January

Our holiday vacation was spent tromping through the powdery snows of Utah. Each day started with breakfast, a beautiful scenic walk through a neighborhood surrounded by mountains, and then culminated in various planned outings with friends and family. We made a deliberate attempt not to overplan our days, so we were able to really savor every moment. We shopped, we went out for dinners, saw movies, played laser tag, listened to live music, and generally caught up with my husband's old friends. One night, I was treated to a relaxing Christmas massage, which knocked me right into dream land. It was all pretty relaxing and I thought one of the best parts was just hanging out with the family and occasionally sneaking off to read fiction or to write in my journal.

I am back in school again and overwhelmed with a flurry of papers to write, lectures to attend, appointments to make, and so forth. I have to admit I haven't been in the mood to get back into that groove at all. I'm trying to finish a Stephen King novel I started reading over the break. I also have some cooking projects on the roster. One is my grandma's homemade potato soup and my mom's cinnamon rolls. This past week, I made M&M cookies to help brighten an otherwise gloomy time of year. It seems we need bright colors and festivity in January more than ever. I am doing my best to have candles lighting the grey and to make the house smell welcoming. I can't wait to make a huge kettle of soup, so it is waiting for us when we come home after a night fighting the chilling winds and rains. I feel like my socks and shoes are always damp and it is so hard to feel truly warm these days.

I shall post more soon. Stay tuned...

A Little Behind Schedule

I feel it has been too long since I've posted, so I threw on a photo of a pie I made for Thanksgiving. Now we are on to Christmas already. I have been doing my best to stay out of the holiday shopping frenzies. I'll probably have a little running around ahead when we go to Utah in a few days to visit my in-laws.

I hope to do some writing on our trip. I'll probably bring the beat old spiral notebook that's been gathering dust all quarter while I wrote research papers. I do have to write one short essay about art therapy before the next quarter starts in early January, but it should not be too hard. I just picked up a book called "The Art Therapy Source Book" by Cathy Malchiodi, which seems like an easy read. I also purchased another book for the airplane called "Musiciphiolia" by Oliver Sacks, just for fun. Beyond reading, I hope to get back to some fiction writing/rambling in my notebook.

I had hoped to get to Colorado to visit some old friends for a couple days right after Christmas, but the whole thing didn't gel. Too bad because my friends have built this huge house on some land in the mountains. They have lots of dogs and we could have gone snow shoeing. I have been bummed I won't be going, but I am letting it go because this is the year we will focus on my husband's friends and family. I find I can be stubborn about what I want, but marriage is about some compromise and not letting the small stuff cause problems later down the road. I know, in the past, I have had "my turn" in doing things I wanted to do. I am sure I'll get my turn again.

It snowed here this past week. I know it's bad for people who had to drive or take buses, but being on foot was kind of fun. I put on my sturdy old gortex boots and slid around on sheets of ice. The air is crisply cold on the face and in the nostrils. I find walking in the snow or on the ice kinda tires you out faster than walking on plain concrete. I like to come home afterward and have some warm soup and curl up with a warm blanket.

In spite of the cold, we actually did get out for a pasta dinner at a restaurant the other night with friends from school. Nothing high-end, but there was a gluten-free choice. That was a nice surprise and I wish more Italian places would do that. We also braved the roads and saw the new James Bond movie. I thought it was pretty good, although some of the action scenes seemed over the top to me and I felt a little discombobulated at times. I actually do give it a "thumbs up", although I think I liked the first one better.