Friday!
We’ve once again arrived at Friday. This week has been much better than the last two. Not without its stressors, but substantially better!
I think it was because the sun came out. Is that springtime peeking its head into Virginia?
I think maybe yes.
Friday Faves.
This week I’ll just dive into the Friday Faves.
Obviously, #1 is that the sun came out! Hallelujah, I was rejoicing. I once mentioned that I’m like the clingy friend when it comes to Vitamin D. I need the sun WAY more than it needs me.
Mill Mountain Star Trail.
The hubby and I decided that we could not waste the sunshine. We went and hiked the Mill Mountain Star Trail. You can see a map of this and surrounding trails here. Since we were hiking round trip, you can begin at the Star (210 Reserve Ave, Roanoke) or from the car parking lot (1208 Riverland Road, Roanoke). We started from Riverland Road, so it is uphill to the Star, which sits atop the summit of Mill Mountain. The summit is Roanoke’s highest point at 1,703 feet.
I didn’t bring along my camera, just the phone. I wasn’t sure what the trail was like and didn’t want to lug it along. Next time I’ll bring it and maybe can make the hike a post of its own as I have done with some other areas along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
I knew there were many components to better mental health when spending time in nature. I had recently read an article about how time in nature (green space) reduced teen depression rates. A few days after the hike, I would read this article, which also mentions that knowledge. It also goes into the scientific backing of forest bathing. It talks about how the forest air is like an old friend to our bodies. One of those reasons is because mixed into the air are terpenes released by plants. Some of these terpenes have been found to have anti-inflammatory, anti-tumorigenic, and neuroprotective activities.
I’ve always known that I feel better when walking through a forest. It’s amazing to read about the scientific reasoning behind much of it. The article shares even more about how forest air affects us. If you’re interested in Science, I recommend checking it out. They always link to the articles in which they are deriving the information, which is always a good source for even more knowledge.
Editing.
I worked some on editing my photos. The photo above is from Amsterdam and was in my archives. I really loved the pop of colors on the boats and the reflection in the water and in the windows. It made me realize that I really want to focus on learning how to use Lightroom.
I am still editing through an app on my phone even though I did sign up for a Lightroom/Photoshop package. I’ve been intimidated by the program and so I haven’t set aside the time to learn how to use it. I noticed when I was editing this photo, that while I’m very happy with the result, it’s also likely that in a program like Lightroom I would have been able to focus on exactly the spots I wanted versus the broad stroke of the selective tool that I now use.
I realize it’s time to press outside of my comfort zone in order to continue to grow in executing my creative vision.
Instagram.
I mentioned in last week’s Friday Faves that I was working on changing my Instagram grid to sets of three. I also have been trying to post more on my Instagram stories just to give people a little realistic glimpse into my life.
On Tuesday, I posted the above photo of Miss Sunshine. That photo was from her travel soccer season, but she had tryouts this week for the school season. I also talked on the Instagram story about how lovely the day had been. So lovely that I was able to throw open the window and the back door. Which was wonderful because the warm-up and had made the house smell musty. I also started up the diffuser with a blend of lemon, eucalyptus, and tea tree essential oils. This was to help air out that musty smell…or as I shared on the story “the smell of dog butt”.
Photography.
I also shared my promised post of Views From the Top of Princes Street Suites in Edinburgh Scotland filled with photographs of from the rooftop.
My Children.
The trio of Instagram posts for this segment were photos of my children.
Day #2 was Mr. D.
The sun was shining brightly enough that I did my reading out on the back porch that day. I’m on book #5 for the month in case you are wondering. On Wednesday, it was so warm that I wore flip flops to my Pilates class and we broke weather records that Roanoke hadn’t seen since the 1930’s.
I also participated in the weekly photo challenge and Wordless Wednesday by sharing some photos from my archives of my trip to Amsterdam.
Mother of an Adult.
Yesterday was Big Mr.’s birthday. He turned eighteen. I wrote a post about how strange it feels to be the mother of an adult.
I talked like crazy on my Instagram story. Much more than I usually do.
I did what every good mother does when it’s her child’s birthday…I went shopping for myself.
Actually, I had already planned that errand for the day. I am slowly looking for clothes to take to Aruba and an outfit for an upcoming party that I’ll be attending. As my final stop before returning home, I planned to pick up a cake for Big Mr. I saw that I had missed a text saying the check the website for an important message from the middle school.
Guns at School.
My stomach dropped. My immediate thought was is the school on lockdown. There wasn’t a message on the website. I went in to buy a cake. The hubby texts me and asks if I got the phone call that a student had brought a gun to school. I had missed a call from the school, but the voicemail hadn’t come through yet.
I was stunned.
So I checked the school website again. And there it was. The important message that a student had brought a loaded handgun to the middle school. It was in the student’s locker and had been brought in on a dare with no intent to harm. This was the message.
When Miss Sunshine came home we discussed the situation. She wasn’t visibly shaken, but some of my children tend to repeat elements of a story when they are bothered by something…whether that’s real life, a news story, a scene in a movie, etc. It is their way of working through and processing something.
I will state right here that my website is not a place for a debate on gun control. Most people involved in that conversation get ugly pretty quickly…on both sides. I don’t promote hostility and won’t be starting today. Any commentary to that effect will be removed.
I do believe that we need to keep our school children safe.
I read a commentary by the Sheriff in Lee County (a county in Florida beside the one in which I grew up). He talked about how we feel safe when we enter a courthouse or when we fly and it due to increased security procedures. You’re welcome to read it here.
I thought about sharing what I wrote on my private Facebook page, but I’m still leery about even telling you guys about the fact that we had this scare. There are some people out there who seem to have nothing better to do than attack and my mental health does not do well with that. I will share that a snippet referred to the fact that we need not reminisce on the good ol’ days when this didn’t happen and instead focus on how we are going to address the current reality.
Our kids deserve to not live in fear.
Birthday Dinner.
Even though it was a mentally distressing and highly disturbing event, we weren’t going to let it stop life. It was Big Mr.’s 18th birthday, after all. The five of us along with three of his friends all went out to dinner. He chose a restaurant called Texas Roadhouse. Even though he didn’t want them to, his friends shared that it was his birthday. They have you climb on to a horse saddle and have everyone yell “YeeHaw” for you. It was quite hilarious. I was only able to share a little segment of the entire thing on my Instagram Story, but it was quite funny.
If you hurry, it’ll still be on my story until around 8 p.m. EST.
Motorcycles.
Big Mr. had a motorcycle permit and he took a class which means that once he’s turned eighteen…aka yesterday…he can legally drive a motorcycle without being followed by an adult.
Lord help my soul!
Honestly, I do love that my teenagers are daredevils. They live life to the fullest. I could learn a thing or two from them.
Music.
Since I talked about what life was like for me when I turned 18, I also got sucked into what songs were popular when I was that age. This week I’ve chosen a song that came out near the end of 1995, shortly after I turned 18. I owned the CD and played it repetitively. It’s probably pretty apparent that I’ve always hated being told I couldn’t do something just because I’m a girl.
I hope that you all have a light-filled weekend and week up ahead. Hand out hugs freely to those that you love, smile at the shy person in the corner, spread your light as far as you can.
What a delightful post except about that handgun in middle school. Yikes. Done on a dare? Not cool.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. ♥
Thank you! The whole situation is sad on many levels. I hope that you have a fabulous day and weekend as well! <3
I’ve used listened to No Doubt. Don’t speak was my favourite song. Enjoy your weekend!
Thanks so much! I loved Don’t Speak! It was a toss up between three songs, but I chose this one because it was the first single released.
Along with my full-time job, I worked part-time at Victoria’s Secret and when I was ready to quit, they asked me to stay on in the stockroom (back then the salespeople had to dress up and wear closed toed dress shoes). In the stockroom, I could come in and wear tennis shoes which was a relief after a full day at another job. I remember playing No Doubt while I steamed (everything was also silk and satin back then) and hung clothes from the shipments.
Enjoy your weekend as well!
Great post, lots in there! I will skip my outrage for the president wanting to give bonuses for teachers to carry guns in the classroom, and ask you how your Instagram goals are progressing. I have been toying with the “stories” feature but don’t really know how it works. Or, how to do it! Are you using videos for your stories? How do you find it working for you?
You can add photos from your camera roll to a story. I’ve used some videos, but the timeframe they allot is short (like 15 seconds), so I have to trim the video and save as a new clip. It took me the longest time to discover that you can hold down the photo button and record straight to the story (you can watch it before you save it to the story), which creates the right time length. Now I only trim if it’s a video like the one from my son’s birthday where I was recording the whole thing for myself. They’ve also added a type feature which I appreciate. Before I’d have to take a black photo and then type on top of it.
I don’t know if it changes much from my engagement standpoint. My followers aren’t growing (it’s still a follow/unfollow pattern) and my photos aren’t moving up in the algorithm, but I can see who is taking an actual interest in what I’m doing. I’m learning to focus more on interaction than numbers on that platform. It’s still hard because I I’m a people pleaser and want to be liked, but people are tremendously more interesting than trying to play the game. 🙂
I think Instagram is particularly fickle! It is so obvious when someone starts to follow you but they themselves have 12k followers but are only following 300 people. You know that they will drop you as soon as you hit follow, or before that! I only follow those accounts that I am truly interested in, or feel I can learn something from. Thanks for sharing your stories info with me! I may try a little harder to figure it out 🙂
Love the photo of the throw-in at the football match (and in awe of your posts)
Thanks so much Jonathan. I don’t have a zoom lens for this camera yet, so it’s rare to have her close enough for me to capture that well. 🙂
I very much dislike the few weeks in spring and fall when the house needs to be closed up yet it’s warm enough to smell musty. In the fall, I cut basil and rosemary and set them out in bud vases, in the spring, I merely complain. “Like dog butt” seems accurate *nods*
I loved the pic of Girly at soccer, the faceless portrait, and the quote you used. I actually wanted to comment on it, but something came up and I never got back to it. “Showing up” Yes, ma’am. We’ve had some warmer weather, but the sun hasn’t been strong — instead, rain. Usually it’d be snow. I have mixed feelings about it, but I’d like a sunny day to get my forest time, too. 🙂
We are back to cold enough to be closed up. Boo. I like that idea of fresh herbs in the fall. I’ll have to remember that.
Thanks for the compliment on the photo of the girlie. I like how it’s faceless because it could be anyone. She likes how it’s faceless because she doesn’t want her friends on IG that follow me to see her. lol. Showing up certainly is an important component that we often overlook.
We’ve had lots of rain, but it looks like it’s finally clearing out. Sun is on the schedule for the weekend, so we are planning to hike. 🙂
I was such a fan of No doubt. Just a girl reminds me of the movie tank girl. I’m so sorry to hear about what happened at school. Very scary. x
Thanks Dee! I’m glad to be past it. I remember Tank Girl!