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January 10, 2016 In Inspiration, Photos, Today Is The Day

a little crazy never hurt anyone

Rainy chilly Saturday night, not feeling so hot with a little bit of a cold. All snuggled in I am, and in a effort to be not only productive, but reflective, even with the sniffles, I’m flipping pages going through a couple old notebooks. (My regular give it a once-over after I’ve used up all the pages to see if I missed any “to-do’s” or important things, then toss.) This is what I see just a few page flips in:

to-do's

(“Tons” of money kind of cracks me up. Was I having a 6 year old moment there?)

I can’t say I’m surprised I wrote the above on a certain friends birthday in February last year…what would have been her 37th birthday. She’s always on my mind, but on a few specific few days each year like her birthday, I make sure to doubly check myself to make sure I’m practicing what I preach and making my best attempt to live my goals.

Like you I’m sure, I fail miserably at being on point with all things all the time, I say yes to things I shouldn’t- that suck time and energy and don’t give back personally, professionally, or financially nearly enough, I forget to have gratitude as much as I should, and every once in a while I even have baditude! (Bad + attitude.) The worst? That damn gerbil wheel I despise so much is found under my own two feet too, every year or so. (Until I fling myself off, screaming and tearing…just jumping and gasping for that non-gerbil wheel air I love and need to survive and thrive.)

Thankfully when we find ourselves slipping into bad habits, and spin, spin, spinning like those little rodents- we have THE CHOICE to jump back into whatever awesome reality we know is out there, just as fast as we realize we’re spinning.

To my sweet, funny friend who inspired me to write this “Keep in mind” trio, thank you for reminding me that we all deserve to be crazy happy.

Indeed we do.

#TodayIsTheDay #KickYourOwnAss #StayTheCourse

What makes you crazy happy?

PS ~ You know what would make me crazy happy? If you scrolled down to the bottom of this page and signed up to get my blog posts via email, that’s what. Whoop!

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January 5, 2016 In Inspiration, Links, North Carolina, People, Photos, Uncategorized

a long winter’s nap?

Nah…I’m here!

I know It’s been a few weeks, so sorry to leave my blog followers hanging. You know I love to write and share here. I promise to post more regularly. 2015 felt like a whirlwind of what month is it? Then, boom! Here we are kicking off 2016.

Even though work has been very busy, we did manage to escape for a couple days, continuing to follow our “less stuff, more experiences” lifestyle, and opted to buy and spend 2 nights at a friends beach house in lieu of physical gifts for Christmas this year. Whaddya know, it ended up being near 80 degrees in North Carolina for a few days! Yeah!

Bike rides, beach time, and sand in toes was a very happy holiday time:

Beach time

Love at the beach

Beach time

Nerd pose! I was wearing one of my Play It Forward shirts, so wanted to try and make you laugh:)

Here’s to having more freedom in 2016! Dip your foot in the chilly beach water, then jump in, baby! This is our one life and the blue lollipops are all out there for the taking.

#LessStuffMoreExperiencesHappyLife #BeachChristmas #FindYourMojo

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December 14, 2015 In Florida, Photos, Travel

whistle with me!

My idea of a merry Christmas is living inside this Corona commercial:

(Pretty cool story, don’t ya think?)

Send me to the warm & beach, baby!

This is where I was exactly one year ago today; December 14th, 2014:

Florida

Ahhh…

Here’s to great adventures wherever you feel like you’re in paradise, this December!

How do you holiday?

#MoreTravelLessStuffHappyLife #Adventure #HolidayBeachBum

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December 9, 2015 In Photos

just another day at the office

This was my yesterday:

Hoarded House

Hoarded House

Hoarded House

Hoarded House

Hoarded House

Hoarded House

I wanted to make sure I got a photo of myself in case anyone didn’t believe me that I had a seriously interesting day. The look on my face is totally cracking me up:

Hoarded House - Diane

Oh those times to just lift and click quick once to get a photo and don’t even look until later. This one is jackpot accidental perfection for the archives. Hilarious. I am terrible at poker face!

After the visit to this house, I got a milkshake. Because, you know- sometimes you just need a milk shake at the end of a very adventurous work day:

Chocolate milk shake

Never a dull moment here!

What’s the view from your office?

#AdventuresOnTheBlueLollipopRoad #Hoarding #ChocolateShakePlease

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November 24, 2015 In Links, Photos, Restaurants, Vermont

baby it’s cold outside

…but It’s nice and toasty here at one of my favorite places on the planet; The Blue Benn Diner.

27 degree VT – you’ve got nothing on a hot cup of coffee and a counter seat here!

Image

If you ever plan to travel through Southern Vermont, make sure to put this on your list of places to nosh. I’ve probably written about this place now about 100 times. Never gets old and I can never get enough. You will love it that much, too. I promise.

This is my office today. Where do you work?

#LessStuffMoreDinerHappyLife #Travel #Vermont

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November 23, 2015 In Be active, grow, Inspiration, North Carolina, Photos

circus frenzy fun

(Originally written Thursday 11/19)

This week has been 150 miles an hour with work. Actually, the past several weeks have been at that speed. I dig it. In fact, I thrive in it. I’m loving my work more than I ever have before. It’s pretty awesome. I’m flying high on work life happiness and keeping the chaos for my clients to a minimum even though days end up being like a 3-ring circus sometimes…out of everyone’s control. I can understand why people hate the whole moving process, but that of course makes me more and more determined to not only throw the curveballs back during this stressful time for my clients, but make it fun along the way, too.

How do I recharge after corralling all the monkeys and managing the circus?

At the end of a long day, not much feels better than being outside in the air (especially when It’s 71 degrees at 6pm in late November) running, then coming and sitting here with my balcony door open to just breathe and reflect for a few minutes:

CLT Sunset

CLT Sunset

*(No filter, thankyouverymuch:)

Having a body healthy enough to go for that run, even though I’m exhausted makes me feel motivated to do more, and having a clean, safe, clutter-free space to live makes me feel grateful. Combine that with that fact I’m about to go on a huge road trip to feast for Thanksgiving to see people I love and who love me…what more could anyone ask for?

The next time you feel like you’re smack dab in the middle of a Barnum & Bailey show, just step outside and move your body to keep your sanity, sweat out the stress, and get a little perspective. That, or grab someone you love and give them a big fat hug. The circus will somehow leave town peacefully on It’s own, and you’ll be left standing there remembering the things that really matter.

#LessStuffMoreFreshAirHappyLife #GetMoving #Sunset

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October 16, 2015 In Inspiration, Live the life you want to live, People, Photos, Today Is The Day, Virginia

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY, BLR!!!

Like a mother, I feel incredibly happy and proud of this being I’ve created that means everything to me. Time flies far too fast, and my “baby” is all grown up. It’s odd to say a blog/website could feel like a living thing, but that is the truth. Blue Lollipop Road has been alive and active now for exactly 7 years, and I can honestly say that my life changed forever on 10/16/08 when I wrote my first blog post. It’s as if I grew up a little more that day, ready to share myself, and pass on love & lessons within this next generation of me.

That indescribably and overwhelming never-the-same feeling people talk about when they have kids!

Amazing.

This month is graduation time for my sweet, sweet, BLR- to version 2.0. The next adventure begins on 10/26, as I give this larger than life entity a complete makeover. So excited!

Like all things or people worth it in this crazy life, hard work is required, we are likely to shake fists in the air with frustration, shed tears occasionally, and then spin around in pure bliss, too. For anything or anyone worth it, exhaustion is part of the package, disappointment will creep in sometimes, and heartbreak is unavoidable. With all the bad, comes so much good, though- and blows every last icky feeling we may have ever experienced out of the water. Ahhh…those moments It’s all worth it; those undeniable joyful seconds of purity you feel when that “thing” you have put every once of your being- your complete heart and soul in, looks up and says I love you. 

Well, I love you, too Blue Lollipop Road.

Thank you for motivating me, teaching me, making me sad, happy, confused, proud, frustrated, and for helping me to continually believe in everything possible. Thank you for holding my hand so I’m able to remain fearless and love hard. Thank you mostly, for making me feel completely alive. Because of you, I can be best version of myself and feel like I have a purpose on this planet. That is the best feeling ever.

My sweet, sweet, BLR! What a run (or should I say, drive), we have had together!

Here’s to a billion more years of the good madness that is the life roller coaster, and hoping that together, we can inspire and light good fire inside everyone we meet.

#Love #Mojo #Believe

*Took this photo a couple days ago, full on filthy in work pants at a client job in Virginia. Good times geeking out at the view and always sporting a BLR tee!

Happy Birthday BLR!

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October 14, 2015 In Photos, Texas, Thank you, Videos

G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S

I flew to Lubbock, Texas last week.

In first class.

(I’m not sure I thought I’d ever type either of those things.)

It was an accidental first class booking, or at least, lets assume so- and it was the best accident ever. The night before my flight when I saw “first” in the email confirmation, I jumped for joy, spun around, called to confirm that could possibly be correct, squealed, clapped, texted a few people with lots of smiley-face emoticons, screeched, and then of course, could not stop singing & dancing to this:

We flying the first class
Up in the sky
Poppin’ champagne
Livin’ the life…

All 50 states and 17 countries, 20+ years of travel and I have never once flown first class until now. What?! Seems crazy but true. Never a bump up, freebie, not one single “Attention ladies and gentleman in the concourse…we have overbooked! If anyone would kindly volunteer to give up their seat, we will put you on the next flight in first class, love you forever, give you a unicorn, and award you a 6 billion dollar voucher for your next flight.”

Never.

I always say I have really expensive taste, but I don’t practice it/use it often. I’d rather spend $500 going out to 10 lunches or dinners with friends, or on 10 gas fill-ups for my car to go see my family, than on a first class upgrade- but man, after my experience last week, I can sort of see what all the fuss is about. (And from what I understand, my first class experience was pretty low-key compared to overseas flights/flights on newer planes.)

Giddy me boarded so early it was still dark out, but that didn’t stop me from ordering a mimosa pre-flight, just because I could:

Boozin' at Dawn

…and then another as soon as we took off:

Breakfast of Champions

…you know- just because I could…again.

It was so fun. Mimosa at 6:48am felt a bit strange, but the triathlete guy sitting next to me had 2 Baileys with coffee, so I convinced myself I was still a responsible adult on a Thursday morning watching the sunrise:

Airplane Morning

The window could’ve used a little cleaning, but I was in heaven, streaks and all. Then a bit later, this gorgeous blue view:

IMG_4682

For a small town, coach-flying, minimalist girl- this was a treat like no other. What kind of 37 year old get’s that excited about a first class flight? Me. Loved every minute of it. For all the fancy freshest-ever food & wine I’ve ever consumed, and all the highfalutin events I’ve ended up at somehow during my adventures, I’ve likely rolled up in a $20 dress and driving my 2004 Honda Civic with 220k miles on it. I hope I never turn a shoulder to my frugal habits or my nerd-alert excitement for occasional posh things either. It’s a good things to experience both sides, feel spoiled- and still always remember what’s truly important. For now I still feel high from that flight and I can’t wait to squeal and screech like a kid when the next bonus thing like CLT>LBB drops in my lap.

So fun.

When did you last get all buzzy and fuzzy because of a treat?

#TheOtherHalf #Appreciation #FancyPants

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October 3, 2015 In Photos

“eggs in a creme brûlée dish!”

That’s what I just texted to a friend with this photo, as I giggled:

Breakfast in a new place

That title would actually be a great band name.

Perhaps I will share the story on these eggs and this dish at some point, but for now as I laugh here in my quiet space, I think of the importance of making the most of what you’ve got, and finding the fun and adventure in the little things that might not seem like any kind of adventure at all. That, and the importance of surrounding yourself with people that’ve always got your back.

Thanks, M:)

#Appreciation #Friendship #MakeTheMostOfIt

 

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