Pay it Forward!

This is a movie that I think everyone should watch.

Advice from the Past

Once a very good friend of mine said “I always imagined you as a late afternoon or evening writer.”

 He himself was a late night writer and playwright. Sadly he has passed away. Often I have moments when I wish he could give me advice.  It is during these moments that I remember the miracle of Facebook.

 About a month after his death, I was obsessing about schedules again so I got on facebook and found this little piece of advice.  “I always imagined you as a late afternoon or evening writer.”

It had been a year and a half since he first typed those words.  As I looked back at all the schedules I tried to make I noticed one common theme. I was always writing sometime after dinner.

He was always right and still I kept trying to change my own flow.  So now I have an alarm set on my phone to go off at 9pm every night.  I have to have a start time or else I will sleep through it if I have a migraine. Even if I sleep all day I know I will still get at least an hour of writing done each day. I start at 9pm and write until I am tried again. I usually always get at least an hour in. 

Father’s Day at Buca

This year for father’s day my mom decided she wanted to try something new.  So I looked through the large pile of coupons and found one new place.  I found a coupon for a free desert for dad on father’s day only.  So we drove across town for an early dinner at Buca Di Beppo.

                There was a nice covered walkway from the parking lot to the door.  There was a little outdoor sitting area to the right of the entrance.  They also had a few chairs just inside the door. The hostess station was this massive dark wooden platform that looked like it belonged in a large church.  I did like looking at all the pictures that covered every inch of the walls.  Pictures of laughing nuns butted up against pictures of Marilyn Monroe type beauties in bathing suits. There were also a few pictures of elderly men and women with dogs.  My mom gave them her name and they told us it would be a twenty minute wait.  Which when you think about it is not too bad for father’s day.

                When they called our name, the waiter lead us through the kitchen, of all places. I was even more surprised to find a family of four or five sitting at a booth built into the wall. Right there in the kitchen! We were seated at a small round table right next to the kitchen door. I had to push myself half under the table to make sure I was out of the way.  Large trays piled with food whizzed past my head the whole time. I forgot how many times I was brushed up against that night. It really is a wonder that none of my hair ended up in someone’s food or even the other way around.   There were so many people there talking all at once that it gave me a migraine trying to hear what my mom was saying. Eventually I gave up trying, took an aspirin and just looked at all the photos.

                Oh don’t get me wrong they were very fast about asking for our drinks and the drinks themselves were very good but it took them forever to bring them.  Both of my parents ordered cocktails. White Russian for my mom and whiskey sour with bitters for my dad. Their drinks did not come until after we were already done with the salad. At least my parent’s both agreed that their drinks were very good. Our family style bowl of salad came and we served ourselves just like at Olive Garden, except Olive Garden salad is much better.   

                After our drinks showed up and the salad plates were taken away, our waitress brought out warm bread and plain olive oil. The bread was very good but I wish they had brought it with the salad. Plain olive oil is better left in the kitchen.

                Being a family style restaurant, all the dishes are meant to be shared. This worked out well for my parents who shared a pesto stuffed chicken. I, being the vegetarian that I am, had to choose from a very small side menu.  I ended up settling on fettuccine alferdo.  My parents loved their steaming out pesto chicken and even I must say, the pesto was amazing.  I added a nice spoonful of it to my own barely warm pasta. I wish there had been more.

                They honored the coupon and brought out a nice sized Canoli for my dad.  He was nice enough to share it with my mom and me. It was a noodle shaped cookie filled with creamy white custard.  I still don’t really know how to describe the taste of the custard, except to say it had a faint nutty taste to it. Though it really was something more.  The whole thing was drizzled in rich dark chocolate.

The bill came and I was surprised to find tip suggestions at the bottom.  15% 18% and 20%. I really don’t know what to say about that.  Even with good cocktails and great pesto it was not worth $70 for three people.

Buca’s is not a place for veggies like me and I will consider buying a gift card for my parents but I will never eat there again.

What is "Soft" Power?

Energy is Happiness

For me energy and happiness always seem to go hand in hand. If I have energy to get at least a few things done on my to-do list each day then I am also happy. The other side of the coin is if I can happy I get an energy boost.

My daily to-do list is divided into two sections. The first half is written in black ink, while the second half is written in red ink. The black section is a short list of all the things I need or want to do every single day. The second section is longer. It is a list of all the things that need to be done that day or very soon after. Once I finish a task written in red it gets checked off and does not show up again the next day. In order to finish all the black tasks and start working on the red, I need lots of energy.

Over months of trial and error, I have found a few natural energy boosters that work for me. They won’t work for everyone and sometimes one or two don’t even work for me. Just because it does not work one time does not mean I give up.

One that almost always seems to work is drinking a big glass of water. I keep a 32 oz water bottle with me most of the day to sip on. When I start noticing that my energy level is dropping, I take a moment to make sure my bottle is full. To make sure I don’t get too bored with the taste of plain water, I add flavor packets to every other bottle.  Most of the time it is this wonderful grapefruit flavor I love.

Which brings me to my next trick, Citrus. I have always loved citrus fruits, but recently I realized that everything citrus is an energy booster for me. From my grapefruit flavored water, to oranges and even lime scented candles. The taste and smell of citrus is energy for me. Now of course it does not last all day or even a few hours but you can get a lot of things done in 5 or 10 minutes if you have enough energy. I have surrounded myself with citrus so that every time my energy levels drop I am ready. I use citrus scented bath wash and shampoo. I keep bottles of citrus flavored water in the kitchen  and during the summer there is always citrus fruit on the kitchen table.

Chronic Migraines can be very draining and sometimes nothing helps more than a nap.  I always make sure to set the timer on my phone so that I don’t sleep longer than 30 minutes. If I sleep longer than 30 minutes, I wake up feeling very more tried. I don’t know why really but 30 minutes is the magic number when it comes to naps.

If I am doing something like laundry, I always make sure to put on some music to lift my mood and energy. Even just an hour a day is a big help.

These are my natural energy booster tricks. I hope you try a few to see if they work for you.