Sisterhood Blog Award

Hurray! Angie Bailey of Eclectic Catladyland chose to present me with the Sisterhood Award, seen in all its glory above. Angie and I connected on Facebook some time ago and she has fallen into that new and odd category we all have in our lives since the introduction of online social networking of "someone I've never met who I consider a friend." C'mon. How can I NOT like someone who loves cats and whose Facebook pic is often of a cat wearing an orange wig? (Click on her name in this paragraph and you'll be taken to her Blogger profile which has the cat pic.) Plus, she's got the greatest smile ever.

Now it's my turn to pass on the award. I've chosen to name for the Sisterhood Award the blogs of several close friends of mine. (Note to all: You want me in a position of power as I reward friends and family. I think I would do very well in politics, thank you.)

To my male blogger friends - sorry this go round. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a brotherhood award to pass on to you.

Visit my friends sites below and say hi and tell them I sent you!

Laine Cunningham: My writer friend Laine spent 6 months camping in the Australian Outback--BY HERSELF-- to do research for her first book, Message Stick, now available. Aside from the Sisterhood Award, Laine also wins my "bad ass friend" award for this "You couldn't pay me enough to do that" life-changing event.

Southern Fried Woman: My dear friend Pamela King Cable writes with the beauty and depth of any of your favorite Southern Writers. She also cooks a mean orange french toast. Grace, beauty, and wit all tied up with a bundle of Southern lovin.'

Marisa Pirih : My beloved trainer! Marisa has completed several Ironmen and is on a mission to show all women how powerful they can be—physically, mentally, emotionally. If you can get past the fact that Marisa is beautiful AND one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, you’ll enjoy her blog!

Amy and Tamara are members of my running group. Their job is to keep us laughing. From Amy I learned the phrase “dreadmill” (for treadmill) and Tamara has a “quit your whining or I’ll hurt you (with love)" attitude. I adore them both.

Melody Watson: My day wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Melody’s blog as I never know what I’ll find. Could be musings about shadows and light, could be technical info on how to improve a website, or could be pictures of her beloved nephew, Mr. Pie.

On the Run: This is the blog of the North Carolina marathon, written by my friend Lisa Watts. Informative, funny, and lots of heart.

Danielle Hatfield: Graphic Designer and PR person for artists, I met Danielle through Twitter. Who says social networking doesn’t work?

Mariela Perez Simons: Internet Marketing and Web Design blog written by my favorite Cuban friend. =)

I hope you enjoy all these blogs--I know I do! 

What's Your One Thing?

Spring fever has hit and I have the urge to clean... not just the house, but clean the body, mind, and spirit. Start over! Begin anew! Climb those mountains with a can-do attitude and become the self-actualized person I was put on this planet to be!

Okay... coffee just wore off. I'm back now. 

But I am in the mood for a little "get things done" attitude. Blair and I were going over a wish-list for the money-pit (aka, "the house") and we decided we want to build a deck and screened-in porch on the back of the house. For those new to this blog, a little heads up that we've been talking about building a deck and screened in porch on the back of the house for almost 8 years now. Something in the process seems stalled, yes?

So we decided to apply the "What's the One Thing That Must Be Done" strategy to our work and home lives. The "One Thing" method is where at the beginning of each day you ask yourself what is the ONE thing I must accomplish today? If it's something that takes 8 hours and you must ignore everything else, so be it. If it's something that takes 20 minutes and you do it and blow off the rest of your day, good enough. You got your ONE IMPORTANT THING done for the day. Blair and I just started using this in our work days and I must say, I'm finding it effective. Definitely brings into focus where my concentration and effort needs to be.

So in relation to the porch/deck, we asked ourselves, what one thing do we need to do today to move this project forward? The answer is measuring. We need to go outside and figure out how big/small we want these additions to be.  So tonight we will walk outside with a tape measure and check our ONE THING off the list.

As for today's goal, I need to spend 3 hours novel writing. I have a two-page list of tasks that need addressed, but for me to feel good about my day, I need to do this creative writing. 

How about you? What's your ONE THING for the day?

Starting Over

I drove into work with Blair this morning. “So this is what this ‘work’ thing is like,” I said as I climbed into the passenger seat of the car. “Hmm. I’d forgotten.”

I’m meeting a friend in Winston for a writing session this morning and Blair and I have plans in Greensboro tonight, so it seemed a waste of time and gas to have both of us drive to Winston, both of us drive back to Madison at different times, and then drive into Greensboro together. Instead, I dropped Blair off at work and am tooling around Winston all day. Except ideally there will be no tooling. There will be novel writing and lots of it.

I’ve gotten off track, yet again. The thing with creative writing is that it needs to be done on a regular basis. Even going 2 days without working on the novel throws me out of the “zone,” and I have to spend time reorienting myself to the time and feel of the story. This week I’ve had some client work and lots of work for the agencies with which I volunteer and have let the novel writing take a backseat.

Bad writer! I know better. But I kept thinking, “I’ll have all day Friday to devote to it.” But writing is like exercise, best done even in small daily doses versus trying to shove a week full of missed workouts into a one-hour power session at the gym. Doesn’t work and leaves you feeling frustrated and exhausted.

So in a few minutes I’ll drive over to Borders and plant myself there for what I hope will be a solid 5-6 hours of writing time. Then a quick jaunt to Goodwill. I’m on the hunt for clothes for our trip to Egypt. I need long-sleeved cotton and linen blouses. I’m pretty sure I will never again wear most of the clothes I’m required to pack on this trip, so cheap is good.

I hope everyone has a marvelous Friday! Oh, and if you need a smile, this 2-minute video of a true-story reunion between a lion and the people who raised him will be sure to bring one to your face.

Personal Trainer: Session #2

Last night was the second session with Ben Roberts, my trainer. We focused on shoulders, core, and a little cardio. It was not quite as torturous as last week. I can tell this because I still have the full use of all my limbs this morning. Last week I did the training on top of my 20-mile Uwharrie Mountain Trail Run and putting one foot in front of the other Wed-Friday required focus and concentration. Lowering myself to the toilet was an act of sheer willpower only accomplished by the leverage offered by the towel rack. 

But today I feel good. A little stiff, but not bad. I did learn one thing, however, No eating or drinking 2-3 hours before a workout. I had some hot tea (oh okay, and a cookie) about an hour and half before our session yesterday and YECH. I was fighting the urge to throw up for half the session. 

I like how Ben mixes up the training. We didn't do any of the same exercises yesterday that we did last week. It's also fun to watch him explain the exercises we'll be doing. "I can do that," I'm thinking as he's demonstrating a strap or pulley. "That doesn't look too hard." Then, of course, it's like OH. MY. GOD. A humbling experience, this working out thing. 

But the training is paying off. I did a run this morning and at the end thought, "Oh, it wouldn't kill me to do some sit-ups." Pounded out some of those along with some push-ups and planks. 

That May 2nd marathon is just around the corner. Time to start getting a little more serious about it.

Dena