Windmill Musings

I have been asked multiple times by friends and family to start writing a blog about my wine tasting trips. So today, after going to bed early and getting a good amount of uninterrupted sleep, and not having Bible study this morning, I'm motivated to finally write the first post. And it is a doozy!  Back story on Napa: to be honest, it isn't my favorite place to wine taste and that is based on the fact that I'm about 50/50 there - about half the wineries I visit each time I like both the wine and the experience. The other half? Well, either one or both criteria suffer in my eyes. However, I do love the terrain that I get to taste in so that sometimes outweighs the experiences and the 2-2.5 hour drive there (depending on if I go all the way to Calistoga or stay in the Napa Valley). One more addendum: most of the wineries on this list are actually in the St. Helena/Calistoga area, not in proper Napa Valley.  Anyway, here is my list for my current* Top 5 Wine and Experience i...

 So I think I've told the people closest to me the following: I'm dating again. Technically, I started back in March when I spent just under $400 for a year with eharmony. I figured since I had nothing better to do, could see that I would pay off my debts by the end of quarantine (a 3.5 year feat), and was in a good place mentally and emotionally, that it was time to enter back into the dating arena - which those who know me know I kinda hate. Yes, I'd like a man to hold me when I go to sleep at night, and to usher with me into our twilight years, and kids to wake me up at the wrong hours of the night - but its so much more for me than that. But to understand that I have to reveal a bit that will make me very vulnerable (but if you read my eharmony page or any of these blogs, you'll already know that) so here goes... I am a bad dater. Its not that I'm awkward or not confident, but I don't always know how to have a conversation unless its "conversational...

What a new normal! But also, its the same. I still teach but its just through a computer scrern with a mask on. Its a "pivot" we had to make, and its one that only makes us all better.  Pivoting. Pivot. Words that are currently a part of my vocabulary. Sometimes things happen and we have to change something - about us, about our work, about our priorities, etc - but most people hate change. In fact, they'd rather stay in the same bad patterns than do the work to break them - and yet they'll complain. I don't want to be one of those people. No excuses, no staying in the same place. I cant control what others do around me but I can control what I do. So im learning to pivot at work - and if you see me spending less time posting anything negative, spending time less with negative people or organizations, its because its time for me to be who I am and thats a fun, optimistic person. Period. I fully know im imperfect, but if im going to be a better person, letting the ...

Today was a really good day - and I'm including 2 incidents that were unfortunate but they had to do with the wrong things sent to me so its not of consequence to post about.  So, you know why it was a really good day? I spent most of it in Bible study or zooming friends. That was my Funday. I'm relaxed, I'm thankful, I'm content. Though I have technically one more day for my weekend, Im trying to focus on Sunday still being the end of my weekend. Though Monday I don't go into the studio, its still my work from home day. I'll check up on our TIs then work on my writing or doing research for other projects. So today was a good day.  My weekend as a whole was also good. Im filtering into a part of my life I closed off. But I also believe that God will make things happen at the right time. I can't control His timing but I can be available now. Yes, Im being vague because no I don't share this part of my life with many until there's something real. But I...

That's what today is for me. Truly, today I RESET this year. I began by taking a short walk (to Starbucks and back is 1.4 miles) to begin my first day of the first week that I am working (almost) our new schedule. Our new schedule is 4 days and I'm working 8 hours the majority of 4 days. We are still only working half day Fridays, but as we pick up virtual lessons that will change.  So this week, I'm working a 4-day week for the first time since March 16, 2020. Oh what a year its been so far, huh? But, truly (theres that word again), I think we've all needed to RESET in some way. Even our world needed a reset - and it got what it needed in my opinion. To see the landscape clear so drastically, then see the reappearance of the dirty sky as we started to go to work again - its just mind-blowing how just a few weeks gave us such clear skies and a resurgence of nature around us! A definite sign that we can do better to help this planet. A reason that we need to reset some o...

That's what I just paid that was leftover after I booked a flight to San Diego with my voucher. In the post on Facebook about it, I asked good or bad? Most would go to bad, and tell me not to go. But really it seems good to me. You see, though I've been a non-essential and was literally in my house/neighborhood for 3 months, I experienced personal positives instead of negatives. Some around me experienced negatives, but I actually experienced positives.  Its not out of the question that despite what 2020 has thrown at us, that I will come out of it positively. The time sheltering in place may have been what we ALL needed to make the right changes in life and/or finally follow through on the changes that we need to make. I've seen people even go in pattern after pattern and only get to a point that "feels better," then they stop - and the process just starts over again. No follow through. I know that because I do it, too. But now I'm aware of it and I'm fol...

So about midway through the day yesterday, my back gave out. Literally. I'd done some house cleaning and wasn't paying attention to what my body was telling me. Here are my "excuses": Since about 2 weeks before the beginning of quarantine, I had established a healthier exercise routine. A small one but one nonetheless. Then quarantine happened and all I had was time. But knowing myself, I would need to do something outside to stave off what I already knew would be a "longer than what they were saying" time of sheltering in place. Hence, I started walking. About a month in I had worked up to being able to walk 3 miles before I knew I needed to stop. Then some stiff in my personal life happened and I was watching my phone for calls to help people in my life and not focused on my walks really. They became an after thought or way shorter. As things settled though, I got back to my daily walks and then added more consistent 20-30minute exercising daily. Then I up...