Tuesday, February 28, 2017

It Was Not A Dream.

@Murray

  1. The staff at County let us linger. 
  2. Ben is engaged. Hearing this brightened my day immensely! Who is Ben? He's three of my favorite boy's, dad. 
  3. Morgen brought color into my life today. A carnival of photos from this special night. State Championship, trophies, medals, hats, smiles and celebrations...

Monday, February 27, 2017

After



1. After the Rain: it's not laundry, it's bliss!
2. After the trip: the boss went easy on me.
3. After the LOL: my tax return is a welcome site to my bank account. 

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Happy Hockey Players


  1. Strict standards and happy discoveries! I play nutrition consultant to my son at Lakewood. I won't knock it; Colorado has great ice rinks.
  2. I – a guest of a guest of a guest – am kindly welcomed into Oliver Days family's home. To my relief, the mother from Canada remembers me, and asks about nursing immediately. We eat a fabulous dinner and proceed to the Marriott for sleep. In addition to my medicine (I have now caught a cold), the night brings me the little extra I ask for: clean sheets, fluffy pillows, soft blankets and more hot baths.
  3. Great timing, as we join two other players and use buddy passes all the way to Salt Lake.




Saturday, February 25, 2017

T-Birds

Littleton, Colorado
  1. Even the airport is a shopping mall. At 9am, I had to at least look for a spinner. Then I found lots of great magazines in the bookshops.
  2. Rental car lineups are long, exactly how many people can arrive from NY at the same time to go skiing in Colorado, a lot. A multi-cultural party of adults heads to the slopes and exchange stories. See what I mean about Winter? Nothing says welcome like a SNOW.
  3. Markus was lucky enough to be invited to a very fast paced practice (fifteen year-olds, NAHL scouts, etc.) in a lovely rink of sorts. I'd love to add descriptive details, but will have to keep it discreet. What I will say is never mind the practice – the real part was in the weight room. Tebow's jersey on the wall, drinking gatorade on football turf, chatting up trainer coming through, and conducting evaluations (‘give me intensity!’ ‘give me quality!’) - so fun.


Friday, February 24, 2017

my 3 sons

1. My son's room doesn't look like a crime scene anymore.
2. My kitchen doesn't look like a crime scene anymore.
3. My hair doesn't look like a crime scene anymore!



Thursday, February 23, 2017

see the good

Max presented me with a medal for team manager. See how dreamy he is??! 

Jim, Jeff and Tim all at the team banquet for dinner and awards. 

Meal at the banquet included sushi from Yoshi's and thankfully for Max a little chicken as well...

To good friends: listening to me cry and blubbering my sorrows about them both being seniors. 

I fell ill today. Markus and I couldn’t figure out why, but clearly my body was adjusting to something. At least it was after our trip – and it was Thursday, Banquet, for the end of the year, when I get to see everyone smile. So, what did a day being sick mean for me?



1. I only had to work for 5 hours!!!
2. Max, and his friend, drove out to practice.
3. Idling time while waiting for Markus at Utah Hockey Center, generated an idea: let's visit Colorado!

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

a sky full of stars and i'm looking at you

1. No major damage in terms of shopping until Tuesday. Thankfully, the girl at Jack's surfboards reminded me to use my 20% off coupon.



2. Max, his friends, his teammates, his coaches and I all met for All-stars at County. It was so nice to see familiar faces in a familiar place again.
3. New Balance shoes on sale at the beach, right outside at the sidewalk sale. A mere fraction of what I'd pay on this side of the mountains. Destiny.

Let's call it minor damage: three pairs of shoes (1 for Max, 1 for Markus, and 1 pair for me) and a t-shirt for Markus. How was I to know I'd be in California during sale season?

KEEP CALM

and pretend I'm still at the beach

  1. I arrive last week in California thinking we'll spend two days on our own surfing at the beach (if you don't know, I would rather spend the extra time in saltwater that heals everything). Gavin - a friend of Markus' who sprained his thumb in the game on Saturday morning - was planning on staying the extra day with us. He meets us at Venice Beach and stops to watch the skateboarders (I am a moron and am not nearly dressed warm enough). Michelle - his mom- used to live here too.  We take a ride down the beach with some tandem bikes stopping over at the Santa Monica pier again. Gavin is not able to steer. I join her son and husband and we chat while the boys ride the ferris wheel again. A lovely time is had by all. My Venice experience is radically improved.

    All by 100% happenstance!
  2. LAX sprint: ran ran ran for the rental car shuttle, and made it. 
  3. Evening snack: frozen banana covered with chocolate and nuts while watching the sunset on Newport. 
Oh, and I found some seashells to bring home. This is something I'm never quite sure what to do with. 

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

I'm Back

I'm not sure how exactly to catch up, but expect I'll post in chronological order. It's easy to find the good (or the bad) on vacation; the trick will be to give the three best things consideration. Bear with me as I work through it. 

This was a very enjoyable trip. I can't wait to share it with you!

Monday, February 20, 2017

Los Angeles

It was a long day full of fun and adventures. 

Before the park:


  1. Nice employee at the car rental offers to change our car pickup location from downtown LA (which is where Kayak reserved it) to LAX (for a small fee of course). 
  2. Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain we walk right on to the rides. 
  3. As we eat dinner at the Plaza Inn with in full view of the castle, the Main Street Electrical parade starts. 
After the park:

  1. Complimentary breakfast featuring passion orange guava (pog) juice at our free night stay at Marriott from rewards points.
  2. Hockey: The first game is cancelled due to the biggest storm of the season rain fall that caused a leaky roof in the 50-year-old rink which caused there to be holes in the ice. Before driving the hour back to the hotel, team called to reschedule game at rink in Anaheim (aka meat locker). 1-1/2 hour drive in afore mentioned rain storm. LA Kings win 1-0. Hot tub to thaw out our toes! Next morning the game is a the Toyota Center rink which is literally next door to our hotel. (Hmm, wonder why they didn't just reschedule that game here?) 
  3. Play continues in the same fashion - scores vary a little: 2-5, 0-8, 1-4. Stories a plenty of how the team is all '03's and will get stronger and faster by next year. It's not everyday you get to learn everything you would ever want to know about hockey. Of note: the closest game (1-4) was versus the Eagles, who went on to win the championship game for the Bantam AA division (and when we were down to 9 players due to injuries). 
First Impressions:
  1.  Creative driving: over the white lines, tailgating and lane-changing like players in a GTA video game. Road markers mean squat. Organized chaos? There is graffiti over everything but the dogs in the streets, and that wouldn't surprise me either.
  2. T-r-a-f-f-i-c: The idea of traffic is different here. When we look on maps for the distance it's 3 miles but time to arrival: 43 minutes. Time to In-n-Out: 53 minutes. Time to Newport Beach: 52 minutes. Time to Huntington Beach: 57 minutes. All within a few miles. 
  3. Feel me: Rap/Hip hop music is really, really popular here. What the ef'?


Sunday, February 19, 2017

Pier




  1. Cool water dripped from the leaky tap onto my toes as I rested my foot on the ledge of a hot, steamy bath
  2. My son and I explored the Pier side of Santa Monica. Beaches, waves, ferris wheels... I've always liked discovering the other half. 
  3. Slumber party! Up to 12:30am with a 14-yr-old little man, watching Forrest Gump.



Saturday, February 18, 2017

Be Here Now

1. A full week of travel... 
2. Three cities: Anaheim, L.A., Huntington beach
3. Three friends: G, M and B

I won't post regularly again until Mid-next week. But *stay tuned* for bonuses and IG updates. I know my blog will be okay while I'm off doing the paper edition of my diary. Just to mix it up a little.

Tinseltown editions of peach diaries coming soon. I'll leave you with this from a cool little button I saw two weeks ago. 

EXPERIENCE
joy without reason.

Friday, February 17, 2017

ANAHEIM, California


  1. I didn't imagine that I would be able to spend six such excellent days in California.

    None of it would have happened without Markus the Marvelous and Gavin the Great. They are in the Dictionary of BB under many entries including, but not limited to, hustleheart and friendship.
  2. I'm back after a wonderful trip to the beach (I could write 10 good things about it). I must mention Markus' photography skills. 
  3. We arrived at the beach after sleeping in and enjoying the hotel complimentary breakfast. It was cold and cloudy but nothing a little wetsuit wouldn't contain. Memory lapse. When I swam out into the ocean this afternoon, sparkling, intense rays hit my face in a big sunshine kiss, warming me up inside and out. It was one of the happiest moments of my day.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

vitamin sea


  1. Beach
  2. Surf
  3. Sand




Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Race You To The Castle

sunrise for this birthday boy

  1. Watching the sunrise and sunset on the same day. The flight was near empty, so I settled in to sleep on my three seats. I have this system: I sit in the middle seat, fasten my fully loosened seat belt, lie down/curl up sideways, and open my large orange cashmere scarf into a blanket. It is thin, warm and blocks all light. 
  2. The highlight of my day was being with Markus in Disneyland on his 14th birthday. Nothing can beat that. 
  3. Except maybe hearing the news of winning the state championship back home. 

"there is just one moon and one golden sun"

laughing place

Murray Hockey = State Champs(!)

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

love

1. no cavities club
2. there's a lot of love out there
3. Love Actually is a movie to illustrate that point

Monday, February 13, 2017

when nothing is certain ~ anything is possible

before 
during

after

the last game i will get to watch Max play at Steiner

and the ice cream to go with it

1. i realized today it was one year ago that my mom had surgery. tonight she walked down the stairs without her cane and better health has followed having more to do with her green smoothies, dropping pepsi from her diet and adding physical therapy 3 times a week...
2. a man that i sat next to at the state championship game tonight interviewed me about the team for a local newspaper. 
3. i finally received the e-ticket for my upcoming trip. 

inspired by daivutez's extras:
4. hello-how-are-you-chat with my five-year old student. 
5. arrived home to make orange chicken for my three starving boys, two from playing hockey and one for studying for his HUGE tax accounting test.
6. more fine shows on net flicks. markus started watching it and got me hooked: Lie To Me. night owls don't get enough credit. 

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Fortune

1. A photo from last year at the State Championship game.
2. I finished my taxes.
3. Booked a night at a California hotel that won't cost a fortune (it will be the most expensive week in the year, with the Disneyland day.)


And the cherry hot chocolate I'm drinking at the moment. Other than these today rhymed with Zit. (Literally, from Skip going on the family room floor sometime during the night, to waking up to a puddle of toilet water from it leaking all night, all over the carpet in the hallway and into Max's room...)

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Aspire

don't aspire to be the best on the team

aspire to be the best for the team
  1. Supportive friends and a steezy edit from the rooftop. 
  2. Watching him practice last night with a huge grin on his face. 
  3. A highly productive 12-hours at work (followed by a run on the treadmill, no Viewmont.)

if you want something you've never had you have to do something you've never done


Friday, February 10, 2017

Wonderful


Ty, Kim & Katie with me ~ Jackson Hole 1997
  1. I ran into a waaay back student of mine, her mom actually. 
  2. We had a wonderful little opportunity to catch up before she dropped some memory sticks off to Markus (for a sick edit for the mt. bike team).
  3.  She told me I look *exactly* the same. BLESS HER, SHE MADE MY DAY. 

Thursday, February 9, 2017

heart & soul

Morgen ~ February 1997

  1. I found this beauty of Morgy today looking through scrapbooks. 
  2. It reminded me that the human mind does not comprehend how the heart and soul loves without limitation. 
  3. People are as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be. When I look at a sunset I don't find myself thinking, "Soften the orange a bit in the right hand corner." I don't try to control a sunset. I watch with awe as it unfolds. 

I'm kind of a "look at the sky", "look at the sunset", "look at the moon", "stay in the car to listen to the rest of the song" kind of woman. Especially this song...

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

SPARTANS

do not ask how many are the enemy but where are they. - Plutarch
No one can make him train like a SPARTAN

...No one can stop him from doing it either.  

All the days when the body aches, the desire is low, you feel tired, and you feel weak...those are the days when these champions trained. 
 SPARTAN CODE

PUSHES
his mind & body to it's limits
MASTERS
his emotions
LEARNS
continuously
GIVES
generously
LEADS
his fellow warriors
STANDS UP
for his beliefs no matter the cost
KNOWS
his flaws as well as his strengths
PROVES
himself through actions not words
LIVES
every day as if it were his last


Tuesday, February 7, 2017

love your body

~ 20 years ago
{Holly, B, Heidi}

RESPECT YOUR BODY.

FUEL YOUR BODY.

CHALLENGE YOUR BODY. 

MOVE YOUR BODY. 

AND MOST OF ALL, 

l o v e your body. 

Monday, February 6, 2017

Some Souls

have a way of 

connecting without our knowledge
  1. Max is home from Wenatchee
  2. he was able to see Skip and Hendo in Washington
  3. Skip said that Max naming his dog after him was "Legendary"

Sunday, February 5, 2017

What You Seek ~ Is Seeking You

1. running: the human body's most raw form of freedom
2. a 10 min mile is just as far as a 6 min mile
3. you are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

Saturday, February 4, 2017

{Life Doesn't have To Be Perfect To Be Wonderful}

1. Celebrating Lara's Birthday at Little America tonight

2. This little quote one of patients gave me

3. be gentle, fill yourself up with love, with art, books, knowledge, experiences, surround yourself with people who have nothing but love to give. 

Friday, February 3, 2017

noodles


  1. extra looooong hot shower this morning.
  2. marvelous game this afternoon for  Markus (broken collar bone for Konrad :().
  3. exciting big outliers game afterward (whilst enjoying noodles & co for the boys).

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Sister

I will never forget the day I brought home my babies from the hospital for the first time. Who would I be without you?

  1. sister
  2. soeur
  3. Schwester

I love you so much. Happy Birthday!