A Snowy Morning

Bird footprints in the snow.

Stoney playing with her frozen dog toy.

A cold, but sunny morning!

All Work and No Play?

Well, we are in the thick of an ice storm and tomorrow will make day three. We have been enjoying many hours playing bowling and Super Mario Kart on the Wii and just snuggling up on the couch. 

BUT... as I approach day three, I am weary and nervous about how much more cabin fever we can take. I am hoping that we will be able to at least get out of the house and perhaps drive somewhere. Well, probably not. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed! 

Another Year, Another Resolution

"Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long.

We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things because we're curious... 

And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

-Walt Disney-

Life is a constant learning experience. Life is also supposed to be fun! Last year I had a list of New Year's resolutions that I vowed to keep and for the most part, I actually kept them. Most went hand in hand with one another, but the main idea was overall self-improvement in order to become a better and maybe a more influential person to others. 

Upon moving to a new city, I immersed myself in meeting new people, discovering volunteering opportunities, re-discovering my faith in religion and learning something new. It took a whole year to do these things, but I guess New Year's Resolutions aren't supposed to be done in one day, right? 

This past New Year's was spent with a dear friend and neighbor with wild kids running around. We were pretty low key; we ate Pei Wei, drank chocolate martinis, snacked on baked brie... It was a lot of fun! The kids were so excited to have a sleep over and they just played and played until they finally  ran out of steam. After they were tucked in, my friend and I popped in the movie Mama Mia and proceeded to fall asleep in our chairs. Yes, it was a terrible movie (at least the first 30 minutes of it I can remember) and yes, we were exhausted. Imagine the whole year crashing down on you and all you want to do is to stay up until midnight to see the New Year's ball drop in the middle of Times Square. Neither of us could keep our eyes open, but in the end it was fine. Because although we were without our spouses, we had each other as such wonderful friends and I couldn't imagine life right now without our friendship. If it weren't for my New Year's resolution last year to be more social, then we probably wouldn't be as great of friends as we are today. 

Looking back, all in all it was a great year. A vast improvement! I could go into a whole synopsis, but I won't. Or maybe I will... I feel much better and secure with myself and really have a deeper sense of who I am as a person, a mother and a wife. I know very well that it's a work in progress and there will be some times that I will revert to my old wallflower self, but at least it's easier now to get myself out of those funks. I suppose that my New Year's resolution(s) for this year will be much more topical. Instead of looking inward, I'm going to look forward. And with all I was able to achieve this past year, I'm certain that I will be able to evolve and enjoy this year.

Happy New Year: 2009!