📚 ✍️ 📓 📖 💻 📕 🖊️ 🗒️ 📚 ✍️ 📖 💻

If I were to book a writing retreat for myself for a week or weekend what would it look like? And how can I do the same thing on a budget?

Coffee Shop ☕️

Nap 💤

Sunrise & Sunset 🌅 ☀️

TV in bed 🛌

Hiking 🥾 🍂

Meditations 🧘‍♀️

Library 📚

Take out Chinese 🥢

When the kids are gone and Ryan’s coaching or at the bar … soak up this time alone, and pretend I booked myself a solo vacation, and create my own little writing retreat. ✍️

📚 ✍️ 📓 📖 💻 📕 🖊️ 🗒️ 📚 ✍️ 📖 💻

I am so proud of you! Not just because you’re graduating MHS today, but because you are a fabulous human and I am so lucky to be your mom! 🍀 💕 My heart is simultaneously exploding with joy and breaking just a little as it aches to let you go.

I feel like I swallowed the sun as I am bursting with delight. This is your milestone, and I am grateful to have a front row seat to the spectacular unfolding of your life.

I love you with my whole heart! I hope you always know I’m here for you, please feel both held and free by the support of your family.

I am so impressed that you fully step into whatever you’re responsible for, You don’t wait for someone to make a difference because YOU are someone!

Continue to live boldly and child-like. Your imagination will solve problems and create opportunities I could never dream of.

You are caring, hard working and brilliant. I know with all that I am, that you can achieve any dream that finds its way to your heart.

I love that you find the fun, go on adventures to Starved Rock to hike, think we can train a bobcat to dig holes, buy garbage bags and dish soap to go mud sledding on Election Day, going on the giant drop at Great America all by yourself, dress up for junior-senior wars in a gillie suit, go all-in for silly games like senior assassin, collecting pins at Cooperstown or playing neighborhood whiffle or pickle ball. I know you’ll be the same adventure-seeking human who follows his fascination at MSU and generally embraces life!

You amaze me. Not just by earning 2 varsity letters freshman year, the sportsmanship award for Mundelein Senior year cross country, Captain of the Track Team Senior year, the Mustang Athletic Directors Award, breaking the 5-minute mile, multiple AP and honors courses throughout HS, battling health concerns, and taking it all in stride. You’ve worked hard as a youth umpire, in the little league concession stand, starting your own lawn mowing/snow removal business, park district fitness attendant, beach gate keeper, mattress salesman, and your favorite job of banner day-camp counselor since 2023. I know you’ll keep that strong work ethic your entire life!

I am so excited for your next chapter; not just when you’re tearing it up on the bags court at every tournament you enter, or having some laughs on the basketball court with your team 4 1/2 men. Follow your passion. Belly up to the buffet of life; Meet new friends. Try a new sport or game. Major in chemistry or not. Aspire to be a person of generosity, integrity, humility and wisdom.

I soaked up every moment of your senior year, it felt like life’s highlight reel. However, I always try to live life like it’s urgent and there are closing credits ready to roll… which is why I treasure being a “photojournalist of an ordinary life” but having you in my life, Finn, makes life anything but ordinary. I love our photo adventures, driving with you, getting coffee with you, shopping with you, watching tv with you, filling out forms with you, really any chance to connect and talk with you. You elevate any experience, with your energy, joy, humor, thoughtful questions, patience and love. I really am so grateful I get to be your mom.

You have an amazing soul and even when you meet new people they quickly recognize it (like your “guy” Emilio in Punta Cana).

Be kind to yourself and to others.

Be curious about life and follow your fascination.

Be brave and stand up for what is right, try new things, keep learning and growing… and sometimes bravery feels like fear, but keep going!

Remember your dreams, keep dreaming big. Who especially could these dreams belong to except for you? And to quote my favorite show …

As you head off to college, remember if you can’t find a friend, be one. Be yourself out there.

Your only Rx is a daily dose of novelty: try something new, talk to someone new, walk around being genuinely curious.

Lace up your running shoes; as you learned all through high school, they can take you places you didn’t think you could go!

Have an amazing adventure! Seek wonder and awe. Please call or text whenever you want to or need to, I’ll always be here for you. I love you Finnegan! Happy Graduation!! 🧑‍🎓

I watched this very cute movie today and it made me think, what dreams did my younger self have? And have I accomplished them? It’s always a great idea to check in to make sure you’re on the right path …

✔️ Raise, cheer for, support, and fully love two kind, brave, curious children

✔️ Work on the collaborative work of art called marriage

✔️ College (x4) & Career

✔️ Publish a book (x5+)

✔️ Artists Dates & Writing

✔️ Personal Goals: SUP, OTF, WMOTY, Improv…

Got to experience so many breathtaking things! Sunrises at the beach, Snow falling on my eyelashes in the Mountains, being splashed by Niagara Falls, 5th grade opening day date with each of my sons, Cubs World Series Parade, Met the Dolphins at CMA, countless amazing Live Music & Comedy & Art …I can sleep at night knowing I really gave life my all, I lived deep and wide (and will live as long as the universe allows).

✅ ongoing adventure & art & awe ….

Life shouldn’t just be lived, it should be celebrated! 🥂 🍾

Throw a party for no reason… 💯 birthday party, Keegan de Mayo, Neighborhood Olympics …. Have fun out there!

I love this concept of “normal plus” and I loved this book! The main character is wrestling with her mortality as she faces her cancer diagnosis. Her husband offers to make all her wildest dreams come true (bucket list): a trip to Machu Picchu, swimming with dolphins, whatever she dreamed of… and she just wanted more normal days, feeling healthy, time with her kids, dinner with friends and they coined the phrase “normal plus”…. And I totally relate!!

I don’t dream of a bucket-list life, I dream of an ordinary plus life. And ordinary day with your family and friends, but finding a way to make it special. Take a cute selfie together, order a fun cocktail at dinner, buy the fancy soap for your daily shower (so it feels like the spa), burn the fancy candle while you work from home… don’t save it!

Life IS the special occassion.

I also think it’s important to reclaim the word plus. I wear plus-size clothing, but what I really want is a plus-sized life, one that is as wide and deep as it is long 💕

Unless you get up and go to the beach for sunrise you’ll never know how strong the wind blows, how warm the waves feel, how brilliant the sky changes color every second. How dreamy the world is. How peaceful the body looks anchored close to shore. How melodic the sounds echo. How healing the whole sensory experience is. A magical unfolding of the day.

🏝️ 🌴 🏝️ 🌴🏝️ 🌴🏝️ 🌴🏝️ 🌴🏝️ 🌴

the salty breeze and crashing waves are the breath and heartbeat of earth

the rhythmic, peaceful energy of the waves vibrate into my soul 

the sea breeze forces my breath deeper, like the deep ocean, telling me not to hold my breath; to be authentically myself, to just be.

there is poetry in the connectedness of the sky & sea & land, like our breath leaves our lungs and interacts with the outside world

the warmth and pressure of the waves wash away all my worries. 

there is magic in the abundant sand, barefoot, grounded, connected to Earth, moveable, but supported, soft and strong 

You walk along the beach and so quickly your footprints 👣 get erased by a wave, a metaphor for our time on Earth. 

Enjoy the sun and sand, the beach sounds and the salty breeze on your face. A day at the beach is everything that is wonderful about being an earthling. 

What is a good life? Experiencing moments of awe. The beach is filled with awe, dreams, emotions, memories and wonder: you can feel them all directing your life like a compass from the sky.

Everyone feels like a child again, jumping and playing in the waves. When else do we play with the Earth? What a gift to play with waves, snowflakes, autumn leaves. I’m drawn to them all …. 🌊 ❄️ 🍂

Did you just move to Mundelein? I love living in this town and here are some reasons why….(in no particular order)

First, the people are amazing!

And there are so many fun adventures!

Outdoor 🍻 & Food Truck at Tighthead

Play Volleyball at Crossroads 🏐

Play Singo at Sundance 🎵

Listen to Live Music at Teddy’s 🎶

Glass Blowing at Patterson Glass 🖼️

Cannoli cooking class at Tony Cannoli 🥘

Curling with Ice Jugs on Sylvan Lake 🥌

Bar Crawl 🍹

Bakery Crawl 🍩

Playground Crawl 🌳

Bike ride to all 20 stars ⭐️

Sit by the Firepit at the Mural 🔥

Sledding ⛄️

5K 🏃‍♂️

Carnival & Mundelein Days 🎡

Dairy Dream & Greggs 🍦

Area Coffee ☕️

SUP on Diamond Lake 🏖️

Witch Paddle on Sylvan Lake 🧙

Paint and Sip at Tonality 🎨

Park on Park 🚘

Farmer’s Market 💐

Fireworks at the Christmas Tree lighting 🎄

Library 📚

Float in the Lazy River at Barefoot Bay 🌊

Art Class & Exhibits Positive Space Studios 🎨

Bowling 🎳

K-9 Playtime 🐶

Total Body Yoga 🧘‍♀️

Diamond Lake Beach ☀️

PS Don’t forget to hike all 43 Lake County Forest Preserves 🌳 or visit close by adventures.

When the world feels like it’s on a path of destruction…. Pause & Create

destruction is noisy, creation is quiet 🤐

Paint 🎨

Write ✍️

Read poetry 📚

Make art 🖼️

create life experiences that align with your values and dreams

We may have to deal with our ex (that should be in jail) for the next 4-years, but I will continue to choose love and vote! 🗳️ 💙 🩵 🌊 and live a creative life 💕

🦇 🐬 🪴 🐝

bats (and dolphins) can hear shapes ⭕️

plants can eat light 🥘

bees can dance maps 🌍

forests speak without words 🌳

earth 🌍 and heart ❤️ have the same letters

art 🖼️ is how we decorate space, music 🎵 is how we decorate time ⏰

color is just wiggly light 🎨

music is just wiggly air 🎶

I am 7% blood 🩸 65% water 💦 and 99.9% empty space ⭐️ all at the same time ….

We can pour ourselves into our art, a novel, a song, a painting …

Regardless of what form we take, a soul, stardust, an earthling… I know this to be true:

I am an infinite abundance of love, light, peace and growth.

In 2025 I will pause and celebrate and live intentionally.

My children are the only ones who know the breadth and depth of my love, for they’ve heard my lungs and my heart from the inside.

My love for them is so deep, even the ocean is jealous.

Whether we get to spend a dreamy week on vacation (and they let me take photos) or just an ordinary afternoon (and they let me make memories), I love being around them.

Every moment is precious. I love you with my whole heart Michael and Finnegan. And even when we aren’t physically together I carry you in my heart always.

You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth. And I’ve tried to leave behind love and fun. And share when I found awe and wonder. And I hope that’s enough. Soak it all in!!  Follow your fascination, seek a daily dose of novelty.

Travel and reading are horizontal and help you learn about the world; but don’t forget to travel deep within; inside you, experience writing workshops and meditation. It equally creates the depth of your life. 

My word of 2024 was freedom … I saw it speak to me in so many ways 🆓

First of all free from pain, free from essure, free from my period, freedom from a monthly inconvenience …. And stress about becoming pregnant, birth control…. Buying tampons, clothing choices, swimming decisions ….

Be free of living my life on other peoples terms. My authentic self.

feel free to feel free 🆓

Love Freely

Dream Freely

I am free to feel

Be my true self freely

Free from my period

Free from Pain

Held & Free (parenting goals)

Pay Attention & Spend Time …. What is free?

I learned (deeply learned) the difference between independence and freedom (4th of July) and how important it is to use the words you mean. There were still enslaved people in America even as we celebrated our first Independence Day.

Freemotion Brand treadmill at OTF 🍊

Mostly …. Kamala’s campaign … 🇺🇸 and Beyoncé’s song 🎵 freedom.

Freedom from worrying about finishing the basement (2017 flood)… 7.5 years is long enough …. I’m letting it go ……

It’s so interesting how this word showed up, even on day 1, after I picked my word and got a gift calendar from my future daughter in law … serendipity, connection,

I want freedom to have my own family traditions, but now I am done raising my children….. I want to spend money on angel trees or food kitchens…. Not on making lists and buying stuff off a list….