Kansas City is booming with energy after that Super Bowl LIV win! Mike is such a quiet guy on a daily basis, but when it comes to sports his personality does a 180. He is like a kid right now and it’s kinda cute. I think I’m just as excited for him as I am for the players on the team!
The city is lit up in RED! So proud of our team.
I made a few simple things for Super Bowl Sunday and the only thing I ate that I wished that I hadn’t was my fingernails. I know. Gross. That was an INTENSE 4th quarter!!
The last couple of weeks have been full of accomplishments and surprises. I’ve had several task that I approached with intent based on my word for the year, CREATE. I’ve kept that word in the front of my mind each day of the new year.
I’m spending time creating memories with family, creating drawings in my cozy office where I’ve created a work and play space, creating strength and confidence as I challenge myself in the yoga studio and I’ve spent time creating plans for my travel trailer, Effie.
In November I picked up one of our granddaughters for her birthday and we spent time together just the two of us. I knew it meant a lot to her so I decided I would do that with each of the grandkids moving forward. Last week I had the pleasure of spending some birthday time with Amiyah. She just turned 10 and I can hardly believe it! This is likely one of the sweetest souls I’ve had the pleasure of loving. Kind, appreciative, sincere and funny. We hit up the I-Hop, Target then saw Frozen II. Such a great day just the two of us.
Yoga
The last Yoga class I went to I was really pleased in noticing the strength that I am building. I was able to do crow pose and hold my feet off of the ground for a longer period of time than I ever have. She has this crow pose perfected below on the left. My toes were barely off of the ground but I am loving this picture for inspiration! My side plank feels strong!
The instructor gave us a challenge I hadn’t experienced in a yoga studio for the last pose of the class. She asked us to put our backs up against the wall, then lean forward into downward dog.
Then she asked us to put one leg at a time up against the wall. If that felt like a challenge in itself, then stay put and focus on holding that pose. Want more of a challenge? Walk your arms closer to the wall and walk your feet up the wall into a full handstand.
Me? I put one foot up on the wall and thought long and hard about putting the other foot up there. I was worried I simply wasn’t strong enough to hold up my body and I feared falling on my face, or worse, my head and breaking my neck. Like, real fears. I decided to just go for it. I did it! I was really surprised. I did not go into a full hand stand, but I had both feet up on the wall and was able to support myself. It felt great! I didn’t look as great as the photo above on the right, but I sure felt great!
I went to bed feeling pretty amazing that night then woke up at 2:00 am with a stabbing pain in my left side. My abs and core need a lot of work post DIEP flap surgery over two years ago and I have not put much effort into that. Now that I am, I am feeling it in my body. I was worried I had pulled/strained a muscle?
After two days of pain, I called the doctor. After an office visit and a CT scan, turns out I have diverticulitis.
Diverticulitis
Pouches can form in your intestines as the intestinal wall weakens. These pouches are called diverticula. The pouches generally aren’t harmful. They can show up anywhere in your intestines. If you have them, it’s called diverticulosis. When these pouches become inflamed or infected, that is diverticulitis.
I had heard the word diverticulitis but really had no idea what it meant. After doing a lot of reading over the last week on how to avoid or prevent it, seems as though I was already doing all of those things. I’m irritated with my body right now but finally starting to feel better after 10 days on two strong antibiotics. Needless to say, my food routine is completely out of whack because what to eat and not eat to prevent diverticulitis is the complete opposite of what to eat and not eat while you have it. Go figure.
Preventive diet for Diverticulitis? High Fiber diet, lots of fruits and veggies.
Diet during Diverticulitis? Low fiber diet, white rice, white bread, jello, canned well cooked veggies. Also recommended are fish, poultry, potatoes with no skin, applesauce and yogurt so that’s basically what I have been eating, but I threw in white bread too as eating only the other foods was feeling pretty boring.
I had my follow up appointment and it seems as though I’m good now. Now I wait several weeks and schedule my first colonoscopy. Yay?
Good Vibes
In December I went to a Vision Board party and absolutely loved it. Just days later I received an invitation from an old high school friend to her Vision Board Party. I don’t think we have seen each other in over 20 years. Her name is Ronda and I am so happy that she reached out and that we have reconnected.
When Ronda reached out to me via Facebook a few weeks ago, she shared with me that my name had come up when one friend was talking about her WW Coach, and another friend was sharing a blog that she has been reading since her breast cancer diagnosis. Ronda realized at some point that her two friends were talking about me. She invited me to this amazing evening and asked me if I would speak. I said “sure” without really thinking about it much. I guess I thought she was asking several women to speak and share their story. I don’t think my story is special, it just is what it is. I feel like it is special in that I am willing to share my struggles with food and weight with no filter, and I now share my breast cancer story on my blog in hopes of comforting other women faced with some of the same decisions that I was faced with. It has always been my hope that through my blog I would be able to encourage others and now inform others as well. Selfishly, blogging for me is great therapy.
The Vision Board party was Friday night. I’m not sure I have all of the words to describe that evening. I walked into a room of 24 women, barely knowing anyone and left with 24 new friends. I did see another high school friend there that I had lost contact with and two women there were WW members of mine, but I had never met any of the other women. The night truly exceeded its expectations.
This is my board. I focused on my word for the year, CREATE. Now it’s on my office wall.
After we created our vision boards she brought us all together in the living room and we sat in a big circle. She asked me to share my story and I did. She was very gracious and introduced me as the Guest Speaker, and it was a humbling moment because there were so many women there with amazing things they have acomplished and amazing plans for their future. I didn’t feel like I should be Guest Speaking about anything really. It did make me feel great however to meet the cancer survivor that I have had the pleasure of communicating with via the blog recently. I had no idea that it was her I had been communicating with when we met Friday night. It was so nice to be able to give her a big hug. It was also really nice to discover that one of my WW members rejoined because she had been following me on Instagram and in sharing my own journey, she said that I inspired her to sign up! Those women made me feel so good about simply sharing my experiences.
Ronda went around the room and had each women share their word for the year and then expand on that a little. We were there after midnight. It was so wonderful to hear everyone have the opportunity to speak. I felt like we were all watching each other grow in that very moment. It’s hard to put into words I suppose, but it was a powerful evening and I am so happy that I was invited to be a part of it.
We also came home with some very thoughtful gifts!
This is my new breastie Karen. Send some prayers her way because she’s been down a long road and has a ways to go! And just look at that smile on her face.
Effie
On Saturday I hooked up Effie and my dad rode with me about 200 miles west to the beautiful little town of Abilene, Kansas. I met a man this summer at one of the Vintage Trailer Rally’s that enjoys working on Vintage Trailers in his spare time. He lives in Abilene. At the rally this summer I met several people that owned trailers that he had worked on so I had all sorts of great references and I was able to see the work that he had done. I ask for his number and I knew that after the first of the year I would reach out and see if he would be interested in fixing a few things on Effie. I planned on delivering her to him on the first sunny weekend we had with no snow fall. As hard as I tried to live without A/C in my trailer last summer, those upper 90’s were awful! I kept repeating….”I’m fine. I’m fine.” as sweat was rolling down my face and I was clearly, not fine. I have a few things I’d like to do myself to the trailer this year and the A/C unit installation seemed like a little bigger job than I wanted to tackle. I had a few small things on the list too that I thought might be easier for him to do while he had it in a building and he texted me before I even got home from his house that the smaller things were complete!
He was such a nice guy too. He invited us into his house where we met all four of his kids and his wife. He and his wife invited us to sit down at the kitchen table as they shared pictures with us of all of the trailers he had worked on. Their house was just off Main Street and over 100 years old. It was super cute and had so much character and charm. It was an unexpected fun addition to our day to be in their home and leave knowing Effie would be well cared for. You could tell he was extremely passionate about working on Vintage Trailers and had a passion for antiques and all things vintage.
I’m so excited to get her home so I can give her a fresh coat of paint. He’s giving me a few tips on just how to do that.
I’m looking forward to my upcoming camping adventures.
For now, she waits in his building to get an A/C. See you soon Effie!
My dad loves a project and he is always coming up with something creative.
He’s building me a mini Effie! It’s going to be SO stinkin cute!!
I decided to get my new sketch book out and see if I could do a sketch of Effie.
That fills up the month of January. It’s been a good month!
How is your 2020 going so far? Are you working on any goals? I’d love to hear what you are doing!
“love the life you live, live the life you love”
Yes. So much power in sharing! Excited to see what you have to say.
You are so right about sharing in our workshops! On Saturday, our leader/coach shared about an extremely rough week she’d had (waaaaay too much cancer in her family – long story) and found herself buying then eating gross packaged chocolate donuts from the vending machine at work. And by her transparency, others shared their own struggles. It’s why the meetings are so important! We learn from each other because we’ve all been there! I’ll hop over to email you about my books …
Ronda, the party was so fun and it really meant a lot to me to be included with such a great group of women. Now I’m going to have to Google and see if I can find a song called Abilene. 😆 Or about Abilene. You always make me laugh. Have a great week! Hugs!
Oh my gosh Ronda. I’m having so much fun with this silly trailer. I would love to show her to you in person! When I get her back I’ll host a coffee on a Saturday morning. I keep her over at my dads house so it would be fun to have some friends over for coffee.
Hi Lucy. I hope your arm is feeling much better. Do not feel guilty, but feel encouraged. I like the way that sounds better. Don’t you?😉 and remember to give yourself a break if you are hurting. You don’t wanna have an injury. Have a great day and thanks for The encouragement that you give me to continue Blogging.
Thank you Diane. It does excite me to hear people say they are inspired when I am truly just sharing my day-to-day life. I tell my members that every at every workshop. I encourage them to share because they never really know that one little thing they share might inspire or encourage the member sitting next to them. I would love to hear all about your bedroom! Isn’t it fun to have a new space to enjoy? I love that you Skyped with the book club in London! How fun that must have been for you!!❤️ I think I saw that on your Instagram page. I need to go back and look at that. I was recently looking at all of your books trying to pick one. Do you have a favorite? I’m sure that’s a hard question to answer as the author. 😆 I read about each book and a o many of the stories sound wonderful. If you don’t have a favorite I’ll pick one and recommend it to my book club friends. Hope you’re having a great day!
Thank you Nancy! It’s been a crazy few days here in Kansas City celebrating. So happy for our team. Yes, the air conditioning was needed. Ha ha. Looking forward to summer trips! I hope you are doing well.
What a beautiful story you shared about your vision party and your new “breastie”! Also loved hearing about the warm Midwest welcome you received from the restoror into his beautiful home, But now you have me singing the song “Abilene, Abilene, the prettiest little town I’ve ever seen“. Don’t know who’s sings it, but I know I’m definitely aging myself! And now that I think about it, it might not be “town I’ve seen” but “girl I’ve seen”. But I like my version, Ha! Have a beautiful day!
I would love to see Effie some time. What an amazing addition to your life in order to create wonderful adventures and memories.
Love reading your post-Julie. You do so much in a month, it makes me feel guilty. Like you, I started Yoga early this month then my arm started hurting and truth be told I gave up. Your post reminded me to get back into it. Thanks for the guilt-nudge.
Enjoyed your newsy post! So fun to see what you’ve been up to of late, but really sorry to hear about the diverticulitis. Sounds awfully painful. Hope you’re feeling much better by now. Your posts always encourage me in so many ways, Julie, but most of all, they inspire me to just get out there and make the most of the life I’ve been given. And that’s always a good thing! I’m about 90% done giving my bedroom a makeover – and absolutely loving it! And last week I stepped out of my comfort zone and Skyped with a book club in London who’d read one of my books. And had a blast with them! So thank you, thank you, thank you for reminding us to “love the life you live, live the life you love!” Have a great day and a fabulous weekend, my friend!
Congrats on your team winning!
Maybe the Bengals could use a vision board??
So glad you are getting air conditioning for Effie–you will enjoy it so much more.