on balancing blog life…

 

via

I haven’t been good at balancing my blog life lately.

I find myself going on runs with Stella and returning with a hundred blog topics at the forefront of my mind and lots of photos ready to share because July has been such a jam-packed month of happenings.

But somehow I’m not finding the time to blog about them.

Instead, I’ve been enjoying the impromptu moments around the house and staying out in the main room with the family instead of blogging. The irony of trying to experience things more fully is that it often means not grabbing the camera. And not having time to sit in front of the computer. Have you noticed this too?

Although I do keep a personal journal.

And I do try to get keep current in my journal because truthfully, I no longer trust my memory.

I mean seriously, most of the time I have to work hard to remember where I parked my car so getting bits of conversations down so I’ll remember the little things is important to me.

Like this conversation the other day when I was telling Jim about my face fiasco.

About how I was rushing around trying to get ready to head out to San Francisco with Tracey and Mary and Kirsten and of course I wanted to remove my old nail polish (because god-knows-I never-seem-to-have-my-nails-done) so I grabbed the nail polish remover and my facial astringent and cotton balls (more multi-tasking) out of the bathroom and hurried down the hallway…and while I was talking and walking I dipped the cotton ball into the astringent and applied it all over my face. But suddenly in mid-sentence, I noticed the stark lemony smell and looked down and realized I’d just covered my entire face with nail polish remover!

For a horror-stricken moment I imagined strolling down the picturesque Union Street with a red blotchy face and I tore into the bathroom and began maniacally splashing water all over my face...

(don’t you hate when this happens?)

Anyway these things happen to me when I don’t have my glasses on and I when I’m going 100 miles an hour. And I always end up laughing out loud at myself.

Literally. I will stand in one place and find myself belly-laughing so hard just thinking about some of these things I do.

And so I’m telling Jim this story and he laughs and gets this amused grin on his face and he says,

“I don’t remember you being such a character Les.”

And of course my literary ears perk up at that word.

A character? Like what do you mean…a character?”  I say.

And I’m envisioning the beautiful, spunky Elizabeth Bennet with her flowing mane blowing in the English countryside and I share this vision.

And he says, “No… actually I was thinking more like Lucille Ball.”

Hey watch it. I love Lucy!

Before I go here’s a snapshot of some special moments from the last few weeks.

This month we’ve been blessed with visits by dear friends; we saw Steve and Grace after so many years and they brought two of their grown up boys (now men) along for a wonderful evening of catching up.

Steve and Grace and Jim and I all waited tables at the same restaurant during college and we have so many fun stories and memories. We met our spouses at the restaurant, although Jim and Steve also grew up together and I have to add that they are two of the funniest guys I know.

Unfortunately we don’t see them much because they moved their family to Oregon twenty years ago.

the old guys against the young ones courtesy of my cell phone..

We drank the best red wine and the guys played ping-pong and the years just seemed to melt away. It’s like that with old friends, don’t you think?

This month I also had some wonderful birthday moments.

 

This text came from Tracey who is one of the most thoughtful people in the world, and I’m serious.

I had planned on doing an entire post about this amazing trip to San Francisco with the girls but of course, I haven’t yet.

But here’s a few photos to give you an idea of our trip.

This was the first place we stopped for coffee. We ad-libbed pretty much everything, which I loved.

How about you? Do you like your getaways to be planned or impromptu?

What I love most about San Francisco are the charming little coffee houses, bookstores and flower shops everywhere!

I lost track of how many shops we stopped in.

Here’s my dear friend Mary who cannot take a bad picture. We made her model this $500.00 dress while we were shopping on Union Street. I like to brag about her because she’s so darn humble. Last weekend she completed a five mile race at an eight minute mile pace, isn’t that impressive?

( not a bad pace for a 53 year old!)

I love car rides because you can have the best conversations during them…

I discovered the most yummy beer ever!

It’s called Blanche de Bruxelles

It’s hard peeking into a nine million dollar home….

But we had fun admiring the exterior.

By the way…

If you’re interested in starting a journal or writing about your life, here’s one of my favorite books on memoir writing by the wonderful Abigail Thomas.

 

Last night

watching Bourne Identity with Jim--instead of blogging--because I love anything with Rachel Weisz

And finally.

How are you balancing your life this summer? I’d love to hear.

Wishing you a big fat belly laugh in your future.

 

xoxo

Leslie

 

linking up at these lovely places:

• http://www.commonground-do.com/2013/07/be-inspired-150-renewed.html?
• http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/2013/07/feathered-nest-friday_25.html?

 

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