Hello everyone

Happy Tuesday evening my dear friends. How are you doing? It’s been a long moment since I’ve written and I’ve missed you all.

Funny how life happens when you are planning something else. Oh well, I’m standing up and brushing the dust off and beginning again. Blogging is my happy place and though I have life happen I won’t stop writing completely, so here I am again. Hello my friends.

This past weekend was so incredibly busy. We had our annual boat parade here in the lake and along with that some of our dearest friends including John and I host a progressive dinner. I was beyond honored to have the dinner portion of the progression. We always start out at our one friends home. They have the best of best views for the boat parade, so they host the appetizers along with some yummy drinks.

John and I had the dinner portion like I mentioned and we served up some yummy baked potato soup a salad and some sliders made with ham, turkey and two cheeses and topped with a poppy seed buttery sauce. Mmmmm, those were delightful.

After we all finished dinner and a little chatting, we headed over to the final stop where we enjoyed an array of desserts. One of the desserts was special ordered from Italy. It was a pistachio cake and boy oh boy, was that amazing.

I dressed up as Mrs. Clause again but with a different clause outfit. I sure do love dressing up. I’m excited for this coming weekend. We have two back to back parties where we dress up again. The parties we’ll be attending are two of my favorites during the year. They are everything Christmas and I love it.

Both homes we’ll be going to decorate over the top with lots of class and beauty. It’s like walking into a story book Christmas story.

I must say, our community over all celebrates Christmas with so much spirit. The lights, the decorations, the festivities and the warmth in the air are unbeatable in my opinion.

This Christmas is extra special for me and John. It’s the first time in a very long time that we are in one home and not split between two cities. It’s nice having him here and being able to do what he does best. The geek out techy Christmas stuff. Our lights are the most incredible and the light show on our garage is amazing.

All that’s left to do is wrap some the last of our gifts.

Christmas feels extra special this year and I can’t explain why, but it sure feels like the Christmas I dreamed about and I honestly don’t want Christmas to end. It’s a week away but we’ll be leaving up the trees and decorations for at least a couple weeks past Christmas.

I’m having a lumbar puncture on the 27th and let me tell you, I’m dreading that. Then just another week away I’ll be having a second endoscopy. My body will definitely need some recouping time. The LP’s knock me out, at least that’s been my experiences in the past. The worst one kept me down for nearly 3 weeks. I’m thankful though that my new doctor is aware of the side affects I suffer from and is ready with what I have to do in the event I spike an outrageous headache. Fingers crossed that having this done at UCSD will be a better experience compared to those in my past.

The second endoscopy is needed because of the amount of polyps I had in my esophagus and the terrible swelling I had in my stomach. The doctor wants to see if the increase in medication is helping. I’ve also changed much of my eating habits, so fingers crossed the results from the second procedure are to the doctors liking.

I’m a little bummed to have needed to schedule the LP during the holiday time, but with John’s work schedule I need to be available to help him with his kiddo and getting him to and from school.

Life happened definitely when I was planning something else. I’m hoping to get my medical issues under control so I can focus the majority of my time on my new Podcast/YouTube/Blog and mini course business I’ll be launching with my friend at the beginning of the year. We have so many ideas for our business and what we hope to accomplish in helping others.

I am a little nervous about my new adventure, but super excited too. I think we’re in a good place. We have a great chemistry as friends which I believe strongly makes for a great YouTube and Podcast. We share a passion for ideas and where we want to take our business in the future and one place we both feel strongly about is having our kids work for us if they want to.

As we progress in our ideas and begin the process of launching the Podcast and YouTube and of course the new blog I’ll be writing for it I’ll be sure to share the links so you can all come visit me over on those platforms too if you want. I’ll continue to write here on my Love-Life-With-Dawna site because this is my baby and I love all the connections I’ve made here. I do plan to relaunch my other Podcast and blog that John and I started a year or so ago, but I’ll be doing it on my own. John has way to much on his plate right now, and then I’ll be working with Michelle on our incredible ideas to get our new sites and platforms up and running.

I’ve got plans for 2025 and with the support of John, my sons, family and friends and all of you wonderful friends here, I know I can meet my goals and accomplish my dreams.

My dear friend Donna has told me how much she enjoys my writing and she feels I have a future in writing. I keep those sentiments close to my heart. She has faith in my ability to write as do so many others in my life. I can’t fail with this kind of support and affirmations from family and friends. You, along with everyone else in my life keep me motivated and I am beyond blessed.

I have a couple of writers conferences I’m looking into for the beginning of the new year and I plan to attend a couple of those. My goal is to find a literary agent by summer and get my book published by a house, but in the meantime I’ll keep working on my query letters.

Fingers crossed I can stay on this amazing path I’ve found myself on and with His guidance, I know I have something special to offer to all my readers.

I pray you will stay tuned for more details and that you will find something in my words that resonate with you. I hope you can find something that makes you smile because each and everyone of you are amazing, uniquely made and wonderful. I hope you know how incredible and valuable you are in this life.

Well guys, I’m so happy that we were able to connect tonight. I think about you and writing every day, especially on those days that life happens when I’m planning to write.

I hope you are all doing amazing and enjoying the holiday season. I plan to be back tomorrow to write more of what’s spinning around in my mind, however, just in case life happens again, don’t forget, Love Life++ Hugs.