Simply put

“Never over-estimate your power to change others, because you can’t. Never under-estimate your power to change yourself, because you can.” ~Wayne Dyer

A dance a day

Recently, life has felt a bit heavy and full of too many reminders of just how fragile our existence here can be.

Today is about celebrating the wonderful things and people in life (my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary!!!). Happy anniversary, mom and dad! Today, we gratefully celebrate you🙂

“We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.”
~Friedrich Nietsche

Pitcher envy

Yin-yang

I don’t get life this week. Well, often, really. So much beautiful, breathtaking, good news mixed in with that which is sad and heart-renching and just beyond understanding. It’s such a balance. Sometimes the information rushes in at waterfall speed. Timing can feel surreal and uncanny, and it’s just a lot to process.

What choice do we have but to ride it all out and do our best to focus on the love that surrounds?

How are your weeks going, friends? Here’s hoping you are enjoying an influx of news that’s good.

“Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities.”~Dalai Lama

Have I mentioned I love working from coffee shops?

Here’s a gem I stumbled upon last week (sun-speckled-Parisian-cafe-meets-downtown-Seattle). Today I’m testing out a new spot where animated yoga teachers chat to my left, Whitney belts out those unmistakable high notes overhead, and refreshing breezes sneak in through wide-open sliding windows.

Some days I feel light years from that Eye Street NW box where I spent 5 years of my life.

“Do whatever work feeds your true self, even if it’s not a safe bet, even if it’s like a crazy risk, even if everyone in your life tells you you’re wrong or bad or crazy.”~Martha Beck

Water, the sequel

“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.”~Isak Dinesen

“Everything flows and nothing abides, everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.” ~Heraclitus

Celebrating happenin’ hoods and happy birthdays

Things I enjoy about my new ‘hood so far:

~At certain times of the day, the neighborhood air hangs heavy with the aroma of baking brownies (it’s really the Theo Chocolate Factory just around the bend).

~It’s full of kooky characters, many of whom give the place a friendly (if zany) “peanut gallery”-type feel. (Today, near home, I received several compliments on my sundress, one from a man wearing a tie-dye tee who was blowing bubbles out the open window of his fancy-schmancy car that had a license plate that read “LEGGS”…you couldn’t script some of this stuff.)

~Sometimes I’m forced to pause and stretch mid-run until the boat passes through, the drawbridge goes back down, and the mad rush of drivers, joggers and cyclists get the signal to carry on.

~I’m starting to know some of the locals, like the 7-11 owner and his family, who make pleasant small talk every time I pop in (I can finally access my DC bank account on a regular basis, wahoo!)

~The sidewalks and trails seem to be full of Mr. Moms pushing their wee ones in strollers at all hours of the day.

~An outdoor cinema, a dog pub, an open-air music venue, a (savory) pie shop, so much Thai.

~New sights (mountains! hills on all sides!), smells, tastes, sounds, perspective.

**Today I wish my amazing mom, who is just simply the best (there’s really no other way to put it), a wonderful, wonderful birthday (and, more importantly, a happy return to her own bed after an evil tick sent her to a very scary, sick place and a very uncomfortable hospital room for several nights:(). I am beyond grateful she’s on the mend. Friends, especially those of you on the east coast, watch out for those nasty ticks, and give your family members a huge hug today if you’re lucky enough to be near!**

Stubborn hope

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up….”~Anne Lamott

(*In Edinburgh, I had Blackford Hill. Here, I have Gasworks Park. I love that green space with its spectacular water/city views, and I love the sight of a silhouette-dotted mound with kites soaring high above. Some of these places might lose their allure with time, but for now, the appeal keeps drawing me back. And I’m game to visit as often as I get the itch.)

Brick by brick

***“Change is not a bolt of lightning that arrives with a zap. It is a bridge built brick by brick, every day, with sweat and humility and slips. It is hard work, and slow work, but it can be thrilling to watch it take shape.”~Sarah Hepola***

Wish for your week