Guest Post: The Red Hot Life

I'm continuing my series of guest posts this month to let you meet some of my favorite bloggers. For March, in honor of her birthday month, I want you to meet my friend Liz Taylor (not that Liz Taylor).  Unlike the other bloggers who have posted here, Liz is not part of the Arkansas Women Bloggers group (although I'm sure she would be if she lived here!)  I actually knew Liz IRL before she even had a blog.  That's "in real life," mom.  Liz and I used to work together and she is a fellow mom of twins, so that right there is reason enough to love her.  Please check out her blog Live A Red Hot Life and show her some love!

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The Red Hot Life
By: Liz Cerami Taylor

There's nothing quite like a birthday to help you take stock of your life.

In 2010, I turned 40. To mark that milestone, I did something I'd been wanting to do since I was 11: I signed up to meet Rick Springfield, my first love. It was amazing, and he was as cool in person as I thought he would be. The photo of us together can be described in one word: bliss. Well, that's how I would describe how I felt at the time. He might remember it differently.

That day was really more than just a "girl meets her favorite rock star" moment. It was an epiphany. I had spent the five years leading up to it devoted to the needs of my family (like Rhonda, I'm a mom of twins) and to my job. I rarely took time for myself. I believe with all my heart that self-care is essential to surviving in this life, but I had been doing a lousy job of it. On that day, I did something for myself and it felt great.

Over the next year, I did a lot of soul searching and it became clear to me that I wasn't happy. I began a quest for a "Red Hot Life" -- one where I felt truly alive. Because if I wasn’t happy and full of life, how could I be the person I needed and wanted to be for those who depended on me? Sure, some people do it, but to me that’s not really living.

I decided that I needed to make some pretty big changes in my life. So I did. And I did them pretty much all at once -- I'm crazy like that. In 2012, I reluctantly ended a marriage that was not working, and I left my job of 18 years and found a new job that allowed me to move back to my home state with my kids to be closer (but not too close) to my family.

It's been about a year and a half since I made those changes, and I'd be lying to you if I said it was easy. I made a list last year, My 2013 Red Hot List, of things I needed to do to overcome some of the challenges I faced in my new life. I haven’t completed it yet, but I'm making progress.

People have told me how "brave" and "courageous" I am to start over. I think what they mean is "you're nuts," but I appreciate the support nonetheless. I have tried to use my experience to help inspire others by blogging about my story. My posts are infrequent because life is hectic, so when Rhonda graciously asked me to be a guest blogger here, I wasn't sure if I really qualified! But I am very grateful for the opportunity to encourage others, so thanks Rhonda!

It has been four years since the day that started off my journey to a Red Hot Life. In fact, I turned 44 earlier this month. A few days before my birthday, I asked my friends on Facebook to describe me. I wanted to see if their perceptions matched with my reality these days. They used words like "smart," "in love with Rick Springfield," "funny," and "successful." One word that was missing? Happy. But that's OK. Because the only person who really knows if I am happy is me, and that answer varies by the day. That's just the way life is. I know that I'm on the right path, and I plan to stay on it and see where it leads.

 

 

 

Liz is a working mother of three boys, including fraternal twins, who lives in Virginia. Read about her pursuit of a Red Hot Life and her love of Rick Springfield at Live A Red Hot Life.

 

What I Learned at Camp....and Other Valuable Lessons

Over the weekend I made my second trip to the Arkansas Women Bloggers conference.  This year, we met at Ferncliff Conference Center and Camp, outside of Little Rock.  First off, if you've never been there, WOW! What a beautiful place!  It was smack dab in the middle of the woods with lakes, ponds, cabins, chickens and goats....can't beat that.  However, I was caught a bit off guard when we discovered that our room did not have a TV--you could have told us that up front, Stephanie!

 

Since I loved every minute of the conference last year, and soaked up so much useful info, I begged forced encouraged my blog sista Keisha to join me this year.  We hit the road on Friday full of excitement and with a van full of snacks, my two girls and a CD of toddler nursery rhymes.  Welcome to my world.  

 

The plan was to meet my mom in Conway to hand off my girls and get to the opening reception of the conference on time....but if you know me, you know things often don't go as planned.  More about that later.

 

 

 

 

 

KEY WORDS AND THEMES FROM MY WEEKEND

 

 

Dipstick.  Ladies, when you travel, please make sure the dipstick is where it should be.  Apparently a loose dipstick causes transmission fluid to leak out of your moving vehicle.  This leaking causes smoke to pour out of your vehicle, after which you need to pull over on the side of the interstate.  This causes you to have to depend on a stranger to fix your dipstick, then wasting an hour of precious time at the Walmart auto center and being TWO HOURS late to your conference.  Sadly, this also makes you  miss hearing P. Allen Smith speak at said conference.  Lesson learned:  Keep the dipstick in tightly.

 

Masterpiece.  Thanks to BooMama, we learned the importance of this word.  See also, validity.  Our blogs are valid and they are a masterpiece, no matter the subject. Be purposeful in your writing and on  your blog.  This is something we all struggle with, and even knowing that is comforting.

 

Relationships.  I'm not the only one to feel this or say it.  But these girls at the conference...they are something. They are all special, fun and enthusiastic.  These are my people.  I know that's totally cheesy, but we get each other.  I'm a word nerd and THAT'S COOL.  Which directly relates to the next theme.

 

Community vs. Competition.  In a room full of 100+ bloggers, with so much in common, there is also so much individuality and creativity.  Sure, there are "categories" we can put ourselves into:  lifestyle bloggers, fitness bloggers, foodies, business and mom bloggers.  But we all have a different story to tell.  We are all going to make an effort not to compare ourselves with each other; we are instead going to be a support system and cheer the other on.  Hooray!

 

And, finally...

 

Poop.  Because, isn't it a normal thing for grown women to sit and tell poop stories?  This really needs no further explanation, if you were sitting on the porch with me on Saturday night.  Thanks for sharing your stories and thanks for the laughs, ladies.  You know who you are.

 

 



In my next post, I'll share more links to my bloggy friends.  Some old friends from last year and many, many new ones.  Look at me, making friends! 

 

Mood Music is a Real Thing

Are you a music lover? I am, without a doubt.  I'm named after a popular song from the 60’s, you know (and also a former Miss Arkansas, I think).  I also know that I inherited my love of music from my dad, who obviously helped choose my name and introduced me to the Beach Boys.  Dad had an entire closet full of records when I was a kid, and often took us to Memphis just to visit the record store.  You know he was serious about his music, because the record store was not in a part of town you’d want to go if you were just passing through.

I have so many memories of singing along to the Oldies station with my parents.  As corny as it seemed at the time, I know that helped set the tone for my appreciation of all types of music.  I am not a music snob; I love it all.  You name it:  country, rap, disco, Broadway musicals, hair bands and pop….not much I won’t listen to. My iTunes library is very confusing.

As a lot of you know, I worked in the radio biz for seven years after college.  That makes me sound so hip, no?  What’s ironic about that is that I’m a radio station’s worst nightmare.  Stations are rated on how many listeners they have and the length of time people listen.  Well, I’m a button pusher.  I don’t have a loyalty to any one station or genre.  What I stop on depends on my mood and/or which of my old buddies is talking.

For me, music goes hand in hand with my mood.  Just a few weeks ago, I was driving to Fort Smith for a meeting.  I was having a Debbie Downer kind of day, just stuck in a rut or something.  Then, one of my “happy memory” songs came on the radio, and changed my whole mood.  It was 1994’s “Stay” by Lisa Loeb (thanks Jim!), which brings back so many memories of fun times in college cruising around in my BFF Lisa’s tiny red Toyota Celica. We’d put that song on repeat and sing forever.  It made me think of her, and how much I miss her, so I turned it up and sang right along.  Later, I sent her an email just to let her know I’d heard it and thought of her.

 

 

And just today, on yet another trip to the Fort, music impacted my day.  It was a dark, cloudy start to the Monday morning and I just couldn’t seem to wake up. I happened to stop the button pushing on my friend Jon’s radio show.  He talked a bit, and then launched into Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”  People! This song rocks.  In fact, it would totally be my “walk up” song if I played baseball.  I cranked it up and rocked out, right there in my minivan.  By the end of the song, I felt like I’d chugged about a dozen cans of Mountain Dew.  Yes, a rockin’ good song can do that to a person.

 

So this got me thinking of some of the other songs I like to hear when I’m driving.  Do you have a list of favorite driving songs?  Leave me a comment and let’s discuss.  Since this post is getting long, I’ll share my list with you later in the week.  Come back again, and we can share together.