Ready To Thrive

May 31, 2011 - 2 Comments by Mishelle - Me, Myself, and I

This past weekend has been amazing.  We’ve done so much, and spent so much time away from the house, that it’s hard for me to remember what all we’ve been doing.  But, I’ll give it a shot.

On Friday afternoon, we went swimming at our friends’ house.  This is a particular set of awesome friends, a whole family of friends, that makes me believe that it’s no coincidence you are drawn to someone—it’s fate!  It’s those beams of light.  It’s meant to be.  When you find friends like these, you hold on to them.   On this day I started learning how to Thrive! while spending time swimming in the sun.   A little later that day I decided that it was time I took control back, so that I could literally thrive.   I said to myself, “Self, today is the day you start.  Not Monday, not next week, not tomorrow…today!”

And, so it began.

On Saturday morning Olivia woke up early to attend the exchange student of the aforementioned family of friends  (a wonderful Ukrainian boy named Pasha.)  Mikey started his dog-sitting duties, and Davey, Benny, and I headed down to Atlanta for a Wendy’s Meet-Up.   I started the day right—eating breakfast, drinking water, with limited coffee—but I thought about what I would do when I got to Wendy’s.  There would be french fries.  Those french fries that Davey usually leaves proclaiming, “Mama, I’m done!”   I would be tempted.  There would be Frosties, too.  It was time to pull out the will power and practice mind over matter.   So, I did.

We were all asked to visit the Wendy’s together so that we could try out the new salad Wendy’s is introducing, as a tasty seasonal option, to their premium salad line – the Berry Almond Chicken Salad.   I ordered the full sized salad, and committed myself to not even stealing one of the kids fries.  Not. One.  And, I stuck it out. Which is super hard because I love me some Wendy’s french fries.

I’m particularly fond of salads with berries, and was even addicted to one last summer. The Wendy’s salad was simply wonderful and completely satisfying.  The berries were fresh, as was the lettuce.  The grilled chicken was nicely prepared, and the salad dressing—Marzetti’s Raspberry Vinaigrette— was fat free, but didn’t taste like it, at all, and the almond slices provided crunch and pizazz.

The salad was great, and there was a bonus to trying it:  We got to hang out with our blogging mama friends and their kids!

{See some more pictures from my phone, via Posterous.}

Thanks to Wendy’s and The Motherhood for *inviting us to go and try out their new salad.

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We headed back to Lorhonda & Jimmy’s house, and soon thereafter we piled into our van and visited a local church for Saturday night service, which was interesting, and on the way home there was a lot of intellectual conversation.  I’ll leave that topic for another post…

Once we got back to their house we had dinner with the whole family.  Olivia started to learn how to quilt.  Yes, that night, a quilter was born!  She’s working on a cool scrap quilt, and I can’t wait to see it when it’s all done.  I absolutely love that someone else is teaching her a craft.

Then it was time for an early evening swim that went into the night.  While Davey, Benny, and I swam into the night with our friends.  I captured some of the fun with my camera.

We got home late that night, all tired and ready for bed.  Days that full are gifts.

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On Memorial Day we headed back to their house for some more swimming and yummy food.  This time everyone was there, Michael included.  When we left Olivia said, “they are like family, aren’t they?”  Yes, I said, they are.  And, it’s so wonderful that you can find family in friendship.  While we live far from our [blood] relatives it’s reassuring to have people you can count on, that are a few minutes away.

I’m grateful for it, and it’s really allowing me to thrive.

[*Wendy's and The Motherhood asked me to go try the new salad, and I was compensated for my time, but all the opinions in this post are genuine and purely my own. They also gave me a $25.00 giftcard to giveaway, which I gave to a local friend---a very happy friend!]