Enjoy Your Trip? Now Get back to Work!

Greetings!

After a short jaunt across the Coastal Mountains to visit the ocean (the seaside community of Fort Bragg), I am back. Can’t say I’m thrilled to be sitting here in my living room, the suburban sounds of lawn mowers, delivery trucks, and screaming children replacing the serenity and seductive purr of the Pacific. I look out my window at my neighborhood—a nice place, don’t get me wrong—neatly stacked with row after row of similar looking houses and sun-swallowed foliage and feel a longing for the fresh, cool air and sandy scenery of the beach. A far (gull’s) cry from the spectacular views of whitecaps cresting multi-hued water that I espied from my hotel room window. Oh, well, life is not a vacation but a journey of understanding, searching for purpose and fulfillment, with most of what we get out of it dependant upon what we put into it.

But it was fun while it lasted. My lovely wife and I crammed a lot of life into a few days at the coast. Besides soaking in the stunning seascapes, we enjoyed leisurely long walks along the steep cliffs that separated us from the ocean below, strolled the quaint downtown shops and restaurants, and survived the twisty, rocky mountain pass that brought us to the foot of one of the tallest and oldest living things on this earth—the giant redwood Chandelier Tree. This colossus is 315 feet tall and 21 feet in diameter—so wide you can drive a car through it. In fact, we did just that, since someone was kind enough to hew a six-foot wide tunnel through this baby’s middle. These magnificent trees are thousands of years old! If you’re ever in this neck of the woods (pun intended), do yourself a favor and take the drive; it’s well worth it.

When I returned from my brief respite, I was not only greeted with mid-90 degree heat (the average summer high temperature in Fort Bragg is mid-60’s!), but over 1000 emails! I have managed to make a huge dent in the massive pile and, along with jumping back into those social networking chores, should be back to semi-normal soon. I appreciate your patience and interesting comments on my last post about blockages, especially writer’s block. The irony was not lost to me, having not posted in a week right after writing a post about how to avoid writer’s block. No, I have not been blocked (in any area, thank you!), just away.

While I was away, I was nominated for a Brillante Weblog Premio 2008 Award by Rebecca at Creating Wealth and Health. If you have not visited this site, I highly recommend you do. Rebecca offers many of the same healthy, positive methods that I advocate at livelife365.

Now, I don’t know much about this cool award, except that it is a wonderful honor to have anyone think my blog is worthy of any recognition—so, thanks, Rebecca. With this award there are some rules, and here they are:

l. The award may be displayed on a winner’s blog.
2. Add a link to the person who you received the award from.
3. Nominate up to seven other blogs.
4. Then add their links to your blog.
5. Add a message to each person that you have passed the award on to in the comments section of their blog.

Here are a few great blogs, from the hundreds that I visit every week, that I would like to nominate for a Brillante Weblog Premio 2008 Award:

The Junk Drawer

This is one of my favorite blogs to read. Kathy writes about ”anything that amuses me, confuses me, or makes me blow a gasket.”

Communication Exchange

This is one of the better written blogs you will find, exploring any topic worth discussing.

Monkey Fables and Tales

This blog makes me laugh just about every time I read it—and I read it all the time!

Daisy the Curly Cat

To be honest with you, I never in a million years thought that I would love reading a blog from a cat’s point of view, but this is one cool cat—and one good blog.

Confessions of a Fitness Diva

You know how I love healthy living and fitness—this is one healthy and fit diva! A blog worth reading!

Ruminations of a Small Town Mountain Boy

Eric is one of the nicest bloggers around, and his two blogs are great reads(visit his other blog, Chihuatude). Where else can you find the word “ruminations” in a blog title?

Miz Fit Online

Excellent fitness blog, told in a unique voice. Lots of videos and useful, informative posts.

Wow, seven already? I could easily add seven more—dozens more. It makes me wish that I win more awards so I can give kudos to all the other great blogs out there worthy of recognition.

Until next time…

peace,

Mike