Synchronicity

I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. I also believe in the power of manifestation and synchronicity. Once I took a strengths profile test and one of my largest values was connectedness. I guess you could say on a scale of 1-10 for spirituality, I'm about a 56.

Today we are one step closer to being a Pottery Barn magazine layout house. The painter has come and gone and I now have fresh walls, bright ceilings, and an accent wall. The color itself is Restoration Hardware's Cappuccino although I, myself, might have called it "Putty." Its a muddy green. That's about the best I can describe it and although I remarked to our painter, "Wow, I feel like I should dress in camouflage to match the army green walls," (it was wet and a lot darker at the time), he replied, "Its very hip and in." And, it is. The room looks amazing.

Side note: one of my original childhood dream jobs was to name colors. I would sit and look at my mom's makeup colors: seashell pink, dusty mauve, iris. I would study the colors and wonder how I would rename them. I thought this would be a fun job as it was a great blend of writing, style, and marketing. I reflect on it time to time when I buy new makeup (like Diva lipstick or I'm Not Really a Waitress nail polish) and recently with the paint colors. Anyway, moving on with my story...

Both J and I were on call Thursday night. It wasn't restful for either of us and I was actually late in meeting our painter at our house in the morning. As I shook off my sleep inertia, I brewed a pot of coffee and sat down on the floor to chat with our painter, Tom. Within about 20 minutes I learned his story: a social worker who does part time organizational development consulting. Are you freakin' kidding me?!? This is THE field I want to break into (preferably in health care) and the Universe sends me a career coach to make over my home and perhaps my outlook on my career.

There are moments, perhaps even full experiences, where your mind engages so quickly you can't even stop to take a breath because it is so filled with inspiration. My morning with Tom was that kind of experience. I took notes, I asked questions, he challenged my assumptions and raised the bar. It was synergistic and I realized that paying this guy almost $600 for 10 hours to paint was a bargain compared to with how much a career coach would cost for the same amount of time. I ended up running to get burgers and bought the guy lunch; it was the least I could do and he was appreciative as no other client had done that for him. Remember, I am my mother's daughter and if my kitchen wasn't torn up I would have baked cookies.

After 8 hours of painting and consulting my brain grew weak especially on 4.5 hours of sleep. One of my finest moments of impressing my new found mentor was stepping in the tray of paint and tipping it over. I'm not kidding. Somehow it all just remained on the cardboard box and my one white sock (now not so white). Embarrassing 101.

J stumbled through the door with only 30 minutes of Z's under his belt on a 33 hour shift. He fell into a sleep coma shortly after his arrival. Tom and I chatted away and then he taught me painting tricks. For instance: no need to wash the walls before painting unless you are doing the kitchen, which you need to degrease. Of course, J and I did it the hard way because the Orange Bible said so. But then again, we typically do things the hard way. Ok, let me rephrase: I don't do things the hard way, but he does and managing his OCD tendencies is more time consuming than just doing the 15 extra steps. We talked about primer and primary colors and brushes and, well, you get the picture. Truly, what an amazing day: a nice blend of head and physical labor. It was better than therapy.