wind inspired

May 22, 2013

WOW

Here’s a funny little story.

I was having one of those “I have got it together, superwoman” kind of mornings.

I met girlfriends in the wee hours of the morning and cranked out a strong 4.5 miles.

Back at home, the kids and I did a 3 mile walk / beach clean-up. Some sea turtles are almost ready to hatch on our beach and we wanted to make sure there weren’t any tempting pieces of plastic for them to gobble up.

Showered, dressed and ready to take on the word, I went to fight the crowds at the local Marshalls. I needed to pick up a few gifts and frames and some of the kids’ favorite cookies.

With a full cart, and a very long check-out line, hunger hit. Not just hmmmm, I wonder what I should make for lunch? kind of hunger, but the I am tempted to gnaw on my own arm kind of hunger.

The check out lines in the TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Homegoods shops are well stocked with tempting must haves. Cute note cards, wrapping paper, socks, sunglasses…. items that if you stand there long enough and look at them, you will justify a need for them.

My eyes landed upon a brightly colored package. Big letters claimed that these chippy-cracker looking snacks were gluten-free. Perfect. I grabbed them.

As I unloaded my goods at the register, I realized that the wonderful, gluten-free snacks, the ones that I used every ounce of willpower I possessed to refrain from breaking into while waiting in line, were actually DOG TREATS. Seriously? How embarrassed would I have been paying for an opened, partially eaten bag of pet food without a poodle in my purse?

Mortified, I just placed the pet treats back on the rack, paid and high-tailed it out of there.

Hunger and embarrassment led me to delve into the human cookies that I’d purchased for the kids. Aside from home-baked, these are my kids’ absolute favorite gluten-free cookies. They are aptly named. No joke, the first time I bit into one of the chocolate chips cookies, mouth-full, I exclaimed “WOW.” They are that good. Soft, chewy, delicious.

The WOW company (With Out Wheat) makes a variety of cookies.

We are especially in love with the chocolate chip and snickerdoodle varieties. (They also come in peanut butter, lemon burst and ginger molasses)

In addition to the bagged cookies, the company also offers cookie dough, individually wrapped cookies, bakery tubs of fresh cookies and baking mixes. We can’t wait to try all of their products once we are back in the United States.

Check out their website to find WOW products in your area: http://www.wowbaking.com/

In Puerto Rico they are available in Marshalls stores in the cookware and snack area

Leave a comment | tags: gluten free cookies, gluten free products, gluten free snacks, Marshalls store, WOW baking company | posted in EAT - recipes, restaurants and reviews

May 21, 2013

One with Nature

By Wind Inspired

We are spending our last few days in Puerto Rico making memories.

Soaking in the beauty.

Enjoying the sunshine.

My favorite place to do this is The Conquistador Resort.

I have blogged about this beautiful resort here and shared photos of it in my 52 WEEKS photography challenge.

The resort is posh and the vistas are stunning……

What sets the resort apart from other tropical locations is the hotel’s private island: Palomino.

We took the earliest boat over, with hiking first on our itinerary.

The first hill took us to a small overlook. The view was well-worth the climb.

The next fork in the trail offered a Hidden Beach Cove. The children got a quick vocabulary lesson: the difference between a Nature Reserve and a Naturist Reserve.

Intrigued, the kids followed the path down to the beach……

We were greeted with a small hand-made sign:

I could tell that the girls were getting a little anxious about what or whom we might encounter. Thankfully we were up earlier than the nudists. Well, most of them. Lesson #2 of the day – it is the job of a parent to completely embarrass their teenager. It keeps them humble, makes them tough and gives them something to complain about to their friends.

It was a shame that we were hiking on a Monday and missed out on the free massages.

Back to hiking. Next stop: the top!

On our way down, Caitlyn tried out her cross-country legs. The knee handled it pretty well.

Victoria joined in. (Think Pheobe from Friends.) I know she would be an amusing addition to any cross-country team.

As we made our way through the trails, the beach came into view.

Our early workout was rewarded with tropical drinks and liquid relaxation.

Leave a comment | tags: clothing optional, Conquistador hotel, el conquistador, el conquistador resort, Fajardo PR, family hike, floating in water, hiking in Puerto Rico, hiking in the Caribbean, Naturist reserve, nude beach, Palomino Island, Puerto Rico, travel photography | posted in CAPTURE - photography, EXPLORE - world travels

May 18, 2013

white car

By Wind Inspired

so much depends
upon

a white Honda
Accord

coated with dusty
grit

transporting across two
continents.

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This car and I have been together for a long time.

Purchased in the Spring of 1995, it had already served as a coach’s car for the James Madison University football team.

It crisscrossed the United states from Virginia to Louisiana to New York to Colorado to Washington before I got married.

This car carried our first baby home from the hospital. It was a slow drive, with the radio turned off as we hesitantly fled medical supervision, as if we might be pulled over and questioned on our parenting capabilities.

It accompanied us on all of our military moves: Fairchild AFB (FL,) with brief stopovers at Maxwell AFB (AL) and Altus AFB (OK,) onto MacDill AFB (FL,) and then the Royal Defense College (UK) and High Wycombe Air Station (UK,) back across the ocean to Little Rock AFB (AR) and currently Muniz ANGB (PR.)

This vehicle has driven on snowy Spokane streets and hot Houston highways. It even spent three years driving on the left-hand-side of the road.

It has just enough dents and bumps to give it character.

The layer of dirt is holding the paint on.

Much like a member of the family we have grown to tolerate and even find amusement in its quirks.

The radio no longer works. Neither does the front passenger window. (Well, it works, but if you put it down, it will most likely stay down. forever.) The speedometer stopped working one day, for no particular reason. And then, about 2 years later, it started up again, for no particular reason. (We think it missed out on about 25,000 miles.) When you lock the door, a phantom lock continues to click, and click, and click, as if you are driving with a small ghost child who thinks it is fun to drive you crazy with the repetitive noise. Recently the air conditioner breathed its final puff of cool air. In the Puerto Rico heat we need to drive with the windows down. (But NOT the front passenger one.)

We don’t mind the idiosyncrasies, because it has been getting us from point A to point B safely for 18 years. It took us on dates and family vacations. The seats have buckled in toddlers and teenagers. The trunk has carried groceries, gallons of paint and bags of mulch. That baby who was transported home from the hospital has had lessons in the driver’s seat.

In just a few days the Air Force will ship just one of our vehicles back to the United States. Our family minivan is making the trip. The white car just isn’t worth the cost of shipping.

Today we signed over the title to a new family.

Goodbye white car – you have served us well.

Leave a comment | tags: 1994 accord, car nostalgia, family car, selling car, tribute to a car, tribute to a family car, white honda accord, William Carlos Williams | posted in ABOUT - life, motherhood, marriage

May 15, 2013

the home stretch

By Wind Inspired

We are in the home stretch.

Our journey is 98% done.

In February of 2011 we started a life in Puerto Rico.

Like a fantastical break from reality, we left our possessions behind and moved to a tropical island.

Ironically, we are now, just over the 26 month mark, and like the grueling 26.2 miles of a marathon, we have been on a similar course.

We arrived optimistic, excited, ready for adventure.

There were things thrown in our direction that we were completely unprepared for and there weren’t nearly enough aid stations.

I wanted to quit.

A hundred times, I wanted to quit.

My mind wrestled with…

what was best for our children?

and what was best for our family?

and our commitment to the military…

and money…

and fear…

and frustration…

and a nagging feeling that we couldn’t teach our children that it was okay to quit just because it got hard; even if it was really, really , really hard.

When every part of my being wanted to jump in the ocean and swim away, I didn’t.

Whenever I questioned my decision to stay, I looked for signs.

Rainbows. Beauty. The kindness of strangers. Any sign from the universe to just hang in there.

I was given all of the above.

I was also given friends.

Not the kind the type of acquaintances that you meet when you are having a good hair day, wearing lipstick and laughing over coffee…. but the kind of people who see you at rock bottom, talk you off the ledge, and join you in both grins and tears when the only options are to laugh or cry.

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Here we are, just nine days to go.

I should be elated, but instead, I am heavy with mixed emotions.

I am relieved.

The worst 26 months of my life are almost over.

Yet I feel a strange sadness that I didn’t expect.

It’s such an anti-climatic end.

No finish line.

No baton to hand off.

No epiphany of what purpose this experience served.

No understanding of how to possibly say goodbye to the people who pulled me along when I didn’t think I could take another step.

This marathon will end, and in just a few days we will fly away.

And it makes me happy – because it’s over and we survived and I know that somewhere, someday we will be better for it.

And it makes me sad – for all that it never was.

Leave a comment | tags: marathon, marathon metaphor, military goodbyes, military life, saying goodbye | posted in ABOUT - life, motherhood, marriage, EXPLORE - world travels, SERVE - our military life

May 15, 2013

52 WEEKS (ten)

By Wind Inspired

This is being published during week that I should be posting #19…. the joys of New Year goals. The best thing is that I have a lengthy summer to get all caught up. My other New Year goals are a mixed bag of success and abandonment – 12 lbs down and hundreds of miles behind me, and at the same time, the wonderful cookbook recipes are still a mass of scribbled notes – now en route to the United States. Oh, and I have been painting. A lot of painting.

Enjoy this batch of photographs of my lovely daughter, taken to mark her 15th birthday. While today is not her birthday – it is certainly a day worthy of celebration. She has been given the all-clear with her knee reconstruction. No more physical therapy. No more doctor appointments. No more limitations. Look out world – there’s a new girl in town who is tougher than ever before!

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A photographic record of our 2013.

Caitlyn is fifteen.

This child has been my conversational peer since before her 2nd birthday.

Serious. Determined. Strong.

My favorite photos are always the ones when I catch her laughing.

1 comment | tags: 52 week photography challenge, 52 weeks of photographs, fifteen year old portraits, lifestyle photographer, lifestyle photography, photos in the rain, photos of birthday cake, photos on the neach, portrait with umbrella, teen portraits | posted in CAPTURE - photography, CELEBRATE - life's special moments

May 8, 2013

52 WEEKS (nine)

By Wind Inspired

A photographic record of our 2013.

A certain little boy got a skateboard from his best friend. He was beyond thrilled. I am equally excited that the packers put it on the moving truck. My little boy is allowed to break all the bones he wants stateside. I am done with hospitals here on the island.

I tried to capture his tentative approach to the sport. I am sure as he gains skill and confidence I will no longer be able to watch.

Here’s Harry, his best mate, and their wheels.

Leave a comment | tags: 52 week photography challenge, 52 weeks of photographs, boys skate boarding, lifestyle photographer, portrait photography, portraits of boys, skate board, skate boarding, skate park, sport photography, sports photogr | posted in CAPTURE - photography

May 6, 2013

PCS Packing

By Wind Inspired

It never fails – the weeks surrounding a move are always a little bit off-kilter.

The last 10 days have not failed these expectations.

My last post indicated some quiet time of editing and writing and completing our home school lessons, as well as my own expectations of getting back on track with some sort of routine.

And then life laughed.

A 2:00 am ambulance ride through the streets of San Juan punctuated the start of a busy week. Note: 1) everyone is FINE, and 2) that is an entirely separate story.

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An overwhelming sense of anxiety led to the creation of this:

Our countdown calendar: sticky notes marking what needs to be done and who needs to be where. With every morsel of our lives about to be placed in cardboard boxes, this was my answer to organization.

For those who have not packed up and moved house 7 times in the last 16 years, here’s a little overview:

A PCS (Permanent Change of Station) has happens for most military families every 2-4 years. Our shortest stay was 11 months and our longest 4.5 years.

YES. We are provided with packers who come into our home and pack EVERYTHING – right down to the trash in your trash can if you don’t watch carefully. I’m not joking.

YES. There are some people who just sit back and let the packers do it all. Empty their drawers and go through their closets and clean out the pantry.

NO. I am not one of those people.

Why?

1) I like to use this time to purge and sort – I do not want anything packed that I don’t want to see again on the other side.

2) I think it is creepy to let strangers touch my underwear.

3) We are living in a semi-furnished apartment – some of the things are ours, some are theirs. I had to make sure every item was carefully sorted so that the right things got packed and not the wrong things.

We are in the midst of an over-seas move. We will be separated from our possessions for the next two months (give or take a week.) The items will live in a crate that will spend time on a truck, a dock, a boat, a dock, a truck and possibly a warehouse before we see them again in Illinois. (Scott AFB – just across the Mississippi from St. Louis.)

With that in mind….. If you had to pack only a suitcase for 2 months what would you put in it?

____________________________________________________

Over the last few days we have put our hands on everything we own. Every room had elaborate piles of SHIP ….. GIVE AWAY ….. SUITCASE ….. STAYS.

And of course we came across a few items that needed to be used up.

One night we enjoyed stray Christmas Crackers with our pizza.

Re-discovering the sombrero and a package of stick-on moustaches were timed perfectly with our Cinco de Mayo dinner.

Now who says moving isn’t fun?

We sorted through books and toys and clothes and cooking utensils, ultimately emptying all the bedrooms and creating organized-ish stacks for the packers.

We went to bed tired and little bleary eyed from the stirred up dust.

__________________________________________________

This morning packing day finally arrived.

Today we passed the hours listening to the crinkle of paper and the screech of tape.

What looked like this at 8:00 am:

Looked like this at 4:00 pm:

Tomorrow, they load the truck.

Adios stuff, we’ll meet you in St. Louis.

Fun Moving Fact: My Prince Charming once lost his wedding ring in one house, only to have it found by one of our movers in the next house!

10 comments | tags: boxes, military life, military move, moving, PCS | posted in SERVE - our military life

April 26, 2013

52 WEEKS (eight)

By Wind Inspired

A photographic record of our 2013.

These last two weeks have been ugly. We have seen images of hate and evil and tragedy plastered all over the news. My own little world has been littered with hostility. As our days here diminish, I find myself creating a cocoon of self-preservation. Long walks on the beach. Taking relief in clearing out cupboards and closets. Filling my senses with beauty.

I am lucky that it only takes the press of an on-button to see love and laughter light up before my eyes.

In between home school lessons of area and perimeter and US Government and human body systems, I have snuck in photo editing. I am still weeks behind in posting my photos – take that as fair warning that pictorial updates may be arriving en masse – but I am working my way through this current chapter of images with anticipation of things to come.

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Birthdays arrive in our home just as winter holidays fade into celebrations.

In a matter of weeks we are all wishing for a reprieve from balloons and birthday cake.

Just a short breather from valentines and Easter eggs.

I make a point of doing a photo shoot for each child so that even though so many celebrations might seem lumped together, I have recorded them individually. Capturing each age and personality and moment in time.

This is Victoria. She is 13. Nothing really describes her more than one of the t-shirts she is wearing in this shoot. BE YOU. This child doesn’t just march to the beat of a different drum, but to music that no one else has ever heard. Somewhere behind those bright eyes and mass of blonde curls lies a brilliant mathematical mind and a fierce wit. I talked her into styling her hair and putting on a little make-up for the shots with her flute. As lovely as she may be all-cleaned-up, the real Tori is skipping down the street, hair in a pony tail, enhanced with just a bit of miss-matched nail polish. Leaving email and facebook to the rest of the teenagers in the world, Victoria is a free spirit. And that is just one of the million reasons why I love her.

1 comment | tags: 52 week photography challenge, 52 weeks of photographs, birthday photo shoot, family photography, lifestyle photographer, lifestyle photography, portrait photography, San Juan Portrait Photographer, teen portraits, thirteen, thirteen year old photo shoot | posted in CAPTURE - photography, CELEBRATE - life's special moments

April 15, 2013

In their shoes

By Wind Inspired

I can put myself in their shoes.

Exhausted legs, blistered toes inside a pair of sweaty socks and worn running shoes with 26.2 miles of filth collected while pounding the streets of a major world marathon.

I am not nearly as fast as the qualifiers of the Boston Marathon, but, I too, am a runner.

With 19 marathon medals to my credit I have a fair understanding of training, toeing the line, and taking on every one of those twenty-six-point-two miles, step by step.

At some point, a few months ago, or a few years ago, or quite possibly a few decades ago, they committed to running.

Running long and hard and far.

They committed to running in the dark and in the rain and in the snow.

You see, the accomplishment of a marathon isn’t in the race day, but in the months of training runs when there isn’t anyone cheering, or handing out drinks, or giving out medals.

It takes a certain heart to make that commitment to something so crazy-hard-wonderful. And when you have that heart, you know it in others and you are the same.

And these amazing people are surrounded by people who love them. Friends and family who love them so much that after a long run, they draw them ice baths and make them friend egg sandwiches. And race after race after race, they stand on the sidelines with signs that say “GO MOM!”

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I can put myself in their heads.

When they tried to sleep last night, they worried.

They worried about not being able to fall asleep and not waking up in time.

They worried about nutrition and hydration and chafing and blisters.

They worried about that nagging knee or ankle or hamstring or the brand new injury that might make its debut.

They worried that they didn’t train enough.

They worried that they trained too much.

BUT NEVER ONCE did they worry about a bomb.

NEVER did they fathom that the finish line would be a war scene.

NEVER did they imagine that their loving family who stood for hours just to catch a glimpse of them and scream their name, would be put in life-or-death danger.

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I can put myself in their hearts.

While I can’t tell you their names, or the color of their hair, or their favorite flavor of Gatorade.

I know them.

They are marathoners.

I know their hearts.

And our hearts are broken.

14 comments | tags: Boston Marathon, Boston marathon bombing, Boston Marathon explosion, marathon, marathon training, marathons, Pray for Boston, runners, running | posted in ABOUT - life, motherhood, marriage, RUN - training and racing

April 4, 2013

52 WEEKS (seven)

By Wind Inspired

A photographic record of our 2013.

As we watch the cold weather through much of United States, we are compelled to spend as much time as possible soaking up the sun and enjoying the surf. Since the beach below our apartment has still waters, we walked just a few blocks to get to the good boogie boarding waves – this beach is popular with locals: Pine Grove on Isla Verde, Puerto Rico.