November YID Update

The November YID challenge is going great! Love sending mail, love connecting with family and friends. If you're on the receiving end, enjoy! The contrast to September and October's YID challenges is interesting. September and October seemed much more chore-like with making beds and working-out. This month's challenge also has the opportunity of bringing happiness (or even a simple, happy moment at the mailbox) to other people, and that's awesome. It's been much easier for me to do something each day (and sometimes avoid other, less exciting responsibilities) that involves relationship and communication with others, then to do something each day that only benefits myself. And that is a surprising revelation coming from this selfish girl.

Denver Marathon (well, half of it anyway)

I survived. The Denver half marathon was great! I seriously doubted that I'd be able to complete it, but the energy of the day and the runners around me really kept me going! The race course was also pretty fun, leading us all around downtown Denver, which meant there were plenty of people along the whole race path cheering for us! I have to give a lot of credit and thanks to my friend A, who is my running buddy and training expert. She pushed me through a lot of hard moments when I wanted to give up. And that means a lot, because I am not a pleasant person in those moments! Thanks A!

YID Month 3

November 2009: I will send a piece of mail every day.

I'm so excited for this month's YID challenge! Mostly because it means that I get to send fun notes and things to my dear family and friends. I love mail, and if I could make a living of sending fun packages to people every day, I totally would. I wonder if people would pay me to send them a package? You know, like, they didn't have time to do it themselves, so they just choose me to come up with fun, seasonal ideas and goodness, and then I mail it to them! I'll make note of that for later.

I think November will be one of the more immediately rewarding challenges without immediately difficult obstacles (talking about you, October). There were a few dreary October days when I began to doubt my ability to carry out challenges for a whole year. That's what forced exercise will do to you! Ha ha! So, I'm happily welcoming November, and all the great connections and re-connections I'll get to make with mail!

I also thought I'd post a little of my Halloween festivities. This year I went to a costume party and dressed as Elphaba from Wicked. Really, the most difficult part was painting my face green, but I guess that was essential for the costume.

Snow Day

My office was closed at 11am yesterday, carrying over into today, because of the snowy weather here in Northern Colorado. So I've been in my house since yesterday afternoon, with a few trips outside to shovel the driveway and sidewalk in front of my house. I've got some serious thoughts about the fact that I am required by the city to shovel the sidewalk in front of my house, but they do not (ever) plow the streets in my neighborhood. I'll save those for another time though. I'm listening to Christmas music and considering baking some Christmas cookies, just because I can, and it gives me a bit of cheer! I do have a few pressing things on my grocery list, however, that may require me to leave the house today...

toilet paper (this will be essential, I'm on my last roll)
milk
eggs
olive oil

This is also putting a little dent into my October YID! Thankfully, I've got my friend Jillian on DVD to help me get some indoor exercise. As I shared a few posts back, this month's YID has been really hard. What is it about exercise? When I know that I have to do it, it makes me not want to do it at all. I'm a little disappointed because I haven't kept up my end of the deal by getting physical activity in every day. When I feel like I don't have to do it, I'm more willing, and it's more enjoyable. I really don't like missing the opportunity to get outside and get some fresh air, especially when I sit in my office for 10 hours a day, Monday through Thursday. And I go a little crazy when there's bad weather, and I'm trapped inside. So I guess this is a little something I'm learning... when required to do something, I'm more likely to resist. I really need to work on that! Thanks October YID!

On a side note, my Pandora holiday station just played "Let your Love Flow" by the Bellamy Brothers. It says it's under the category of "Reggae Holiday". It doesn't sound very much like holiday or reggae music to me.