That's a WRAP!!!  The 3 month, 90 day go hard session is over. I just started getting back into our morning workouts again today, hopefully I will stay focused this time. We have been in California for 6 months now, longest I've ever been away from Philadelphia in one place. I keep forgetting I traveled with Rienthoffer Shows for 6 months as well, but that was a few different states and towns. A lot can happen in 90 days as you can see. Somethings you can control & some you can't, I learned to go with the flow, control what I can, make the best decisions for myself and most importantly be patient!     I was able to get my Peace Corp  https://www.peacecorps.gov/ application in on time! On the medical portion they ask a lot about mental health. I was a lil scared thinking I wouldn't be considered because of mine. I ended up telling the truth and explaining myself in a very non complicated way. I wanted to go to Malawi to be a youth commu...

       Every family has fallen leaves on their family tree. My condolences to you all & I hope you found a way to push forward & pull through that trying time. This is a way to make sure my love ones are remembered. If not by anything else but pictures and words.      It was taking me some time to post this blog, I was trying to figure out if I wanted to give my grand mother her own tribute then I decided against it and am going to give my grand mom & grand pop a post together for with out them both I would not be here.       I'm going to start with G-mom. Her name was Janette Mclaurin Smith . I'm not going to go into where she was born, worked, or anything like that. I'm just going to say a few words about what she meant to me. When I was a little bean, between the ages of birth & maybe 12 she was my world. I lived with her until I was 18. I was split between my mom's & brothers home (more on that in another pos...

       I think these last 3 places were probably the most fun! The stories of what happened and how I landed in these spots were interesting too.  Let's start with Florida I've been there 3 times, the first time was with my Amazing God mother for yet another birthday trip. We went to Miami, we stayed at the Westgate in Sunny Isles Beach https://www.westgateresorts.com/hotels/florida/ ; courtesy of my God Sister. My God mom wasn't feeling well so I got her some food & let her rest. I was out... I went bike riding on the beach at 7am each day I was there, I went for a fan boat ride through the Everglades https://evergladesairboattoursmiami.com/ & was in the water with the Alligators, it was an amazing trip. When my God mom felt better we went clubbing and out to eat.       The second time I went to Florida back to Miami I went to South Beach this time. Hubby & I went out for our birthday month. We rented a car and drove to the Flo...

     This week was pretty vague but exciting in it's own way.  I have been working with a Peace Corps recruiter, I want to see if I can get in! You need a BA/BS degree or 5 years experience in human services. I am 41 credits away from my BS & I now have over 20+ years experience in human services. I contacted some people from my old job & my mentor, they were very excited to be references. I want to be a youth facilitator in Malawi Africa the whole program is two years.  The process has started the application has to be in by October 1st. I was also told that Peace Corps is a little bias when it comes to mental health, I plan to put the truth in my application.      Work, Work, Work, Work, Work that's all we've been doing lately trying to get my finances in order & we are going to San Diego for our 2yr anniversary in November. I plan to start my work-out plan back October 1st, I been feeling kind of sluggish lately; I see how...

  I have been blessed to meet many people in my life & have felt the effects of loss. This is dedicated to some of the people in my life that weren't family but played a significant part in my story. I wish I had a picture of them all to honor their memories. Here is what I do have & a few short stories ❤️  The guy in the Burgundy shirt is Desmond Sinkler. I met him in outpatient treatment for drugs & alcohol in 2014. Funny pic choice 😂 he was a funny guy. We were the President & Vice President of the program. Nothing Romantic happened between us, he was just a awesome partner & a supportive friend 🙏🏾 May his family be blessed. Larri Mccully... I met Larri working at Boston Market in either 2013 or 2014. We became instant friends. I was a shift manager & he was on my crew. Larri was a great person to know & I'm glad I had a chance to meet him. Foxworth, I met him in Southwest he was a friend of my favorite family. He was super cool & he let u...

       My trip to Connecticut was wild... Let me tell you the story of how I ended up there. One day in 2018 a senior client of mine came into my office for help. This is back when I was a Peer Specialist, she told me about a trip to Connecticut, to be in the audience of the Steve Wilko's show that her senior home put together. She stated that anyone could go because they were renting a bus and it was only $3. Chile I made sure me & a friends name was on that list and off to the Steve Wilko's audience we went. Boy did we have a great time those older people were wild!          Brockton Massachusetts was a stop that was made while I was traveling with   Reithoffer Shows https://www.reithoffershows.com/ . The carnival was set up on the race track. This is where I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. The father & I wanted to keep it quiet but could not because I had to buy the pregnancy test from the only store on our s...

       This week was sort of regular I worked watched some movies and ran some important errands. This week I even started a challenge for myself I want to see if I can get into the Peace Corp. I looked into it and I qualify but they said it is a competitive process and they get a lot of applicants.  Let's see if I can get selected, it's a long process so I won't know until sometime March 2023. So we'll revisit this subject again in a few months.       Hubby went back to work and is still working on his two E-books. We also went back down to Venice Beach  https://recreation.parks.lacity.gov/venice/ graffiti pit to sale stone & DJ. That is always fun and we meet so many people from across the world. I started like three parties yesterday with people passing by dancing to the music. The plan is to host a party there soon after we purchase our truck or van.      I also decided to do Bartending school again. I spent ...

      Darby Pennsylvania , I don't know why I took the time out to mention Darby. As I type this I really don't know. Darby sits right outside Philadelphia, I spent a lot of time out there mostly during my homeless faze living with friends. As far as I'm concerned there really isn't anything exciting that happens there. It's also close to my favorite part of Philadelphia which is South West Philadelphia it's always some positive fun to get into out there. In Darby there is also a huge raw African presence, I say that with the upmost respect. I feel like living there was an introduction to life in Africa in America. Everyone was always nice and willing to teach me a lot if I asked and they cooked some pretty good food. It sucks that I'm allergic to fish and seafood because most of their best dishes are made with it.        Off to Altoona Pa ,  https://www.altoonapa.gov/ this was a really fun trip. Well it wasn't a trip at all it was a conference ...

       This my husband has written two Ebooks & is making a soundtrack for both of them. I can't wait to see the end results. Meanwhile... I'm coming together with a decision as to how I can actually make the best of my time here in California. I stayed at a hotel in Venice to get a good night sleep & a bath. Like I said in my last post my living situation is not what I would like it to be but I'm having a great time so far & I don't want this experience to become mundane. Work is fun in ways, I'm meeting a bunch of new people from around the world and I work with different cultures. Sometimes it's hard to have a smooth English conversation with my co-workers because they speak different languages & aren't that fluent in English. I should probably learn another language, which one would be the question.      Today is Tuesday as I'm typing this it's week 9. I have a 8pm to Midnight shift & I work the rest of this week. I don't ...

     Let's keep traveling with Jodie... Next stop is the state of Delaware   I've been here quite a few times my best friend used to live there. Her and I went to the Bob Marley festival there a few years back. More info here:  https://www.visitwilmingtonde.com/event/peoples-festival-4peace-tribute-to-bob-marley/33502/ We went to Rehoboth Beach https://www.visitdelaware.com/beaches/rehoboth-beach/ ,  one year for her birthday & I enjoyed myself. They had a lot of places to shop and eat as well, I wish I took pictures.       Virginia, Virginia, Virginia oh how I love this state. I've been to amusement parks here, we'll talk about those in another post. Virginia  Beach    https://virginiabeach.gov/ was amazing! I hung out on the beach, the boardwalk blocks, My lil homie & I took the lil trolley it was so cute, we went to the Speedway to race cars, it's the biggest one they have, they also had 8 differen...

            Since living in Santa Monica California I have a habit of taking walks in the morning. I am amazed at the things my neighbors grow around here. I haven't taken the time to meet anyone or ask any questions but I do take some pics every now & then.  This one time I spent the corner and it was a huge sign that said, Beware of Beehive in Tree. Now mind you I am terrified of bees, I looked at the sign and thought well it's in the tree so I should be good. I continue to walk, I look up and see the BIGGEST beehive I've ever seen in my life a couple steps ahead! Oh nope I'm good I crossed the street so fast. I wanted to take a picture but I was too scared lol.   I do have a couple other pics that are not as exciting as the killer beehive. I was walking along and spotted a huge melon. I didn't know what kind of melon it was and I was amazed by the fact that they had to use towels and strings holding them up. I tried to speak with someo...

       The reason I write this is because I've started a new chapter in my life. I am now considering myself a traveler & I wanted to recored all the places I've been so far, either what brought me there or just what I thought of my surroundings. I was born & raised in Philly -aka- Philadelphia which is in  Pennsylvania, so we'll start there.      The home of Philly ,  https://www.visitphilly.com/history-in-philadelphia/ so since I was born & raised there I know the place pretty well, almost like the back of my hand. I lived in a place called Germantown most of my life. I've lived in the same house on the same corner of the same block for 18yrs. After that I lived a lot of places in Philly. I traveled around while I was there. In the late 90's I used to love to roller skate at this place called WOW, I also enjoyed being Downtown I've seen all the sights, either alone or with friends. South West was always popping, I enjoyed my t...

          I'm thankfully fully back on schedule at work! I mean hubby's grind is good but until it blows up, I feel like someone or both people should be working. Our living situation changed to something I'm not completely comfortable with but am still grateful. I'm actually kinda glad, I was, pissed off but then I realized I'm just a vagabond passing through!          None of this is permanent for me. I actually want to stay here a year, save a few bucks then go organic farming for a year! I also want to go back to school and use my travels to make a mental health presentation for a scholarship!       I don't think my husband realizes he is in the best place of his life for me. He can just pick up and go when I'm ready & he is my teacher, driver, security & lover on this journey 💯 I also enjoyed an end of the summer pool party at Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica it was awesome ☺️ It has since closed here is...

      In week five  I ended up going back to work... The two weeks we spent on the beach selling art was really fun but nothing happened that made going back to work not an option. I was expecting it to go better than it did. I'm not exactly sure why it didn't. I couldn't immediately get back on schedule but they were nice enough to put me on call and I ended up working three days. Here's the kicker tho because I didn't go to work for two weeks by 8/25/22 which would have been my payday I had zero, hubby had zero too!      To be honest it was because he wasn't hustling everyday or as hard as he said he was. He has this habit of talking harder than his actions and it's annoying. Anyway everyone was happy to see me and I was happy to be back. Once again work had become the most peaceful place for my mind. The thing I like about my new job verses old career is the fact that, it's not burning me out like mental health did. I also get to wear a uniform! Yes...

       During week 4 of the 90 day go hard workout Hubby carved a stone for ZOA Energy Drink sponsored by The Rock Dwayne Johnson.  Because there were so many pictures I decided to give it, it's own post. The advertising team came over to get footage of Hubby carving and I missed out on getting the footage of them getting footage of him!We were drinking them all day I had about 6 myself. They tasted better than I thought and they didn't make my heart race like energy drinks have done in the past. There was also no crash and I slept normally.  The drink next to the piece!   Tasty😋   They were giving out free drinks & Tee-shirts for Planks all day!  I watched them build this for like 3 hours the day before the event.   I'd drink these if I had an extremely busy day. They are great because they actually work and did not cause me an unnecessary rush. Find out more about them here:  https://zoaenergy.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqKSnHRPM3xa7f...

     Here we are in week 4 of our 90 day journey. The funny thing about me blogging about this is the fact that my husband doesn't know that I'm doing it. Will he be annoyed? I don't know but when I find out I will blog about it 😆 I'm going to title week 4 Selling art & Dj'ing on Venice Beach     This was so much fun for me. My Husband is developing his art, education foundation, it's called The Rebelucien Foundation. He has been doing art all his life in many different forms. He's reintroducing himself to the world. I am his assistant and we are bringing both of our organizations together. He wants to be able to fund mine. So here we are set up with our Sand Stone DJ Stand. So much went on in that spot this week, even an argument took place about something that happened in the past. I had nothing to do with it but I had to defend my husband. In the end everything was fine and we continued our good time. There were people stopping by just Dancing to t...

      Well there were a lot of twist & turns in the past two weeks. Boy, there were things I did't expect at all. A lot of ups, downs & turn arounds.      Let's go into week 2: Week one went very well, we woke up at about 6:30 am every day, grabbed the bike & hit the outside gym. Santa Monica California has many of workout parks and we hit two in the morning. Then we go about our day.  Things were going pretty smooth or so I thought, it seemed that in my world everything was great but in my husbands world things were... let's just say frustrating for him as far as trying to get himself adjusted. Meanwhile I was flying high enjoying my new job at Chic-fila, everyone was so nice. I brought myself a beautiful pink e-bike so I could get back and fourth there and make my little money. I was using my money to do little things like keep bills paid & entertain our selfs. I mean I'm now living in Sunny California it would be natural to explore...

 Hung out with the Drum Circle in Leimert Park for a few. It was great I absolutely loved the energy and the whole scene with the vendors and all. I wish I would've gotten more video, I will next time gives me a reason to do a part two! Check out these clips though, I am going to dance in it next time too. I was a little nervous this time. I'm glad when she asked the girl to dance she wasn't talking about me. I would've because she asked. She probably would've video taped too. I just wasn't in that mind set I was having fun watching.   Check out the history of Leimert Park here:  https://www.leimertparkmovie.com/PressReleases/LeimertParkHistory.pdf   Make time to enjoy your life✌ -Jodie Spartz Photo by; aquaticlifeform89 Don't leave until you check out the 3 books I wrote and Published here:  https://www.lulu.com/search?sortBy=RELEVANCE&page=1&q=Jodie+Spartz&pageSize=10&adult_audience_rating=00

  As a couple we decided we were going to go 90 days straight working out. We never put this much commitment in it together. We usually just make sure we stay active. For the past week we have been getting to the work out park at about 7:30 am and buss about a 30 min routine. I have to say we surprised ourselves this week by working out everyday and rested on Sunday, tomorrow we'll be back at it. Check out the three books I wrote and published here:  https://www.lulu.com/search?sortBy=RELEVANCE&page=1&q=Jodie+Spartz&pageSize=10&adult_audience_rating=00