Thursday May 3, 2018  by  Lisa McClung

It is so wonderful to be home again.  I was actually only gone three days but man what an action packed three days it was.  So grab a coffee, diet coke, glass of wine or whatever because this is kind of a longy.

I spent the last three days in Charlotte North Carolina and let me tell you first thing that Charlotte is a beautiful city.  I met with several attraction owners and Managers from twenty different attractions throughout the south from Georgia up to Luray Virginia. This organization is called Southern Highlands Attractions. http://www.southernhighlands.org. It is always great to get together and share ideas and visit other attractions and hear how they do their daily operations.

I arrived Sunday evening and stayed at the Hyatt Place Charlotte Downtown.  This hotel is a great place to stay, and located close to everything and the service was outstanding.
This was the view from my room day and night. Sorry for the wonky pictures of the city I took them through the window of my room with my cell phone.

The first night I arrived I joined our group for a visit to Top Golf.  I have never been a golfer, unless you count putt putt, so I was a little intimidated especially since some of the people  in our group were avid golfers.

But no worries Top Golf is for everyone.  There are several different levels and several bays located on each level. Eight people can fit  in each bay, six people can play per game.  Points are calculated sort of like in bowling. It was sooooooo much fun  I loved it. http://www.topgolf.com/us/Charlotte/

The next morning after about 3 hours of meetings, and a quick lunch at the hotel, we went by shuttle to the US National Whitewater Center.  The Whitewater Center is a locally owned and operated non profit organization. Situated on 1300 acres of woodlands making this a wonderful place for people to come and have fun. They offer a variety of adventure activities including kayaking, zip lining, rock climbing walls and lots more.

https://usnwc.org

Later that night we attended a minor league baseball game The Charlotte Knights against the Gwinnett Stripers at the BB&T Ballpark. The stadium staff really treated us well they gave us a behind the scenes tour of the stadium and took us onto the field. They sat us in their executive lounge for dinner and drinks and gave us the option to watch the game from there.  Whenever our Attractions group visits Attractions in other cities they are always the perfect hosts.

The next morning we toured The Bank of America Stadium Home of the Carolina Panthers. Several of the players were in the weight room working out but they wouldn’t let us near that area. Dang it!!!  We did get to go onto the field and tour all the behind the scenes rooms where the reporters and commentators stay.  A beautiful stadium.   It was awesome!!!

 

http://www.panthers.com/stadium/index.html

Next on our tour we visited the Billy Graham Library.  This is such a wonderful and special place.  Billy and Ruth Graham had such an unshakable connection with each other. They were married 62 years.  I hadn’t thought too much about it before but while Billy was touring world wide preaching the gospel Ruth was at home raising their children.  Billy always gave her the credit when someone would tell them how wonderful their children were.  They were a very special couple. And so unique in their own ways.

 

The childhood home place of Billy Graham and the Library, the gravesite of both Billy and Ruth Graham,  one of the pulpits used by Billy,  and  Ruth’s wedding dress.

Home

The day ended with a trip to the NASCAR HALL OF FAME MUSEUM. Even though I am not a huge NASCAR fan I found this to be extremely interesting.

 

http://www.nascarhall.com

I highly recommend a trip to Charlotte NC

Love your day your way

Saturday, April 28th, 2018

How many times a day do we hear this question?  many many times a day I am sure.  Of course it’s great that someone wants to know how we are doing, but do they really?  If you were to unload all that is going on in your life I am sure that person would get a horrified look on their face and run away.  This makes me laugh just thinking about it.
Most of us answer with an “I’m fine” or “things are crazy busy” or “good how are you”?
Or if you’re from the south like me “how are ya’ll”?  this last one could be just you or meant to cover your entire family.

As I told you a few days ago my life is a little crazy right now with everything I have going on but isn’t everybody’s life like that?  I think it is really just how we deal with it. Last month I wrote this post about not always having to be “on” If you missed it you can check it out here:  You don’t always have to be “on”  I listed several things I was going to do to try to make things a little easier in my life.  Here is a follow up, if you will, of how these things are going for me.  Let me know how things are going with you.  I really am an avid listener my husband cannot believe how people start talking to me, even total strangers, and start telling me the most intimate of things in their life. I really do try to listen and lets be honest most people love talking about themselves.   Anyway here goes:

1. Getting better sleep at night. This has been going pretty well for me. I can’t believe the difference a good night’s sleep makes. I try to limit eating, drinking or too much social media at night right before bed, this tends to get me overstimulated.
2. Stop procrastinating.  Wow this one is something that I struggle with every single day.  I try to do my most challenging jobs in the morning but this doesn’t always work.   I still find myself putting uncomfortable things: conversations, calls, visits, housework, off.  I think oh I can do that tomorrow.  But then again when I work steadily at a project before it is due I can’t tell you how that frees my mind. I don’t have to worry about it or even think about it up until the time it is due.  The same goes for all those other things we sometimes put off doing.
3. Eat healthy but don’t deprive myself. I have actually been doing pretty well with this one.  I have been trying to eat low carb and this takes away the sugar cravings that I normally get when I am loading up on carbs.  I have lost about ten pounds maybe a little more and can tell a big difference in my clothes.  I try not to deprive myself and just have some of the things I love but only in moderation.
4. Get more exercise.  I have failed on this one big time.  I really have to work on getting back to a regular exercise program even if it is just walking daily.  My knee is doing great so there is no excuse there.
5. Stop Trying to cram 48 hours of work into a 24 hour day.  This one I am still working on.  Because of the problem with procrastination this one sometimes still leaves me doing things up until the last minute.
6. Let go of things I cannot control.  Again another work in progress. I am definitely a Type A personality so it is only natural that I try to control everything.  My family refers to me as “The Boss”  Oh well someone has to be right?
7. Enjoy what is going on around me by truly living in the present.  This is one I have really been working on.  Even if it is something as small as putting my window down while I am driving and letting the wind blow through my hair.  How can you not appreciate that feeling?

Just look at this day. Do you see the geese with their long necks? they are honking loudly to each other that someone is near.  It is sunny for the second day in a row and will be 73 degrees today.  I am feeling great. Thank you for asking.

Love your day your way

 

Monday, April 23, 2018

Hello

Wow what a crazy couple of weeks this has been, notice the picture above I think I may have this look permanently. My little mother in law was moved to a nearby nursing home where she started receiving therapy for her hip.  Things seemed to be going pretty well but then she developed a very bad infection where her hip was replaced. She is back in the hospital and having surgery today to clean and scrape out the infection. She has a long road ahead of her with the healing process of this wound. As a matter of fact I am writing this from the surgical waiting area.

So between back and forth to the nursing home and now the hospital,  things have been crazy with me. Toss in work, taking care of my pets, including a new kitty with some health issues, trying to keep laundry done and my house somewhat clean, I am just about batty.

Oh naive me. A few weeks ago I posted about treating every day as if it were a weekend day and trying to make it special.  Ha!!! now I look forward to just being able to get home and sit in the recliner for a few minutes of blissful quiet and maybe a glass of wine, If I don’t fall asleep first. It’s funny how things like this happen and I often think they do happen just to show you and make you appreciate life and what you have when you have it.  Can I get an amen there?  I know my MIL keeps repeating this.  She has the best sweetest spirit about her. Makes me admire her so much.

My Birthday and Wedding Anniversary fell in the middle of all of this so I did try to do a couple of fun things.  My husband had to work on our anniversary and my Birthday so we will work out another time soon to celebrate.

My good friend Lorie was with me on my Birthday and though it didn’t turn out quite like we planned we still had a great time. Lorie keeps bees and has chickens and an amazing sunset from her porch.

Ahhh!!!!  so maybe not so crazy after all.

Love your day your way

Thursday, April 12, 2018

I like to think you can take just about anything and find something beautiful within it.  This old barn is one I saw the other day, when I was headed into town and was forced to take a different road because of two covered wagons in the road moving slowly. Ahhhh rural living at its finest. I would have gotten a couple of pics of those but they had traffic backed up for quite a ways.   Look at this barn totally a wreck but in its own way beautiful too. I think about all the stories that were involved with this old barn.  I wonder how many animals passed through here.  So I think you can always find some beauty in almost anything.  I often have to remind myself of this and not be so critical.  There truly is beauty everywhere sometimes you just have to look for it.

So I have had a crazy week with my mother in law, getting her settled in rehab and taking care of her house and her cat and everything.  On Saturday I spent most of the day at the hospital with her and on my way home I decided to have a little retail therapy.  I have been looking for a pink purse.  A large one.  I only had time to stop at one or two stores so I decided to stop at Marshall’s.  You know Marshall’s has a great variety and sometimes you really have to dig to get what you are looking for but I had success in just a short amount of time   I found this shirt that can be worn two ways.  You can wear it off the shoulder for dressier nights or on the shoulder for work.   And a pink purse I love.  My birthday is coming up and I just heard that my nephew, who is 14 and thinks he is extremely funny, was going to get me a random purse and spray paint it pink for a joke. Maybe he will do it anyway I would love to see what he can come up with.    The shirt was $24.99 and the purse was $39.99 so a couple of good deals in a short amount of time.  Score!!!!!

It’s finally sunny outside I have been trying to spend time outside for some much needed vitamin D.  Everything is blooming. I love it.

Oh I have to tell you about this shampoo and conditioner I have found it is amazing.  It is called Hair Food. It is sold by CVS Pharmacy. I got this at Target CVS and it makes your hair feel so wonderful.  It is sulfate free and is really great for color treated hair.

I know this is a bit random and I am kind of all over the place with this but that is how my life has been lately so I really couldn’t expect anymore from me.  So until I go on the road with my favorite rock band or audition for an episode of Game, See you soon.

Love your day your way