I've officially decided to make the switch -- my ponderings and musings can now be found at: lifefrom5feet.blogspot.com

I'm still on Mountain Time today. I woke up at 8:15 mountain time. I ate breakfast around 9:30 mountain time. Needless to say, I'm a little bit behind here in EST. Despite my sleeping in I feel okay about where I am right now. I woke up this morning to the slightest dusting of snow. Actually, the only places it hadn't melted were covered in the shadows. It was wonderful though. Bexley and I took a walk through the chilly air and I drank in the winter. After our quick jaunt around the neighborhood I came home and made coffee and an experimental egg white omelet, which turned out even better than I expected.

Here are some pictures from my taste of winter this morning







Here are a couple of my favorites from our weekend in Colorado.





And here are a couple which are the results of my resolution to take more pictures this year.









The rest of my day consists of a trip to the gym for a run - hopefully getting into skiing shape will not make running harder - and then I'm off to the office to play a bit of catch up from the last couple of days. Tonight I get to run around with a bunch of middle schoolers and then watch Peter play a soccer game.

I'm actually excited for the next few weeks. Despite the expectation of busy-ness, the next three weeks and weekends promise some very good times.

This Friday we are having a high school girls night which will be a good six hours long due to a teacher work day on Friday for most of my students. I hope to see some girlies that I haven't had a chance to really catch up with in a while. The rest of the weekend includes a lot of R&R.

Next weekend guarantees to be fabulous due to 2 major occurrences. #1: my Steelers are playing in the Superbowl, and #2: Dustin, my adopted little brother and Peter's fraternity brother, is coming to visit us. Need I say more??

The weekend after that is our leadership retreat in the mountains (really they're just big hills) of Tennessee. This retreat is one of the highlights of my whole year at work. We take our student and adult leaders and go hole up in a giant cabin at a campground. We have a constant fire in the fireplace, time to drink in God's creation (along with hot chocolate), warm and gooey chocolate chip cookies, great discussions and incredible bonding.

This past weekend was also wonderful. Every time I go out west my desire to move there grows exponentially. It's so beautiful. The skiing was great, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was sunny everyday and between 32 and 40. Granted 40 was a bit warm for skiing, but it was much better than not being able to feel my toes. It was great hanging out with family, and of course, shoop, shoop, shoop-ing down the slopes.

In addition to the skiing I also had a lot of time on the plane this weekend to read and write. It was a great weekend for learning and reflection.

More on such things later. I'm off to the gym.

Did you get that?
You see, most years if I even bother to make resolutions they are rarely more than a joke. It's not that I don't actually want to do them, it's just that life gets too crazy and I give up on myself simply because I want sleep, or a nice evening at home with my husband. I give up on some things because I have to stop hoping they will come true.

This year my resolutions are more like goals...I know they are essentially the same, but goals are things that I want for my life, things I have wanted for my life. Resolutions seldom enjoy the connotation that they were actually thought through - more often they are pictured as those things we just blurt out a few minutes after midnight once the champagne buzz kicks in.

So this year, my resolutions are goals because I have resolved to be resolute in my resolutions.

Peter and I joined the YMCA today. He is planning on doing at least 1, maybe 2 triathlons this year and I've decided I want to start running 10Ks and work up to half-marathons and eventually do a marathon. They always say if you're actually working towards something you're much more likely to stick to your goals, so that's what we're doing.

I actually put quite a few goals down on paper that had been sloshing around in my head, now the trick is finding someone to hold me accountable to them. I get so sick of my own complaining when things don't seem to be going right, so I can't imagine how annoyed other people get with me.

Here are a few of my goals for this year:

a. Journal/blog/write at least 3x/week
b. Realistically plan menu each week
c. Finish Rosetta Stone for French
d. Read 1 book/month
e. Read 1 literary classic at least every other month

I've kind of given up on my goal to get up super early every day. I'm simply not a morning person. So, I think as long as I'm getting up at a reasonable hour, and I'm getting up close to the same time every day I should be okay. Eight o'clock is by no means late, and I refuse to feel bad for it anymore.

Once Peter and I have kids I won't be able to sleep until 8, and by the time I can sleep in again I probably won't be able to, so I'm going to enjoy my sweet uninterrupted sleep until I can't anymore.

Well, that's my two cents for today. Hope you are all having a great 2009 thus far.