Six weeks from whenever I start a “healthy lifestyle program” it all goes to hell.
2025 is turning out to be no exception. I talked about my plans for a healthy 2025 here.
What happened? Valentines Day happened and I went to Sweet Chocolata’s here in town to buy treats for my family and employees. Of course, I had to buy something for myself and their caramel and chocolate covered pretzel sticks are to die for! That was almost a month ago and I haven’t been able to get back on track. It feels like no matter when I start, six weeks later there is some event or holiday that derails me.
My workouts, of course, continue to be going well. It’s my diet that I can’t get back on track. I start each with with determination, and then slide away.
But, as Truman Capote said, “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor”. Appropriate right?
When I think of a “shopping spree”, my thoughts go immediately to all that I don’t need! I don’t need clothes because my size is difficult to shop for and I get discouraged. I don’t need electronic equipment because I have more than I need. My brain no longer works on a “want basis”.
Things for my home! That’s it! I would buy a nice coffee bar, the sectional sofa for the family room that my husband and I have discussed over and over again, and …… hmm, as I look around, I think it would be a quick shopping spree!
I feel content with what I have. I would prefer to take someone else on a shopping spree and let them buy what they want. It would make me happy to do that.
I am curious which also translates to nosy. This is why once I start scrolling, I can’t stop. Facebook to Instagram to Threads. I hate Threads the most. It’s filled with complaining.
I deleted them all so many times off my devices during the election season. Then my fingers (and my brain) would itch to see what was going and I just had to reinstall them. And then delete them again.
They are unhealthy. But….
I have accounts for our business and I try to keep those full of content and comment on followers accounts.
I want positivity in my life. I don’t want negativity in my life.
One of my goals for 2025 was to “read less what other people and write more of what I want to say”.
Heading off to delete those apps off my IPad again….
In my quest to be mindful in 2025, I’m focusing on my emotional and mental wellbeing in addition to my physical wellbeing.
I know that sleep is important, and in our house it’s always been important to my husband! For most of our marriage, this man has gone to bed at 8pm and would get a good 8 hours of sleep. I would usually make it into bed by 10. Since the first, I’ve made an effort to head up by 9pm, get some reading in and have lights out by 9:30. I also started wearing my Apple Watch to bed so it can record the different stages of my sleep.
Another bedtime ritual I’ve started is a 5 or 10 sleep meditation with my Peloton app. I wear my ear buds, start the program and absorb the soothing music and soft voice of the instructor. I usually discover I’ve fallen asleep! My average sleep time for a week has ranged from 7 hours 15 minutes to 7 hours and 28 minutes. My crowning achievement was a night of sleep with NO minutes awake!
100%!
Because I don’t have a set time I need to be in the office, This year I’m learning to embrace that! It’s tough to get used to when for so many years, I’ve been at my desk by 8:30! My alarm is still set for 5:45 but I take time to drink my coffee and complete my workout. I have extra time to read the paper!
There are times at work that cause me and the two people there (one being my son) to start to wallow in frustration and self-pity. It’s specially tough to see it in my son, so I always try to turn it around and cheer us all on! We have so much more going for us than against us!
I’m packing up for the day and heading home at 3pm (to-do lists are vital for me!), so I can walk with my husband and our friends for some exercise and socialization.
I’m not on board with our upcoming federal administration so that has made me anxious when I read stories that seem more fiction than fact. For the time being, I’m averting my eyes because I know there is nothing I can do to change any of it. I hope in the near future I can get involved with an organization that will help make a difference for people in need.
I took a look at my Day Planner for 2024 and my phone calendar and made a list in Notes of What Happened in 2024. I was surprised at all the events from the year. Sometimes in my mind I think “I never do anything!”, but this proved me wrong. There were lunches and dinners out with friends, two trips to New York other than our yearly Christmas shopping spree, and three week long vacations!
I’m looking forward to this new year of adventures!
My husband and I had nothing to do the day after Christmas. What a treat after hosting our family party of 26 people on Saturday which was fabulous and I loved every minute, but we were enjoying our down time!
I had to go to Hamden a couple of towns away to drop something off. Since we were taking “the back way” home, via Whitney Avenue, I suggested a stop at Wentworth’s Ice Cream, not really thinking they’d be open, but I enjoy that route.
As I suspected, they were closed. However, right next door is an antiques store, actually a house, that I’d never been to, but “always meant to get to”. I’ve seen it advertised in the local weekly newspaper, and in the little booklets we get in the mail as he is always looking for antiques and coins. As a matter of fact, I actually knew him as the former brother in law of a friend from the crowd I hung around with in my mid-20s.
We drove through the ice cream shop parking lot and went back, parked in front of the house and were instantly taken in by the stone bird baths, railings, and objects in the front yard.
We stepped in to the house (after he unlocked the door!) and were mesmerized by the amount of antiques throughout the space. And this was just the first floor!
Clocks, pictures in big gold ornate frames, sculptures, Tiffany lamps – Oh My!
We talked with Don, the owner, for quite a while. He was telling us the history of his love for antiques and where he gets them and we shared what we enjoy and what we look for for our home and yard.
My eye caught a piece on the wall. It wasn’t large, but I felt a connection to it from the religious items I love to see in museums.
Pietre Dure pieceCut and highly polished colored stones
He explained to us it was Pietre Dure – hard stones. I looked it up when I got home and it is known as Intarsia Lapidary. Unlike mosaic pieces which are generally of similar pieces and grouted in place, Pietre Dura are mostly larger and cut to a shape suiting their place in the image and glued in place. They first appeared in Rome in the 16th century. The technique is used on table tops, altars and portraits.
I didn’t know what it was when I saw it, and I was attracted to the frame more than the picture, is that a horn coming out of her head?, but the more I look at it, the more I love all of it.
Current location of my Pietre Dure piece
We have it hung on the wall, but I feel like it needs a larger expanse of wall around it to really make it pop.
If you’re local to the Wallingford area, the location is 3651 Whitney Avenue in Hamden – Don Barese Fine Art & Antiques. His hours are by appointment, but the OPEN flag was out when we drove by. He buys and sells internationally. We’re already planning our next trip back!
I don’t know about you, but my Sunday into Monday sleep can be a little rough.
Then after waking up, my mind is on every little thing I have to do from now until Christmas.
I drink my coffee and head out the door to workout and as I walk I say, Dear God, help me to slow down and appreciate the moments and I turned the corner and he says,
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
In the past year, we’ve begun the process for our son to purchase our remodeling company. He’s been with us since 2012 and for the last 2 years, has worked in the office estimating and running projects. We’ll start the buyout as the calendar turns to January 2026.
My husband and I have owned the company since 1999. It’s been 25 years of hard work building it from the ground up starting out in our basement to now in an office with nine employees.
When you work for yourselves, you wonder as time passes, “will I be at work until the day I die?” Terrible thing to think of but, it’s your business, not some corporation that you hit retirement age and leave. What option is there other than to find a buyer or close the doors. My husband has retired from the office and I’m starting to work four days a week and come and go a little more freely because I know our son and our client manager have everything under control.
It’s a remarkable feeling to know that our son is incredibly capable of owning the business and he’s already running it. I picture my 3 year old with a plastic hammer in his hand pounding on a piece of sheetrock with dust on his nose and marvel at how accomplished he is today.
January 1, 2020 was brisk and bright when I set out for the guided first walk of the year with my sister and niece.
Machimoodus State Park was the location and it took us through the woods and towards a view of the Salmon River before it meets up with the Connecticut River in Haddam, Connecticut.
“Machimoodus” is an indigenous term for “place of bad noises” because of noisy rumblings and echos heard by the Pequot, Narragansett, and Mohegan tribes. The sounds were real and in 1981 geologists determined “micro earthquakes” were the cause amplified by a nearby cave!
We didn’t hear any rumblings, but we saw some beautiful scenery and had a brisk hike to start out the new year!
Thoughts From The Passenger Seat 