coffee date: {grateful}

It's been a while since I've linked up with  Alissa @ Rags to Stiches for a coffee date,  but I'm totally in a fall coffee kind of mood and I want to share today. Over a venti Pumpkin Spice Latte  (my favorite coffee ever! oh my be still my beating heart!!!) I'd tell you: 
I did the math last night and realized that I am working a 70-hour work week this week.   It's kind of a hazy blur, and yeah it's a lot of crazy hours, but I'm managing OK.
It'll make my weekend that much sweeter when it finally gets here.
I'd tell you that in what down time I had this week:
I've caught up with old friends in email and text,  checked a few things off my to-do list (like renting a textbook for my new major in Business Marketing:  back to school after 10 years of this full time+ career and I'm excited!) read some great new blogs, made myself a blog button,  and finally caught up on my She Reads Truth Proverbs Daily. 

I'd share that today was Proverbs 27 and verse17 has been finding me all yearlong.
"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."  
A constant reminder that the people who are falling in & out of my life  in person & here in the blogger world are all there for a purpose. I'm starting to see how some of the dots of sadness and disappointment are connecting  into a bigger picture kind of woven story that's all my own.

I'd tell you that despite these long days:  I had a great dinner with my friends Carrie, Jacob, and their baby Olivia.  I woke up to a picture of cute baby Owen the other day.  The clouds and sky all this week have captivated me. I made it to the gym to run twice early in the AM after my shift. I saw my childhood friend who was having her first kind of great day after the last couple of months of chemo/radiation. I spent time with my Uncle.  Time with him will be gone sooner rather than later.  It's bittersweet.  We have peace in knowing he'll go to a better place, but we will miss him.  Our law enforcement community lost another patrol officer due to a senseless gunman.  It is happening to often and a loss of one is a loss to us all.  It makes my heart heavy. I held back tears when a friend told me nonchalantly that she prays for me everyday.  I didn't hold back tears when another friend thanked me for loving her and her family unconditionally and that a quick email to check in on her early at 5am was a major comfort to her when she really needed it.  Timing. My other lesson this year.
Finally, I'd tell you that this has been a busy week but when I sat down to write this coffee blog,  I realized how grateful I really am and should be. 
I have a good, reliable job, a house of my own to live in,  precious friends & family that love me, and I have a lot of: goals, ambition, dreams, and opportunities that have yet to come to light. 
I hope you all have had a great week and good weekend that is still yet to come.  <3

Snippets & Soundbytes: Simply {Sunday}

Well, it's my version of Sunday at least.  Simple?  Eh.
There's music, pictures, food, a little bit of comedy. I managed to make it through 14 hours of work... yes, 14 hours (0200-1600) in one piece, but  determined not to hit the couch face first right when I got home.  Shift work ain't for the birds.   Honestly, it's half the struggle sometimes.
We're in another Indian Summer around here. Typical for these last few years. Hot August nights roll into sultry September days. 

It was 95* when I got off, but a gentle breeze was calling as a reminder to  open all the doors and windows,  put on some Zac Brown Band and let the light come streaming in. 
Everything around here, the hills, the leaves, the trees  are shades of brown, orange, and red.  The sun is setting earlier and earlier, painting everything in sepia tones. 

I ended up in the backyard watering the thirsty garden and then while Emma "supervised" I finally picked some tomatoes. I tell you nothing beats home grown tomatoes.  This is actually the first time this year they've made it into the house.  I usually grab a handful and snack on them while I water early in the morning.
I have more tomatoes than I can use myself,  so I plan on gifting some of them to my mother.  Especially after this text she sent me a couple of weeks ago: 

See mine in the picture up top and hers? 

They're from the same nursery and planted at the same time.  

I have no idea what happened to them, but she's killing me with this diatribe. 

Thirty minutes later, fresh off of a weekend road-trip home from Lake Tahoe,  I convinced my friend Mellissa and her husband Dave to join me for a pedicure. 

Exhausted and completely willing participant to the calf and foot massage I was getting,  I fell asleep with this gem of a tune playing in the nail salon. 

I thought this kind of music was legally only allowed to be played  on Midnight Special DVD Collections at 3am and in elevators?  Yeah, see, 14 seconds into the song and you're probably comatose too.   I was out.  There might have been drool.

{sidenote: some kind of power of suggestion, my nails are the exact same color as my car. Weird}

Nothing cures a massage chair coma like a Freeb!rds burrito and  a few more tunes on the drive home with all the windows down.   This familiar old song is straight out of my ... pre-teens? 
Yeah, this is twenty (one) years old! 21.  It's old enough to legally drink now! What?!
Ah, anyways, here I am now, blogging a little bit of my night before I finally give in and go to sleep.   I have two whole days off (fingers-crossed) and no solid plans. Maybe I can finally get to that stamp collection I've been meaning to organize. Just kidding.  But I'm sure I'll find another adventure in the next 48 hours. 
Hope y'all have a great Labor Day Holiday!
Stay thirsty, stay classy, stay safe my friends!
<3,

{Dear} Friday v.4

Dear Friday, well hello there.  I thought you might never get here, but you never fail me. You see I have finally resigned myself to your late hour, having made it through the day and the week.  Dear Red Wine, yes you, I like your sassy bottle curves and your sneaky little smile.  Mmmm...  

Dear Billy Currington (double mmmm...), if you could only see me spinning around this big candlelit room with a glass in my hand, well, that voice of yours is always doing something right.   Dear Sore Body, yeah, you.  You keep wanting to give up on me one muscle a a time, but surely and slowly we're getting it back.  No, no.  No more giving up and giving in.  We're both in this for the long haul.  I have to live somewhere, and it's not longer going to be a lazy garbage dump.   Dear Lynn, Jill, Ashley, Gail, and Michelle, thanks for the nods, the emails, the kudos, and the encouragement this week. Dear Aunt Liz & Uncle Tom, thank you for the invite.  Tomorrow's Cal v. Nevada College Football game is going to be quite amazing.  Somehow I have managed to make it to 31 never having been to a live College Football Game.  I think it's high time to do some jumping, shouting, and screaming!!   Dear Summer, I am sad to see you go.  I feel like we were just getting comfy together.  I can't believe you're gone again.  Like another lost love...*sigh*, but I have hope you'll be back some day.  Hopefully sooner rather than later.  You know how much I love you even if I sometimes complain about how uncomfortable you make me. Dear Family, we knew it was coming, let's make the best of our time with our blessed, sweet Uncle Mickey.  3-6 months isn't a long time, but it's an invitation to make the most if it and so many people don't get that at all.  Don't be afraid.  There's nothing to fear.  It's just going to hurt for a while.  Don't let it disable you from spending the few good days and moments we have left with him.   Dear Louise, you didn't get a warning.  No one should ever outlive their children.  I can't think of the words to say to you to help be a comfort, other than you have my thoughts and my prayers.  Dear readers, whoever you are.  Tell the people you love that you love them.  Whether it's the actual words, a kind gesture, a moment of time our of your day dedicated to thinking of them and simply saying that they're on your mind.  Do it.  Do it now, do it consistently, do it sincerely   


Hoping everyone has a great weekend! XO, 

{8} Mile

This ain't no Eminem story.  
As you might have read previously, back in March,  I did my first 5k and since then decided that I would do some version of an organized run  every month from then on for an entire year.  I'm 6 for 6 so far. Go me!
Why do a run a month?   No.   The question is: Why not?!

I like goals, but don't call them lofty just yet. Well, 1/2 lofty. 5k is only like 3.2 miles but the way I see it,  that's 5 more Ks than I have been doing previously ever and well,   if I'm ever going to meet that bucket list item of doing a full 26.2 marathon,  I gotta start somewhere right? 
I never get enough sleep.   It's just how things are in my world and I'm learning to cope.  When I do sleep and then it's time to get up, it looks like this: 

{ it's like my body is glued to the bed}

So Saturday I finally got out of bed and me and Lynn finally got going to Santa Cruz at 3pm. {only 3 hours later than we had originally talked about leaving} No biggie, there was no big rush.  

We talked a lot, we sang some songs (ok, I did most of the singing). There was the mandatory Starbucks trip and then there was a wall of traffic which was just a reminder to turn the radio up and roll the windows & sunroof back. 

{sunshine, sunroof, good company = good times}

Dead stopped, We tried to get everyone else in the cars around us to sing "My Sharona" with us, but no one wanted to play in our Reindeer Games.  Their loss.

We finally made it into Santa Cruz, found our sketchy little Inn, where they store all the extra furniture and decor out front by the "office", which is actually just is just a telephone number to a confused person who told us they left the key to our room under the mat in front of the door to the room where there were no pictures on the walls.  The "second" bedroom was really a rollaway in the living room right by the front window, where the fire alarm was disconnected, and there were 2x4s holding up the couch - which was described as "velvety and comfy" and "will suck you in like an SVU marathon".  

Uhhmm................

Deciding to flee the Bate's Motel get dinner,  we opted to spend the next couple of hours at the harbor and on the beach right at sunset, soaking up the last of the day, scaling the rock wall levee (carefully, in flip flops mind you) and taking about 157 pictures between two of us.   After neither one of us slid into the Pacific, we stuffed our faces at the Crow's Nest (which was classy and comfy and sucked us in like a hungry moth to a BBQ flame) before heading back to get some "sleep". 

Sleep.  Remember that thing that escapes me?  Yeah.   Neither do I and neither did Saturday night.  My August run was and ante-upper.   An 8-mile trail run.  That's the equivalent of a 12k. I'll see your 5k's and raise you 7ks, muuuwhhhaahahahaaaa!!!
8 miles on no sleep, with very little preparation, but just enough advice from Lynn on what eat to keep my energy up and keep myself hydrated for what I hoped would be less than a 3 hour trek. Running is not my forte. 
But you know what they say? Go big or go home. 
A quick breakfast on the way to carb up, we arrived at the start line about an hour early,   grabbed our gear, stretched, hydrated, and I used the bathroom like 7 times! At an all women's race, the bathroom was line was EPIC.  
Lynn was doing the half marathon, so she started 10 minutes earlier than I did.  Which left me solo and with my own motivation.

Start time 08:55 am, I took my place at the back of the pack where I remained for the next 2:16 hours.  I wasn't competing with anyone but myself.  In my book, showing up, taking time out of my hectically busy schedule, I had already won. 
Of the family, my brother, who ran ACROSS the country last year for Batten Disease, is the marathoner. I have always been the support driver, the finish line sign holder, the girl behind the scenes who didn't believe that she could step out of the sidelines and get INTO the race. 
Not anymore.  Hell.  Highwater. Doubt. Distance. None of that was going to keep me from finishing.

Source: naturalcuriosities.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Short of injuries, I was getting it done. I don't know what took over, but I did a lot of thinking out there on the trails.  I occasionally looked up at the break in the trees and felt the sun shining down on me as I kept a steady pace. 

I talked to Catie, who I dedicated my run to, who had the disease that my brother ran to raise awareness for.  Catie was a fighter and now she's an angel. I remembered how much she used to run as a child. I thought of my brother and all the miles he put in over 4.5 months. I smiled for all the times I skipped the gym or stayed in bed...today kicked the ass of all those days. I thought of the people in my life with failing health. I thought about a lot. A steady stream of sweat reminded me that this was no stroll in the park. Fire roads, steep trials with roots cut in that made their own natural steps, tripping hazards reminding me to keep my eyes on the ground and directly in front of me. My pony tail pulling some kind of wiper blade action across my back, it stuck to me just enough to keep my arms stretched back behind me occasionally to adjust it. 
I played the same songs over and over again this {one}, that {one}, this{one} again, this {one} really got me moving:  Sometimes you gotta push 
Though all your obstacles... No matter what the options are 
There is no lose , there is no fail 
LETS GO... We were born to run
I kept going as my lungs adjusted, I remembered my yoga breathing, and paid attention to Lynn's advice, fuel up about every 20 minutes, take this for cramps, take that for hydration.  Walk, run, walk, run, walk, run...the other ladies on the trail and the volunteers smiled and told me I was doing a good job, don't stop, you're almost there, you're doing a great job, keep going.
And so I did.  I kept going.   One step at at time, 1/4 mark, 1/2 mark, 2 miles left...and before I knew it, I made it.  Finished, the end, pulled out my headphones so I could hear them announce my name as I crossed the finish line. 

I texted my family, my mom, my best friends, and my trainer. 

"Done.  2:16 minutes, 8 miles.  I did it."

{this pro procrastinator did the damn thing!}

The rest of the day was kind of an exhausted, sleep-sick blur.  We made our way back to Downtown, grabbed a big lunch, bought a couple of beach towels, and then I laid out on the beach and fell asleep in 75* of sun beating down on me in the sand.  

Another long trip back and more great conversation, I got my mangled body home in one piece, calling off the early morning training session, got the back end of my shift covered, and slept for 17 glorious hours ...this is what straight out of hibernation looks like. Sunburnt and sore as all get out, but rested and completely accomplished.

Today, just short of 48 hours later, my body hurts every where.  I can feel that expanse in my lungs all stretched out when I laugh or cough. I'm moving slow.  Real slow. I feel it in my back, in my abs, in my obliques...its pain, but its good pain. It's the kind of pain you earn...it's sweet satisfaction of doing something you never thought you were capable of. 

Source: runforthethrill.tumblr.com via Lauren on Pinterest

So I went from 5 to 8 and now...now, what's next?  

I dunno, but stay tuned...it'll be good whatever it is. 

{Versatile} Blogger

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Grand Jury"
*ahem* wait...
"I'd like to thank the Academy..."
oh no...wrong one again...hold up: 
"Dear John, ..."
Ok, ok, ok...no really, I got nominated! 
For the  *drumroll* Versatile Blogger Award!
by Nelly (AKA PartyMom) at Mom With An Agenda to Save {Nelly was my Grandma's name, gotta love it already!}

This award is a fun way for bloggers to share their favorite blogs  and to promote promising new blogs .
If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.
The VBA Rules: 

•  Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
•  Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy.
•  Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. 
•  Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
•  Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself

 I am paying it forward and nominating these ladies (I have 16, shhh don't tell!): 
Mellissa @ Kitchen.Garden.Love Jennifer @ My Not So Glamorous Life Lady A @ Anonymous A Ashley @ All Things Ashley  Angela @ Just a City Girl with Tractor Envy  Erin @ Shades of Gray and a Pinch of Pink Jill @ Ernestine Edna and Her Really Big Ideas Sippy Cups and Pearls Jodi @ Jod a la Mode  Lauren @ Tennessee Honey The Divvy Spot  Michelle @ All That Glitta & Blang Kayla Lynn @ Simple Bliss Tanya @ Knowing Tanya Jessica @ Where Simplicity Meets Complexity  Elizabeth @ Port of Thoughts 
Ok, so for 7 things about moi: 
* I am the oldest of 3 kids, my brother who ran across the country,  and my sister who is in school to be an RN * I am a 911 operator /Police/Fire dispatcher * I am Fillipino/Irish/German/Swiss * I really love salsa (well good salsa that is) * When I was in high school, I loved the Fugees,  so for about 6 months I spelled my name Lauryn after Lauryn Hill  * I bought/live in the house I grew up in * my hair right now is the longest it's been probably since I was a kid   and I <3 it !

{9} Loves

It's Tuesday and time for the weekly You Challenge

it is Week 2

and (in no particular order) these are my 9 Loves:

1. Great writers, like Andrea Balt who blow my mind with pieces like:

The Crazies Manifesto

that inspire me to write like this: Stand UP

& Tyler Knott who makes my heart beat a little faster when I read his words:

Source: google.co.uk via Lucy on Pinterest

2. My family 

{these are just the regulars ,^ that's my mom!^  this family goes on and on and on...}

3. Coconut.  Yes, the tropical fruit. 

Just a few months ago my aunt told me that I got it from my Grandpa Joe.  

He was from the Phillipines and he had a serious love of coconut flavored anything 

Apparently, it was in his blood and that's why it's in mine too. 

{this is my Grandpa: Joseph Prado Aquino}

4. Music - it floods my ears, my house, my car, my life

...oh let me count the ways I love, love, love music!

What's the quote?  "Music is love set on fire"

You get my drift. 

5. Travel - do I even have to explain this? <3

Source: prettystuff.tumblr.com via Lauren on Pinterest

6. Summertime - sunshine on my skin, BBQs, kids out of school and free, July 4th, my birthday, tans, popsicles, beachy hair, lazy days, pedicures, sundresses, flip-flops, trips to the beach, concerts in the park, good times, good friends, great weather, oh Summer, may you always come around every year to remind us to be wild & free.

7. Tattoos - current count: {10}

{flower tattoo/Hawaii, compass rose tattoo/Austin, my back, my quarter sleeve front/back, my 31st b-day present}

{two foot tatts/2 ankle tatts, my sister and I have matching Celtic knot tattoos for sisterhood, my tatts on display}

8.  my friends

need I say more?  I didn't think so.

9. I love this house, this is my dream house.

 I don't even know where I got this picture, it's been downloaded on my computer for a number of years now, 

so if I'm infringing on anyone's copyrights, forgive me. 

I have dream - of a house like this, on a big piece of property where the weather gets a little sticky, the days are a little slower and easier, all of the neighbors are at least "down the road", and all of my loves, old and new come to stay, come to play, and come to make happy memories.

10 1/2 (oops) 9 1/2...thunderstorms...oh, I love thunderstorms.

They are like fireworks, I just stand and stare in awe. 

<3

PS - it's also the day for the GFC Blog Hop with Melissa,  don't forget to head over there and say hi!!

take me out the to the {ballgame}

For the sake of simplicity, I took a little Blogger break this last week,
but I'm back and I have things to share.
like...

Last Tuesday night.

It was on my calendar for the last few months.

The Annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Night hosted by the San Francisco Giants.

It's tough to be a public servant these days.  

Financial shambles make people do crazy things, 

and well, we're even more damned if we do and especially more damned if we don't.  

Crime, it's not down despite what the media would have you believe. 

Staffing is lower than it's ever been. 

The inherent dangers are increasing along with the line of duty deaths.

{every game starts with a motorcade that lines the entire outfield, the National Anthem, and the Pledge of Allegiance}

So when there's a public event that recognizes the sacrifice made every day by the people I called colleagues, locally and nationally, it's one to be honored.  

Yes, indeed, this is a good time every year and that's exactly why I go.

For a good ol' American good time.
It's BBQ, beer, tailgating, garlic fries, peanuts, ice cream sundaes, friends, family, 

and the greater Bay Area Law Enforcement Community.  

Other than that, I think there's scoring involved?

Some kind of competition?
Balls?  Bats?  I know that they run around the field and stuff.

{see look, there's some kind of running around going on out there behind my $10 beer!!}

Seriously, I don't honestly even follow baseball.

I'm not a fan, but I'm not not a fan.
Baseball is America's past time and I'm very much an all-around American kind of girl.

{it couldn't have been a better day for a game, the weather was perfect!}

The National Anthem always gives me the chills.  Always.

 I'm not a big ol' flag waviin patriot, but that song, well yes, I do bleed Red, White, & Blue.

I appreciate all the men and women who have lived and died for that flag, for this country, for those colors.  Our flag, my American flag, long may it wave.

The rest of the album I created over the course of a few hours was a little self indulgent,

 but I was: 

1) drinking

2) with a bunch of my friends and co-workers

3) a girl armed with a camera phone

and last but not least

4) having a damn good time!

The Giants won.  I know that much.  The score?  I'd have to look it up.
But the memories, yes, there are a few, not withstanding the dead battery in my car when we got out of the game, but even that was no big deal.
The lot was full, we weren't going anywhere fast as it was. 

{This stadium, in this City by the Bay, it's a thing of beauty I tell ya.
A bona fide, American iconic thing of beauty.}

There are just some things, some days, events that you simply make time for.  
This is one of them.  One of the days when I just go and have fun.

No to-do list.  No pressure.  No agenda.

and those kinds of days make for one happy girl.

~ Lauren