<h4><span style="color: #008000;"> </span></h4>
<h4><span style="color: #008000;">Welcome to my existential crisis.</span></h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #000000;">Recently, I fell into the mother of all ruts.  In an attempt to hoist myself out of this Funk, I am on a mission (and I do choose to accept it) to try one new/inspiring/interesting/uplifting/provocative/
</span><span style="color: #000000;">or creativity-injected thing each day for 365 days.  I will then blah, blah, blog about my experiences.  </span>    </p>
<span style="color: #000000;">Some might call this insanity.  </span><span style="color: #000000;">I call it salvation.  </span>    
<blockquote><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="color: #993300;"><strong>"Do one thing every day that scares you."</strong></span></span>    

<span style="color: #000000;"><strong>  <span style="color: #993300;">                                                    --- Eleanor Roosevelt</span></strong></span>    </blockquote>
<span style="color: #000000;">I would love to, Ms. Roosevelt, but with all due respect, I don't necessarily want to be scared every day.  That sounds to me like high blood pressure waiting to happen.  </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">But I really dig your point, Eleanor.  Instead, may I take a healthy dose of artistic license and change this to...</span>    
<blockquote><span style="color: #993300;"><strong>"Do one thing every day that scintillates your soul."</strong></span>    

<span style="color: #993300;"><strong>                                                           -- Late Bloomer</strong></span>    </blockquote>
<h4><span style="color: #008000;"> </span></h4>
<h4><span style="color: #008000;">What Brought on 'Da Funk </span></h4>
<span style="color: #000000;">Last year I celebrated my 40th birthday and promptly freaked out like every other American woman who turns 40.  How very cliché of me.  </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">Mid-life crises lead people to crazy and outrageous acts such as buying an expensive sports car, cheating on a significant other, or packing up one's life to run away across the country.  </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">I started a blog.  </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">Granted, this was neither particularly outrageous nor crazy, but nevertheless indicative of the 40 year-old undercurrent bubbling, "What is next?" and "Where has all the time gone?" and "I need some sort of change or I will surely go insane!"</span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">I turned 40, and I suddenly felt like the hourglass of time was half empty.  </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">Of course, when I flipped both the hourglass and my perspective upside down, I noticed that the hourglass was half full.  </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">This reminded me of the quintessential Late Bloomer.  Late Bloomers don't acknowledge societal timelines in life.  They bloom whenever the hell they're good and ready.  They focus on the sand in the hour glass, not the empty space.  </span>    

I can live with that.   

<span style="color: #000000;">I have always felt that the Late Bloomer seed was planted in my childhood and has been sprouting ever since.  This seemed like a natural focus for my blog:  musings and ramblings of a Late Bloomer.  You can see my embarrassingly green (literally and figuratively) first attempt at a blog at <a href="http://www.latebloomerdiary.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><strong>www.latebloomerdiary.blogspot.com</strong></a><strong>.</strong>  </span>    

And then...    

Life got in the way.    

<span style="color: #000000;">Big time. </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">I will spare you the details, but to give you an idea, "Life Got in the Way" involved: Internet Dating Hell, swine flu (yes, I survived), run of the mill job stress, horrific insomnia, an unrequited mongo crush, and a very sick little doggie. </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">Life Got in the Way evolved into Life is Downright Cruel when after doing everything in my power to help Woofie, my constant companion of nearly 14 years, I finally had to say goodbye.  </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">Every animal lover knows how saying goodbye shatters your heart and soul.  </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">And so I plummeted into a Funk.  Life seemed like one buzz kill after another.  The Late Bloomer seed may have still been in there somewhere, but my petals wilted.  Needless to say, my blog withered away as well.  </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">I felt disappointed, disenchanted, and in general, dissed by life.  </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">I hate to say it, but I even started to freak out about my upcoming 41st birthday.  </span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">Side note:  Why do women torment ourselves with this aging crap???  Oh, yeah -- the media and its obsession with Hollywood.  I also happen to live in a city of Mr. &amp; Ms. Skin Deeps.  But I digress.  Back to 'Da Funk...</span>   

<span style="color: #000000;">The Funk pushed me into the abyss of the aforementioned mother of all ruts.   I was on auto-pilot cruising at same old, same old altitude.  </span><span style="color: #000000;"> </span>    
<blockquote><strong><span style="color: #993300;">"If you are tired of the same old, same old, then try something different new, different new."</span></strong>  

<span style="color: #993300;"><strong>            -- Late Bloomer</strong> </span>  </blockquote>
<h4><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="color: #008000;"> </span></span></h4>
<h4><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="color: #008000;">Funk Begone! </span> </span></h4>
<span style="color: #000000;">Shortly after life dissed me, it threw me a few bones, as it always does.  Sometimes you have to go digging through the dirt for the bones, but they are there if you are willing to get your hands dirty.  </span>

Pathetic as it sounds, I somehow rediscovered  <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl005muyttQ" target="_blank"><strong>"Dark Road" by Annie Lennox</strong></a> and listened to it over and over and over again.  It became my personal anthem.   
<blockquote><span style="color: #993300;"><strong>"I wanna come in from the cold
And make myself renewed again."</strong></span><span style="color: #993300;"><strong> </strong></span> 

<span style="color: #993300;"><strong>                                            -- Annie Lennox, Rock Goddess </strong></span>  </blockquote>
<span style="color: #000000;">Then one night -- on facebook of all places -- I came across an old Fast Company article that a friend had posted.  The article highlighted a few Late Bloomers with a "it's never too late" attitude.  Powerful reminder.  </span>

<span style="color: #000000;">Who knows how these things happen upon us, but at that very moment, I was compelled to watch <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html" target="_blank"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk</strong></a>.  I had only been been meaning to view this since she mentioned it...oh...6 months prior at her book signing.   (I tend to be a bit of a procrastinator.)</span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">Liz uttered the magic words,</span>    
<blockquote><span style="color: #000000;"><strong><span style="color: #993300;">"Check it out.  I am pretty young.  I'm <em>only </em>about 40 years-old.  I still have maybe another 4 decades of work left  in me. "</span></strong></span>    

<span style="color: #000000;"><strong><span style="color: #993300;">                                                           -- Elizabeth Gilbert, author </span></strong></span></blockquote>
Wow.  Well...when you put it <em>that</em> way, Liz.  Thank you.  You are officially my idol.     

In fact, I was so jazzed by Liz's Late Bloomer mojo that I ran to my kitchen and furiously began jotting notes on a new blog project.     

<span style="color: #000000;">When Liz found herself in crisis, she heeded her inner voice, ran away and traveled the world.</span>    

<span style="color: #000000;">While I certainly have entertained the escape fantasy, my inner voice tells me that I can create my own little adventure right here, right now.  </span>    
<blockquote><span style="color: #000000;"><strong><span style="color: #993300;">"Carpe diem and all that jazz. "</span></strong></span>    

<span style="color: #993300;"><strong>                          -- Horace and Late Bloomer</strong> </span>    </blockquote>
<span style="color: #000000;">How many times do we say "Carpe diem" and then actually seize the day?  We say it wholeheartedly, but do we truly <em>live </em>it?    </span>
<h4><span style="color: #008000;">Curiosity Revived this Kat</span></h4>
<span style="color: #000000;">So here I am ready to live curiously for 365 days.   My goal is to "Carpe Diem".  For real.  </span>

<span style="color: #000000;">It's time to get out of my head and into life.  (I am an <a href="http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html" target="_blank">INFJ</a>, so this in itself is a challenge.)</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">Ultimately, I hope that this blog inspires women (and my 3 token male readers) to break out of their own ruts and Funks.  Just say "no" to 'da Funk!   Instead, let's get funky in a good way.  Let' s inject a little curiosity into our lives and get on with it! </span>

<span style="color: #000000;">I would love for you to join me in my quest.  <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/latebloomerdiary" target="_blank"><strong>Subscribe to my (almost) daily updates through email or RSS</strong></a> .  (If you don't know what RSS is, just click the email option.  I didn't know what it was either a year ago.   It's o.k.)  You can also follow me on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Diary-of-a-Late-Bloomer/155985501079157?ref=sgm" target="_blank"><strong>Facebook </strong></a>or <a href="https://twitter.com/latebloomer365" target="_blank"><strong>Twitter</strong></a><strong>.</strong>  </span>

<span style="color: #000000;">Make my day by <a href="http://diaryofalatebloomer.com/submit-a-365-idea/" target="_blank"><strong>submitting your own 365 idea for me to try</strong></a><strong>.</strong>  That would be uber-cool if decided to go for it, wouldn't it?  </span>
<blockquote><span style="color: #000000;"><strong><span style="color: #993300;">"If variety is the spice of life, then this year is going to be hot!"</span></strong></span>

<span style="color: #993300;"><strong>                                                          -- Late Bloomer</strong> </span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #000000;">Are you ready to get spicy with me?  I look forward to spending the year with you.  </span>