Prayers For A Peaceful Thanksgiving

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Coco

If your family is anything like mine, your Thanksgiving dinner may not be much like the nostalgic image below, and may not play out like the Pillsbury ad where the only argument around the dinner table is who gets the last crescent roll. As much as I am looking forward to having both of my kids home and gathering around the table for our Thanksgiving feast, I also am worrying whether we will get through the meal weekend without interesting discussions turning into heated debates or well-meaning words causing hurt feelings.

Thanksgiving Prayers
As I was flipping through the Book of Common Prayer to select a thanksgiving prayer to share with you, the Prayer Associated with St. Francis caught my attention. I realized that with a slight change of perspective, it would make a perfect prayer to inspire my approach to family gatherings.  Continue reading →

Posted in Life, My Faith | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Grateful Holiday Giveaway Blog Hop

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Coco

I’ve been trying to notice and appreciate the many reasons I have to be grateful. In the process, I’ve found that I am stressing less over life’s minor annoyances. They really do pale in comparison. When life gets rough, I am particularly thankful for my faith, and for my friends–including the friends I have made through blogging. That’s why I decided to participate in the Holiday Giveaway Blog Hop, and join 24 other bloggers who each are hosting a giveaway to show appreciation to our readers.

Holiday Giveaway Hop 20152

Please accept my thanks and enter my giveaway below, and then “hop along” and visit the other participating blogs. Continue reading →

Posted in Life | Tagged , | 106 Comments

Night And Day In New York City

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Coco

This week I spent 24.5 hours in New York City. I went there to speak at a conference about new patent issues facing pharmaceutical companies, and if that’s all I did, I wouldn’t be blogging about it. 🙂 But, since I managed to squeeze in dinner and a play with one of my BFFs from high school and a lovely run through Central Park, I have some pictures to share with you.

Lotte Palace Hotel

The conference was held at a lovely hotel that was built in 1882 and recently underwent an $18M renovation. (Yes, business travel does have some perks!). The outside was gorgeous and the lobby spaces were so elegant! My room was modern and quite spacious–not “New York” sized at all.  Continue reading →

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Personal Record Versus Personal Best

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Coco

In the running lexicon “personal record” and “personal best” have the same meaning: your best race time at a specific race distance distance. But as I was running the .US National 12K this weekend, I realized that we should recognize a difference. By the 5K point I knew I wasn’t going to set a personal record, but I dug deep to give it my personal best. 

Personal Record
The day started off well. It was cold (barely 40F at the start) but sunshine and blue skies made it feel great to be outside. I had checked my race recap from last year, saw the weather forecast was similar, and decided to wear the same top. I brought lightweight gloves, but realized that I didn’t need them when I almost left them in the grass after taking pictures by the water. Continue reading →

Posted in Fitness, Race Recaps | Tagged , | 37 Comments

My Birthday Gift To You

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Coco

Today is my birthday, and if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know what’s coming, but please keep reading. Recently I’ve had several unwelcome reminders of how precious life is, how unpredictable life is, and how everything can change in an instant. There’s a lot we can’t protect ourselves or our loved ones from, but one thing we can do is take care of ourselves. Even when we are busy. Even when we are tired. Even when we’d rather ignore the issue and hope it goes away. 

Take Care of Yourself (3)

Five-year old me wants you to take care of yourself!

My biggest lesson on the importance of taking care of myself started on my birthday in 2008. I refer to that birthday as the birthday I skipped, since I was travelling to Australia and “lost” that day with the 15 hours flight and 16 hour time change. Continue reading →

Posted in Fitness, Life | 17 Comments