girls day.

Growing up the highlight of my year was Girls Day.  

It was the stuff dreams were made of. 

It signified the start of the Christmas season and I lived for it. 

The Friday after Thanksgiving my mom gathered my sisters and any combination of aunts, cousins or other women in our lives and we would head into San Francisco for a day of shopping and fun. It wasn't until I was older that I understood the origins of our ever growing tradition. 

When I was too little to really be aware my mom was a single mom of two little girls, broke as a joke, trying to make ends meet. Holidays were nerve wracking I'm sure. In an effort to make something special out of the holiday season she would take my little sister and me on a BART ride up to San Francisco. We would hop off at the Powell Street station, stop to grab a warm street pretzel and watch the street performers bang their buckets and do their thing. Brake dancing was big-I remember stopping to watch head spinning on slabs of cardboard at nearly every corner. 



She would give us both a few dollars-like maybe literally five bucks to spend. At the time it felt like the biggest treat ever. Five whole dollars to spend on ourselves? We had hit the jackpot. We would check out the Hello Kitty store with their pens and tempting little gum packets but inevitably save most of our dollars for our trip to Woolworth's-the OG five and dime store. I honestly cannot recall a single thing I ever bought there with my coveted Girls Day dollars but I do remember feeling so rich and so spoiled. Just seeing the Woolworth sign coming around the corner was enough to make me giddy. 

On a recent solo weekend to San Francisco coming up out of the BART station on Powell I had to catch my breath for a moment as it all flooded back. There it was. The Woolworth building in all it's glory. Woolworth has long been gone but the sign still stood, the building still graced Powell with all it's stature and it was like being that little girl again holding tight to her five dollars dressed in her Goodwill coat and mittens in awe of the big city around her.


As we grew up, Girls Day did too. It became an annual pilgrimage full of aunts and girl cousins occasionally friends and girls day adoptees. At times we even outgrew San Francisco and as my mom's life became more financially successful our Girls Days became more extravagant. At one point we traveled with MY little girls to Chicago first class for a whirlwind weekend filled with American Girl Doll store fun and well more than $5 in their little pockets. 

But when push comes to shove,
the Girls Days I cherish most
included warm pretzels,
five single dollar bills
and the Woolworth store. 

Thank you for that mom.
You did good.
And I love you. 

-McGee

are YOU ready?

Oh how I love the idea of luck.

I mean truly love.

What if it was that simple?

It feels that way sometimes doesn't it?

Like some people just have the best of luck.

But what if that wasn't it?

Maybe, just maybe, they were simply ready.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. I could point to an endless number or quotastic people who've said this as far back as ancient Roman philosopher Seneca. Even Oprah has said a version of this. And you KNOW I worship at the Church of Oprah, long live my Qween!

But seriously...luck is what happens in that moment you're presented an opportunity and you are READY for it. That's it. That's the whole thing right there. When you work and work and work and prepare to be who you want to be, the universe has a way of dropping opportunity in your way and when you're ready for it-that's the magic. When you take that chance and LIVE the life you want to live you are literally getting ready.

Take my girl Jenna. Jenna is a powerhouse in her own right. She has a topic close to her heart that she's lived, breathed and trained on several times. She works consistently on her message and what she wants to deliver to the world at large. Just this past week she was asked to step in for a presenter at a national company convention with legit twenty minutes notice. Did she get lucky? Nope. Did she crush it? Sure did. How did she do that? Jenna. Was. Ready.

What if you focused so hard on the person you want to be, became obsessed with her, did the daily work to move you toward that vision of yourself? What if THAT'S the ticket-the move-the magic? When the universe drops an opportunity in your way...guess what...you're already doing it. You're ready!

So what does that look like for you?

What is it you want to do?

What are you hoping to "get lucky" at?

What keeps you up at night dreaming of and hoping for?

Take THAT dream. Reverse engineer it. Work backwards. Break it down into bite size chunks and start with one at a time. DO the work. Get READY. LIVE as though you already are that thing you want to be and when OPPORTUNITY hits you up...you've PREPARED...not gotten lucky. You'll be ready and you'll crush it.

I love luck. I do.

In Vegas at the craps table. 

When I run a mostly yellow light and there's no cop around.

On the day I can't catch a break and finally do.

But when it comes to my dreams?

I'm getting ready.

Are you?

-McGee

**Jenna Green is a phenomenal resource for anyone who cannot work a traditional 9-5 job due to chronic illness, mental health or other factors. She's also a dear friend whom I'm insanely proud to know. If her mission interests you go check out her Facebook group Full of Grit & Grace!**

Above Foothill.

We always had plans to live above Foothill Avenue.

That was the goal.

Of course...we thought it would be in Monrovia!

But life happens, changes are made, surprises are thrown your way and you do what you can to make a new plan. That's what life is, right? A series of plans made, surprises or bumps, and then an adjustment to a new plan. I can wholeheartedly tell you when I first moved to LA eight and a half years ago I would never have ever considered living in the 909. And now, for far more reasons than I can list life has guided us right square into Rancho Cucamonga.

I know, right?

It's a real city, true story.

Trust me. Autocorrect LOVES this town.

So here we are. And at this point all I can say is just yup. This is my town. These are my kind of peeps. This is where we will stay to raise our kids and I couldn't be more settled than to be here. This makes all kinds of sense that I never saw coming.

Hanging on our front porch and checking out our view I can't help but have a great appreciation for where we are and where we started and everything in between.

We are now, officially and happily, waaaaaay above Foothill!

-McGee

P.S. Look for exciting news on the blog this week-big big LuLa changes coming!!

DO right or BE right?

Is it better to BE right or to DO what is right?

I love to be right.
No I mean I REALLY love to be right.
And I'm married to a man who loves to be right.
I parent kids who love to be right.
I was raised in a family where EVERYONE loves to be right.

I'm an expert on being right. Or at least needing to be right.

But every once in awhile something comes up and sparks the question is it better to actually be right or to do what is right because really-there is a difference.

Being right is insisting you're right, fighting to the death, not listening, screaming on Facebook in person or by text that by golly I AM RIGHT and YOU ARE WRONG to people who probably won't even hear you. I've been here all too often-being SO "right" that the only space the other person can find is to defend themselves and close their ears. It's a constant theme right now to BE right in the world.

That sounds like a recipe for success, no?
(Where is that sarcasm font when you need it)

So what does it look like to care less about BEING right and more about DOING what is right?

DOING what is right is so much harder.

Doing what is right often means closing your mouth, opening your ears and softening your heart. It's realizing that it's ok not to fight back with your spouse when they've had a bad day and pick a silly argument. It's scrolling past the Facebook post you don't like. Its loving people even if you don't understand them. It's trying to understand or hear the other side. Doing right means responding when necessary with a listening heart rather than reacting with the urge to shout your rightness (that's a word, right?). Doing what is right is going about your path, following your right and living the way you see fit while allowing others the same grace.

DOING right is often much quieter than BEING right.

Today I will focus on DOING the right thing rather than a desire to BE right.
Today I will be grateful for ALL the people in my life and love them however I can.
Today I will let things go that I feel are wrong because right is subjective anyway.

Today I will try to DO what is right rather than worry if YOU understand how right I am.

That sounds like a peaceful Sunday to me, don't you think?

-McGee

#37

#37 Play a piano. It's been too long.

It's been way too long. On a road trip with Mini-McGee and Little Miss we found this piano in the middle of a park with the invitation for anyone passing by to sit and play for a bit. And anyone who knows me knows I was playing 

Night Swimming... 

Because... 

What else would I play?

#17

#17 Laugh with my mom.

I'm not sure I can recall what exactly we laughed at but I do know 

it was much needed and well timed.

#8

#8 Take a family road trip.

Every other year my Grandmothers generation, their children, THEIR children and now OUR children gather at Eagle Lake for a week for our Shippendom Reunion. There is nothing better than watching our kids experience the same things we loved as children. To make the 1250 mile round trip trek palatable we rent an RV and make a family road trip out of it. 

Best. Decision. Ever.