Failure Can Be Good...But I Like Success Best!

Well, after thinking about it for nearly seven years today I finally became a real estate agent! Even though I don't have license in hand yet, I did pass the exam today and the rest is a matter of paperwork and sending the Tennessee Real Estate Comission a check for $130! So I considermyself an agent.

The process of obtaining my license has been quite and ordeal, much more difficult that obtaining two bachelor's degrees and completing 18 hours of grad school but also more rewarding.

I first became interested in becoming a real estate agent about 7 years ago, but I let a Century 21 agent in my then=hometown of Senatobia, MS, talk me out of it.
Then about 18 months ago when Steven went through the prelicensing course, I decided to go for it, too. I decided to take the class at night even though I was not working full time during the day.

I went two nights and dropped out! I am not a nighttime person by any means. We'd get out of class around 9:30 and I'd be hungry because all I'd had was a light dinner around 4. It was a 30 minute drive home, and then at 10 I'd be in Wal Mart, perusing the aisles looking for something easy to fix--like frozen pizza. Then I'd watch TV for awhile to unwind, and wind up staying up waaaay to late. So I dropped out, thinking it would be easy to resume later.

Then it just never seemed like the right time--until this summer. Again, a friend who's been an agent about 30 years tried to talk me out of it but I did not listen. I listened to myself instead, and enrolled in the class again, this time in the daytime.

It pushed me to sit in class 7 hours a day for two weeks, crammed in a tiny room with 49 other agents in training. We had a test each Friday on the material we'd covered so tension was high. Our class was rowdy. One day I audited another class and they were so quiet! I wish I had been in with them two weeks. Oh, well...I made it.

I studied my butt off for the national exam, and lightly skimmed over the state law portion. The teachers had not made too big a deal out of the law portion so I didn't either.

To my total surprise, I failed the law portion! In the meantime, Steven, who was thinking about going ahead and getting his license (since he had already completed the course), and I had interviewed with 8 companies. I narrowed it down to two, one small and local, one a franchise with fantastic training.

About two weeks after failing the law portion, I retook it. I called myself studying this time, but since I have never really studied before what I was doing wasn't really studying and I failed the test again!

It was a blow. I felt like I let both Steven and myself down, and wondered whether I had a future in real estate. The worst part, or so I thought, was that I had to wait 30 days to retake it. If I did not pass the third time, I would have to wait six months and then retake the entire thing, even the part I had passed the first time, again. Not fun. And--what would I do in the meantime?

I had told the small local company I was going to sign with them, but during my 30 day waiting period I reconnected with a different branch of the franchise. I loved the training and high energy and knew this was where I was supposed to be. I realized that if I had passed the test the second time and gone with the small company, I would not be getting off to the successful start that I need as a new agent.

I still had my dilemma of how to pass the test, when Maggie suggested I get Steven to ask me the questions in the practice test book. It worked! Everything about Tennessee real estate law started to make sense, and better yet, I was retaining it. It helped that Steven had been through the course, too.

So today I took the test and passed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steven told me when I got home that I looked younger because the stress had been alleviated!

We celebrated with sparkling organic pear juice since neither of us drink alcohol. I also made some yummy chicken parmesan which turned out great even thought initially I forgot to brown the chicken first. I had to tear apart the whole casserole, brown the chicken, then put it back together but it was none the worse for it.

All in all, it's been a wonderful day and I am excited aobut the wonderful future ahead of me as a real estate agent. I know it will be an exciting adventure!

Fall Is Finally Here

Greetings to All!

I have not posted for almost 10 days, since we were running around like chickens all last week. I had been sick the week before, and we had lots of catching up to do. Plus, Steve will be starting his new job soon, so we had to shop for new shoes and clothes for him. We also purchased a professional quality video camera for our Golden Legacies business, and took care of lots of other errands and household chores. Still, we have yet to pressure wash the house...sigh. Maybe I will wake up tomorrow to discover that the pressure washing fairies have taken care of it! Ha!

On Saturday we decided to relax with a trip to the Franklin Farmer's Market, our favorite summer/fall activity. Steve took the new video camera and shot some footage of our buddies, the Franklin Square Pickers. I took some photos of them but they did not turn out because the market coordinator has them playing in the center of the shed now instead of out on the market grounds...it is really dark in that shed! Steven's video did not turn out too well as a result.

I did get a few vendor photos, since they were on the outer edges of the shed and got more light.

Those tomatoes sure look good! Better than they did all summer. I don't know why I did not buy any...I got sweet potatoes and turnip greens (organic) which we have already eaten up. Now I am craving one of those tomatoes! And wishing I had a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Oh...temps were 95 early last week; then dropped to the 60s and 70s during the day and 40s at night Thurs and Friday...now they are back up, we were out today and the car thermometer registered 86! Ugh! At least we are finally seeing a few fall leaves, though.

Smashing Pumpkins!

Well, Steve and I headed south today to Cool Springs, which is big box retailer mecca...we had some shoe shopping to do, and also stopped at the health food store, and SteinMart, my favorite clothing store, then had lunch at Wild Noodles.

Since it's so hot here (see post earlier today) no one is doing much in the way of fall decorating. However, we did see quite a few smashed pumpkins in the streets along the way, so the teenagers are not letting the out of season temps stop them! I got kind of a kick out of it since Steve loves the rock group, Smashing Pumpkins. They are from Chicago and he was listening to them before they became a major success.

Since I don't even have so much as a mum on my doorstep, I am posting this photo that I took last October at the Lewis Country store up the road!

Seasons out of Sync?

Since there are no fall leaves in evidence here in Middle Tennessee, I decided to pull a few off some Internet clip art!

The temperatures have been in the low 90s all this past week, and will hit 90 today, tomorrow, and Monday according to the weather forecast. By Tuesday, though, the highs will be around 80 and lows at night in the 50s.

That's more like it!

I don't ever remember having daytime temperatures in October being in the 90s. Even in Chicago, where Steve's kids live, the temps have been in the 80s.

I am still running the air conditioner full blast at night, still scrounging through my summer clothes trying to find something to wear.

As for meals, it's still chicken salad, fruit salad, and other summer-type meals around here. When I run across a fall soup recipe on the Internet or in the paper I think, huh? Fall harvest chili or butternut squash soup just do not sound appealing when the weather is so hot.

I am just going to get through the next three days of heat and humidity (90 percent today) and then look forward to next week.

And perhaps pretty soon we will begin to see some fall color on these green hills!

Progress Comes To Nashville

WooHoo!!!!!!!

Nashville's restaurants and workplaces are now smoke-free, courtesy of the Tennessee State Legislature!

When I first moved to the Nashville area in 2002, I was shocked at how many people smoked. I previously had lived in Memphis and North Mississippi, where most of my co-workers and friends had given up smoking years before.

In Nashville, seeing people walking down the street smoking was quite common, but I was amazed at the sight. Then I realized--I was now in tobacco-growing country instead of cotton-growing country.

I am a non-drinker but I do enjoy listening to live music. Here I am in Music City USA and my listening pleasure has been curtailed because of cigarette smoke. I have asthma and am seriously affected by smoke to the point that just smelling it on someone's clothes can send me into an hour-long coughing frenzy. Not to mention that sometimes my eyes swell shut from it, too.

Now I can finally go to Robert's Western World on Lower Broadway, home of traditional country music in Nashville!

Thank you, Tennessee State Legislators, for the gift of health and enjoyment!

Where is Fall?

I'm definitely having trouble believing that it's October, since it still feels like summer in Middle Tennessee!

Steve and I went to Best Buy this afternoon to purchase some movie-editing software for our family legacy video business and on the way home, the thermometer in our HHR registered 89! No wonder I was so hot!

It feels more like early September. I guess everyone else is feeling the same way about fall because I don't see any pumpkins on doorsteps or corn shooks and scarecrows or even fall wreaths!

We did stop at Big Lot's after Best Buy and I saw a hideous rubber vulture for $20! We deduced that it was part of the Halloween decor even though someone had placed it in the sock section. I wish I had brought my camera--usually I keep it in my purse but today I forgot--because I would have loved a picture of it...it was so gross!

Oh, well...about fall...maybe it will cool off eventually and I will be able to throw on a sweater and my favorite scarf.

At least the goldenrod is blooming!

Goin' to Chicago

Steve and I are getting excited about our annual holiday trip to the Chicago area to be with his family!

Due to tight finances this year, as a result of starting our Golden Legacies business, we have not been to Chicago since last Christmas. And his grown daughters and one son-in-law did not visit us this year for the same reason. It has been a loooong time since last December, and we are longing to see the "kids".

Last year we stayed a full week; I hope we can do the same this year. We usually stay at a hotel in the Oak Brook area, but last year we booked a room at the Candlewood Suite in the suburb of Warrenville since it was about halfway between both girls. It was a long haul up to the northern burbs to visit his parents and siblings, but Warrenville was very quite and pleasant, and close to shops and restaurants in Wheaton.

Some highlights of our trip were: eating Gino's East pizza ( you just can't get good pizza in the Nashville area, especially for someone from Chicago!); shopping at IKEA (we don't have one here), and eating at diners...yum. One of my favorite things about the Chicago diners is that they all serve delicious "cream of" soups. My favorites are the Hi View and Kappy's, both in the southwest suburb of Villa Park. I like the cream of spinach soup at the Hi View, and the cream of chicken at Kappy's. We also enjoy dinner at Journey's End when we are up in the Mundelein area. Each entree is served with big crocks of homemade soup!

Last year, a couple of weeks before we left I ran out and purchased a heavy coat (don't usually need one here, esp. as I am hot natured). Turns out, I did not need it in Chicagoland last Christmas season, either. I wore it a couple of days but the weather was fairly mild. Especially a few days after Christmas when we went to the Naperville River Walk with Steve's youngest daughter...she took the entire week off work so she could spend extra time with us!

With all the family visiting, though, we never seem to have time to get into the city to visit the museums and other attractions. We are actually thinking about telling everyone we've left and then staying a couple of extra days to play tourist! I feel like a mischevious child, writing that!

I am trying to post a photo of the Naperville River Walk that I pulled off the internet but I don't think it's working too well. I need a blog tutor!

Psst! I've Got A Secret!

I SHOULD be working on the holiday marketing plan for our Golden Legacies business, not to mention writing a freelance article on mortages that is due Wednesday, studying for my real estate exam, and revamping our website content http://www.goldenlegacies.com/but I can't tear myself away from Blog World!

Reading the homekeeping, decorating, gardening, antiquing, crafting, quilting, cooking, etc. blogs has opened up a new world of creativity and relaxation for me. Finally, I feel like I am connecting with women who are interested in the same things I am interested in!

OK, now that I've said that...I'd better seriously get back to work.

But first...here is the link to just one of many blogs I've enjoyed today: http://www.liquidskyarts.com/liquidblog/blogger.html

Jungle Cat

Here is a pic of Tiger Lily in her natural habitat!

Photo Update

Somehow the photos did not make it with the original post...I am new to this and am in the learning curve so I will try again!

Here are a few photos from yesterday's activities:

First, a 7:30 a.m. walk down our looooong country driveway to get the newspaper. The temperature was a chilly 48 degrees but I loved it, especially considering all the hot weather we've had this month.

Then, a trip to the Livery Stable antique store in Pleasant View, TN. I took a few shots of things I especially liked, to share them with you.

We also stopped at the Ashland City Farmer's Market (no one was there--and I don't just mean customers, I mean vendors, too...what's up with that? no collard greens this year?), the library and the Wal-Mart grocery (ugh) but I did not deem those stops worthy of documenting. The only exciting that happened at Wal-Mart (other than I did not lose my mind in the crowd and start screaming my head off in the cereal aisle) is that they have their huge, holiday display of baking goods...chocoloate chips, flour, sugar, sprinkles, cans of pumpkin, and so forth...It will soon be baking time!

Enjoy the photos from yesterday...

Girl in Fur Jammies!

Decided I would post a pic of my fur girl, Tiger Lily...this was taken two years ago when I was housesitting for Ken and Lorraine in Arrington.

Yesterday's Adventures

This was actually a post from yesterday...

It’s a beautiful day here in Ashland City…sunny…80 degrees…low humidity…but I have been tied to the computer all morning working on a PowerPoint presentation and doing some internet research. Steven had to go into Nashville for a couple of business meetings, and my mother is napping, so it feels like I have the house all to myself…which hardly ever happens.
It’s about lunchtime so I think I will head downstairs, fix a bite to eat, and then sit out on the porch and enjoy the sunshine!

Ah! As I was leaving the room I glanced out the window and saw two young fawns grazing on our front lawn...they did a great job of lawn maintenance...now there is less for Steven to weed eat.

As I was sitting out on the porch enjoying the day, I was joined by the orange and white feral cat that lives on the small log cabin on our property. He smelled my lunch--pinto beans and rice--I guess. He came fairly close, but he still flinches and runs when we try to pet him. He wants us to really badly...I hope one day he will realize we only want to give him love, not harm.

More On Quilts

My favorite part of the show last weekend were the antique quilts. The oldest one dated back to around 1900; most were from the 1920s-early 1970s and were made by women from this area. Many were made from dresses, pajamas, and other clothing items worn by the quilter and her family, while some from the Depression Era were made from feedsacks.

I did not know much about the history of quilting so I looked it up on the Internet. According to an article on wikipedia.com, quilting has been around since Ancient Egypt and possibly even before. Variations of quilting were very popular in the Middle Ages, especially in the upper class.

In America, quilting did not become widely popular until the advent of the sewing machine in the 1850s. Prior to that, quilting was mostly done by wealthy women with leisure time.
The reason the sewing machine made quilting more popular with middle-class women of the 1800s is not because the sewing machine made quilting easier, but because it made it easier for women to make clothes for their families, giving them more time for activities like quilting.

Although quilts in the 1800s were servicable and used to keep warm on cold winter nights, quilting became a creative and social outlet for women that continues to this day.

Quilts also played a major role in the movement to free slaves in America. Abolitionists made quilts and sold them at fairs and such to raise money for the movement to end slavery. Anti-slavery poems and sayings often were appliqued or written onto the quilts.
There also are stories that quilts made in the log cabin pattern were hung on the clothes line outside “safe” houses, letting runaway slaves know it was safe to stop there on their escape route to the North, and that some quilts were made into map patterns of stops along the Underground Railroad. According to the Wikipedia article, though, there is no evidence to support this.

But I like to think it’s true!

I try to go to quilt exhibits whenever I can. One that especially stands out in my memory was at Brooks Art Museum in Memphis in the early 90s. It was an African-American quilt exhibit and it was fabulous! Their quilts don’t just follow patterns, they tell stories of women’s lives. I went with my friend, Cindy. The security guard told us as we were leaving that of all the women who had visited the exhibit, he had never seen anyone study the quilts as much as we did…we were there for hours!

Quilt Show

Here are a few photos from the quilt show presented by the Sew Delightful Quilt Guild at the Renaissance Center in Dickson, TN (http://www.rcenter.org/) last weekend.

The stained glass quilt is my favorite. I also am showing the prize winner. The show featured quite a few antique quilts but those photos did not turn out well as I was at the back of the room.

Dinner and a Movie

Steven and I had a fantastic evening last night. It was dinner and a movie with a different twist.

It all happened because the previous week we went to the Tuesday evening IBI meeting for the first time and met Pete and Ryan, two young men who are out to change the world.

Their company is called Yes! Empower and they use NLP, hypnosis and other techniques to help people remove limiting beliefs.

They graciously invited us to join them and several others for dinner at their home, and to watch The Secret. I already had seen The Secret three times but never the Esther Hicks version, which they have.

At that same IBI meeting we also met Connie Jackson, known as the Shrinking Woman, because she has lost about 480 lbs through bariatric surgery.

Connie's life is still all about food, but now she cooks it with love and health for others. She has worked with Pete and Ryan to overcome her feelings of still being an overweight person even after losing the weight.

Connie catered the delicious dinner we had at Pete and Ryan's. And there was a crowd...about 12 people showed up for dinner and The Secret, followed by a great discussion.

We were so glad to get out and meet new people who also are interested in spiritual topics!

We look forward to more of the same type of evenings.

Oh...and we thought the Esther Hicks version of The Secret was much better.

Fabulous Friendship

Last Friday, I took time out for an afternoon of play with my friend, Maggie.

Maggie and I have been friends for almost 10 years. We met in August 1997 at an Eckankar seminar in Biloxi, MS. I was immediately drawn to her and her husband, Steve. During the seminar, Maggie showed slides of her garden at her home in Arrington, TN, near Nashville. She talked about how she had cultivated loving relationships with her mother and sister in Louisiana by focusing on their common love for gardening and birdwatching. I learned a lot about my relationship with my own mother from her talk.

Steve, who had long brown hair at the time, sang some original songs, one of which described how he had healed his relationship with his father, who passed away a few years earlier. Steve is an amazingly talented singer as well as an artist and wonderful person.

At the end of the seminar, I who normally am very shy, approached Maggie and Steve, told them how much their creative arts had meant to me over the weekend, and asked for their phone number.

At the time I was living in Mississippi, about 6 hours from their Arrington home. I called once or twice, but did not see them again for 2 1/2 years, when I came to an Eckankar event in Nashville.

Our friendship took off and never stopped. And when Steven moved here in 2003, I could not wait to introduce him to Maggie and Steve. He loves them as much as I do.

Fast forward to March 23, 2007. Maggie and I don't get to spend as much time together as we used to, given my business schedule and the hour distance that separates us.

So this day was special. We went to Lillybelle's Tea Room in Franklin, which was yummy, with decor just the way we like it: shabby chic w/ lots of toile.

After lunch, Maggie accompanied me to Kmart, where I decided to try to find a pair of shoes for my hard-to-fit wide foot.

She found the winning pair! It's great to have a friend to shop with...

After shoe shopping we went to the garden center, where I spied a turquoise Martha Steward vase that I fell in love with. Maggie grabbed it up along with a few other items she was purchasing. I did not know until after she paid that the vase was for me!

But the best is yet to come. As she presented me with this beautiful gift, she gave me an even better gift...the gift of love. My dear friend, whom I love so much, share with me how much she loves me and how much our friendship means to her.

My life gets more fabulous and full of love every day! I wish the same for you!

The Sounds of Silence

Yesterday evening Steven and I took a walk in the woods behind our house. We live on 10 acres in Cheatham County, TN. It is very hilly here; in fact, to Steven and myself who are from the flatlands of Northern Illinois and Western Tennessee, respectively, the hills look like mountains.

Behind our house, we have several heavily wooded acres that go up the side of a "mountain". We don't climb up there too often, but when we do, like yesterday, we wonder why we don't do it more often.

It amazes both of us that we are walking on land that probably has never been inhabited by people. Hunters use a trail that goes up the "mountain" but there have never been and probably never will be, homes built here. Even though we can still hear cars down on Little Marrowbone Road, the quiet is almost loud!

Through the silence, we can hear a pulse or vibration that is like the heartbeat of the universe. Our own hearts beat in rjoyful ythm with it.

A New Chapter

Greetings, Everyone!

This past weekend, March 16-18, I attended the Story Circle Network Lifelines Retreat at Festival Hills in Round Top, TX.

It was a weekend of relaxation, making new friends, and writing about my life.


I returned to my country home in Ashland City, TN, just outside of Nashville, with a renewed sense of commitment to my writing.

But I wondered how best to discipline myself and squeeze in writing time, what with starting a new business, freelancing, household chores, and everything else life has to offer.

This morning I picked up our paper, the Ashland City Times, and read a profile of a mystery writer who lives in our community. She said she disciplines herself to write each day by blogging.

So I decided...why not blog, too?

Right now I am a bit sleepy, as I am an early-to-bed girl...this blog mostly will be written in the morning from here on out.

So I am going to say goodnight now, and look forward to sharing more tomorrow...preferably in the morning.

Happy Dreams!

Karen Hu