Celebrate Summer in Song
Posted on | July 29, 2010 | No Comments
It’s that awesome time of year again when we head to West Palm Beach, Fl. for our annual pilgrimage to relish in the talented presence of the Dave Matthew’s Band. We sing, we dance, we drink… we’re merry! Saturday morning we are heading south. Besides the beauty of Dave, there is so much beauty in West Palm Beach. It is a special place for my husband and I. I’m excited about taking my camera again this year and seeing what I can capture. Here are a couple of my favorites from last year. We have been going to DMB concerts for the last 5 years. It is something we look forward to every summer. Sadly, DMB will not be touring next summer, they are taking the summer off to be with their families, which is a good thing. DMB will be back in 2012. After this concert, we will just have to wait a little bit longer for the next. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?! I know we won’t wait though to go to WPB, we love it there!
Celebrate we will
Because life is short but sweet for certain
We’re climbing two by two
To be sure these days continue
These things we cannot change
Hey, my love, you came to me like wine comes to this mouth
Grown tired of water all the time
You quench my heart and you quench my mind
~Two Step, DMB
“The Earth Laughs in Flowers”
Posted on | July 27, 2010 | No Comments
“The Earth Laughs in Flowers.” ~ e.e. cummings
Focusing on Love and Healing
Posted on | July 26, 2010 | 2 Comments
Drumming is known to provide a healing environment for people around the world.~Drum Circle Magazine “Heal the planet” event was about drumming to relieve the stress, sickness and worry over the Gulf Oil spill and focus on healing ourselves and our planet. People were encouraged to come out to the Gulf, area beaches and bodies of water to participate in drum circles with the purpose of healing. We joined a drum circle in Satellite Beach, everyone was welcoming and kind. It was a wonderful, relaxing and peaceful evening.
“Healing relies on an openness to the whole; a willingness to relinquish whatever frustrates or delays — mistaken ideas, negative feelings, poor diet, inadvisable lifestyle — and to accept a wider spectrum of responses with new ideas, experience, and priorities. Healing is communication; and music, in its universal nature, is total communication. In the deepest mysteries of music are the inspirations, the pathways, and the healing which lead to one-ness and unity.” Olivea Dewhurst-Maddock, Sound Therapy
Gratitude Post
Posted on | July 25, 2010 | 3 Comments
Hello,
It’s late, 2:03 AM to be exact. I’ve been updating this site tonight and I get so caught up in it, I lose track of time. I’m happy with the progress. I added a RSS feed and a subscription button. Anyone who is interested in subscribing to the blog can now do so with several options. I also added some blog badges of some of my favorite blogs. There are so many blogs I love, but not everyone has badges and showing pictures for everyone, well… let’s just say I’m still learning.
But before I call it a night, I thought I would do a quick Gratitude Post. A Gratitude journal page, a post or even a doodle on a piece of paper is a great way to focus on what is going right in your life rather than what is going wrong with it. Here are some things I’m grateful for tonight and they are in no particular order.
I’m thankful for:
- creative potential
- snoring dogs (especially my favorite pug)
- my best friend, my husband
- my fabulous children, my entire tribe
- iced tea with lots of lemon
- the MacBook so I can write this post
- amazing friends
- my comfy bed
- Tropicals sugar-free Popsicles
- the ability to travel and explore
- my camera, looking through the lens provides a new perspective
- that I am employed with a good job
- laughter
- walks on the beach
- good music tonight during dinner
- the cost to fix the Jeep transmission Jeep….The word “Transmission” is usually synonymous with “Hundreds” if not “Thousands.” It was less than “Hundred(s)”
I could go on and on… What do you have on your gratitude list?
Sweet dreams.
Love & Peace,
Kim
Lazy Days of Summer
Posted on | July 20, 2010 | 2 Comments
Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. ~Sam Keen
I love this quote! Saw this and it just made me feel better! I so want to be lazy right now. Is that a bad thing? In fact, the day before I saw this quote I didn’t want to get out of bed. I was happy, wasn’t like I didn’t want to face the world, I just was comfortable right where I was at! It was a Sunday so I could have stayed in bed, but I was feeling a little guilty about it I have to admit. So, I did some writing from the comfort of my bed and proceeded to get showered and dressed around oh… noon? Then I ran some errands with my daughter and we went to lunch, other than that we didn’t do too much. In fact, that evening, we all watched a movie on TV and ate pizza together, we all were feeling a little bit lazy I think. It was nice. I have been busy this summer and I have actually gotten some important things done, I had to… with our daughter going off to college and all. That stuff can get really overwhelming. There is always things to do, projects to start but what I really want to do this summer is play! I am having a good mix of work, personal work and play so far, so I’m not AT ALL complaining, just recognizing with a little wishful thinking thrown in. Life is good and I am very thankful.
Remember when summertime meant just playing? Hanging out with friends, going from house to house. We used to take turns having kickball games in each other’s yard, it was the one (and only) sport I was good at. I could kick! We played Red Rover, Red Rover… and all sorts of fun games on those warm summer nights.
I hope everyone is having a great summer and gets a chance to play a silly game or just be lazy, after all it is respectable during the summer.
This picture was taken of the four of us in Key West, I don’t have the year on me (I’m writing while in a hotel room in Kansas City, I’m traveling for work). I don’t have the date of the picture with me, but an estimate would be that this picture was taken about 12 years ago. We went camping in the Florida Keys with friends. A great summer memory!
Love & Peace,
Kim
Costa Rica Part 2 Dominical
Posted on | July 18, 2010 | 2 Comments
Dominical Costa Rica, not really sure what day we arrived as all the days seem to run together, I think it was a Wednesday….I know it was paradise. Every town we had been too was beautiful, lush, and welcoming, but there was something about Dominical that just made me feel part of Costa Rica. Maybe it was the house we rented, Sea Breeze Casa that stood elegantly on top of a mountain overlooking the jungle and with a view all the way to the pacific ocean or maybe it was all the animals that made it magical. I really loved our time in Dominical.
View from Sea Breeze Casa
There’s a toucan in the tree! There is another one! Snap, snap, snap… there are so many pictures of toucans you would think we were snapping pictures for Animal Planet special! (If only, wouldn’t that be fun!) Oh, what’s that… a parrot? A parakeet? There’s another one… things you could hear us saying when hanging out by the pool at Sea Breeze Casa.
Hanging at the pool
Toucan at Sea Breeze Casa
But to really appreciate what we went through to get there I need to try to explain the journey to the top of the mountain and down. We got to Dominical and were instructed to call Bob and Bee, transplants from Washington State since about 1989 and owners of Sea Breeze Casa. We were instructed to meet somewhere in downtown Dominical and follow them to the house. Okay, that sounded reasonable enough. Bob arrived on an ATV, still not alarmed as we had seen many people on ATVs as it was a popular mode of transportation in Costa Rica. As we headed out of downtown Domicical which was two dirt roads with a few shops, restaurants, bars and yoga studio on the beach, we headed “up” to the paved road and through a police check point station. Without going into too much detail, it is important for you to know that we had two cars, affectionately called car 1 and car 2 and we communicated via walkie-talkies. Although car 2 did have 4X4 capabilities, it did not have very much power. Car 1 seemed to be always leaving car 2 behind…. so back at the police check point, we got through that just fine as we didn’t have drugs or guns, but we had to pull over and wait for car 2. (there is a big hill to climb getting out of downtown Dominical). When that happened, Bob’s ATV no longer started. He hopped into Car 2 and off we went, leaving his ATV behind to get later.
Playa Dominical
Up the mountain we went, Bob was giving us directions… mostly saying, “keep going, keep going.” At every turn we were hoping (and praying) that we had arrived. Our ears were popping, the rocks, mud and lack of protection from going off the side of the mountain made the drive a little stressful. (Just a little, gets more stressful later!) It took us a good 20 minutes to get up to the house with all the twists and turns, going up and up and up… and at last we were there! I wasn’t sure if I ever wanted to go back down again not just because of the beauty of the place but the drive! But we had too. Within 30 minutes we were back in the car with Bob going back down the mountain to drop him off at his ATV and for us to find a grocery store. Let’s just say that when we started to go up a hill and then we started to slide backwards on the road down the hill while, I think I can safety speak for everyone, it was freaky!, even Bob put on his seat belt at that point. Our driver, our friend, remained very calm as we slid backwards, he handled the situation very well. The 3 girls in the backseat, me being one of them, very calmly offered to walk up the hill to be picked up. We figured less weight might help. No one really said a word about it until much later…. just one of those things that if we didn’t talk about it right away, maybe it didn’t really happen and we still had to get back up the mountain now with groceries. Later after arriving safe and sound back at the house, we had a good laugh about it, sort of. Did I mention that car 2 had license plate watch? Car 1′s license plate kept dangling… actually fell off on the way to the airport near the house, we realized it as we were reaching the paved road! Luckily, we had plenty of time to get to the airport and we found it.
We have a Dangler
It happened one more time in car 2 on one of the last days of the trip, everyone remained calm, and we didn’t even have to get out of the car to walk, we made it just fine. It had rained the night before and the roads were muddier, which made it a little trickier to get up that hill. I commend the drivers, they did an amazing job! I don’t know that I could go there without someone driving me, I would not be comfortable driving on those roads myself.
In Dominical we experienced grocery shopping at the local Corona grocery store. No air-conditioning, eggs on the shelf, meat counter, limited choices and very different choices than in America and high prices on alcohol. Their alcohol distribution is run by the government, so Costa Rican beer and liquor was reasonable but anything outside of that we were going to pay for. The money conversion was quiet fun, I felt like I was spending so much money with prices like 5,000 colones for a meal, which is $10 US dollars. Money comes in 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000 bills. It was a great math lesson in converting for the kids (we had them figure it out, you know as a lesson!)
While in Dominical we went on an amazing horseback riding tour, Don Lulos Nauyaca Waterfall Horseback Riding Tour. The tour took us up the mountain to the home of Don Lulos for a typical Costa Rican breakfast and later a typical Costa Rican lunch. The delicious breakfast of fresh pineapple, papaya, potato pancakes, bread, juice and cafe con-leche. For lunch we had baked chicken, rice and beans, a salad, and juice. It was one of our very best meals of the trip. The horses were funny, competing for being the leader on the trail, many times they even began to gallop. So much fun! We were all giggling (okay, maybe it was just the girls) our guide had a good laugh at us silly Americans on our horses trying to be John Wayne. We rode to the waterfall, parked the horses and hiked to the bottom of the Nauyaca Waterfall. The water was so cold, but felt so good. Here we had a chance to climb up the waterfall and dive off… yep! As much as I would have loved to do it, I didn’t think I was strong enough to pull my weight up to climb the rocks of the waterfall. Next time! But 3 of our group did and it was so cool to watch and they loved it! What an experience!
River Crossing
Three Amigos
Whoa! Way to go Rich!
I loved everything we did in Dominical! We also went on a catamaran called the Tom Cat to snorkel off the coast of Manual Antonio Park, one day we spent the day at Manual Antonio Park, were we saw lots of monkeys, went on a guided walk through the park seeing a sloth and learning about the environment and settled on the beach to play in the water for the rest of the day.
Here Fishy, Fishy
Manuel Antonio Park
I see you!
Can I take you home?
I could go on and on about our time in Costa Rica, it was absolutely an amazing adventure! I loved the people there, the animals, the way of life. I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to get away, to experience another culture, to have the opportunity to do things that I have never done before. I can’t wait to plan our next trip… hmmm Alaska? Europe? Ski Trip?
Yeah! Costa Rica!
More pictures can be found on the gallery page, under Costa Rica.
Love & Peace,
Kim
Our Amazing Costa Rican Adventure
Posted on | July 12, 2010 | 4 Comments
Our Amazing Costa Rica Adventure Part I.
We just got back from an amazing 12 day adventure in Costa Rica! What a beautiful country. The landscape, flora, fauna, animals and the people of Costa Rica, Ticos were very welcoming. We set out on our journey with 6 friends (2 other families). We began a few months back planning and coordinating, updating spreadsheets and booking reservations. The anticipation was building and we were not disappointed.
We landed in San Jose, Costa Rica on Friday morning, got our bags and off we went to the rental car place. I’ve seen cars in better condition, but after we got on the road, it became pretty clear why there were some dents and dings in the cars. With rocky, bumpy, dirt roads twisting and turning going up and down, it was obvious. I for one was glad we did not have a shiny new car and very thankful for the 4X4 functionality.
We had our first cultural experience when we started hearing beeping and people saying things to us in Spanish while driving in San Jose (which was a bit congested). Su matrícula está disminuyendo el auto! Su matrícula está disminuyendo el auto! What? What are they saying? Did we do something wrong? Then as the policia drove by on a motor bike, saying the same thing, we asked, what? Que? Su placa de la licencia… So we pulled the car over to find out that about our license plate was falling off and we were only about 15 minutes away from where we picked up the car. Our friend Steve found a coconut lying on the ground and proceeded to bang the bolt holding the plate back in place. This continued to be an issue or a source of comedy for the rest of the trip. And although we might not have understood at first what everyone was saying to us, it was very nice that they were warning us, had we lost it, it would have been a problem.
For the first 4 days we stayed at Hotel Lava Tacotal in La Fortuna. Again, everyone was very nice and helpful. Very nice moderate hotel with an AMAZING view of Arenal Volcano. So close we can see the rocks falling down the volcano during it’s several small eruptions throughout the day.
In the Arenal / La Fortuna area on day 2 went we on a hike in the cloud forest and to our first waterfall, then we went zip lining. We had some anxious people, myself included. But we ALL did it and it was incredible! One of my favorite activities of the entire trip. At the highest point we were over 600 ft above the jungle canopy and the cable was over 1400 feet. Wow! It is not natural to be hanging out over the jungle suspended from a cable, but it sure is fun.
While in La Fortuna, we went on a hike in the Arenal Volcano National Park to the rocky base of the volcano, we swam in the pool at the hotel with gorgeous views of the volcano, we hiked to La Fortuna waterfall, hiked through the cloud forest on swinging bridges, went shopping in downtown La Fortuna and enjoyed an amazing afternoon at the Hot Springs. Eco Termales was a beautiful sanctuary with about 4 different natural pools heated by the volcano at different temperatures. Felt great after the hiking. We also had a fantastic lunch, it was a traditional “typical” is what the Ticos call it, meal. It consisted of rice, beans, chicken or steak, salad and tortillas. Fresh juice is served or available with every meal.
Our next stop was Monteverde, Costa Rica were we stayed in a beautiful hotel El Establo. We were there for one night. While in Monteverde we hiked in the cloud forest, this time to the Continental Divide and we also went on a Coffee and Sugar Cane plantation tour, El Trapiche Tour. This was a great tour and I highly recommend it! While on the tour we got to see and learn about the process of making coffee and sugar cane, see a sloth, learn about plantains, bananas and root vegetables, ride in an ox cart, taste sugar cane, make candy from the sugar cane and enjoyed the coffee. It was a family farm and everyone had a role in the tour, our tour guide Diego was wonderful, he was the son of the farm owner and he grew up on the farm.
Then on to Domincal, Costa Rica where we rented a gorgeous home, Seabreeze Casa for 7 days with an incredible mountain view. More about this part of our journey in Part II.
To see pictures of our trip, check out the gallery page HERE.
Our Girl is a Graduate!
Posted on | June 13, 2010 | No Comments
Our youngest, our daughter graduated from High School on June 5th, 2010. Her father and I are so proud of her accomplishments, her daily self-motivation and her zest for life! It has been a joy watching her grow into the beautiful young woman. We love her smile, we love her laughs, we love her heart… we love her from her head to her tippy toes!
One of my favorite quotes… one we also quoted for our son when he graduated High School by Henry David Thoreau: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”
I think this quote says it all…
Congratulations Bekah! We love you!
Drumming, Drumming and more Drumming
Posted on | May 17, 2010 | 2 Comments
My hands are starting to hurt, my back is a little stiff… all in the name of fun! I’ve been doing a lot of drumming these days. Mother’s Day weekend, hippie chick, friends and I drove about 3 hours north of Orlando to Live Oak, Fl. where we took up camp for a few days. We went to a twice annual drumming gathering called Paralounge. What is a Drum Gathering you may be wondering? What you don’t know? Doesn’t everyone go to these? {I wish}
According to the Paralounge website, the Paralounge Drum Gathering is a celebration of human spirit with drum and dance. It is labeled a “Gathering” because the atmosphere provides a community experience through music and dance in a traditional sense. You will see live performances, but this is not a concert. Everyone has gathered for the purpose of engaging in creative musical expression using indigenous instruments our ancestors created. It may be a “Drum” gathering, but there is a lot more going on. You do not have to know anything about drums. The drums are merely an instrument used to release creativity and explore musicality through an experience of self empowerment. The Drum Gathering experience is made to allow children to interact with adults and build community structure through rhythm and dance. No prior experience necessary!
Paralounge means, Para = “to go beyond” and Lounge= “to sit or move in a relaxing way.”
Now that I have enjoyed my first gathering, I couldn’t agree more with the web-site’s description. It is a community of people gathered to express themselves artistically, through music, through art, through friendship. There were vendors selling their creations, musical talent preforming, teachers passing on their knowledge to new comers like myself and a nightly drum circle for everyone to share in the experience.
It was a beautiful weekend spent with my daughter and friends. It was peaceful, relaxing and I felt a wonderful feeling of getting back to nature in almost a tribal sense being surrounded by the rhythm of the drums. “When you go beyond relaxation, you reach toward the realm of meditation. You find the place of self healing. You find the instrument inside of you that keeps your internal rhythms healthy.”
Last week, I went to 3 more drum circles, a facilitated one in College Park, one on Saturday night in College Park @ Albert Park and then Sunday Drumday yesterday. It has been a busy month of drumming!
“EXPLORE” was my word for 2010. This wonderful new experience may not have happened without going outside of my day to day world and being receptive to learning and meeting new people. I encourage you to take a chance… you never know what is waiting for you in this awesome vast world of ours.
Peace and Love,
Kim
He’s Home!
Posted on | May 14, 2010 | 2 Comments
I started this post a couple weeks ago and just never seemed to finish it! Even though it might be “old news” now, it is still top of my mind. Our son arrived home in Orlando on Thursday morning April 22. It had been a little over 7 months since we had seen him. It was great to catch up, see some pictures from his deployment, just hang out and laugh together. Last Saturday night we went to our favorite German restaurant, The Willow Tree Cafe with friends and family. I felt bad for him though sleep deficient hit him hard that night. Friday night, the four of us went to the ZZ Top concert and had a blast! It was a great visit. He is back on base in Yuma, AZ back to work doing his thing… I missed him instantly. Then a week later I got the best surprise. A beautiful Mother’s Day card and a bouquet of flowers delivered for Mother’s Day. They were just beautiful and really moved me. He has grown up so much these last couple of years. I love the child he was and the young man he has grown up to be.
About
Keep Your Face to the Sunshine and you will Never see the Shadow - Helen Keller
Welcome to Save My Sunshine. I'm Kim, a wife, mother, amateur photographer, blogger, djembe drummer enthusiast, artist, animal lover, dog owner, beach dweller, travel junkie, tattoo bearing, positive thinker, newbie "empty nester", and a full time professional. ...and that's just on a Monday.
I write about my thoughts, things I find interesting, my tribe and our adventures. Come back often, as you never know how this will evolve. I am a work in progress and so is this site. Take a look around and stay awhile, I hope you will find a little sunshine while you're here.
Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think at contacts@savemysunshine.com.
Peace & Love,
Kim xoxoFollow Save My Sunshine
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