Things I'm Stoked About...

There are lots of things I'm excited about lately. Some of them will resonate more than others...

--His Highness is running cross country on his middle school team this year. He is having a GREAT start, and he is hitting times at 10.5 years old that I never hit at my fastest in high school. At least part of it is that he is tall for his age and has legs for miles (<-----see what I did there??), and other than that he just really likes to run, and is learning from his coaches how to run stronger and smarter. Boy do I love watching him go...

--Fat tea. Seriously. My go-to treat drink is a Venti Iced White Tea with cream from that one coffee place. No sweetener necessary, as the white tea is milder than regular black tea. When I'm home I do my iced hay-barn tea and add an unsweetened coconut/almond milk blend. It turns out if you give me an icy-cold drink with a dash of some sort of fat and put a straw in it, I'm as happy as I would've been 10 years ago with an icy-cold Mexican Coke in my hand. And don't even get me started on Matcha Frappuccinos...

--Speaking of all this unsweetened nonsense, it seems to be a side-effect of my continuing nutritional odyssey. As I get better at making AWESOME foods, and my body keeps adjusting accordingly (PANTS GOALS), I'm not craving or tolerating sweetness nearly as much as when I started this whole thing. I mean, I like a little sweetness, but a few weeks ago we made these crazy jello-encrusted marshmallow things. We did them in all the colors, and put them on skewers, and called them Unicorn Kabobs, and they looked and smelled AMAZING. But when I took a bite I nearly fell into a coma from the overwhelming shot of sugar. A small part of me is sad, but it's kind of like one door closing and another opening in that I'm finding so many new tastes I didn't know before. It's a little hard to explain, and I feel like it's starting to sound a little ridiculous, so moving on...

--My village of helpers. I turned 40 a week or so ago, although I feel more like a super-wise 28. It turns out when you crack me open, waiting inside is a person who can be quite delightful sometimes, but also can be a lot of work, and needs a lot of help to maximize awesomeness. My continuing back-saga? Extremely boring (in a good way) as of late, as long as I'm regular about my chiro visits and PT maintenance. Running? Always learning and improving, with the help of my coach and online community. Nerd work? Pretty sure I have no idea what I'm doing...just like most everyone...and therefore leaning heavily on stuff like asking questions and doing sanity checks and interacting with co-workers, and just sitting down and working. Avoiding the Pits of Despair? That's what friends are for. And so many other things. At my default I often wish I could be an island, but you guys, I can't even make my hair look good without help from my hairdresser, who taught me how to Respect the Curl. The wisdom of 40 is knowing just how much I need other people...

--Bedtime. I get so excited about it every day. I LOVE sleep; it's my favorite thing. I'm still figuring out if I have a healthy-ish perspective about it or if I maybe love it a little too much, but more help in that area is pending...

--Hard work and growth. I've said it several times recently, but it's where I'm at, folks. Every week there are new challenges. About 50% of the time I wonder if they're the wrong kind of challenges because I'm not always having fun like some of those inspirational podcasts promise, but I'm practicing 'leaning in,' (hate that term; using it anyway), doing what I can when I can, and setting boundaries (mostly with myself)...and life seems to be going on. Bedtime comes quickly most days which, given my sentiments above, I'm counting as a WIN...

--Lots of other things. But it is past bedtime now, and my bed is calling sweetly to me, so I'd best be off. I'm sure you understand that this is WINNING...