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  • Friday favorites: words that flow

    I guess you know by now that I am in love with words, beautiful words that flow from the tongue and dance in your ears. With that in mind, this week’s Friday favorites is all about words that flow. “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates…

  • Round 2: my second guest post on Retirement Reflections

    This week I had the pleasure of being invited back to write a second guest post for Retirement Reflections. Donna has such an active, insightful following that I decided to pose a deep question, knowing that a lively discussion would ensue. I wasn’t disappointed. It should be safe to say I am a writer. After…

  • Friday favorites: a picture a day

    Happy Friday from beautiful El Sol La Vida in Nuevo Mazatlan. Since I’m on vacation, I’m keeping it simple with a picture a day. I hope you enjoy them! Friday, December 29: the first cup of coffee by the ocean is always the best Saturday, December 30: reading an excellent book by the pool Sunday,…

  • Friday favorites: holiday shenanigans

    We’re down to the final days of the official “holiday season.” I hope yours has been full of joy, love, and laughter…lot’s of laughter. This week’s Friday favorites is a sampling of the Hawkes Family holiday shenanigans. Dogzilla decimated the Christmas village, leaving one lone snowman survivor to tell the tale. Destroying and plundering is…

  • Three lessons I learned in 2017

    If you are reading this, you survived the madness that is Christmas. I hope you enjoyed it. I typically take the week between Christmas and New Year’s to look back over the year—the experiences, the accomplishments, the lessons learned, and the things I hope to improve in the coming year. For me, this is usually…

  • Winter bucket list and fall wrap-up

    Ready or not, winter has arrived (for those of us in North America, at least). That means it’s time to wrap up the Fall Bucket List and commit to a new Winter Bucket List. FALL WRAP-UP When I last reported, I had just three open items on my list. If I give myself a little…

  • Can we do good without attachment to the outcome?

    We sincerely love beings and desire that they be well and that they be free from suffering, but we also accept that happiness and suffering are impermanent experiences that arise and fall outside of our control. This doesn’t mean that we don’t act on our love, or that acting is pointless. We act with kindness;…

  • Friday favorites: more holiday cheer

    I hope you are enjoying some holiday cheer and taking time to savor the special moments. I’m practicing what I preach and reminding myself to stop, breathe, and be fully present in the moment. So when I went to the Little America breakfast buffet with my coworkers, I didn’t hesitate to sample all the breakfast…

  • Christmas carols: for mature audiences only?

    I love Christmas music. From the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas night, that’s pretty much all I listen to. There are songs that make me smile, some that make me feel nostalgic and tender, and a few that make me go, “Huh? What they’d just say?” I recently read Vikki Claflin’s Laugh Lines post about…

  • Friday favorites: season firsts

    Winter is in the air, if not officially on the calendar. This week’s Friday Favorites centers on season firsts. First  valley snow. Of course by the time I took this picture from my office window, the valley snow was melted, but you can still see it on the mountains. This is my favorite type of…