All my life I’ve tried to make everybody happy
While I just hurt and hide
Waiting for someone to tell me it’s my turn to decide

Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?
Sara Bareilles

I know it has been awhile, and I apologize. Let me give you the basic short version of my last two weeks. Watch World Cup, work at Sunshine Daydream, Try to earn points for the challenge, and play volleyball. That's it, that's the list :) I was going to say that I have seen no live music but it occurred to me that since I am playing in a Friday league now we have overlapped with the band both of the last two Fridays including the very pleasant surprise of seeing Sara Pray who played our party last fall rocking out' Tumbling Dice'. And speaking of live music I get to see both my brothers this week when I head to St Louis on Thursday for The Eagles and Dixie Chicks show. Plus the huge added bonus of seeing my fabulous Ridge friend and challenge participant Betsey.

Let's start with today's music. A new song from my favorite Sara Bareilles. The new cd is out this fall, some limited touring this summer, and the first new music in almost 18 months. On top of that. it is a really fun song. Here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmIu4sV1y8s

I have been consumed these last 10 days by the World Cup. It's no surprise to anyone that I am a huge sports fan. But it would probably surprise most if I told them you can give me any World Cup match over game 7 of the NBA playoffs. You can sum it up in one word. PASSION. It makes sports so much better, but more so it makes everything in life better. When you are excited to get up and face the day you are going to get a lot more out of life. It's not always easy to bottle it up and I have had years without much of it. But it comes quickly and and next thing you know you're playing volleyball 6 nights a week, or driving 6 hours to see live music.

My Mom, who when she doesn't get a blog update calls to make sure I'm all right, isn't going to like this picture. But I wanted to showoff the tie-dye wayfarer sunglasses you can buy at Sunshine Daydream. Someone said they look like something a 9 year old would wear to me. Hey 9 year olds spend money too :) And sorry about the facial hair Mom, but we can at least agree I can shave it off, which is different than that nice arm tattoo your 16 year old grandson is sporting.





I'm not going to bore you with my volleyball records this week but here is my Thursday night team. I will take this opportunity to talk more about our Ridge exercise challenge that is going on since my volleyball points are keeping me in the chase. This challenge has really turned out to be a good thing for all of the contestants. On days when you don't feel like exercising you know that your competitors are getting points so it motivates you to get out and do something. It is more accountability which is always good when it comes to exercise. I would really like to see the Ridge sort of embrace something like this to carry the spirit of the program on with people when they leave. One thing everyone misses post-ridge is the camaraderie that you get at the program. Are we perfect, not close, we all have zero point days. Has it made us work harder, do things when we didn't feel like it, and have some fun when doing it. Absolutely! So thanks and Congratulations to my competitors in the June challenge. Hopefully there will be some more competitors in July. Truth be told, I really think I need a food and drink challenge more than an exercise challenge.


Want to know what a $1,000 awning looks like? It's bright, it stands out, it's my favorite color. I don't love it, but I like it. The new store has been doing great. I'm not used to working in the store 5 days a week, but I'm getting used to it. This is a really busy time downtown in Madison and it should be a fun couple months with both stores going strong. But make no mistake I will be really happy when we are back down to just the one, which will happen in late September.







Wanted to give a shout out to my friends, whom I really love and who really add so much fun to my life. Had a post volleyball Sunday cookout where they schooled me in "teste toss" which involves throwing these two ball connected by a string at standing targets. Let's just say I need some practice. Should have broken out the cornhole game as I can at least hold my own there.

Followed that up with a spirited game of Apples to Apples. Again I fell a wee bit short of 1st place and by wee bit I mean tons.

I hope everyone has a great week. Get out and enjoy some sunshine. Watch some world cup, root for the USA, or the unofficial team of Sunshine Daydream... Holland. Call your friends and do something they like to do. Play that lobster card cause everyone loves lobster. Peace, love and Passion, Jim