Wednesday, December 31, 2008

New Year's Resolutions?

This morning I was thinking, should I do a blog post about resolutions? Or my lack of making resolutions? I was wondering why I don't ever really do those and I opened up my e-mail.

The daily Om was there and made me feel better about my feelings toward them.

I like this. It's written by one of the co-founders of Daily Om.

************************************************************************

New Year's Resolutions: The Two Lists
A Message from DailyOM Co-Founder Scott Blum

I was fortunate to spend time with an enigmatic man named Robert during a very special period of my life. Robert taught me many things during our days together, and this time of year reminds me of one particular interaction we had.

"Now that you are becoming more aware," Robert said, "you need to begin to set goals for yourself so you don't lose the momentum you have built."

"Like New Year's resolutions?" I asked.

"That's an interesting idea," he smirked. "Let's do that."

By then I was used to his cryptic responses, so I knew something was up because of the way his eyes sparkled as he let out an impish laugh.

"Tonight's assignment is to make two lists," Robert continued. "The first is a list of all the New Year's resolutions you WANT to keep, and the second is a list of all the New Year's resolutions you WILL keep. Write the WANT List first, and when you have exhausted all of your ideas, then write the second list on another sheet of paper."

That night I went home and spent several hours working on the two lists. The WANT List felt overwhelming at first, but after a while I got into writing all the things I had always wanted to do if the burdens of life hadn't gotten in the way. After nearly an hour, the list swelled to fill the entire page and contained nearly all of my ideas of an ideal life. The second list was much easier, and I was able to quickly commit ten practical resolutions that I felt would be both realistic and helpful.

The next day, I met Robert in front of the local food Co-op, where we seemed to have most of our enlightening conversations. "Tell me about your two lists," Robert said as the familiar smirk crept onto his face.

"The first list contains all the things I SHOULD do if I completely changed my life to be the person I always wanted to be. And the second list contains all the things I COULD do by accepting my current life, and taking realistic steps towards the life I want to lead."

"Let me see the second list," he said.

I handed him the second list, and without even looking at it, he ripped the paper into tiny pieces and threw it in the nearby garbage can. His disregard for the effort I had put into the list annoyed me at first, but after I calmed down I began to think about the first list in a different light. In my heart, I knew the second list was a cop out, and the first list was the only one that really mattered.

"And now, the first list." Robert bowed his head and held out both of his hands.

I purposefully handed him the first list and held his gaze for several seconds, waiting for him to begin reading the page. After an unusually long silence, he began to crumple the paper into a ball and once again tossed it into the can without looking at it.

"What did you do that for?!" I couldn't hide my anger any longer.

Robert began to speak in a quiet and assured voice. "What you SHOULD or COULD do with your life no longer matters. The
only thing that matters, from this day forward, is what you MUST do."

He then drew a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to me.

I opened it carefully, and found a single word floating in the middle of the white page:

"Love."

*************************************************

So, on that note, wishing you all Love in the New Year!



Monday, December 29, 2008

Heroes?

We've been watching Heroes this last week and loving it. Did you know that if you have x-box live and netflix subscriptions you can now stream thousands of movies and tv shows instantly? No, I'm not an advertisement but we were able to watch Heroes episodes back to back! Quite awesome :)

This morning I was sent a video from my father-in-law that got me thinking along the lines of Heroes. If you aren't familiar with the show there is someone in it who can fly... (and of course I suggest that you watch the series because the first season is incredible *g*)

Check this out... flying

this is in Norway. My dad's family is from Norwary, so yes I am Norwegian, but I don't think I could do this...



Thursday, December 25, 2008

Happy Holidays!

It must be that time of year again...






And what else can you do while assembling the Death Star?

But watch The Star Wars movies




Other goings on during our gift openings:

The girls singing a song Logan taught them. I don't know what it's called but it has some lyrics like..."Hi my name is Joe. I've got a wife, 3 kids and I work at a button factory." It's hilarious. You end up singing and acting out pushing a button with different body parts. OK, so it's hard to explain, but fun to photograph.







And you must have dancing...

drama

and... Taa Daa!

Even Saddi got a new toy!

Content puppy


Kyra posing in her new Qacei hat that Santa brought. Nothing like your hair matching your hat! Awesome!


And Abbi made us Aebleskiver this morning with her new Aebleskiver pan.

Aebleskivers are danish round pancakes and oooh so good!






We like them with maple syrup, or berries or powdered sugar or just plain. They were yummy!



Joyous holiday wishes from our family to yours!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Inspired by the most recent house concert that the Lovejoys hosted:

These are a few of my favorite things...


just hangin'



Yes, a bit of swimming. It was close to 70 for a bit :)



teen happiness



fun with friends



sweetness



lights


We all had an awesome time.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A bit of White Christmas

Guess what New England gave me for Christmas?



Just in time too, we're heading home today.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Paahk yah cah in Hahvahd yahd?

We're in Boston right now visiting with friends. We've been having a great time and will be returning home on Wednesday.

We thought we might see some snow while up north but that hasn't happened, just rain. And today we're supposed to have really warm temperatures. So that will be nice for site seeing in Boston. We're planning on visiting with Tim's niece and nephew today who are both going to school here.

I love the ocean so we had to go to the beach, and it was C O L D! Rue also loves the ocean so she brought us to the beach that she went to when she was a kid, and still visits. I just love the water. I remember sitting on my parents dock at the lake when I was a child, it was wonderful. I often would listen to the loons. There weren't any loons here but there were plenty of ocean sounds to make me happy.


I didn't take many pictures, (we were freezing!) but this is one of Alec and Tim walking out near the beach. We were glad we brought out Minnesota winter coats :)

Yesterday we made the trek into Boston for these specials guys.


We loved them. Great comedy, music and interpretive art. Right up our alley.

The theater looked like this for part of the show, it was awesome. The colors were just amazing, neon glowing colorful light.

These pictures are off of google since they ask that you refrain from taking photos while in the theater.


Hope everyone is having a great time getting ready for the holidays and doing what most warms your heart at this time of year.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Let the holidays begin

Inspired by Laura's wonderful writing, I will quiet my self enough to also contribute to the blogosphere this morning ;)

I've had some writer's block going on, don't know why... it's just there.

Although my blog has been quite slow and uneventful, life has not been. I know you're relieved aren't you ? hehe..

We seem to have some wildy busy crazy days and then the calm rushes over us like a comfortable blankie. You know what I mean right? Didn't we all have or still have a blankie? (baby blanket if I'm confounding everyone)
OK, so I'm an introvert :)

Right now we have Tim's parents visiting. They are out on an adventure right now. They traveled over to Alabama for an overnight and will be back here this afternoon and returning to MN tomorrow. We'll miss them.

While they were here they had the pleasure of meeting some of our closest friends. A bunch of us gathered together in Atlanta and got our holiday
spirit going with a Mannheim Steamroller concert. We had a wonderful night. Enjoyed Italian food first at Baraonda and then sat in inspiration after. Not only inspired by great holiday music but the fabulous Fox theater is just a dream to be in. Especially the balcony... oh my! The ceiling is done so it looks like you are sitting outside on a starry night... just magical.

Here are some pics from the evening.

Delish Desserts


Fantabulous Friends


Wonderful conversings



Lots of happiness


I think she's happy...



And now the show

More happiness





and sweetness

or Love and Joy?


And the fabulous Fox Theater

These are shots looking up. The blue looked just like the night sky. Just amazing. More amazing than my pictures can convey.



As you can see the architecture and lighting in the theater is just beautiful. I loved these hanging lights. This picture is quite dark but I had to include it anyway.

We had a wonderful night and then enjoyed each other's company for a couple more days. The Lovejoys and Higgins bunch stayed the weekend. We played, talked, laughed and thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

Life IS truly Good