The road to Albuquerque

In just three more sleeps time I get to realise a long-held dream of mine - to travel to Albuquerque for my first Radiant Recovery Ranch there. 

To say I am excited is an understatement!!

I live in the west of England so according to my e-ticket, that's approximately 5,500 miles away :)

A radiant pal and I leave the house at 5am on Wednesday to catch a 9:45 flight from Heathrow.  So far so good.

In true RR style I have been thinking about my food <grin> and here is what I'm planning at the moment...

4:00am    Home          Shake and porridge
8:30am    Heathrow    2nd breakfast (Spanish omelette)

9:45am    Plane #1
12:30pm  Plane           My own food (chicken, new potatoes and green beans)
5:00pm    Plane           My own food (turkey brown rice risotto with carrot sticks)

7:20pm    Atlanta
10:00pm  Atlanta        A visit to TGI's or a steakery in the airport - plus buy a decaf to take with me

12:25am  Plane #2     
3:00am    Plane           Food that I have bought in Atlanta or another shake (using cold decaf - must remember shaker bottle!) plus easy to mix Ready Brek

4:00am    Albuquerque
Sleep!

I'll also make sure I drink loads of water as Albuquerque is at high altitude (well, for my seafaring legs anyway!)

Now to plan the return route via Minneapolis!!

What a difference a smile makes

Every morning I wait with my daughter in the car before she goes into school. 

For the last two weeks I have seen the same teenaged girl walk past on her own.  She is about 17 years old and she has been wearing a huge fluffy hat with teddy bear ears on it which always makes me smile.  I do admire people who are able to be themselves and not mind what other people think.

She carries herself with such poise and from her manner she is really bubbly and in love with life.  Every single time she has walked past the car she has given us a huge grin which I have returned.

My daughter walked past her the other day and the teenager grinned at her and said 'good morning'.  My daughter was in awe as the teenager didn't even know her!

I always feel happy when she walks past.  I made sure I passed that smile on to others today.  Such a simple thing, but oh so effective.

Now, it seems that the teenager is from Austria and will only be at the school for a short while. But she has made such a difference to my world.

Joy dots

Joy dots are those little moments of awe, when you stop and see things through new eyes. 

Keeping track of them is having an incredible effect on me - it's really hard to explain, but you might like to try it too and see what happens.

Joy dots were the idea of Dr Kathleen DesMaisons.  The more I notice them, the more I see!

I'm going to be posting some of my joy dots as I go along.  I'll also post photos too.

Here are a few that I have noticed recently:

* the car that had cherry blossoms stuck all over it after a rain shower.

* The mini whirlwind carrying cherry blossoms up into the air

* Beginning a new sewing project

I'll be posting more here and will be tweeting them too!

@spreiki
#joydots