"The most important thing she had learned over the years, was that there was no way to be a perfect mother - and a million ways to be a great one".
Jill Churchill
Just a quick post today with some positivity to start the week... a song that's been stuck in my head on repeat all weekend, and a Daily Motivator quote that relates well to the lyrics.
Your attitude determines how your day, your week, your month, your year, your LIFE will go... regardless of what's going on in the world around us.
YOU have the power to choose. YOU DECIDE.
So turn that frown upside down.
XOXO
Be joyful
By Ralph Marston
Allow yourself to be joyful. It is as simple as that.
Strive and calculate, bend and then stand firm, execute your plans, hold fast to your intentions. And no matter what the outcome, let joy be a part of it.
The world often does not work the way you thought it would. Life surprises you in many directions, and would have scant appeal otherwise.
It is never as good as you wished, never as bad as you feared. And always there is room for as much joy as you care to give.
So give more, and then some. Depend not on things going a certain way, but upon you choosing to be a certain way.
Respect your deepest obligation and celebrate your highest privilege. Be joyful.
Bryn was home this past weekend for a couple reasons. Mainly because she was heading to Florida to spend the week with her dad. But she was able to attend a wedding shower for a longtime friend with me before she left.
Coincidentally, it's also the one-year anniversary of lockdown and the craziness COVID has brought into all of our lives.
She doesn't come home that often because she has school, a job, sorority life and well... a life. And while I miss her terribly, we stay in close touch.
But honestly, I'm not above bribing her with food & shopping, so I've been known to drive up for the day just to see her for a couple hours.
When she does come home though, it's like nothing has changed.
Bryn: Mom! (me sitting on the floor of my bedroom looking for something to wear to my class) You have to taste this smoothie I just made. I almost threw up when I tried it.
Me: Uhhh... no. Thanks anyway.
Bryn: No. Just try it! You have to try it.
Me: Why do I want to try something that is going to make me throw up? And what's in it anyway?
Bryn: That greens shake stuff, a banana, that frozen acai stuff...
Me: Wait... wait. Why did you mix chocolate stuff with the acai stuff?
Bryn: I don't know? I didn't know it was chocolate? Please. Just try it!
Me: Ok... (takes a drink).... Well, I kinda taste something not great, but I'm not gagging.
Bryn: (takes one more drink in solidarity) and then literally dry-heaves over my bed
Me: If you puke on my bed, I'm gonna be mad. Get out of here! Go in the bathroom!! Also... are you sure you're not allergic to something you put in the smoothie?!!
Bryn: No, I'm not allergic (leaves the room continuing to gag)
And this, folks, pretty much sums up 2 months of lockdown last year. It's how we roll. But we definitely keep each other laughing & entertained.
She's my favorite person in the whole wide world.
And as much as I'm sure we'd both agree that neither one of us would like to repeat last year's lockdown... if I had to do it all over again... she'd be right there beside me. Doing a lot of walking outside to survive it all, I'm sure, much to her dismay.
A little vitamin D never hurts, right?
In totally unrelated news... if you're looking for ways to do more than just survive in these crazy times... and THRIVE instead... you could always hang with me at Bloom! We have a 7 classes for $77 special right now.
Here's a tiny snippet of my strength class if you want to join me sometime! Low weights & high repetitions... tone up, create lean muscle, and well... muscle burns calories while at rest too, so it's a win-win!
Although... have we met? My first & true love is dance... so you could always join me for that too! In fact, I'm doing it tonight at 5:30.
Find us on MINDBODY & secure your spot because class sizes are still limited.
2 days in a row of blogging, which is unheard of lately, but I'm inspired to ask...
Is anyone besides me trying to age gracefully, but finding an uninterrupted full night's sleep elusive?
Don't get me wrong. I do have most nights where I can get about 8 hours, even if it is broken up by 1 or 2 trips to the bathroom.
And my problem isn't usually falling asleep at night... I can do that just fine. It's the falling BACK asleep after each trip to the bathroom that's usually the issue.
Regulating my hormones with estrogen & progesterone has helped at least with not having night sweats wake me up. Melatonin also usually helps, as does Advil PM... although that leaves me pretty hazy in the morning.
And well... if I'm teaching... that's not a great combo. Cue the acting skills.
Another habit I picked up while I was married, was to wear an earplug to drown out the snoring. And yes, I said earplug. Just one... because I mostly sleep on my stomach, which means one side of my face buried in the pillow, leaving only 1 ear exposed. I don't do that anymore... lost the snoring husband and the ear plug habit... but I do keep one in my travel supplement organizer just in case.
I've also been known to buy an eye mask during a trip when it's a very BRIGHT room at like 6:00am.
See photo above.
I would've been fine with a basic eye mask, but those were too good to pass up.
Anyhoo... to make a long story even longer... my family & I just had a trip to Anna Maria Island, Florida in January. It was our 2nd time there. Made me laugh that everyone recalled a funny story from that first trip in 2018, so since we're on the subject of sleep, or the lack thereof... I'll share.
My sister I were sharing a room and bed. This is usually fine because neither one of us move around a lot, so sleeping isn't usually an issue. Unless of course there's a hurricane in the area & you're both too stubborn to get up & open the window with the loud screeching winds outside... but I digress.
Hurricane Alberto was a looong time ago and we shouldn't live in the past.
But she was closer to the window & should've opened it or we could've died, I'm just sayin. Although in the moment, we both looked death straight in the face & went back to sleep... loud winds and all.
Back to 2018 though.
In the middle of the night her snoring, although it wasn't really snoring, it was more like loud breathing, woke me up. So I casually reached over to my nightstand & quietly opened the lid to my supplement organizer remembering right where I had left my handy dandy ear plug.
No need to turn on the light or get out of bed, I'm a pro at figuring out ways to go back to sleep, so I got this.
Pulled my ear plug right out of the case, put it in my ear & slept for the rest of the night. It worked like a charm.
When I went to pull the ear plug out in the morning though, I gotta admit, it felt a little different than it did earlier. Also, there was a weird residue in my ear.
So yeah... same size, similar texture & while it did drown out the snoring, I wouldn't exactly recommend putting fish oil in your ear.
Although I'm sometimes desperate enough to try anything.
Follow me for more pro tips.
Although if you have any of your own tips for getting a good night's sleep, I'm all ears... LOL
