2013/303 A Wish

It really was a delicious salad with good leafy greens and a light dressing that had a little kick.

It made me wish I liked tomatoes. But I don't.

2013/303 Boring Like That

What I really wanted to do was bake a cake. A vanilla cake with vanilla frosting that I could eat with vanilla ice cream because sometimes I'm boring like that.

But after I sat down, I couldn't get myself back up again. Because often, I'm boring like that.

2013/302 A Moment in Heaven

One of my favorite moments of the party was time alone on the porch listening to the boys catching up.

It felt like a moment in heaven.

2013/301 Delicious

They call it The Pie Hole...

I call it delicious.

2013/300 The Best Medicine

She suggested that I take her out to lunch instead of spending the whole day sleeping.

It was the best medicine.

2013/299 On a Good Note

Ending the day and beginning the weekend

on a good note.

2013/298 Bittersweet Heavy on the Sweet

It was a kind of bittersweet day that could have easily hovered on the bitter. But then I began to list the things for which I could be thankful.

The day ended heavy on the sweet.

2013/297 Back to Work

Back to work.

But at least it was from home today.

2013/296 That Place

Enjoying a vanilla latte, French music wafting through the air, taking me to that place of perfect contentment.

I didn't want the moment to end.

2013/295 Not Ready

After four days of being on the go, whether I wanted it or not, I needed a day of rest. I did not make good on my determination to make the most of the day nor did I exactly waste the day away. The day was spent somewhere in between, getting just enough done to keep me from berating myself. Yet not accomplishing enough to allow me to sink my head into my pillow satisfied with the fruits of my labor.

With just one more day off, reality is setting in. The high of the elongated weekend already wearing off. I wonder why I just didn't ask for the whole week off. I wonder why I didn't ask for two weeks. I am not ready for reality. I am not ready to go back to work.

Even more, I am not ready to go back to chemo.

2013/292-294 Christmas in July

The smoke from the fire brought the temperature down ten degrees lower than normal. The summer storm brought humidity making it seem ten degrees higher than the temperature. 

We were having so much fun, it didn't really matter much to me.

Spending time just watching them be a family...

was like Christmas in July.

When her plans with a friend fell though, 

we headed to LA for some photo fun.

2013/291 Keeping Up

For as much as I was looking forward to the day, I was apprehensive about my ability to keep up. Trying to squash my fears, I told myself I could always find a coffee shop and hang out while everyone else enjoyed the sights.

It turns out, I needn't have worried. From beginning to end, I was, thankfully, able to keep up.

2013/290 A Smile on My Face

It's been a while since I left work with a smile on my face and a sense of contentment in my step. Even traffic on the way home couldn't get me down.

It was a sign that I should stop at The Grinder to celebrate.

2013/289 A Thing of Beauty

If this didn't make my morning commute feel like a thing of beauty

then nothing will.

2013/288 I Was Wrong

To think I was worried that my mom wouldn't warm up to Belle.

I was wrong.

2013/286 & 287 Up and Down

A Dodger game followed by 42 shown on the diamond screen. It was a wonderful, magical day.

We arrived back home, tired and cold, but in very good spirits.

The next day, I paid for it, once again, unable to fight back the fatigue.

Even coffee couldn't save me.

2013/284 & 285 Very Happy

Someone bought a new phone. With her own money.

And that made both of us very happy.

Today was all about just getting through the day. Working on a project at work that I intensely dislike while trying to ignore the aftereffects of chemo. Somehow I managed to concentrate just enough to get through it all. Now the weekend can begin.

And that makes me very happy.

2013/283 Wacky Weather Summer Day

It was a wacky weather kinda of summer day. Rainbows on the way to work. A brief thunder shower in the afternoon. Suddenly uncommonly cool weather in the OC. A variety of clouds passing though all through the day.

Little things like that make me happy.

2013/282 I Completely Forgot

Spent the evening talking photography and doing a little shooting with Acki.

I completely forgot that I was tired the whole time.

2013/281 Waiting Patiently

I was hoping for a check in the mail. This came instead.

I can wait one more day.

2013/280 A Girl's Gotta Do

Spent the last two hours walking around Old Towne Orange, on a photo hunt while passing time until Brie gets off of work. The last thirty minutes of my walk became flat out torturous as fatigue and the heat flanked me from both sides. As much as I try to pace myself, there are times when I find myself spent without warning.

By the time I got back to my car, I don't know which was worse, the sweat pouring from my back or the huffing and puffing. I was thankful for the multitudes of benches placed strategically throughout the streets of Old Towne. I took full advantage of a number of them as I made my way slowly and painfully back to my car.


Not to given in to the failures of my stamina, I pushed myself to make one stop before I headed to a Starbucks by my daughter's work and take a picture of a sign for the photo hunt.

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

2013/279 Good Times

Celebrating mom's birthday with my brother and (most) of his family. We are so blessed by her presence in our lives.

It was good times.

2013/278 Working Girl

She works hard for her money.

But at least she loves her job.

2013/277 I Wouldn't Have Changed a Thing

It was not a typical 4th of July, but that's okay.

I wouldn't have changed a thing.

2013/276 What I Needed

After the kind of day I had...

It was the kind of evening I needed

2013/275 The Beginning of a Very Good Day

The skies were grey when I walked out the door. I wasn’t planning on the sky showing off its beauty as I made the exchange to the 55 South.

It was the beginning of a very good day.

2013/274 The Halfway Point

Someone needs to convince me that it's really July 1st. What happened to the year? It's it really halfway over or has it just have begun? I still haven't even planned my vacation or wrote that book. 2013 hasn't been the horrible year I was afraid it would be. Did I hate it because it had those two little numbers that many take for bad luck (13) or because I honestly wasn't sure if I would survive the year?

I still don't know the future, but I know today. And today was good enough. I have my job, which I like, I'm blessed with insurance, a circle of family and friends that I love, a good church. I can still walk, see and take photos to my heart's content. I'm still working on creative emergence (come already!!!) My children and loved ones are healthy and happy.

Life is good. My cup may look half-full, but it's chock full of blessings.

2013/273 The Multitude of Angels

When I was young, I wasn't sure about the part of Heaven where we would sing songs and bow down before the throne. It seemed a bit monotonous to me. But now, now, the thought excites me. Yesterday at church, I felt the multitudes of Angels joining in. I could feel the sounds of many waters.

Sometimes I long for Home. But not yet, not yet.