Weekend Coffee Share, Don’t Just Survive

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. A cold chai latte with cinnamon sprinkled in top is sponsoring my energy this morning. I slept in, thank goodness! Grab your favorite wake up beverage for a chat!

Lana del Rey is coming through the speakers, and Bixby is enjoying the morning as well, looking pretty contemplative. Work has been way too hectic, so I just won’t think about it today. I got a flat tire last night in my neighborhood as I was almost home from work, so I put that off until today, but I’m not in a hurry.

This is my weekend, after all. I try to avoid committing to much of anything except self-care on my weekends. I work quite hard during the week, I’ve raised a son, and I pay my bills. I believe I deserve down time. My health is a priority. I just need to reduce my Amazon purchasing. 🙂 It’s a goal!

Last night,I revelled in Netflix and sleep. I didn’t make any calls to find out anything about tires. I ordered dinner delivery for myself and my son (another costly habit to reduce). It’s what I needed, and it was tasty! I took time this morning for a full, healthy breakfast. It’s a beautiful morning to enjoy!

My son’s cast-iron plants, a gift that has been part of our family since he was first-born , are finally coming back. Spring is in full-force! Their rejuvenation is quite reassuring and is a much better thing to ponder than discipline at school or a flat tire that happened out of nowhere.

Yes, I’m practicing self-care with reckless abandon, whether in my mindset or my weekend activities. Earlier this week, I went back for Zen acupuncture again. It really helped my stress level on Thursday. I shared photos and a post about it here: Mid-week Mellow Out

That’s all for me. Today is what matters now. Have a great weekend, everyone!

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From My Life, Day 6: Weekend Decompress #MyLife and #weekendcoffeeshare @PamSCanepa1

Day 6, A Day in My Life-

Happy Saturday! It’s been sunny here in NE Florida today! Bixby is happy about that, too. I normally do blog as part of #weekendcoffeeshare on Saturday mornings, but since I’ve taken the challenge to blog every day in January, this blog post includes bits of my whole day. ***Addendum – I fell out of the competition with my book club due to forgetting something, as I do at times, but I am still going to try to write daily all month for myself.

Bixby and I enjoyed an extended walk this morning, it was too beautiful out to avoid! Who needs the gym today? Of course, there is a lot of stop and go with him getting urgent needs to sniff certain areas of the ground. That’s what dogs do, right? Of course, I featured him in my post’s featured image. The image was a great idea I got from Karl Morgan, fellow author, blogger, and RRBC member. I totally stole his idea, so go and check out his blog for me , okay? https://charleswjonesauthor.com/posts/

My morning was also a time for me to go shop at First Place Sports and replace my sneakers. They’re only a year and a half old, but they are running shoes so I wear them when I’m exercising, which is often fast walking, and I also wear them quite frequently to work. I have worn them out! I have to stay really active at work, you know? Comfortable shoes are really important to me now, and dress shoes will not make the cut.

New shoe on the left. Such good shoes, definitely worth the price! They comfort my bunion foot and cushion my bad knee! Man, I sound old….

After lunch, I went for my massage appointment which started with an infrared sauna. I’ve tried to get massages every other week since the frozen shoulder had set in over the summer. The masseuse applies a hot towel to my shoulder and my upper back, and it eases the pain of my frozen shoulder and the tension I frequently get in my upper back leading to my neck. The massage is very helpful to ease the tension and stress, but the infrared sauna is new for me.

It was a payday week, as you likely can tell! I enjoyed the infrared sauna. It gets really hot, but it didn’t hinder my breathing, probably since it was dry heat. In fact, it reminded me a lot of a Las Vegas summer. You are supposed to sweat in the infrared sauna to release toxins, and boy, did I ever! I have a membership with the massage company, so I’ll probably do the infrared again, as I get a discount.

Later, my boyfriend and I will have dinner. My son might join us. We’ll see. Some of our favorite places are Bono’s and Longhorn. Sometimes it’s Thai food, if I can convince my boyfriend! I had Thai delivered to me last night, so probably not. I personally could eat Thai food several nights a week! I love the ginger sauce, and they always add plenty of veggies!

Two peas in a pod, except when it comes to Thai food!

Have a great Saturday and a happy day!

Weekend Coffee Share. Summer Days and Ways

 No coffee needed for Bixby!

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at http://eclecticali.wordpress.com

Summer is in full swing, and I’m adjusting to sleeping in, more time with the dog, and a lot less stress! On the topic of stress, I’ve been making an effort to have at least two days weekly where I only drink half a cup of coffee. Let me be honest, yesterday was the second day this week, and my ability to focus was really lacking. I was working on a few of my goals as an author, but I was pretty distracted and quite slow to gain traction.  I did make it to yoga, though, and, wow! That is always good for my mood and relaxation.

I’ve been attending yoga twice weekly since summer’s start and going to Stretchzone in addition to more frequent walks. Stretchzone is a place where you do assisted stretch with a person who is usually licensed in Sports Medicine or physical therapy. I really like it, and I’m trying it because having butt in chair to write or laying around reading ( both of which I’ve been doing) can bother my lower back and sciatica.

Seen on Thursday’s walk. Colorful Shrooms!

So what am I up to as an author? Why am I sitting in that chair? I’ve got Detours in Time in audiobook production with an awesome narrator, I’m working on Malachi (work in progress), and I’m starting Undercurrents in Time on the audiobook process. I have to prepare files of scenes from Undercurrents that lend themselves to narration. ( Starting that this week). I’ve had Detours in Time on a Countdown deal for .99 this week which ends Sunday. Detours in Time is a fun, yet thought-provoking read of a woman and a scientist who travel to the future, then back and forward again,  and as a result, they learn a lot about their own families and themselves, as well as encountering some moral dilemmas.  Can you just observe a train-wreck?  That was metaphorical, but think about it.  Find out about Detours in Time or download it here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0711ZW6XF

BTW, Undercurrents, the continuation, will also be on a Countdown deal in two to three weeks. I’ll keep you posted, because someone might be interested!

Today, my dog, Bixby and I are on the road with my boyfriend, Kenny. We’re going to Brunswick, Ga to see his dad and stepmom. It will be a low key visit, with conversation and lunch at his house. We’ll be quite entertained watching my dog and their little poodle chase each other around, though!

Road trip photo!

The author tasks and goals will wait until tomorrow, after I’ve enjoyed some sunshine!  Thank you for stopping by for our coffee chat, and have a great summer week!

Weekend Coffee Share. Get it together, girl! #balance

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at Eclectic Ali . I’ll admit, sometimes I can feel myself getting too perfectionistic and being too hard on myself, feeling like nothing I do is enough. At times, I feel like I have to have a little talk with myself, trying to calm myself down. It has been a stressful week. Suffice it to say, teaching is not an easy job. That may not be the only issue. Maybe it was just difficult to transition from Winter break self-care to reanimating my driven self in order to be a quality teacher, yet feeling I have little time now to do anything about my writing goals. Still, I’m always reminded that balance is so important.

I almost took a picture of the scowl on my face on day this week, because I partly was just mad at myself for letting my perfectionism force me to work late and miss my yoga class.  I was also mad at my job for requiring so much of me.  With my writing, I can go at my own pace, but let me be honest, it is not what pays the bills right now.  I suppose I needed an attitude adjustment, and I am not completely sure what got me off balance.  I need to be mindful of this in the future.

Since I missed yoga on my favorite Zen yoga night, I had to lay out the mat at home, so therefore, yoga had to include some dog play.  That is perfectly alright!  He always makes me smile!  We took him to his fourth week of dog training today, which is always fun, and we see lots of other dogs in the Petsmart store where he trains.  He loves that part, too!

What goes in our brains is also very important, and it can’t always be work, work, work. I’m listening to this classic on Audible, while I’m also reading a YA Fantasy book on Kindle. I always have reading goals and plans, and sometimes I participate in review groups ( no time for those right now). I feel badly if I don’t have time to read, and I suspect my brain got lazy over WInter break with lots of Netflix time.  I did read, just not at a fast pace.  Anyway, listening to Dorian Gray is nice while taking a bath.  The language is very descriptive and flowery, somewhat advanced if not archaic, and the narrator’s voice is relaxing.  Reading this in book form would take me a while.  I must add, it got really intriguing in Chapter fifteen and sixteen today!  Hey, it got my mind off of work, even though I did do an hour’s worth of work this morning.  I didn’t finish, but an hour was all they were getting this morning.  This is MY weekend!

Having said all that, I felt like my job was taking oved my life this week, but here I am, writing on my blog! It makes me feel more like myself; it makes me feel unstoppable, and by the way, that was my word for this year: unstoppable. Even though I’ve added a lot of goals to take me to another level at my job, I am going to be unstoppable and keep on writing, enjoying my life, and meeting those goals. I may adjust the pace, but I shall never stop!  Have a great week, my friends.  I am planning on more balance and self-care this coming week.  🙂

#WeekendCoffeeShare. In Careful Measures

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at eclecticali.wordpress.com!  You may have whatever you like, me, I’ll only have half a cup.  I’m trying to be healthy by cutting my coffee intake, you know, to help myself fall asleep at night and keep calm during the day and to relax when I want to.  Last week I had a screenplay deadline just because I wanted to do something new.  The end of last week involved catching up on editing that I’d missed and trying to de-stress.  No matter what, I could not turn my brain off.  This week, I tried some adjustments.  In true Bridget Jones fashion, (Minus the musings over men and the quirky, partying friends) I’ve recorded my self-analysis daily.  Here’s how it went:

Day 1, Sunday:  Drank- 1/2 cup.  Felt: Normal, but I went to church and had forgotten my offering on my dresser.  😦  Still, I felt quite normal once I got there.  At lunch, I felt fine.  Thoughts were a little calmer.  However, this was not a workday.  Let’s see how tomorrow goes.  By the way, I went grocery shopping that evening, and they didn’t have my flavor of the V8 energy juice 😦 (Fueled by green tea).  I was beside myself.  Still, we’ll see how it goes…

Day 2 Monday: Drank- my last V8 green tea energy juice with a little cranberry and half a cup of coffee.  All I could see was a half-empty cup.  Still, I felt fine during the day, but I sure felt tired at 8 p.m.  However, I got at least 30 minutes of editing in before that!

Day 3 Tuesday: Drank- Less than half a cup of coffee.  However, I had bought a Starbucks refresher drink made with green coffee.  So in the morning, I felt good. I’m a person of set routines, but I did plan ahead for this one.  Unlike finding out my favorite yoga class was moved forward an hour, so I can’t eat dinner until 8 p.m. on yoga night.  Must adjust…

Day 4 Weds.: Drank- 1 whole cup of coffee, my gift to myself. Or, maybe a crutch.  I was up late the night before, since my son, who rarely has conversations with me, wanted to talk.   Then, he put on a movie, Point Break.  I said it was okay, but I’d likely fall asleep.  I did, but later than usual.  My bedroom is the closest to the living room, so t.v. and movies can be heard from there and we normally have all of that off at 10 p.m.  This was an exception; I plan to be back to the 1/2 cup goal tomorrow.  Being there for our kids is what mothers do.

Day 5- Thurs.: Drank: 1/2 cup of coffee, and a little bit of Energy V8 with orange juice.  This was a rather carbonated V8.  I do not prefer that; still, it is certainly better than drinking too much coffee.  My energy level was fine all day, though I did feel tired when I got home.  I felt like it was 90 degrees today.  One thing I am noticing with the decrease in coffee is that I seem less tense in my body.  That could be a motivation to stick to the decrease.

Day 6- I subsisted on just half a cup of coffee and some V8.  I figured by Friday I would be pooped and need more.  I felt tired in the afternoon, but it could be due to the very light lunch and lack of time to finish off that apple.  😦 Don’t worry, I made up for it by having beef with my Thai Ginger Stir fry.  Yum!  I stayed up at least until midnight because my boyfriend and I were watching Hostiles.  Man, that movie was great!  Conflict main character, morally slippery supporting characters, trying to love your enemy.  It really reached me.  That, and I love Christian Bale.  I also think Rosamund Pike plays shock and grief oh, so well.  That just may be her niche.  Do you see how I snuck in a movie review?  If you can handle blood and violence in gritty Western style, you should check Hostiles out!

Day 7- Sat.:  I had most of a Starbucks bottled frappucino, because, well, it was free.  My boyfriend had it left behind by his visiting cousin and gave it to me.  Oh, they are tasty.  Caffeine-wise, I am probably off of the wagon for the day.  Perhaps I’ll get more editing done for my sequel, Undercurrents in Time.  I have forty-five pages left to do, so maybe I’ll channel the extra caffeine energy.  It’s all good!  Going forward, I am not going to measure my intake.  Still, I plan to have more half-a-cup days and will let myself drink the whole cup when I feel I need it.  Perhaps this will calm my 20-open-computer-tabs tendencies.  Maybe? 🙂

How did your week go?  Am I nuts to try to decrease caffeine intake?  My mind is still pretty active.  Caffeine is a friend to me that I sometimes need to distance myself from.  Where do you stand with caffeine?

Visit other coffee shares and share yours at Eclectic Ali May 5th