My Journal

Am I insane?

Listening to the ocean as I write allows me to be grateful for everything I have and everything I can do.  Although I can tell my body is aging, I’m in great spirits.  The same can’t be said of many people my age.

Growing up, I wasn’t the most active kid.  I did bike ride often once I learned to do so, and I jogged once in a while with my dad whenever we found ourselves at the track.  I played basketball (in 7th grade) and volleyball (8th grade and all thru high school and college).  Until high school, I was always the slow chubby kid on field day events.

For the past 3 or so years I’ve become a more active jogger.  When I finished high school 30 years ago, if you would have told that I would complete a marathon, I would have laughed in your face.  ME, a Marathoner??  You’ve got to be kidding, right?  Fast forward to 2014, as of the end of the year I’ve completed 9 marathons (26.2 miles), 4 ultra-marathons (anything over 26.2 miles), 11 half-marathons (13.1 miles), a 10K and a 5k.  Of the four ultra-marathons, 2 had 24-hr duration with the longest distance completed of 43.64 miles.

“Stop bragging” you may say, but I’m not.  I’m just sharing how someone that is average at best can do anything with motivation and determination.  My husband and I changed what we eat and how we exercise.  We made an insane lifestyle change in order to have better health and longevity.  And if we can do this, anyone else can too.

We are not saying it’s easy, we are saying it’s doable!

Enjoy the journey, have fun!  It’s all play!

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Photo courtesy of: Edie Mahoney Melson at The Write Conversation

One more day at the condo, quiet, peaceful, delightful, although a bit overcast.

So far this trip, we have not seen any dolphins.  We have relaxed and enjoyed our time here.  Twelve seasons visiting this place and it just doesn’t get old.

This is my favorite place to write.  Here I can relax and listen to the “Soundescapes” channel while I write.  I remember the first year when I wrote a very inspirational journal entry.  It was a stormy day out and I sat on the balcony looking at how the waves crashed on the shore.  Reminded of the ups and downs of life, the story unfolded.  By the end this feeling of peace and gratitude flooded my being.  It was then that I decided to use it as the introduction to a “book” that to this day, has not been complete.

It may sound like regrets some times when I reminisce about past experiences, and it sometimes is.  Most times it’s just the kick in the butt I need to get in gear and write again.  Good peotry has come of this.  More ideas have been written and are waiting to be developed.

In all this, my biggest if,  “If only,” plagues my mind almost every time I think of it. This year, I choose to be proactive.  And every time I get this feeling of incompletion, I’ll choose to take action, whether to write or read or go out for a run, I’ll take action.

“In the beginning, there was nothing. And then, there was something. Ideas flooded all vestiges of earth and entered the minds of those attuned enough to listen. And so it was, and that’s how this writing begins. Here we are, dusting the cobwebs and cleaning all inhabited crevices to allow ideas to take hold and be nurtured and mature. In the presence of light, ideas flow to the surface and are expressed without inhibition. A wordsmith, so to speak, that gets away with using words to express ideas and, above all, inspire and motivate.” ~~Adamy Diaz – I promise to write – on July 7, 2014.

A few months back I started a journal with the intention to write every day for a year.  The idea was long lived.  Still the thoughts remained and the nagging feeling that something has been missing all these years started to bug me again.  With that in mind, I will attempt to get this journey started.  Being the first of the year helps to keep the streak going, so to speak.

So today, once again, I promise to write every day for the next year. I Hope it’s amusing and of any use to you, the reader.

New Year, New Beginnings!

The year 2015 has started off quietly. Last night we welcomed the year within the comforts of the condo at the beach that has been our home after Christmas every year for the last twelve seasons.  Earlier today, we sat in the living room enjoying the rising sun.   Now, as I sit to write there are so many thoughts, so many ideas, it’s hard to narrow down the choices.

So, I should start with wishing you all a good year, full of joy and peace and love.

The key to accomplishing all I want to do this year is going to be time management.  We have set a goal of completing 2,015 miles in 2015.  Whether we run, walk, or crawl, bike or use the elliptical at the gym (10 minutes=1 mile), we have figured that if we average 35 to 40 miles per week plus the races we are scheduled to do this year, we will do that and then a little some more.

The challenge for me on this first day of the year is that it seems like such a long journey it doesn’t yet fit in my imagination. Tack on to that taking care of 2 businesses and a part time job, and it seems like an imposible endeavor. However, when I tally last years milage tracked it’s 1000+ miles, I went to the gym an average of 2 times per week, worked an average of 15-hrs per week part time, and work additional hours per week doing massages and consulting for my web/graphic design business.  Still I had time to read, unwind, and watch some movies and favorite shows on TV.

So if you hear me complaint about the lack of time, please remind me that there are plenty of hours in a day.  The trick is to manage time wisely.

I know it’s been a while.  I figured I’ll find some time since today is my anniversary.  So far we have celebrated by walking Old San Juan and having lunch with my best friend Tony.  This week we have been enjoying the Puerto Rico island as we get ready to run the Puerto Rico half-marathon and the San Patricio 5k all in one day.

The picture I’m sharing today was taken yesterday at Window Cave in Arecibo.  Talk about the most majestic site I ever seen apart from El Yunque Rain Forest.  When I see the beauty of places like this I know there is someone bigger than me as the creator of it all.

It’s been a bit over a week since I wrote last.  I feel like it’s been forever.  It has been a strange week with all the closings because of 3-days of snow.  I never seen snow fall for 3 days in a row before.  Everything was so pretty.  When it snows, all gets so quiet it’s so perfect.  I did take some pictures with Don’s phone, I’m sure I’ll be posting some later.

On another note, Valentine’s Day was uneventful.  Don and I celebrated with lunch at Red Bowl in Greenville, and then we worked a few clients into our afternoon schedule.

Today, we completed a 15-mile run at Swamp Rabbit Trail.  Tomorrow we are thinking of taking the bikes out after our second run for the weekend.  It would be good to bike ride after a month or so of not touching my bike.

More tomorrow.

Even though I haven’t been here in a few days, I have, however been busy practicing and producing some artwork.  In part practicing to create the artwork I need for the animation project.  Participating in the animation project will be interesting and I am looking forward to the challenge.  Hopefully I can translate what I’m seeing in my head to “paper” or photoshop and the Flash stage.

We’ll see what’s next.

~~  A side note:  The picture used for the above sketched image above was borrowed from a Facebook banner.  The author is unknown to me at this point.  May this humble note constitute acknowledgement for his/her work.

It’s been a long day.  I just want to go to bed, but I didn’t want to go before writing at least something.  So here it is.

Sweet Dreams, y’all!  See you tomorrow!

The day went by so fast, I didn’t even noticed it.  We went to a new church this morning.  We tried a new Mexican restaurant in town.  We also went to Walmart to get a few needed “supplies.”  And finally we met a web client at Panera on Augusta Rd.  By the time we got home, we were so exhausted, we didn’t care to watch the Super Bowl.

Other than that, the day was great and uneventful.

I’ve been playing with Photoshop.  I’ve figure a way of giving photographs a sketched look.  I also found another tutorial for creating starry nights, which is going to be important for my animation.  I’m just so amazed as to what I can do with it.

Right now, I’m feeling pretty inspired to keep working with this.  More to come soon.

Photo courtesy of Alexis Batausa
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Crazy week so far with all the snow and trying to get back to a normal routine.  Although I was able to catch up with the animation class, our running has been a bit off.  Hopefully with the weather changing, we’ll be able to do better over the next few days.

Alexis shared such a cool picture of sunrise during his run this morning, I had to use it here.