Incredibly Beautiful Day

Today has been the kind of day that explains why I am committed to CRON. On days like this, I am so happy, I feel so grateful to be alive, that I want to live as long as I can with as much health as I can have so I can enjoy more days like today.

First, the weather was beautiful. Started off the day with a whey protein shake, followed by my usual four mile walk, into my cute little town. Got my coffee (hello, niacin!) and chatted with the coffee shop employees who know me and have even given me a name based on the way I drink my iced coffee (not shaken, not disturbed in any way.) I'm "Old School," since I have been drinking coffee there since before the days when the management forced them to shake it, whether it's sweetened or not.

When I got home, I ate an eggwhite scramble, cleaned out some cabinets while listening to an excellent episode of _This American Life_ on NPR, then visited my mother's cat and blogged a bit on her computer.

Went home, spent several hours on the phone doing work calls, helping nurses take control of their lives at work by organizing. Thought about how much I love my work, and how grateful I am for the opportunity to spend every day doing the thing I care about most in the world.

Petted my cat. My cat has a very loud purr. Worried that the nurses could hear the cat purring into the phone.

Went to the grocery store, bought lots of cat food and some refills on my eggwhites and cottage cheese. Ate a big salad from the salad bar: spinich, grape tomatoes, onions, olives, and a dash of fresh grated parmesean cheese. Oil and vinegar.

Went home, was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the day that I took another four mile walk! Daydreamed about CRON Halloween party, at which I would serve:

carrot sticks with kalamata olive tapenade (orange = carrots, black = tapenade)
sweet potatoes stuffed with yummy cumin/garlic/cayenne black beans (orange and black! I could even make them look like eyeballs by putting the black beans in a hollowed out space in the middle of the sweet potato!)
eggwhite meringue (spelling? hmmmm) with the juice of a fresh orange squeezed in, light orange, more protein.

Sounds a bit like a CRON Halloween party for children, but it made my walk pass very pleasantly.

Went home, did some more work calls, checked in with a co-worker about tomorrow's meeting, found out that my mother won't be coming in tonight so went to her house to get the cat fed for the night and blog some more.

Checked my email.. email waiting from a new CR friend (HI!) and also from one of my biggest CR heroes, who works CR into a full, satisfying life, and still makes time to email with the little redhead who likes green tea...

And just had to take a second to think that I am so happy in my life that it is no surprise that I would want to extend that life as long as possible!

At the risk of quoting Elton John, "It's no sacrifice at all."

Hey, at least I went one day without quoting either Michael Rae or Jessica Simpson!

(Let's just take a moment to ask ourselves, "How often are Michael Rae and Jessica Simpson mentioned in the same online document?" We could google it and find out...)

Thanks to all of you for reading. If you're ever in Philly, I'll make you dinner!