.:if you're not totally free, ask yourself why?:.

LOVE this new quote that my good friend shared me!

how was everyone's weekends? did you get everything accomplished that you had hoped or was doing nothing at all an accomplishment in itself?

mine was a little bit of both. i spent my friday night at a pure romance party with college friends. has anyone ever been to one of those? they're crazy, but fun to do with friends in pj's and around a few drinks! saturday brought our first snow and time for henry to come home to the hospital!

my mf dropped henry off thursday morning for his 'procedure'. the poor dude got neutered, his front paws declawed and a microchip placed somewhere in his body. we received a call from the vet later in the afternoon saying that everything went well and he snapped out of anesthesia very quickly (weird). per routine, he had to stay over night for supervision and care. on friday, we were encouraged to leave him for an additional night because of his 'active and adventurous nature', we know. i was very sad to be with out the little guy for one more night, but knew it was for the best! so, saturday morning, i worked my regular shift at the yoga studio, practiced at a class afterwards and rushed to pick up henry afterwards. we were sent home with henry, drugs, special kitty litter, and a cone. henry had the cone off within 2 mins of mf and i wrestling him into it! oh well, we tried. he is very low key, thanks to the drugs and is recovering well.

the rest of my saturday was spent catching up an old friend over coffee and being snowed in with my mf having a criminal minds marathon, could i have asked for a better saturday? heck no!

i spent all day today in lakeville coaching my girls in a tournament. we played 3 games and lost all 3 games. am i disappointed? yes. all because we lost? no. my frustration began when 4 out of my 10 girls were late to the game, a couple of them showing up barely before halftime. as 5th graders, i do realize they are not responsible for driving themselves, but being that late changed the entire mind-set of the game. anyway, we made mistakes as a team that we should not have made. so my goal over Thanksgiving break, is to create a new focus and angle on coaching to try with them. i am hoping it will be more effective than what i am doing now...

 my working out is still slacking, but it is getting better. maybe a couple more mixes from rockmyrun.com will help? stay tuned....


i leave you with a promise that my post tomorrow will be more substantial and interesting!

always striving for more,
dee b.

.:simple or free-spirited?:.

i stumbled upon the excerpt below on none other, than pinterest! i really think it pertains to my personality and this new concept of living simple. i find that i can not only relate to a few of these (celebrate authenticity, LOL, enjoy simple things), but i can also look at this for inspiration. in times that i am feeling stuck in my cubicle, wondering how in the world did i end up here, or where will my career end up, OR what for/when i will go back to school, i can pull this up, take a deep breath and just live. everyone has unanswered questions that they'd like an 'easy' answer to, but it's how we go about finding those answers that defines us. live life, friends and enjoy the journey (this journey is promised to be bumpy, hard hat may be required in some situations).
 

we've reached another friday, any big plans this weekend?

i am so excited for 5 o'clock when i am done with work! my mf and i are going for a walk down by the stone arch bridge. awwww, precious, i know, i know. i love going for walks and want to get in as many as i can before the it gets unbearably cold! like i said, some of the best things in life are free. tomorrow night, i get to go to my first bachelorette party for my good friend, emily. i am so excited to catch up with friends from high school and celebrate emily, who deserves the best night ever! in between, i have to work my shift at the yoga studio and run basketball practice for my girls (our next tournament is next weekend!).

.:GOALS/TO-DO:.

-make an appt for mr. henry to get neutered/declawed (sorry, dude)

-go for a run and/or to yoga sometime  

-prepare for an upcoming t-giving day 5k--i almost forgot i was a runner thanks to my knees and sickness, maybe i should run outside a couple times before to make sure i still got it?

-try out some new recipes from http://www.bhg.com/recipes/healthy/dinner/cheap-heart-healthy-dinner-ideas/#page=8

-attempt to make homemade laundry detergent

-create a practice plan for my girls to prepare for our tournament

i'm surprised that i can't think of any other ones? i've done quite well staying on top of my laundry/cleaning which normally rules my goals list....

any goals you would like to accomplish before winter hits?

always striving for more,

dee b.

.:working for the weekend:.

well, i have survived yet another week helping the senior citizens of MN and in 22 counties of WI. this whole working 8:30-5, M-F thing is new for me....which means, the weekends are alllll mine to hang out and relax (after getting caught up on laundry, sleep, cleaning, grocery shopping and working out). besides our 'minor' system crash monday and tuesday, this work week was rather smooth. i dealt with many sweet, yet ridiculously cynical senior citizens. i am grateful to have made it through the week without being told i'm trying to kill a member's wife (no sir, i promise that by me reading off your pharmacy benefits does not mean i am trying to kill your wife) or by having to discuss the craziest grocery trip for 34 minutes ( i cannot believe you had to pay $2.49 for an apple either, prices these days....). either way, monday will come too soon and i will have to return to my job (not career) of assisting these "cute" old people.


highlights of my weekend include:. my mom is here! she is running in the monster dash tomorrow morning, so i have the pleasure of playing hostess while she stays with me to prepare for this feat. while she is running tomorrow, i will be busy tending to the local Corepower yoga as a 'grime fighter'! being a participant of the work for trade program at Corepower is a fantastic opportunity, while waking up early on a saturday morning, not so much. sunday afternoon will bring corralling of 5th grade girls around a basketball court and possibly a second round of pumpkin carving with the boyfriend and his fam. 


not only was today a great day because it was friday (payday, as well), but i had the opportunity to reconnect with my oldest and bestest friends! the story of the three musketeers (or donkeys, thanks to the roles in a church play we participated in before we had minds of our own) started on our first day of kindergarten. i was 5, innocent and reserved, quite polar opposite of my personality today, with my mom on one side and my soon to be 'bestie' on the other. the conversation was sparked when we found out both of names were andrea, but she went by annie and i went by dee and it seemed that as soon as we knew our identities (or names) would never conflict, we would get along just fine. my mom and annie's mom hit it off as well, discussing how they couldn't believe their babies were going to kindergarten already. if i remember correctly, annie and i were trying to play it cool like we had been waiting YEARS to start this semi-important thing called school. annie would quickly introduce me to lizzy, now called liz, (apparently), sorry LIZZY, but old habits die hard and the love triangle would now be complete. as we spent more and more time together, our hips began to become more and more attached. we did EVERYTHING together. we played on the same soccer and basketball teams, went to the same schools (although it was devastating if we got split up into different classes), played the same roles in church plays (this is where the donkeys came in) and our houses were even in the same neighborhood, within walking distance from each, and in the shape of an isosceles triangle. we shared clothes, hair accessories, makeup, food, memories, secrets (with the help of a little black notebook and stickers as IDs), tears and happiness. even our moms got comfortable scolding all of us. we were meant to be. they were the sisters i never had.

can you guess which one is me?

although fate brought my family and i to move to alexandria in the 8th grade, these three muskateers would live on! excited, anxious and absolutely devastated to leave my girls behind, i forged a new path in a small town (where you see tractors almost daily and smell manure even more often). throughout the years, we've snail mailed, facebooked, tweeted, and drove back and forth to keep this love alive. we've grown up, made bad decisions, made good decisions, said and done things we said would never happened (sounding like our mothers is a big one), yet we will always have and accept one another with unconditional love. 

here we are today, 3 beautiful, smart and grounded women, drinking alcoholic beverages and carrying on as though we get to see each other everyday. i can say that i wish life would allow us to spend more time together, but i can also say that i know we will continue to grow up, possibly move and/or get married, simply continuing to experience life, yet we will always be able to come together and pick up where we left off. unconditional love. 

maybe tomorrow i will post some more goals, but for tonight, i'm practicing living in the moment and cherishing yet another memory i've made with these 'besties' of mine.

always striving for more,

dee b.