embrace winter...

the first day of december…

I have been thinking
that this year
I might try something different.

Every year, I fight winter tooth and nail.
I hate the cold.
I hate bundling up. I hate shovelling.
I hate worrying if there is oil in the tank.
I hate, I hate and I hate.

But this year, I am going to turn that around.

I am going to embrace winter.
(ok. Let me re-phrase that. I am going to try my hardest to embrace winter).

I made a list (cause….you know…I love a good list…)
(plus…added bonus…some of these are also on my fifty before fifty…
so DOUBLE WHAMMY…wait…is a double whammy a good thing? haha)

EMBRACE WINTER

• hot drink recipes

• ice skating

• sledding

• cross country skiing

• downhill skiing (which i should leave til the last cause I will probably break a bone)

• snow shoes complete! ♥

• marvel movie marathon

• bake cookies complete! ♥

• make a snowman army

• make a puzzle

• cut out snowflakes

• go bowling

• winter bonfire

• board game night

• pj party

• walks outside…get sunlight/vitamin d when you can

• try curling complete! ♥

• make a winter playlist

• make snow angels

• get a new candle

• sauna/hot tub nights

• tubing

• make a snow fort

• have a snowball fight

• nap by a fireplace

• bubble bath

• blanket fort pj popcorn cartoon nights

• read SOOO many books

• go look at Christmas lights complete! ♥

I think that should cover this winter. :)
but it occurred to me that A LOT of these would be much more fun
if done with other people soooo…I may be
looking for willing (or slightly unwilling) volunteers…heehee.

I actually took pugsley out for a wintry walk on the trails today
as an attempt to get a good start on this list right away…
and honestly…it was by far the best choice I could have made today.

and see…in the spirit of “embracing” winter,
I bought myself a pretty red shovel.
……………………………………………………….

oh…and unrelated-but-must-be-said…
the response to this story about my geek girl ink cards
in one of our local papers has blown my mind…
in a very good way. :) I was completely surprised
and sooooo incredibly happy with all the comments, likes,
emails, orders and support.

My heart is full. ♥ Thank you!!!!

life is a decision....

i wrote on the very last page of this journal today.

i was hoping it would take me to the end of december
so i could start a new year with a brand new book
but, i couldn’t make it stretch that far.
i need to write in it every day.

i started this journal in 2017.

part of me wants to burn it.

i have never felt that way about a journal before
but this one just holds so much hurt and sadness
and pieces of a broken smashed up heart.

but…
it also holds a fucking ton of progress.

i try not dwell on the past.
i am a big fan of “what’s done is done…move forward…even if it’s just baby steps”
some days, i’ll admit, that is easier to do than others….
but this little red book holds all my baby steps…
and all my backward slides, too.

but backward slides are to be expected.
in the front of the book, once upon a time, i had written
life is a decision.
and it really is.
every day i decide i am going to find at least
one thing that will make me
laugh really, really hard
and honestly, i meet that goal
every frigging day (usually at my own expense, but still…hahaha)

life is way too short to be sad…
there is ice cream to be eaten, books to be read, music to discover
and dirt roads to be explored…candy stores, gravel pits, road trips…
best friends, beaches, shooting stars, rainbow socks, happy meals…

i am grateful for what i had, we had a lot of really good years….
and two of the sweetest bestest kids i could ever imagine resulted from that…
i would have been lost without them…
and i am grateful that there has been no drama, no anger during the separation…
that had made it easier for sure…for all of us…
but now it’s ok to be excited about the possibilities…
what could the next big adventure be, peewee…
life is a decision.
will you turn right or left?
:)

i got this journal last year for christmas from someone special
and last night, i bought a new purple pen
cause…purple just makes me happy.
and i think we have established
i like to be happy.
:)

so bring on the new year….for once, i’m ready early.
heehee

whatcha readin'? 2019 {book 18::goal 25}

I bought this book on a whim
at a book sale…
I feel like I had seen it around the
internet world and the blogosphere
so thought I would give it a go…

Plus…I like orange.
Heehee.

It was a good book. I don’t regret reading it
but it was kind of up and down for me.
There were moments that I loved it
and it made me laugh out loud
and I thought it was very clever…

but then there were moments that I got
completely bogged down by the politics
and confused on who was who and
what was why and where is that one going
with who?

But I also read this in starts and stops
so that may have been my own fault.

And, for some reason, it reminded me a bit of Forrest Gump.

& speaking of movies, apparently this has been turned into one.

4 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥s
NEXT UP:: A HOUSE IN THE SKY - AMANDA LINDHOLM

wordless wednesday...bokeh hunter :)

bo·keh

/bōˈkā/

Learn to pronounce

nounPhotography

noun: bokeh

1. the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens.

   "a quick, visual survey of the foreground and background bokeh of a variety of lenses"

whatcha readin'? 2019 {book 17::goal 25}

oh.

Kristin Hannah is one of my
new
favorite authors.

This book made me cry.

In the notes that I keep as I am reading a book
I wrote
that I recognized
qualities of myself
in the mom…just a little bit…
tiny bits and pieces of me here and there
shards of self identity…

And I loved the characters.
The vast and wild description of Alaska.
The reasons behind why we stay
and why we leave.
Home and all it encompasses.

I now want to read everything by her.

5 out of 5 broken ♥♥♥♥♥’s
NEXT UP:: THE 100 YEAR OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW & DISAPPEARED - JONAS JONASSON