But also of note….

~GOOD nights of sleep

~a coffee table covered in Oprah mags

~a box full of tea options that’s bigger than my head

~getting to cruise in a car (I miss driving sometimes!)–windows down, radio pumping (even if I swear most stations around here are playing the same songs they played when I was in college!)

~meals out in familiar strip mall eateries (the NoVa burbs sure are a funny place)

~finding forgotten goodies in my closets and drawers

~decadent brekkies of Greek yogurt, blackberries, walnuts, honey (thanks to stocked cupboards and full fridge shelves)

~an excuse to be decadently lazy

~so many worries and cares feeling a million miles away (and growing smaller and smaller with some good perspective)

Happy Friday, friends!

“Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there.’”~Eckhart Tolle

Playground time with two of my fave kiddos (they’ve changed so much since November!!)

Big life changes keep on comin’-love exciting ones like this!

Followin’ the red brick road (so many memories on this wee White House park path)

The good stuff: tea time with mum:)

Cafe sits, BFFs, fam, visiting, catching up, smile cookies, Memory Lane…

The words aren’t flowing these days, so I hope the photos will do for now. How are your weeks:)?

What comprises your day-to-day existence, what’s your routine, who are the “characters” in the plot of your life, what fuels your fire? To me, this is all fascinating.

Recently I’ve been feeling very grateful with the realization that, as a freelance writer, much of my job is to do just this.

To interview. To ask. To listen. To record.

Then I get to process the information, throw in the background research, sprinkle it with anecdotes, shuffle it all around like a jigsaw puzzle– until I feel (and sincerely hope) that I’ve accurately represented someone’s multi-decade life in one succinct Word document.

It can be a challenge, but I also find this a really cool mission.

Over the past five-plus years, I’ve interviewed dozens, maybe hundreds of people. Via email, over the phone, face-to-face. (Admittedly, some go better than others…) There have been some no-names thrown in there as well as some fairly big-names. It’s always refreshing to remember, though, that in the end–people are just people. Really, we are all very much alike.

With my latest project, I’ve been conducting an especially high number of interviews. To name a few, I’ve chatted with a world-renown artist, a foreign ambassador and a woman whose autobiographical book chronicles the journey of caring for her husband (of 40 years) who became a quadruple amputee after a tragic run-in with a Vietnam landmine. Their stories are interesting, humbling, inspiring.

Today I came upon this article  that gives some really good tips on interviewing. Thought you might enjoy too!

Happy weekend, friends. Hope it’s a great one as your life story continues to unfold.

Just in case you (whoever you might be) do too…:)

Try this.

Right now, I’m digging this one: “Act without expectation.”~Lao Tzu

I needed that.

(Ooh, and the recipe for happiness/coffee one.)

The gravelly French chanteuse crooning overhead is perfectly suiting my mood on this soggy Thursday. At the very least, I am grateful to not be the fluorescent t-shirted worker out there slogging through this drab day.

Back to my assignment. Thanks for the wee breather.