In my last post, which was my first entry to the story of 2015...I reflected on 2014 and talked about the highlights and also focused on the dreaded birthday at the end of this year.....but I'm starting to feel a little better about that. I started to think though about how significant 2015 is for me and that it's going to be a BIG year and I have absolutely nothing to say or do about it...it's going to happen regardless if I embrace it or not.
This month I am celebrating 10 years as owner of Pams Path to Travel. It's so hard to believe that it's been that long since I opened up my own agency. I had no idea how successful I'd be, if I would flip or flop but I had the undying support of my husband (who was just a boyfriend of 6 months at the time)...he assured me that I could do this and he was right. Sometimes all you need is that gentle nudge to go after your dreams. I'm so glad that I did- it still stands as the best business decision I've ever made.
Also on the Travel Career front- this August marks 25 years that I've been in this business...and yes by November that means I've been working the same career industry for 1/2 of my life...unbelievable. However, as the old saying goes if you are doing what you love you never work a day in your life and I do believe that. I don't dread going to work, I love what I do, I love making travel dreams come true for my clients. I take great pride in what I do and I know that I do it well...25 years in the business and 10 years standing alone at my own agency speaks to that.
What I realized today as I was teaching my Saturday back to back classes at the gym, I will also be celebrating 15 years in the fitness industry as a Group Exercise Instructor. If you had ever asked me 20 years ago or told me that I would be doing this for any portion of my life, I would have laughed at you. I am the girl who got a Doctors note in High School to "get out" of running 3 miles for Freshman P.E. Instead I wrote a term paper on the dangers of running on cement. I got an "A". I still hate to run and will never be a runner. Yes, I said it- I will NEVER be a runner. I can walk pretty darn fast and leave smoke behind me when I power walk--that's as close to running as I will get. In my adulthood, I have completed two sprint distance triathlons and did run 3 miles in each of them and I hated every minute of the run! I was out to prove to the world that I could it it, I did and I'm done! But I found my fitness niche with group exercise. I love the pre-choreographed programs that I teach and love the interaction with the members and other fitness instructors. I was walking down memory lane a bit today while cleaning out my office and came across notes and paperwork from a variety of trainings that I went through my first several years while working for 24 hour fitness- many formats that don't even exist anymore. But my love for fitness started with Les Mills BODYPUMP and has grown with the other Les Mills formats that I've taken on in recent years BODYCOMBAT and BODYFLOW - I just wish I was teaching BODYFLOW. When the time is right, it will happen and I have not exactly been pro-active on that endeavor.
Anyway, 2015- a year of many milestones to come: 10 years agency owner, 15 years as fitness instructor, 25 years as Travel Professional and 50 years of living...almost like it's written in the stars to have all of these milestones in the same year! Crazy- if I was still married to my first husband, we would have celebrated 20 years in May...but that is one milestone that I'm thankful to not achieve. He's a friend to this day, but we are much better off without each other in those roles of spouses!
Sunday, January 04, 2015
Thursday, January 01, 2015
Happy New Year...2015, let's do this!
I have not been here in quite awhile..just over 3 months. I had 94 posts in 2012, 30 in 2013 and a mere 8 in 2014. The reason is simple...I just did not have a lot to say. I read a blog entry from a travel colleague of mine who I have connected with on a variety of levels, but 2014 gave us a new connection- we both lost our mom's early in the year. Although the journeys were somewhat different and somewhat similar--we both became orphans. She lost her father 6 years prior and I lost mine a whopping 25 years ago! Anyway, Stacy's blog post said so much of what I've been thinking of these past couple of weeks. I certainly don't want to plagiarize what she wrote, but there will likely be some similarities just because of our journeys being so similar.
The last two weeks we have all seen the "year in review" and "it's been a great year" posts on Facebook. I even participated in the video, but my caption did not say it's been a great year because at the end of the day- the year you lose your mom is not a great year. It never should be, though I suspect for some people it might. I do know people who simply do not have a good relationship with their moms- that saddens me. I am blessed to have had a wonderful relationship with my mom all of my life and even more so in the last several years. I know this and it does on some level help to relieve some of the pain that exists by losing her. But quite honestly January 12th set the tone for 2014 and try as I might, it was not a great year, though there were some great things that happened during the year.
Some highlights...January I passed my third Les Mills training and added BODYFLOW to my repertoire though sadly I'm not actively teaching this beautiful format and who knows if an opportunity will present itself. February we joined Mandi and her line dance group on a fabulous cruise..it was awesome to be on a ship with fun people, dancing every single day. I thought of my mom a lot on this cruise because she loved to cruise too and we went on our first cruise together back in 1990. March was mom's Celebration of Life and it was truly a celebration, something she would have been proud of and a day that I will remember forever. It was a beautiful tribute to a beautiful person. Lots of support from long time friends & family friends along with some re-connections with family friends. Our Redeemer family was amazing and offered such wonderful support with the ceremony and reception- truly a blessing! April- the start of baseball and I will say that it was written in the stars back in March..I announced it to my ticket partners that the Giants were going to win the World Series in 2014. May - the month that I decided to get out of my slump and get refocused on ME. I started getting back to my power walks, started to feel good physically and that just trickled down to every single part of my life. I was on a roll and kept going through the summer.
June took us to Vegas for my annual travel conference which overlapped with our 8th wedding anniversary- we had a blast, a good mix of business and pleasure with Shania Twain concert, Rock of Ages show, great dinners with our friends Mandi, Pat, Suzy & Charles, pool time..a great getaway! Ending the month a huge soiree for Bill's 50th birthday that he never saw coming! I love surprises, especially when I'm responsible for the delivery...a great event, a fun time, lots of loving friends & family to help celebrate this love of my life and he totally deserved the honor! I could never have pulled that off without the help & hospitality of our friends Lisa & Jonathan! July we continued to celebrate on a 3 day cruise to Ensenada with a group of 10..again a fun time with great people, gorgeous weather, yummy wine tasting, dancing, sunshine..it was a fabulous time had by all! July brought a very long overdue sisters weekend trip to Reno for a bingo tournament- an actual road trip, though truth be told, I'm too old for that drive to Reno- I hate highway 80! But we had a great time and I won $2000 on a bingo game! AWESOMESAUCE! It was also wonderful to spend a weekend with my sister! August took us on two road trips, both to Tahoe- one long weekend with our second family- the McClymonds to their house with our Godkids - BBQ's, days at the beach, mini-golfing, relaxing by the firepit, waking up to little Brooklyn chatting with her Uncle Bill on the deck = priceless fun! Followed by a family trip to celebrate my nephew Michael's 21st birthday! That long weekend was nice because we did things together as a family, but also split up to do things on our own. Some time by the pool, some time taking a nice walk down the highway & by the Lake (6 miles roundtrip), hiking up to the top of Heavenly, showing Michael how to gamble and my favorite part- seeing him get carded for alcohol at dinner and when he sat down at a table to gamble! I was definitely more excited about that than he was...must be an Auntie thing..or a girl thing.
September brought the start of football season and what looked like a promising season...oh well. It was also the month when two beautiful people said their wedding vows. My bestie from college, Janet and her sweetheart Scott had an amazing wedding that was just such a perfect day for the two of them and I could not have been more happy for them and so honored to be a part of such a special day. October was ORANGE...what can I say- I am a Giants fan through and through and if it's an Orange October, I'm a happy girl. God bless my sweet husband for tolerating the Harper family in this house during baseball season- he is literally a saint! But as predicted back in March- the Giants did make it all the way and won their 3rd Championship in 5 years! It was truly magical and I can't help but think that my mom had something to do with all of this. I wore her "SF" pin all season long, she was cheering them on right alongside me every step of the way. This year, I went to the parade..finally. Bill & I stayed at the Hyatt Embarcadero the night before and then we stood 6 hours in the same spot, never moved, never ate, never went to the bathroom, in the rain to watch this parade. He really does deserve the husband of the year award. It was AWESOME!! Definitely something that I had to do. I don't know that Bill will ever do it again, but it was an amazing experience even if we were frozen and soaked! I even made it onto the KRON4 news coverage and have a copy of my interview thanks to Lisa Tringali!
November started out with a long weekend travel to Kona - I have not visited this island in 15+ years and Bill had never been, it was a great time and I even had a chance to meet up with clients who were there at the same time. We had a really enjoyable evening in town with them! The weather was gorgeous, we took a sunset sail one night, we took a circle island tour another day and had a really great time! I definitely enjoyed waking up early on our Sunday to get to the poolside bar to watch the 49er game on TV with other guests..it was an 8am game time in Hawaii, but lots of fun and the Niners won! The month rounded out with my birthday- always a trying time since people are away and out of town--but I did have a nice weekend. Actually decided to stay home on my birthday and do some house decorating, we did go to the Niner game on Thanksgiving and then had our family Thanksgiving on Friday. Saturday I had dinner with friends and then went to the Sharks game..all in all a fun weekend...the celebrations carried over into the next week with more friends! But one thing was missing and that was the birthday wishes from mom. December started out with a bang- I won a trip to Cabo as a top producer for Pleasant Holidays so we had 3 glorious nights at Secrets Puerto Los Cabos and it was an awesome trip, probably exactly what I needed to kick off the month. The following weekend we celebrated the season with our annual holiday party. We missed several regulars, but did manage to have a great time with the friends who were able to make it. Two days later we headed to Disneyland with BFF Diane, her hubby and the kids (including our Godkids)- it was a surprise to the kids and we all had a super great time! There is nothing like Disneyland at Christmas to put you in the holiday spirit! It was a fabulous trip and so fun to see Brooklyn's reaction to everything! Quite magical! She adores her Uncle Bill and that simply warms my heart! We come back and really Christmas was right around the corner and Michael was home from college!
The last two weeks of the year have been filled with a variety of celebrations. One of my life long friends kicked off the year of birthday celebrations as the first one to flip both digits to 50! I'm not even sure how to take this...I don't know when this happened and how we got to this age. Didn't we just graduate High School like 10 years ago? Ick. But it was great getting together with life long friends to celebrate. I plan to make 2015 a huge celebratory year for my 50th! I am pretty close to the last one in our group, so I plan to celebrate ALL. YEAR. LONG! We changed up tradition this year. For the last 10 years or so, Christmas Eve was one of my favorites because my mom would come stay with us (until the last couple of years when she could no longer go up the stairs- but she'd still come over just not stay overnight)..we'd hang out for a few days, watch movies, prepare for the Christmas Day meal, watch "White Christmas" together, drink Bailey's coffees and just enjoy. On Christmas Eve my brother would have us up to his house and he'd make his famous spaghetti in between church services. The last couple of years that Spaghetti dinner would still take place, but at my house since he lives here now. This year with my mom gone I asked my brother what he wanted to do, his reply, "whatever you want to do". So I made the executive decision that we should have the traditional spaghetti another night when he's not cramming it in between working two church services- he agreed. We had an invitation to Janet & Scott's for Christmas Eve and it was very nice night with her family & Diane's family...people who I consider my second family. We didn't get home until very late, but that was fine- we slept in on Christmas Day and had our traditional visit with Linda, Bruce & their girls, followed by my family Christmas...which was another late night..I think we finally went to bed around 130am. Mom was missed, but she was remembered. Things are not the same, how could they be- but they were OK. The one thing that was missing from my holiday season- I did not watch "White Christmas"- just didn't find the time to watch it, almost started to watch it on TV one late night, but then I went to bed because I would have been up way too late. I want to see it, but the last time I watched it was last year with mom at the movie theatre. I took her to the Cinemark Classic Series on a Wednesday afternoon and we had a blast together watching it on the big screen.
So yes there have been plenty highlights, lots of friends, family and love. Lots of fun times and travels. Not as much fitness and weight loss as I had set my goal to achieve- but I was plagued with two injuries...a fall in September that injured my leg pretty severely and then in October I strained/sprained my back. It's still not 100% and I'm not really sure what to do about it at this point except to maybe stretch more and get more massages until it's all better. I need to get my fitness on and don't have time for these types of distractions! I will get it back in 2015!
We had a wonderful New Years Eve with Jonathan & Lisa...low key house party, good music, good food, fire pit, relaxation...all in all a great way to bring in the new year. I'll never forget these special friends who were the first ones to come visit me the night I lost my mom. In fact, there were so many people who showed such kindness and love in the ensuing days/weeks/months after losing my mom that I can honestly say I am so very blessed. When you go through something like this you definitely learn who your friends are, the people who will be there through thick and thin, the ones you can count on. You also start to see others for who they really are and I simply do not have time for phony people, people who talk behind your back and try to entertain others at your expense. Life is too short and it's getting shorter...shit I'm turning 50 this year! WTF??? Seriously.
I had a really tough time when my sister turned 50, it seemed so surreal to me that I could have a sister turning 50, it seemed so old to me at the time. Now it's my turn and it does seem so old to me..I'm really in disbelief and while I am excited to make plans and celebrate because that's what you do when there is a BIG birthday...I'm also a bit sad..where has my life gone? Though I've achieved a lot of success thus far, will I have time to continue to do all that I want to do? You're never promised tomorrow, but when you hit these milestones the reality of this becomes more real. I have a lot more to do, so I hope that I have another 30 years ahead of me- healthy years that is, years that I am functioning and living life. Like I sign every Christmas Card...Live, Love, Dance & Cheers!
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The last two weeks we have all seen the "year in review" and "it's been a great year" posts on Facebook. I even participated in the video, but my caption did not say it's been a great year because at the end of the day- the year you lose your mom is not a great year. It never should be, though I suspect for some people it might. I do know people who simply do not have a good relationship with their moms- that saddens me. I am blessed to have had a wonderful relationship with my mom all of my life and even more so in the last several years. I know this and it does on some level help to relieve some of the pain that exists by losing her. But quite honestly January 12th set the tone for 2014 and try as I might, it was not a great year, though there were some great things that happened during the year.
Some highlights...January I passed my third Les Mills training and added BODYFLOW to my repertoire though sadly I'm not actively teaching this beautiful format and who knows if an opportunity will present itself. February we joined Mandi and her line dance group on a fabulous cruise..it was awesome to be on a ship with fun people, dancing every single day. I thought of my mom a lot on this cruise because she loved to cruise too and we went on our first cruise together back in 1990. March was mom's Celebration of Life and it was truly a celebration, something she would have been proud of and a day that I will remember forever. It was a beautiful tribute to a beautiful person. Lots of support from long time friends & family friends along with some re-connections with family friends. Our Redeemer family was amazing and offered such wonderful support with the ceremony and reception- truly a blessing! April- the start of baseball and I will say that it was written in the stars back in March..I announced it to my ticket partners that the Giants were going to win the World Series in 2014. May - the month that I decided to get out of my slump and get refocused on ME. I started getting back to my power walks, started to feel good physically and that just trickled down to every single part of my life. I was on a roll and kept going through the summer.
June took us to Vegas for my annual travel conference which overlapped with our 8th wedding anniversary- we had a blast, a good mix of business and pleasure with Shania Twain concert, Rock of Ages show, great dinners with our friends Mandi, Pat, Suzy & Charles, pool time..a great getaway! Ending the month a huge soiree for Bill's 50th birthday that he never saw coming! I love surprises, especially when I'm responsible for the delivery...a great event, a fun time, lots of loving friends & family to help celebrate this love of my life and he totally deserved the honor! I could never have pulled that off without the help & hospitality of our friends Lisa & Jonathan! July we continued to celebrate on a 3 day cruise to Ensenada with a group of 10..again a fun time with great people, gorgeous weather, yummy wine tasting, dancing, sunshine..it was a fabulous time had by all! July brought a very long overdue sisters weekend trip to Reno for a bingo tournament- an actual road trip, though truth be told, I'm too old for that drive to Reno- I hate highway 80! But we had a great time and I won $2000 on a bingo game! AWESOMESAUCE! It was also wonderful to spend a weekend with my sister! August took us on two road trips, both to Tahoe- one long weekend with our second family- the McClymonds to their house with our Godkids - BBQ's, days at the beach, mini-golfing, relaxing by the firepit, waking up to little Brooklyn chatting with her Uncle Bill on the deck = priceless fun! Followed by a family trip to celebrate my nephew Michael's 21st birthday! That long weekend was nice because we did things together as a family, but also split up to do things on our own. Some time by the pool, some time taking a nice walk down the highway & by the Lake (6 miles roundtrip), hiking up to the top of Heavenly, showing Michael how to gamble and my favorite part- seeing him get carded for alcohol at dinner and when he sat down at a table to gamble! I was definitely more excited about that than he was...must be an Auntie thing..or a girl thing.
September brought the start of football season and what looked like a promising season...oh well. It was also the month when two beautiful people said their wedding vows. My bestie from college, Janet and her sweetheart Scott had an amazing wedding that was just such a perfect day for the two of them and I could not have been more happy for them and so honored to be a part of such a special day. October was ORANGE...what can I say- I am a Giants fan through and through and if it's an Orange October, I'm a happy girl. God bless my sweet husband for tolerating the Harper family in this house during baseball season- he is literally a saint! But as predicted back in March- the Giants did make it all the way and won their 3rd Championship in 5 years! It was truly magical and I can't help but think that my mom had something to do with all of this. I wore her "SF" pin all season long, she was cheering them on right alongside me every step of the way. This year, I went to the parade..finally. Bill & I stayed at the Hyatt Embarcadero the night before and then we stood 6 hours in the same spot, never moved, never ate, never went to the bathroom, in the rain to watch this parade. He really does deserve the husband of the year award. It was AWESOME!! Definitely something that I had to do. I don't know that Bill will ever do it again, but it was an amazing experience even if we were frozen and soaked! I even made it onto the KRON4 news coverage and have a copy of my interview thanks to Lisa Tringali!
November started out with a long weekend travel to Kona - I have not visited this island in 15+ years and Bill had never been, it was a great time and I even had a chance to meet up with clients who were there at the same time. We had a really enjoyable evening in town with them! The weather was gorgeous, we took a sunset sail one night, we took a circle island tour another day and had a really great time! I definitely enjoyed waking up early on our Sunday to get to the poolside bar to watch the 49er game on TV with other guests..it was an 8am game time in Hawaii, but lots of fun and the Niners won! The month rounded out with my birthday- always a trying time since people are away and out of town--but I did have a nice weekend. Actually decided to stay home on my birthday and do some house decorating, we did go to the Niner game on Thanksgiving and then had our family Thanksgiving on Friday. Saturday I had dinner with friends and then went to the Sharks game..all in all a fun weekend...the celebrations carried over into the next week with more friends! But one thing was missing and that was the birthday wishes from mom. December started out with a bang- I won a trip to Cabo as a top producer for Pleasant Holidays so we had 3 glorious nights at Secrets Puerto Los Cabos and it was an awesome trip, probably exactly what I needed to kick off the month. The following weekend we celebrated the season with our annual holiday party. We missed several regulars, but did manage to have a great time with the friends who were able to make it. Two days later we headed to Disneyland with BFF Diane, her hubby and the kids (including our Godkids)- it was a surprise to the kids and we all had a super great time! There is nothing like Disneyland at Christmas to put you in the holiday spirit! It was a fabulous trip and so fun to see Brooklyn's reaction to everything! Quite magical! She adores her Uncle Bill and that simply warms my heart! We come back and really Christmas was right around the corner and Michael was home from college!
The last two weeks of the year have been filled with a variety of celebrations. One of my life long friends kicked off the year of birthday celebrations as the first one to flip both digits to 50! I'm not even sure how to take this...I don't know when this happened and how we got to this age. Didn't we just graduate High School like 10 years ago? Ick. But it was great getting together with life long friends to celebrate. I plan to make 2015 a huge celebratory year for my 50th! I am pretty close to the last one in our group, so I plan to celebrate ALL. YEAR. LONG! We changed up tradition this year. For the last 10 years or so, Christmas Eve was one of my favorites because my mom would come stay with us (until the last couple of years when she could no longer go up the stairs- but she'd still come over just not stay overnight)..we'd hang out for a few days, watch movies, prepare for the Christmas Day meal, watch "White Christmas" together, drink Bailey's coffees and just enjoy. On Christmas Eve my brother would have us up to his house and he'd make his famous spaghetti in between church services. The last couple of years that Spaghetti dinner would still take place, but at my house since he lives here now. This year with my mom gone I asked my brother what he wanted to do, his reply, "whatever you want to do". So I made the executive decision that we should have the traditional spaghetti another night when he's not cramming it in between working two church services- he agreed. We had an invitation to Janet & Scott's for Christmas Eve and it was very nice night with her family & Diane's family...people who I consider my second family. We didn't get home until very late, but that was fine- we slept in on Christmas Day and had our traditional visit with Linda, Bruce & their girls, followed by my family Christmas...which was another late night..I think we finally went to bed around 130am. Mom was missed, but she was remembered. Things are not the same, how could they be- but they were OK. The one thing that was missing from my holiday season- I did not watch "White Christmas"- just didn't find the time to watch it, almost started to watch it on TV one late night, but then I went to bed because I would have been up way too late. I want to see it, but the last time I watched it was last year with mom at the movie theatre. I took her to the Cinemark Classic Series on a Wednesday afternoon and we had a blast together watching it on the big screen.
So yes there have been plenty highlights, lots of friends, family and love. Lots of fun times and travels. Not as much fitness and weight loss as I had set my goal to achieve- but I was plagued with two injuries...a fall in September that injured my leg pretty severely and then in October I strained/sprained my back. It's still not 100% and I'm not really sure what to do about it at this point except to maybe stretch more and get more massages until it's all better. I need to get my fitness on and don't have time for these types of distractions! I will get it back in 2015!
We had a wonderful New Years Eve with Jonathan & Lisa...low key house party, good music, good food, fire pit, relaxation...all in all a great way to bring in the new year. I'll never forget these special friends who were the first ones to come visit me the night I lost my mom. In fact, there were so many people who showed such kindness and love in the ensuing days/weeks/months after losing my mom that I can honestly say I am so very blessed. When you go through something like this you definitely learn who your friends are, the people who will be there through thick and thin, the ones you can count on. You also start to see others for who they really are and I simply do not have time for phony people, people who talk behind your back and try to entertain others at your expense. Life is too short and it's getting shorter...shit I'm turning 50 this year! WTF??? Seriously.
I had a really tough time when my sister turned 50, it seemed so surreal to me that I could have a sister turning 50, it seemed so old to me at the time. Now it's my turn and it does seem so old to me..I'm really in disbelief and while I am excited to make plans and celebrate because that's what you do when there is a BIG birthday...I'm also a bit sad..where has my life gone? Though I've achieved a lot of success thus far, will I have time to continue to do all that I want to do? You're never promised tomorrow, but when you hit these milestones the reality of this becomes more real. I have a lot more to do, so I hope that I have another 30 years ahead of me- healthy years that is, years that I am functioning and living life. Like I sign every Christmas Card...Live, Love, Dance & Cheers!
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