Happy Memorial Day!

I'm off spending this day with my family. I hope you are, too!

Please take a moment and remember the many lives that have been sacrificed to allow us the freedoms we so dearly love. Also, the men and women who did not give their lives, come back from war forever changed. This in turn changes the families they love.

In loving memory of my dad, a VFW (WWII and the Korean War).

The Day That Got Away!

Have you ever had one of those days that just got away from you? Today was that day for me.

In hindsight, I was struggling to try to figure out how to best use my evening and Saturday morning while Dave and Mason were away, and I ended up never getting it worked out!

Sometimes too many options are as bad as not enough options. As of the writing of this post, I think I'm going to bed early and planning to sleep late tomorrow. That basically means I'm planning to get nothing done! I'm sure I'll come around and make something happen, but for now, rest and rejuvenation on all that's getting checked off my list!

What Is Your Intention For This Day?

Do you ever think like that? Do you actually intend for your day to be something specific? I do.

It's like your "to do" list only it's specifically about the energy of your day. I'm a list person. I might think it's because I'm getting older and my memory is not as sharp as it used to be, but I've always been a list maker. If I put it on my list, it likely gets done in a timely fashion. I can go about the tasks in my day not having to worry about forgetting anything. As I finish one, I go cross it off my list and start the next task.

I do this as I start each day in terms of, "what are my intentions for today?" I can review my list from yesterday and see what needs to happen, and I take a peek at my calendar and see where I need to be, and from there, I have a pretty good feel of what my intentions are for this special day.

Today I have a long list of things I need to do. I've already finished several of them.

My intention for today is to serve enough people with what I know that will help them, and in turn, see that energy flow back to me in terms of freelance writing work and Virtual Assistant projects.

In essence, you could say I'm listening to the wonderful Zig Ziglar, "You can have anything you want as long as you help enough other people get what they want." I love it.

Now, how can I help you?

The Surprise Day Was Wonderful

Dave took the day off and we had a spontaneous day of fun.

We started off with breakfast at Awful Annie's in Old Town Auburn where we had breakfast outdoors on the veranda. After a delicious meal, we put the top down on the Miata and headed over the summit to Boomtown where we had a few dollars to play poker. We played for an hour or so with the seniors who clearly play everyday, they all knew each other, and the dealers, too!

From there, we headed back home stopping at a beautiful spot along the Truckee river. The water is raging and the scenery was gorgeous! We kissed and played on the rocks like new lovers, and took pictures to remind us that we an still have fun like we did as a brand new couple.

After our stop at the river, we stopped in at Fox Barrel Brewery and tasted cider, yum! We planned a nice barbecue for later, but before we picked Mason up, we made our final stop at Carpe Vino back in Old Town Auburn, for a lovely glass of zinfandel.

What a great day. The best part is that Dave acts on his intention to keep our marriage full of love and life. Friday was the epitome of Intentional Winning in Marriage!

Pictures From My Day With Dave

Breakfast on the veranda at Awful Annies

Arrived at Boomtown to play poker with the seniors

The two of us at the river

My hunky hubby!

The rushing Truckee river at Rainbow Lodge

Carpe Vino in Old Town Auburn

A Surprise!

After all the doom and gloom this week, Dave has a surprise for me. All I know is I'm to clear my calendar and dress for the top down. On the car! I'll let you know on Monday what the day had in store! Happy Friday!

How Good Are You, Really?

Mason used to love bull riding and bull riders. From the time he was just about two until he was almost five, he has was obsessed pretending to ride bulls, watching Cowboy U over and over, dressing like a cowboy and roping the dog. It would only make sense that when he heard the advertisement for the Professional Bull Riders event coming to Sacramento he would want to go.

Of course we want to take our kids to see and do the things they love, but 2007 brought with it a strict financial plan that did not include a day at the arena watching bull riders. Our local country radio station has a promotion every weekend and appropriately guess what? Tickets to the PBR event, and an entry into a drawing for use of the KNCI box with a party for the winner and 15 of their friends.

I had not won on the radio in quite some time so when I felt that familiar excitement I knew I was going to win those tickets.

The first opportunity to call came and the sound we were listening for was not very easy to hear. This was good news because I think this increased my odds. You see, I have “Supersonic Radio Contest Hearing.” When the sounder played, I called and got a ring right out of the gate, no pun intended. "Caller number 1." Redial, busy, redial, busy, redial, busy, redial, ring! It’s ringing! “Caller 5” the DJ quickly answered and hung up. Oh good, I’m in I think as I hung up and redialed again. I dialed and redialed numerous more times and then the phone rang. “Caller 19” I hear. Not this time I thought as I waited to call again.

I tried to call the next time and I was callers 1, 12, 18 and 23! I needed to be caller 25. At this point I was unsure how many more opportunities I was going to have, so I called the radio station to ask how late they would playing. To y surprize, the DJ answered the phone saying “Hello, you win!” “Win? Win what?” I replied. It was a movie promotion prize pack and I immediately told him I did not want to win that, I wanted to win the bull riding tickets. He was a little taken aback but told me he would have more bull riding tickets in the next 10 minutes.

10 minutes later it was time to call and this time I had to answer a trivia question about Minnie Pearl’s hat. I was the first caller and I answered correctly and won. Mason did a very cute “Yee Haw Cowboy!” on the phone and we discussed that I just conceded the win a few minutes ago. I assured him I intended to be the winner of the grand prize on Monday and he informed me that this was a little sidebar contest, an extra pair of tickets that were not included in the weekend contest and thus did not qualify me for the grand prize. I told him I had to be in the drawing for the grand prize and I needed to pull out of this one, too. He was shocked. He asksed me if he could still play Mason on the radio since he was so cute and of course I said yes. He wished me luck and we hung up.

By now my husband was sitting on the couch in the living room in utter disbelief. He had heard me concede two prizes and had to come downstairs to see what is going on. While we were sitting together discussing all of this, it was time to call again. He started dialing on his cell phone and I was calling from our home phone. The phone was ringing and I won, I was caller number 25. This not only won me two tickets but I was now qualified to be in the drawing to win the grand prize. The DJ was blown away, he said “You really won. You are really caller 25” I know I told him. I let him know that I have an uncanny ability to win when I put my mind to it. “No kidding!” he said.

I won the tickets to take my family to the PBR event the following weekend but despite my best intentioned efforts, I did not win the grand prize for 15 of my friends to join us. No matter, I was elated and Mason got to see the bulls and riders. I love the power of intention and the ability to pull forth the things we desire for the people we love.