Day 2 ~ Sometimes It's Gonna Rain ~ But it's Tucson, The Sun Always Shines Eventually!

Let the past have its place, trust that the future is taken care of, and rest yourself in the graceful arms of the present moment.

OK, so once again, my plan to get off to an early start was thwarted because this morning I woke (at 7:30 a.m.)to the sound of RAIN GLORIOUS RAIN!!





That’s right! I guess the Monsoons have finally decided to bless us with its awesome powers and cool-down the NW side of Tucson…such a rare thing… but much needed. Well despite my annoyance at not being able to take advantage of the cooler early morning temps, I really appreciated the rain and settled down on my couch to listen to its soothing sound and try meditating AGAIN!! This attempt was much better because my two Angels were still sound asleep. I pulled up a video at YouTube: 10 Minute Relax - soothing instrumental ambient meditation music - Music by Paul Collier

I was so surprised at how challenging it was to be still with my eyes closed for 10 minutes straight just listening to the music. But I got comfortable at about the half way mark and really focused on my intentions for the day and my life as a whole. It was wonderful.

At 9:30 a.m. the rain ended and within minutes there was absolutely no proof that it was ever here. Such is the nature of the desert. The girls were still asleep, and so, with the intention of making sure I got my walk in before the day got away from me; I decided to make breakfast before they got up. I guess the smells from the kitchen quickly found its way to Hailes’ nose because within minutes she was frantically running down the stairs – all wide-eyed – crazy looking actually-- telling me all panicked, that we were late to go walking. It was so funny. I assured her we were still going and told her that I was up bright and early, and about the rain. She was so clearly relieved; she is such a little Drill Sergeant, making sure I don’t renege on my promise-to-myself to walk everyday if at ALL possible.










At any rate we both finished up breakfast – a delicious omelet with mushrooms, onions, peppers topped with a slice of turkey pastrami. Yum!! We had to wake Nia..I swear she would have slept till noon if we let her. The result, i'm certain, of way too many late nights since Haile’s been on summer break.

Sidebar: We really need to get back on track for school in a couple weeks.

At 12:30 p.m. we headed out to the park, once again at a LESS THAN OPTIMUM time of day for outdoor activity in Tucson, AZ. The park was pretty much empty (as it was yesterday) except for a couple teenagers skateboarding in the “skateboard pit thingie”. Again, we all did the first lap and AGAIN Nia got tired, holding her stomach and begging for water after, I swear, 2 minutes walking. Haile on the other hand took off – she was serious! LOL As for me I had to walk slowly to keep pace with Nia, prodding, praising and pleading with her all the way around. LOL Needless to say, I walked her little butt straight to the playground so I could get something out of the trip except for a deeper tan.

FINALLY, alone, uninterrupted, motivated and grooving to Michael Jackson tunes on Pandora blasting through the Blackberry, I accomplished 6 laps around the trail. YEA ME!!!

Back home an hour later, with “what’s for lunch and dinner?” on the brain, we made turkey sandwiches again, loaded with sprouts and served-up with a cup of delish noodle soup.











As for dinner, I decided to just throw some fresh herbs in the food processor (parsley, cilantro, red & yellow onions, scallion, garlic, 2 tbsps olive oil and some Johnnies seasoning) then did a quick rub on a free-range chicken, then roasted the bird for 1 hour. Oh my goodness, that turned out to be a good idea, it was GREAT!!




















I have to post the recipe because it really turned out fantastic. Served up with some potatoes au gratin (my version of course, made with pepper jack cheese because that’s what I had in the fridge) and steamed baby carrots.... everyone was very pleased.

So all in all another fantastic day in the Thomas family household and on my journey to manifest optimum mind, body and spirit health. There is so much more that takes place but it would take me forever to write about all the shenanigans of my girls and my many many other activities..So this is it for today.

Love to all and remember – C heRiSh YeSTeRdAy, DrEaM ToMoRRoW, LIvE ToDaY


Charmaine