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My Sexy New Accessories

I think the title says it all, but my sexy new accessories finally came into the podiatrist office today.   Oh yeah, that’s right those sexy mo-fo orthotics came in.  They cut a mean silhouette – Louboutin has nothing on these. Now I’m taking my look to a new sartorial high, or low since I’m still in flats, with these sexy inserts.   That is of course if your definition is  comfortable arches and less tendon pain.  It sure is for me!  Honestly, I really miss wearing my heels and I miss running.  I’d also like to be in less pain, but I’d be happy to be in heels.

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Truly, it is exciting as it the first step towards a return to normalcy.   I dream of the day that I can go back to wearing stylish heels with my dresses and not my Asics.  Moreover, I dream about getting back to training for all the races I want to run this year.  The longer it takes to heal; the harder it will to fit in all my races.  After all is said and done, I want to hit my running goals in 2018, but with healthy legs, ankles and feet.

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I know you’ll be surprise, but this weekend we’ll be back at the rink.  We only have one game this weekend, which is about all I can stomach.  Sunday Goalielocks and his team are headed to the beach to do workout.  Meanwhile tomorrow night I’m going to an art gallery opening in Wilton Manors.  I cannot wait to see the gallery and my colleagues art, which will be on display.  Myself and several of my colleagues are headed there to show our support, so it will be a fun night.

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In other news, the flu has taken hold here in Florida.  It has become so prevalent that the boys’ school sent home a letter today.  In the letter, they asked us to keep kids home that are showing any symptoms that could be flu related.   This comes on the heels of the passing of a 12 year old boy in Palm Beach County due to the flu.  It is unbelievably sad.  In fact, this flu season has claimed over 37 healthy children.  Its devastating.  Fortunately,our pediatrician gave my boys flu vaccine earlier this fall.  The vaccine will offer them some protection even if the strain isn’t a complete match.

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Well, I’m heading to be early, so I can try to get some rest before heading to the gym and hockey tomorrow morning.  The sinus infection has been the pits this week  and has kept me out of my classes at the gym.  I’m looking forward to getting back to it tomorrow.

Tonight’s song performed by the late, great Janis Joplin is “Piece Of My Heart.”   This video it veritable gold.  First of all, Janis’ performance was amazing.  Second of all, the audience members dancing on stage are comic gold.  I hope you enjoy the video.  Janis would have been 75 on January 19th, which is crazy.

 

 

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Almost Friyay!

You know the best thing about Thursday is that it is almost Friyay!! I love Fridays. The day brings an air of satisfaction as it symbolizes yours survived the work week. Moreover, it signals that you’re about to indulge in the rest and relaxation that is the weekend…. And then I wake up, remember I’m a hockey mom and accept there’s no rest for the weary.

I’m back at Zumba this week, which feels amazing. There’s nothing better than being reunited with my girls. My recently injured tendons are handling it okay. It’s odd because Zumba doesn’t really bother my left posterior tibial tendon. However, it really bother my right tibial tendon. Of course, it is the opposite when I run. Unfortunately, neither side can seem to agree on which activity it can tolerate, which is beyond frustrating.

One thing that doesn’t bother my ankles, is aerial yoga. Unfortunately, the invasions haven’t been working so well this week due to major sinus congestion. In fact, they’ve been borderline painful with tons of pressure. I did, however, notice that afterward my sinuses felt clearer.

Tonight I had a plan in mind to help decompress my back while opening the sinuses. The first try didn’t go so well and was pretty uncomfortable. On the second try, I just screwed it all sorts of way and was able to gracefully fall out of the silk. Fortunately, I found great success with subsequent attempts. The key tonight was closing my eyes and concentrating on my breath as my body and sinuses became acclimated to the inversion. Success!

I’ve since eaten dinner, so there will be no more inversions for me tonight. However, I’m writing this post as I am laying in the silk swinging ever so gently. You can’t beat it!

Before settling into the silk, I headed upstairs to see Hammy the Hamsters new and more secure digs. Much like our chameleon, she made a break for it over the weekend while we were at hockey. When Goalielocks discovered she was missing, he let out a trill of a sound that was unintelligible

Upon hearing this confounding noise, I quickly headed upstairs to see what was wrong. I quickly realized he was in hysterics as Hammy and escaped. He, of course, was convinced that she was dead and gone, but I had hope.

I had a gut feeling that she was in the Mayor’s room finding and I was right. It took 3 of us 20 minutes to lure her out, but we were successful. Goalielocks put her back in the cage and put books over it, so she couldn’t escape. Meanwhile, I had the foresight to have all the doors closed and items placed underneath the door, so she couldn’t get out of his room.

Unfortunately, no more than 24 hours later, the escape artist had escaped again! We were back to hysterics. This time she hadn’t made it out of Goalielocks’ room. She had stashed a lot of food and herself in the tiny space behind his armoire. With the help of Hubby, he was able to get her back into her cage. Since she had escaped twice in a short span of time, we moved her to a smaller cage with much less space between the bars.

Fortunately for Hammy, her new cage arrived tonight and she is loving life. She’s got plenty of space and activities to do. Meanwhile, we’re thrilled because she can’t sneak out of this cage.

We’ve had a hell of a week between colds, sinus infections, escaping hamsters and almost surgeries. I am definitely looking forward to relaxing this weekend and catching up on some rest. Well, at least when I’m not at the hockey rink…..

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Thank you!

First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone that reached out to check on us today.  We truly appreciated your well wishes, concern and support.  The past several weeks, this procedure has been top of mind.  It has been completely dominant in our thinking.  Well at least my thinking.

While we were hoping that the procedure would be completed today, we have complete confidence in the advice of our doctors.  Since he was healing from a cold, he was at a heightened risk for bronchial spa  sms or pneumonia, which are both very serious complications.In fact, we’re quite happy with how they approached Goalielocks’ case this morning.  Truly, his well being was top of of mind.    Consequently, we will now wait for another three to four weeks before the procedure can be done.

Tonight gratitude is the dominant thought.  I’m grateful for the doctor’s wisdom and professionalism.  Additionally, I’m grateful that my son is finally on the mend from his cold.  Lastly,  I’m grateful for the amazing support we have received from friends and families across the globe.  Please know that your well wishes, support and concern were beyond appreciated.

Tonight’s song performed by John Lennon is “Beautiful Boy.”

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Heading Home

After arriving at the hospital a bit tardy, we were swiftly checked in and sent up to the surgical waiting room. There was some question as to whether or not they’d perform the surgery as Goalielocks has been sick.

We met with both the anesthesiologist and his physician, who were both concerned that he’d been ill. The anesthesiologist listened to his lungs and found some congestion present. Afterward we met with his surgeon, who  decided that the best and safest option was to delay the procedure 3-4 weeks.  Of course, it was easy for him to make this determination after hearing him cough.

So we’re heading home exhausted from the early morning alarm. Now Goalielocks can head to school and we can both head into work. Thanks for all the well wishes!  Please keep him in your prayers, so his lungs can heal and we can put this chapter behind us.

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Running Behind

It’s been one of those weeks where I feel like I’m constantly running behind.  Sunday I set my alarm an hour later than when I really should have woken up.   Yesterday, I was running to get the Mayor to the bus stop on time.  Even though I didn’t have to get ready for work courtesy of this awful sinus infection/cold, I was still running behind.  This morning the boys and I were running to get to the bus stop on time as everyone had slept through their alarms.  Fortunately, I was able to get them to the bus stop on time.

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For me getting to work at my usual time was a major challenge.  I was in a rush to get to work since I had unexpectedly missed yesterday and will be out of the office tomorrow due to Goalielocks’ procedure.  I knew I’d have to sort through a million emails before I’d even be able to focus on my work.  Of course, even the best laid plans go asunder.  This was the story of my morning.

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As I headed towards the office, the surgical nurse called to schedule Goalielocks’ procedure and go over his health history.   Unfortunately, the nurse couldn’t speak to me while driving, so I had to park before we could start our conversation.  I certainly can’t blame a health professional for not talking to someone while they are driving.   While it was the right call, it sidelined my drive to work for over twenty minutes. As a consequence, I was a bit tardy to work.

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I’ve been a bit concerned about Goalielocks going into surgery given that he’s had a low grade fever, nasal congestion, and a productive cough.  Today he was able to go back to school and is feeling much better.  However, I noticed tonight that his cough is still lingering.  Consequently, the nurse said it would likely be a game time decision as to whether or not the procedure goes forward.   As a result, tonight we are preparing as of this procedure is going forward.  If it doesn’t however, Goalielocks will head to school and I’ll head to the office.  My leadership has been very supportive throughout this process and the subsequent rescheduling of the procedure.

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Unfortunately, I feel like living in South Florida these days is akin to living in Florence in 1349.  Everywhere I go people are sick!  Sure we’re not dying from the great pestilence that is the Bubonic Plague, but I think I speak for all of us in saying, we’re sick of being sick!  So many of us in the office have been in a horrible pattern getting sick, getting a little bit better, getting sick again, getting a little bit better and then getting sick again.  It’s wearing us out.   Truly, we’re clearly to have our health, but a respite from the stead rotation of horrible viruses would be awesome.  Again, I don’t feel like I’m asking for much.

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It’s not wonder Goalielocks’ got sick.  In addition, to living in the big, vast germ pool that is South Florida, he was also on a plane and in Chicago last weekend. While I can’t say he got sick because we travelling, I don’t think that weather or the schedule were helpful.  Please keep Goalielocks and us in your thoughts and prayers.  We’ll be headed to the hospital bright and early.  Lastly I’ll post and update as soon as I have one.

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Tonight’s song performed by Florida Georgia Line ft. Tim McGraw is “May We All. ”  My family and friends would tell you I’m not a country fan, but tonight this song is for my Goalielocks.  This is one of his favorite songs.

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Can I Be Candid?

Can I be candid for a moment? Yeah, it was a rhetorical question.  You actually don’t have a choice.  Most of us are on social media, with the exception of my parents, and see the daily shit show that is social media.  Two of my favorite groups to follow on Facebook are our neighborhood groups and the state’s hockey forum.  The groups are filled to the brim with people who are completely unglued.  Consequently, some days its more entertaining than Netflix.

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We’ve actually nicknamed our neighborhood as the restaurant killers.  No matter which restaurant they try it’s either: not as good as it was in New York, crappy service, too expensive, decor bland, etc.. I could go on for days.  As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be in a hurry to open a restaurant near our neighborhood.   We recently have a restaurant open up near us and lots of our neighbors went to the soft opening.  Oh the diatribes that followed about all the glitches they encountered.  Apparently, they completely missing the fact that it was “soft opening.”

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From time to time people will make ad hominem attacks on HOA board members, which are unfounded given their volunteers. There’s one guy in our neighborhood that blasts the board on the page if the pool deck is dirtier than he’d like or the plants are overgrown.  Fortunately, he’s kind enough to post photos.  I guess people who aren’t hockey moms have a lot more time on their hands.  I can’t comprehend how he has time to do these things, but whatever.  They also like to blame renters for property damage or stolen property.   Oftentimes, their kids caused the damage  or the “stolen” property was misplaced.  What makes these pages so puzzling is that our neighbors are incredible, so confusing.

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On to the hockey forum, it is a complete and utter gong show at times.  Again people go on the page and call out organizations or worse people by name.  If you have a problem with someone, why wouldn’t you address it to them instead of blasting them on a Facebook page?  It’s fucking cowardly.   As for calling out organizations, it’s not always uncalled for, but seriously have your facts together first.  Lastly, if you don’t like the rules of the league, take it up with the league.  After all, the organizations do not own the rules and regulations, the league does.  Tonight’s I’ll be toggling back between NetFlix and the utter disaster that is the hockey forum.  It should be a night full of laughs.

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Tonight’s song, very apropos that the disaster that is the hockey forum, performed by the 4 Non Blondes is “What’s Going On?”  I’m really stuck in the 90s this month… I remember this song fondly as I would watch the video at my great uncle’s house in California.  The song always reminds me of that wonderful trip. 

 

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Choking

Well, it was a day full of choking.  When I say choking, I don’t mean the kinky 50 Shades stuff, I mean sports teams utterly out performing.  Once could say shitty decision leads to shitty outcomes, but that seems a bit obvious.  As a hardened Vikings fan, I knew tonight would be disappointing.  Consequently, I spent the first half of the game working out.  Fortunately, while they gave up touchdown after touchdown, I burned 632 calories.  (At least there was some winning today!)

 

My kids, however, have not yet accepted what it truly means to be a Minnesota fan.  You know, the team will build up your hope only to choke in dramatic and devastating fashion.  Come to think about it, I probably should have used disappointment or today’s title, however, that would be redundant.  Nevertheless as a consequence of the Vikes’ epic collapse, I have one kid in a full on melt down.  Truly, I think he thought the world was truly ending.  Like many fans, I would have loved for my team to win, but hey reality is reality.  I simply don’t get my hopes up anymore.

Despite their epic loss, I love my Vikings and fellow fans.  How many organizations have a fan base that would raise well over $200,000 for an opponents charity? Not many.  At least the Vikes are honorable, which is more than I can say about many people.  I actually had some tell me today that they have a sliding scale of accountability and were proud of it.  Things to keep to yourself..  If you are in charge of anyone and have a sliding scale of accountability, you should probably quit your job.

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Unfortunately, the highlight of my day was the awesome chili I enjoyed at Culver’s between games.  When the chili was the highlight of the day, you know it was a bad sports day.  Additionally, I started reading Sun Tzu’s TheArt of War, which was quite enjoyable.   If you lead people, in any capacity or environment, you need to read this book on military strategy.  While this book was written with a military audience in mind, its principals are applicable across all industries and all leaders. In fact, I’m pretty sure its the first time in recorded history that a leader referred to a style akin to servant leadership.

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Ultimately, win, lose or draw, I love spending time with my family.  In that regard, today was a total win.  The Vikings’ season may be over, but I still have my Wild and soon the Twinkies will start spring training.  In short, soon the other sports teams from Minnesota can break my heart.   Lastly, if you’re looking for a good book to read on strategy, pick up a copy of Sun Tzu’s Art of War.

Tonight’s song performed by Minnesota’s own Soul Asylum is “Runaway Train.  I know, I know it is a bit melancholy, but after the drubbing my Vikes endured it seems apropos.  Of course, it also happens to be a great song and a great video.

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Disappointment

Disappointment is such a heavy word as it coveys all the feelings that come along with it.  The pit in your stomach, the sadness, that gnawing feeling that you should have listened to your gut, etc.   I don’t like being being disappointed, but it is a part of life.   I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this feeling.   Moreover, nobody likes to be disappointed by their leadership.  This is something I take very seriously in my role.

 

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I’ve lead teams at major corporations for the last eleven years.  When you talk about leadership, two important tenets are equality and fairness.   If you hold your people to different standards, you will falter as a leader. Actually, you will fail as a leader.  Nobody will have respect for you and ultimately your results will reflect the inequity and unfair practices.  For me policies and procedures are agnostic to performance or tenure.  While this is common sense it isn’t always widely practiced.

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While these tenets apply to leadership in a corporate environment, they also apply to schools, sports organizations, organizations like the boy scouts.  A lack of equity or fairness in leadership is much more insidious when it impacts our kids.  While life is certainly unfair, it emboldens bad behavior.  Unfortunately, due to poor leadership, some kids or players think that they are above the rules.  As a result, they are woefully disrespectful to everyone.  This isn’t a recipe for success.

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Ultimately, these types of leaders create an environment that lacks accountability and respect.  They may enjoy short term success, but ultimately the culture will lead them to failure.  This type of leadership creates an unsustainable environment.  In addition,  people that are treated unfairly learn to be honorable in the face of dishonor.  Moreover, they learn resilience.  Ultimately, they move on to new organizations.  

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As I said above, life isn’t fair, but that’s not what this post is about.  This post is about leading a team or an organization honorably, which creates a high producing environment.  I witnessed a lack of leadership this evening that was  disappointing.  Truly, it was the same story last weekend.   However, change is always on the horizon.  Don’t be the type of leader that creates misanthropic kids or employees or an atmosphere rife with disrespect.

Tonight’s song performed by Offspring is “The Kids Aren’t Alright.”  Offspring’s debut CD was also one of the first CDs I bought.  Moreover, this is one of my favorite songs from the late 90’s.  It is also one of my kids’ favorite songs.  The Mayor had two hockey games at home today.  I was able to play the music today, so I chose a 90’s theme in honor of Delores O’Riordan.  What’s your favorite song from the 90’s?

 

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Blink Of An Eye

Tonight the Mayor and I were listening to music and it reminded of how time flies with the blink of an eye. We were listening to Nirvana, Bush, Green Day, Tupac. When their music first debuted, much like the Mayor is today, I was in middle school.

So here’s my list of things that pass with the blink of an eye:

1) Your childhood. It’s amazing how slowly the years seem to go by as a youth, but quickly here came adulthood. How lame….

2) Your childrens’ childhood. Okay, I totally call shenanigans on this one. While my childhood flew by, my kids’ youth seems to be moving at light speed! Can somebody put the brakes on all of this? This is total b.s.

3) Your well deserved weekend. No sooner have you blinked on Friday night when Sunday night rears it ugly head. Why can’t Mondays move this fast? How is one supposed to get all the housework, hockey, workouts and errands done when the weekend moves so fast? It’s impossible!

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4) Your long awaited dream vacation. You’ve planned the big vacay and countdown to the departure day. And then you blink and the vacation is over. Why oh why must the fun stuff in life fly by?!?!  Can somebody take me back to Norway?!?!?!

Since all of life’s brilliant moments seem to vanish in the blink of an eye, the key is to cherish and be grateful for these moments. Fortunately, while we cannot stop time, we can appreciate the time we have above ground.

Tonight’s song performed by The Verve is “Bittersweet Symphony.”

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Back At It

After skipping the 5:30 am class on Wednesday, due to a sinus headache and running on CST, I was back at it this morning!  I know, I know those of you that know me are in a state of shock that I’ve made it to not 1, but 3 5:30 am classes in the last week.  The truth of the matter is I feel much better during the day when I log an early workout.  I think more clearly, I have more energy and the endorphin rush lasts most of the day. #winning

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Tomorrow I’ll be back at Burn for a 30/30 class, which is a combination of spin and a circuit class.  Honestly, for me it is the perfect balance of cardio and strength training.  Moreover, the 30 minute spin session is much easier on the tendinitis.  Since I re-joined Burn in October, I couldn’t be happier with the results.  I’ve been taking Barre, Yoga, Aerial Yoga, Circuit Burn, Power Burn and Spin classes at the gym.  I’ve been a cardio queen for much of my adult life, but thanks to my awesome instructors at Burn I’ve gotten a lot stronger. I couldn’t have imagined being able to do one-legged planks and crunches on the TRX when I started.  Now I can do them with relative ease – thanks Adam!

I wrote about the glamorous mom life that many of us lead.  As a hockey mom, I don’t have the luxury of being able to go everyday or every weekend.  For example, last weekend we were in Chicago, so I planned my workouts accordingly. This way I was able to maximize my time in the gym before heading north.  This week isn’t much different with games on both days.  Consequently, Sunday will be my rest day as it is also a travel day.  Meanwhile Saturday morning I plan on enjoying circuit burn before heading to the Mayor’s hockey game.  Since I was up early this morning and plan on getting up early tomorrow, I’m off to bed.

Tonight’s song performed by Santana – Ft. Rob Thomas is “Smooth.”