I woke up with the sun filtering through the canopy of trees dripping with morning dew. That morning was peaceful, beautiful and quiet with exception of the fellow forest animal and insect dwellers scurrying around. Just how I like to wake up, with trees all around and the promise of something amazing happening that day.
Several years ago I took my first solo trip out west. I had just read a book that inspired me to take off to seek and explore areas of this amazing country that I never had been. Well I am about to do that again. This time it isn’t a book that is getting me out there. It is the story of me. What I believe, think, FEEL, LOVE, admire. My desire to drive countless hours and nestle in to the backdrop of this land that I love. I am going to different places I have never been. I am going to wake up to new vistas, hear new sounds and meet new people. I am going to snap pictures of beautiful places and faces. I am going to write. I am going to listen to the stories of the locals. I am going to laugh with people I meet.
Most importantly I am going to meditate. I am going to reflect upon my life and where it is going. What I need, want, cannot live without, what I can live without. What makes me happy. What makes me peaceful inside. I am going to take my trusty dirt stained yoga mat and roll it out on ridges, rocks, hills and mountains. I am going to take in the morning air and send copious amounts of gratitude out into the universe.
I love the open road…to be continued..
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may better than you dare to think.”
Sometimes decisions are hard. I have had to make a few of them in the past couple of weeks.
quotesaboutmovingonn.blogspot.comDudes….sometimes ya just gotta let it alllllll GO! And I mean let it GO! I have fantasies about taking a hammer to my iPhone. Like one day I wake up and instead of checking my email I just take a hammer and smash the heck out of it. I have fantasies of having nothing but a land line. I daydream about having the day to myself and not being tied to a rectangular box that makes me “feel” complete…waiting with bated breath while you can actually SEE someone texting you back in real time….the little dots doing the wave…you wait with anticipation…”What will they say???????” Screw all of it. The job, the arrogant people in your circle, the men who want their cake and to eat it too. I just want to go, breathe and take in my surroundings.
http://www.budgettravel.comBreathe….take it all in… and let it all out. What will be will be. Make mistakes, erase bad karma, be positive, learn, grow and just be yourself. Do not apologize for you are good as long as you learn and grow from your mistakes. Treat others well. Take deep breaths. LOVE LIKE NO OTHER. Wear your heart on your sleeve. Live in the moment but in the back of your mind be aware of the ripples of your actions. Be the best person for yourself and the others involved in your life. Say what you feel as long as you are not disrespectful. Do not be afraid…. DO NOT BE AFRAID. Love and love and love and love until…well forever.
Love,
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
I changed the name of my blog…not sure how I feel about it yet but any feedback is welcome. I really liked a happier human but people have started to call me by my Facebook handle Wild Flowers Lori and I think I kinda like it. As I sit typing I am eating a veggie hummus bowl from my favorite coffee shoppe! Yep you guessed it, Erie Island Coffee 😀
Okay dudes (ladies and gents)… so on April 25th I decided that I wanted to go vegan again. Again meaning I was vegan for a while when I lived in San Francisco. I had already been vegetarian for a bit and after not too much time and thought I decided that I wanted to go vegan. IT WAS SO EASY TO DO IN SAN FRANCISCO!!!! Almost every place is vegan friendly and you can find great variety of veggies and fruits ALL year long! Plus people out there are totally accepting of your dietary choices. I could take “ribs” to a BBQ and no one even blinked an eye or grilled me with tons of questions. Number one question here in Ohio is, “Where do you get your protein?” California is pretty progressive when it comes to healthy living and I miss that sometimes when I am grocery shopping back here in the mid west. I heart CLE though! 😀 I will say this though, I can go to ANY restaurant and find something to eat on the menu. Even a steak house. I am not preacher nor an “Eeew I can’t eat there” kind of gal! We all make lifestyle choices that suit us.
photo courtesy of plenteousveg.com
When I was vegan living in California I was in the best shape of my life, my climbing progressed as did my swimming. Mental clarity was DA BOMB! I was never in a fog nor did I have days where I felt like I was dragging butt. Sure I had days where I was tired from working myself too hard but normal days were AWESOME! So I kept with it…until I moved back to Ohio. Then it was just soooo hard to maintain. Dairy is the basis of every food family and friend get together. Appetizers, main dishes, desserts, breakfasts etc. It wasn’t long before I was eating my way through all of it. I felt overloaded and defeated and bloated. So I gave in for years, 4.5 years to be exact. I tried to go vegan about a year ago and it wasn’t the right time for me I guess. I was taking on a lot of things and being vegan wasn’t at the forefront of life.
There are a few different types of veganism. Here is where I am at. I don’t eat meat, dairy or eggs. I used to eat the eggs from my friend Ginger’s pet chickens but I don’t anymore. For a while she was known as my “egg dealer” as I would slip her some cash in her pocket at work all incognito! Hahaha :p I don’t buy leather goods whenever possible. (A lot of tennis shoes have leather accents. So if you know of any vegan running shoes let me know!) I did not throw out any of my leather goods I already had. I paid the money and will get my use out of them. I am not going to beat myself up if I have a cannoli once in a blue moon from Gallucci’s Italian Foods and Market on E. 66th and Euclid. I have been going here with my family since I was in diapers and somethings are sacred…like fresh filled cannoli’s. (I will thank and pay homage to the animals before I eat it.) I am not a crazy hard core vegan. I know I will have slips and cave in at some point. I am doing what I feel is the best thing for MY body, mind, soul and welfare of the animals.
The reason for this post is because as I emerge as a vegan people are asking questions. They hear me ordering no dairy at a restaurant and want to know why. So in following posts I will be talking about animal welfare, nutrition and cooking. I am not a nutritionist. My views, thoughts and ideas are mine and mine alone. You should consult your physician before making any major dietary changes.
I hope you all have had a great week so far! Tomorrow night my best friend Sara and I are going to a Cinco de Mayo (yes I know it’s a day late) wine tasting and food testing at a local health food store. I am so excited as all the food featured will be vegan!
Let me know your thoughts and opinions about the blog name change and veganism!
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Truth is, I haven’t been inspired to write anything for a while now. Not sure if it was a lack of adventure in the winter time, endless days of no sun or a combination of both. Combination of both. I cannot say that I did a whole lot of adventuring lately. Anyways today is the first day in a long time that I have felt like writing anything.
I woke up Saturday morning and the sun was shining bright through my apartment warming the floors and my inner sense of peace. I did my usual routine of dusting the sleep out of my eyes, washing dishes and putting the kettle on to brew coffee in the french press. I did some yoga while waiting for the kettle to whistle (dudes I am stiff!) I also flipped through a couple of pages of the latest Patagonia catalog. Inspiration can always be found in there and this time it lit a little bit of a fire inside of me. Sometimes I rip out a few pages and put them on my fridge. When I lose inspiration I have a couple of reminders staring me in the face of what I love about my life and what I aspire to. 😀
I started back rock climbing a couple of months ago. Starting back out was humbling as all get out. My arms were like wet noodles and muscles that I had forgotten existed were screaming at me, but over time I have been getting a little stronger and stronger and that has been feeling real good. Friday my friend Jon and I climbed outside for the first time this year and it was awesome! The sun was warm, the rock was dry and it was quiet. I LOVE climbing outside as you get to pick your own route and you can climb the same area a million different ways. Just now as I type, I checked in with my buddy Dave and he sent me a photo of him and a few others gearing up to climb at the New River Gorge in West Virginia. I couldn’t make it this weekend due to prior obligations but I am sooooooo jealous right now! It is cool though because next weekend we are heading down to the Red River Gorge, KY!
By no means am I good climber right now. I am weak, stiff and I get pumped (pumped is when your forearms burn out) so easy. Most of all my breathing is total crap as I climb. I get anxious and my breathing becomes erratic. Shane the manager at Cleveland Rock Gym was helping me with this one particular bouldering problem a few weeks back and as soon as I got off the wall his advice for me was not foot placement nor hand placement but he said, “You have to breathe Lori.” Since then I have been trying to do just that.
I miss climbing in California. The weather is almost always perfect and you can climb outside all year long. The climbing gyms open up at 6:30am so you can get your climb on before work which I totally love because I am waaaay better in the mornings than in the evenings. My energy is full throttle when I wake up most mornings and I usually pewter out about 5pm.
You don’t have to climb rocks or backpack through the woods. Just being out in nature will erase tension and worries.
This weekend in Cleveland was just awesome. Bright sun, warm temps and endless things to do outside. I was fortunate enough to hang out with new friend I met through my backpacking group. 🙂 Luda and her husband came to an event a couple of weeks ago and her and I were able to connect and get together for some girl talk and coffee on Sunday. She is a pretty cool person and I looking forward to hanging out and having new fun workout friend!
Friday my best friend Sara and I went to the listen to the Cleveland Orchestra and hung out again Sunday morning with her 2 girls at the beach and playground! Saturday my niece Kelly and I went for a bike ride/jog in the park. We hiked up to a spot where we could watch the planes fly over really low upon landing. Kelly thought is was super cool and I NEVER EVER get tired of it! I also hung out with my awesome folks too. All in all this weekend was pretty darn awesome!
Life seems fuller right now and it feels good. There are some things on the horizon that are going to be challenging but beneficial. It feels good to put words on the page again. Inspiration is blooming!
Life is not black and white. We have to constantly move forward and explore aspects of our lives that may seem scary. I believe that is how we set an example of love, adventure and continuous learning. Sometimes things ARE meant to come to an end. Not because you didn’t try hard enough, just simply because things have run their course. I don’t have a desire to be stagnant/complacent. Not at the expense of myself or the people I love, it wouldn’t do anyone any good in the long run. Love yourself first… get to know yourself.
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Let me dive right in…but let’s back up a few years…lol
( not my photo, gauleyrafting.net)
It was early fall, I was laying across the side of the raft, my face toward the warm sun, drifting through a calm section of the Upper Gauley (a river that boasts class V+ rapids in the fall), staring up at the lush green mountains and listening to the water lap across the side of the raft as it carried my friends and I down the river. I thought to myself, how does one make a living being out here all the time. How can I do this? It was the late 90’s and I barely had any college under my belt. I had zero clue as to what I wanted to do with my life. All I knew was that I wanted to work outside on the water and among the trees and mountains. My friends and I had been rafting the Upper Gauley for years. Each year I asked myself the same question. I come from a town where you go to college, get a degree, settle down and have a family. I didn’t know of a family that did anything super adventurous. The guidance counselor at my high school was pretty much worthless in helping a student recognize, let alone follow through on a dream that deferred from the small town norm so I was on my own to figure it out and find a way.
It took many years of monumental mistakes, wrong turns, changing majors several times and chasing after a career I had absolutely zero desire to pursue in order to make the decision to just follow my own path.
The year that I decided to change my life was 2006. It was a beautiful February day. I was sitting in math class at the local community college attempting nursing school for the ump-teenth time. Staring out the window I could see big beautiful snow flakes falling outside in the courtyard. Snow flakes so big and fluffy that they need their own zip code. These flakes fell so slow like they were in slow motion and were dancing their way down from the sky. I thought to myself, I don’t want to be in an effing classroom. I don’t want to be a nurse, I don’t want to live out my life in Ohio without experiencing something bigger first. I had dreams damn it and I needed to make them happen! So I promptly stood up and started walking out of the classroom. The professor stopped me and asked, “Where are you going? We have a quiz at the end of class.” I responded, “I understand. Good luck everyone.” And with that I walked straight to the registrars office and withdrew from all my classes. I NEVER EVER felt so free in my entire life. I drove home and immediately started planning my move out west to become a whitewater rafting guide.
I wanted to go somewhere I had never been before. I wanted to experience new attitudes, people, places, natural areas and different ways of living. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mid-west values of hard work and family but my ideals never aligned with the closed mindedness of small town USA. I craved new ideas and fresh faces.
As I was searching the internet I came across a rafting company in Colorado. I have always wanted to live in Colorado. Everything about the place is exciting and beautiful to me. Huge mountains, rushing rivers and cute mountain men! Sign me up! The whitewater training school I found was DVORAK’S RAFTING. This place sounded very intense to me. Just what I wanted! But then thoughts from years ago started drifting in and out of my head of conversations I had with my neighbor David when I was living in Columbus attending Ohio State. David was an older gentleman who traveled a lot. When he was gone my sister and I would cat sit for him and in turn he would bring us home little gifts. I remember telling him how I always wanted to live in California. I dreamed of Yosemite, Joshua Tree and the Pacific Ocean. He said he was leaving on a trip there soon and I was so envious. Upon his return he brought me back postcards that showed different parts of the state. Little did I know but the seed was planted.
My guide school search continued until I found a great friendly company on the Kings River near Sequoia National Park. Zephyr Whitewater. California won out in the end. I saved money to pay for guide school and two months later with only belongings that could fit in the trunk of my car and $500 I set off for the mountains out west. My dreams of living on the river among the trees were becoming a reality!!! The sun would shine upon my face everyday and my “office view” would be amazing. I had never in my life felt so sure of anything, ever.
My family threw me a going away party and gave me gifts including $300 in BP gas card money. (little did any of us know that there aren’t any BP gas stations west of Indiana…at least not then…hahaha)
Finally the day after I turned 29 I packed up the last of my things into my car. I had said good bye to everyone. My mom and I had a moment before she left for work so it was my dad who was the last one to see me get on the road. I get my adventurous spirit from him I guess. When I wake up in the wee hours of the morning and take off on a random road trips, that is my dad. I remember not being able to let go of him. Crying and crying because I would miss him so much and desperately wanting him to go on that cross country adventure with me… after all I am my father’s daughter when it comes to road tripping, among other things. 😀 My fearlessness and take no bull attitude comes from my mother and her mother, Italians…
Finally my dad crying and chuckling said, “You can’t leave if you don’t let go.” So I let go…
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
I had a really great weekend! The weather was amazing, the conversations were insightful and I was able to spend all day Saturday with my niece Sydney 😀 Friday I had an appointment with Dr. Sean Cupp, an orthopedic physician. We went over my symptoms and he ended up putting an air cast on my lower leg to stabilize the muscles and bones. I have 4 weeks with the cast and four weeks of physical therapy. The air cast isn’t all that bad but I am not allowed to do any “land cardio”, not even yoga for the next four weeks. A bit of a bummer but at least I’m not in a boot or on crutches! Whooooo hooooo! But it also means no 1/2 marathon in the Grand Tetons. By the time I am fully up and running again there will not be enough time to train properly for it. So I will focus my efforts on the Tow Path 1/2 marathon in September/October! So for now it is all about upper body and core. Not super excited but hey, I did it to myself and I knew better than to go full throttle into the 1/2 training and over exert myself. LESSON LEARNED!!! Again…
Friday night one of my best friends and I got together for a delicious dinner at El Carnicero in Lakewood.
Lakewood has some amazing restaurants and slowly I am trying each one! The menu was pretty diverse and the really nice thing is that it is NOT your run of the mill Mexican joint. The food is fresh, unique and will challenge your taste buds in good way. I started off with a house margarita (happy hour at the bar 4-7) and it was really good. The margarita could have use a bit more salt around the rim but the drink itself was very scrumptious! My friend Sara had tequila, straight, rough week at work!) We both ordered the Wild Boar Nachos (mine were vegetarian of course) and the goat cheese guacamole. The nachos were pretty good but the goat cheese guacamole was insanely delicious. Very heavy though and it sat heavy in my stomach well into the following morning. It was a delectable night out! The best part was that my friend of 29 years and I had a chance to just sit and talk and talk and talk! We don’t get together as often as we’d like so when we do we make sure it is for good food and tasty drinks.
Saturday morning I awoke to warm sunny skies and so of course I headed down to the beach with coffee in hand to snap a few pics and meditate out on the rocks that extend well into the lake. 😀
I am sooo tall!
Ice covered 2/3’s of the rocks but I was able to find a nice sunny spot and just soaked up the warm sun, beautiful views and the sounds of birds chirping away. It was perfect…
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I soon received a text from my brother inviting me to join him and his youngest Sydney for breakfast. I was like, “Um yeah!” So we discovered a “new to us” diner in Bay Village called Bay Diner. The staff was friendly and the food was pretty darn good too. A definite return spot. 😛 I asked Sydney if she wanted to spend the day with me and she said yeah! She is the smartest 9 year old I know! I call her Little Miss Regional Manager! We spent the day doing little home improvement projects around my apartment. We must have went to Home Depot and Lowe’s a 1/2 dozen times. She helped me replace outlet covers, change out ceiling fan pull cords and find the right size screws for the drawer pulls I bought a while ago! She was a great help! We also went to Books a Million and I bought her a National Geographic Weird But True book.
It contains 300 weird but true random facts about humans, animals, insects and the planet. Annnnnd since I am a lover of all random facts like she is, we finished the entire book in about 2 hours! Then we re-read it to see if we could remember the ones in the beginning! So fun dudes!!! All in all it was a fantastic day!
Today so far has been pretty good too. I met my friend Bill for coffee and breakfast and then I am on my way to a benefit for a co-worker who is fighting stage 2-3 colon cancer. We are hoping for a great turnout for the spaghetti dinner! She is a fabulous nurse and co-worker!
I hope you all have a fabulous Sunday! Enjoy the sun my friends!
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Duuuudes… you ever have one of those mornings when you feel an overwhelming desire to get the heck out of town or you may just lose your mind?!?!?! That is exactly how I felt Saturday morning. I was suppose to go snowshoeing with friends and was really looking forward to it as I have never been snowshoeing before. However, when I opened my eyes I knew I had to pack up a few things and hop in my car. It was a loooong week at work and some personal stuff was just brewing up inside me and that my friends makes for a great “get the heck out of dodge and drive to somewhere beautiful” kind of a much needed day! So I pack a bunch of warm clothes, a thermos of hot coffee, some snacks, loaded up on gas and hit the highway. I am not going to lie…. the weather was somewhat crappy but I didn’t care.
I knew exactly where I wanted to go. I friend had told me about a place called “The Grand Canyon of the East” about a year ago. I googled it and found it to be located in Letchworth State Park in Castile, NY. So dudes, I plugged it into the map app on my phone, hit the open road and let my car take me there.
There is something about a road trip that gets me so totally excited and I feel so at peace and free. I remember when I was moving from Venice Beach, CA up to San Francisco, I felt this feeling of relief knowing that I get to move someplace new and exciting…again! Having the freedom to travel whenever I want to is so….sacred to me. Sacred is the only word that I can think of to describe the feeling. Although Cleveland is my home base for now, I would never rule out moving someplace new again. 😉
First I entered Pennsylvania (very short drive through this part of PA) then onto to New York. The drive to New York wasn’t that bad. I hit a few snow squalls heading of out Cleveland and in PA as well but I never thought to turn around. It turned out to be a pretty decent drive for the most part. I just took my time and wasn’t in any kind of hurry 🙂
I love driving along long stretches of land and looking out over the farms with really old barns and old houses with high pitched roofs. Everything looks really pretty when it is snow covered. Like a moment from a postcard from 60-70 years ago. The landscapes seem to stand still in time when they are blanketed with snow.
After driving 4.5 hours and plenty of beautiful farms, I finally arrived at Letchworth State Park.
It. Was. Cold….very cold! I arrived and checked into the ranger’s station only to find out that that part of the park was closed due to the weather. A lot of roads in the park were closed because they were not passable. I also inquired to see if I could get a cabin for the night. I had this idea in my head that I was going to take a nice warm shower, read, write, relax and meditate until my heart’s content. That didn’t happen! I figured no one would be wanting to spend the night in a sub zero temps out in a state park, even if it was in a cabin. Wellll I forgot that it was Valentine’s Day weekend. Bummer because there was not single cabin available. So what’s a lady to do? I put on my winter gear and went for a hike around that part of the park. It was breathtaking! The following description is from the New York State Park website,
“Letchworth State Park, renowned as the “Grand Canyon of the East,” is one of the most scenically magnificent areas in the eastern U.S. The Genesee River roars through the gorge over three major waterfalls between cliffs–as high as 600 feet in some places–surrounded by lush forests. Hikers can choose among 66 miles of hiking trails. Trails are also available for horseback riding, biking, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing. Letchworth offers nature, history and performing arts programs, guided walks, tours, a summer lecture series, whitewater rafting, kayaking, a pool for swimming and hot air ballooning.” It was also named by USA Today, America’s favorite state park 2015.
I cannot wait to go back in the late spring or early summer! I want to hike for a couple of days and tent camp. I don’t know if there is much backpacking in the park but I will have to find out for sure. Wikipedia does a great job of explaining the history and formation of the canals and waterfalls within and around Letchworth State Park. I tell you guys it’s worth the read 🙂
I hiked around and soaked up the scenery for while before heading back to Ohio. The skies were so blue with wispy clouds spread out over the horizon. The sun was bright and I could not have asked for a better day. Even if it was insanely cold out! The cool (pun intended!) part was the contrast of the blue sky against the evergreen trees. The trees just POPPED against the blue. Very cool 🙂 Also the water below that was flowing through the canyon was a greenish blue color. The color of VERY VERY VERY cold water. Brrrr…. I had this thought that what if the cliff gave way and I slid hundreds of feet to the bottom of the canyon!? Morbid I know but seriously…lol! As I drove out of the park the wind picked just enough to blow some snow of the evergreen branches and they kissed my car gently as if to say, “Thank you for wandering around and see you soon.”
I stopped in a little town (the name of it has slipped my mind) to have dinner which was much needed after eating only a few snacks over the course of 8 hours. I thought about staying in that little town but I really wanted to be in a cabin surrounded by snow and trees. A small town hotel would not have had the same effect!
Well folks that is it for now! I hope you had a good start to the week and I will check in again very soon. I have to tell you about Sunday’s mini-road trip!
Oh and my friend Pete just posted a trip to the Wind River Range in Wyoming in August! So stoked!!!
Happy road trippin’ ;D
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Hello everyone! I hope this Friday finds you all ready for a relaxing peaceful weekend 🙂 I know I started mine last night with evening meditation and a bit of yoga.
1/2 marathon training has come to a bit of a halt. I was speaking with a few physical therapists from work and they all agreed that I need to totally lay off the running and high impact cardio and make an appointment with an orthopedic doctor. My usual one does not treat shin splints and I am a bit bummed because I like her style of practice. The up side? I have an appointment with the orthopedic doctor who treats the Cleveland Browns! I am not messing around dudes! I want to get this taken care of properly and with doctors that know really know their stuff! Until then it’s more yoga, stretching, biking and swimming (swimming will start sometime soon.) If for some reason this Grand Teton 1/2 marathon does not work out for me there is always the Towpath 1/2 marathon in the fall but I am totally still striving for the Grand Teton one!
I am trying harder all the time to develop a deeper, more consistent and longer meditation practice. Finding time to meditate can be very hard with working all the hours I do but I decided this year that I am not going to kill myself working. When I do pick up the extra hours they will be during the week and I will try really hard to keep my weekends for myself. I did that this week and although I was slap happy by the time 7:30pm came around on Thursday I was more than ready for some quiet time and a 3 day weekend and I am glad I was able to get the extra hours in during my normal work week. I am very grateful and fortunate to have the schedule that I do and I don’t want to take it for granted and I want to use it wisely.
Meditation….You can meditate anywhere, anytime. I do not attend any fancy meditation sessions. I just find a quiet place, find meditation music on Spotify, sit quietly and focus on a mantra and my breathing. There is a place by me where one can go to meditate and I may check it out just to see if I can develop a deeper practice. Just like yoga, when I go every so often to see what is new and make sure my positioning is aligned correctly. Finding a quiet place is easy for me at home because I do not own a television and I like it that way. I like that my place is a place of peace and quiet. I deal with noise all day long and I like to retreat to a peaceful place. This morning I woke up and instead of jumping into the car to head to the coffee shop I decided to wait. I caught myself already getting wrapped up with the question of what am I going to do with my morning? That’s when I turned off the noise in my head, lit a few candles and sat on my sofa and meditated for 25 minutes. Although my mind will wonder and wander during meditation, I am getting better at it and can bring myself back quicker than before. 🙂
I cannot for the life of me remember where I heard the words this past week so if any of you know who said these words let me know so I may give credit. Someone said that we should take care of ourselves mentally so we are better able to take care of ourselves physically. That makes so much sense to me. I mean the mind and body are one. Our brain controls every part of us. If we lose brain function then we lose bodily function, if our heart wears out then we lose the oxygen rich blood being pumped to the brain. Why wouldn’t we “workout” our minds? Have you ever tried working out and you feel better mentally as well as physically? It goes BOTH ways. This morning I was struggling with what to do with my day and also a friend who is having a tough time communicating right now. Instead of getting wrapped up in things to do and dealing with people, I decided to deal with myself. I recognized the jumbled mess of thoughts in my brain and realized that I needed to take time out to deal with that before I deal with anything else. The end result? I let go of the worry that I had about the friend. I was able to bring myself to a place where I remembered that we all deal with things differently and that when that person is ready to talk, in their own time, they will reach out. I cannot control the other person, nor do I want to. I respect them and their process. I can only focus on my day and let them go about theirs. And as far as what to do with my day? I am here at my favorite coffee shop Erie Island, writing and I am happy about that. I am not worried about the rest of the day or weekend that lies ahead.
I will catch up again soon. Have a beautiful and peaceful day!
Also, congrats to Tom who won the coffee give away!
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Happy Monday…why do people say that? I guess any day where you wake up is a good day, eh? Today I am working a later shift so I am sitting at the cafe with a warm cup of coffee and a fire blazing just across from me. So it is a wonderful Monday morning for me 🙂
I thought I would try to ease the Monday blues for you all and do a Monday funday kind of deal. Random facts and what would you do kind of questions and a trivia question! Coffee give away! Coffee from Erie Island Coffee! A one pound bag of their delicious Perry’s Brew whole bean coffee! Perry’s Brew is an Italian roast, smooth, low acidity, low caffeine and has a hint of a dark chocolate flavor. I will randomly select a winner on Friday!
At least this list may make you laugh or distract you from a crazy Monday 🙂 Please feel free to share random facts and anwers to the “what would you do’s” in the comments section 😀 I’d love to learn about you guys too!
10 random facts about me.
I LOVE watching planes take off and land but I am afraid of flying.
I want to go skydiving really bad! (it’s just getting up in the air that’s the problem)
I can eat peas when they are mixed in with other foods but not by themselves.
I am a hair twirler and so are my two sisters. (Our mom was really concerned about this when we were younger!)
I have 2 screws in my left knee.
I can drink hot coffee on a 11o° day and I love it!
I have roadtripped across country several times solo.
I wanted to make hard boiled eggs one time but couldn’t because forgot I owned pots and pans. That is how much I DO NOT cook! Lol…but I am slowly learning
My right ear squeaks when I itch it. We all itch our ears from time to time right?! Right?!
Eyebrows are the first thing I notice on someone.
Phew.. That was kind of tough to do!
5 What would you do’s?
Where would you go for a week if money or transportation were not an issue?
I would go to Africa.
What would you do if you found a bag with a ton of money and no one saw you pick it up?
Turn it in, wait 30 days and hope no one claims it then TRAVEL!!!
Who is the one person with whom you would have lunch with if you could?
Jane Goodall and Michael J. Fox (I know I picked two but they are both my heros!
What would you do if you had only one super power?!
I would be able to fly so I could go anywhere any time I want to!
What would your dream job be?
Photographer/writer for National Geographic.
Trivia question:
In which US State had Sweden for a time a Colony?
Hope this provided a little happy distraction from your hectic Monday! Have a beautiful day wherever you may be!
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Wildflowers Lori 