A Birthday Party And A Storm!

It's been that kind of a weekend. Mason's birthday party was on Saturday and the plan was to cook up some hot dogs in the backyard, let the kids play, and then eat cake. It was fast becoming clear that even if the rain didn't get here early (which it did), it was going to be too cold to hang out in the backyard. Call me crazy, but I didn't feel like whipping the house into shape for 26+ guests to move the party inside. We went to Old Town Pizza and had a ball. The rain meant some of our "No" RSVP's turned to "Yes" so that made for a the-more-the-merrier scenario. All I could think the whole time was, WOW! Look how many friends we have! After pizza we went to the high school where the students put on a haunted house. Certainly not a Hollywood production, but the kids thought it was fun!

Sunday was heavenly! We slept in, stoked the fire, had pancakes for breakfast, played Monopoly and basically just enjoyed the storm. It poured here, something like 3 inches of rain and snow was expected last night at the higher elevations. We did venture out to sit in the hot tub and it was raining so hard, we put one of our patio umbrellas smack dab in the middle of the tub! It made the soak so much more enjoyable. I bet that was pretty funny to see, neither of us wanted to get out and get the camera so you will just have to use your imagination!

With that, use your imagination a lot this week. Imagine what you want your life to be. Imagine one little thing you can do today to make that happen. Imagine you are wildly successful. I will imagine you are taking that action because to me, you can make it happen, all you have to do, is do!

Fall Is Finally Here!

Welcome Fall!

For real this time! Oh, I'm not fooled by this lovely rain we had yesterday, I know we have lots more warm, dare I say even hot days left this year, but the cool weather and rain was a welcome treat!

This weekend was a nice balance of "got lots done" and "did nothing." Don't you just love when things balance out like that? I do! Saturday was the annual Community Festival in Auburn. Mason and I had recipes entered in the contest and Mason won 1st place for his cookies. We also went to Mason's soccer game and yet again, the Pistol Pete's Pirates won! It's safe to say that Saturday was a winning day! We spent the afternoon decorating the house and enjoyed the evening visiting with Mike around the fire in the backyard. We made s'mores and the specialty for the night was the key lime pie s'more! It was really yummy, but still doesn't rank above the pumpkin pie s'more!

Sunday it rained! Dave split some wood and we put the lawn furniture in the garage. I did the grocery shopping while Mason played and Dave napped. Yep, while Dave napped - he never does that! We all ended up in our jammies early hanging out in the living room enjoying our first fire of the season. All in all, it was a lovely weekend.

Now we head into a new week and I have a proposition for you; how would you like to start making your dreams come true right now? Yes! I'm starting an Intentional Winning In Life group that will meet twice a month with e-mail updates the other two weeks. My plan is to work together to get the ball rolling on making your dreams come true and see some significant results within 90 days. If we start in November, that will have you well on your way by February 1st. How cool will it be to be two-thirds of the way to living your dreams instead of making a resolution to start on January 1st? Come on, I'll show you my plan and help you find a way to make your dream come true, no matter where you are in your life, you can do it! If you don't want to join my group, but would like my two cents, send me your dream and why you haven't pursued or achieved it and I may select your dream for my blog in 2011. You don't have to send some major essay, just what your dream is/was and why you didn't follow through. Dave's is that he has always dreamed of being a Park Ranger in a national park. He got detoured by marriage and military deployments. That simple!

Have a great week and if you're not already, find five things everyday to be grateful for. More is better and if you can just focus on what's right, it's safe to say you will barely notice that which is not. Happy Monday friends!

Inspired!

Happy Columbus Day!

I had an amazing weekend! It started early on Friday with Dave and I driving up to South Lake Tahoe. We stopped off in Apple Hill where I performed my ritual Thanks to the Harvest Gods for all the abundance and beauty they provide (Yes, I really do this! Ask Dave or Mary D., they've been-there, seen-it!). It's a fun way to show gratitude and appreciation during my favorite season of the year.

We arrived in Tahoe in time to visit some of our retailers and a couple of prospects, too. We had a lovely dinner overlooking the lake, it's incredibly difficult to not be romantic sharing a delicious meal while watching the sky turn pink at dusk. Perfection! We went to play cards for a little while and had a blast in Cabo Wabo at Harvey's. Not only did we not lose the cash we started with, but we won the money to cover dinner. Not bad!

Early Saturday morning, Dave drove me to the north side of the lake where I met up with my new Leadership Auburn class. We did an intense day and a half of leadership training that was great fun! I am so blessed to be surrounded by and continually meeting amazing people. See what happens when you do a ritual giving thanks? Laughing! On our way we stopped at Taylor Creek where we walked the nature trail to see the salmon spawning. An impressive display of nature at work. I suppose we see those impressive displays everyday but they blend into our regular environments so we don't give them the time and awe they surely deserve. The morning walk was was a special way to end our date. Now I'm back from my weekend, completely inspired and ready to go.

So today is a holiday, are you off? Dave is. I didn't think I was, but the banks are closed so guess what? No work for me! This is good news because I have lots to do and I need your help. All of you know about my Intentional Winning In Life concept and anthology book series plan. I'm ready to start sending that plan into action! November first marks the three year anniversary of writing my blog, can you believe it's been that long? Here's the plan and how you can help:

Each month starting in January I plan to take a specific topic, the topic of your dreams placed on hold, and show you in twelve posts (give or take) how to put that dream back to work making you happy!

• I need you to share with me what it was you wanted to be when you grew up, or a dream you realized later in life that for one reason or another you stopped pursuing. I also need to know why you came to believe you couldn't see it through.

• I also need you to put this call out to everyone you know in hopes that with your blessing, they will share their dreams not come true with me, too.

• I'm going to pick ten of the most popular topics and two of the most unusual to work with next year. This will then become the foundation of what Intentional Winning In Life books will be about. Intentional Winning In Wine Making. Intentional Winning In Writing. Intentional Winning In Nursing. You get the idea. This is going to be really fun, and if I use your topic, how cool will it be to have a real road map to making your dreams come true?

Will you help me? Send me your dreams and why you are not pursuing them and send this request out to your family and friends. I can't wait to make things happen as this year wraps up and we welcome a new year!

With love!
Kath

Weeknd In Lake Tahoe Pictures

The apples are all shades of green, yellow and red!

And then the get dressed up for the holiday season.

Everywhere there are pumpkins! Big, little, green and orange.

At the summit before dropping into Tahoe, I got to meet "Super Dave!"
I love that man!

We took a stroll on the beach before dinner.

After dinner we got a little schmoopy in front of Riva Bar & Grill.

We won! The money we started with plus $80! Not bad!

Saturday morning, very early, we walked along the Rainbow Trail to Taylor Creek. If you haven't been, go! It is a lovely little park with so much to see.

With the salmon spawning, the bears are feeding. I wish we could have been there in the late afternoon. Maybe next year.

Just pretty, pretty scenery.

The light from the start of our walk to the end of it (about 20 mins) was enough to go from dark on the water, to great light on the water.

See what I mean? Isn't this picture gorgeous? Can you imagine what it will look like in a week or two when the colors really come out? I can!

It was tough to get a shot of the fish, but I did my best with my Blackberry.

This is the name of the resort where the leadership training was held. Think 1950's resort where the wealthy vacationed for the summer. Think Dirty Dancing!

This is the patio off the dining hall at the resort.
The light when the sun was setting was just so soft.

Finally, having nothing to do with the weekend, this is THE BEST fall coffee ever If you like the the savory fall flavors of pumpkin, cinnamon, and cloves, you will love this Cup 'O Joe!

Making Memories

Happy Monday! Did it get really cold all of a sudden where you live, too? Holy-moly! We went from this really hot weather to suddenly-snow on the mountain tops. I suppose this is how fall goes, just like the springtime when it starts to tease us with warm days and sunshine only to then rain for another ten days straight!

So this weekend, Dave took Mason to the civil war reenactment in Fresno. Mason had a blast though I'm not so sure Dave did. Mason is testing every boundary, at home, school, simply anywhere he can try to get away with something. It's not important what he's doing, just that we can't count on him to behave so that makes us think twice about taking him on these jaunts. It's a catch twenty-two every parent grapples with; If you take them and they misbehave, it could be dangerous and it's a pain in the butt. If you don't take them, they never learn to behave in those situations. I'm sure Dave had more fun with him than not as the pictures show. What's particularly cool about the pictures, is that Mason took most of them.

As for me, I worked all weekend, both real estate and household stuff. One of the things I did that you might find interesting is I have been back-loading past Monday Motivator posts to my blog. It's funny, I don't have all posts from 2004. I don't know why I would be missing a few months of posts from the middle of the year. I also went back and posted a first post. It explains how this came to be and still lives more than ten years later. You may or may not want to look back through the years, but it was fun for me. I have 2005-present in its entirety, but some of the older posts are on a a CD, saved in a Word backup somewhere, or the older ones are hopefully are on some archaic storage device (can you say, floppy disk?). The whole collection makes me incredibly grateful to have as much as I do documented. What a gift for Mason and his kids when I'm gone. What do you have that documents your life? Is it enough? Makes you think, huh?

So we are off and running and summer is officially gone. Fall and winter are here and it's time to start thinking about the holidays. How many days until Christmas? Only 81! Enjoy the pictures from Dave and Mason's weekend and think about what you can do to document more, if not for those you will leave it to, but for your enjoyment in a year, two, or ten! Make this week count!

Kearny Park, Fresno - Civil War Reenactment

Mason being Mason!

The view of the park through Mason's eyes.

Fighting for the South.

Living quarters.

Where Mason slept.

Just fun! Truth be told, Dave took this picture of Mason hiding because he knew he was in trouble. And he was.

Cannon accouterments.

Cannons are cool when you're seven...or forty-seven!

Night life.

One tired, happy kid!