TWTW - the one before Spring that felt like winter

Friday night was the Covenant House Sleep Out to Support Homeless Youth. Thanks to Catie & Joe for putting a team together and inviting us and Jimmy to participate in order to raise awareness and funds. Absolutely eye opening and life changing. There will not be a year left in my life that I do not donate to Covenant House. These are the fringe kids everyone complains about being a drain on society, bringing themselves back from the edge with the help of this place and the knowledge that they are worth it and that they are resilient. More to come on this experience Wednesday. Covenant House is still just under $3000 shy of their goal for this event, click here to donate if you're able and willing.

When we got home, I laid down and went back to sleep. In a warm bed. That I will not take for granted ever again. Around noon I headed to Gamma & Pop's to hang out with some of the family for a little bit.

I hit a little Italian grocery near Gamma & Pop's and the nice old Italian man led me around by the hand and fed me pasta and sausage off the stove. Saturday afternoon I did some body and face masks, changed the sheets, made dinner, and finished season two of Bosch.

Weekly food prep: zucchini pie for breakfasts; power breakfast muffins to freeze; pickle mac and tuna salad for lunches; lemon for waters and kiwi and mini sweet peppers (not pictured) for snacks; krauty chicken and sweet potato fries and baked salmon with rice and steamed broccoli for dinners.

This weekend in dog town:

I also began putting the basement back together after pulling every blessed thing out of the utility closet. Well, let me amend that. MFD pulled it out, which is why it looks like helter skelter. LOL This is where I started boss bitching from on Sunday. Deliver me, pray for me, all of those things. Pics in a while when I have it moved around close to how I want it. I didn't get far because my productivity window for the weekend closed around 3 p.m. and the person who was supposed to come pick up the basement couches had to postpone until Wednesday. Fart noise.

To close out Sunday, there was snow and I finished a book. The End.

Do tell...how was yours?

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending

Spring Goals 2016

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.lifeaccordingtosteph.com/" rel="nofollow" title="Life According to Steph" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1290.photobucket.com/albums/b536/lifeaccordingtosteph1/Blog%20Posts/Spring%20Seasonal%20Goals_zpshhyftx70.jpg" alt="Life According to Steph" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Happy Friday my fabulous friends! I am a seasonal goal setter - I find that when I set seasonal goals, I tend to accomplish more because a month is a short time to me. I also stretch myself a little more and put things I both feel like I have to do and want to do on my seasonal goal lists. Sara at Journey of Doing and I decided to do a seasonal goal linkup, and this is the first one. I hope you'll join us going forward.

Let me ask you - would you prefer to have the linkup be close to the calendar date of the season like this one (spring begins on Monday on the calendar), or would you have liked to do a spring goals link up in the beginning of March? And following that, would you do a summer goals link up at the end of May or closer to June 21, when summer begins on the calendar? Let us know what works best with how you work!

Without further ado, here are my spring goals:

1. Go whale watching.

2. Attend high tea.

3. Begin learning conversational French.

4. Visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

5. Go strawberry picking and make a strawberry pie.

6. Run through a timed cleaning of the shore house a few times and be sure I can get it done in two hours so I'm prepared for rental switchovers on the Saturdays I'll be cleaning it.

7. Improve my home improvement skills.

8. Check out the Chinese Lanterns in Franklin Square.

9. Wear bracelets every weekday and photograph for proof. I have a lot and I typically only wear them if I'm going somewhere.

10. Easter Sunrise on the beach.

Did you set spring goals? Link 'er up below:

---

1. sara - journey of doing

2. Life According to Steph

3. Spring goals ¦¦ A Nesting Noma

You are next... Click here to enter
This list will close in 4 days, 18 hrs, 6 min (3/22/2016 11:59 PM North America - Central Standard Time)

Linky Tools  |  Linky Blog 2013

---

1. sara - journey of doing

2. Life According to Steph

3. Spring goals ¦¦ A Nesting Noma

You are next... Click here to enter
This list will close in 4 days, 18 hrs, 7 min (3/22/2016 11:59 PM North America - Central Standard Time)

Linky Tools  |  Linky Blog 2013

---

1. sara - journey of doing

2. Life According to Steph

3. Spring goals ¦¦ A Nesting Noma

You are next... Click here to enter
This list will close in 4 days, 18 hrs, 7 min (3/22/2016 11:59 PM North America - Central Standard Time)

Linky Tools  |  Linky Blog 2013

Tonight I'll be sleeping out on the sidewalk with Covenant House to raise awareness for the plight of homeless teens. Be sure to follow along on Instagram. If you haven't donated and you'd like to, you can do so here. 

Thursday Thoughts for the wearing of the green

1. It amuses me that I really love Authority Song by John Cougar Mellencamp (I don't care what he's calling himself now) even though I am a total rule follower. Breaking the rules does not make me feel triumphant and free. It makes me feel compromised and stressed out. LOL

2. I actually forgot about this but I did have cars with more than one key. It's crazy that that was the norm and now it's so not.

3. Today would have been my Grandmom's birthday. I miss celebrating with her, she would always pick the restaurant for the family dinner which was awesome because I hate picking restaurants. I wish she could physically be here to meet Lola Jean - she was really great at getting down to a kid level and playing with kids. Plus I think Lola resembles her and I feel her around a lot whenever I'm with my niece. I'll make sure Lola knows her stories!

4. Birthday week reports: I began my birthday by cleaning the shore house until 12:15 in the morning. MFD put my Christmas present bike together, and we went to breakfast down at Jon & Patty's in the morning before finishing some things and trying to get a contractor in to fix a failing wall heater. We got back home around noon. I meant to get a shower, but instead roamed all day in sweats, unshowered and with no makeup on. NFG.

5. My mom bought hoagies for lunch and I spent some time with her and Swan and Lola Jean. Rich was away for work.

6. I also got a manicure, pedicure, and brow wax. Sometimes I go through phases where I want to have a signature nail color and wear the same color all the time. Purple Palazzo Pants would totally be a candidate for my nail signature color. I need to buy it.

7. Target in the middle of a weekday is luxurious. As is allowing yourself to browse and buy at will.

8. The evening was spent at home...just where I wanted the be. I didn't even feel like going out to dinner. More often than not I like to spend the actual day of my birthday just being. MFD brought me Brother's Pizza at my request and I watched Bosch and hung out with the dogs. Also, did you guys know I share a birthday with RBG? When I finally did shower, I had to represent. Of course, since I celebrate all month, the celebrations will continue.

9. Tomorrow is the first seasonal goal linkup with me & Sara from My Journey of Doing. Seasonal goals work best for me - I feel like a month is a little too short for me to stretch. I hope you'll join us!

10. E-card of the week...I couldn't find one. But I liked these things a lot.

Is Learning to Drive An Important Life Skill?

I'm taking a post-birthday day off from writing, so I'm here with a post written by my friends across the pond that piqued my interest as I read it, and I figured it might pique yours as well. My Mom Mom never got her license, and my stepmom doesn't drive. They both got/get around just fine. When I go to other countries I rarely rent a car. Hell if I could afford it I'd be driven everywhere by a driver. Not driving is better for the environment, but most people don't live in a place where public transport or biking is feasible year round. Something interesting to think about.

*********

Not everyone can drive. Some people actively avoid learning to drive because they simply don’t see the point. They take the view that there is always public transport available and if they need a lift anywhere, a partner, friend or family member will oblige.

Living in a city means it is fairly easy to get around – public transport is usually very efficient and readily available – but there are plenty of reasons why learning to drive will make your life easier. Driving certainly isn’t an easy skill to learn. Before you even think about taking the practical drivers test, you have to pass the theory test. This can be difficult for some people, but with the help of websites like toptests.co.uk you can complete plenty of practice tests in advance. And, once you have accomplished all this, you will soon discover that being able to drive is a real asset – here’s why.

Living in a Rural Area

If you live outside of the city, it is a lot harder to find regular and reliable public transport services. In some rural villages, there might only be two buses a day to the nearest town, which would be highly inconvenient if you only need a few items. Being able to drive will make life a lot easier. You won’t have to rely on the kindness of other people and trips to the shops will be relatively hassle-free.

Ascending the Career Ladder

There are many jobs where a driving licence is essential. Imagine trying to secure a sales position or applying for a promotion to regional manager without a drivers’ licence. You would stand zero chance of being offered either job. Even if a job doesn’t explicitly ask for a full drivers’ license, it is definitely an advantage to have one. Many employers expect their employees to be able to drive, particularly if they have more than one office or the job involves meeting clients.

The Horrors of Public Transport

Public transport is expensive, overcrowded, and not a 24 hour service. Travelling during peak times is likely to be painfully slow and very uncomfortable. And if you need to get home after the last bus or train has departed, your only option will be a costly taxi.

Flexible Schedules

The great thing about being able to drive is that you are free to travel whenever it suits you. So instead of waiting around for a bus to show up, or rushing like mad to catch a train, you can enjoy a nice relaxing morning before getting into your car. You are also free to come home when you have had enough of being out and about. The increased flexibility of car ownership is certainly a lot easier when you have kids.

Family Life

It is hard enough being a parent without having to negotiate public transport with babies, toddlers and older kids in tow. With a car you can carry as much equipment as you like and go places at your leisure.

Not being able to drive can be really inconvenient, so instead of thinking about it, take the plunge and book some lessons today.

*********

If you didn't have to drive, would you? 

The best things in life are free

Today I turn 39. Whenever I hear that age, I think of the movie To Gillian on her 39th Birthday, which I've never seen but which pops into my head frequently. Titles of books, movies, and songs that I have never personally experienced tend to stick with me if I like the way the title itself flows. When I googled that movie to see what year it came out (1996), I found out the title is actually To Gillian on her 37th Birthday. So my intro about being 19 when that came out, being 39 now like the title of the movie, and how that 20 years passed in the blink of an eye is a loud fart of a failure and I'm two years late to the Gillian birthday game.

Anyway. Good morning. Welcome to my birthday. That's what today is known as throughout the land, right? Right.

To celebrate, I thought I'd talk about what I love that doesn't cost me anything. Of course some of these require things I've already paid for or utilities, but, I mean...stop being a ruiner and let me live. While I am a huge proponent of celebrating my birthday all month and live by the treat yo'self motto in general, some of the things I love the most are free, like

Watching the sunrise on the beach

Going to the library

Talking about future travel destinations with MFD

Planning things. Anything.

Seeing my people succeed or overcome 

Being ridiculous with my friends

Organizing things. Anything.

Reading a book

Cursing

Drinking coffee outside on the weekends

Sleeping in fresh, clean sheets

Having the windows open at home

Popping in to see my niece

Driving with the music loud and the sun roof open

People watching

Cooking

Exploring a city or town on foot

Snapping photos

Walking in the woods with the dogs at Lori's

Laughing

Looking through pre-digital photos

Freshly painted nails using my too big nail polish collection

Sitting out back in my gravity free chair

Talking to my dogs

Perusing Amazon and making wishlists

Celebrate with me! Share your favorite free things in the comments. While you're at it, leave your email in the raffle copter below. I'll donate $25 to the charity of the winner's choice and send you a surprise box of fun as well. As Peters always says, sharing is caring, you guys.