Tag: friday

Creative Writing

Letter To My Abuser

cloepottorff

I still remember

That rainy, cold day

In late March.

A day that will forever

Haunt me.

•••

I remember

Every heavy hand

That crossed my face.

The powerful fists

That cracked my bones.

•••

I remember

The pain I felt

Pulsating through my body

As you forced me down

Against my will.

•••

I remember

The fear

Of how far you might go

With all your rage.

As you threaten my life.

•••

You have scarred

My life with so much pain.

A constant nightmare

That lingers in my mind.

•••

So I write to you

As a reminder of all my pain.

You have left a mark

I will never

•••

Never forget.

Opinion

Beach Day & Date Night 💜

cloepottorff

PART ONE – Beach Day

I love summer! And everything that comes with it. Sun, sand, beach and relaxing while tanning. With kiddos it make the beach more fun but also more challenging. Today was a wonderful day with no problems with the kids. 

My little one, Lexi was loving getting to roam free without boundaries. She’s also a major chunk so she is almost a year old but wearing a size 2 toddler 😂


My lil man, Leo, wandered around until he found people flying a kite and then just stood and watched them. 


Both passed out once I put them in the stroller and went for a walk. It was a great day at the beach. 
PART TWO – Date Night

We don’t get date night too often but when we do it’s usually casual so we can relax. We decided to go to Del Mar in Downtown San Clemente. Decided to scope out for a new place to eat and stopped at a place called “Cotton’s” and it was amazing!

I would post pictures of the food but we ate it too fast 😳 it was delicious. I was able to catch a photo of dessert though. 


A perfect end to a great day! 😊💜 hope all y’all had a good Friday Funday!

Let me know below your great end to the week 😊

Opinion

13 Signs You Grew Up In South Orange County

cloepottorff

Orange County is a wonderful place to grow up. With weather that is good all year long to beautiful sites to see, it is a georgeous place to live or even visit. 

  1. Acaį bowls are a big part of your diet. And when summer time comes, you call ahead to beat the line. 
  2. When you were a kid, you did Junior Lifeguards cuz your parents were scared of you drowning
  3. Rain creates a range of mixed emotions. Excitement at something new, shock due to the rarity, or panic at the thought of the traffic due to paranoid drivers. I’m guilty of posting about it on my social media 🌧
  4. You know all the best Mexican food places around town and know all the taco Tuesday deals. 
  5. When you wanted to escape for the weekend or go on a vacation, the choices included: LA, San Diego, Palm Springs and Big Bear. If you were daring or want to really get away, you made the long drive to Arizona to go hiking. 
  6. You keep in touch with all your middle school and high school friends because you still come home on college break or you’ve moved back to live. 
  7. Anything past Irvine doesn’t count as Orange County to you. Irvine Spectrum is about as far as you’ll go. Riverside is forbidden territory and just the thought makes you cringe. 
  8. Your family has taken the photo for a holiday card at the beach in white shirts. 
  9. You tan during non summer months to keep your tan up. Nobody likes losing their tan. 
  10. It’s frustrating when people think all of California is the same. There is a huge difference between NorCal and SoCal! Trust me!
  11. Guys are allowed to have long hair without it being unusual. All the surfers and skateboarders have long hair. 
  12. There is a particular lingo many use to describe things down here. “Dank”, “chill”, “rad”, and “gnarly”. 
  13. And The Real OC was nothing like living in the OC. Some of the stereotypes are true but you’d never say that. 

Let me know if I missed any or if you think these hold true. Just comment below! 😊

Family, Opinion

Flashback Friday #3 – Family Resemblance

cloepottorff

As we get older we start to notice resemblances we share with certain family members, whether or not we like it. Scrolling through photos on my phone, I realized how much Leo and I look like my mom and me when I was younger. 

Here is a photo of my mom and me. She is about 23 and I am about 3 years old. 


Now here is a photo of Leo and I today. I’m 25 and he is 2 1/2. 


It’s crazy seeing how much I have become to look like my mom and how I can look at my own son and see so much of me as a child. He is my mini twin. It is crazy to think, this little man is my baby and looks so much like but is his own person. 


Above is a photo of me on the left and Leo on the right. 

Leo may look like me but his personality it completely different from mine. We only share small characteristics. I love my family and wouldn’t want it any other way. I think it’s amazing to see genetics at work in a families resemblance to each other. 

Let me know if you or another family member share some major resemblances. And let me know what you think of the above photos 😉

Family, Opinion

Flashback Friday #2 – Childhood Before Technological Integration

cloepottorff

Since I’ve got two little ones of my own, I am amazed at how much they understand and crave technology. Kids today are growing up in a completely different way with technology at their fingertips. Everywhere you go, kids on iPads, iPhones and they know how to use them better than most adults! It’s frightening


When I was growing up, some technology was becoming popular but not common. For fun we would go outside and play games or pass a ball around or go exploring our town with friends. Today, kids watch others on youtube, chat with complete strangers over messaging apps and would rather browse Facebook than go socialize in the real world. 


I watch my own children and I can see how easy it is to let them get absorbed into technology. It keeps them busy and makes getting things done with kids easier. But at the same time, they have an attachment to the devices and throw the biggest tantrums when they are taken away. With that being said, I’ve been really trying to get them to experience some of the same thing I did as a kid but that means no iPad aka no life source. 


I remember the good days when we would build forts out of anything and everything we could find, we actually spent time engaging with our friends when we hung out with them, we would wander our town looking for an adventure, we made up the most absurd games or activities to entertain ourselves and nobody had to worry about anyone recording you when you acted crazy or funny. We traded cards and most games were made out of paper. 


I know I can’t stop the way things are but I hope to instill some sense of adventure and curiousity for life outside of the Internet. 

If any of y’all have some good memories of childhood before the Internet, comment below with your favorite ones! 😋