We're off for the weekend for a beautiful night sans kids. 

We're heading to Calabogie Resort. 

It's not the best skiing around...it's more of a hill then a mountain but it will do.  I used to be a part of my high school ski team and here I am not having skied more then twice in the last 5 years. 

So like I said...it will do. 

Most of all I can't wait to sleep in!!!  Yeah!!!!

Can you think back to a time when things were flowing? When things were full of ease and grace?

Those are the questions that Andrea Scher aka Superhero asks today on her site.

My answer?

Nearly 10 years ago when I finally realized that my good friend Lee was meant to be my best friend and husband.  As Oprah calls it, it was my "Ah ha!" moment.

Once I realized that he was it everything else was so easy.  Not that as soon as we both decided that we'd be together it was perfect but rather, as Andrea pointed out in her post, being together felt "easy like Sunday morning". 

We've had our moments and will continue to have them but at the end of the day I never ever questioned again whether we were suppose to be together or that I was on the right path.  It became a non-question. 

I may question my personal 'creative' path in life, but I know that no matter what path I choose to take he will be there with me....and I love him for it.

So I'm in the 3rd week of my photography course and....I LOVE IT.

We are doing simple things, things that I wish I knew 5 years ago.  Shutter speed, Aperture and, the best of all, exposure.  My automatic flash was constantly driving me crazy...I could never get the photo I wanted unless it was daytime...

WELL...after last night's class I came home and was able to take some photos in my dark-ish family room without the automatic flash and they turned out awesome.  I'm very excited.

ps the above pic has nothing to do with the post...I just came across it recently and thought it was funny. 

...can you hear the dripping sarcasm in the title of this post?

It is currently 12:23 am on Sunday morning and I will be up atleast for the next 5 hours testing something for work.  Usually I don 't mind my work but this is pushing it.

Wish me luck...if it doesn't go well then I could be up for the next 36 hours...which means I will not be going to work on Monday...atleast that's something....

Ok...I know I'm about 8 years late on this one but I am finally reading Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. 

I'm not sure why I fought it but every time I picked it up at the book store I'd give a big sigh and put it back. 

Again, I don't know why. 

Maybe I wasn't ready for the message...maybe I didn't want to hear it yet. 

Well, I finally bought it and am nearing the end and all I have to say is - I wish Morrie was still alive so I could go and sit in his study with him and give him a big hug.  I find it amazing that some people spend all their lives following a religion, yet we all pass by someone that should have had his own religion (I would call it a humanist one).  I spent most of the book ear marking page after page of pieces of wisdom.

I'm sharing some of them here:

"So many people walk around with a meaningless life.  They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important.  This is because they are chasing the wrong things.  The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating somehting that gives you pupose and meaning"

"Everyone knows they're going to die, but nobody believes it.  If we did, we would do things differently"

"The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn't the family.  It's become quite clear to me as I've been sick.  If you don't have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don't have much at all.  Love is so supremely important.  As our great poet Auden said, 'Love each other or perish'"

"Whenever peple ask me about having children or not having children, I never tell them what to do.  I simply say, 'There is no experience like having children.'  That's all.  There is no substitute for it.  You cannot do it with a friend.  You cannot do it with a lover.  If you want the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children......I would not have missed that experience for anything.  Even though there is a painful price to pay...Because I'll be leaving them soon."

"It's very simple.  As you grow, you learn more.  If you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two.  Aging is not just decay, you know.  It's growth.  It's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it."

and lastly....

"The problem, Mitch, is that we don't believe we are as much alike as we are.  Whites and blacks, Catholics and Protestants, men and women.  If we saw each other as more alike, we might be very eager to join in one big human family in this world and to care about that family the way we care about our own."

Morrie Schwartz was a very intelligent human being. 

We could all learn a lot from his words.

I'm currently reading Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland. 

When I read the back I thought, "Oh great.  Another depressing story about a lonely, plain girl". 
But it has surprised me.  It's quite good actually. 
Liz Dunn, the main character, is in fact a lonely plain girl but she is very charming in her weirdness. 
You can't help but like her right away.

I don't know why I'm surprised...every time I read something by Douglas Coupland I tend to love it.  So check him out!

Yeah...I'm actually old enough to say that.  It's sad but true.

Someone at work today had a fist load of CDs that had mp3s burned on them...it was a '80's heyday!!!  Duran Duran, Paul Young, Madonna and Prefab Sprout.  Fun fun.  One band he didn't have was The Smiths....has no one else heard of this awesome band from the 80's?

They are fabulous take a listen! 

One of my favourites is "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" (number 14 on the list)

So I'm feeling like I'm 10 years older then I am so, like every year, I've decided that this is the year that I'm going to get fit, lose weight and start being more active. 

Last night I started with Yoga...in fact I had my 5 year old and 3 year old do it with me.  My youngest lasted about 2 mins but my eldest did it right to the end.  She was so into it that I decided to try and find a Yoga for kids dvd for her.  I think the adult one is too hard for her. 

Tonight I'll try and do the stationary bike for a bit OR my new abs workout.  We'll see but this year I'm determined to finally push myself over the line between semi-fit and fit.  I refuse to hit 40 and look 50 so wish me luck!!!

Ok so for my first entry of 2006 I've decided to steal from an article I read...it's cute and is a little inspiring so here you go...it's long so bare with me:

52 fun things to do this year

Try new things. Take a risk. Overcome a fear. Accomplish a task. Reading about other's big news in the daily paper, you think to yourself: If only I had the time.

If you make the effort to make the time, to turn off the television and get out there, this year could be the year you do all the things you've always wanted to.

Forget huge easy-to-break New Year's resolutions and think about small steps toward a more well-rounded you. Some will take some planning, others will only take a few hours out of your day, but at the end of the year, when you look back at all you've accomplished, it will be worth it.

Make a list of the things you would really like to do and promise yourself to get started on one task each week. Here is a year's worth of suggestions to get you started:

1. Have your portrait painted.
2. Learn to ski. If you already know how, teach someone who doesn't.
3. Go on a drive in an area near you that you don't know well. Explore. Throw the map out the window.
4. Learn to say "I love you" in a foreign language. Practice on everyone.
5. Volunteer for an afternoon at a soup kitchen.
6. Take a guided tour of the town or city where you live.
7. Sleep under the stars. (Bonus points if the stars don't have to compete with street lights.)
8. Ask a senior citizen, either one you know, or someone you haven't met yet, to tell you about what it was like when they were young.
9. Jump into the ocean.
10. Go tobogganing.
11. Learn how to make a dinner you would be proud to serve, and then invite your friends or family over to enjoy it.
12. Make an emergency kit for your car. Include all the essentials: flares, bandages, chocolate.
13. Send Valentine's cards to all your friends.
14. Make a scrapbook of a memorable occasion -- a friend's wedding, your mother's surprise birthday party or just an evening out.
15. Tell a stranger to have a nice day.
16. Take a sick day from work, lock yourself in the house and watch daytime television while giving yourself spa treatments.
17. Go fishing.
18. Make candles -- so easy -- and give them as gifts.
19. Re-read your favorite childhood book. (Bonus points for reading it aloud to a child.)
20. Write a thank-you letter to your mother.
21. Grow a garden -- flower, vegetable, whatever. If you live in an apartment, grow some herbs or even grass on the windowsill.
22. Adopt an endangered animal.
23. Learn how to create an online photo album so you can share your digital pictures with friends and family around the world.
24. Spend a whole day at the beach building an elaborate sand castle; moats and turrets are essential.
25. Grab a last-minute seat sale to a place you've always wanted to go.
26. Learn sign language.
27. Clean out your closet, donate everything you haven't worn in the past year to charity.
28. Take a teenager out for ice cream. Listen to his or her problems and take them as seriously as you would your own.
29. Keep a diary of all your thoughts and feelings. Write every time you feel like it.
30. Learn how to change a tire.
31. Throw a party and invite everyone you really want to be there. Don't worry about how they'll all mingle.
32. Donate blood.
33. Take a vacation from the world for a day. Turn your cellphone off.
34. Forgive someone.
35. Get over your fear of heights -- skydive or hang out on a balcony or roof-top, whatever you need to overcome your fear.
36. Buy a piece from a struggling artist. It could be worth a lot someday.
37. Have your friends over to play board games.
38. Become a mentor to someone younger than you.
39. Go bowling.
40. Fundraise for a local charity.
41. Become more informed about your local political parties.
42. Vote.
43. Look up a childhood friend and find out what she's doing now.
44. Shovel the walkway of an elderly neighbour.
45. Take a scuba-diving course.
46. Get over your fear of public speaking. If you have something to say, say it.
47. Put down the book you are supposed to be reading and pick up the one you want to be reading.
48. Apologize if you behave badly.
49. Get reacquainted with a family member you haven't seen in a while.
50. Get an online service to remind you of birthdays and always send a card.
51. Take an art class.
52. Make a list of everything that you've done and take yourself out to dinner to celebrate your accomplishments.

I know I didn't finish off this year with much posting.  I was feeling a little uninspired.  I'm going to try and rework the site in the new year and hopefully bring some more pictures to the entries. 

I love taking pictures and I'm taking a photography course this January so maybe I'll start posting my results from that.

I hope you all have a most wonderful Christmas and a very safe New Year...let's hope next year brings more happiness and peace to the world.  It felt like a very angry place in 2005.

Hope you all have a great holiday.  See you in 2006!