2012...a little late.

Yes, I know, it's half way through January and I should have done this New Year post weeks ago like everyone else.  But I needed some thinking space.
Don't get me wrong, I get excited about a brand new year. I like the idea of setting some goals for myself but I don't want to be a slave to them.  I have noticed a lot of my friends and fellow bloggers are posting their New Years Resolutions.They seem to come in lots of different shapes and styles. 

I liked my friend Michelle's idea....her 12 goals for 2012.  Simple...not super demanding and leaves room for spontaneity. Another friend who is turning 35 listed the 35 things she wants to do this year.  That is very cool...but lets face it, I am older than 35 so my list would be a little longer AND because I am older I am bound to forget most things on my list so that idea was a no go.

You see ...here's the thing. I am a list maker by nature.  I make lists for everything.  Shopping lists, To Do lists, packing lists...you name it. It helps me prioritize stuff and get it done.  But once I've made the list, the "doing" of the things on that list becomes mechanical.  I don't think too much about it. I just do it.  And that's not what I want for 2012.

So I have decided to throw the list out the window this year.  Instead, I'm using something entirely different. Something that I can look at each day and remind me of where I want to be.  Something that will help me visualize what I want to achieve and remind me to stop and smell the roses.  I want to be present in each day...not thinking too much about yesterday or tomorrow...just enjoying where I am at that moment with the hope that connecting a year full of moments will get me where I hope to go.

So after many creatively challenging moments I came up with my Vision Board for 2012. Hopefully it will help keep me motivated, focused and finding a little bit of fun in every day.



This will go up on my pin board so I see it often during the day, and hopefully I'll be able to add to it as the year progresses.

An American Christmas - Part 3

Honestly I think I lost a couple of days in December.  Before I knew it, it was the 31st.  Long gone are the days where I stay up drinking and carousing till after midnight so when my neighbor suggested we continue a tradition established last year to celebrate West coast New Year on East Coast time at 9:00pm instead of midnight I thought it was a stroke of brilliance. And we agreed also to follow another tradition that was borne a year ago as well. This one was less brilliant....more crazy....with a dash of stupid.  BUT...a tradition is a tradition.


So we all gathered once more on the first day on the New Year at Sanders Beach in CDA and prepared ourselves for our second annual Polar Bear Plunge.  Our visitors surprised me with their enthusiasm to join in.








My Team Blaze peeps were there as usual.




Looking back at all the photos that were taken I can't help but chuckle.  You can see the gradual removal of clothing and the steady increase in anxiety  and general misgivings about the wisdom of this venture.  I leave you with just the photos as we prepared, then plunged...and recovered.  Really words are not necessary from here on out.























Heheheh....so proud of my Aussie peeps who challenged themselves to start the year off with a bang...or a splash. Either way....Happy 2012 everyone. Hope its a great one!

An American Christmas - Part 2

After recovering from Christmas day feasting it was time to make a bit more merry, so on Boxing Day we all headed up to a friends place to eat Mexican. They are my surrogate family and are always a ton of laughs. I think my real family came away with a sense of why we love living here so much.


Then off to Schweitzer Mountain Resort for 3 days of skiing and snowboarding. I managed to take a total of 2 photos while we were up there....hopeless I know.  Here is the first one...



And here is the second.....



This is what happens when you have your camera set on continuous shooting mode and it continues to flash and take photos long after you have finished...sheesh!


Now that I think about it this did sort of set the tone for the next few days.  Fun and silliness. So when we got back from Schweitzer and NYE was upon us I guess we just figured we would continue that theme through the new year.
More on that to come!

An American Christmas - Part 1

Some Aussies came over to celebrate Christmas with us...my 2 brothers and their families.   I can't tell you how excited we have been waiting for them to arrive.  And then all of a sudden they were here...and we had a million things we wanted to do.  So we did our best to give them an American Christmas.


First thing on the agenda was going to the property and cutting down our own Christmas tree. My SIL wore her slippery shoes and good naturedly allowed us to drag her up and down the mountain looking for the perfect tree.



The 3 girls showed off their logging skills.



The boys,( not to be outdone), felt the need to cut something down themselves.



Then of course we had to get it home and decorate it.





There was a gingerbread house to be decorated too!



We went on a Christmas cruise to CDA to see the Christmas lights. A little chilly but by this time the Aussies were getting used to rugging up against a Pacific NW winter. Look how tough they are standing out there in the snow.



Lots of last minute Christmas shopping and then Mother Nature played a hand on Christmas Eve.



She delivered a white Christmas....along with lots of sledding and playing in the snow. Some crazy people felt the need to semi-disrobe and roll in the snow. Now I may be crazy...but I'm not THAT crazy.





Christmas was a lovely day of drinking, eating and making merry. It took us several hours to all pitch in and make possibly the most delicious Turkey baked dinner ever and then it took us about 30 minutes to devour the whole thing. The kids loved having their cousins here to hang out with. Truly it was the most wonderful family Christmas.  I really feel blessed that they decided to come all this way.