Have A Little Faith in We

Happy Monday friends!! October is here – can you stand it?? Anyone feeling like me that when we were kiddos and October rolled around the excitement of costumes and Halloween fun was so so so far away! You had to wait ALL.THE.WAY. to the end of the month to don your perfectly prepared costume!! But now – on only October 4 I am scrambbling to get my Halloween decorations out and my pumpkin patch trip in before we are into November?!!?!??!??! Life is so very funny!

Last weekend we sprinkeled some fun fall stuff into life and it was just lovely!

Friday was dedicated to WORK….. all over the place. I was on serious deadline with my full time roll and my contract work, but Danny and I had really hoped for a movie date. The original plan was to go on Thursday but Quinlan’s change in meds for his little skin infection left him sick so we had to be home <#lifeofpuppyparents> Thursday night. Saturday I was heading to a Business Conference all day with my mom and Sunday we needed to clean the house and do life…. so Friday night seemed like the best chance for a date.  As much as I felt stressed getting my reports done and out… when I was finished and we were heading to the movies it felt like the best reward for hard work: a night out!

We headed to the IMAX theatre in the Dulles Air and Space Museum. It is a sin that I have not visited this amazing museum – and peaking around while we entered the movie theatre secured it place on my list of things to do! Danny was so excited about seeing Everest and really hoping to catch it in 3D. I am excited to see any movie that serves snacks! It was a win for all…only made better by the chill in the air and the theme of the movie which made sporting my Uggs perfectly appropriate. The perfect date.

The movie was good. A true heart wrenching story that married several tales of dreamer’s pushing their bodies to the limit to do the unthinkable – you left the theatre exhausted and speechless. And in Danny’s case with the imprint of my nails still on his forearm (sorry hun!). Absolutely worth a viewing and the 3D was pretty incredible – but it is an emotional story….so you have been warned.

Saturday started with a BANG: 5AM wake up call. I was joining my mom, dad, and cousin at a Juice Plus business training. Juice Plus has brought incredible health and inspiration to live life with a passion to our family. Not only has it resulted in a career for my mom, but the value this company and its people place on living life with the power of possibility is astounding. From my years of taking JP, participating in the business, learning the healthy journey of other’s I can honestly say I always walk away from an event feeling like the opportunity to change your life in any way you can dream is absolutely achievable – you just gotta do the work.

As a business training, they spent a lot of focus on discussing the truth about time. How you spend it? Where you get it? Why you need it? And how to transform it. This spoke directly to my heart. One woman talked about the distractions life brought to her by worrying about the perfectly clean house and another person talked about the discouragement negativity from others can bring to your life. I was hit up side the head with the importance of realizing your dreams and then examining your life to determine what you are doing to make these dreams happen. But they also took it one step further – that I just loved – sometimes the realization of your dream can also be just the tip of iceberg. You have no idea where your dreams and path can take you! You could achieve your goal and find a completely new one that you had never even considered. Or you can determine that a dream was only for that season of life and look at the new one that was just waiting to be discovered. I love the core belief that living in absolutes is just not realistic and the best thing you can do is put in the time and hard work, while truly believing the reward could be better than ever imagined.

Walking away from this Saturday class I walked into a week from H-E-double hockey sticks. Ok so maybe a bit dramatic – but the truth is I had one of those weeks where you were just beaten up. Lived your life 100% in defense mode – taking what comes your way and just trying to react. And the ripple effect? Eating crap, losing sleep, and forgetting the strength that resides in myself to choose to not be distracted by asking myself “what really matters” and that my time is MINE. But in the spirit of Juice Plus life – I recalled the powerful words of Saturday and the strength I have in me to make a change, instead of just giving up. This week was not a failure it was a chance to really let what I had learned sink in.  And on Saturday of this week – well I looked at the unexpected extra time that came up as a chance to work on my blog. So thank you Mom for an awesome Saturday that I am still learning from a week later!

By Saturday afternoon, well you know where to find me – Good old DJO Football. The games to watch my sister dance are quickly dwindling so I was very glad to have an opportunity to catch her perform. I get a little choked up watching her, knowing how big she is already, yet how much is ahead of her…. get ready….. Homecoming is around the corner and the tears, they will flow!

Danny has been back into the full swing of things with hockey and balancing his doc needs that weekends are the best chance for him to relax and take it easy. So when I got home that late afternoon following my full day – we had a night of hanging out and just being us. Nothing glamorous, nothing crazy – just take out and family time to take in – and with this little face too, I was thrilled!

Saturdays quiet end trickled right over into Sunday and we had a pretty slow day until mass and family dinner that night since my dad’s mom was visiting my parents. Over the years she was absolutely one of my most colorful relatives – from crazy outfits to some not so subtle opinions. But these days she is pretty quiet, wheelchair bound and mostly happy being amongst the excitement – but not a whole lot of participation. It was going to be good to visit with her and always great when I can head to my parents for dinner – but this night ended up being chalked full of unexpected surprises.

My dad and grandma has spent the day looking at her family photo albums that she kept from her childhood through my dad’s formative years. It was incredible to see the stories unfold of families, babies – but even more amazing she had her grade school art and papers she had written to practice her penmanship. We saw report cards from her elementary school days and telegram’s from my great grandmother to my dad on the day of his birth! Family history galore – mixed in with papers and snapshots of what was happening all over the world! As my sister Bridget contemplates Ohio State for college, we saw my grandmother’s homecoming queen nominations and articles in the Ohio State school paper. It was a very special evening.

I have said from the start of my little blog – I love the story it will tell of normal life filled with the moments that make it feel extraordinary. The idea of reading about how a person’s story unfolds from the mundane to the life altering….. watching their world pass by through the pictures and pages of handwritten accounts… all through the heart of a woman- it is insanely powerful. One of my strongest beliefs and most treasured gifts is that I believe the heart of a wife and mother who remembers all the little details of life are the curators of their family’s own biography – and I try hard to fulfill that duty on the pages of my blog So to see the efforts of a fellow woman from YEARS of documenting was exhilarating.

That weekend was not meant to be anything too unexpected. I had some time carved out with my favorite people – but no plans of making memories or finding reasons to alter life as we know it….and yet, I found beauty and inspiration with excitement for possibilities of what my dreams could create…all amongst the auburn sky and deep hues of fall around me….and it was wonderful. My hope for you is that these days, these weekends, the scheduled activities brings you a little extra excitement and just maybe a chance to further your dreams, though some very unexpected inspiration.

And speaking of dreams…. how about I make one dream a reality and actually recap THIS past weekend before we are already into next weekend? Have a great week friends!!

Thank you for reading and remember to make it a great day!
Jackie