I am Laurie Napier, I am a married, 53 yr old mom of 5. I live in Scotts Valley, CA in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains. I have 4 grown adult kids all off living their lives in different parts of the West Coast. I have 3 amazing little grandsons and I have one very special son still at home.
I love traveling and discovering all the wonderful people and places in our Country.
I hope to get to do more as the years come. Looking forward to the exciting new things each day brings.
Adventures in the NASCAR racing world!
I am not quite an empty nester yet, luckily I have a spectacular tag-a-long son who is 17 and happens to be a young up & coming rookie in the NASCAR racing series. We have had many adventures together in the last few years, which is a joy to me! To be able to spend this time with my boy before he moves on and leaves me alone is priceless. We have traveled all over the country visiting the different race tracks and exploring new cities, meeting new people and having a blast along the way!
My name is Shirly and I’m a young at heart 48 years old. I had my son during my mid-teenage years and never really had the chance to discover what I wanted to do in life or to find out what I was good at. Now that my daughter has finished university and is beginning to carve her own life, I thought this would be my chance to discover my own passions and find out what truly lights my fire. Although I’ve worked as a Midwife for over nine years, I’ve always felt that there was something missing. I think as mothers we give way and focus on bringing up a family, leaving our personal hopes and dreams on the side. It’s never too late to discover our passions. This is one of the reasons for starting this blog, NurtureHappy.com to hopefully inspire others in similar situations to do the same.
I have two grown up children; My son is 32 and is living on his own near where I used to live with my daughter (Charlie) in London. He’s pretty private and unfortunately, doesn’t really want to be mentioned personally. My daughter is 23 years old. She graduated after finishing a degree in Fashion Jewellery at the London College of Fashion in July 2015. Through using a studio in a school to create her jewellery pieces, she somehow got a job as as teaching assistant. She’s now looking to train as a Design and Technology teacher!
Please welcome our newest Guest Adventurer, Kathy Gottberg. She is the author of five published books and writes and blogs at SMART Living 365.com (http://smartliving365.com) where she shares ideas about creating a happy, healthy, and meaningful life every day of the year. And obviously she also loves to travel!
Please join me and give a round of applause to Christina Mueller. She is a midlife ROCKSTAR! She took on a huge challenge in order to get healthy in midlife. She looked this Spartan Race in the eye and owned it. I am in awe of her determination, strength of character, enthusiasm and her willingness to seek adventure in a big way! She has guts and is ever so humble. I begged her to tell her story and I promise you will be inspired. Thank you Christina!
How to get healthy in midlife ~
It began as a journey to lose weight. It ended with feeling more accomplished and fit than I had since I was in my 20’s. And I also lost weight. So what is the middle part of this story? I became a Spartan.
Kim Tackett who writes the blog Tour of No Regrets, traveled to Spain with her husband Steve. Kim always has something clever to say and tells a fantastic story. Her photos are fabulous too! Thanks, Kim!
Introduction from Kim~
We’ve traveled much of Europe, but never Spain. The stars aligned for this trip…it was Steve’s 60th birthday, our best friends were traveling in France and could meet us for a week so the guys could cycle in the Pyrenees, and Steve and I would still have time to wander on our own. In fact, this was the first trip in years where we weren’t hosting or visiting our daughters. They’re awesome, but traveling with two is pretty sweet! Our trip started in Barcelona, where we met up with our friends, then to San Sebastian (bike riding for the guys, cooking lessons for the gals) and then we were back on our own again. We went to Madrid, Granada and Seville, where this story picks up.
Seville Spain
We knew we were pushing it, and the back end of our trip wouldn’t be enough. Or it would be too much. As we planned, we understood this was the point where we would need a cafe in a small village, and time to do nothing but sit, read, write, draw and visit the local markets (you know, nothing). But we only had a few more days and couldn’t miss Seville or Granada. We knew 1 day, 2 nights in each wasn’t right, but we kept comparing it to Yosemite. What if you had one chance to see California and missed Yosemite? Would one day be better than nothing? We compared Seville and Granada, and especially the Alcazar and Alhambra, as Yosemite, and added the last two stops.
In Seville, we stayed a little out of town, at a charming Moroccan inspired hotel, the Alcoba del Rey. They had an incense menu. And a rooftop patio, perfect for kissing under the stars, if one (or two) were so inclined. We skipped the incense, and visited the patio instead. We knew this was where we should be taking things slower—using local buses, leaving the guidebooks behind. But we didn’t have time for that, we had stuff to do, and took advantage of the taxi stand outside our door. (Sidenote: Every taxi driver wants to talk about gun control and Donald Trump. Also, even if they don’t speak English, they all seem to listen to American country radio. Steve thinks they understand the passion. I think they think we like it. Either way, it’s confusing.)
Teri and Roger are owners/innkeepers for the 1802 House Bed and Breakfast in Kennebunkport, Maine. Teri was was kind enough to share her personal thoughts about becoming a new grandparent. The beautiful 1802 House Bed and Breakfast is a member of the Select Registry Distinguished Inns of North America, has been awarded the TripAdvisor.com Certificate of Excellence, and is a BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection property.
Becoming a new grandparent – Insights from Teri
My husband and I are currently living in Maine where I’m lucky enough to be living my dream of owning and operating a Bed and Breakfast. My husband is English and we met in Boulder, Colorado 20 some years ago working at IBM when he was on assignment to the USA. We married and my daughter and I moved to the UK. I spent 20 years there and while it certainly feels like home now, I always had this desire to own an Inn. And really, the USA is the place to do that. We talked about it for years, looked occasionally and couldn’t find anything, then kept on with our corporate lives. In 2012, while we were in Kennebunkport on our first Maine holiday, we found THE INN. Perfect location, perfect size and a really beautiful property. Six months later, we had moved back to the USA and became the new owners of the 1802 House Bed and Breakfast.
Please welcome our newest Guest Adventurer, Steve Howen, who writes the very clever blog: Tales From An Empty Nest. Steve is married to M’Lissa and has two lovely grown children, Kelsey and Kendall.
Steve will captivate you with his stories. Do you remember when you saw Jaws for the first time? I was in 8th grade – How about you?
Forty years ago this spring, the beach seemed like a great place to my 14-year old male brain. Forty years ago today I would not have gotten into the waves if Cheryl Tiegs was waiting for me. I love the water and I loved Cheryl Tiegs (that year’s SI Swimsuit Edition Cover Model), but Peter Benchley and Steven Spielberg ruined it all. According to the fine folks at the Florida Museum of Natural History, there have been just over a thousand shark attacks in the United States in the past 343 years, which seems like pretty good odds given the risks I am willing to take for a chicken-fried steak. Of course, like Mayor Larry Vaughn in the movie, the researchers may have had ulterior motives in protecting the tourism industry.
February always had one special treat. In 1975 it was Cheryl Tiegs. Photo Credit: Steve Howen.
Not much has been made of the film’s anniversary and I am not sure why. It is a seminal work in the thriller genre and one of the most popular movies ever made. Adjusted for inflation, Jaws still ranks seventh all time for ticket sales. But good, popular movies are made almost every year; it is the lasting impact of the film that sets Jaws apart. Other than dorky golfers quoting Caddyshack, I can not think of any film that is so strongly connected to an everyday activity decades after its release. And there are a lot more swimmers than duffers.
I started to write a post about what I love about summer and then I read this clever one from Kim Tackett, who writes an amazing blog called Tour of No Regrets. She captured the essence of summer perfectly and I wanted to share her thoughts with you. I bet you will agree with her list! ~Suzanne
Most people know I am not a fan of the heat. Therefore, it would make sense that I’m not a fan of summer. I presumed this was true, and started a 10 Things I Hate About Summer post. But the fact is, once I listed “the way the sweat drips down your back at 6:30 in the morning” and “the way your skins sticks to the car seat” I didn’t have much. As a lark I retitled this 100 Things I Love About Summer, and imagined I could muster up 10. Not only did I get to 10, but 100 was pretty easy. Go figure. I told Steve what I did, and even he didn’t believe me…but I did, I do, and here it is.
Our creative Guest Adventurer Christina, shares a clever idea for a graduation gift that is so simple to make! This is one of our most popular posts to date! It was first published in June of 2014.
Creative expression is something I enjoy and I like trying new things so when thinking about my HLP’s (Heterosexual Life Partner) son graduating from high school, I wanted to do something special. A Facebook friend gave me the idea when she posted about looking for a money lei for her son’s graduation. Hmmm, I thought, I wonder how hard they are to make? Money leis are certainly not unique; there are many different Do It Yourself instructions on the Internet.
Let us give a warm welcome to return Guest Adventurer, Laura, a self-proclaimed beach bum, who created the very fun blog Coast of Illinois. She shares her good natured personality through her humorous stories from her recent adventure at sailing school in Tortola. Sounds like a whole lotta fun to me! Sailing School ~ For those of you who are new here, …
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