Yes, I AM Blonde. Your Point?

Yesterday I finally made it to the eye doctor. It's been about two or so years since I've made that dasterdly journey. Doc is just fine and happy, by the way. He's married now (anyone who knows me well knows about my "relationship" with Doc) and it's so amazing to see him so happy. He says, "I really look forward to going home now." Wow, that must be awesome. Good on him.

 So, the examination went. He checked my eyes and exclaimed, "You DO know that you are not legal to drive without your glasses, my dear."

 "Well, Genius, that's what I'm here to see you. I can't read the road signs and I'm a road warrior. Throw me a freaking bone, here!"

 He did the usual thing. You know . . . "Is it better this way or this way? One or two? Which numbers are darker, brighter and bolder?" Afterward he did that machiine that takes a picture of what's going on behind the eyeball. I asked him to please tell me that there was a big blob that was preventing me from seeing, creating all these damn headaches and could possibly allow me a one way ticket back to my maker. No such luck, I was informed. Very healthy. Dang!

 He then said, "I really don't understand why you are struggling so much with your vision. Your new prescription is really not much far off from your old one."

 I then gave him what I'm sure was the most ridiculous look EVER! "Um . . . I don't wear my glasses. I never wear my glasses. Am I supposed to be wearing my glasses? I thought they were just for reading and I can read just fine so I thought they were all but useless."

 Doc then shook his head and rubbed his eyes (I think I make men like him weary). "Jody, glasses are only useful when you wear them. Here come stand right here next to me and look out there on the street. Good. Now put your glasses on. Does that make it a little easier to see?"

 Wow! You're right! This is great! I wore them (the glasses) all the way home, set them on my dresser, and promptly forgot them when I left with my truck, trailer and horse for drill. When I got home, the headache was back. Hmmm, maybe there IS something to wearing these things! Lol.

Unstoppable!

Yep, she's coming around the final turn and sprinting for the finish line!  She's got it pegged to the floor, ladies and gentlemen.  It's full throttle and there's no slowing her down.  And . . .

That's me!  I'm so close to finishing my yoga teacher training program.  I'm really excited (and a wee bit nervous).  I have wanted to throw in the towel and give up many times throughout this program.  The hours of school and the mountains (my opinion) of homework married with my family life and being on a drill team have been more than overwhelming.  In addition, I've been really striving (not very successfully) to get going on my zoning.  This old dog is ready for a big long nap.

But slow down there, Trigger.  Not just yet!  First we have graduation on June 3rd (round of applause, please) and then I have a class in teaching restorative yoga in July and then  . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . prenatal yoga teacher training in October.  Yep, I'm on a roll.  I know my destiny and I'm keeping my focus.

One of my absolute BIGGEST supporters has been Danielle.  She's been right behind me giving me that kick in the bum to do my homework, go to class, stick it out and encouraging me to continue signing up for more certifications that work right in with where my niche is.  Thank you, girl.

Of course, I got a bit of a surprise this weekend when Skip said that he was proud of me (I think that's what he said) for doing this.  It's been a HUGE time commitment and has pushed me outside of my comfort zone BIG TIME!  I have a really big appreciation for yoga teachers - well, ALL fitness teachers, for that matter.

So my goal is in my sights and I'm heading in the right direction.  Good times are rolling my way!

Happy Momma

Yesterday was Mother's Day.  I was in LA visiting Skip and he gave me a sweet card.  He informed me that he spends a lot of time looking over cards to find the one that says just the right words to express his feelings for me.  I noticed that he often crosses out the verbage that comes on the card and inserts his own.  This is the kind of thing that means the most to me.

When I got home last night I had a whopper of a headache.  I'm guessing it's all the food that I don't normally eat.  Maybe it's my eyes that don't want to work as well.  Whatever, it was a serious pounder. I kind of gave Danielle the head's up that I wasn't feeling 100%.  She was amazingly understanding.  Then, when I walked in the door I was greeted with the sweetest reception ever. 

On the table were three little vases of flowers and three home made cards.  It melted my heart.  Jacob and Court each gave me a GC to Starbucks and Peets (Jacob informed Danielle that I LOVE Peets and he's right) and Danielle, Jeff, Brandilyn and Dave gave me the new CD for Sigur Ros (my absolute FAVORITE group).  It was simple, sweet and straight from the heart. 

I love my family and I'm so grateful to know that the people I love more than anything else in the world know me the best. 

On a side note, here's a convo that I had with Brian:

B:  Hey Mom, I wanted to tell you something that happened last night.  I lost my wallet and went walking not once, but TWICE, to everywhere I went and couldn't find it.  I went into my room mate's room to vent about how upset I was and it was sitting right there on their floor.  Isn't that funny?
M:  Hmm.  Yeah, actually that's really funny.  Is that really why you just called me?
B:  Well, yeah, and to tell you that I love you
M:  I love you too.  Anything else?
B:  Um, nope.  That's about it.
M:  Are you sure?  Do you know what day it is today?
B:  Yeah, I'm sure.  It's Sunday, right?  Wait . . . Oh crap, it's Mother's Day.  Wow!  I'm sorry, Mom.  Happy Mother's Day.
M:  (laughing).  You're my ONLY kid I'd throw that bone to.  Anyone else I'd just let the convo go and let you feel like crap when you later realized that you forgot about your mom on Mother's Day.  I love you, Buddy.

Robbie, gave me a hug and kiss when I got home. 

Yeah, my family knows me well and they know just how to show me how much they love me.  Simple and sweet.

That Boy!

Today Skip and I drove up from LA to go visit Brian in Santa Barbara, where he's been going to school. It was a nice drive but the weather was a wee bit too nippy for my liking (especially considering that it hit 90 degrees up where I live and I was insanely jealous as I could be!). However, seeing my boy made everything worthwhile.

Brian is as happy as he could be. He's living in an absolute all-out party town with two Swedish room mates that are a complete riot. The three of them get along famously and it's such a treat to see them interact.

When Bri lived up in Idaho he had the room mate from hell. That combined with the rules and restrictions of Rexburg just made that situation so darn toxic for my son. He's thriving in this environment!

Second, Brian is in school doing what his heart screams for him to be doing. Oh, I fought it tooth and nail for as long as I could. Underwater dive welding is an extremely dangerous profession, but it's what my son is absolutely set on. Once I gave up resistance, the boy has been happier than I've ever seen him. It makes me happy to not receive those panic phone calls, "MOM! I'm in trouble. HELP!" I only get my fun loving boy calling me to see how I'm doing and for him to easily chat about the goings on of his life.

Now, the semester is winding down and, instead of paying for Bri to stay idle while there's no school, he's got an opportunity to go to Sweden with one of his roomies for a month and explore another part of the world. He's so excited he can hardly stand himself. I'm so excited (and a bit jealous, I must admit) for him. He's promised me that he'll take LOTS of pictures and share his adventures with me through his photo journal.

Today I saw him for the last time before his big adventure. My heart is in a happy place. He's chatting again with a girl that I adore and there's absolutely no contention surrounding him when we interact. Everything seems so pleasant. Just the way life should be. Please, God, tell me that this is the beginning of an amazing life for him AND the rest of us that love him to bits!

I love ME!

Today, as I was out hiking in the hills, my mind was on my assignment for my yoga teacher training class.  The grass is so green, the wind was gently blowing, the sun was making its way up the horizon and I was in a pretty blissful and happy mood.  I was alone out in the hills with just my thoughts and nature.  The way I like it.

My assignment is to put together the centering - beginning part - of a yoga practice that our class is doing.  I actually thought I had it pretty easy.  Well . . . I do have it pretty easy.  

Since our class is supposed to be focused on the shoulders, I decided to center the class on the heart chakra.  More specifically, compassion and love to ourselves.  The more I thought about it the more it felt right.  So, as I was walking it started flowing into me so easily.  I was smiling and happy and really enjoying the process.

As I was about to walk out of the park and onto the road, there on the side of trail someone had coincidentally (and I so don't believe in coincidences, by the way) carved in the dirt "I love me."  

How beautiful is that?  It was confirmation to me that I was on the right track, baby.  Oh yeah, and I DO love myself, by the way!