For the past couple weeks, I’ve been re-watching an old anime from the 90s, Yu Yu Hakusho. A Redditor perfectly describes, in this discussion thread, how I feel about the show and why it’s such a good anime: “There’s a scene at the beginning of the Chapter Black Saga, when Yusuke is first told about the antagonists. He falls to his knees, and hits the ground in frustration. He talks about how this is *bullshit*. He beat Toguro. He went through hell, literally, to beat his enemy. He did it. And now there’s these new weird fucks causing trouble. He thought it was over. He’s tired. He worked so hard, and suffered so much, to keep the Human World safe, just for a new threat to pop up, and now he has to do it all over again.

But he gets up, he takes a breath, and he does it. He’s not a hero because he’s a good boy, or because he saves the day, or anything like that. He’s a hero because no matter how hard it gets, no matter how hard it *really* gets, he gets up and keeps fighting back.”

The nostalgia I feel while watching it is so comforting. It helps me get through all the bad feelings building up in the world around me. I don’t even know how and where to begin processing the recent decisions made by the Supreme Court on the rights of abortion. It seems like the beginning of the end as they make their plans to start going after contraception, gays, non-whites, clean alternative energy, the list continues. Why is this happening? I’ll never understand that kind of hatred and desire for control, but I – We can’t give into despair. Get up and fight. Please go vote this year. Especially if you’re in a red state, please please please GO VOTE. Go march. Go donate. Go volunteer. Help support your fellow mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, and friends. And know that you’re not alone.

Suddenly, my power and confidence start swelling up, magically erupt, and it’s all because of the kindness that I feel from people I don’t even know. Then suddenly, my intuition and my wisdom grow, and then I know, that most of all I sense compassion is real. Thanks to strangers where ever I go. Thank you for waking me up!

Smile Bomb – Carl Finch

The Road So Far

April & May flew by, packed to the brim with social engagements, work, and house projects. We hosted our second annual Kentucky Derby party, and nearly missed the race since we had music playing over the television noise! Ha! But we did not miss it and even funnier that we placed all of our bets, but no one noticed the horse that won the race was a last-minute entry. I heard a friend of a friend bet $80 and received $800 on the winning horse! Damn. We definitely plan to continue this tradition.

After Mother’s Day, my mom & I flew out to Virginia for a week to set up our investment property. We worked hard for 12 hours each day. I had to make so many trips back and forth from Walmart and Home Depot 😭. I had to replace pieces of trim in every room where we took out the old baseboard heating units. We had to do touch-up paint, cleaning, putting together some cabinets that delivered, and install a wall-mounted TV. The bathroom was the toughest part of the house. I replaced the toilet, all the door knobs, the light fixture, the sink faucet, and put up wallpaper as an accent wall. I’m so proud of how it turned out. I just hope nothing leaks…but we found an amazing house cleaner that will let us know if there are any maintenance issues to address with the house.

At the end of May was my bridal shower and bachelorette party! We had high tea at the Lumbar Baron Inn in Denver. Not only is the venue pretty, but the food and tea were all delicious! I appreciate all the ladies that came out to celebrate! You made it so much fun! Two of bridesmaids Erica and Katheryn flew in from Kansas City for the fun and Jessica was already here in Colorado, although my girl, Kassi, was unable to make it and we missed her dearly.

After tea we had tickets to Adam Beyer. That’s right. A high tea and then a rave. Ha ha! And what a show that was! He threw down so hard! We danced until 2 am which I can’t remember the last time I stayed up that late. I felt it the next couple days afterwards. And finally we topped off the weekend by making a quick day-trip to Indian Hot Springs. I’ve never been there before and they were nice little springs and very close to Denver. All in all, I’m so thankful for my girls. Jessica, Erica, and Katheryn, you guys rock. I felt so loved ❤️

June dragged along much slower after all of that excitement. Work has been going well, although Eric is not as happy with his position. We’ve been focusing on training with Tsuki, using an e-collar. It’s expedited her response time exponentially, but we’ve run into a sad problem that the collar, rubber in material, has wore away the fur on her neck! The e-collar needs to be a bit tighter than regular collars so that she can feel the shock pulses. It sucks, but it will grow back. We’ve compromised not having her wear the collar in the house or outside if we’re there to monitor her. She still has a digging habit and doesn’t always come when called. The training called for wearing the collar consistently for 6 months, but that’s just not possible. We’ll have to extend it to a year at this point as we’ve only had the collar 2 months.

Eric and I started taking wedding dance classes which I’m having a lot of fun with him! I’ve been focused a lot on wedding planning and dealing with money stress from both the investment property and wedding finances! Basically we’ve paid for three weddings in one year! Geez.

Good news is that my brother proposed to his long-time girlfriend. Congratulations to them! They’ll be planning their wedding for next year and I can’t wait!

What Else?

With four months to go, I’m buckling down on what’s left on the wedding to-do list. High level to-do is making payments to the vendors, tuning up our music playlists, Eric’s suit fitting, and working with my friend, Andrea Li, on a custom order of jewelry.

One of my bridesmaids got engaged in May and is also getting married a few weeks before me in October! I have a couple trips to make out to Kansas City to spend time for her own bridal shower/bachelorette party and then the actual wedding. Not gonna lie, it’s a stressful last-minute addition to the schedule, but it’s going to be a blast and I’m very happy for her! Congratulations!

Lastly, I feel so bad for Eric. His bachelor party was planned for the Independence day weekend, starting yesterday, and…he caught Covid. And this time the tables are turned to where I don’t have it and he does. I wish I could take it from him, but we’ll just have to settle for quarantining. At least he has mild symptoms. Covid-19 is still around and the pandemic has not gone away and I’m highly conscious of that with the upcoming weddings. Maybe another booster will come out? All I can do is do my best to take preventative measures for my own safety. I’m planning to get us flu shots in September and to wear a mask, especially while traveling to Kansas City.

I hope I can relax during these last four months. My plan is to keep my social calendar blank for July and August and September as much as possible. We’ll finally take the boat out on the weekends, but that will be it for me. I’m sure Eric will have his bachelor party rescheduled so here’s hoping that works out!

What I’ve Been Writing

Inspiration comes and goes, but I am plugging away on my newest novel, Nine Kingdoms! I’ve completed the first three chapters and starting the fourth. I’m still working on the outline for the rest of the book. I have a rough idea of how it will go, but it needs fine tuning. I probably need to take some time to do proper character sketches and figure out exactly how my characters think and feel.

Three Favorite Reads

Next

I plan to review any last minute query options for The Tower. My Dad gave me some good publishing links to check out so I will look into those because I didn’t do it last quarter! I will continue writing the first draft of the Nine Kingdoms and work on tuning up the outline for the whole book.

By the time I write my third quarter update, I’ll be one month away from being married! Holy cow!

Thank you for reading!