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February 16th, 2014 This blog is dedicated to my friend Deb W because she never gets to see snow! 🙂
Last night Cape Cod was graced with a blizzard of our very own. My town, Sandwich, was the jackpot winner with 15 inches of snow. Here at my house, we maybe got about 6 inches because we’re very close to the water and it was mostly rain. The best thing about blizzards on Cape Cod is it will all melt this week. Snow never lasts too long out here, although this year I’ve seen it hang around a lot longer than winters in the past.
Since it won’t be here long, I thought I’d share some of my beach walk with you.
First, a little “beach reality”:
Next – “marsh mallow”:
“Hey! This is Cape Cod!”
The beach path:
And finally – even the ocean was angry with the weather:
And so, as another day goes by, hopefully spring will make an appearance by Friday, and…I have written.
February 9th, 2014 This weekend my Boston daughter and her friends came down to the cape for what they call their “winter retreat”. They bring comfy clothes, food and drink, and settle in for three days. They park the cars Friday night and don’t leave the house until they say goodbye sometime late Sunday.
This year they brought “onesies” or what I used to call “feet pajamas”. We stayed up late both nights with them singing and talking late into the early morning hours. It was so much fun having them here.
When morning arrived just a few hours after we went to bed, I had to get up and go to work on Saturday, and today I’m just up early. Both mornings I tip toed down the stairs to grab breakfast and coffee. The house was silent and one friend was sleeping on the pull out in the family room. Access to my usual chair was effectively blocked by cushions and pillows. I couldn’t turn on the TV even if I could snuggle into my chair as I do every morning, so I filled my robe pockets with food and water and carried my coffee back upstairs.
I laid out my morning spread on my nightstand and propped myself up in bed, put the news on, and enjoyed my breakfast in bed. I found myself looking around the room in a new way. I never sit on my bed and read or relax. I never spend much time in my room at all – it basically functions as a big closet I sleep in.
A feeling of unexpected warmth and coziness washed over me. Looking around, taking in the oceany shades of blue and green, I found joy in the way the colors played with sun around the walls. Recently I bought a new area rug and a few things to begin finishing the remodel job I started three years ago and just didn’t have the energy or desire to finish. Spending this quiet time with breakfast in bed gave me a whole new perspective and slowly the ideas of what to do with the room began to form. Maybe 2014 will be the year I finally finish this room.
I love how you sometimes get a whole new perspective just by sitting or standing in a different place. Your mind wakes up and begins to notice things in a mundane landscape. Try it in a room in your home where you always spend time in the same chair or a room where you hardly spend time at all. You never know what your own walls will whisper to you. Today my walls whisper the word “spring” and in light of our recent weather, it’s a voice I welcome – even if it is just the slightest tremor underneath this week’s predicted storms.
And so, as another day goes by, inspiration sometimes creeps in with “feet pajamas” and new ideas play in the sunlight on some old walls, and…once again, I have written.
February 3rd, 2014 By “it” I mean my enhanced body mass index on the fit check machine at Koko. A bunch of members have been coming to me about seeing no change in their e-BMI. I listened to all of them, collected their comments, and commiserated with them, because I couldn’t make my e-BMI change either. In the beginning of January I was 31.7 (Koko fit zone is 29). Despite all the working out I do, I couldn’t bring that number down. I am 64% stronger than when I started over a year ago. I feel better and have a ton of energy. My clothes fit a lot better. I look better. But my e-BMI is being stubborn.
Deep down I knew the culprit. I’ve known for a long time, but I didn’t want to part with something I covet dearly – my wine. I also knew that the way I eat, even though it’s healthy, is a maintenance plan, not a moving plan, which will be great when at least thirty pounds are moved. So – something drastic clearly had to be done and I did it (see previous post) and now, two weeks later, I’m seeing some results! In just two weeks I went from 31.7 to 30.3. I’m thrilled. I’m inspired. I’m ready to break open my new box of pre-packaged powders and take on week three. I also know what a lot of us at fit club know – what we eat and drink matters – even if you exercise regularly, changes are only going to take place if by making changes in your diet, too.
And so, as another day on the food journey goes by, a tiny bit of progress inspires me to push on, my new box of food has some crunchy cinnamon cereal in it – exciting, and…I think I need a new doctor…lol!
January 31st, 2014 This morning driving to Koko for a cardio and yoga session, I had a great opening line for this post, but now, back at home, after having my banana pudding mid-morning snack, this is the best I could do:
Hey, it encouraged me on this recent food journey. I’m ready to pack up my envelope of chicken soup and caramel pecan nutrition bar that will constitute my lunch, throw in my hot cappuccino drink that be my afternoon snack and head off to Harwich Koko to work for the afternoon.
Yes, I’ve succumbed. Succumbed to the packaged diet program. For how long, I don’t know. This only the end of week two of this journey. For years I’ve watched friends lose their desired amount of weight on the Medifast plan, but I was doing okay with exercise and real food, so I didn’t bite. Now? Now at 60, fighting that slowing metabolism, with thirty pounds that HAVE to go, I’m desperate.
It all started with members at work who came in to sign up for their exercise programs. They said they lost 20-30 pounds on Ideal Protein and were now told they needed to get into a strength training program to build muscle. What a novel idea – sign up for the gym AFTER you lose the weight. They explained Ideal Protein and they ALL said it’s the ONLY thing that works – but it’s costly and strict. Hmmm… Costly I can do without, strict I need. I have come to realize that at my age exercise alone isn’t going to move this thirty pounds. What I do with food does. I need to reset my system and deal with sugar addiction. Not only sugar as sugar, but the sugar found in bad carbs, too. Now don’t get me wrong – if you’re a shopper and a cook, this can be done with real food. Unfortunately I am neither. I need boxes, pre-packaging and portability. I’m not home long enough in a day to shop, cut, and prepare real food. So….what these ladies were selling was tempting.
Of course, I hop online and google Ideal Protein. This other diet, called the New Lifestyle Diet, similar to Ideal Protein, pops up. The thing I didn’t like about Ideal Protein was that you actually had to GO there. The last thing I need is another place to go. This one was totally online – order, connect by email with a coach, easy peasy directions, no auto-ship, two and four week plans, – it was a good fit – so here I am two weeks into it. I’m just finishing my first two-week order and decided its time to blog the journey, just in case some of you out there are doing or considering this kind of thing because misery loves company. Misery? Well did you actually think resetting your world of eating to pre-packaged powder food was going to be anything but?
And so, as another day goes by, I can’t say it’s been that bad, the next box arrives on Monday, we’ll see how it goes next week, and…I have written.
January 26th, 2014 Yeah, I know, any of you who know me personally would wonder why I would write a post on fishing. You would know I’m not a “fisher” – a word I made up years ago to describe my avid fishing husband. Fishing, the kind you do with a pole, is not something I’d ever go do alone, but the times I go with my husband, I do enjoy it – mainly because when I lose my bait to seaweed and rocks, I just turn the pole towards him, and he “reloads” it. I then proceed with the part of fishing I like best – casting the line out over Scorton Creek to see how far out I can get it, then reeling it back in without getting it caught on anything. My intent is never to catch a fish. I realize my limitations and know if I ever do catch a fish, it will be purely by accident.
But…The Word Nerd Meme starts today with the word FISHING. Writers love words and can spin a word into a story, a past memory or a devotion faster than you can spit. Look for more WORD MEME posts below the words BLOG HOP. Feel free to hop on with your own “fish story”!
So, back to fishing…
I’m an excellent “fisher” when it comes to fishing for information. I can usually find what I’m searching for without being obvious I’m looking. (Otherwise know as “Facebook stalking”) This I learned from the best – my kids. Throughout the years of boyfriends and girlfriend clicks and broken hearts, they mastered the art of “finding without anyone knowing they’re looking”. Just try to hide your Facebook info from my kids – I guarantee they’ll find a way in. Some obscure person from their past is always connected to someone who means something to them in their present, providing a segway into their current business. (We all learned that this is also the best way to sabotage a healing heart.)
For awhile I found this fascinating – the fact you could know anything about anybody who was anybody to you. Lately? Lately I have to agree with my friend Diana in the blog hop below. The best “fishing hole” is in my armchair, technology unplugged, with or without my husband, and a good movie or book. Secluded. Away from the Facebookers, the Pinteresters, and the Twitterists. (This is a blog hop about words, so I claim the freedom to make up a few.) Our children bought us a beautiful, big, flat screen for Christmas. Technomaniac I am, I instantly bought a Google Chromecast and signed up for Netfilx. (Seriously, this is leading to “unplugging”.) My brother face booked and talked about the show the Sons of Anarchy for years now, so on our first night with Netflix up and running, we looked at each other blankly and said Now what do we watch?. We remembered my brother’s fascination with Sons and said What the heck? Let’s give it a shot.
That was it. One episode and the nightly marathons started while my husband was here for two weeks. Now, when he comes home on weekends, we settle in on Saturday nights with a glass of wine, the wind blowing the ocean around outside, put down our phones and iPads, forget our jobs, kids and Facebook friends, and recede until the wee hours of the morning (which for, us is 1 am), and spend quality, unplugged time in the cocoon of our living room. I really don’t think it matters so much what we watch, it’s the camaraderie and solace we find in our cocoon that we covet.
I just realized this during Satuday night’s marathon. Then Sunday morning I read my friend Diana’s post, Gone Fishing, below. Yes, we too, have found our own special fishing hole.
And so, as another day goes by, I’d like to conclude my fishing story by saying thank you to our kids, Dad and I are enjoying these special times because of your thoughtfulness and generosity at Christmas, and…I have written.
January 24th, 2014 This post first appeared in The Cape Cod Children’s Writers Blog on January 23 2014.
I have never moved my work very far simply because marketing has always been, for a self-published author, much too daunting for me. Just panacea of online information on how to go about it makes my head hurt and venture back to funny Facebook videos. The amount of courses and presentations on marketing just here on Cape Cod, is overwhelming to me. Okay, I’ll just admit it – it’s not the amount of work or the money that’s involved – I just don’t enjoy doing it. Nowhere in any class or presentation on marketing have I ever thought oh that looks like fun! I love writing – this blog, children’s books, maybe a novel in the future. I love art – illustrating and doing cover art for both myself and other authors. Recently I fell in love with formatting books and putting them up on Amazon. I took a course on that this summer at the Cape Cod Writers Center Annual Conference and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I even spent the eighty dollars on the CD E-Pub Template that simplified the whole experience, but marketing? One word. Ugh.
Okay, by now you must be wondering why, if I’m such a marketing hater, am I writing this post. Simple. I found a friend and author who made marketing a self-published book both easy AND fun. My fellow Cape Cod Writers Center board member, Kate Conway, just self-published her first young adult novel and I’ve never seen a marketing plan like hers. I was fascinated from the get-go when I found out she brought her characters to life – not only in her book – but into real life – as in using local high school students to represent her characters and marketed the whole thing like a movie. So cool. There were photo shoots and posters and the kids attending book signings – well what local high school student is NOT going to buy this book featuring their friends? The photos and posters (one which is a huge banner that hung in the Cape Cod Mall like a Twilight poster) immediately attracted me. That looks like fun! Now THIS is marketing.
Another thing Kate does is teach hour long writing classes to high school students at local libraries for free AND hold a book signing! Whoa! Teaching (my first passion) at a book signing. Genius. Guess that’s one way people will show up to your event. (Every author hates the thought of no one showing up to their signing, but just accepts it as “going with the territory”.) I applaud Kate for finding a way around that. To know I have twelve kids coming to learn about writing takes away that fear and turns the event into something I’d look forward to.
If that isn’t enough, Kate wrote a blog post that was also published with my article, P is for Passion Click Click Click , in the latest edition of Cape Women Online, entitled Book Marketing 101. In it she details, step by step, including costs, how to market a self-published book. She makes it so clear and easy that I can actually get excited about doing that with one of my own books someday. Kudos to Kate Conway, author of Undertow , for changing the way I now look at marketing.
January 24th, 2014 Contest extended one more week!
So…go to Dorene’s sight, pick out a necklace, in the comment section tell me which one you’d like, share this post, and the winner will be drawn next weekend! Link to site is in post below.
This post first appeared on Another Day Goes By on January 17
Z is for Zodiac
Here we are on Z in the A-Z Blog Hop. I’m sad it’s the last one. I’ve enjoyed each and every letter. Today’s letter Z, for me, stands for Zodiac and I’m going to make it special by ending it with my first give-away! (For those of you who read yesterday’s post On The Receiving End I’m repeating the story and extending it with a give- away today so keep reading, and for those of you who didn’t read yesterday’s story, you might want to venture back to it and see why I wrote it in the first place!) 🙂
 Not long ago I was reading a post in a blog I follow (My Bikram Yoga Life). Leigha Hall was talking about this necklace she found on Etsy. The name of the artist was Eternal Girl and she makes these gorgeous necklaces that can even be customized. I immediately fell in love and for $15 had to have one. I ordered this one with my Leo sign on it because I love being a Leo. Every characteristic I’ve ever read about Leos totally describes me, so what better way, for only $15, to make a fashion statement that speaks to who I am, than to wear my Leo sign.
The package came in a few days. It was a small envelope. When I opened it the artist provided a beautiful card in a tiny envelope with tissue paper accent. Next out came the necklace delicately wrapped in tissue paper. I remember how I felt opening the package. I was delighted with the care she took in presenting her work to me. I only paid $15 for it, but I felt I was opening something that was far more precious.
If you would like a chance to win an Eternal Girl necklace of your own, do two things:
1. Share this post on Facebook
2. Visit Eternal Girl and browse the designs, then post your favorite in the comments below.
Contest closes next Friday 1/31. One lucky winner will be chosen next Saturday, 2/1 to win the design of their choice, delivered to their home. This give-away is my way of saying thank you for reading and for all your loving support. Each and every one of you are dear to me and I can’t wait to see where our journey will take us as the days of 2014 begin to go by.
And so, as another day goes by, and the blog hop ends, hurry and get in on the fun – you may be the lucky winner, and…I have written.
January 19th, 2014 Yesterday my first piece of work was published. This is a special day for any writer. It took four years. This blog was it’s starting point. This blog gave me legs to get in the race. Since it’s inception, I have also found other talents along the way. I can illustrate, and recently I discovered I like formatting and putting other author’s work up on Amazon. This was a banner year for my writing. Look to the left and there’s the book I illustrated for my author friend, Diana Lesire Brandmeyer. Look to the right and there are the various blogs I write for. Now, to a published, award winning author, that may not seem like much, but I have not spent my life writing or studying art to learn to write and illustrate as these well-deserving authors and illustrators have. In fact, four years ago if you told me I’d publish anything, let alone illustrate something, I would have told you you’re crazy.
Crazy. Crazy DOES happen. Everything you see on this page is proof of that. How about you? Is there something you’d love to do, but think success in it would be crazy? You’ll never know unless you try. The best thing about trying is that even if your original goal doesn’t manifest itself, the new things you will discover about yourself along the way will astound you. You are amazing. Go out there and astound yourself. If you already have, I’d love to hear about your experience. As Mary Oliver says beow:
Tell me , what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
And so, as another day goes by, check out my very first publication in Cape Women Online and…wow…it’s a good thing I have written this blog for three plus years.
* In addition to checking out my article under Working Women, check out the other pieces by personal friends of mine: Debbie McNaughton, Christine Mercer, Nicola Burnell, and Kate (K.L) Conway.
January 19th, 2014 
Every morning I sit with my Belvita biscuits and coffee. I catch up on emails, texts, and a quick perusal of Facebook just to mark sure my friends are okay and still loving their lives. As I’ve mentioned before, I do love my Facebook friends and reading my newsfeed adds joy to my day. I don’t have friends who rant or constantly post for causes, share anti-government political messages, or over share their food. My panacea of Facebook buddies are inspiring, funny, and very informative. They share stuff I really wanna READ. In fact, on a lazy Sunday morning such as this, I just want to spend hours reading all the great articles and blog posts they’ve shared. I want to buy every free book they’ve shared and sit and read them all from start to finish in one sitting. I want to steal and crop very inspirational image and save them to share with you. I want to archive every link that holds such cool info for me to write about.
My Facebook community wakes up my mind and sends it spinning with stories to weave and ideas to write about. So, imagine my joy when, today, I came across the following:
5 Questions To Ask Before Posting To Social Media
The article was well-written, not a rant, and the points made are spot on. So there you have it folks, my little word find for the day. Read it and maybe share it with your Facebook and Twitter communities – I hope yours give you the daily joy and energy that mine does. If not – maybe some “housekeeping” is needed.
And so, as another day goes by, once again my Facebook friends have made me just wanna sit and read and read and read. And, as a result, once again… I have written.
January 18th, 2014 I’m sitting here in my easy chair with a glass of wine catching up on the Cape Cod Times that piled up beside my chair on a busy week. It about 4 pm and blink, the twinkly lights on my mantle clicked on – and next to them, on the wall, is sunlight. In that moment it occurred to me that not that long ago these lights were clicking on in a dark room. We are on the upside. Each day stays lighter longer. It may be only January 18th, but I sense spring is near.
I’m not naive enough to rule out a few more snowstorms, but I’m thankful here, beside the ocean, the snow doesn’t last. We were raking our yards this week in my neighborhood.
The blink of a few lights. Such a small thing made me aware of the turn of the seasons.
And so, as another day goes by, slowly I’m learning to pay attention to the small things I usually don’t give credence to, and…I have written.
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