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One Week

It’s been one week since I left the office for the last time.  So many emotions and so much fun has been had over the past seven days.  It’s not that I’m not sad to move on or anything like that, but I choose to embrace the madness and the excitement of moving forward. That isn’t to say I don’t have tough moments, but by and large I’m feeling good!  I started my first week off with a brilliant session at the salon with my girl Daniela and Jenja.  Nothing makes a girl feel better than a fresh hair cut and a nice brow wax.

Sometimes I’m Sweet
And Sometimes I’m Sour

During the intervening days, I had the occasion to meet several former colleagues and friends for lunch and drinks.   A fantastic time was had by all.  As an aside, I went to Farmer’s Table for the first time for lunch.  The food and service were absolutely brilliant.  Fortunately, Farmer’s Table’s menu had several amazing gluten free options.   I quite enjoyed the spasta with meatballs – spaghetti squash with marinara and chicken meatballs.  It was absolutely amazing.  I can’t wait to go back.  The next day, I had an amazing meal at Taverna Trela in Delray.  This meal was equally amazing.  I thoroughly enjoyed my steak, mushroom and onion rice bowl.   Another menu with some great gluten free options.  I look forward to going back there as well.

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Friday also brought a doctor’s appointment, where my doctor noted how much happier and relaxed I looked.  My blood pressure was pretty freaking phenomenal too.  They see me all the time there on account of the regular bloodwork I need to get down for the thyroid, so it was encouraging they noted the change.  It was also encouraging that my thyroid is starting to approach the normal range!  Yes – victory is in site my friends.

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The weekend brought happy hours, another massage and some mini golf.  I thoroughly enjoyed my blueberry martinis at Burt & Max’s.  The lettuce wraps were pretty freaking good too.   Of course, the Chipotle at the end of the night was pretty good.  Admittedly, it was the first time I’ve had Chipotle in years.  I enjoyed the steak tacos on a hard shell.  It brought back memories of driving across the University of Minnesota on game nights to get to the only Chipotle close to our house because it was the best thing since sliced bread. Now that Chipotle is on every corner and they’ve had a couple e-coli scares, the novelty has worn off a bit.

Sunday night we hit the mini golf course with J&M2 also known as Jake and Mel.  .  Even though we went in the evening, it was still hot as hades on the course.  By the time we finished, I felt like I had been sitting in the sauna for an hour in my jeans.  Fortunately, the club house had the same temperature as the Baltic Sea.  In 5 seconds flat, I went from near heat stroke to hyperthermia.   If I’m being honest, mini golf isn’t my sport, but we had a blast.  I’m also declaring victory having ended a mere 13 above par.  Over previous efforts, this represented a serious improvement in performance

Meanwhile in Minnesota, the boys are living their best lives with their cousins.  They’re having a blast hanging out with their cousins and chilling on the boat with their Uncle J.  The Mayor loves tubing with his cousins, while Goalielocks is enjoying fishing the Minnesota lakes.  He caught a nice sized large mouth bass on Lake Minnetonka Sunday.  Last week, their cousin X and his soccer team were playing in the USA Cup in Blaine.  Needless to say, given the heat indices in Minny last week, I’m thrilled my boys play hockey.  I’ll never be sitting by a sideline in an 115 head index.  Suffice to say, if you asked the boys, they would tell you there’s no better passage of summer than one spent in Minnesota.

Goalielocks is also enjoying lessons with his former goalie coach from the Hawks, Coach Ryan, who is now coaching with MEGA Goaltending in Minnesota.  It’s fun for the boys to reconnect with Coach Ryan and to get back on the ice.  Since Goalielocks went on a growth spurt, we’ll need to buy him a full set of gear upon his return to Florida.  Oh the expensive joys of the hockey mom life.

Today is my father’s 66th birthday please join me in wishing him the happiest of birthdays!

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Transitions

Life is full of transitions, but when you’re a parent of teens they seem to come non-stop.  The youngest two seemingly look, sound and appear older each and everyday.  I can’t wait to see how much they’ve grown since heading to Minnesota earlier this month.  They won’t be back in town until right before school starts in early August.  Yeah, early August.  I know what you’re thinking (and you’re right) Palm Beach County Schools start schools entirely too early.  Each day I call to speak to the boys, their voices seem to have shifted another octave lower.  I’ve resorted to asking discrete identifying questions to ensure I know which one I’m talking to on the phone.

The Boys
Now and Then: 2012 and 2019

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Meanwhile, Jake is deep in preparations to join the Air Force.  We met with the recruiter as a family late June to discuss the Air Force as a possibility.  Consequently, we’re pretty excited for Jake and the future the Air Force will bring him.  As a mom, it’s brought many mixed emotions as I’m excited that he’s got a solid road map for his future.  On the other hand, my boy is leaving the nest for good and joining the military (a bit scary.)   All in all, this fall promises to bring a major transition.

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Today marks the start of new beginnings as I close out my ten year career at KHE.  It is with mixed emotions that I move forward.  I will miss the work family that I have cultivated over the last ten years, but am very excited for what the future holds.  To all of my colleagues both current and former, thank you!  To keep in touch, hit the follow button on the blog. After all, everything maybe changing, but relationships don’t have to change.

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Given this week’s transitions, I’ll be fundraising much more aggressively for the Mayor’s trip to Europe next summer.   You can find the link to donate here: fundraising link

This blog is supported by affiliate advertising.  By clicking on the link and making a purchase, you are helping to support the blog with no additional cost to you.  Thanks!

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Corporate Run

Last Thursday was the annual Mercedes Benz Corporate Run in Fort Lauderdale. I was excited to participate for my third running. This year was a bit different though since I haven’t run a 5k in over a year. Unfortunately, after tearing a tendon and a subsequent diagnosis of Graves’ disease, I was sidelined for what feels like forever!

Thankfully, my doctor was able to clear me for exercise once my thyroid finally stopped functioning in February. Yay! Nonetheless, a 5k was a tall order. I trained as much as I could, but with a hypoactive thyroid my energy is nonexistent. Meaning, instead of a normal, rigorous training schedule, my body needed 2-3 day breaks in between workouts. This itself represented a massive departure from my grandiose expectations for my recovery.

I was back at my doctor’s office early last week for my six-week check-in. She made some adjustments to my medication, which should help immensely. Honestly, the effortless weight gain, the absolutely no energy, the absolute exhaustion and the absolute inability to sleep properly have gotten old. On a positive note, my blood work supports my symptoms, which in my doc’s words “means we can fix it!”  My doc is a rock star and is taking good care of me through out my treatment. Unfortunately, it’s just part of the process as we figure out the right Synthroid dosing.

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She did reiterate my ability to work out, but added a caveat about common sense. Clearly, she doesn’t know me. I did ask about the 5k, to which she responded “I hope you lose – meaning I hope you walk.” As I got up to leave, we compromised on a solid effort in the first mile with common sense dictating mile two and three.

In the end, I was nervous and excited for my first 5K in over a year. I went into the race with reasonable expectations and the hope that I’d finish somewhat respectably. As the race neared, we entered the start corral, which was huge. The corporate run had over 9,000 participants this race. Fortunately, it was a chip to chip race.  Consequently, my time was not negatively impacted by being encumbered by mobs of people behind the start line. img_0615

It felt amazing to be racing again! The first mile went pretty smooth and I felt pretty good. As I promised my doctor, I was conservative over the remainder of my race. In the end, with my foot asleep and pride swelling in my heart, I crossed the finish line. While my heart was swelling with pride, my right foot was coming back to life, after falling asleep on mile 2, as I waited patiently for my post race free beer.

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My time this race was the slowest I’ve ever logged at a 5k, but it will forever be the one that gives me the most pride. After a torn tendon, a diagnosis of Graves’ disease, subsequent treatment and no exercise for nine months, my time of 37:23 is pretty damn good! Moral of the story, winning isn’t always about getting a PR every race. Sometimes winning is not being afraid to show up and do your best no matter what cards you’ve been dealt. 

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Lastly, I had to share this photo from last year’s race as it included Paul.   My associate director Paul was someone who embodied perseverance.  While he wasn’t with us this year physically, he was definitely therein spirit.  We miss you Paul!

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Award Winning

I am now an award winning blog.  The Sunshine Blogger award is a peer nominated award, which is pretty awesome.  Moreover, it certainly is nice to be recognized for all the hard work I’ve put into the site. The great thing about a peer nominated award in blogging is that the nominator understands the blood, sweat and tears that go into a blog.  I’d like to profusely thank Floatinggold whose blog I quite enjoy.  On this great blog, you’ll find great posts from topical news of the day posts, creative writing and wonderful motivational posts.  You should definitely check it out.

In addition to winning the Sunshine blogger award, I’m pretty sure I enjoyed some award winning donuts (Jupiter Donuts), pizza (Louie’s) and amazing wings (Wings Plus.)  Needless to say after the feast that was our team lunch, I probably won’t have to eat again until Sunday.  Overall, it was an award worth Thursday.

Finally, the best part of Thursday of course is that it is Friday eve.  Oh wait, my weekend is equally as busy as my weekdays.  The Mayor has two games in Coral Springs Saturday while Goalielocks has practice in Palm Beach at the same time.  So far, Sunday looks to be pretty open, so I’ll be heading to aerial yoga and spin in the morning.  Fortunately, this will leave me well prepared for the gorge fest that is the Super Bowl.

QUESTIONS FOR ME:

  1. Would you rather move to a new city or town every year or never be able to leave the city or town you were born in and why?  I’d rather move to a new city and explore the world than be constrained to one place in this world.
  2. What was the last picture you took with your phone?  The Mayor eating a Girl Scout Cookie.
  3. You discover that your wonderful one-year-old child is not yours because of a mix up at the hospital, would you want to exchange the child to correct the mistake?  This is a tough one.  I’d probably exchange the child or create a co-parenting situation.  After all, the kids would need to know their biological family and their associated health risks.
  4. Do you ever talk to yourself? When and what do you say?  All the time… It’s like a running monologue on my day and no I don’t answer myself…
  5. What is the best part of being a part of your family?  We have a blast together.  Our life is crazy, hectic, stressful and wonderful all at us.  I couldn’t ask for a better family.
  6. Is there something you constantly lose?  I lose my keys, my sunglasses, my water on the daily.

NOMINATIONS:

QUESTIONS FOR YOU:

  1. Why did you start your blog?
  2. If you could move anywhere in the world (money is no object), where would you move and why?
  3. What’s your favorite book and how has it influenced you?
  4. Coffee or tea?
  5. What makes your heart sing?
  6. If you could see any artist in concert, who would it be and why?

RULES:

  • Thank blogger(s) who nominated you for the blog post and link back to their blog.
  • Answer the questions the blogger asked you.
  • Nominate other new blogs to receive the award and compose new questions for them to answer.
  • List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.
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Breakfast With Santa

Today was our annual Breakfast with Santa at work.  I know what you may be thinking.  We’re far too old to be eating with Santa, but you’d be wrong!  Importantly, our annual breakfast is the culmination of our Angel Tree drive. In fact, this year we adopted 363 angels for Christmas!

Our Angels come courtesy of ARC Broward, which is an incredible organization that provides people with disabilities and other life challenges the opportunity to fulfill their potential.  Raising children in modern times is incredibly expensive.  Unfortunately, for parents of special needs children, the costs can be exponentially higher, which is where we come in.

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This event started over seven years ago when my CRO and his wife adopted their daughter’s classroom having seen the need first hand.  Thankfully, my CRO shared this opportunity with our military team and we took up the challenge.  Excitedly, this is my second year leading the event with my partner in crime MK.  By comparison to years past, our team is bigger, more diverse and incredible this year.  We made a concerted effort to expand the team outside of our unit, so it would encompass representation from units across the company.

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First, we started off our morning staging the gifts downstairs.  As a result, our employees could get their pictures taken in front of the gifts with Santa.  The sight was beyond impressive with gifts for over 300 people including 20 bikes staged in reception! What struck me as I looked at the gifts, was the amazing generosity of my colleagues.  In that moment, I felt truly blessed and proud.  Blessed and proud to be a part of an organization where community involvement and philanthropy are prized and encouraged.

Importantly, current employee engagement theory has shown that engaged employees happier and more productive.  Since I had the pleasure of taking the pictures with Santa, I got to witness our employees reaction to the event first hand. Without fail, our collective generosity blew away my colleagues.  Time and after time, people made comments about how awesome it is to work with such great people and at a great place.  Undoubtedly, for me, witnessing both their pride and their joy was a profoundly rewarding experience.  As a result, I have no doubt that today’s event was an employee engagement win!

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Afterwards, I headed back up to meetings.  Meanwhile, the team loaded the gifts up for delivery.  I simply cannot wait to go hand out the gifts later this week.  Last year, it was such an amazing, life affirming experience.  Unquestionably, the joy on the children’s face coupled with the gratitude of the teachers and parents is indescribable.  Meanwhile I’m filled with the joy and gratitude for today’s experience.

Tonight’s song performed by  music legends David Bowie and Bing Crosby   is “Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth.” 

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Friday Afternoon Bowling

Today I spent my Friday afternoon bowling at a team building event for one of our business partners.  On the heels of yesterday’s BBQ for our team, bowling and building relationships with our business partners was awesome.  Truly,  I spent a good part of my week building relationships and on employee engagement.  Is there anything better?

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Unequivocally, one of the things I love about my job is the people I work with.  Some are on my team, but many work across the organization in the departments we work with daily.  Silos are the greatest danger to any organization.  Make it your mission to remove silos from our place of employment.  Make it your mission to make positive relationships with the people that support your department, but may work outside of it.

 

That’s all I have for career/work advice tonight.  Let’s talk about the bowling.  I’m awful.   Truly I don’t have enough fingers on my hand to count the gutter balls I threw today.  Consequently, during our second game I switched to bowling from my left hand.  The first ball I threw left handed resulted in (gulp) a gutter ball.  I promptly followed it up with a right handed spare.   Thereafter, I alternated between the hands in resulted in a score that was double my second game.

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In fact, in game two I even led for a moment.  Albeit a brief moment.  For that brief moment between the 2nd and 3rd frame of game 2, I was in the lead.  Since this never happens, I simply had to take a picture of my amazing accomplishment.  Unfortunately, I followed it up with some more gutter balls before netting another spare and two strikes.  You can only imagine the awesomeness of my post-strike strut.

My AD and I had joined the white team.  There were five teams and we rocked it.  As sure as I was that I would torpedo the team, we killed it.  We had a blast!  It was such a great opportunity to meet new  people, connect with those we know and build positive relationships.  While I will never become a professional bowler (cue the small violin here,) I look forward to my next bowling trip my colleagues.  Special thanks to our friends TE and NM for the invite.

Tonight’s song “Smooth” by Santana ft. Rob Thomas.

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Serving Others

Today was all about serving others – literally.  As a thank you to our staff and business partners, we threw a BBQ for our entire South Florida team.   While this wasn’t our first rodeo, it was our third, our last two BBQs have been for a team of 40-50.  Comparatively, today’s BBQ was for a paltry 450 people! For the majority of the team, leadership included, this was their first offsite BBQ.

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Our day started early with a trip to Sam’s to pick up the food we had pre-ordered.  While MK and I got the food, the rest of our crew headed to the park to start the grills.  In order to serve by noon, we started grilling at 10.  Our chefs, as always, were fantastic. When I finally got a chance to eat a burger, it was incredible.  By the time our teams showed up to eat, we were more than ready to go.

For the next three hours, my team and I served our employees burgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers.  It was an amazing opportunity for us to interact with our teams and build new relationships on our expanded team.  We spent the entirety of our day preparing for the BBQ, executing and cleaning up the park.  Unquestionably, it is hard for us to be away from the laptops for extended periods of time, but it is worth it to serve our teams.

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Some leaders fall into the trap of getting caught up in titles and even self -importance.  True leadership, however, is about serving those that report to you.  I privileged to be part of a team that espouses the servant leadership philosophy.  After I left the insurance industry years ago, I never wanted to be in a leadership position again.  Surprisingly, here I am in a leadership position again.  What drew me back into the leadership role was the commitment to servant leadership.

Today was an exhausting, but rewarding day.  The opportunity to meet and celebrate the people that make an organization successful was amazing.  I look forward to our next event celebrating the team’s success and our employees.  In the interim, I remain grateful for the opportunity to serve my team as a servant leader.

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Lastly, I’ve been handling my iPhone X gingerly, so as to not drop it.  I’m acclimated slowly to the major changes on the phone.  Truly, the facial recognition piece is amazing. Once I’ve gotten accustom to it, I will post my review here.  

Tonight’s song: “Mr. Jones”  I’m totally on a 90s music kick this week.  Can you tell?  What’s your favorite 90s tune?

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Your Trademark

What’s your trademark?  Is it the way you smile? Is it the cup on Dunkin in your hand?  The way you dress?  Or maybe it is the way you make people laugh.  Each of us has unique gifts, a unique look, unique ideas.  Either way your trademark is uniquely yours, so own it.

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I get it, trust me I do, its tough to own your fabulousness while fighting through the minutia (aka brave sierra) of the 9-5:00.  One of my favorite movies is Office Space.  As our protagonist became miserable in his job, he lost himself for a minute.  It wasn’t until he decided to make a change that he was invigorated again.  In the end, he defrauded the company and ended up in a construction job.  Obviously,  I’m not advocating defrauding you company, but I am advocating finding and following your passion.

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Nobody in Hollywood today or yesteryear, could compete with the awesome persona that was Mae West.  Without a doubt , her trademark blonde hair and acerbic wit were and still are absolutely legendary.  I love the quote from her below.  It’s not what you do or what you say, but how you say it.  Say things in your voice.  Do things in your own way.  Be true to your identity.

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As I wrote at the beginning, each of us has things that are uniquely ours.  This along with the way we make people feel is our trademark.  As I look at my own kids, each has a trademark of their own.  Jake’s trademark is his dimples and passion for music.  Goalielocks’ trademark without question is his flowing blonde hair and brilliant, inquisitive mind.  The Mayor’s is well he’s the Mayor – that’s his trademark.  Everywhere we go, people know the Mayor.  Certainly. his cute dimples and personality don’t hurt.    No matter the pressure, no matter what happens, don’t let life’s up and downs impact you amazingness.

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Tonight’s song:  Queen Ft. David Bowie Under Pressure

 

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My Thursday

My Thursday started with a longer than normal commute down the turnpike courtesy of a wreck and some rain.  It is a proven fact that rain will jack up your commute.  Oh and it did! It jacked up my commute both coming and going today.   The sad, sorry fact is that it isn’t even snow bird season yet, so traffic is only going to get worse!  By the time I got to work, I was feeling beat up.  Obviously, it was a namaste in bed kind of day and I got the memo too late.

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Nevertheless, I grabbed my Dunkin’ and headed to work.  Thank God for coffee and the many hilarious memes popping in on a fantastic group chat.  These definitely brightened my Thursday.   I can’t say that every meeting was awesome sauce today, but I had a few their complete gems.  I’ve been a director for quite awhile, but seeing people develop and come into their own never gets old.  I freaking love it.  I can’t even express how happy it makes me feel.

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Over the lunch hour, we threw an impromptu birthday party in a team meeting for one of our very tenured employees.  When I first started in my current department, this person took me and my colleagues under his wings.  He made sure we understood the process and helped us in anyway he could.  Today we celebrated him and he was blown away.  Afterwards, you could see how much he appreciated the gesture.  Above all, it was a poignant reminder of how important it is to make sure your employees feel that they are important to you and appreciated.

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One of my last meetings of the day was invigoratingUn.  I love finding ways to make organizations better through collaboration and teamwork across departments.  Who needs silos anyway? Am I right?  At any rate, I look forward to seeing how the fruits of our labors can make a difference.

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On the home front, my brother sent a picture to the group text of the Mayorworking on the car at my folk’s house in Minny.  I can’t believe how young he looks in the picture and how old he is now! Unquestionably, I’m not ready for the boys to grow up.   The fact that my youngest is in middle school in mind blowing.   Undeniably, I would really appreciate if someone could figure out how to slow down time.  It is going far too fast for me.  Moreover, I know I’m not alone here.

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I’m a mere 8 years from kids being out of the house.  I know it sounds like a long time, but I also thought 18 years was an eternity.  Turns out it’s not.  Jake is now 18 years old and the hubby and I still can’t figure out where the time went.  It’s seriously profane how quickly the time has gone.  It seems like it was just yesterday, I was a kid watching Madonna on MTV and choreographing awesome routines to her songs.  Now she’s oldest to carry an AARP card and I’m old enough to have a kid in college.    #mindblown  In honor of today’s daily prompt, enjoy Madonna’s Express Yourself music video.

 

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Life Cloaked in Fatigue

When you’re a hockey mom, your life becomes a rat race cloaked in a fog of fatigue.  Some weeks there simply is not enough caffeine to keep you awake.  Day in an day out, you race from the bus stop, to work, to the gym, to practice and then to home.  By the time you eat dinner, its after 9:00 and your falling asleep on your plate.  Maybe your kid doesn’t play hockey, but plays another sport or activity, but the story is the same.  Pure unadulterated exhaustion.  As I figure it, I will finally get a chance to sleep in sometime in December!  Woohoo!

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In effort to balance your life, you have to make yourself a priority.  It could be carving out 30-60 minutes for exercise. Or maybe you take the time to actually use the Massage Envy membership you bought yourself.  At this point in my life, I could get 86 90 minute hot stone massages without me having to come out of pocket.  Do as I say, not as I do is clearly the message here.  Nevertheless, I’m taking time Sunday to get a nice relaxing massage.  If the meme below speaks to you, like it does to me, it is time for you to make yourself a priority.

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I went for a run tonight when I got home from work tonight, despite the fact my abs were destroyed in Barre.  For context, my abs have been so sore since taking my first Barre class that I can barely get out of a chair, rollover in bed or stand up.  Hey, the upshot is that I know the class worked!  In order to run, I had to figure out how to mitigate the pain in my core.  As a result, I found a girdle (sexy I know) for lifting weights that I could use to support my abs while I ran.

The run sucked, but running in 88 degree weather is never the most fun you will ever have.  The runner’s high you experience post-run is amazing and can’t be beat.  I only ran 2.75 miles because I’ve been having some serious shin pain in my right leg and serious knee pain in my left.  Sadly, my left knee was not loving the run so much.  Fortunately, my right shin felt pretty good during the run and feels okay still.  Fingers crossed!

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No sooner had I sat down after taking a nice post-run shower, when the Mayor called me asking me to pick him up from practice.  Hubby took them to practice tonight.  The Mayor’s practice ends at 7:20.   Meanwhile Goalielocks finishes practice at 9:30 pm.  I, of course, told him I’d pick him up.  I drove to the rink through the usual log jam that is Friday traffic on the turnpike to get My Mayor.  The normally six minute drive, took at least 15-20 minutes.  Good times.  Only in Florida, is the quickest route on the turnpike through the pay lines and not the Sun Pass lanes.  Craziness!

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I got to the rink and saw my Bantam parents outside in their “Oktoberfest” beer tent.  None of them had seen the Mayor.  As I drove towards rink two, my hubby came out of the rink laughing.  It seems the Mayor, in between the time he hung up with me and I got to the rink, had arranged to go home with a friend and out for dinner.  Amazingly, the Mayor forgot to relay his change of plans to mom.   I thought I was going to blow a gasket.  I had finally gotten comfortable when he called.  Now here I was circling the parking lot at the rink in my pajamas hair uncombed with searing pain in my core.   Ah yes, motherhood is a glamorous gig.

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As I figure it, the ab pain is really a good news bad news scenario.  First of all, it is good because apparently my ab muscles still exist.  It is bad, however, because any movement like coughing, standing up, sitting down, laying down, coughing or laughing causes the some serious pain.  Sadly, while I have now confirmed the existence of said ab muscles, they’re nowhere to be found.  In fact, they’re now in the witness protection courtesy of Irma and stress.  Here’s hoping they emerge from the program before the holidays.

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I’ll leave you with this incredible video of the band Aha (awesome Norwegian 80s band) performing Take One Me acoustically.  Shout out to one of my fave people, the one and only BG for directing me to it.  Its incredible, enjoy!