Plan B

 I cut all of my hair off! I've been thinking about it for a year, and am so glad I finally took the leap. I was SO SICK of the eternal messy mom bun.

 Tea at Cherokee Castle with our daughters.

Sunrise yesterday on my way home from early yoga.

Its dark out and snow is softly falling. It won't last long and it won't be much, but it sure is lovely as it comes in. We are in a serious drought out here, it has been so warm and dry and other than that snow while we were in Hawaii, we don't have any of consequence yet. I anxiously check the weather a few times a day as our first ski trip of the season is coming up, we leave on Christmas Day for 4 days a Keystone, and then we have another trip to Beaver creek in early January. My brother and his family are coming out and we are going to spend a long weekend in BC skiing......but where is our snow, Mother Nature? The above view is taken from the entrance to our neighborhood. I've been going to 5:45 am yoga a lot these last few weeks and the sunrise on the way home is spectacular. I've surprised herds of elk and coyotes and mule deer and all sorts of critters who are out at that time of day.

December, I love you.

Christmas is coming up quickly, I am totally not together on the gift front but I never am, I'm a last minute gifter. Life has been so full lately, in the best way possible. I feel more calm and centered than I have in years. Teaching is just perfect. I love my classes, I love the people I teach, and I love the variety of classes that I'm teaching. Life seems to be full of celebrations lately, I had both a tea and a brunch with friends this week as little Christmas gatherings.....I feel very lucky to have made truly amazing friends out here and this week I am feeling very loved and connected and happy about the way life is moving.  Moving as an adult is a strange thing. There are huge plusses and huge minuses. One thing that surprised me is that stating over with no friends is a huge plus in many ways. Back home I had to work hard to stay connected, when you have lived in a place for a long time you develop childhood friend groups, school friend groups, yoga groups, golf groups, mom groups etc....life gets hectic even when you try to keep it simple. When you move, you have the luxury of both time and wisdom as you start to choose new friends. I've learned that friendship is critical to my happiness. Girlfriends always have been, in my life. When you move though, you see what life is like without a thousand obligations. No cousin weddings, no showers, none of that stuff takes up your time. You start to realize how much more plugged in you are without a thousand distractions. You protect your free time fiercely because you know how important it is. You also have a better sense of time as you age, I'm just not interested in pursuing relationships or opportunities that don't actually benefit our life in meaningful ways. Being intentional in friend choosing has benefited both the quality of my relationships and my quality of life.

It's been a week of school stuff, choir concerts and plays and spelling bees. The kids are really thriving out here, and are busy playing sports and being in choir and doing plays through a fun program called KidsStage. It was very surreal watching my daughter up on stage last night and seeing glimpses of the teenager she will become in the near future.

I bought some new running shoes yesterday. I haven't run in a few weeks since I hurt my back. My chiropractors goal is to have me starting again just before Christmas, so that is when I plan to get on with formal marathon training. I went to our local running store yesterday but they don't have coaches or marathon groups, so I'm still undecided about what I will do in that regard. I just know myself and it never hurts to have a hand to hold, or a hand to hold you back, as I sometimes need. *ahem broken hip*.


I'm attending a yoga mala on Saturday and I can't wait! More later.