I would have to say my favorite place in my city would be the stable where I keep one of my horses. It’s right down the street from my house so it’s very easy for me to go and hang out with or ride ride my horse every day.

I love being at the stable, not only because of my horse, but because I have friends there who I can hang out with and go riding with them. I love being out in nature and out in the sun. The stable is where I go to decompress but I also get great exercise getting my horse ready for competitions, so I get the best of both worlds when I’m with my horse. 

One of the places that I would really love to visit is Sicily. In particular a little town called Caltanisetta because that is where my mom’s side of the family is originally from. My grandmother had to learn English as a child and my great grandparents’ English was never very good, but they still made a life for themselves. My great grandfather created a company where he made bricks, did stone work and other things, and became quite successful. The plan is to get to Sicily within the next two years.

I would also love to travel through Europe, which hopefully will happen sooner rather than later.

My husband and I travel to Mexico on a regular basis, and we plan on taking a trip coming up in the near future to go visit the town that he is originally from.

And in September, we will be in Arizona for a horse show because I compete with my horses in Ranch riding 

I am a licensed marriage and family therapist so the only thing that I listen to when I’m working is my clients. I suppose I could have some soft music in the background, but I feel like that might be a little distracting depending on what is happening. I think my clients like to have my office be peaceful and quiet so they can easily talk to me. Or if I’m doing a virtual sessions, I think it’s too distracting to have music going on in the background.

So, I listen to people while I work.

Before I was a therapist and putting myself through school, I used to work in an office and I did billing for a large contractor. I used to listen to Howard Stern and Mark and Brian while I worked. Listening to the two different radio shows kept me distracted and entertained, and helped me get through at least the morning. And then in the afternoon when I got back from lunch, I’d listen to music or sometimes I’d listen to a podcast or some kind of talk radio. Sometimes I wish I could listen to things while I work, but obviously that would be way too distracting because I need to pay attention to what people are telling me.

When I am on a break or at lunch, I usually don’t want to listen to anything because I just don’t want to hear anyone talking or hear any noise. I work from home half of the day, so I take my two Jack Russell Terrier for a walk to clear my head.

Pixie and Finn my two office assistants are pictured below sitting on their favorite barstools in the kitchen watching me cook dinner. LOL

Not many things make me lose track of time, but definitely the number one thing that makes me lose track of time is being on social media. I like to scroll through things on Facebook and Instagram and I get lost in the posts there. And more recently, I’ve been more active on TikTok because for some reason, people go crazy over the videos of my dogs and horses. Lol. And I’m right on the brink of actually making money on TikTok, which was completely unplanned.

If I really let my brain wander, I get stuck watching those ridiculous reels about different things, and I always tell myself: “I have to stop watching these ridiculous reels. Because they’re stupid every time”.

The one activity that I think is a good activity is reading. I get lost in books and lose track of time. But I think reading books is a good way to lose track of time.

One other thing that makes me lose track of time is being at the stable and riding my horses. Horse people have a joke that you can say you’re going to the stable for two hours, but the reality of it is you get stuck in the stable zone and it’s really more like five hours that you’re at the stable, but I think that’s a healthy way to lose track of time. 

I see the world and society shifting and not in a positive way. I see people getting angrier and more violent and aggressive. I also have noticed that people are not using critical thinking to make decisions, and are acting out of emotion more often than not. Society as a whole is having knee jerk reactions to what the media says, and often times the media is spinning things their own way instead of stating the facts. There is too much conjecture and speculation…..

I worry that people will not see how their behavior is causing dangerous situations. I worry that people will not realize that the division is not a good thing, and that they will not see that the majority of people just want to have a normal life and get along with others.

People do not want division and hatred……and I fear that people will not wise up and realize this until it’s too late. And too many people are allowing themselves to be led down a path that is not healthy.

I am not sure that any of the seasons could be my one and only favorite…..but if I have to choose only one, I would say that Spring would be my favorite season. It’s neither super hot nor super cold, and you can still wear a hoodie at night most of the time. During the day it is warm enough to want to be outside and do things, maybe even go swimming depending on where you live. And with Spring, the promise of Summer is just around the corner.

Describing my dream chocolate bar is super easy. Lol. That involves milk chocolate with some caramel and maybe some cornflakes mixed in. Trader Joe’s has a milk chocolate bar with cornflakes mixed into it that is super yummy, and if they mixed caramel into it, that would be even better. so anything with milk, chocolate and caramel is a win 

I’m not sure I can pick exactly one favorite book from when I was a child, but rather a series of books I would have to say would be my favorite. I really liked the Black Stallion series of books. And I guess from that I could say the first book in the series is my favorite because the book describes the characters and sets the tone for the entire story line. We get to meet the Black Stallion and learn about his life. We also get to meet Alex the main character of the book, and learn about his life as well. It is also exciting to see what happens to bring Alex and Black together, and to see how their relationship grows over time.

Daily writing prompt

What jobs have you had?

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The first job I had was when I was 15. I used to be a trail guide for the stable where I kept my horse. It was actually pretty fun and it would crack me up when people thought they could get past me and try to run their horses, and my horse would see them coming and stop them.

The second job I had was assistant horse trainer. I used to give riding lessons and ride horses that needed training, as well as show horses for my boss and for clients. I had horses and people in training on the side as well, and eventually branched out and was a horse trainer on my own. In addition to being a horse trainer, I trained dogs.

I eventually needed to have more of a steady income while I was putting myself through college, so I worked as an administrative assistant for a large service company, and just trained horses and dogs on the side.

When I was done with college and grad school, etc, I became a licensed marriage and family therapist, which is what I am now. I have my own private practice and work for myself. It took me years of hard work and determination to be able to be out on my own. I don’t really consider what I do to be a job because I reallly enjoy what I do, and I love being my own boss.

And I still have horses and ride them in competition as well as train my own dogs.

I’ll be honest, I no longer really find myself attached to too many material things. I think it’s because I’ve had things get destroyed in the past, so I’ve stopped caring about most material materialistic things. But if I have to pick some things, I would say my wedding ring is dear to me, and my grandmother’s ring is dear to me. A very old copy of the book about the horse named Black Beauty that’s not in copy anymore, with beautiful sketches is dear to me. And the book about the family history that my aunt and dad put together is dear to me, especially because they both recently passed away.