DiForYou

My day went sideways – I did remember to be peaceful when I woke up had peaceful thoughts, oh the last few days my sleep and all that remained normal! YAY I was concerned that I’d get off my good eating, drinking lots of water, drinking too much caffeine, eating too much cheese, I did none of those things, not that I normally go off the rails when I’m not at home but there haven’t always been good choices haha I did get that grilled cheese yes I know, but if it is once in a while I’m generally okay so I wanted to risk it haha so glad I did. ANYHOO someone didn’t show up for work and that just put a kink in the morning. I was able to do the earlier blogs, feed the birds, take the pups out, meet Evan with Stella and I did end up going out to my dad’s for a quick visit since I missed one on Weds since I was on my trip. He was good, Shirley went for a walk with her neighbor and he and I chatted I asked him what is the secret to a long happy marriage and he said “Yes, Dear” lol like he ever said that (unsarcastically haha). Weird, today is my parents wedding anniversary, they were only married like 18 years I think and my dad and Shirley are coming up on 40. Strange to think how something so huge in my life as my family of 5 time together was such a blip in their individual lives and they had three kids out of it. Mike said he washed some orange rind that was in the pocket of something that made it through the wash and the dryer, I said what was it in? and he said “you always have things in your pockets” and I said “oh my gosh I am just like my dad!!!” Should I say that to my husband hahahaha (my dad did pull a grape out of his pocket today, I didn’t tell Mike that but if he is reading…now you know how honest I was being when I said that! hahahahaha

Here I am doing the grandparent hand off back to the parent

She’s so funny, she is always so leery – we love her so much! Glad they are back from their little trip, it looked amazing. Off to eat my jersey mikes, Mike delayed it for me!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!! Bye for now! Be at peace.

I’ll do these together since I took a little trippie with friends to the Philadelphia Flower show. This was such a fun trip, catching the train in the morning where C and M got on in Richmond. They saved us two seats so we sat facing each other! The trip went by so fast and without a hitch. We ubered to the AirBnB which was a super cute top floor apartment in a row house. Headed straight out to go to lunch (tacoteka – delicious and lots of Comcast Bros) then to the show – we walked like 12,000 steps once all was said and done (the trip to buy bobbi’s bourbon certainly added to those steps) The flower show was just more than what I could have even thought it would be. Totally taken over the Convention Center, there were floors of events, talks, vendors and the big room where all of the installations were. They were just stunning in their creativity, artistic vision and obviously the choice of plants and flowers. There were award winning plants of every variety, art made with plant materials, dresses, front door designs – it really gave me a lot of ideas for what I could start doing off to the side garden where all the obedient flower is. Just gotta do it, Dianne. Plant the plants and see if they work – you have to let it goooooooo not everything is a waste. If a plant doesn’t make it, you can move it! you can let it go back to the earth to help fertilize another plant?

3/4 Here are pics from the flower show:

3/5: we all got a good night’s sleep, some of us in a bed and one of us on a comfy couch!!! We emptied some coffee pods into the drip coffee maker so we could all at least have a cup of coffee and then we packed up and ubered to the train station to store our bags for the day ($20) so we could galavant. While waiting in line a guy was behind us who took a call and then said “I am in the middle of something, can you call me back later after 3 but text me first to let me know you’re going to be calling. Okay thanks bye” and I was just like “OMG NICELY DONE OWNING YOUR TIME!!!” and we all just started talking and our new friend Kyle heard us looking at restaurants for lunch and Mary asked him where would he go for a Philly Cheesesteak and he said Woodrow’s Sandwich Shop so off to South Philly to get our lunch! We were dropped off on a cool little artsy part of town that I pointed out is much different than the downtown scene we had yesterday at lunch (Comcast Campus is right in the middle of downtown) I think most of the people near the sandwich shop were still sleeping at lunchtime because they work at night on this cool street!! (In my imagination it is like a little goth villiage where they start getting up around 3, and starting to get out and about around 7pm,) Okay there was a goth store across from the sandwich place that gave me that thought haha store was closed of course because it was early!!! They probably don’t open until like 9pm!!!! I’m just glad Woodrow’s was open because I had the freaking best grilled cheese. Parmesan herb crust, american and taleggio cheese and pear!!!! Delicious, so thankful for Kyle!

Then back in an uber after checking out the store nextdoor (old OLD vintage t-shirts, records, clothes etc.) we talked music with the owner before our ride arrived to take us to the Philadelphia Museum of Art! Up the Rocky stairs, we saw a cheer squad with their parents do the rocky run. Got to the ticket counter and Caroline asked if a VMFA membership got her any discounts and they asked “how many of you?”… welp we all got in with the VMFA membership! So generous!!!!! Everyone who worked at the museum was so nice. Caroline had asked if we could go to the Noah Davis show and I said ‘of course’ sight unseen and didn’t look up anything about him so I could absorb what I could while standing with his art. When I say simply stunning, I mean stunned to tears! It was a gorgeous exhibit, but reading and learning about this bright young artist, I was brought to tears a few times, sometimes because of the loss of this fantastic man but the parallel to my brother in law’s life. I would have tears streaming, it was so touching. I hope I remember this work and not have to rely on the museum to keep the page up forever but I’m gonna link it. https://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/noah-davis

Got to visit my favorite statue, Diana who used to stand atop a ball on the old Madison Square Garden.

Then we walked from the museum to the train station and got our ride home. We had so much fun on the train, talking, meeting people, getting little glimpses into lives we will never know anything about ever again. These ladies, we are just a good group of yin and yangs, a lot alike and a lot not and it is the best smashup. I 1000000000% forgot to say Today is my peaceful day when I woke up today – I did remember it much later but my first thought when I woke up was “Where is Caroline?” hahahahaha today (the day I’m typing this) is my peaceful day and my trip to Philly was OMG just what I needed – my phone was on Do Not Disturb the whole time. I loved that, I’m going to do that more often. Bye For Now!!!

Tuesday day off, futzed around and got things done before my overnight trip to Philly! Got my rain boots styled for my two outfits. (Jillian approved) it was mostly the pants I wanted to get right.

Did some meaningful work on my SPCA volunteer project, set up an intake process and then asked the PM some questions to make sure I had it set before I moved forward. Had my monthly ladies dinner at Vinny’s – I got capellini and spicy marinara sauce (YUUUUMMMM) so that I could feel good on my trip (no cheese) and it worked out very well. Just a party of three this time.

It was my peaceful day. Too much time has past since I’m now writing this on Friday YIKES but from what I remember it was a good day. Little drizzly, little cold, I got good sleep and that set the stage for my day!! 🙂 Bye for now!!

I’m a YouTuber haha, I was surprised yesterday after I posted the video of the squirrel linked in the blog post – I had 143 viewers! I looked just now and I had 1.4K viewers and two comments haha. Crazy. Today was my peaceful day, great night sleep, Uli and Stella joined me for bed time since I don’t have work today. Iris was upstairs sleeping in Uli’s big boy bed (his dog bed)
Here are my bedmates looking into the backyard! I’m sure there was a squirrel or vole or some little thing in the woods. Got a record ready to ship while Mike was at yoga and sauna/cold plunge. I bought a pair of low rainboots from DSW and Mike picked them up for me on his way home YAY. Amelia and Evan got into the air and to their destination without issue. She said they made an announcement on the plane that someone has a severe peanut allergy and could everyone refrain. She cheered, advocate for yourself peanut allergy sufferers!!!

Got my Dragonfly weekly and Element monthly emails out after having a big long think on the schedule – which is all worked out, for this month, but it is firming up nicely. I didn’t have time to work on my SPCA project today, I’ll do that tomorrow. Once Mike was home and we’d had something to eat we took the pups to the battlefield for a freezing cold walk. Listening to Whisper Wednesday on Radio Andy had us cracking up. People are funny and live such crazy lives sometimes. We’d forgotten the record, so he will mail that tomorrow. Came home and went back to bed to read, my ring asked me if I was taking a nap haha I just needed to get into a relaxed state (which I did) read the latest Vanity Fair, I didn’t know anything about Bianca Censori other than she was married to Kanye West, but the article was her first time speaking out so that’s why I didn’t know anything else about her! Couple of days and I’ll be on a train to Philly with my Moss Sisters. Looking forward to gal time, my fun friends!! Be peaceful, bye for now!!

If you go back to February 2nd’s post you’ll see the beautiful view of the moonlight on the frozen snow in our front yard, the photo below is what is still here after an entire month!! I took the 2/2 photo from the big arched window next to the front door. Today was my peaceful day, the pets joined me in bed for reading. I charged the little chainsaw I borrowed from Shirley so I could saw up a big tree branch that fell sometime in January. Uli moved onto the deck. The weather was warm. I sawed the branch and carried the lumber LOL to the firepit that I use to store branches to use in the nice firepit. I raked up leaves and sticks off the grass. Took a hot shower, went to the deck to talk to Mike and admire how handsome Uli is (I admired how handsome Mike was, too) I’d read this morning that lying on one’s belly is good for our spine – so I did that on the deck and it felt so good. Then Amelia and Evan showed up with our house guest for the week… STELLA! Our granddog! She is such a good girl, they are going to Florida with Evan’s parents for vacation. My ring says 1 hour 45 mins stressed and 1 hour 15 min restored – Sunday’s really are my peaceful day, most days are 5-8 hours in Stressed haha. Thankfully it isn’t mental stress it’s just your body doing what it does. I am not a ‘rester’ haha I go go go and then I relax. I like to go! Bye for now!

Thursday, Friday, Saturday – the last moments of February and the first month of Di(A Day) for You!

2/26: I didn’t take any photos on the 26th. I went to work and had a great day at element. After work I did a quick contrast cycle of 15 minutes in the sauna, 2 minutes in the 60 degree tub and 10 minutes of rest. Then to Wren & Sparrow (the bird store) – after getting this video notification off of my Bird Buddy, I knew something had to be done! Back when we lived in Stafford I tried getting the spicy bird seed for my birdfeeder to dissuade the squirrels from eating all the food and destroying my bird feeder – and it didn’t work. I read on the Bird Buddy reddit that using spicy bird seed was the way to go so I decided I’d give it another try. The bird store sells Lizzie Mae bird food and I like the Songbird Mix. I asked Amy if Lizzie made a spicy one so I could try to keep the squirrels out of the feeder. YAY Lizzie does so I bought a smaller bag of that, and my big big bag of Songbird Mix. I really do like to watch the videos of the squirrels, they’re funny but I can also see them starting to chew on the house and they can destroy this thing in no time if they get frustrated wanting more food. So hoping the spicy mix keeps them out of the house. Then… after a year of not getting one, I went to DermEnvie and got a hydrating facial w/dermaplane! Oh my gosh how I have missed this, I say it every time I get one “I’m going to make this a priority” lets see if I do. Home just in time for our weekly celebration – Jersey Mike’s Night! Those sub makers are the best, they are a quiet bunch of young people that we see each week and it’s really sweet when they see us and say “Gregory!” haha if Jordan had Jersey Mike’s they’d say “Mr. George!” Today is my brother in law Chris’ 57th birthday, it is really hard to think of him that old – he will always be young to me. FUCK Cancer. I miss him and I love his kids across the universe and back, they are amazing humans and he would have continued to be, the best, most interested and loving dad – just like Mike and just like Greg and just like Big Daddy.

2/27: Shirley had an appointment in Springfield so it was Daddy/Daughter day out in King George. My dad was in a good mood and so was Shirley – she was probably happy she was getting out of the house for so long solo haha. She made potato soup (Kartoffelsuppe, wie mein Vater sagte) for lunch and I brought some delicious mandarin oranges that I’d gotten at Lidl! (a German supermarket) anyway, before lunch I offered my dad the orange and he said ‘sure’ – we are doing really well keeping him hydrated (I can tell by the ‘color’ lol) and he loves fruit. He ate it so fast, I took a video of him and he was almost done by the time I got my phone. When I said “you must really like it”, he said “I love it” so cute… had lunch, took his midday medicine and then I said “okay time for our walk” and I helped him get his shoes and jacket on and out we went. Not very far but far enough to stretch his legs, get him some sun (he had his hat on) and breathe that fresh country air. I noticed he was really walking well, fast-ish for him, it felt like his coordination was really good. I remembered to tell Shirley that when she got home. All day, the only notifications I got from Bird Buddy were of BIRDS!!! I put the spicy food in Bird Buddy and the regular food in the Yankee Flipper (no squirrels, if they try to touch the perch it spins around and spins them off) and the other birdfeeder (that the squirrels can eat from). Lizzie Mae’s spicy bird food is the winner of the week! I hope this is the trend!

2/28: My usual Saturday at Dragonfly with my little coworkers (the plants), the teachers and the students! After work I went to Dan and Heather’s great aunt Betsey’s to help organize, research and price some things for a yard sale. It was great to help Bobbi, she and Heather have done a great job. I love a task. Came home in time for dinner yummy meatless burgers and fries! My life is perfect right now. Goodbye February, you came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. I think you are drunk, Feb.

I had very peaceful days. Bye for now!

Figured I’ve done it already I can batch another three days together. Monday was a chill day, Tuesday was too but I worked in the morning, took a yoga class and visited with neighbors, and Wednesday was busy with work, lunch with friends and hair appointment! All of them were peaceful days. I’ve had three triple crown days, too. I think it is because I’m going to bed a little earlier, I’m also eating more portioned dinner. I kind of stuffed myself last week one night on a tofu dish LOL and the feeling of being over full is staying with me.

2/23: Family on Long Island got hit hard by the storm, 30 inches of snow in Patchogue!! I remember January 1979 having a big snowstorm and the snow drifts went to our second story windows! We could not open our back door it was so wild. I was chillin’ hard Monday morning, then went up to my office to work on my volunteer project! I am working with the SPCA to put together a process for their PETS Pantry (did I already write about this?) the pantry is for community members in need to come and get dog or cat food to supplement what they already have. It keeps animals with their people and out of the shelter. They have a fantastic program and would like the volunteers to be able to do more of the distributing and that is where I come in. I’m looking forward to helping in a meaningful way!!! While I was working, Mike and Uli went to the post office and for a walk and Iris moved right into the warm spot on Uli’s bed. She sat like this with her ears back, looking towards the dresser for a little while and then finally settled in to snooze.

2/24: Tuesday I subbed at the main studio and took Alana’s Stability Basics class – Debra took it virtually! As are all of the classes I take at Dragonfly, this one was fantastic! We used 2lb weights and our blocks and tried not to wobble too much. It was a fun class and I’m glad to report I’m a bit sore today! Mike got the Pathfinder oil changed, tire rotated and inspected! Woohoo! We went to the post office to mail some records and then to the battlefield to walk! It was cold out, like 37 degrees but the air was so fresh. We heard what sounded like peepers, I recorded them and meant to see if one of my nature apps can figure out if the frogs woke up early. It was a spacey sound, if it is the peepers they don’t sound too thrilled. Once home, Uli and I went next door to visit with Buddy and his people (who are two of Uli’s favorites) our other neighbor joined too but left her two pups at home. We had a big long catch up about what has been going on in our lives, the good the bad and the ugly. Uli and Buddy are supposed to play but they just make the rounds so each of us can love on them and then Uli plops down. Today he came up on the couch with me, silly boy, he barely fits.

2/25: Wednesday werkday. It’s my busy day, open Dragonfly hot, open Element and open Dragonfly main! Then it was friend time, Anne and I met Bobbi for lunch at Sammy T’s for Bobbi’s birthday! Then I went to a long overdue hair appointment. My last one was January 5th! Shortly after that I got a phone call from the salon to let me know that my stylist was leaving to do bridal and extensions! So happy for her, she is going to be very successful. I asked around, of course Anne has the best (I learned today lots of ppl I know with gorgeous hair go here!) and I got an appointment (seven weeks since my last one) ! I absolutely loved everything about this place, the way it looked, the music, the way it was set up – reminded me of Dragonfly/Element in the intention! I used to pass this cool, old, empty building everyday when taking my girls to Lillian’s. FFWD like 25 years and it has been remodeled inside for beauty! Well, today I was remodeled on the outside for beauty…

Peace and love, peace and LOVE! Ringo Starr. Bye for now!

Putting my weekend into one post since I was occupied with my dad on Friday, at work and a workshop all day on Saturday, and tried to be tuned out in the morning because I needed to be tuned in from 12-6 at work on Sunday.

2/20 A Deceased shirt was found out in the wild at our local thrift shop <wasn’t us> LOL! Super cool and creepy design, I like the logo in blue too. Very cool!

2/21 Had a great workday as usual. Attended a workshop afterward at the main studio “Bringing Order to the Chaos, training the mind for health and performance” it was so fantastic – I don’t even have words – I have a lot to dive into. What really stuck with me is that all of the micro changes we start making today will make us the people we are in the future. That we might not notice the changes, but the people around us will. Some of the book recommendations I’d like to read are “Self Compassion for Dummies” and “Why Don’t Zebras Get Ulcers”. Hope she does the Part 2! Had tons of notifications from my Bird Buddy especially since I moved it from the backyard and into the front yard! There’s a tufted titmouse for ya!

2/22 Spent the morning reading and chilling with the pets. Uli, Iris and I love a Sunday morning in bed. But Sunday mornings turn into Sunday afternoons, and I worked at Element woohoo! The afternoon was nice and steady, we had a little break at one point and I worked on my Dragonfly weekly email, it had been calling for snow – this big Nor Easter that hit Long Island (family) and Massachusetts (bestie) really bad – and we got some too on Sunday! As I left work I was hit by snowflakes that felt like snowballs!

Nothing compared to what happened up north!! All three of those days 20, 21 and 22 were my peaceful days, they really were. I can tell a difference in myself since I’ve been telling myself “today is my peaceful day” as soon as I wake up. Maybe others will notice! Bye for now. Peace!

Highlighting my coworker from Element this morning, a beautiful floral arrangement by my friend, the talented Mary of Moss Floral Designs (her own business!) she did the big planters inside and outside of the studio and yesterday after lovingly misting all of the inside plants I admired the arrangement on the desk and then sent a photo to our chat group – good thing I did, since my coworker needed more water in her vase!

I so appreciate both spaces I work in; element and dragonfly – because they are so beautiful and smell so good. Got to see Amelia as she was in town for her hair appointment, showed her around the space once it was closed and she is excited to come as Mike’s guest sometime soon. They had daddy-daughter time at Umi and later we had sushi for dinner YUM. It was a splendidly peaceful, rainy, day. Be peaceful! Bye for now.

Sheesh, woke up 45 minutes early today, at 4am instead of 4:45, no reason just up so I got ready for work.

I didn’t take any photos yesterday at the ribbon cutting (or today of anything) so I’m putting in a screenshot from element’s Instagram of Anne and Jesse cutting the ribbon with the Mayor and Fredericksburg Main Street representatives. I worked at Dragonfly and Element today, then out to see my dad early since I didn’t work at the main studio.

I blasted The Killers Hot Fuss and belted out all the songs to release some anxious energy I was feeling. Today is my peaceful day but I didn’t start it out that way so I had to reframe my thoughts and needed to sing. My dad was in such a great mood, when I got there – lots of smiling – at what… I’m not sure but I won’t complain. I told him that I am reading (listening to) Autobiography of Yogi and how in the book he explained that his belief is that we have three bodies; our physical body, our astral body and our causal body and I wanted to tell him about this because sometimes when he “hears” someone else talking to him or “sees” something that I cannot – maybe he is in his astral body but his physical body is still sitting with me. It is hard to tell him that I don’t see what he sees but I try to make it sound like he is special to be able to do that. He’s never troubled by the fact that he sees and hears things that I don’t. He got his weekly back scratch, joined in on my SPCA video call for a moment and sang. Big strong hug as I was leaving!!!

Came home and took Uli through the yard and woods, first time since the snow that I’ve walked him in his favorite woods – lots of wild animal scents to smell. He was so happy when Mike got home from his day out and I told Mike that I learned today that the venerable monks have two OTHER stray dogs they adopted other than Aloka and there was a sweet video of them greeting venerable Pannakara after not seeing him since October. It was a wild scene, I could feel how happy they were and when the caption mentioned that he was scratched on his face by the greeting, I could relate, they are marks of uncontained love. Today IS my peaceful day. Bye for now.