a search for authenticity
Today I had to work with 3 mean, angry customers. Each encounter made me understand how my interactions can really affect another person’s day. Hopefully the people I interact throughout the day never feel the way these mean women made me feel today.
Spirituality & Health is a magazine that Dan stumbled upon during one of our trips to Barnes & Noble. I really like the magazine and I often check their website to read excerpts from articles. I just checked it and found 3 things of interest.
First, an excerpt from an article on creating an in-door garden. The article has info on house plants and how to get started. I’m not much of a gardener, but I do like the idea of having plants in my sacred space. Since the repairs were completed on the house we have slowing been restoring order. I hope that the next room to be restored is our 3rd bedroom, which is my space. Maybe I’ll include more plants.
The second thing of interest I found on S&H today is a forum on Workshops & Retreats. The very first posting is about a seminar, “Journeying into the Divine: Four Movements of Prayer”, to be held in Bristow, Virginia mid-March.
Also, in the same forum on Workshops I found a posting about SoulCollage. I’m fairly surprised that I haven’t heard about SoulCollage before because it seems to be right up the alley of several bloggers I know. The process of SoulCollage involves making several small collages on cards. The collages are to represent aspects of one’s soul and personality. Those who know me, know I love collages! So this immediately jumped out to me. I think this could be a lot of fun for a group of friends/family to do together. Along with our Wine & Poetry Night(s) we can have SoulCollage Saturday’s….
The weekend left me without much time for relaxing. Thankfully my schedule is a little light this week and I have some down time today.
Weekend highlights:
In the stress of life I found a lot of peace while listening to these guys. The Meditation, that’s been my peace all week.
Dan & I are on the fast track to becoming crazy cat people…..or are we already there? We now have 4 cats inside our house. Our house often feels too big for just the two of us, but now is quickly filling up with furry friends.
Today Dan had to take Pip to the vet to get her leg checked out and while in the waiting room he talked to an older man who is the proud owner of 9 cats and 1 little dog. Dan realized that will be him some day. I can see it happening. We’ve got a problem, it’s like an addiction. Our family members are starting to get concerned. I haven’t told my mom about the 4th cat because she freaked out when we got the 3rd cat. She is convinced that we are breaking some sort of law or city ordinance by having too many cats.
This day did not start well.
Over the past few days we realized that somehow our outdoor cat, Pip, was getting onto our balcony. We thought it was pretty cool and cute, as Dan found her sleeping in a flower pot up there. However, this morning when I came downstairs for breakfast I heard a little meow. After some searching, I realized it was Pip. On her way up to the balcony she got stuck on our privacy fence. I won’t go into details because it is a little gross, but poor Pip badly injured her leg. We took her to the vet where she had surgery to remove a toe. Now she is sleeping in a basket in our guest bathroom. Hopefully her recovery will go well. The major concern now is that if circulation does not improve in the foot then she may lose the lower part of her leg. Please send all your good kitty thoughts our way.
Yesterday may have been the best Valentine’s Day that Dan & I have had together. When I came home from work he had dinner ready to be served with wine, dark chocolate, and strawberries. He also gave me some beautiful roses with a Baltimore Ravens coffee mug. I am so very loved.
We spend the evening laughing with each other and watching one of our favorite shows together. It was relaxing and a perfect evening for us.
Jazz is playing while I drink beer & knit, patiently waiting for our pizza to be ready…..moments like this are what I love most about life.
Yesterday I was offered (and accepted) a new job.
I am now the Chief Operations Officer for Farrell IT!! Hopefully someday this job will pay me $$, but I accepted the job because I get to work with this really cute guy.
This was not a good week. Work drained me. Too many late nights followed by early mornings. I felt like I didn’t have anything quality to offer my staff and clients. Also, several of my co-workers seemed to be on edge this week. There has been a lot of drama at work over the past couple of months and I think it has really started to affect those involved. Or, those like me who are not directly involved, but stuck somewhere in the middle. I will be so happy when things slow down, but also happier when the drama stops….because it will stop, right?
There were a couple of great things that happened this week. First, Joe finished painting our house and it looks amazing! I can’t wait till we get things cleaned up and can start showing off Joe’s good work. Second, I got a new book that I’m very excited about. I ordered Body Prayer. I have been interested in this book since I first heard about it being released, but I just recently decided to order it and it came this week! I haven’t read any of it yet, but I hope to dive into it this weekend. I’m pretty excited about this book because I’m wanting to explore various ways of expressing spirituality and worship. I’ve enjoyed the past couple of years and my efforts to see the sacredness of creativity. Now I’d like to explore expression through my physical body. I think this exploration will be quite meaningful to me because of my job. All day I am immersed in a world where people are taking their bodies to extremes and challenging themselves physically.
I’m very happy that the weekend is here. Tonight Dan & I went out to dinner at the Hill Cafe with another couple. We were then invited to go meet some other friends for drinks, but decided to come home and rest. Tomorrow we will probably clean some before going out to a very nice dinner at The Halfway House. We may also swing down to Petersburg to check it out since neither of us has ever been.
6:00 am - Woke up
6:10 - Got out of bed, had breakfast, got ready for work
6:45-7:45 - Trained first client of the day at Fan location
8:00-8:15 - Met with one of my trainers to discuss health insurance
8:25-9:00 - Cardio workout along side one of my favorite clients
9:00- 10:40 - Management duties (i.e., paperwork) at Fan location
11:00-12:30 - HOME for lunch with DAN!! Yummy….
12:50 - Arrived at Willow Lawn for training session
12:55 - Received phone call from client canceling session
12:57 - Wished client had called earlier so I could have stayed at home
1:00-1:20 - Met with one of my trainers
1:30-2:30 - Watched lectures on developing inexperience personal trainers
2:30-3:15 - Went to Starbucks for coffee and Target for cute shirts, new khaki pants, and socks
3:30- Management shift at Willow Lawn starts (i.e., let the craziness begin)
4:00-5:30 - Started training with newest personal trainer
5:30-7:15 - “worked the floor” (kinda like how a host would “work” a party)
7:15-9:25 - Trained 2 wonderful clients
9:25 - 940 - Cleaned office and “touched base” with asst. manager
9:50 - Arrived at home, greeted cats & new book, ate yogurt, read news online, and blogged
10:30 - Dan came home from Beerble
Now time for a shower and to prepare for tomorrow.
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