Day 11 of the 30 Days of Thankful

Today I am thankful for MY FREEDOM. "Let us remember the service of our veterans, and let us renew our national promise to fulfill our sacred obligations to our veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much so that we can live free." Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-IL).

For Starters

The starting salad course at the annual Arizona Women's Education & Employment luncheon. It is as good as it looks.

Ball of Light

Extreme close up of a light at The Cheesecake Factory, the location of this month's book club.

My Little Super Hero

Here is Mister Super Trooper himself! Such a brave young man!

Coincidentally, or not, today he also received a goody bag from a birthday party he attended. In that bag was a wristaband with the word COURAGE on it. So appropriate. So him. I had to make a special photo collage celebrating this brave kiddo.

What Am I?

My Favorite Time of Day

The nightly routine of stories (the book kind and the telling each other kind) and songs with the kiddo.

Interestingly enough, I felt like I was going to break my hand holding up the camera and just snapping pictures as we had our evening conversation. He got frustrated with me turning our nightly event into a paparazzi showing and it's amazing I got this shot. This is how we look most nights... although I took over 50 pics to get this one, just right, all natural and no posing. Thank goodness for digital and strong wrists.

In honor of my comedy boyfriend, Mike Birbiglia

Dondé esta el baño? ~ Abraham Lincoln

Vegetably enhanced

The base was the Kashi Spinach and Mushroom Trio frozen pizza. I added zucchini and tomato, baked it and then drizzled a tsp. of olive oil on it. E and I both found it to be super tasty.

Heading home

Morning hustle and bustle (and a new project)

Here's the morning routine at La Grande Orange Grocery, a quaint gourmet grocery store with fresh and tasty lunch offerings. It was the scene of my all too infrequent get-togethers with my friend Alison. She wanted to take me out for my birthday and this weekend was the first time our schedules aligned. She treated me to a delicious breakfast of egg whites with turkey and tomato-avocado salsa, served with fruit and cream on the side. Her poached eggs over toast looked pretty amazing too. Top that with great catch-up time and a fabulous birthday treat--a fun, new ring and it was a delightful morning with a dear friend.






**********NEW PROJECT**********

On facebook this morning I had a message from someone I didn't know. The subject line was: Today is the first day! with a note encouraging me to participate in a project this month where each day (no matter the kind of day I was having) I would post a comment to my facebook page about something for which I was thankful.

How cool is that? A way to express our gratitude every single day. I could totally get behind that. For a minute, I even considered tying it to my daily photo project and consulted with my Project 182 partner in crime, Deejah, and we realized that was probably a bit much and a bit restrictive. So, to keep all avenues of creativity open, the two are separate and could meet up, but if it does it does and if it doesn't, that's okay. I am going to post my 30 Days of Thankful post that I place on facebook on here too, so stay tuned.

**********DAY ONE OF BEING THANKFUL**********

So, I was all set with my contribution to gratitude: I was struggling with a large case of paper for my mom at Costco today when a nice stranger offered to lift it into my car for me. I was so grateful he came by when he did and was aware of his surroundings! Especially after I had managed to lose my Costco membership card from the time I pulled it out of my wallet while approaching the warehouse, making a detour into another store and then walking over to Costco. Yep, gone in that flash of time.

But then I dropped the paper off at mom's, checked out some stuff on her computer and decided to log into facebook and see what was going on. My News Feed was full of notes from my friends to a single friend, Scotty Jeffers. All of the postings were sharing sentiments of appreciation and sadness for his lost life. A tragedy. Gone too soon.

I was utterly confused.

I hadn't seen Scotty since high school, some twenty years ago. In the past 3 months, thanks to some reunions and reconnection, I was able to see him four times. Two of those times, I watched him from the audience doing what he loved, acting on the stage. First was Talk Radio, second was Androcles and the Lion, a show my son E saw and was fortunate enough to meet my sweet friend and furry lion friend. After quickly scanning posts and clicking on links, I learned that Scotty had, indeed, passed away yesterday.

Yep, gone in that flash of time.

Apparently after the Saturday matinee performance of Androcles and the Lion yesterday, Scotty collapsed. After being rushed to the hospital and putting up a courageous fight, he couldn't hold on any longer. A pulmonary embollism, or blood clot in the lung. Unbelievable.

Anytime someone you know dies it can be cause for reflection. Perspective setting. A realization of how fleeting life really is. I have never known or been all that close to someone my own age that died. And being just 38, I have found this so very unsettling. There are no words that can rectify or resolve this tragic loss way too soon that don't sound trite. So, I won't try. I will however share my post for the 30 Days of Thanks Project here, as this sums up what I am ultimately thankful for today (and many days, really): some form of connection.

Today, I am thankful for RECONNECTION. Recently, I had the pleasure of reconnecting with a friend from high school, Scotty Jeffers. I introduced my son to him last week as we watched him perform in Androcles and the Lion. He passed away unexpectedly yesterday. I am at a loss for words. May you rest in peace dear friend.

In the moment

It's Halloween and E was scheduled to do the trick-or-treating with his dad, while I had him in the morning. I wanted to do something festive on this holiday, so my mom and I took him out to this cute little pumpkin patch across town. Modest prices and accoutrements and a lot of great photo opportunities like this one on the hayride and a few others below.

Perfect Prose

From The Style Strategy: A Less-Is-More Approach to Staying Chic and Shopping Smart by Nina Garcia. A beautiful book from Dad and Lynn with delightful illustrations that I will soon be devouring. It also came with some stylish stationery and a wondrous wrap. My 38th year will bring with it some ooohlala!

Keepsake

This sweet bear (and another one my mom has) was made when my mom no longer wanted to wear her fur coat. While fur may not be everyone's cup of tea... But I think it's super cool that she was able to recycle it and have this precious guy made.

*This post is not to spark any debate on fur. It's just a posting for my daily photo project.

Moving at the Speed of Light (and loving it)

There's a lot of stuff going on my life. It's full to the brim and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Cute as a Cupcake

Warning: No one can eat just one of these Caramel Pumpkin Pudding Cupcakes (recipe courtesy of hungrygirl.com). Watch out Lay's...

Gassin' Up

Yep, this is all I've got for today...

Roaring Good Time!

E was a little shy and star struck to meet my friend and star of Androcles and the Lion, Scotty Jeffers, today at a local Center for the Arts. But he ultimately enjoyed the outing and mommy's connection to the talent. We also had fun exploring the Art Center complex after.

Shot of Success

E was a trooper getting the H1N1 vaccination, exclaiming, "Wow that didn't hurt. You did that better than they do at my doctor's office!"

This was amazing, too, considering we had waited in line for almost two hours!

Memory Lane

It's good to know that inflation hasn't hit all places... Taken at E's school this a.m. when I volunteered in his classroom.

Soup's On!

It's finally starting to cool off and this is my new favorite tomato soup to slurp. Yummo!