It’s raining. And I love it. Rain just feels clean, like it’s clearing away stale energy and germs and complacency, and making a clean slate from which to create new patterns and new designs.

I have my fourth class today in the digital marketing course. And I finally figure out where and how to access the assignments for the class. Today is about building a social media strategy, and it really gets my brain working. I’m jotting down ideas a good hour after the class is over.

But sitting for that long, even on my yoga ball chair, makes me tired, so I switch tracks and hit the yoga mat. Today is a long version of a sun salutation – the foundation for most of yoga. It’s simple moves, but I love exploring them more deeply by doing them slowly instead of flowing through them as usual. See what I mean about the rain – new perspectives.

I also opt for a different meditation for today, finding a mind movie about vital health. It seems appropriate right now. And I sneak in my vision board while I’m at the computer because I’m hoping to stay away from it the rest of the day.

Instead, I switch to the hubby’s computer for a bit. We’re crafting a grocery list for delivery, but knowing how long delivery takes these days, we’re planning for two weeks. We have our usual meals coming from Hello Fresh, but we still have to supplement several dinners, not to mention lunches. The shakes really help cut down on the expense of groceries - I have them to fall back on for breakfast and lunch, and the hubs will partake of those too, but we still need other food. Our next door neighbors turned us onto a local grocer that delivers through Instacart, as long as you’re willing to keep hitting the refresh button until a delivery can be scheduled. Which can take days. That’s why we’re planning now. We put together a dinner menu, load up the cart, get mom-in-law’s specific items added in, and begin the refresh process.

In the meantime, I’m cold and I want to switch gears, so I indulge in a warm bubble bath. Candles, rose petals, a rose scented fizzy ball - I even made myself a rose champagne mocktail to drink while I lounged and listened to an audiobook. It’s spectacular, and feels utterly decadent. I should do this more often.

My whole vibe shifts, my spirit dilates, and I’m ready for some art now. I bring the audiobook with me, and set up shop on the futon. My furry grey shadow comes with me and keeps me company while I create for the next hour. It’s funny how art works – I often have moments of fear when I’m working on a piece. Fear of messing it up with the wrong color or the wrong line. Fear that I’m the only person who will like it. Fear that I’ll never finish it because I’ll get so caught up in the minutiae that I can’t see when it is complete. It gets worse when I really like how the piece is going. So, the audiobook really helps me focus my mind elsewhere and let the creativity flow uncensored. I know several musicians who do this when they play guitar – telling themselves a story instead of focusing on getting every chord exactly right, and paralyzing the flow of creativity in the process. It also gives me some sense of time, because I will get completely lost in the work and not realize hours have passed. The chapters of the audiobook help monitor that so I don’t have to worry.

I work all the way up until dinner, so I’m ready for a little creative cooking. The hubby and I make a pan seared barramundi dish with roasted sweet potatoes and poblanos and a homemade salse verda that is just plain delicious. We load up the trays and head to the kitchen for a little family time. I forget who recommended The Outsider to me, but I need to thank them. We were all completely engrossed and watched until well after 11pm. The hubs and mom-in-law wanted one more episode, but the show is creepy enough that I needed a meditation to clear my head before sleep, so I vetoed it until tomorrow.

Trash cans are broughtback in, face is washed, teeth are brushed, Loving Kindness meditation is done. One more time to hit refresh on the grocery order – nope, still nothing.

See ya tomorrow, folks.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY), HIIT workout from Centr (https://centr.com/join-us)

Meditation – Vibrant Health (https://www.mindmovies.com), Loving Kindness meditation (https://www.oakmeditation.com)

Healthy Meal – Quinoa, Kale, and Lentil Soup for lunch. Pan seared barramundi with sweet potatoes and poblano peppers for dinner.

Creative – audio and art (https://www.audible.com)

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for time and inspiration to do art

2 – I am grateful for rose petals and their wondrous scent in a bath tub

3 – I am grateful for time away from a computer screen today.

4 – I am grateful for online grocery orders that magically appear on your doorstep…eventually.

5 – I am grateful for everyone out there in this world who is putting positive, affirming, loving materials out there right now.

 Woke up to a cat snuggled in my arms. You just can’t get up when she’s like that. So I stayed put until 9 when she finally stirred herself and let me up. Cats rule.

Once I’m freed, I get the day rolling with some tapping and a tizzy. I’ve gotten into a habit during all of this health scare of alternating between a Loving Kindness meditation and the Love, Peace, and Light tapping in the mornings. It’s a helpless feeling to be stuck at home while others are out saving the world, and these meditations make me feel like I’m at least putting some good healing and love out there to all those who are working or fighting off this virus or recovering from this crisis. It also helps me keep me grounded and positive, and I think that’s a big part of the battle for those of us in quarantine.

Yoga is fun today, and I add a little 5 minute mindful meditation at the end. And since I’m all motivated, but relaxed, I gather the screenplay we’re working on for story analysis in class (this week it’s Good Will Hunting) and start trying to break it down. I’m doing great until about step 5 (Crossing the Threshold) when I start to lose myself in the script again and forget to focus on the key elements. By the time I get to Step 7 (the inmost cave) I’m at a loss about where that comes in, and I start getting frustrated. I know the beauty of art is that it doesn’t always follow the rules, but it seems like there should be a fairly obvious answer for only 12 steps of story. Either I’m not getting something, or this isn’t as straightforward as it seems.

At 11, while the light is at its best in our kitchen, I set aside homework and get ready to shoot another baking video. Today, I’m trying out a Protein Powder Cinnamon Roll recipe. This one is a little longer, with more steps than my previous videos, but I’m really craving cinnamon rolls, so I gotta go for it. Everything goes well until it’s time to roll the rolls. And the dough just cracks into a fold, then another, then another. Maybe I should call these San Andreas rolls, or the cinnamon fault line bars, or something clever. At the moment, the only thing that comes out is Cinnamon Foldy Bars. Yeah. Brilliant.

I finish the video anyway because, although they may look like a natural disaster, they taste amazing. So, they’re more like chewy granola than a roll – who cares? Pop them in a toaster over for a minute and they’re gooey and sweet and perfectly tasty. I also think it’s as fun to share failures on video as it is to share successes, and these ARE edible, unlike the cookies I attempted last week (which I finished off BTW). So, along with a little self-deprecating humor and my trademark goofy faces, a cooking video gets posted in time for acting class.

Class is exceptional tonight. The beginning visualization exercise is inspired, and so far off the normal acting class reservation that it reminds me of exactly why it is I love this class so much. My monologue from The People goes pretty well – it’s a really weird sensation to video chat with yourself during a performance. It strikes me that rehearsing in front of a mirror might be helpful for this particular format. And I have a nice breakthrough about integrating the environment I’m actually sitting in with the environment of the story to bring even more realism and truth to a performance.

As class wraps up, the hubby braves the world outside to pick up from our local Chinese restaurant. There’s only one staff in the place, safely adorned with mask and gloves, and they send him home with a bag of yumminess for consumption. I pass on everything but the wonton soup since it’s still later than I like to eat. The warm, savory broth is all I really want of it, but it hits the spot and fills me up.

Family chat time ensues, then the hubby and I head upstairs for an episode of Outlander, some tapping, and lights out on another great Sunday.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY),

Meditation – Love, Peace, and Light, and Evening Stress Relief (https://www.thetappingsolution.com), Mindful meditation (https://www.oakmeditation.com)

Healthy Meal – Wor Wonton Soup, Sort of cinnamon rolls

Creative – new cooking video (https://youtu.be/3Y34wyTKM9s), Crash Class (https://www.crashacting.com)

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for all of my fellow actors in class, for our teacher and his wisdom, and for the Zoom that brings us all together right now.

2 – I am grateful for inspiration and a willingness to let go of the perfect outcome in my cooking.

3 – I am grateful for the hubby and his willingness to lend his talents and help me shoot these silly videos.

4 – I am grateful for writers whose work inspires thought and emotion and takes us on a journey.

5 – I am grateful for another wonderful week, with all of my family healthy and safe.

Thirteen weeks, y’all! That’s crazy. And I am grateful for every day of this journey, and for each of you reading this. 

Here’s how the week went:

6 healthy meals and 7 shakes

5 workouts and 4 walks and one bike ride

8 meditations, 7 times through my vision board, and 6 tapping meditations

And 35 gratitudes for the week.

My Personal Progress Report:

Job – ya know - quarantine. Just working on ways to be of service to others at this point – fundraising, making masks and care kits.

Acting and creativity – Great! I did a monologue in class, worked on that several times during the week, along with homework. I played my guitar, only once, but it happened. Created a VO script and recorded it, and made a cooking video for YouTube.

Healthy body – Meh. A little frustrated here. I’m sticking with mostly great eating, but results are backsliding this week. Weight is up three pounds (gasp!) and measurements are exactly the same.

Over all sense of wellbeing and fulfillment with life – Good. I find the more I stick to my morning routine, the better my entire day goes. When I veer off, I get testy and defeated and just kind of give up. So, there’s a lesson there, I guess.

Week Fourteen, coming up!

This day started out completely normal. I got up, had my tea, did my yoga, watched my vision board. I even recorded a new voiceover track for a new version of my vision board to work on next week. All the usual stuff.

And then… the doldrums hit. The hubby and I looked at each other, and with a resigned sigh from each of us, we headed to the bedroom to binge the final episodes of Black Sails.

Because, I mean really, is there anything THAT important right now? Anything that can’t wait one more quarantine day to get done? I guess we finally just decided to take an entire day off and do nothing. Literally, I didn’t get out of my PJs. We ate lunch while we watched, cooked dinner and went back upstairs to watch. Six plus hours we watched. I mean - the cats did more today than we did, for crying out loud!

That said, we finished it. And now I’m sad it’s over.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY)

Meditation – Loving Kindness meditation (https://www.oakmeditation.com)

Healthy Meal – Cinnamon Roll shake. (https://www.arbonne.com/pws/lesleydonne/tabs/home.aspx),

Creative – recorded voiceover track for new vision board, monologue work

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for a day of pirates, and no guilt

2 – I am grateful for the roses in full bloom around our lovely home,

3 – I am thankful for shared time with the hubs doing absolutely nothing.

4 – I am grateful for the equipment to record a new voiceover project at home.

5 – I am grateful for Amazon deliveries.

I think today is Friday. The days are beginning to run together a little bit here, but I’m pretty sure it’s Friday. TGIF just doesn’t really have the same impact right now does it?

I allowed myself to sleep in a bit - not past 10, but long enough that the rest of the house was awake before me. And already buzzing – I’m summoned, pre-tea, to help deal with the agenda du jour: our refi guys needing more documents. I’m not sure what the rush is in the current climate, but everyone seems to be in a rush to get an appraisal done and disclosures signed and credit report pulled and the like. It’s really only an hour’s work, but it irks me having to jump right in before I’ve had my morning. I suppose that’s what happens when you sleep in.

Once that’s done and sent, I actually get to wash my face and brush my teeth.

While I finish my ablutions, the hubby has video doctor visit. He uses my office because it’s already pretty well set up for self tapes and video conference calls - a nice neutral backdrop and tripod and such. And there’s a door he can shut for privacy. Except for the cats, of course. Sybilla hates closed doors. The visit goes well, and doc thinks she may have figured out a reasonable diagnosis for what ails him. Pretty darn cool what video technology can do! I suspect there will be a substantial increase in video doctor visits even after this pandemic scare has ended. It’s just plain more sanitary.

I reclaim my office and tackle my yoga and meditation before starting on taxes. Ah, yes. The joy of tax season. Even with an extension to the deadline, I can feel It looming and I’d just as soon get the info pulled together and submitted to our accountant (aka my mom) as let it sit for several weeks. And there is a certain feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction when all the numbers have been pulled and the reports filled in and saved…saved…saved?... holy @#)(@Ujdf! Where did my file go?? Straight into the ether it seems. Hours of work, gone without a trace. We try all the tricks I can think of – and all the advice of tech friends we have at our disposal - to recover the previous versions of a file that now appears on my screen absolutely blank.

I’m deflated. Okay, yeah, that’s putting it mildly. Tap, tap, tap! I do a nice little boost of happiness and get started rebuilding the entire file from scratch. I always try to tell myself that it’ll end up better the second time around. That’s baloney because these are numbers and not creative writing, but it makes me feel better that I found one additional receipt that didn’t get factored into the first expense report. It’s for $20 bucks, but I’m taking the win and keeping my attitude straight.

To enforce that, the hubby and I go for a bike ride. Nothing on the planet better for lifting spirits and quelling a temper than fresh air and time with someone you love. I’m armed with my fizzy drink and determination. Today, we explore a few new routes – a nearby school, a new street or two, a surprise steep hill that kicks our butts. I’m pleasantly surprised to see so many friendly faces and greetings out there. I guess now that folks aren’t constantly focused on work or their cell phones, they are finding time to smile and wave at the neighbors again. It’s very Beaver Cleaver, and I can’t help but wonder if this pandemic may have some exceptionally good effects in the long run? I haven’t seen so many people slow down, take a breath, and actually interact with human beings in a long time.

Our legs aching and butts numb, we head back to the house for a shower and some dinner with mom-in-law. Tonight’s masterpiece is a tabbouli, chickpea, and roasted veggies bowl. We zhuzh it a bit with tandoori ground turkey and a little egg, and settle in for a family movie night.

We had hoped to watch Little Women or Emma, but they still have rental fees in the double digits, so we pass. Instead, the hubby and I introduce mom-in-law to the wonderful world of Le Mans by watching Ford vs Ferrari. It’s just as brilliant the third time around.

Ah, Friday. You had your ups and your downs, but I’m glad to have been around to participate in it all.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – A bike ride in the sunshine

Meditation – From Stress to Productivity and Extra Boost of happiness (https://www.thetappingsolution.com), Loving Kindness meditation (https://www.oakmeditation.com)

Healthy Meal – Cinnamon Roll shake and a Green Apple Tizzy. Ooooo. Ahhhhh. (https://www.arbonne.com/pws/lesleydonne/tabs/home.aspx), Chickpea and tabbouli bowl with roasted veggies and ground turkey.

Creative – Read new script for class work on Sunday, imagination work on monologue

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for friendly greetings and smiles around our neighborhood.

2 – I am grateful to be doing something to contribute these days, however small my contribution may be.

3 – I am so grateful that my part of the taxes are done. Just the hubby’s reports to do next week and we’ll check that task off the list for another year.

4 – I am grateful for a new script to analyze for class.

5 – I am grateful for bikes, and fresh air, and that I didn’t punch my computer today.

I bounce out of bed at 7:30 – really I’m awake at 6:30 but I made myself feel better by laying in the bed with my eyes closed and pretending to sleep until 7:30. By then, I can’t wait to get up and moving any longer, and I jump right into my yoga and meditation.

At 10am, I have my third in a series of online classes on digital marketing. The class is full of great info, but here’s the catch – you have to buy their study guide to get copies of the slides for review. I’m not buying it, so I’m taking a ton of notes and trying to catch everything during the class hour. I think by design, they go incredibly fast during the class. The upshot being that I miss a few things in my notes, which is frustrating and disappointing.

I’ve decided to implement something new during all of this commotion. Thank you Thursday for my Arbonne work – reaching out to anyone who has ordered or donated so far to say thank you and to update them on the progress. I think the more messages of love and light and positivity we can send right now, the better off we will all be.

I'm working on the logistics of this, when excitement hits – quarantine excitement, that is. Mom-in-law needs a refill on a particular medication that cannot be filled at the pharmacy and cannot be shipped. This means someone has to go to the doctor’s office today to pick up. An outing!! A chance to go outside and see the world and SAFELY break the routine of lockdown. It’s more than I can pass up, and after a quick round of Rock-Paper-Scissors, I load up the gloves and masks and spray disinfectant in the car and head to Cedars.

On the drive, I’m listening to my lines for the monologue this week. I’ve chosen a piece from The People by Susan Glaspell. It’s not particularly contemporary, but I’ve used the short version of this often for theatre auditions. And I am really struggling with the long form. Funny how the brain attaches to “the way” something goes simply because that’s the way it’s been repeated so often. I can see why affirmations and meditation work – setting a repeating pattern. At least I have an hour or so to listen and learn, without traffic to deal with. It’s kinda crazy how empty the streets are, but I’m glad to see it.

The prescription picked up and both of us safely returned home, I am so excited to see a big box of Arbonne goodies has been delivered while I was out. Huzzah!! I was almost out of shake mix, and now I have three flavors to choose from again. I also got two new flavors of fizzy to try. And my samples - so I can send out a few packets I promised to folks considering this as a plan B job.

Otherwise, it's an uneventful evening at home. Oh, and we do have a chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and roasted brussels. Just because that's how the saying goes.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY),

Meditation – From Stress to Productivity (https://www.thetappingsolution.com), Loving Kindness meditation (https://www.oakmeditation.com)

Healthy Meal – Cinnamon Roll shake and a Green Apple fizzy. Ooooo. Ahhhhh. (https://www.arbonne.com/pws/lesleydonne/tabs/home.aspx)

Creative – monologue work for Sunday, VO for updated Vision Board

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for a safe drive to and from the doctor’s office.

2 – I am grateful for voice recorders that sync with my car so I can study lines and drive at the same time.

3 – I am grateful to Dr Szumsky for saving Mom-in-law some pills and letting us pick them up for her.

4 – I am grateful to see so many folks really are staying home and staying safe.

5 – I am grateful for new shake mixes and fizzy flavors and care packages. 

 Feeling rather uninspired today. Not down or angry, just uninspired. I settle for just meditation today, no yoga, and a nice warm cuppa. By 9:30, I’m ready for my Zoom call with Julia, my Arbonne sponsor, which kicks off several hours of emails and work. Now I’m ready for a considerable break from the computer.

I shift to the futon and start working on my monologue for class on Sunday night. Sybilla cuddles on my lap. The breeze is blowing in through the open window. Warm sunshine caresses my neck. It’s no big surprise then that somewhere around 4pm, I fall asleep.

I’ve never been a big napper. I don’t actually remember the last time I took a nap, unless I was sick. But today, with all that’s happening and not happening, it just happened. The hubby wakes me up with an invitation to walk before the sun sets, and it’s just what I need to wake back up and get my head working.

And I gotta have that mind working because tonight is D&D! I confess, this week was more challenging because it was mostly character driven, which is astonishingly hard to do with 7 people who can only talk one at a time on Zoom. But it was a good night anyway. I don’t think I’m alone in my enjoyment of listening to other character’s journeys. I love learning about their histories, seeing and hearing how they respond in the moment. It deepens the connection between players and characters, I believe. And it ultimately makes our entire party stronger.

Our DM has to call it a night earlier than usual, so I still have time for an actual dinner. I always have snacks and a shake to get me through the hours of the game without interruption, but tonight I have the chance to eat dinner with the family when we’ve wrapped up.

If you live in California, you’ll know that there is a great debate among residents over which is the best burger. Most folks espouse that In N Out is an indisputable number one. I would dispute that. For me, on the very rare occasion I crave a burger at all, I’m headed to Fatburger. To be fair, I much prefer turkey to beef, so In N Out is already behind the mark just on that alone. But I also prefer having options like on the grill or not; fat fries, sweet potato fries, or skinny fries; a variety of cheese to choose from. I mean, if I’m having my semi-annual burger, it better be a damn good one. I get the simplicity of the In N Out model – burger, cheeseburger, double burger, fries and that’s kind of the entire menu. And the hubby would cast his vote there if he lived alone. But… he doesn’t. And tonight, it’s Fatburger for the win.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Afternoon walk with the hubby

Meditation – Loving Kindness (https://www.oakmeditation.com)

Healthy Meal - morning shake with sunflower seed butter and banana. Carrots and a fizzy and a shake to tide be over during gametime.

Creative – monologue work for Sunday, D&D

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for surprise naps in the middle of the day.

2 – I am grateful for the lovely turkey who gave it’s life for me to have dinner tonight. And for the potato that sacrificed itself for my fries.

3 – I am grateful that there have been no food shortages during this pandemic.

4 – I am grateful for a kitty wrapped around my feet as I type this.

5 – I am grateful for another day of health for us all.

Ever walk downstairs after a really great meditation and yoga workout, only to find your front door standing wide open, one cat missing, and a neighbor’s cat wandering around your kitchen and living room? Yeah, me neither until today. Sybilla was sitting on the stairs just observing, probably trying as hard as me to figure out just what exactly transpired to create this oddly wrong scene. She looks up at me and mews, as I vault past her toward the door, hoping to find Flynn just outside instead of out on another of his infamous walkabouts. Thankfully, the neighbor’s cat is very friendly, and saunters out the door calmly when encouraged. Flynn, much to my surprise, is smelling the roses on the front stoop, and calmly strolls back inside. Then asks for a snack. All is back to normal.

Turns out mom-in-law had walked outside to check the weather and the mail, and hadn’t completely latched the door when reentering. The door had been open for at least an hour or so. I am astonished that Flynn isn’t a mile away by now, with his track record. Maybe he really does love this home as much as we do.

Then we have hours of drama trying to conclude The Great Lost Cell Phone search. Take my advice, folks, right this moment, if you haven’t already, sign up for “Find My Phone” either through Google or the iPhone app. Just do it and save yourselves hours of angst later on. Also, back your stuff up to the cloud – I’m not promoting any particular service here, use whichever one you want, but DO IT!

Egadz. After two days and countless hours on the phone, Samsung was finally able to ping the hubby’s cell phone. Where was it? Underneath the toaster oven. What?!? Yep. Underneath it. How, I have no idea, but we would never have found it there without their help. Thank you Samsung.

Now, back everything up and let’s move on.

I'm sure something else, perhaps even constructive things, happened today besides those two pillars of drama, but they certainly eclipsed the majority of the day. I went for a quick stroll outside to get some fresh air, played a little guitar, worked on a monologue for class, but mostly the day paled by comparison. With one notable exception - dinner. 

I always get groans and a little guff when I select a vegetarian meal as one of our three from Hello Fresh each week. I do it anyway. And tonight's recipe is one of the reasons why. Farro is one of the heartiest and most comfortable of comfort foods to me. This meal also comes with sweet potatoes, arugula, sunflower seeds, lemon, scallions, and some parmesan cheese. Now that's a perfect storm of yummy goodness in my book. But add to that a chicken breast pan seared with the hubby's inspired orange marmalade pan sauce, and you have one of the best meals of the entire month. And everyone agrees. Not sure why folks seem so startled that a dish based around veggies and grains can be delicious, but it takes them by surprise almost every week.

All right, kids. That's enough for one day. Calling this one done.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY),

Meditation – Releasing anxiety (https://www.thetappingsolution.com), Mindfulness meditation (https://www.oakmeditation.com)

Healthy Meal - morning shake. Gorgeous greens farrow bowl with seared chicken and sunflower seeds. .

Creative – monologue work for Sunday, guitar practice

Gratitudes:

1 - I am grateful for veggie meals that turn out to be a pleasant surprise.

2 - I am grateful for a quick walk today to refresh my spirit.

3 - I am grateful that we found the phone. Huzzah!

4 - I am so thankful for the helpers...people who have little to give, and yet find something they can do to help during this trying time.

5 - I am grateful for body and hand scrub - you know, the ones with the salt or sugar in an lovely scented oil? You rub it onto your hands dry, exfoliating the crap out of them, then rinse it off, and it leaves behind soft skin and a coating of lotion to keep them moisturized. With all of this hand washing right now, this is the only thing keeping my hands from flaking away right now, I do believe.

“Oh what a beautiful morning.” And it is. It really is. Sunny and clear, with flowers blooming like crazy. The yard is a buzz with bees hovering around rosebuds and ice plant and sage. The rainy days of the past few weeks, have given way to golden sunshine, and the reward is a panoply of purples and pinks and whites. I feel like walking out among it all.

I’m back home in time to make a hot tizzy and log on for my online digital marketing class. This week is chock full of statistics and great info. It’s a lot to take in and process in one hour, but I’m already beginning to formulate a more comprehensive marketing plan.

It’s a little later than usual, but yoga is really fun today. If you’ve never really done yoga and want a great slow intro that really shows you each move in detail, this Yoga with Adrienne course is perfect. I stumbled across it on YouTube just looking for something different from my normal routines (and to supplement my workout with the hubby without killing myself in the process). I have no idea who Adrienne is or how well reviewed the videos are – so if you’re into those kinds of details you’d have to do your homework – but I really like her slow flow style. A great beginner primmer.

I take a little while after yoga to catch up on some long-neglected emails, chat with a friend or two just to hear their lovely voices and make sure they are doing well, and send a few messages out. Then I jump over to Natalie Ledwell’s video on Facebook for some extra inspiration. She gives great pointers on how to stay positive and even a few activities to keep your focus on happy and healthy thoughts in the midst of this mayhem.

And I am inspired by the time the video ends. I write out an idea for some videos to make detailing out the Arbonne 30 Day program. I have emails, but sometimes a visual is easier – and certainly more entertaining – to follow. Not sure yet if this will be 3 separate videos, or just one comprehensive one, but I have the outline and broad-strokes script finished in about an hour.

I spend a lot of time face to face with a screen today, more than I normally like to. Digital seems to v=be the center of the universe, but today is also overshadowed by a search for something essential that has been lost – my hubby’s phone. He’s searched high and low but can’t seem to locate it. Of course, the ringer is turned off, so I can’t simply call it and solve the problem. There is some concern that he left if at the market two days ago, which means another trip outside into no man’s land. If there’s a silver lining to this lockdown it’s that there are only a very few places it could be if not here at home.

Frustration mounts as the search goes on. I need to disengage a bit from the surging negativity, so I make myself a Dandy Blend and vanilla latte, and go up to my sanctuary and listen to a 15 minute recharge meditation. Eyes closed, I realize they are still buzzing from so much screen time. Time to get away from the digital world for a bit.

The hubby and I take a stroll out and about, gathering up vitamin D and breathing fresh air. For half an hour, our focus is not on computers or lost phones or emails or work…just Mother Earth. I can’t bear the thought of diving back in when we get home, so I opt for a real life paperback book instead. I get a solid hour of reading time in before we splurge on ribs and coleslaw from a local barbecue for dinner. I honestly can’t remember the last time I ate ribs – best recollection is when our family owned a bbq in Carrollton, well before I moved here to California. That would be some 20 years ago then. Not sure delivery ribs are a fair estimation of the quality of a bbq restaurant – in all fairness, they need to be piping hot off the smoker to be at their best – but I enjoyed the rare splurge. And the sauce. The sauce was good.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise - Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY), morning walk, afternoon walk with the hubs.

Meditation - Reprogramming your thoughts during difficult times by Natalie Ledwell (https://www.facebook.com/mindmovies/videos/2316375445321551/) 15 Minute Recharge (https://www.brainhacker.net), Body scan with Steve Hoskinson (https://youtu.be/ntW6yoJzG8A ) before bed.

Healthy Meal – Triple Berry Vitamin C Boost shake. Drunk in the sunshine to boost Vitamin D at the same time! That’s pretty much the only healthy food intake for the day. Seriously.

Creative – script plotted and written for video series for Arbonne clients, reading.

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for two beautiful, freeing walks today. I enjoyed the companionship of one as much as I loved the solitude of the other.

2 – I am grateful for rare treats that can be enjoyed without guilt.

3 – I am grateful for inspiration for new scripts, new projects, new recipes, new writing, and new music

4 – I am grateful for bees. So nice to see them and their handiwork outside these days.

5 – I am thankful for the sound of friendly voices at the other end of a phone signal.

It’s Sunday! Yay! I know all the days are starting to kind of blur together at this point, but I can always tell when it’s Sunday. Something just shifts in the energy.

I grab my tea, do a nice long mindful meditation, flow through yoga, and finish up the seventh chakra meditation as well. Then I watch my vision board – twice today, just for good measure. I feel inspired, like I want to create something.

AHA! I have untried recipes. Remember a few days ago, I got a recipe book? Well, I haven’t done anything but read it and drool so far, so today is the day. After the hubby makes a yummy and hearty scramble for our family brunch, we clear everything away and I start to experiment.

Folks, when I say I can’t cook, I mean it. Oh, I can follow a recipe to the letter. But don’t let me improvise in any way, shape, form, or fashion or you’re doomed. And these Nutty Butter Pecan Cookies I try today are just plain horrendous. Awful. They taste like what you expect protein powder cookies to taste like. Blech. No video post for that one!

In fact, they remind me of cardboard – which reminds me I need to break down boxes for recycling today – which reminds me to clean out the litter boxes. See how bad these cookies are? They make me think of cleaning up cat poop!

With the chores done, and the kitchen cleaned again, I start gathering my supplies and focus for class. I take up some carrots and nuts, and my crappy pecan cookies (Yes, I’m eating them because they have too many good ingredients for me to throw them out.) and a fizzy drink, and my water, and my notebook, and my script that we’re working on collectively. Oh, and my iPad for the broadcast, and a zafu to sit on, and… yeah, it’s a lot of stuff. But it all gets assembled in time.

We’ve moved our time up to better suit folks joining us from the East Coast. Another silver lining to this whole social distancing online class thing, is that we can have people join from anywhere, and we have a few from New York joining in tonight. Lemons, meet lemonade.

Class is great! Of course, I got pretty much every single answer wrong on my story point homework. That’s okay, because I learned a lot, and I know I’ll be better prepared for the next exercise. We have three monologues go up as well, two by brand new members. It’s always fun and fascinating to hear someone’s story and see their performance for the very first time – with fresh eyes.

Since class is over at 9 pm now, I can sneak in a little family time too, which is rare on Sunday evenings because I’m usually just getting home around 11pm. Tonight we get in a Black Sails binge and a midnight meditation before bed.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY),

Meditation – Chakra Dance to Change Your Life with Natalie Southgate (https://www.dailyom.com), Releasing anxiety (https://www.thetappingsolution.com), Mindfulness meditation (https://www.oakmeditation.com)

Healthy Meal - morning shake. Nice big salad with tomatoes, carrots, spinach, avocado, and cheese. Pecans, cashews, pumpkin seed mix to snack on.

Creative – class (https://www/crashacting.com). Tried and failed to get creative with a cookie recipe.

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for the fortitude to eat bad cookies just because they’re good for me and I’m too cheap to throw them away.

2 – I am grateful for new people in class, the chance for folks from all over to join in the creative fun at Crash.

3 – I am grateful for extra family time on a Sunday evening.

4 – I am grateful for clean litter boxes that make me feel like I’m a good momma.

5 – I am grateful for tea, and shakes, and tubs, and everything I’m allowing myself to do right now in the way of self-love and self-care. Guilt free, for a change.

As week Twelve draws to a close, I continue to be grateful for any and all who follow this journey and find inspiration, no matter how small, or joy, o matter how corny.

Here’s how the week went:

6 healthy meals and 7 shakes

10 workouts and 3 walks

7 meditations, 4 times through my vision board, and 8 tapping meditations

And 35 gratitudes for the week.

My Personal Progress Report:

Job – Ummm…well. It’s going. A few clients this week for Arbonne, but everything is pretty well locked down, including commerce.

Acting and creativity – Great! I worked on art this week, which always makes me happy. I started a new class for marketing, had homework – yeah, I know, but I dig that kind of thing - for acting class, read a little bit, and generally allowed creativity to flow in all kinds of directions.

Healthy body – Good. I’m sticking to shakes and healthy eating habits, which means I have lots of energy and positivity right now. Weight hasn’t changed – still stuck in a holding pattern there – but I lost another inch on my waist, so I’m celebrating that.

Over all sense of wellbeing and fulfillment with life – Oddly Strong. During this season of pandemic hysteria, I am feeling grounded and centered and positive about how we’ll all come through this. And I’m loving how many folks are circulating affirmation and meditations and funny memes during all of this. It makes me smile every day, and that’s certainly a good sign.

More to come…

The hubs and I are up and out of the house by 9:30am. We have a few key items to get at the grocery store, as much as we would prefer not to go there. Masks, gloves, bags at the ready, we line up to enter and make it in and out relatively quickly. I’m actually impressed at how our local market is handling this; it feels calm, organized, and safe.

Now that we’ve learned a few protocols, cleaning and putting things away is a bit more time consuming. We create a clean zone, and implement our system: hubby pulls items out of the bag and wipes them down, I put them away and disinfect my hands between each item. It feels clunky at first, but we actually get into a rhythm that works remarkably well.

Groceries finished, it’s time for me to start my day. I tackle yoga first, then the chakra dance and some tapping. I’m really liking this routine. It feels nourishing and self-loving, and different from what I normally do. I sneak in a little more work for Arbonne, chat on social media for a little while, and the hubby and I even fit in another episode of Black Sails (What is it about the plague that makes pirate shows so appealing?).

I take a couple hours to re-read the script for class and plot out what I think are the story points. This work is based off of Joseph Campbell’s works, tracking the hero’s journey, and we have roughly 12 basic story points to try and pinpoint. As with most things in entertainment, it’s less science and more art, and finding every single one of them is more challenging than I thought. We’ll see when we go over all this on Sunday if I got them right or not.

It’s meatloaf night! Yes, really. We make a healthy version of meatloaf – with ground turkey and pork – green onion and a glaze of pineapple sauce. We whip up some mashed sweet potatoes and a salad, and voila! Meatloaf night. Mom-in-law is thrilled.

The rest of the evening is pretty uneventful. TV, showers, hot tea and a meditation before bed. Nothing more spectacular than our normal little lives.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY),

Meditation – Chakra Dance to Change Your Life with Natalie Southgate (https://www.dailyom.com), Releasing anger (https://www.thetappingsolution.com),

Healthy Meal - morning shake. Pork meatloaf with salad and sweet potatoes for dinner.

Creative – reading and plotting story points of script for class.

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for our normal little lives.

2 – I am thankful for a beautiful, sunny day

3 – I am grateful for a safe outing at the grocery store, with no incidents or drama

4 – I am grateful that there has been no global food shortage so far. With all the other changes and worries, at least that is not one of them.

5 – I am grateful for meatloaf night. Okay – really I’m grateful for sweet potatoes and salad night, but the meatloaf was pretty good too.