Moments D730: Two Year Anniversary

Wow.  I'm SERIOUSLY behind in getting this post up and out to the world.  The last time I made time to add to the bottom of this milestone post, I was only a month off of when it was supposed to be posted.  Now, now it's nearly 5 months late.

April 23 marked two years of writing my blog.  If you believe me, I did actually start this post on April 23.  Shameful. I know. From posting nearly every day for two years to silence for 150 days.

How on earth does that happen?  I know it's my fault for not making the time, but I always thought I'd find/make the time "next" weekend, and....well, here we are.

First and foremost - I apologize.  I've had a few readers reach out and ask where I've been.  The long and short of it is that life has been busy and this entry was/is an important one for me.....I wanted to make sure that it was brilliant.

Why?  Well, it's a milestone.  This entry marks two years of writing my blog and I wanted to give it the respect and depth it deserved.  The pause started with the fact that I really wanted to take the time to reflect on this moment. As I began to dig deeply into it, I realized I wanted to dig a little deeper yet and share that depth, after all, that very much reflects the point of this blog.

As I gathered my thoughts to share, I was slammed with life. My final exam from the winter semester. My fiance moving to Canada. My spring condensed class (aka 14 weeks of class in 7) started, finished and then began my summer condensed class. Add in some immigration shuffling, and a few ghosts into the mix and voila, I found myself buried with life. (It happens!)

Excuses, excuses. I know. I am sorry and frankly I have missed my self-reflection moments (almost as much as I've missed my morning workouts!). My moments to pause and reflect were like a breath of fresh air at the end of the day, even on the busiest of days. From that perspective, you can imagine how busy I've been. No real time to stop, pause and breathe.

Now, not only will my anniversary, milestone post not be brilliant, the delay of 5 months likely means not many will read it.  Ah well, lesson learned.

Today, that changes. Today I finish up this post. Today I make a new promise to myself (and my readers I suppose, if any remain!), that I will continue with my blog, albeit not on a daily basis. As fall settles in (and I work away at my 35th class!), I find myself with much remaining on our plate for the coming months as EQ & I settle into our new life together. I hope, that we’ll find calm as fall turns into winter. (Hey, a girl can dream, right?) The point: I promise to not take another five months to post again!

My goal is to post at least once a week. When time allows, I’ll post more often (I do miss writing!), but realistically, I think once a week should be manageable.

Back to point.

THIS blog post is about a milestone anniversary. Two years of posts. Of course, I can't help but reflect at a milestone such as this, afterall, I didn’t know if I had it in me to keep dedicated to the goal I had set out for myself. The internalized goal: commit to write a blog-a-day for a year.  That's all it was to be.  A one year experiment.

My first blog dedicated to moments was inspired by my BFF sharing the "Book of Awesome" with me. It's funny how things get started sometimes! At first it was easy, but as my life shifted and evolved, it wasn’t always so. And then II hit my one year anniversary and I had a choice to make. Continue on, or stop.

Obviously, I chose the former.

So now to reflect upon this second major milestone in my blog adventure. The first question to pops to mind on such a milestone is: "What's the point to of all of this anyway?" This is quickly followed by has any of my words shared been helpful? To me? To others? Does any of it really matter?

I suppose, even upon reflecting and writing, I don't really have answers. It's all so very subjective. What do know, is that I've learned a few things during this experience. And some things I already knew have been reinforced by my sharing of words here in this blog.

I recently posted a summary of three things I am grateful for in my life on Facebook. Interestingly, I did this without really considering the blog posts I've shared over the past two years. You’ll see shortly the connection, but first, please indulge me to share my post from Facebook.

Three things I am grateful for today:

1) My family & friends: I know most people would separate out their friends from family, but my friends have become my family. (And ya'll KNOW who you are.) With every year that passes I am ever more grateful for my family. I had an incredible childhood surrounded by love, respect and support. From my parents to my extended family. That value is immeasurable to me. The friends that I now surround myself with, have become my extended (and sometimes not so extended!) family. I know, without a blink, that they have my back. They surround me in love, respect and support. I am ever grateful for that.

2) My health: In the past decade there has been many health issues around me from my friends and close family members. There may be days I complain about the extra 10lbs I should shed, the stress I am carrying, (or the rash that's cropped up because of the stress) or even the ache in my knee....but it's all so diminutive and pitiful in the bigger scale of things. I have been fortunate with my health. I can (and still do) play a mean game of volleyball, even after 24 years in the sport. I can be as active as I like. For this, I am grateful.

3) My soon-to-be husband: Once upon a time, I was lost in a life that I shouldn't have been living. For the most part, it was comfortable, but it wasn't fulfilling. I wasn't me. I wasn't who I needed to be. I wasn't able to grow and evolve and explore the world in a way that would inspire me to ever greater things. And then, I chose to leave that security behind in the hopes that I could find that inspiration.

And that, I did. (In truth, he actually found me! Thank goodness for his patience!) EQ has been an incredible inspiration to my soul. No longer am I lost. I am now on a path of growth having been inspired by this incredible man to explore the world from a new perspective. I look forward to the many adventures we have yet to have. To have found this love, I am grateful.

This connection inspired me to dig into the statistics of my blog.  You know me, I'm a numbers gal.  I was curious to see how it all shook out, so I ran a couple of reports on my blog posts. Here’s a summary of tags from those posts. How incredible to see that my top four tags are about family, friends, EQ and love.

I was going to do a top 10 list, but then my favourite number is 12....so I went with it.  It's a top 12 list.  Here's how it shook out:

374 Friends

163 EQ

146 Family

99 Love

80 Health & Sports

74 Dig Deeper

64 Co-Workers

62 Dinner/Food

49 Music/Singing/Concerts

44 Surprise

34 Laughter

26 Silly/Silliness

All in all, the blog sharing inspiring moments in my life filtered out to be about the amazing people around me.  I think it's something that I've instinctively known for a long time - that people are the most  important facet of my life, but now, NOW, I have empirical evidence.  After two years of blogging about the positive moments in my life, it's  my sweet love for EQ, for my amazing friends, my incredible family, and my ever fun and supportive co-workers & teammates.  People.

So what have I learned in two years of blogging?  Appreciate the smallest of bright moments, even on the darkest of days.  And I've learned, or rather confirmed, that "my peeps" are the most important thing in my life.  (This has been a standard answer in my arsenal when asked "What is life all about?"

Bottom line....share a smile wherever you can because we're all people looking for a brighter moment in the day.  Share your words of love, respect and appreciation for the people you love, that respect and appreciate.  Share the words more often than you may be comfortable with for two reasons (1) you never know when you might not get another chance and (2) we can never hear enough (or too much) how much we are loved, respected and appreciated.  These are words of inspiration even on the darkest of days.

Much love and light you you, my readers.....my friends, my family and my dear EQ.

Moments D696: Brioche & Jamaican Blue

Yesterday I brought in some of the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee for the office.  What a treat it was for everyone as we savoured the famous smooth, deep, rich coffee from blue mountains of Jamaica.

Today, to celebrate further, on of our team members lives quite close to Bonjour Briaoche and he was inspired to bring in enough chocolate brioche for everyone in the department to enjoy alongside their cup morning cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.

Wow.  What a luxurious treat and what a great way to start the day!

Moments with a great cup of java.

Moments shared with your entire department.

Moments D695: New Dialects

This morning I brought in some Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee for our department to enjoy.  It's what I do.  I like to share!

And as we prepped the machine to brew the liquid gold, I said "IRIE" with a giggle.  That set us into a discussion of what IRIE meant. In my limited understanding, that meant "alright" in a "Jamaican dialect".   Little did I know that one on our team was well versed in the dialect of Iyaric.

And so, as we waited for the coffee to brew, a group of us started to chat about Jamaica and the depth of the dialect of Iyaric.

On the very tip of the iceberg, Iyaric is Rastafarian created dialect that replaces "me" with "I" in their common Jamaican English.    Instead of focusing on "me", which is seen as self-centered and objectifying, they choose to focus on "I" emphasizing the individual and, at the same time, the concept of oneness.  (As in God is within all men.)  "Me" being inward viewing and "I" being outward viewing.

Interesting.  Deep.  I had no idea.  I love learning and today, by chance, I learned something new about a word that I picked up on a trip to a different country.  I learned this new information, not while travelling in Jamaica, but while back at home in Canada.  What a strange and wonderful world we live in!

Moments sharing a new fun word:  "IRIE".

Moments digging deeper and understanding the philosophical history meaning of the word and the dialect it comes from.

Moments D683: Saying I love you

Today has been a rough day.  It was filled with heavy hearts all around as news broke late in the morning.  Devastating news.  A young, filled with life, well loved coworker had succumbed to injuries from an apartment fire the night before.

There was shock.  Disbelief.  And, of course, great sadness and many, many tears.

But the moment that shone through all this was one where I watched my fellow coworkers comfort one another.  Shared stories and photos of the deceased fluttered throughout the store - it was heartwarming in a time of grief.

The best moment, however, was when I watched two long-term employees embrace one another.  Within a couple of seconds, one backed up and looked at the other and said, "I love you, you know."  The look on the recipient's face was of surprise, likely taken aback by the sharing of such special words.  She quickly pulled him in for a tighter hug and returned the same special sentiment right back.

It was a beautiful moment shining through the deepest darkness.

Moments grieving a life lost.
Moments inspired by that life to celebrate love amoung friends and coworkers.

Moments D649: February Parties

Holy smokes.  It's February.  Already.  Where the heck does the time go?

Tonight was my 13th work appreciation party.  Thirteen years.  Incredible.

Seriously.  Where does the time go?

It is always a treat to see your fellow co-workers all dressed up for the occasion.  So many smiling faces.  So much joy and laughter.  It's always a pleasure to spend an evening with my co-workers.

Every year there are new faces, new stories to share and a few traditions.  One of my favourite traditions are the selfies that a co-worker and I always do.  But my favourite tradition:  dancing until my feet hurt in those darn pretty shoes.  Oh how I love to dance!  This year was no exception.  The usual suspects were on the dance floor and we danced the night away.

The best part was the moment I realized that I had the perfect date.  That's a new tradition that I look forward to enjoying for the rest of my life.

I've never had a perfect date before.  EQ was the perfect gentleman.  He not only did all the gentlemanly things (you know, like opening doors and such), he was also perfect in the sense that he not only enjoyed time with me, he enjoyed time with my co-workers.  It felt like he actually wanted to be there.  EQ didn't need me to be with him the entire time, he was confident and comfortable meeting my co-workers and making conversation with them.  He was as comfortable dancing with me as he was sitting with my co-workers, talking and watching me dance up a storm with my friends.  What a treat it was to find him across the dance floor, share a smile and then go into another dancing frenzy!

So much fun.  It was so darn easy.

I like easy.  It's a new thing for me.  I could get used to this!

Moments enjoying a loud and noisy celebration with your co-workers.

Moments enjoying quiet reflection of my perfect date.

And, just because, here's a picture of our dessert.  YUM!

Moments D631: The Hard Sell

Today, in the office we opened the last of the holiday treats.  There was a box of calendars for 2014 and a couple of boxes of holiday treats.  Panettone, Baci chocolates, another box of chocolates and yet another of Italian candies.

Just when we thought all the bad food influences of the season were behind us.

Not so much.  Today's moment comes from the fact that Chica is now in full steam ahead mode to get herself in shape for her upcoming nuptials in June.  She's not really dieting per se, but she is being very careful about what she's eating these days.

Enter the Baci chocolates, stage left.  Enter Chica stage right.

Oh, the look on her face was priceless.  It was obvious that she wanted one.  It was more obvious that she wasn't going to have one.

Enter our Art Director stage left.  Within seconds, he leaped at the opportunity to tease Chica and before anyone realized, he was in a full on hard sell of the Baci chocolates sitting in front of Chica.  What a hilarious moment, watching her squirm and him finding ever more delightful adjectives about the chocolate or why she shouldn't pass up on this "last" opportunity to enjoy the chocolate.

In the end, he won.  I think the fact that the Baci's have inspirational messages inside won Chica over.  That said, she didn't go quietly!  With a big huff and puff, she snagged a single Baci from it's nest and stomped out of our office and into hers.   So much for saying "I love you the Italian way!"

We all had a good chuckle at the theatrics.  That's a good moment!

Moments having too much fun in the office.

Moments enjoying the banter between co-workers.

Moments D630: Welcome Home

Today was the first day back in the office in some time.  What a treat it was to be working side by side with my team.  Working remotely, while effective and allowing me to get more done, was certainly lonely and without much entertainment throughout the day.

My moment today comes from this:

Who doesn't like to be welcomed home?

Moments feeling missed.

Moments knowing you were.

Moments D618: Expectations, opportunity and thanks

This morning I woke early, on my typical daily schedule.  I was wide awake at 4:45 am PST (7:45 am EST)  - a normal rising time for me.  That's not supposed to happen on New Year's Day.  Isn't everyone supposed to sleep in and enjoy a lazy morning in bed instead?  Apparently that wasn't meant to be for me.

I also didn't want to wake EQ as he had to work today.  He wasn't due to rise for a couple of hours, so I decided to inhale the quiet of the morning and start the New Year with the sunrise on my own.

Just after 6am, I ventured out into the brisk quiet morning.  My plan, go for a walk, watch the sunrise and spend some time in with the sun before heading back home.  I brought the novel I was reading with me ("The Sister's Brothers - I recommend!) to help pass the time.

The briskness surprised me and I was happy to have bundled up before I left.  The first thing I noticed when I started on my morning adventure was that the howling coyotes in the distance.  What an eerie, beautiful song they sang.

As started my walk the sky slowly started it's shift in colour.  Most interesting was to listen to the still morning as the coyotes quieted and the roosters took over singing as the sky began to brighten.  A changing of the guard if you will.

I didn't expect to start my day with the sun breaking the horizon.  I didn't certainly didn't expect to start my year walking alone in the briskness of dawn.    What I realized in those early moments of my walk, was that sometimes expectations cause inflexibility or kill one's creativity.  In the worst scenarios, expectations can also cause you to miss a new opportunity thrown at you unexpectedly.

As I continued my walk, I pondered this conundrum.  Life is filled with expectations.  We all have them.  Expectations of family, of friends, of other people in our circles (or just outside our circle), with our jobs and our co-workers, and how we as individuals present ourselves to the world.

I walked swiftly to keep warm and toiled with this concept, rolling it around in my mind.  One really cannot live without expectations, after all that's like living without goal.  So the key then, in my opinion, was to find a way to keep balance with expectations so that they don't cause inflexibility.  Brilliant.  Not mind blowing, considering balance is the key to a lot of things.  The bigger point is to find the trick is to sort out how to keep that balance.

Talk about deep thoughts so early in the day, this the first of 2014.  I couldn't help but think back to a year ago today where I had also found myself waking to expectations that had been blown of the water.  I remember feeling crushed and uncertain of the path ahead of me.  And yet as that first day of 2013 progressed, I felt more confident in my path forward, challenging as it was.

I quickly found myself overwhelmed with ghosts.  So much has transpired since that moment.  And today is the start of another year and I could feel that I was yet again at a crossroad of expectations.  My mind heavy with thought, I paused to enjoy the calm of two horses playing with one another.

I needed that pause.  In that moment, the warmth of the sun began to break through the chill of the morning. With that moment came the realization just how much I had learned in a year.  My personal growth has deepened and I owe much, if not all of that growth, to the people I have surrounded myself with.    And that was my moment today.  Feeling grateful.  Being excited by the future and what I will be sharing with them moving forward.

So, if you'll bear with me, I'm going to take some time to thank them.  Yes, today's blog is a novel.  For those to expecting a solution to my original thought - you can stop reading here.  I never did figure out a solution to keep the balance between expectations and being flexible.  I guess I have something to chew on for days to come!  What can I say, I was completely distracted by the amazing circle I have around me and I took rest of my time alone, at the beginning of the year, to pause and appreciate them.

In the end, it's been a hell of a day, and a hell of a start to 2014 and I want, nay I need to share a little love and thank my friends for the opportunities they've given me to grow this past year.

Arizona.  What a strong, beautiful woman you are. Our friendship is relatively new, but it is a deep friendship.  You have offered me many new perspectives in the ever changing world I find myself in.  Thank you for sharing with me.

Archie & Comic Guy.  My besties. A couple that has been in my life for a very long time.  First I love them as individuals for they have unique perspectives that I love from each of them.  Second, I love them as a couple.  I truly don't know where I'd be without the two of you.  Thank you for always picking me up when I falter, for kicking my ass (not so gently) and for helping me navigate some tricky waters in the past year.

BFF.  Through thick and thin we've been.  Tears, music, anger, joy, milestones and then some.  What an incredible colourful journey it's been my dear friend.  Thank you for recognizing the value of our friendship, for fighting daemons (of your own and mine) to keep our friendship strong.  I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from mistakes made in 2013 for I know it means our friendship will grow ever deeper and more meaningful.

Bunny & Bear. Long time friends.  I've worked with, schooled with, and spent many interesting evenings with Bear.  When he married Bunny, it was a most special day to watch them unit.  They are an incredible couple with two amazing young lads.  Thank you both for sharing your individual brightness with me as well as that of your beautiful family.  I know, without a doubt that you always have my back.

Cherry.  A work colleague come friend.  Thank you for commiserating with me as we processed through similar life milestones this past year. I look forward to a continued friendship with your and your new beau.

Chica.  A fellow co-worker that I adore.  You are proof that even someone old like me can learn from a young thing like you.  (Not that I'm ageist at all!) Thank of for your endless positive energy and for reminding me that life is too short.  I love your perspective on life and appreciate that positive, self-respecting version of the world around you.  I will continue to try and incorporate more of that into my world.

Co-workers.  Thank you for making every work day easier to get out of bed for.  You are an amazing hard working, inspiringly creative crew.  I'm thankful every day.

Hawk.   Thank you for for the biggest learning opportunity of all this past year.  We have shared and lost much together over this past year.  My hope is that you find deep happiness in the years to come.

Heini. A friend with nearly 2 decades of history.  Over the years we have battled many daemons together.  What I have always loved was that you offer your insightful opinions without judgement.  You have always listened, understood, respected and supported me even when the path chosen was one you didn't agree with.  The truest, deepest mark of a best friend.  Thank you for loving me and supporting me through many of life's trials.  I have learned a lot from our friendship.

MooCow.  A new friend, adopted from EQ's circle. An amazing huge heart, ready to help out at a moments notice.  Such a wonderful energy to be a part of.  Thank you for accepting me into your world.

Mr. B.  A co-worker that I call friend.  He's nearly my father's age, but I don't see him as a father figure.  I see him for his brilliance and experience.  A true mentor and friend to me (even if he does get me in trouble sometimes!).  Thank you for all the insights you share with me.  I am a sponge to your words.

My Family:  One big thank you to envelope each of you with a hug filled with love. There are many entries in my daily blog that speak to just how important you are to me.  I am so very fortunate to have such an amazing family. 

My team mates. Baseball, volleyball, boot camp and tough mudders.  Thank you all for keeping me moving, growing and learning as an athlete.  It feels great knowing that even being nearly 40 I still have some moves to share back.

SILIS & Sunshine-Unicorns&Rainbows.  A couple from EQ's circle who have graciously accepted me into their world.  They have brought many a smile to me over this past year.  Thank you for welcoming me in your home just last night for an amazing meal and to celebrate the turn of the year.  I'm sure we'll see many more celebrations in the years to come.

To all of my new sky diving friends:  What an incredible bunch you are!  So diverse, so welcoming, so filled with life.  Thank you for sharing a sliver of your world with me.

Tree & Baldr.  New friends also from EQ's circle.  New friends that, at once, I felt at home with.   Thank you for the acceptance and love you have shared with me already.  Like long lost souls that have finally had an opportunity to reunite.  I'm excited about the possibilities in the years to come for our blooming friendship.

To everyone else in my world that I haven't specifically called out, thank you for crossing my path and for sharing a piece of you with me.  Each moment shared is an opportunity for me to learn and grow.

And last, but certainly not least, my dear sweet love - EQ.  Never has someone been allowed so deep into my being.  Thank you for turning your twinkling eyes my way.  How you ever found me I will never know, but I am grateful every day that you did.  You make it easy (okay, easier!) to share the deepest parts of me.  Thank you for your patience, for your love and for building a strong foundation for our future together.

And there you have it.  My little novella that will bore most.  For me, it's a perfect way to start 2014, with reflection of the past and the excitement of the future ahead of me.

Moments where one's mind goes in many directions, only to circle back to that which is most important.

Moments enjoying the promise of a new day, and the opportunity to dig ever deeper thanks to those in your life.

Moments D592: Holiday warm fuzzies

Today was an intense day with much to accomplish before the weekend arrived. My moment today surprised me, as many do.

It came from an early Christmas card from Mr. B. His words are always filled with depth, even if there are only few to be had. His holiday wishes were warm and heartfelt and I beamed when I read them. Yes, definitely the best moment of my busy day.

Moments to take pause in a hectic day to appreciate another's words. 

Moments when my heart fills with light and loving energy because I paused. Beautiful.

Moments D591: Old friends, new energy

Today's moment comes from an unexpected blast from my past. As I was walking into the office this morning, I was stopped on the stairs by a fellow co-worker. But before I share today's moment, I need to share some of the strange background history.

This lovely woman once, many years ago, dated my then best friend. The three of us were nearly inseparable for about a year before life's shifting self had other ideas.  (As is does sometimes.) What was the catalyst?Well, eventually my best friend and co-worker split. It became awkward very quickly for me as I found myself in the middle of a very difficult and highly emotional breakup; I ended up drifting away from them both.

Fast forward ten or so years later and much has happened in all our lives. Marriages, divorces, separations and an MS diagnosis. Just this past Tuesday I had coffee with my old friend. I haven't seen her in about 3-4 years and the last time was also just a quick lunch outing as well. It's been many more years since we've been close. Our coffee break catch up was great. She's doing well even though she's had a challenging year.

Back to today's moment and being stopped in the staircase. My co-worker paused me to share with me her early morning thoughts, as she woke. In her words, she shared that she and I might have remained and possibly become closer friends had she never dated my old best friend. She paused and further explained that she wished that she hadn't gone so deep into that relationship and neglected her other friendships.

I reassured her that I never felt neglected and that life shifts and changes just cause drifting sometimes. She didn't seem to buy it though. She pressed the issue of our lost friendship. All I could do was offer her a hug and another assurance that her actions alone didn't cause us to drift.

About an hour later she shared these words with me via email:

After having a recent friend breakup, her words touched me deeply. Sometimes life just takes two people into separate directions, it doesn't make with one of them bad people. Sometimes the fit changes. Sometimes needs do. Sometimes physical locations do. Whatever the changes, it takes two to make it work and sometimes that energy is lost on other priorities.

Today's moment: appreciating and recognizing that life changes happen. It doesn't need to be seen as a negative thing.

Moments reflecting on what could have been.

Moments recognizing that we choose our path in life conscious or not. I prefer to be conscious.

Moments D587: Card Writing

Today was a lazy day catching up on one, of many, of my to do lists.  A lazy day that turned out to be quite productive!

I spent a good portion of my day writing out cards.  Christmas cards, cards to remind those I love that I love them, and just notes that I have need to send out to finalize things from my past.

It was a great lazy productive day and a great moment of sharing my words.

Moments taking it easy.

Moments sharing loving words.

Moments D522: I won't need pants!

Yes.  Those were the words that came out of my mouth.  In the middle of my office, with all ears listening.

What a funny moment that ensued.  There were deep belly laughs and tears all around.

But let me back up and set the scene.

Recall, that my department and I are currently sharing a smaller office space due to a fire earlier this year.  On some levels it's brought us closer as a team even if we have lost some of our privacy and possibly productivity due to distractions.  The point, at 9:15 am, we're all in the office, not quite deep into work and everyone is paying attention to the chatter.

As Mr. B passed through with his tea, he commented on just how beautiful the morning was.  He's right.  It was a beautiful fall morning.  Sunny and about 15 degrees Celsius.   If tomorrow is like this it would be perfect to run the Tough Mudder.

I agreed with him out loud.  And then I added, very enthusiastically, "If tomorrow is going to be like this, I got this!  I won't need pants either!"  The office paused, quieted and then burst into deep belly laughter about the thought of me running my race without any pants on.

A little stunned, I quickly added, "...shorts.  Of course I'll have shorts on instead!"  Of course by then it was too late.  We were all lost to the laughter.

To me it made perfect sense.  We had been talking earlier this week about pants v.s. shorts for the race.  But, that's not what they heard this morning.   Perhaps I needed to finish my coffee before engaging in conversation!

Just a reminder of how much fun my team is.

Moments streaming words without thinking too deeply.

Moments being centre stage as the source of good deep belly laughter.

Moments D512: Missed at the Office

Today's moment celebrates my "home coming" to the office.  It warms my heart to have been welcomed so warmly.  Chatter from the sales floor.  A quick hug from Mr. B and Arizona.  A high five from the new guy.  It feels great to be missed.    It felt even better to share my travel stories with my colleagues throughout the day.

Now if only my job duties didn't miss me so much!  Ah, the pile!

Moments enjoying the glow.

Moments sharing stories.

Moments D478: Enveloped in Love

Today was a challenging day, after all, returning from vacation is never easy with a pile on your desk to greet you.  Today was no different even though it was only 2 days out of the office - much had transpired while I was away.

Without going into the specifics, suffice it to say that it was a lot.  A lot to process, a lot to understand and a lot to dig more deeply into.  I'll get through it, I always do, but that doesn't mean that I didn't feel beaten up today because of it.

But you know what happened?  My beautiful support group swooped in to help carry the burden and allow me the ability to vent, to process, to see other perspectives.  Arizona gave me much needed hugs, Mr. Ray of Light has promised to help out with the logistics and research that is needed, BFF sent much love & light to help push me through the day and remind me that I will get through it all, my parents offered up an interesting perspective (or two) as did my sweet EQ.

So much love and support in a blink of a day.  I am very fortunate to have the support system I have.  It made today that much more bearable.  Everything will be okay.  I believe.

Moments processing unexpected information.

Moments leaning into the support of your loved ones and finding peace.

Moments D450: Marry Me

Today there was a lot of talk about weddings, for a fellow team member is about to take the plunge with the love of his life this coming Saturday.  He's a flutter with energy.  He's eager to ensure that everything is well laid out for us before he leaves on his vacation.  It's all very adorable to participate in.

Today I learned how he asked his fiance to marry him.  The funniest part, he swore at her while proposing.  She was too impatient to wait for the words and she said yes before he asked.   Frustrated, excited and surely overflowing with adrenaline and love, he said, "F#ck, let me say the words, I need to say the words."  My oh my, how times have changed.  We all laughed and soaked in the story.

And then, I shared with them this video proposal.  I've watched it a few of times now.  Each and every time, I've cried.  This is not just tearing up.  This is full on emotional  release.  It's so touching.  So thoughtful.  And you can see how much the recipient of the proposal is taking it.  It is, simply, beautiful.

And it happened yet again.  My creative director and I were blubbery fools after watching it this beautiful proposal.

My moment today, appreciating the depth of love a complete stranger has for his partner.

It was also the moment I appreciated the love of a fellow team member for his soon-to-be-wife.

p.s.  We also watched this proposal.  Amusing?  You decide.

Moments D437: Smokey vs Smoky

Today we had a discussion in our department upon the spelling of smokey.  (my preferred!)

Was it "smokey" or was it "smoky"?

We had a mini-spelling bee that included one of the executive team members from another department.  In the end, our senior copywriter seemed to be on his own with the spelling of "smoky", whereas the majority was  more comfortable with the spelling as "smokey".  Go figure.

And so, I had to look it up online and figure out how it was that our authority on copy was disagreeing with the majority.  And I found this website on the English Forums.

The major point from this site:  "use smoky if you don't want to be old-fashioned".

We all had a good giggle. We were all the old-fashioned users of the word and our executive team member said outloud, "sure, you are hip and cool with the ky".  And then she realized what she said.  The room exploded in laughter.

You can't script that kind of humour.  My face and belly hurt from laughing too hard.

Moments trying to better understand the English language.

Moments of explosive laughter.

Moments D421: New friends and synergies

Today was day one of our annual trade show. It was, quite simply, an amazing day. The day started after a night of little sleep, but that did not affect the day at all, if anything, it gave the day a little extra energy powered by the excitement and the caffeine.

The most interesting moment of the day was dinner this evening. It was an evening where I was able to sit and enjoy both new friends, deepening friendships from past shows and old friends. Over the course of my meal, I found myself sandwiched between two particularly interesting souls. One relatively new to my personal world, and another that I’ve had a deepening relationship with for a couple of years. This particular evening, I was like the net between two playing tennis. While it was challenging to eat my dinner due to the intensity of their conversation, it was amazing to watch (and feel) the energy pass back and forth between these two amazingly creative souls. I watched, in a front row seat, as the synergies built. It was the birth of a new friendship.

What an energy to be a part of.

Moments making new, deepening friendship.

Moments watching the creative forces swirl around me.

Moments D420: Signs, everywhere signs

Today was setup day for our annual trade show. It is always a bit nerve wracking, but being our fourth year of pulling this show together, we had experience on our side. The tweaks made over last year’s show made setup this year come together more smoothly than ever. And, to top it off, this year’s team was the best rounded yet and the required work came together quickly and easily.

Yet, as always, there were a few bumps and bruises along the way. (Of course, right?) Today’s moment is about averting a challenging situation for a vendor. It wasn’t easy, it took some hoop jumping (okay, quite a bit), but it was accomplished none-the-less. The levels of appreciation, the feeling of accomplishment, the deepening of a business relationship…that’s what it’s all about right?

Moments working hard and feeling a sense of accomplishment.

Moments where the simple act of a sign, makes another’s day.