Happy New Year!!!
Today is Monday, January 1, 2024
National Hangover Day
On this day in history…
1902- The first college football bowl game was held as the University of Michigan defeated Stanford in what became known as the Rose Bowl; however, the game did not become an annual event until 1916.
Good News
What better way to start the week than with a bit of good news? Enjoy this recent news story from Good News Network.
Did You Know?
January is National Blood Donor Month
“Blood donors are everyday heroes.” – Unknown
To learn more, click the link below:
https://www.aabb.org/for-donors-patients/national-blood-donor-month
Spotlight Photo
An early morning view at the Bremerton, Washington Ferry Terminal.
Quote of the Week
Happily Ever After
https://www.everafterphotographypnw.com/
Ever After Photography PNW is owned and operated by photographer extraordinaire, Mira Nachtigall. Mira specializes in birth, maternity, and newborn photography. She shares her art each week to help beautify the My Monday Memo. Mira and Rachel’s friendship spans back to 2007 in Las Vegas. They now reside very close in Washington.
A Few Good Facts
This section is an add-on from Britannica.com. Each day there is a new fun fact on their All Good Facts section. These are a few Rachel found interesting.
In 1972 Leonard A. Fish and chemist Robert P. Cox tried to design an aerosol spray cast that could quickly be administered to broken bones. After noticing their nozzles shot spray over 30 feet, they shifted from casts to toys. They invented Silly String.
Snowflakes usually fall at an average speed of 1.5 mph. A snowflake typically takes about an hour to reach the ground.
Contrary to popular belief, sounds like yelling, yodeling, and snowmobile motors cannot cause an avalanche. However, a sonic boom could start one.
Feline Tomfoolery
with Brady & Belichick
34 Weeks Old
Happy New Year, Humans! Brady and I are excited for a new year to begin. Although nothing much will likely change for us. We will turn one in May, which will bring the biggest change. Once we turn one, our human mom tells us that we will get to transition to a new food meant for adult cats. That is super exciting news. We love to eat. Hopefully this means more treats, too. I hope that once we become official adults that Brady begins to eat like an adult. You should see him eat. Wow, it is like a crazed, starving feline getting his first taste of food in a week. It’s difficult to describe, but picture him lunging his face into the bowl at a high rate of speed and retrieving a mouthful of food and then whipping his head up (food flinging everywhere) and then he chews up whatever is left in his mouth, and repeat. Mom says it’s like watching an animal in the wild. She is constantly picking up the rouge food and putting it back in the bowls. Sure, he may look statuesque and regal in his photos, and I may look perpetually angry, but you don’t see him at mealtime.
Much love, Beli
Orange Theory Fitness – December Down
What a fun month at OTF. It began with the 12 Day of Fitness. With six completed classes, you earn yourself an OTF blanket. Rachel was able to complete eight of the 12. These were fun classes, not as rough as the recent Hell Week, but certainly tough. Next up was the 2000-meter row benchmark challenge. Rachel has been dealing with a strained lat muscle but has continued to do what she can in the gym. She finished the row challenge in just under nine minutes.
Another row class was up next to honor the new movie, “The Boys in the Boat.” Rachel really enjoyed this class. During the row portion of the class, everyone on the rowers followed one person and rowed in sync. Rachel was stationed at rower one and had a great view down the line as the entire group rowed in unison. Side note- the movie is a true story based on the University of Washington’s 1930s rowing team and is out in theaters now.
Everest was another fun class. Throughout the month there were plenty of elevation segments on the treadmill in preparation of the Everest challenge. During this class, in the treadmill segment, you could walk, jog, or run, but your elevation would increase up to 15% with a slow decrease to come down. How bad could it be? She has always loved a good hill. Well, with a goal of 1.75 miles for this challenge, she is happy to report that she reached 1.72 miles (so close) and was able to jog, very slowly, all the way up to an incline of nearly 13%. On the way down she switched back from walking to jogging at around 8% incline and finished strong. She’s proud of what she accomplished.
Rachel looks forward to whatever January brings.
Word of the Day
Will you find it?
As a fun challenge each week, Rachel visits Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day when she sits down to write her weekly story. Whatever the word of that particular day happens to be, she must find a way to fit it into her story. Will you find it?
SANGFROID
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day on Wednesday, December 27, 2023
Meaning
Sangfroid refers to the ability to stay calm in difficult or dangerous situations.
2023 Word of the Year
AUTHENTIC
Meaning
Authentic has a number of meanings including “not false or imitation,” a synonym of real and actual; and also “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.”
According to Merriam-Webster.com, “Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2023 is authentic—the term for something we’re thinking about, writing about, aspiring to, and judging more than ever.
A high-volume lookup most years, authentic saw a substantial increase in 2023, driven by stories and conversations about AI, celebrity culture, identity, and social media.”
Story of the Week
24 for 2024 Happier Project
Hello, 2024! For Rachel, 2023 went by very quickly. She will celebrate her sixth year in Washington next week and can’t believe how much she still loves each and every day in the Pacific Northwest. For the past few years, she has published her Happier Project in the My Monday Memo. This idea came from author Gretchen Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project, which was introduced to her by her fantastic cousin, Jimmy.
Previous lists have been focused on life goals more than anything else. After creating her entire 24 for 2024 list, she realized that she was repeating goals that were now a habit. Why? Comfort in consistency, maybe? As she enjoys stepping outside of her comfort zone (in controlled fashion), she decided to change it up for 2024.
This year, Rachel’s 24 for 2024 Happier Project is simple- try new things. She is excited to have new experiences. Her goal by the end of 2024 is to have crossed off at least 24 of the items on her list. As of right now, she has 30 ideas on the list and may add as she goes. In the end, the goal remains at 24 in honor of the year, 2024.
The majority of the list are things she has never tried. A few items are things she hasn’t done in a very long time and will feel like the first time. A few are already causing dread, as she plans to push herself beyond her fears, while some she is excited to tackle. She will move forward with sangfroid to complete her goals. Whatever happens, it should be interesting. Does anything look fun to you? Happy New Year! Until next time, be well.
