Get Your Nails Did.

 

 

After a few weeks of travel, a manicure was much needed. I went to my normal hole in the wall spot where the prices are low, the service is incredible and my girl repeats everything about three times for me to thoroughly understand.  Walking in I noticed a cute old lady in a wheel chair. She was getting her nails done (or did, your choice). We sat across from each other and I was enamored by her cuteness. She was wearing floral everything and she looked like an overzealous Mary Kay consultant had got the best of her, but her smile and sweet spirit melted me to pieces.

 

After about an hour of me getting the works, Little Miss Cutie's main squeeze walked in. He looked like the grandpa version of the kids in the movie Newsies. Grandpa was patient and kind and seemed so entranced by his pink lipstick adorned sweetie pie.

 

I got in my car and watched as he carefully and sweetly wheel chaired his beautiful bride out of the shop.  She was showing him her nail color and he was nodding in approval. I'm being totally transparent, my heart prayed for a love like that.

 

Here recently I've been home (well kind of). I've had my mom "home" as well and she's spoiled me rotten. I wake up to hot tea by my bedside, laundry folded, delicious home cooked meals, decorating assistance, and dog sitting. She makes me feel like a celeb. The story that's gotten my mom back to Virginia is long and filled with much loss so I won't elaborate BUT I will have a quick sesh.

 

My mom has spent the last four years taking care of her sister. The kind of taking care of a sibling that my mind can't comprehend and my stomach probably wouldn't be able to stand.  Sorry Daniel but helping you bathe and use the john when your old may not be cut out for me and my easy stomach. My mom took care of her sister because she has enormous love and compassion.  

 

We all love in different ways. We show our love in different ways. Some people suck at showing their love, some people could use a little love boot camp, and some people have the love of Mother Teresa.

 

All I know is that very few people would be like Sheesh love me less or buy me less flowers or spend less time with me on the phone or man he just does a great job of listening, it's annoying or it sucks that she's so dependable or damn those random acts of kindness out of the blue are awful.

 

We all know that the world (particularly our family, friends and coworkers) would love more love from us. The (obvious) thing is that the more love we give, the more we receive.

 

 

 

 

 

Song of the Day:

Fink - Looking Too Closely

 

 

MILDLY OBSESSED:

My friend Kate Gnida introduced me to my newest obsession. It's Younique's 3D Fiber Lashes.

Since I've always been a fan of fake lashes but suck at applying them, this is honestly the best way to go. Forget the glue, lashes hanging on for dear life or uneven applications. Also, these bad boys just wash off. Here are a few pictures of Kate's friends....

I'll post some selfies soon to show you it's the real deal.

 

She's Got Legs(acy)

(Fuboo on Pinterest)

I'm on this kick where I ask people what they want their legacy to be in less than four words.

The feedback was thought-provoking, interesting and hilarious. One friend shared that she wanted to be known as "loving, free spirit, unstoppable and inspiring". another friend said "passion over everything", one friend said "a really big deal" and one nut that is an amazing friend said "a bad mother f****er". I'd like my legacy to be fearless, kind, adventurous and unique.

I'd like to think most would leave out words like mediocre, boring, jealous, rude, impatient, fearful, forgettable and unforgiving.

Is it crazy to think about how you want to be remembered? Nah. I think it's necessary to question yourself to make sure that you are on track and living with purpose...on purpose. It's easy to get caught up in the grind and put your legacy on hold. You know the things that you really want to do like be a mentor, world traveler, a more active parent, having family dinners, being creative, a coach, a great husband, fashion designer, song writer, take dance classes or be a business owner. Then there's the way that you want to be remembered, maybe it's adventurous, funny, healthy, joyful, accomplished, fantastic, honest, or passionate.

Like I said, I'm on this kick of asking people and I'd love to hear how you'd like to be described in under four words.

Daily Challenge:

Think about how you want to be remembered and make time to be the person that you desire to be.



Oregon Trail.

 

There I was on the last week of my tour at a random gas station off a dusty exit in Utah, when an old guy with high white socks and Velcro shoes started talking to me. He was adorable, he was like something out of a movie. I took a look at his vehicle, it was an old pickup truck with a camper and a massive University of Oregon 'O' bumper sticker. We started chatting about college football. When I told him that I was just at the University of Oregon for the game, he perked up and said "you've got to meet my wife, she's a HUGE Oregon fan", no sooner did his wife come out of the gas station rockin' a  fanny pack, 1970's permed hair and Sally Jesse Raphael glasses. SHE looked like some character out of a movie.



We talked a little more about college football until I asked why they were in Utah. His exact words were "we are heading home from our once in a lifetime trip." They explained that they took off for a month and drove from Oregon to Niagara Falls and came back a different route. They curiously asked me a bunch of questions about my travel, I had to bite my tongue....several times. I didn't want to sound like I was bragging and I definitely didn't want to equalize their once in a lifetime trip by my yearly work trips.



They pulled away in their old pickup truck and I sat at the gas station for a few moments thinking about how my experiences were their dreams come true. I realized how blessed I was. It reminded me of the quote below:

 

Daily Challenge:

Take a moment and write down the ten things that you are most thankful for today.

 

Song of the Day:

 

 

The Goblins in Life.

 

I'm a slow learner so I apologize for this late(er on in life) epiphany, but here it goes. The treasures of life are masked and hidden under our fears, you know, the goblins of life.

 

I was terrified to walk away from an incredible job stacked with awesome benefits and even better people to go back on the road. I thought what are people going to think about my risk; I thought am I going to be happy with my decision. I thought very early on in the beginning, what the hell am I doing? I thought what am I going to do after this tour? But open roads (8,418 miles to be almost exact), random people, gorgeous sunrises, diverse terrain, overplayed playlists and random adventures I found peace, I made memories and I gained a new purpose.

 

Back to the goblins, besides the tour itself I faced two scary things:

1. Bikram Yoga

2. Tandem Bike Riding

 

Prior to the tour, my goal was to do yoga in every college town. While I fell short on that goal, I did experience Bikram yoga, you know hot yoga. My ass thought it would be a fantastic idea to rise up at 5:00am and PAY to be in a room with 15 other nut cases adorned in lycra to do almost impossible poses in a 107 degree room. Was it challenging? Pfffffttt! Did I sweat my ass off? (Eyes rolling) Did I feel a sense of epic accomplishment? Sure did. Did my body feel amazing? For days it did.

 

Tandem bike riding. Riding a bike sounds easy enough, right? I forgot to mention that I'm terrified of riding bikes. While training for a triathlon, I flipped off a road bike and fell down a gravel hill. The fall was so severe that it ripped my shirt in half, got gravel in my skin, and I still have scars on my legs, stomach and arms from the accident. So when Linnea had the bright idea to tandem bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge I was speechless. In her defense, she had no clue of my prior accident AND she was just trying to maximize my San Fran experience. After a really rough start, the kind of start where the bike shop guy says "Are you sure you guys want to do this?" we made our 5 mile hilly way to the Golden Gate Bridge. There's a lot of details I'm skipping, but just know this, that bike ride was the highlight of my ENTIRE tour. I haven't laughed so hard, had others laugh at us so hard, felt adventurous, felt nervous and felt so good all in one.

 

All in all, my point is that taking a risk and doing something that scares you is probably the thing that will make you feel most alive, most accomplished and most driven. Don't concentrate on what could go wrong, focus on the reward of things going right.

 

 

 

Daily Challenge:

There's something that terrifies you...that's exactly what you need to seek after. Is it going back to school? Applying for a new job? Asking for a raise? Starting your own business? Telling someone your new idea? Joining a group? Planning an event? Writing a book? Telling someone how they made you feel? Do that thing.

 

Song of the Day:

 HOZIER - FROM EDEN

 

 

The Road Less Traveled

It's only fitting that words like miles and travel are somehow incorporated into this Daily Good Start. I've had the opportunity to go from Rutgers University to the University of Alabama then over to the University of Georgia then Georgia Tech. After Georgia Tech I sweated my face off in Phoenix at the University of Arizona, BUT had the opportunity to lay out poolside in October which is prit-ty epic. After the University of Arizona, I drove twelve hours to San Francisco and am about to head north to Eugene, Oregon. After my last event at the University of Oregon, I still have to travel to Dallas then Milwaukee and then finally home.

The above paragraph has no purpose, I'm just showing off.

Now to the good stuff.

Go the extra mile in life, it is truly the road less traveled.

I had a tight deadline to drive from Atlanta to Phoenix, it got even tighter when the tour truck broke down in NOWHERESVILLE, Texas. You know Nowheresville Texas, it's on Route 20 about 70 miles from civilization.

I knew that I'd be passing right through Lordsburg, NM. It's a small dusty town where my grandma lives and my parents are from. Knowing that I'd be passing through, a few days prior I had picked up an extra copy of my brother's book to give to my grandma. I had visualized how it would all go down and how awesome it would be to surprise her with a visit. As the road signs started announcing that I was getting closer to Lordsburg, I had thoughts of just bypassing. I was SERIOUSLY short on time, but about 20 miles out an inner voice said go for it. I did. Mind you, I only spent 20 minutes with my grandma and uncle, but the hugs, conversation and homemade breakfast burrito were totally worth it.

Then there was the quick overnight stay in El Paso. Once again, short on time and energy, I decided to alert my almost brother Brett that I'd be in his neck of the woods. He was on text standby for about six hours. I got into town, we shared one (ok maybe two) drinks, a few stories, and a serious laugh  out loud moment. Right after that (due to social media), I saw that my friend Christian was in El Paso touring for Blue Man Group. A quick text prefacing my window of meet up opportunity and he was there. Once again, we were limited on time, but the quick hello and catching up was perfect.

Word traveled quick that I would be at the University of Arizona, the mecca of my extended family. My phone started blowing up by cousins, aunts and uncles to meet up. Mind you, I'm there for work. Serious work, like everything going smoothly weighs all on me work. Anxiety took over. I wanted to see everyone, but I knew my window would be small. What did my incredible family do? They battled their way through drunk tailgaters to see me for about 30 minutes. Big hugs were flowing all around. It was perfect. It was brief, but it was perfect.

I'll be the first to say that I've lived a life of non-yolo-ing (mom, yolo means You Only Live Once). I've done the "I'm exhausted, I have no time, my truck broke down, my schedule doesn't permit, I'm slammed, blah blah blah" which has all been true but (in almost all instances) those crazy detours of going the extra mile compounds to miles of happiness.

Seeing my grandma light up when I handed her Daniel's book was priceless. I know in that moment my dad was smiling down on me going "that's my girl".

The moment the Rodriguez/Sema clan showed up with bells and whistles to say hello was priceless.

That time that I saw Brett sing karaoke and get hit on by a drunk 40-something gay dude that managed an Applebee's. Priceless.

The extra mile could mean an out of the blue text message, picking up a souvenir, bringing home dinner, paying for a flight out to visit, tickets to a concert, bringing over soup for a sick friend, or a quick phone call to say hello on your lunch break....it could be a hundred other things....but you know once you've gone the extra mile because a smile will go from ear to ear and a memory will be forever embedded.

 

 

Daily Challenge:

I'm not going to spell this one out. Go the extra mile today, I guarantee that it will lead to miles of happiness.

 

Song of the Day:

Tomorrows Bad Seed - Nice and Slow

http://youtu.be/zWlfvNPpzMY

 

 



Lock and Key

 

 

I've got 99 problems and one of my biggest ones is giving the key to my peace, happiness and sound mind to others. I allow actions, words, behavior and the lack of action, words and behavior to unlock. open and dwell in my heart and mind.

I'm positive that I'm not the only one that allows friends, family, co-workers, love interest, customer service representatives and drivers to vacuum out the joy and take full residence. I'm positive that I'm not the only one to dwell on things too long and give my power away.

I'll wake up, feeling blessed and happy and then quickly take a detour when someone's action doesn't follow my expectations. Instead of quickly dismissing and moving on with life, I'll replay the conversation or action over and over AND over again wasting my brain matter on nonsense.

It's something I struggle with big time. It's something I'm working on big time. I want to be "so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind" and to be "too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble."

Sometimes the remedy is easy like a great song or other mood changer, sometimes the remedy requires a deep prayerful reflection or removing yourself from a situation, and sometimes the only answer is time.

 

Challenge of the Day:

To be strong so that nothing will disturb your peace and steal your joy.

Song of the Day:

Sia - Chandelier

 

 

Heavy Lifting

 

There I was at the gym minding my own business, contently rowing 30 pounds on the back machine when Alaya (aka my old trainer) yelled out to Kris (aka my other old trainer) in disgust
 about the amount of weight I was slinging around. Alaya happily added 40 more pounds and Kris chimed in "if you don't challenge yourself, you don't change yourself" repeatedly. Like I said, he repeated it over and over while I struggled with 70 pounds.

The whole scenario made me think about my gym dedication. Have I been dedicated? Yes. Have I seen results? Slowly. Do I want to change? Yes.

Kris's pep talk replayed in my head the rest of the workout and since then has been on repeat for all following workouts. The statement has even spilled over and been applied to other areas of my life. Is work challenging me? Are my relationships challenging me? Are my goals challenging? Am I pushing myself? Am I the best me?

 

Daily Challenge:

Find the area(s) in your life that need to be challenged.

 

Song of the Day:

Serena Ryder - Stompa

https://soundcloud.com/nog/serena-ryder-stompa-nog-remix

Innie vs Outie.

It's Day 2 of my meditation series through Oprah and Deepak and I'm telling you this stuff is good! Apparently I needed an extra dose of it yesterday, because I listened to the first message 4xs to help me through the day. What point really hit home is that external influences shouldn't affect our internal state of mind. Our peace and happiness shouldn't be based on a dollar figure, a relationship, a promotion, an address, clothing label, a trip, or anything else external.

It made me think about a conversation I had back in the day, someone was telling me that if they won the lottery that they would donate the entire check to charity. Since I knew this person far too well, I had no filter, said that I strongly doubted that and continued to back up my blurt. My argument went something like this "Do you think Oprah just woke up one day and decided to be charitable? I don't think so, I think she's always been a giver." This person (being one of the most uptight people with their money that I know), in my opinion, wasn't going to just magically change gears and be a giver after three decades of being Scrooge McDuck.

This made me think about my friend Teresa, man is she a giver. Every time I go over to her house I leave like a looter; there is not a selfish bone in her body and that's one of her many beauties.

Back to meditation. If we look for external circumstances to bring us joy, peace and happiness, we are always going to be looking for external circumstances to bring us joy, peace and happiness.

Daily Challenge:

Stop putting the key to peace, joy and happiness in the hands of things or people. Take a fierce look at yourself and your blessings. Boom.

Song of the Day:
THIS SONG. This song right here gets me hyped! I hope it changes your Tuesday.
Diplo - Revolution