Tomorrow I am trading up.

These…

for these.

And this…..

for this.

Aloha!  I will be back in two weeks.  Refreshed and ready for the downhill slide into summer. 
xo-denise

Ever feel like this?  If only I had 8 arms and a way to clone myself.  It might be possible to get it all done.  Thursdays are my manic days.  Back to back practices with dinner shoved in between somehow.  Homework often gets pushed to after 8pm, which is super fun time for a 2nd grader to be doing math.

Last week I posted a Facebook status.

“Tuesday nights we are all home, with nowhere to go.  No games, no practices, no batting practice.  That means family dinner.  Everyone eats at the same time, together.  I treasure Tuesday nights.”

It got me to thinking.  If 30+ people took the time to hit the “like” button on my status, it must have hit a nerve.  We are all busy.  We are all SO busy.  Ever feel like there is no going back?  No way to change this hectic, fast paced life we have created for ourselves.  I dream sometimes of pulling the plug on all things extra and hunker down with my little family.  Would we be any better off?  Would my children grow up to be more well-rounded adults?  Would I lose my mind?  [I fear we would drive each other insane within the first 48 hours.]  I just don’t know.

For now, I will enjoy my Tuesdays and loathe my Thursdays.  

We all need that one person in our lives that will tell us the cold hard truth.  No matter what.  A girlfriend, sister, whomever.  Sometimes the truth is hard to hear, but consider the alternative.

Ms. Mariah Carey needed that sounding board this week in Austria.  She wore a one piece ski ensemble that did nothing to flatter her.  Where was her person?  This get up was just really unfortunate on so many levels.  I can’t imagine it was all-together that comfortable either.

So happy to see the WTC 1 towering over the skyline.  It is a true symbol of resilience.  While deep, deep wounds may not completely heal, we can rebuild.  In the midst of sorrow, despair, or heartache there is a chance to emerge from the rubble and stand tall once again.

I know.  This is not a glamor shot.  Obvious absence of Photoshop.  And real.

This photo and the website the shape of a mother tries to show the truth about giving birth to a child.  Tummies [and other parts] don’t always just snap right back into place.  We don’t often see these images, except maybe in the privacy of our own bathrooms.  It mostly likely is the norm, yet we beat ourselves up for our less than perfect ____________. [Feel free to fill in that blank!]

I am trying to live with a simple creed in mind:
Eat foods that fuel your body.  Exercise.  And except that, which you have no control over.

Be kind to yourself today.  You are simply amazing.

Last week Ashely Judd wrote an op-ed piece in response to the buzz surrounding her “puffy face”.

‘Why was a puffy face cause for such a conversation in the first place? How, and why, did people participate? If not in the conversation about me, in parallel ones about women in your sphere?”
-Ashley Judd

Truly, why do we care that Ashely Judd’s face is a little puffier than it used to be?  I love that she challenges all of us to reflect on the fact that it is seemingly o.k. to discuss a women’s body [or a change in her appearance].  Don’t we all have bigger things to worry about?

Read the entirety of her response at The Daily Beast.  I warn you…she uses really big words!
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/09/ashley-judd-slaps-media-in-the-face-for-speculation-over-her-puffy-appearance.html

While I can’t remember if I have blogged about Ms. Angelina Jolie [sorry],  I have made it known to my facebook world that I do love her.  There are two camps.  Hate her.  Love her.  And there is no where in between.  I won’t bore you with my reasoning….it is much like politics.  If you don’t share my opinion, I will respectfully agree to disagree and leave it at that.

However, I am going to blog about this………