Chilly in Philly!

When I left work on Friday afternoon, I was hit with a wave of crisp, cool air. That set the tone for the weekend. It seems like we had a slight cold front, although I'm sure I'm the only person in Philadelphia who would call a weekend of weather in the 70s a coldfront. This is sure to be a long winter.
It was really nice, in fact it was beautiful. On Saturday morning, I headed over to the Clark Park fleamarket. It's the hustling, bustling place to be with loads of vendors selling fresh fruits and vegetables, antiques, clothes, books anything you can imagine. I don't have any money to spare so I resigned to just peering through the selection and noting any vendors to come back to next month. I then headed over to a West Philly staple, the Green Line Cafe.
I camped out in a table by the window where I could still catch glimpses of the market. I'm still reviewing the materials from training so I was getting through those. But the smells of all the bagles and cafe mochas started to make me quite hungry so I headed home for lunch and relaxed and read and cooked.
On Sunday, I did another day of training at LUSH from 8-1. We were going through bath products. Sopas, bath melts, bubble bar slices, bath bombs, shower jellies, shower gel and butter creams although I'm sure I'm leaving out something.
Learning all the products, their theraputic effects and main ingredients hasn't been as hard as I thought. It's actually pretty easy and enjoyable and the products are really good. I went home with a TON of samples...all of the shower gels, whoosh! shower jelly, our aluminum-free deodarant, a bar of honey I washed the kids bath soap, our solid perfume, Emperor of Ice Cream body butter, our body powders and a buffing bar. My apartment smells gorgeous and I'm really excited anytime I have to take a bath or shower.
I always get a rush of excitement on Sunday afternoons because I really look forward to coming into work on Monday. I really do love my job. This morning I was so honored to receive wonderfully encouraging e-mails from both my CEO and COO! I also started off the morning with my weekly meeting with Shawn where we went over what our goals for the week are and projects we were individually working on as well. I then did one of my favorite things, ordering from StaplesLink because I just love office supplies.
This week there will be a lot of focus on outreach efforts both for volunteers and to let community members know about our services. Our summer directors are sadly leaving us at the end of the week, so there is some transition stuff to be done as well as a farewell dinner. Yeah, food!
Afterwork I'm heading over to the library to drop off my books and get some new ones. I also need to renew this one book I almost neglected but has turned out to be pretty good. It's called On my own: The art of being a woman alone, and it's pretty encouraging. It inspired some really theraupitic journaling this past weekend and has made me more grateful for this time I've been able to enjoy with myself. Here is an excerpt:
Aloneness is an opportunity, a state brimming with potentiality, with resources for renewed life--not a life sentence. Its cultivation should not be an apology but an art. In the space of aloneness--and perhaps only there--a woman is free to admit and act on her own desires. It is where we have the opportunity to discover that we are 'not a half' but a sovereign whole. With that insight, we can then began to discard the remnant of 'thingness'--the spoiling belief that gives rise to our timidity, insecurity and fear--so that we can realize true autonomy, with or without a partner.
So, that is that. I'm hoping to enjoy some lunch and then finish the day off, enjoy!

Quote: Woman must come of age by herself. This is the essence of 'coming of age'--to learn how to stand alone. Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Quote (2): The capacity for getting along with our neighbor depends to a large extent on the capacity for getting along with ourselves. The self-respecting individual will try to be as tolerant of his neighbor's shortcomings as he is of his own. Eric Hoffer