funny.  The human condition is something we all have in common and to have someone put something you've been thinking into far better words that you could have imagined is an exciting thing to me.

Today I am thankful for the gift of words.  Because I may not write as well as some or sing as well as most, I am thankful for the gifts that are given to those who do it so well.  

Carpe Diem!

This is my all time favorite photo of my little dog.  He spends all of his waking hours looking out all of our windows, trying to catch a glimpse of the cat next door.  She's an indoor/outdoor cat and JJ never tires of looking wistfully out of the window.  When he sees her, he goes absolutely batty and races to the door.  Once outside, he races around the house, barking madly as the the cat smiles snidely.  Eventually, JJ gives up and comes back in, only to resume his vigil at the window.

Could he be looking for love?  Is the cat next door his Valentine?  

We'll never know.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Last night brought news that Whitney Houston has died.  Whitney was only 48 years old.

I spent a good bit of time last night perusing YouTube and listening once again to that magic voice sing beautiful songs.  Such a bright and beautiful woman with a magically angelic voice; gone at such a young age.  I'm not sure if her addiction killed her or her smoking, I had recently read she had emphysema.  Whichever, it's a sad commentary on society that there are people on Facebook debating the merit of mourning her loss because she was an addict.  Anytime a bright light gets extinguished too soon or even at an advanced age, the world is the worse for the loss.  Bobby Brown or not, drug abuse or not, Whitney's smile, her lovely face and that voice are a loss.

This Sunday morning, I pray that she's at peace, at last.

I read a magazine article this morning entitled Voluntarily Happy in November's issue of Good Housekeeping.  First of all, yes, I stole the title for this post from the magazine article.  Secondly, lest you worry that I have become overly domesticated, no worries.  I do not subscribe to this magazine, while I think it's a good one.  My little momma does and she only passed it on to me because there's an article about none other than "my Antonio".  For people that know me, Antonio needs no further introduction.  For the uninitiated, he's Antonio Banderas,  

The article in Good Housekeeping is about volunteering and offers these statistics:

• About 1/4 of all Americans volunteer.
• About 1/3 of those volunteer more than 100 hours a year. 
• This, while sounding like a lot of time, only equates to about 2 hours per week. 

Aside from the fact that I truly believe all people should give back to their communities, studies show that a habit of helping others boosts happiness.  I am a firm believer in working very hard to be as happy as possible.  It doesn't happen by accident, you need to be mindful to be happy.

Some people hold the opinion that Real Estate Agents are a bunch of greedy money grubbers, only out to make a buck.  While there are bad apples in every profession, I know far more that do good work for others than you might think.  I am a people pleaser by nature and that extends from my personal life into my professional life.  I am a helper and real estate is the natural progression of doing what I love, which is helping people. My other passion is feeding people and I get to do that through my volunteer work for Meals on Wheels.  I know many agents who work hard at their profession of helping people buy and sell homes and then spend countless hours helping others through the various charities and causes they champion.  What follows is a short list of only some of the endeavors that real estate agents across our country support either through their time and talent, or with monetary donations, or both:

Meals on Wheels.  This link is for my local chapter.  Meals on Wheels organization provides warm and nourishing meals for shut ins.  My favorite place to volunteer. 

Mothers Fighting For Others.  This organization provides orphaned girls with a loving and nurturing environment and a quality education, so they can learn, thrive and achieve their highest potential.  Starting in Kenya, the goal is to build orphanages all over the world.

Our Special Place.  This organization was founded by two special families with a mission to enrich the lives of children with special needs by providing a variety of professional services in a nurturing and therapeutic environment.  You can read more about this here.  

Mobile Loaves and Fishes.  Provides food and clothing and promotes dignity to homeless men and women.  You can read more about this here.

Habitat for Humanity.  Is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian Ministry founded on the conviction that every man, woman and child should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live. 

Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.     Dedicated to raising funds to improve medical facilities and health-care for sick and injured children. 

I have an almost childlike need for things to be fair.  When I was a child my mom says that I would often lament that "that's not fair"!  My son Max is a chip off the old block and he's grown out of it some, but when he was younger, he would often say the same exact thing, in the same exact way... "that's not fair"!  Intellectually I know that life isn't fair and I often tell my kids that.  Life is not fair, get used to it.  But I have not lost my need to try to make it so.

What is fair?  Who is right?  Sometimes we get all caught up in being "RIGHT" that we lose sight of the fact that we are digging our heels in over something that really isn't all that important.

Fortunately I have friends that very often pull me from the brink and once, a long time ago, I took a course and I heard the magic words.  "Would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy"? 

"But he said".  "But I didn't".  "He shouldn't have".  All of these arguments, while probably true, are only prolonging the "dis" ease.  By arguing your point until you get the other person to cry uncle, often leaves both parties feeling like they lost something.  We can even get sick by constantly worrying and obsessing over unimportant and energy draining things.

Letting things go is way easier said than done and I am grateful to have friends, both near and far, who are not afraid to give me a reality check.  "Are you still on this"?  That's a good one and it makes me stop and think.  Am I still on it?  We can't help when our feelings are hurt but things aren't always about us.  I've been thinking all day about the book "The Four Agreements".  The one principal that really resonates with me is "don't take anything personally".   As I was thinking about what I wanted to write today, I popped over to Fran Rokicki's blog and there it was.  Her post for today was about this quote!  A coincidence?  Maybe.  

"Don't take anything personally.  Nothing others do is because of you.  What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, and their own dream.  When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering."  Don Miguel Ruiz

So today, I am thankful for friends who aren't afraid to tell me to "get over it". Happiness is a choice you have to make every day.   Life is truly too short to worry about things that you can just let go.  

I'd rather be happy.

Carpe Diem

I had the pleasure of being on the beach earlier this week.  I glanced up and saw a formation of birds crossing the sky.  It was truly beautiful and the birds were flapping their wings for all they were worth, working up momentum so that occasionally, they could glide.  I often dream I am flying, soaring and gliding through the air, getting from one place to another.  It's so real that when I wake up, for a second or two, I just lay there and relive the sensation.  That day on the beach I realized that in all of the dreaming I have done in which I could fly, I was always gliding.  I wasn't working up to gliding, or pumping my wings furiously so I could glide, I was simply gliding.  

It occurs to me that most of us who say we would love to fly are really thinking we would love to glide, not lead up to gliding with hard work.  Just another lesson nature teaches us.  Rarely will we exceed without hard work and perserverence.  Without these two important ingredients, we will never truly experience the sensation of soaring through the air that birds do when they've reached a point in their work when they can glide.

Hoping your Sunday is spectacular.  

I'll be honest here. I am not a devout baseball fan. I almost never watch baseball on television unless it's a playoff game or the world series and the Philadelphia Phillies are playing. Even then, there is usually some sort of party associated to the event of me sitting in front of the television. I do love the game in person. I love the noise, the food, the smells and the excitement of the fans. This week I am lucky to be going to Citizens Bank Park twice to see the game! Twice!

Tonight is a night out with my best girls and Thursday is RE/MAX Day at the Ballpark! If you've been down to the ball field, I'm sure you noticed that RE/MAX shines brightly on the digital scoreboard! Photo compliments of RE/MAX International.

RE/MAX is a proud partner of the Philadelphia Phillies!

I will be cheering from the stands tonight and Thursday!! Woo hoo!

Go!

If you know me, you know I love to read.  I've been reading everything I can get my hands on since the first grade!  I have so many books that I have run out of room to store them.  With on-line book buying made so easy, and a great "bring and take" area in my gym, I haven't had to go to the library in quite some time.  

Last week my best friend asked me if I felt like taking a ride to one of the nicest libraries in the area, The Chester County Library in Exton.  When we arrived I felt that old excitement; all these books and I could read whatever I wanted.  I took 3 books home and started right in.  I quickly discovered that one of the books was one I had already read so I moved on to the next one!  This is the beauty of the library.  I don't need to rely on my spaghetti strainer of a brain and if I accidentally take home a book I've read, no big deal!  I can take it right back and start over.  I also have the luxury of not finishing a book if I don't like it.  I can count on one hand how many times I didn't finish a book, but for me, a good life is having choices.  When you shell out $20 for a book, you'll finish it whether it's good or not.  With the free library, you can choose!

Today was a nice lazy day for me.  I had set it aside with no appointments because my son Max was in a soccer tournament and if he kept winning; I wanted to be at all of the games.  Sadly, for his team, they lost yesterday so here I am today, with time on my hands.  There's great stuff happening in the area like Super Sunday in West Chester and an Italian Food Festival at Rose Tree Park, but I am in the mood to get lost in a book, so I headed over to the library.

My eyes, as usual, were bigger than my arms and I came home with 7 books.  I can't adequately describe the feeling and if you are a reader, maybe I don't have to.  To know that I can take as many books as I want and keep them for 3 weeks is like a small miracle to me.  I feel like a little kid in a candy store at the library and I always have.  There are some things that are so special they never get old.  The library is one of them.  I use my son Michael's library card because I have no idea where my card is.  Mike's card is from when he was a small boy and is a little the worse for wear.  The librarian offered to replace it.  He printed his name on the back of it in his little boy printing and for me, it's irreplaceable.  Like the world of books.

There are many branches of the Chester County Library.  Click here to find one near you.  

I hope you enjoyed your Sunday as much as I did.

I'm working with a nice buyer who brought a friend along yesterday to look at houses with us.  While we were driving around and chatting, the friend asked us where we met.  We looked at each other and we both responded at once... "on the internet".   It sounds funny.  It sounds like computer dating.  In fact, it's very similar.

I often have clients reach out for the first time via email to inquire about looking at homes.  In this instance, and in the past, I always suggest we meet at the office to sit and talk.  I think this a great way to see if we are a good fit to work together.  At that time, I explain how things work, I explain agency and I take the time to figure out if I can, indeed, help the buyer. 

Some folks aren't interested in this arrangement.  They simply want to meet me at the listing, view it, and go on their way.  Realtor safety has become a hot topic and I try never to meet strangers at listings.  It's not safe and it's not doing the seller/client any favors either.  On the rare occasion that I break this rule, either because the home is just too far from my office, or because the buyer is very insistent, I request that the seller stay home for the showing.  

Looking to buy or sell in Chester County?  Check me out on the internet! I have a Facebook business page; I'm on twitter, realtor.com and many other places.  Google my name.  You'll find me!

And it will be a funny story we can tell the kids!

So, where did you two meet?  On the Internet!

Thinking of selling the family home?  I'm not a stager; I am a busy real estate agent.  I am also a mom, a gardener, chief cook and bottle washer, a dog and cat lover and an avid reader.  My house, at any given time, and given our schedules, is messy.  I try.  I do.  But my house is also "the house" where my sons bring their friends, where my friends stop by for ice tea, hot tea, a quick chat or a home cooked meal.  

But my house is not for sale.  

My house is decorated with things I love.

The bookshelves have tons of family photos and things that make me laugh; 

or that make me happy.

 My pets make me smile and my dog leaves more toys laying around than my sons did as toddlers!

But my house isn't for sale.  

I do not agree that families need to completely depersonalize their homes before they list them for sale.  I think some buyers enjoy knowing that a happy family lives in the home they are considering.  Some personality, in my opinion, is a good thing.

I do think that a general de-cluttering is in order.  I think some stuff needs to get packed and put in boxes.  Maybe the new buyer doesn't need to know you have a wine fund.  Or that your refrigerator has a pro-choice magnet.  As an avid reader, there are books everywhere in my home.  If my house was for sale, I'd pack some of them up and make the shelves look more spacious and artistic.  I'd hire a top notch cleaning person and have him/her scrub my home from top to bottom.  Nothing shows better than a sparkling clean home.  

If you are thinking of selling your home, invite a real estate agent to visit and get an opinion of just how much de-cluttering and putting away of personal items needs to be done.  But don't make it look like an empty furniture showroom.  Personality and happiness sell too.