July 7

I just can’t seem to sleep in. Not when it’s so sunny out! Today I got up to do my little 7am ritual (baby-making stuff - taking temperature, charting it, etc.) and then despite wanting to catch up on some winks couldn’t fall back to sleep so I just stayed awake and continued my morning routine. I say this frequently in my blogs, and so although I can’t imagine many people would find it too interesting, I thought I’d elaborate. When I wake up, I first spend some time breathing. Into my heart. Bringing in the love. I have some supplements I take before eating breakfast so I take them and then I have a morning green juice drink. Mmmmm. Before I eat, I jump on my trampoline for about 5 minutes to get things flowing. Afterwards I do “oil pulling” for 20 minutes, which involves swishing coconut oil around in my mouth and then spitting it out, brushing and flossing. Breakfast, which Jesse and I are having now as I write, is a superfood extravaganza. Often it involves gluten free oatmeal with all kinds of goodies in it - unsweetened coconut milk (or, now that we’re spending time at my mom’s more often, some of her goat’s raw milk) grassfed organic butter, chia seeds, honey, maca, and a raw trail mix with goji berries and other yummy things. A smoothie usually happens at breakfast too, and so this usually ends up being our most nutritious meal of the day, and thus very important! With it, I take a special tea drink, numerous herbs and supplements that target fertility and generally keep me feeling awesome. Then I kill some time while I wait for digestion to happen so that I can do my morning exercises comfortably and beneficially. My exercises consist of a rotating regimen of stretching and strengthening moves for my neck and back and overall core strength. It’s stuff that supports my posture being really good, which in turn leaves me relatively pain-free. It’s been a revolutionary part of my day-to-day schedule, and since I’ve begun doing it upon our return from Europe, I have not had an injury flare up. Wow! I oftentimes find time for meditation or visualizations or energy work during the morning as well, but it’s not always possible. So that’s that! My “how-to-stay-well-on-the-road” routine!

I spent the late morning and early afternoon going over some musical ideas - candidates for a new songwriting session - and then joined some of my friends for about an hour of water walking. This is where we put on our swimsuits and water shoes (or in my case, my sneakers) and do walking laps in Torch Lake. Super fun! We just walk back and forth, which feels great, and talk and laugh and enjoy the breathtakingly gorgeous surroundings. I then wrote some thank you cards while I waited for our friends Dory and Annie (our host) to come up from the lake to go to lunch. We went to Short’s Brewery and had some delicious food and of course fantastic beer, and during this meal an idea was born to do an impromptu house concert down at the main house. We thought this would be an awesome opportunity to share with the family and their friends the fruits of our residency labor by debuting our new song. With the plan hatched, Jesse and I returned to our little house to rehearse and prepare for the concert.

We headed down around 8pm and set up our stage on the huge front porch, not knowing who or how many would arrive. When all was said and done it was quite a crowd, mostly younger folks, and they LOVED it. We got to perform for the first time our rendition of “I Got You Babe” that we’ve been working on (in preparation for a show in San Diego in which we’re doing hits from 1965!) and a nice little set of old favorites, with the last song being the new tune we wrote while here. It was really magical! And although we were absolutely exhausted afterwards, we hung out and talked to all of the cool people who came. Hooray for inspiration and hustle! I LOVE living this way, and today felt like when I was little and would “put on a show,” starting early and gathering my sister, my friends or neighborhood kids together to orchestrate a performance - a play or revue or musical. I’m overflowing with appreciation for being able to connect with that little kid inside that loves to do this kind of thing! Fun, fun fun!