I’m going West to see my boy!!!! Finally, the day has arrived. I’m all packed up, and so is the Mayor. Per usual, Goalielocks is dragging his feet but should finish packing within the hour. I took a brief hiatus from the blogosphere for the last few days as we were on vacation in the Keys. Initially, I had intended to blog throughout the trip. However, the lack of reliable wifi and data service nipped that plan in the bud. I was a bit annoyed at the lack of connection, but honestly, it was great to disconnect for a few days. So now, after a few days in the islands, I’m going West. C’est la belle vie!
I’ll probably put up a vacation recap tomorrow as I’ll have plenty of time to write while flying. This will. naturally include a review of our stay at Hawk’s Cay. Today I worked most of the day while making sure everything was ready for tomorrow. Work continues to be engaging as I am meeting great people everyday. Sales is such a grind, but it is rewarding meeting great people. Nonetheless, it was hard to focus knowing that I was less than twenty four hours away from flying to see my oldest.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read The Song of the Lark, by Willa Cather
*Yin Yoga with Jennifer from Open Heart Yoga Studio
*Morning and afternoon meditation
*I’m switching gears from sand castles to hiking boots
*Today I wonder if anyone ever watched the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
*Tonight I’m watching nature shows with my sweetAnakin.
*Tomorrow I’m going west! Before the hurricane can make its way to Florida!
*Week 10 BBG 2.0 day 4 yoga.
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Only seven glorious days until I get to see my oldest son! Fortunately, I have a great weekend planned in the Keys to help these last seven days pass by. It’s been a hot minute since we’ve been to the keys, so we’re all quite excited. Additionally, it’s the first time we’ve taken a trip since March. In fact, this trip is our rescheduled spring break trip. Honestly, the next two weeks are going to be a lot of fun!
Since I’m going to be out of pocket early next week, I pounded the pavement today for work. When I get back, I should have several meetings set to go and presentations ready for delivery. Naturally, I’ll be checking in while I’m away. As I’m new to the role, I don’t want to abdicate my responsibilities at all. Fortunately, this doesn’t mean I’ll spend the entire time running smoothly. Today I spent time setting up my outreach campaign, which will run without any intervention from me. Unfortunately, this also meant I had to skip my yoga class today. Thankfully, I’m going to go take the class as soon as I finish this blog.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read The Song of the Lark, by Willa Cather
*Gentle Flow with Jennifer from Open Heart Yoga Studio
*I completed a morning and afternoon meditation.
*I completed my work project this morning, so there will be no need for manual intervention from me needed next week.
*I learned a new word today. Smicker, which means to ogle and smile amorously.
*Week 9 BBG 2.0 day 5 abs and yoga.
*Countdown: Seven glorious days
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Eight days until I see my airmen!!!!! The title reminds me of our favorite songs, “Eight Days a Week” by the Beatles. This trip will be our first one after the epidemic started, so I’m pretty excited. Needless to say, we’ll be taking plenty of precautions as we travel. Also, we will spend the bulk of our journey outside in wide-open spaces. Fortunately, there is a multitude of outdoor opportunities to fill our time. I cannot wait to explore the Rockies and its surrounding area with my boys!
Today is also my dad’s sixty-seventh birthday. Unfortunately, this year is the first year the boys haven’t been able to celebrate with him since 2009. Undoubtedly, we will have to celebrate all the missed milestones of 2020 once this pandemic is over. Hopefully, we can do celebrate these during the holidays when my son is home on leave. That would be the best Christmas gift ever! I cannot wait to be able to see my family again.
Before I leave you for the night, I need to ask for prayers for Cole. He’s Goalielocks’ teammate, who was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in February. Unfortunately, he suffered a setback this week and is dealing with a nasty eye infection. The first combination of antibiotics proved problematic causing an allergic reaction and the main antibiotic ultimately failed. He is feeling somewhat better today, but has no immune system to fight infection. Please pray that the new antibiotic regiment will take care of the infection, so he can restart chemo next week. Please pray for his continued strength and for his family.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read The Song of the Lark, by Willa Cather
*Yin Yoga with Jennifer from Open Heart Yoga Studio
*Morning and afternoon meditation
*There has been an insane amount of rain this week. My yard was almost as full of water as Facebook is full of bad information.
*Tonight I’m watching nature shows with my sweetAnakin.
*Week 10 BBG 2.0 day 4 yoga.
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Does anyone know what day it is? Like seriously, for a millisecond or maybe more, I was convinced that it was Tuesday. In fact, it almost made its way into the blog as the title. Clearly, there are advantages to working at home and never having to leave. However, it has a Ground Hogs’ Day sort of feeling that leaves you wondering what day it is. Honestly, if it wasn’t for my different yoga classes, I don’t think I’d be able to determine the day of the week truly.
Regardless of my difficulty determining the day of the week, I crushed the day professionally. I had two very productive sales meetings with clients. Moreover, I sent out three presentations for clients to review. Today was awesome! When I initially took the position, one of the main draws with the flexibility of the position. However, I have found, over the course of the last few weeks, that meeting and connecting with interesting and successful people is the best part of the job. In fact, I can see how much I am going to learn in this position through my professional interactions. It’s truly exciting.
As for my fitness goals, I wrote a bit about my shoulder being off last night. Unfortunately, it continues to be a bit unstable and a bit painful. Originally, I planned to do the BBG arm workout today. However, when I saw the exercises, I realized I needed to skip it today. Sadly, I think copious amounts of burpees and other plyometrics are not what my shoulder needs right now. Fortunately, I was able to go to my yoga class and that was fantastic. I modified poses where I needed to for my foot and shoulder, but overall I felt pretty good in class. In truth, I am so grateful that my new job allows me the flexibility to take a yoga break whenever I want.
My yoga studio, Open Heart Yoga Studio, has been a sanctuary for me since I started in late October of 2019. When I first restarted my practice, my entire body was tight. In fact, my shoulders were nearly frozen and were a significant source of pain. I started slowly with the gentle classes at least five times a week. Eventually, I was taking classes six days a week and increasing my intensity. This studio, its owner Jennifer and all her teachers, has been crucial to rebuilding my fitness and healing my body. For those of us with autoimmune disease, yoga is a fantastic way to decrease stress and inflammation.
Unfortunately, the pandemic has not been kind to small businesses and my wonderful yoga studio is no exception. For those of you in the South Florida area, I urge you to give your local studio a try. If you’re in Palm Beach County, come check out Open Heart. These small business owners need our love and support more than ever! Here’s the GoFundMe that was started to assist my favorite yoga studio: www.gofundme.com. Where ever you live, check in on your local business owners and see what you can to help them. If you happen to follow my blog and are a small business, please let me know so I can feature you here.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read The Song of the Lark, by Willa Cather
*Slow Flow with Ava from Open Heart Yoga Studio. I enjoyed the sound of the storms as I melted on my mat.
*Morning and afternoon meditation
*Perhaps is the nefelibata in me that things people show grace to their fellow man when disagreeing on Facebook.
*I was determined to hit all my professional today and I did! I love Wednesdays!
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Ten days until I see my oldest! I can’t wait. I know you’re wondering what happened to day eleven on the countdown. Well, let me tell you. First of all, I am happy to report that it has nothing to do with tequila. Instead, I spent the evening with my friends Terri and PJ catching up. Fortunately, I even got to talk to my airmen on FaceTime as he called Mel while I was at their house. Mel and I had some planning to do as she’ll be heading West with me next week. Naturally, I stayed out later than I had planned and ended up going to bed as soon as I got home.
I had a great time hanging out with Terri, Mel, and PJ. We watched one of Jake’s favorite new shows, The IT Crowd. Upon Jake’s numerous recommendations, I finally started watching the show over the weekend. It’s fabulously British and super topical for my boy. Anyway, last night we watched his favorite episode, “The Outing.” Honestly, I have never laughed so hard in my life. That episode was a sheer comedic genius from beginning to end. Moreover, it was great to watch it with my boy and friends. We were all doubled over in laughter throughout the show.
Today was super productive for me professionally. I finished a couple of proposals and set a couple more meetings. Thus far, the role seems to be a good fit. Additionally, I love the flexibility that comes with the position. The fact that I can work anytime from anywhere is fantastic. In case you missed it in previous blogs, I’m now in the promotional/branding marketing industry. If you need branded gear for your employees, your offices, and your clients, I’m the woman for the job!
I skipped my run today. Mostly because I did leg day yesterday with added weights, and I can barely walk. Kayla Itsines really kicked my butt yesterday. In fact, my legs were so weak today; they couldn’t support me in wheel pose. In yoga today, my right shoulder started to stick out for all the wrong reasons. It was unstable in crow, tri-pod headstand, and in wheel pose. After I left, it struck me that it was my right shoulder that gave out in crow and handstand on Saturday. Clearly, I need to do some work strengthening and rehabilitating that shoulder
*Countdown: 10 days! It is dreamy just to think about being reunited with my oldest.
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Not much to report from the home front today. We spent the day at home, cleaning and relaxing. After the emotionally and mentally exhausting week of tryouts, we deserved a day of rest. My hubby cleaned out the three fridges and all the old leftovers. Suffice to say, there was an ample pile of dishes waiting to be cleaned. Incidentally, the collection would not have been so significant if Goalielocks had run the dishwasher at capacity instead of half full.
Speaking of Goalielocks, he remains on a third shift schedule, which is confounding when it comes to getting his chores done timely. Today my husband had it with his delays and shut off the electricity to his room. Yeah, my hubby is savage. In fact, he’s also taken Goalielocks’ door off the hinges multiple times. After a brief, but anger fueled exchange with my son, he emerged downstairs to do his chore. Surprisingly, he was easygoing and not the least bit moody when he finally made it downstairs. Unquestionably, you can imagine how happy I was to find him in an amiable mood. He even completed his chore.
I always have to do a little bit of coaxing to get my Mayor to do his chores, but we haven’t had to resort to such drastic measures to get him moving. He sweeps/vacuums and picks up the floor. Most days I would give him a barely passing grade for his work. However, today he did do a good job. While my hubby worked out in the garage, I folded the laundry. Happily, after Goalielocks’ clothes come out of the dryer we will be all done with that. Thankfully, I’m already done as both Goalielocks and the Mayor do their own laundry.
This evening we spoke with Jake. He continues to thrive in his new environment, which makes this mama super happy. His dorm looks spacious and has good storage, which is always a plus. Moreover, it is clear he likes his new job and is happy with his choice. Obviously, I cannot wait to see my boy. Only twelve more days! Today I was looking for new hiking boots for Goalielocks, who has outgrown his old ones. Fortunately, the Mayor can fit into his old pair. Did I mention I can’t wait?
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read The Song of the Lark, by Willa Cather
*Morning and afternoon meditation put me in a good space. It was a dreamy Saturday!
*Goalielocks scored 100% on his algebra 2 test! Yay!
*I’m exhausted, so I shall seek my bed early tonight.
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Thirteen days until I see my oldest again! I told you I was counting down the days, and I was not lying. Today I booked an awesome Airbnb in the mountains for us, which looks absolutely divine. I cannot wait to be in an environment with no humidity, mountains, and my airmen. Accordingly, I’m now looking for things to do around his base, so we can occupy our days while he works. Fortunately, he has the weekends off, so we’ll be able to go on some fun excursions on those days. Did I mention I was excited?
Today marks the end of tryout week, and as always, it sucked balls. Florida hockey is a strange place, and I look forward to writing a book once my kids’ age out. Emphatically, I assure you it will be a tantalizing, disgusting, and sometimes uplifting read. Spoiler alert: the adults are the assholes. Nevertheless, I’m pleased with things turned out and am looking forward to an exceptional season. I have some thoughts and feelings about this years’ tryout season, but I’ll save them for the book. Incidentally, I’ve already started writing, but I am torn as to leave the stories as blind items or name folks. Honestly, I guess we’ll just have to see where the pen leads me.
Today was a beautiful lazy day. I’ve been feeling a little bit of a tinge starting in my left hip flexors. Consequently, I decided to take the rest of the week off from running to give my hips a break. Instead, it was a perfect day for yoga. Today’s class followed the Ashtanga sequence wand was challenging. We did a lot of work opening the hips and the hamstrings, which will help alleviate the pain in my hip. It also allowed me to work on my crow, handstand, and headstand. Unfortunately, I totally bit it on my first attempt at crow pose, which left my knee a little sore. The second attempt at the pose was successful. As for the other two poses, I nailed it.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I started reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
*As I read today’s paper online, I wondered how many people still receive an actual paper.
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Two weeks! The countdown is on my friends. In two weeks, get to see my airmen again. I haven’t seen him since his BMT graduation. Moreover, his brothers haven’t seen him since they told him goodbye at the MEPS hotel on December 9th. Obviously, it’s been far too long since they’ve seen each other. This military mama’s heart is full; it is full of love and anticipation. Over the next two weeks, I will subject you to a countdown calendar. Just be glad that it won’t be as awful as Andy’s Christmas countdown gift to Erin in The Office.
My day started on a bright note. My hubby offered to pick up my morning coffee since he was working from home today. I really needed some extra sleep. Perhaps you remember from yesterday’s blog that I was so tired I was channeling my inner Madeline Kahn in a theatrical number. I did have an early business meeting, so I had to get up and get dressed. After my business meeting, I took to the workout mat. Friday is Abs day on the BBG program. It was a great workout.
Fortunately, I had some time to eat a quick snack and get some work time between my BBG workout and yoga. One thing I always look forward to on Fridays is my Gentle Flow class. Today’s session was no exception. We did a lot of ab and hip work. Needless to say, after an hour of BBG abs and yoga, I’m going to be quite sore tomorrow. Indeed, it was the perfect way to end the workweek. Afterward, I went to yoga teacher training, where we spent more time learning anatomy and physiology.
Meanwhile, the tumult and turmoil that is tryout weeks continues. It’s honestly sickening. I don’t know why we put ourselves through this year after year. We must be crazy! Unbelievably, we don’t have that many seasons left. Consequently, I opted to stay home tonight. So the hubby has the Mayor at two different rinks tonight. Goalielocks left super late and is exhausted, so we gave him the night off. The last thing we need is for them to weaken their immune system or get sick. After all, in only two weeks, we’ll be headed West to visit Jake.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read Shirley, by Charlotte Bronte.
*Gentle Flow with Jennifer from Open Heart Yoga Studio
*I completed a morning and afternoon meditation.
*Took Anakin out to go to the bathroom. He was quickly hunting the butterflies and dragonflies.
*Instead of going to Target to buy groceries, my lazy self ordered them via Shipt.
*Week 9 BBG 2.0 day 5 abs and yoga.
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I’m tired, but what else is new. Tryout week is sapping my last vestige of energy. I will be giddy and dancing was this week is over. While, I’m tired I did have a good day. I got to spend the day with Sweet Eva. She is heaven sent and a perfect anecdote for an emotionally exhausting week.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read Shirley, by Charlotte Bronte.
*Yin Yoga with Jennifer from Open Heart Yoga Studio
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Oh Wednesdays…. “Wednesdays are like Mondays in the middle of the week,” so said Lee Fox Miller. Who is Lee Fox Miller, that’s a fantastic question. I found the quote on the internet and liked it. For all I know, he could be a made-up character. Comparatively, Winnie the Pooh had an excellent quote for Wednesdays, but it was a bit too long for the title. Anyway, if Wednesdays are like Mondays, then I love Monday because today was super productive.
My day was to start with an early business meeting, so I got off to an earlier start than usual. Naturally, I grabbed my Dunkin’ before getting ready for my meeting. The meeting was supposed to be at 9:15. I waited and waited, but she didn’t show up. Since she was in Texas, I thought perhaps she had made a mistake in the timezone. Fortunately, we were able to connect later in the day to reschedule the meeting.
Consequently, I started my BBG arm workout right away. As luck would have it, I finished the third circuit at 10:13. I logged into the google hangout in case she was coming at 10:15, but it was a no go. Alas, I jumped back into my workout and finished the fourth circuit and the cool down. I was dreading some of the exercises like the caterpillar walk, which I have done since round 1 of BBG. Excitedly, it was easy today. In fact, it served as a good barometer for my progress since starting the program in December.
The rest of my day was just as productive, I took a delicious slow flow yoga class with Ava. It was utterly divine and left me feeling invigorated and relaxed. Post yoga, I enjoyed a lunch of steel cut oats served with vanilla almond milk, honey and mixed berries. It’s part of my efforts to eat less inflammatory food. Honestly, it tasted so good! After lunch, I went to work and had another extremely productive day.
Today is not just Wednesday, it’s also my mom’s birthday. Please join in wishing my mom a very happy 64th birthday. I wish we were able to celebrate with her and sing the Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty-Four” to her in person. In the interim, this Youtube video will have to suffice:
*I was determined to hit all my professional and personal goals today and I did! I love Wednesdays!
*I enjoyed the beautiful frondescence of my vegetable garden. Did I mention that today didn’t suck?
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