The rest of those wide open states out there were, too. Especially with the windows down.
When’s the last time you felt alive?
#StartDriving #TodayIsTheDay #LifeOutsideTheDroneZone
1.30.18
I’m a AAA member, and have been for years. (Road Trippin’/travelin’/nomadin’/adventurin’ peeps, unite!) These horrifying stats just came to my email inbox from AAA about National Plan For Vacation Day:
Last year 54% of American didn’t use all their vacation time?!
Oh. Em. Gee. My heart breaks for people out there who are a part of that 54%. WHAT ARE Y’ALL WAITING FOR?! (I just had to get all southern for a minute, I’m so sad for that fact!)
Dear Friends,
Let’s start respecting the clock. Shall we?
Love, Diane
I bet:
*You could use a break
*You have a grand baby across the country you want to snuggle more with
*Your mom has been bugging you to visit
*Your jeans are bursting at the seams after the holidays and the gym is calling
*Your college reunion is coming up
*You’re in love with someone across the state you want to smooch
*You have needed to go to the dentist for a while now
*You are so over that closet piled full of crap you don’t use, need, or want
*Your kids kept you up all night last night
*Granny keeps calling, she wants you to meet her for lunch
*The Big Game is coming up and you sure would like to stuff your face with nachos watching it with friends
*Your passport is about to expire and it has no stamps
I’m wrong? None of the above? Ok, then I bet:
*That nonprofit you’re super passionate about could use some more extra help
*Your brother misses you
*Your guitar is collecting dust
*That cooking class only has one spot left available
*Your convertible hasn’t seen the sun in ages
*That book! That book is still sitting half-read on your bedside table
*You keep staring at that photo of the glaciers in Patagonia wondering why you haven’t been
*You’re daydreaming of a palm tree, a cold beer, and a moment of silence
One or more apply to you? Think it’s maybe time to go, be, see, and/or do what you want, need, or should?
Today I celebrate saying goodby to the office/cube/”work” for a day, week, or month, and hello to taking the time you have earned.
Not taking vacation…time…for your heart, health, and well-being, is about as bad as showing up to your should be inspiring commencement speech and telling all the fresh faces in caps and gowns the world sucks, there’s no hope for anyone, and Dr. Seuss was wrong, because they will never go anywhere.
Please don’t do that.
I challenge you to walk in to the big kahuna and tell her (see what I did there?) you’re going to take a few days to go hiking in nature alone, then spend the rest of your other few days just hanging with your family doing a whole lot of nothing other than being together. (Or whatever other very simple or over the top thing you can think of.) You will be taking ALL of your vacation days this year thankyouverymuch.
Let’s wipe out waste (of every kind.) Especially wasted time.
#RespectTheClock #TodayIsTheDay #LifeUnstuck
*Ready to get outta dodge, near or far? Call me! (804.339.6514) I can help.
I’m about to shout “Vermont or Bust!” and do what I love more than anything in the summer; ROAD TRIP!
I will get to see these little smiling nugget faces:
…who are actually not so little anymore, I will get to hug my family & lots of friends, I will get to have long relaxing mornings at my favorite breakfast diner and most importantly, I will get to give back to the people and the place that have given so much to me.
I hope you will join me with all your windows down, too, celebrating everyday you have in the sunshine over the next couple of weeks. Watch for lots of good stories from the road, coming soon!
#TheBlueLollipopProject #Travel #PlayForwardGiveBack
Hello Friends & Followers!
It’s been a whirlwind of some very busy client work getting some good people downsized, packed up, and moving on to their next life adventures, I’m about to hit the road for my big annual road trip, and BLR Play It Forward 2016 kicks off just ONE week from today!
Phew! Days fly by, I start to write here, drafts of posts pile up, ideas constantly swirl, I get interrupted to take care of business elsewhere- and poof, a week or two later my sweet blog is left hanging. Sigh.
Funny how I help people simplify their lives and minimize their madness, and I find myself falling asleep at 11pm still with 10 things on my own to-do list. (Life of an entrepreneur! I would’t change a thing:)
As I pack up now close to midnight, I daydream about the morning when I start off on yet another big adventure of my own, windows will be down in the car, it will be nice and warm outside, and I will be the happiest camper (literally!) around on the way to green mountains first west, then north. I’m ready for some fresh air and a few s’mores (made with a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups), sipping coffee on quiet porches, a few Blue Benn breakfast times, and seeing some of my absolute favorite people.
The road always inspires me to write, and it is where I feel the most free and alive…especially when I’m en route to do something good like host Play It Forward, so I’m hoping to share a bunch of awesome things with you here over the next couple weeks. I hope you will share some of your adventures with me, too.
What inspires you to feel good and do good?
#LessStuffMoreTravelHappyLife #GreenSpace #LifeOnTheBlueLollipopRoad
Hit the road, stop for gas, turn around, and this!
One of my absolute favorite summer things; driving with all windows down, warm air, no music, just taking the world in.
#Appreciation #JustBreathe #RoadTrip
Because I am a nerd, and I live a life of reflections, I thought I’d peruse the ol’ iPhoto today to see what I was up to during this week last year. I found photos of cocktails & dinner in Charleston during a work trip!
Check out our visit to Xiao Bao Biscuit- recommendation from an old foodie friend who lives in Charleston:
Xiao Bow Biscuit is located in an old auto shop/garage and a cool, hip, clean space. The servers/bartenders were all attractive & fit young guys wearing simple grey v-neck t-shirts. (Ahem, single ladies- let’s just say charm, talent, and good bod be found here. Come one and all! Meow.) We ordered the recommended cabbage pancake from the menu, which I usually would have made the barf face at, until it came and I ate it- then we ordered a second one because it was that good:
Who likes cabbage?! I do now.
My silly partner in crime mimicked what the fish he ordered looked like:
I’m not a fish girl, so this was not my thing, but he was like a ravenous beast in heaven eating dinner. Results?
…just skin & bones, baby!
We had a great time here, then wandered the streets to the next recommended bar where we got yummy cocktails & dessert. Charleston is chucked full of endless delicious eateries and places to get good drinks. Mark your calendar and plan a trip to this little charming southern city- you will be glad you did.
#RoadTrips #Flashback #Foodies
Smiling this morning because of an unexpected text message coming in at 8:20am from my friend Franklin with this photo:
…accompanied by two little words:
ROAD TRIP.
Yeah! I even love the bug guts. It’s like I’m along for the ride with him. Totally awesome.
Now if I could only get these stickers spread throughout the land even more, and cheerlead more people to just hop in their cars and hit the open road of everything possible in this life.
*(Insert side note interruption of post…bonus! As I sit here at Starbucks writing, a guy sits next to me and I compliment him on being the second well-dressed man in that seat since my arrival. He’s reading a book about travel, National Parks, etc. We chat, chat, chat on general life stuff, writing, the importance of young people taking a Gap Year, etc. Super pleasant surprise? Absolutely. I could’ve talked to him for hours. A perfect stranger who shares much of the same thoughts on life. Love those kind of random interactions. It’s as if they are meant to be:)
There I go on a tangent again. Off to the gym…
Thank you for the photo Franklin, and the coffee chat, Russell!
Happy Memorial Day Weekend to all. I don’t know about you, but freedom is my absolute favorite thing, so here’s to honoring, appreciating, and giving huge thanks to those who serve so we can have it.
What do you do that makes you feel free?
#RoadTrips #GoingPlaces #LifeOnTheBlueLollipopRoad
There’s a Cajun in my life, so we’re heading down to where crawfish is a main food group, and hot sauce is believed to be the only condiment needed.
ROAD TRIP!
After a night in the tent at the Jellystone Campground (HA! Yes, for real) where the bathroom and shower doors were on lockdown, we stopped for breakfast feeling nice n’ greasy at the Georgia Express Diner:
…where couldn’t wait to take a bite:
“Y’alls” were swirling around this place like the Tasmanian devil on his fastest day, and we were out the door filled with pancakes, cheesy-egg biscuits, omelette’s, grits, toast, and too much coffee for $12.89:
Our waitress fully fit the southern stereotype, sweet as pie as you’d imagine. Mornings like these I absolutely love; The randomness on the road and connecting with strangers hearing their stories in a place unfamiliar.
Tent camping, cheap diner breakfast, and learning about how other people live. Ahhh…travel.
How do you find adventure?
#RoadTrip #Georgia #Diner
***(Somehow this was left in my draft folder of posts from last summer, so I am finally publishing now on February 5th, 2015. I have to say even though I am wearing a scarf and freezing today, I would pay about 30 bucks right now to be sipping on one of these babies…)
I’ve proclaimed the Mocha Java Shake at Port City Java as the best frozen chocolate/coffee sipping treat ever before. Well, watch out PCJ! Enter Come Back Shack:
I’ve been counting days looking forward to my annual fresh air green space summertime north in Upstate, NY and Vermont. (By counting days I mean um, We took a little drive to Boone and Blowing Rock, NC from Charlotte (yay for green mountain air and space!) and stopped for a treat on our way back out of town. One of the best shakes I’ve ever had!
Where do you find treats?
#RoadFood #LifeOnTheBlueLollipopRoad #Yum
Look at me all worky, worky- even from the road:
Unplanned photo snapped by a friend from the back seat. Look Mom! I’m so responsible! Even on the way to New Orleans…
Where’s your office?
#NOLA #JazzFest #RoadTrip