Three Things Thursday ...

My Little Artist - For as long as I can remember, Dizzle has been artistically inclined. She loves to sing and dance and be the center of attention. I am kind of at a loss with all of this. Although, I sang in the church choir as a child and my high school chorus years later, it was never a passion of mine. I never thought, for even a second, that it was anything I would continue into adulthood.

But, Dizzle, well she's a different story. If you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she might say a ballet teacher. Or a ballerina. Maybe she'll answer, a singer. And sometimes, it's a songwriter. But regardless, it's always something related to performing arts.

Last year, when she was seven, she wrote her first song with real lyrics. You know, not the conversational singing that usually fills our days. It went like this:

We tried to find a vocal coach for her, but we weren't able to find anyone who would work with her on a one-on-one basis until she's 10. She was bummed, but a few months later, we found out that her old music teacher had started a group called, Uke 'N Roll, where she could learn to play the ukulele, sing and music theory.

Four weeks ago, she started lessons. On Sunday, she'll be part of a larger ensemble of 25 ukulele players who will perform at the Richmond Folk Festival. Last night, I recorded her practicing so my sister could see. I think she did awesome. Especially considering she's been at it for less than a month.


Pretty epic, right? It makes me excited to see what she'll be like at the end of 4 months. And 4 years ...

Off-Season Successes - Since I have officially entered my off-season (something I've not done in the past), I'm finding I can get into this whole "low-key" training thing. My workouts are shorter (5-6 hours of cardio per week). I'm strength training consistently (3 days a week) and I'm not obsessing about my eating (huge for me). For the first time in probably a decade, I'm not food journaling. I'm just eating (mostly) clean. I'm not freaking out about pace or heart rate or mileage. It's kind of refreshing, which I now realize is probably the reason for an off-season in the first place.

Hawaii - We leave for Oahu in 9 days! I don't think I've been excited this much for anything in a long time. But, I do kind of wish that someone else would pack for me ...