Love Wins

We heard several reminders about the significance of today's date-as it relates to trauma-at today's conference. We are, after all, a group of professionals trained in dealing with the aftermath of traumatic experiences.

Everyone at the conference deals with the way in which people react to that trauma, and, how it ultimately contributes to shaping and defining them, but, most of us in attendance today tend to think on a small scale; one child at a time, one family at a time.

September 11, 2001 forced my colleagues from this area to deal with trauma on a scale far greater than I hope ever hope to endure.

This memorial, located on Inner Harbor, is a tribute to the people of Maryland who were lost that day.

Today, there were flowers and flags and mourners. Because, our country still mourns.

And there is not a lot that all of our understanding of trauma can do to eliminate that effects of that pain. But, we will all keep trying.

And that is why we win.

Greetings From Baltimore

I've been up since 3:00 this morning. I have flown in two planes, ridden in an Uber, and walked five miles along the harbor front and into some wicked cool neighborhoods, just to check out the architecture.

I'm beat. Finished. Done.

But, I got all 10,000 of my daily steps in and I got some great pictures to boot.

Tomorrow, I have to get up bright and early for day one of the conference that I am attending, so, the hotel bed is looking pretty good to me right now, and, since the hotel doesn't have a Starz subscription, I may as well turn in early (Season premiere of Outlander, oh how I'll miss you!).

Oh, how I long for the days when I was capable of staying up all night, pulling a full shift at work, and going right back out and doing it over again; just think how much I could accomplish if I could handle that routine, now.

Youth truly is wasted on the young.

When Is a Weekend Not a Weekend?

When you spend Friday night "working" on your hobby business, Saturday, working at your part-time job, and Sunday, traveling across country for your Day Job.

Such is my "weekend" this week.

Last night, I did an engagement photo shoot for a couple whose wedding I will be photographing in October (Yeah, remember that Bucket List item about challenging myself? Wedding shoots are definitely out of my comfort zone).

Today I will be catching Emily up to speed on what needs to be handled at the hardware store while I am away, and, tomorrow, I will board a 6:00 a.m. flight for Baltimore, where I will spend the next four days at a conference.

It's going to be a busy week, but, I'm kind of grateful for the timing since this is Homecoming week here in Petticoat Junction, and, I welcome the distraction from the festivities.

Not so much love for the abbreviated weekend, however.

Friday Favorites: Things I Am Loving Lately Edition

Another week gone by. At this rate, it will be October before we know it. Which, is fine by me; the quicker October gets here, the quicker November will follow (Thanksgiving with Queen B!), and, then Christmas will be upon us (The return of the Man-Cub!).

But, let's not get ahead of ourselves, here.

On to the favorites!

First up: I am still loving my Nutri Ninja and the smoothies that it makes. My current favorite smoothie flavor is a little something I am calling Chocolate Covered Cherry and it is delicious. I make it with Vega Protein and Greens, which I recently discovered, and, I now have in both chocolate and vanilla flavors. It is packed with protein, relatively low in calories, includes the additional benefits of veggies, and it dissolves completely, with absolutely no gritty residue or chalky taste. I use the chocolate flavor for the Chocolate Covered Cherry smoothie, I mean, obviously.

The recipe is simple; just blend the ingredients:

- 3/4 cup almond milk
- 1 scoop Vega protein powder, chocolate flavor
- 3/4 cup vanilla flavored Greek yogurt
- 3/4 cup frozen dark sweet cherries
- 1/2 frozen banana (which, I just noticed totally looks like a severed penis in the picture below. Good lord, will I ever get a recipe posted that doesn't have something wrong with it?)
- handful of ice cubes

Second: I recently went to the Office Despot to pick up refills for my Franklin Covey Day Planner, just like I have done every year for the past...I don't even know how long. Unfortunately, the Office Despot doesn't carry Day Planner refills anymore; they have moved on to electronic planners almost entirely. Which is....disappointing, to say the least.

So, I went online to order my refills, but, got sidetracked by an ad for Erin Condren planners, which is how I ended up with this...

I love it! When all was said and done, it cost no more than my usual Franklin Covey order, and that's with having it personalized and adding extra inserts. I can't wait until January 1st, when I get to start using it.

Lastly, I have to share the awesome Fitbit bracelets that I ordered on Amazon...

Since I started my latest fitness efforts (I'm going to stick with it this time, I swear!), I have been diligently tracking my steps with my Fitbit Flex. The rubber wristband that came with the Fitbit is just about the ugliest thing ever, and, the more fashionable rubber case that I got for it isn't nearly as fashionable as I wanted. So, I went in search of alternatives and these are what I found.

I especially love the rose gold bracelet, and, since I wear a lot of gold rose jewelry, I have a feeling it will be getting a lot of use.

Obviously the Fitbit is a favorite as well. The walking I have to do to get to 10,000 steps every day? Not so much.

Proof of Life, the Celebrity Edition

You may recall that, when recapping our summer vacation to Hawaii, I mentioned that my mother has a tremendous appreciation for Hawaii 5-0 star, Alex O'Loughlin.

You know, this guy...

(And, by tremendous appreciation, you know I mean huge crush, right? Like youge crush. Monsterous, really. And, I digress )

If you remember, we actually ate in a diner almost exclusively for the fact that we had been told that the show had been known to film there. Of course, we didn't see them, but, my mother made the Man-Cub promise that he would let her know if he ever happened to catch a glimpse of the cast or crew filming while he is attending school.

Well, this happened today...

...and you can bet your bippy that he made sure his grandmother knew about it.

Also, this happened right outside the Man-Cub's campus. Like, he literally has classes a half block away. Hell, we shopped for stuff for his dorm room in that Ross. It could have been us! We could have seen Alex O'Loughlin in the flesh! We were so close!

As an aside, I may share a tiny bit of my mother's appreciation for Mr. O'Loughlin. I mean, come on...

This experience was totally wasted on the Cub. But I sure am glad he shared.

And the Shrine is Complete

At last Friday night's football game, we noticed that the team was sporting new jerseys. That's awesome, right? New team, new uniforms; what could be better?

I'll tell you what could be better; stalking the coach, pleading for your son's old uniform jersey, and actually GETTING IT!

That's right, with the addition of the jersey, the Man-Cub's high school athletics career is completely immortalized in a museum approximately 9' x 9' and located on the second floor of my home.

What's that? You think I'm kidding?

Momma don't kid.

Now, granted, there will come a time when that 9' x 9' space becomes less of a shrine and more of a guest room/home office/workout room/ extra large storage space, etc. (the possibilities are endless!), but, for now, it's Game Central all up in there.

And I find that oddly comforting.

Welcoming the Fall

In addition to torturing my poor old body with a high mountain hike this weekend, I also strained a few muscles climbing the attic ladder to retrieve my fall porch decorations. I'm not complaining; I think we all know how much I enjoy a fall-decorated porch.

The only new item I purchased this year was a rug, which will allow me to clean the original rug before storing it away until next summer. The new rug was on clearance, which made it super affordable, and, I think it tied the look of the porch together quite nicely.

Now, it's time to host a Porch Night that features heavily on fall-themed drinks and snacks. Since I am still hosting Booster Club meetings, that should be easy enough to accomplish.

What? I hadn't mentioned that I am still participating in Boosters? Yeah. I agreed to one more year, as the Alumni member, replacing our treasurer, who volunteered for a couple of years after her last kiddo left the school. I won't be taking on the treasurer responsibilities, because I'm not a total glutton for punishment, but, I will continue to provide the meeting location.

Speaking of being a glutton for punishment, I did attend Friday night's season opener for the football team. I met BCPE at the game to assist her in selling Split the Pot tickets (one of our best fundraisers), and, it proved to be a more emotional night than I expected; seeing a kid run out onto the football field in a #23 jersey and knowing that it wasn't my son was an experience that I don't plan to put myself through again.

On the bright side, the team did get new uniforms this year, so, it's not like it was really the Man-Cub's jersey out there, but, still.

And, speaking of uniforms, BCPE and I each wore a t-shirt representing our boys' new schools. So, while they weren't there with us, they were there in spirit.

And, Boosters are all about spirit.