9.9.12

Well it has been an interesting last few months. I ended the Summer semester at school and have now started the Fall semester.

I am taking a break from math classes this semester. I have an Art History class, Public Speaking class and a World History (up to the 1500's) class. I am enjoying them all. I actually created my schedule around the Art class because I wanted this specific Professor and class. That accounts for the 8:00 am class. This is a struggle for me since you all know I am NOT a morning person. I took the public speaking class just because it looked fun. I was correct... My Professor is hilarious. I nailed my first speech with an A+ and my next speech is due Tuesday. I am nervous about that one. She said to think outside the box and well.... I am lol. The world history class is interesting and I am learning a lot from it. I am already thinking about my final paper.


I started a new job a little over a month ago.  I am a Personal Concierge at the Marriott out at DIA. I am loving it. I get to meet new people and the team of people I work with is incredible. Sadly we lost a supervisor to the JW down-town. I will miss him. I was going to apply for that position but I have not been with Marriott for 90 days and I got to thinking about school scheduling and health issues and decided I really didn't want to add to the stress in my life right now. I will just sit back and learn for now.

I am thinking of taking several trips this fall... One to Atlanta to visit a good friend and one to visit my sister and nieces in Houston. I am working on saving some money up for a big trip next summer.

Well I am off to do some research for speech and history...

29.4.12

Finals Week... finally

Well, this starts the beginning of "Finals Week" for me. As usual I am stressed about them. My GPA has slipped a bit this semester but I am still at about a 3.6 which is ok I guess. I will pull it up over the summer if I can.

My final Drawing project is done and signed... we critique them on Tuesday and Thursday. I like the way mine turned out. It is a conte crayon, charcoal, and graphite composite drawing of a vent in an old fort in Fujairah UAE. On the left side of the drawing I "wrote" in Arabic part of my favorite poem, The Road Less Traveled and on the right I wrote the last line in English. I just need to mount it for class and it is totally finished. My English paper is almost done. I think I just need to write the conclusion and it will be done. Then all I have is my Math final. That I am nervous about. Math has been a huge learning curve for me.

I need to take at least 1 class this summer... Math again... ugh! This should be the last Algebra class I need though. I should be able at the end of summer semester to retest and avoid the rest of the Algebra. Then I can take the accounting class I need in the fall and work on a few more requirements.

I am still seeing the guy I wrote about before. Not much has changed there. I am still trying to keep it casual and no commitments. At least for the next 3 years. I don't need a distraction. I have enough trouble with "squirrel" syndrome as it is. I need to "laser focus" as my friend Joy says...

Well it is time to hit the books again. 28 out of 42 homework problems are done... Then I need to get on and do some online math homework... 70 problems of that... well at least I should know the material.

8.3.12

The story...

Hi and welcome... I am Lori. For the past 25 years I was a wife and mother, then all of that changed when one day my (ex) husband decided he wasn't happy. He wanted a divorce. We actually differ on how this all worked out initially, but the end result is the divorce was finalized on February 7th.

Before we got married, I essentially lived with my parents. There were times when I lived on my own, but never for more than 6 months at a time... I was not successful at it. After we were married for 7 years I divorced my husband and moves away for 6 months. I saw what it was doing to our son and asked if we could get back together and we did. The following years, I devoted myself to being the best mom I could be and the best wife I could be.

Now I am on my own for the first time in my life at the wonderful age of 48. I have a fantastic, cozy little apartment that I just love. The friends that have come over say it suits me and that it reflects my personality of being eclectic, and that it is cozy.

Some people might think it kind of fast to start dating this early in my single life, but I really like companionship. Thanks to my sister I found a good online dating site and signed up. Honestly I never thought anything would come of it. One day I had an email from another member and we have seemed to hit it off. He is fun to be with, adventurous (which is a good thing), a great cook (he cleans up after himself), can carry on a conversation with me about other things than how my day was and school. He supports my goals and helps me stay focused. I really like this guy. We are going to "let nature take it's course" and see where our relationship goes. So far it has been a lot of fun.

One thing I did at the suggestion of my good friend Joy, is to write a list of 15 things I wanted in my next relationship... "D" has seen this list and wasn't thrown off by it at all... He said he was impressed that I took the time to think things out. I figure if you are reading this you might just be interested in seeing what this list is like so here goes...

Lori's 15 list

1. Romantic Someone who will " court" me... I know that is an old-fashioned term but I think it fits. I can't help it... I am a romantic at heart.

2. Kind

3. Generous

4. Stable (financially and emotionally) (I plan on being out of debt this year, other than my student loans.)

5. Understanding

6. Have friends of his own (golf buddies, fishing buddies, ...) someone who can make friends and not rely on me to make friends for us...

7. Not someone who would worry if I had male friends. I have several.

8. Compassionate - Let me cry on their shoulder when I need to

9. Not the kind of person who gets in trouble ( with people or the law) I have never been in trouble a day in my life with the law. Well, I have had a ticket, which I deserved (California stop) but other than that nothing...

10. Honest ( I will not tolerate dishonesty, there is no room in a relationship for dishonesty)

11. Hard working

12. Able to have a conversation with me... I want someone to talk to at night

13. Passionate (about life and us)

14. Grounded – their life is balanced and they would balance me out and help me be grounded also. Spiritually grounded also.

15. Someone who will support me in my goals and dreams for my future... most other things I can give and take on...

It took me a lot of reflection to decide that these were the qualities I want in my next serious relationship. I have been surprised that as I get to know "D' more and understand who he is, he fits all of these except for one of them all the way. 14out of 15 is not bad... :)

I have been on a rocky road the past 9 years spiritually and am finally starting to find my footing again. I was in a Bible study at the time and it was focused on the first 4 chapters of Romans... you know, how bad we are... Well after 6 weeks of it, I was convinced I was bad and that there was no hope. I picked up my Bible and put it on the shelf and walked away. I didn't open it for 9 years... I just recently opened it and started reading some of my favorite verses and have found so much comfort i n them. I feel like I have been on a long journey in the wilderness... Sometimes God lets us go wandering. For me it was an exploration as to who I really am spiritually. For a period of time I returned to paganism and wicca, but upon exploring that path, I have determined it really is not who I am. There are things from that path I do believe in still, but who I really am is one of God's children. One of my friend who is pagan said it so well... She said that "I can choose what I believe in and what my values are but what it comes down to is where my heart is. " I truly believe in that. The emptiness I felt when I didn't have contact with God is gone and it feels like there is a hole that has been patched up. I still waver and waffle a bit, but I can almost see where I am supposed to be and it feels right. I know I am good and that God loves me for who I am. It doesn't matter to him what I was or am like, He just loves me.

So join me on this journey in figuring out who I am.

29.2.12

I did it again lol...

Wow... I did it again. I started to blog and then promptly forgot about it. I think I actually got busy, but I am not sure doing what... Life has gone by so fast since I last wrote something. Many Many updates...


I finally started college. It has been a dream of mine for a long time. I didn't know what I really wanted to do until we lived overseas for that wonderful but short period of time. I realized that I have always loved to travel so it finally became clear to me that I want a career in the Hospitality and Travel Management field. With much credit due to my son Jeiel and his encouragement I enrolled at Community College of Denver and am moving forward. I will be at CCD for at least 1 more semester, probably two, then I will transfer to Metro State and enter my field of study. I am excited to be moving forward.

Doug and I went to San Francisco in September. It was cool and windy there, but we had fun.

The first week in October we went out to dinner and after dinner while talking Doug said he didn't think we were "ok". So I said the obvious... "you want a divorce?" After talking a few times I decided that there was no way we could fix things so we moved forward with getting the divorce.

At first I was absolutely devastated. How could this be happening to me? For about a month and a half my life was turned upside down. Then I started to look back and now realize I just didn't see the signs for a long long time. If truth be known, the blame (if there is any) lies with both of us. Having had a lot of time for reflection I am now glad we moved forward. I realize now that I have been unhappy for a long time. I just didn't want to give up.

I have a cute cozy little apartment closer to school and I love it here. It is quiet and the neighbors are friendly. The neighborhood is not the best... It is decent but it is still close to some problem areas. I haven't had any problems and don't plan to have any.

I am in my second semester of school now and absolutely loving it. I had great professors last semester and one of them is the same this semester. I managed, despite all of the stress going on I managed to get a 4.0. So I have a "reward class" Drawing 1, an English Comp class and another Math class. The drawing is fairly easy and so is the English class. I am struggling a bit with my Pre Algebra class though. I am slowly getting it, and am determined to succeed in it. I had two other classes that I dropped. One was a business class that pushed me up to 18 credits. I decided that I couldn't do that so I kept my Spanish class. I should have dropped that one and kept the business class but oh well. I found out after the fact that my Spanish class was a Honor's Spanish. Why did my advisor do that to me? I have no idea. I will take it again, but in a simpler form another time lol.

The divorce was finalized on the 7th of February, but I celebrated (yes celebrated) on the 3rd which was the date I had filed the papers since Doug was out of the country. I called it "Freedom Day" It truly was a relief to have it done.

Doug has moved on with his life... in my opinion a little bit to quickly, but it is his life. His girlfriend has moved in and having known him for most of my life I know where that is going... I hope he is careful and thinks things through... like doing a pre-nup... Things like that are important.

I am moving on with my life now too... I have a friend who I have started to go out with every so often. We have a lot in common and really enjoy each others company. He makes me laugh and smile. He is considerate, kind, supportive of my goals, interested in what is going on in my life, interested in how school is going, etc. I am not sure where the relationship will go, but the ride will be fun and I will let nature take it's course.

Well, I have homework to do in Math and I want to work on my drawing for Art class tomorrow. I am not happy with a section of what I have drawn, but then anatomy is not a strong subject of mine. I think I may redraw it and start from scratch. Fortunately I took some pictures of the cast we were drawing and should be able to work things out.

I will try to be better at posting... I promise.