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Look Who’s Back

Well, well, look who’s back. It’s been a while since I’ve written here, but I was tired and needed a break. Like most women in their mid-forties, I’m having a lot of fun with my hormones. Thanks to perimenopause and Graves’ disease, I’ve been a bit all over the place. The one constant, however, has been fatigue.

With all that’s been going on, I decided to focus on staying fit and the family. Since I last wrote, I’ve run several 5Ks. These races have been a great opportunity to keep my focus on my goal of building my overall fitness. The goal is no longer to be the fastest, but to run the best race, while building muscle and bone, while letting go of the results. Of course, I’ve also added finishing a 10K race to my annual goals for 2026.

Meanwhile, the Mayor has been playing junior hockey with the Coral Springs Jr Cats. I have a love-hate relationship with junior hockey after our billet’s experience with an unethical hockey director. The program is new this year, so it was a risk, but the general manager is wonderful and does a great job. It’s really been a positive experience for the Mayor, my husband, and me.

You’ll get your fill of junior hockey over the next three days as we travel to Tampa for the playoffs. Hopefully, it doesn’t take six hours to get there this weekend, and we see a lot of cows. This team has the ability and grit to win it all, so it should be a fun weekend. My BFF and I are sharing an Airbnb to mitigate costs. So either way, we will have a good time.

2026Goal tracker:

  • Run 12 5Ks and a 10K: work in progress
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: currently working through 4.0 this week!
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations):
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: Does Tampa count?
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading The Mystery of Mrs. Christie – a Riddle Made for Book Club to Solve, by Marie Benedict.
  • Get out of debt: in progress, but still poor
  • Financial independence: in progress, but still opt
  • If you’re not already following me on Instagram, give me a follow!
  • Check out my newest partner, Zulay Kitchen. You can use the code Welcome43 to get 43% off.

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

I was laid off from a very toxic job in 2019. It was a job that I had worked really hard for, but my old boss made my life hell the last couple of years. In the end, I had a heads up because senior leadership, far from being professional, rode down the elevator with the layoff plans face up. Whoops!

Nonetheless, it was hard to leave a team of people I loved working with every day. As tough as it was, it allowed me to spend time with my son before he left for the military. It taught me that living the corporate American dream is absolute bullshit. Instead, my life revolves around my family, my passions, my dogs, my friends, and of course, hockey. Now I’m living a happier, balanced, and fulfilling life.

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Birthday Blessings

Today has been full of beautiful birthday blessings from family and friends around the world. I love hearing from Jake, my niece P, and getting birthday wishes from the Mayor. Honestly, I’m glad they remembered my birthday because I’m usually the one that sends reminder texts to my hubby and kids. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do that today. I do, however, need to follow up and make sure they wished their aunt Mo a happy birthday yesterday.

I remember as a kid thinking forty years old was ancient( (like a museum piece old) and that life would be over at forty. Fortunately, it turns out I was wrong. In a lot of ways, life begins at forty. You’ve outgrown the silliness of your twenties and thirties and have learned plenty of life lessons. You know what’s important and have already cut out the things and relationships that no longer serve you. To be honest, it’s not all rainbows and butterflies in forties town, but it’s pretty good. I mean, You’ll definitely hurt yourself in some humiliating way like sleeping or reading.

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

As to today’s prompt, I was laid off at thirty-nine right before the pandemic. It could be classified as a failure, however, I’d classify it as a gift. As I mentioned before, at forty you’ve learned to cut out the things that no longer serve you. Apparently, at thirty-nine I hadn’t learned that lesson. Well, at least not until I was laid off. I stayed at a job, with amazing people by the way, that stopped being healthy years prior to my layoff. Truly, I should have left earlier. That experience has taught me how to create the work-life balance that I want. Of course, it helps that I make more money at my new job and have no commute.

Thank you to everyone for the beautiful birthday blessings!

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness+
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Word of the day: risible. Me water skiing behind my dogs as I attempt to walk them is a risible scene.
  • Today’s song is Hell Yeah by Rev Theory