-
The 2nd annual Kevin Owen’s Sea King Run 4 Life
I’m so proud of my friend Kenny! This was his 2nd annual Run to Remember dedicated to the memory of his brother. He ran 27 miles in 24 hours (with runs at 4am, 8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm and 12am) to honor his late brother’s life taken too soon by cancer after a long and brave battle. This year they teamed up with a few local families and foundations in order to give back to the community as well. Although I did not run (shocking, I know) I did go over to take some pictures of the 4pm run and went back (just as a supporter, not a photographer) for the 12am run to see Kenny finish strong. Donations were made to foundations and causes close to their hearts, including Natalie’s Wings, the Tommy Brull Foundation, Dane Kasschau, The Fernandez Family, The Jamison Novello Scholarship. Kenny and his wife Mary Ellen are not only the best bsquared supporters, but amazing friends and people. Obviously!
-
dr. beyrer dedication
As many of you know, my father in law passed away earlier this year. He is very missed. He was assistant superintendent of schools in Lynbrook for many years, and was also in charge of the Kindergarten Center. To honor his memory and all his great work there, last month they dedicated a plaque for him in the Kindergarten Center Courtyard, including the official Kindergarten Cheer (that he made up):
The Lynbrook Owl is a wise old scholar,
If you’re in Kindergarten stand up and holler!
Woo!
-
patrick’s upenn graduation
I am so, so proud of this exceptional kid! I know I’m biased being that he’s my son and all, but his journey to get here has been full of so much hard work, a few big changes and a pandemic; impressive beyond belief!!
Graduating Regis High School 4 years ago, he didn’t get into ANY of his main choices for college and it was pretty devastating. He decided on William & Mary which ended up not being a good fit at all and he really struggled there- not academically, that he excelled in, but in being very unhappy. Dropping him off at the airport after Christmas break, seeing him depressed and not wanting to get on the plane back to school was so hard. For both of us. He reapplied to all the schools he didn’t get into the first go round plus a few others and got into them ALL (Georgetown, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, UPenn). I really thought it would be Georgetown but then UPenn accepted him and how do you say no to an Ivy League school? You don’t. So he transferred into UPenn for Sophomore year and everything was full steam ahead. He joined the Penn Transfer Student Organization (where the following 2 years he served other transfer students as a VP ), joined a frat SAMmy (a jewish frat! so that was fun so he could be jew”ish” too!), worked his ass off for the next 3 years, working two jobs and taking a zillion classes and was able to graduate with a Bachelors AND a Masters degree in East Asian Languages & Civilizations. Also, he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and won what amounts to a Rhodes Scholarship to the Harvard of China- the Yenching Academy at Peking University in China on a full scholarship for another Masters degree. So he’ll be spending the next 1.5-2 years living and going to school in Beijing. That part as a mom I’m not super excited about but I’m so happy for Patrick that he worked so hard, overcoming the parts that were difficult to reach his goals! (and then some). But he’s been to China twice already (and is fluent in Mandarin) thru the US State Department so that makes me a little calmer. Little.
Ok, so mom brag over, here’s some pictures of Patrick and his friends on campus Monday after graduation. Congratulations to all these smartypants and I can’t wait to see where they all go and all the amazing things they do in the future!! Also, if you ever get the chance to go, dinner at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse is soooo good. And the VIP pineapple vodka? For sure!!
-
pandemic purchases & pastimes {part 3- skin care}
Another installment of my fake influencer pandemic purchases and pastimes. Because there is nothing to freaking do (still) and there are so many hours to kill in a day, I started actually taking care of my skin last year. Well, all of that and the fact that I’m officially old as shit and wrinkly. Ya know, like an added bonus. So with alllllll the other things in the nighttime routine, I’ve added in this awesome facial cleanser from Beautycounter, used with the vibrating facial cleansing brush, and then followed by Beautycounter’s Countertime Supreme Cream and Countertime Eye Renewal Cream. Then I use the rose quartz roller & gua sha for a few minutes. My skin has honestly never felt better- so soft!! I don’t know how much it’s helping with the wrinkles and jowls, but it’s certainly not hurting and the gua sha and roller feel so freaking great. If you use the gua sha, I definitely reccomend doing so on very moisturized skin with either the products listed above or a facial oil. You can check out YouTube videos on best use. Hope this helps! Oh, and if you’re buying from Beautycounter, please use my consultant Annie Sullivan. She’s the bomb and knows her shit- plus I love supporting other women in small business!
-
pandemic purchases part 2 {the holly hobbie notebook/planner} GIVEAWAY also!
Anyone who knows me, knows I live for a planner or notebook. Like legit obsessive levels of love. I’ve always loved a list and get great happiness out of crossing things off of it. So much so that if I do errands or something that’s not on my list, I will come home and write that thing down, just so I can cross it off. A friend of mine once called it my holly hobbie notebook and it totally stuck so even though it has absolutely zero similarities to holly, it’s always called that. Or the bible. I’d be lost without it and truly, it helps keep me so organized and motivated. It’s probably ridiculous that a notebook full of paper, lists, colored markers and stickers makes me so happy, but these days we gotta take what happiness we can, right? And it really does keep me motivated- to get all my work done for both my businesses, keep on the diet track, with walking, projects, goals, birthdays, etc. And it’s pretty! (the colored markers and stickers are a new addition this year, and I realize I have faaaaar too much time on my hands. But its a pandemic, so…)
Here’s a few shots of my Erin Condren planner. You can find it here.
Also, I’m using the “canceled” and “rescheduled” stickers far more than I’d like. I did buy a 4 pack of white out because I cannot stand scribbles on canceled things and everything is always canceled this year. Or changing last minute. (the black scribbles in the picture are not on the actual planner. i just did it here because it’s some private stuff.)
Before I decided that I was going ahead with the Erin Condren planner again for 2021 (always looking for the BEST planner out there), I found this Ivory Paper Company one and I ordered it. I figured I could compare and see which one worked better for me. There’s a lot I love about the Ivory one, but the Erin one still works best for me. I need the bigger weekend day areas, to be able to look at the whole week at once, and have a weekly block for projects. I do love the big page list on the Ivory one, the hydrate tracker, the food tracker and the gratitude section. If I could somehow combine the two, it’d be like the Holy Grail of Planners. But since no one (not even crazy me) needs TWO planners, I’m giving the completely unused/unmarked Ivory Paper Co. planner away. The only thing is that it says beth on the cover, but that’s easily covered with a sticker (or white out!- I have plenty to spare). So if you’d like to be the owner of this planner, just leave a comment and you’ll be entered in the giveaway. I’ll announce the winner tomorrow night (thursday 1/28).
