I have to be honest, as crazy as it will sound. But I’m in love with this winter. It’s been frigid. We haven’t had much snow. Everything is dry and barren. There’s not much light. And I’m in love with it. In my stubborn refusal to bring my running indoors to the treadmill, I’ve spent…
Category: blessings
Making Kindness Your Superpower
I LOVED this article so, so much. It gives the author’s 25 tips on making kindness your “superpower.” Click on the link for the full 25, but here are a few of my absolute favorites: – Use social media to promote positive messaging and compassion. Stand up for kindness. – Make peace with someone who has hurt you. – Say thank…
Write It On Your Heart…
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson On this first day of a full week of vacation, I thought it would be a good time to look back over and share some of the best of the best days of 2014. Lots of…
In no particular order…
…a mid-holiday season “small happiness” list. 1.) Egg nog 2.) Thick blankets 3.) Ginormous leaves that do not match up to a single tree along my running route 4.) Colorful Christmas lights that make running and driving at night so cheerful 5.) Looking ahead to lots of holiday plans 6.) Dogs. Especially dogs named Buddy. 7.) Christmas cards…
A(nother) Day in the Life
A little over a year ago, I completed a “day in the life” photo project — which meant taking at least one photo every hour all day long. As I said at the time, it’s not that my life is vaguely important or newsworthy enough to merit play-by-play documentation. Rather it is a much-needed exercise in awareness…
Today’s Number is…18
“When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, ‘Oh yes – I already have everything that I really need.’” Not too long ago, I posted an abbreviated version of Gandhi’s Ten Rules for Changing the World. Today,…
30 Things to Smile About
I found an article from one of my favorite magazines (Spirituality & Health) called 30 Journaling Prompts for Self-Discovery. I don’t know that I have any interest in “discovering” myself, but I do like answering the questions that make me think about life a little differently or push me a bit. And there’s some really good…
It’s the Great Halloween Race, Charlie Brown!
How. Much. Fun. Is. This. These are my kids before their second Great Halloween Race…and my Dad’s first. Tanner ran the 5K, Drew ran a 10K, Dad was a course monitor. I ran my third Halloween 10K. I’m so tickled to report that three was a charm; I posted a personal best today. SO FUN….
Traveling Mercies
Saw these images and the following post on Facebook yesterday from the National Weather Service. Eventually, this made me really giddy: “Keen observers of our radar data probably noticed some fairly high returns moving south over southern Illinois and central Missouri. High differential reflectivity values as well as low correlation coefficient values indicate these are…
Perfect. Just Perfect.
Friday marked the ten-year anniversary of my kids and I calling St. Louis home. And I cannot think of a more perfect way to celebrate than taking in the best of this city with my lifelong best friend and her wonderful family, who made the trek from Kansas City for this visit. What a blast….
Thinking of You
This adorable mug is a photo taken by my dear friend Suzy and sent to me yesterday with the message, “Thinking of you AGAIN! This was truly a doggie in the window (Of a laundromat)” This filled me with so much joy for so many reasons, the most obvious being, well, it’s a pug. Pugs…
Self-Reflection: Meaning and Purpose
“The meaning of life is to find your gift.The purpose of life is to give it away.” – William Shakespeare I read this quote earlier this week and it’s served as a reflection ever since. What is my gift? Am I giving it away? Have I found meaning? Am I fulfilling my purpose? Honestly, this was…
Wow. Just Wow.
This morning I got a cryptic text from my beloved and blissfully retired former boss. She gave me specific directions to something she wanted me to see, but wouldn’t tell me what I was looking for — only that I would know it when I saw it and it was amazing. The location was just beyond…
We’re not in Kansas anymore…or Colorado
We reluctantly packed up at the crack of dawn this morning and headed home, putting Colorado and the Rockies in our rear view mirrors. But not before a fun send off from a few rather large visitors. One elk stood right outside our back door, while two others mulled around in the neighboring yard. They…
The Adventure Continues
Back to Rocky Mountain National Park this morning. First stop: Sprague Lake. This has to be one of my favorite spots of the day. Below is a fly fishing lesson. Can you imagine learning a new skill with THIS as your backdrop? Check out this brazen little chipmunk. We were within just a foot or…
Friends
Feeling very grateful for friends today. Friends who enable my Sees candy habit and understand my sense of humor — all at the same time (above photo — you know who you are). Friends who bake a separate little dish of vegetarian lasagna just for me — even though there are nine other people to be served…
Friday with Mom
My mamma picked THE most beautiful day of the year for a day trip to our zip code. Sunny, seventy degrees…so, so lovely. And we picked THE most beautiful place to start the day — the Botanical Garden’s Orchid Show. So many wonderful varieties, shapes and colors. But mostly just wonderful company. Loved getting to…
Top O’ the Weekend to Ya
Lemme start this by saying it: this has been a very, very good weekend so far. While there’s good in every day if you look around hard enough, this is the kind of good that hands itself to you in a colorful package with a big, sparkly bow. A Pharrell-Williams’-“Happy”-playing-in-your-head kind of weekend. It started…
Ask Questions, Seek Answers…Start Anew
“There are years that ask questions, and years that answer.” – Zora Neale Hurston You know, if I apply this philosophy while looking over 2013, I’m thinking this was a year that posed the questions. In all, it’s been a good year…with some tough spots sprinkled here and there. We’ve had our adventures, filled with…
Dear Santa…
Me and my siblings, Christmas 1971 So today brought the last of our Christmas shopping for this year. Yes, we’d procrastinated. A lot. But after we’d run around picking up gifts and checked off all names on our lists, we settled back into the car with a sigh of relief. That’s when Tanner made a comment…
Grateful
“There’s that moment every year. We sit down to a much-awaited table – the sum of the attention of to-do lists across town. Not a detail missed. Yet no matter how perfect the setting, it is something else for which we are grateful: the simple pause that comes from the gathering. That’s it. The reflection…
You’ve Got This!
After my less-than-productive run yesterday, I went for a three mile hike with Drew. Gotta say, he’s turned into a bit of a running buff and fitness freak. He’s dropped at least 30 pounds since his chemo ended a year ago. He works out religiously and eats very healthy. It’s been fun to watch his…
Dear So-and-So…
Well, my firstborn is 21. We celebrated with a Veteran’s Day road trip to see the Chicago Bulls play. While there, we were formally introduced to Sprinkles Cupcakes and experienced Chicago’s first snow of the season. But people-watching along the way has reminded me that I haven’t done a Dear So-and-So post in a very,…
hey there, friends 