5 Days into New Life, must rest and shop

I am 5 full days into my new life. At the end of day 4 I was feeling it! I over slept by almost an hour so I didn't have my quiet time to read, drink coffee and bask in my quiet time. Instead, I gulped down one cup of coffee (barely), then ran out the door for a stretch and strength class. I felt fatigued and didn't perform as well as I had in previous days (all 3 of them); but, I made it through the class (reminding myself to be gentle and breathe through as much as I could). Don't get me wrong, in spite of today's fatigue, it really was a good week... really! With the weekend here it is time to recoup so I can do it again and be stronger next week. I have my 1st official weigh in and eval on Mon. Woo Hoo!

After class I rushed through some errands (here I am rushing, again) so I could go home to prepare for my daughter's travel volleyball tournament. I was skeptical that we would be heading out, after all, a full blown winter storm was heading our way and the tournament was scheduled for a city in the foothills of the mountains (they were expecting 5-8" of snow). But, I was hopeful.

Finding out (before noon) that the tournament was, indeed, cancelled, I decided to make the rest of the day a ME day. I walked around a couple of stores (and found a fabulously comfortable pair of not-too-high gladiator sandals - I can see wearing them with one of my recently purchased shorter skirts or my perfectly worn-in pair of boyfriend jeans). Then, I took myself out to lunch. It was then that I lost myself in the books and magazines at Barnes and Nobles. Man, that is sooo easy to do! I purchased a couple of jewelry and design mags, but my big score was a gorgeous coffee table book entitled Flower by Christopher Beane. This bold and colorful book is full of tightly cropped photos of flowers in full, vivid color and stimulating black and whites. The best part is, it was bargain priced at $12.98! WOW! Shopping can be such good therapy. With that out of the way, I could spend the rest of the day with my family, preparing to hunker down and enjoy the beauty of a cold, wintry weekend. Note the photos of glistening ice crystals backed by one of the brightest blue skies I've seen in a while. Gifts... from this winter storm.

Balance, breathe, family, giving & getting love... mantras of gifts from my new life!