Ski Bunny

Even though we've been having a freakishly mild winter (or so I'm told), I've still managed to ski 4 times this year- twice at Sunday River and twice at Shawnee Peak. It helps that my awesome husband used my birthday and Christmas to give me my own skis and ski boots- I have a very good incentive to tag along whenever people I know are going skiing!
Next week, we're going to Beaver Creek, Co to ski for a few days with my inlaws. After that, we're heading to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. So basically, best two part vacation ever. :)
I'm at a somewhat frustrating stage with my skiing this winter. I'm good enough to tackle blue slopes and some blacks, and I'm good enough not to fall down very often. The problem is that I'm proceeding with an abundance of caution and going pretty slowly. I feel bad when I'm the last person down to the lift and people have to wait on me; and while I enjoy skiing the way I am now, I'd like to get better and faster. It's hard to push myself though because pushing myself and risking falling down a lot is kind of scary. I did pretty well this Sunday at Shawnee Peak (it's a pretty small and uncrowded mountain, so less intimidating overall) and my friends commented that I'm getting much faster. Hopefully I can take what I've been doing and translate that to my skiing in Colorado, even though I think Beaver Creek will be much bigger and tougher. Regardless, I'm excited to go!

As a reward for reading while I agonize over skiing (what a first world problem!), here's a picture of the hubby's magnificent winter beard the last time we skied together. I really want to steal his Nordic sweater.

Man's Best Friend

One of the fire alarms in my house started it's low battery beep at 3am last night. One high pitched beep every 90 seconds or so isn't necessarily enough to wake me up. However, two very concerned dogs pawing at me definitely is. Hereaux, my rescue dog, was particularly insistent on following me around until I found the source of the beeping and made it stop. I was pretty irritated at the time, but in retrospect, it's nice to know that your dogs will wake you up if for any reason a fire alarm goes off in the night. When I woke up this morning I told them that they were very good dogs! :)

The Frozen North

It was 8 this morning. Which was actually an improvement from the low of 5 last night. I'm actually kind of excited to say that 8 is by far the lowest temperature I've been exposed to. I'm pretty sure that when I was out and about last night (I had pizza for dinner) and it was 17, that was also, at the time, the lowest temperature I'd been exposed to.
I'm excited about this because all things considered I've been pretty comfortable. It's not like I've dawdled outside or anything, but I think that the winter wear I own is definitely good enough to keep me warm in this kind of weather. In general, the only part of me that's cold is my knees b/c my coat comes down to the top of my knees and I'm unwilling to wear leggings under my pants if I'm going to be mainly indoors b/c I'm worried I'll be too hot.
So as for shoes and clothes, I've been kind of wearing the same few things over and over again, especially at home. My bean boots are my go-to for when I'm going outside, and inside I'm living in my fleece lined mocs. Outside, my long down coat has been perfect (if not a little too warm- I was sweating while taking down the trash and recycling today, but I needed it when I walked the dogs), and inside I've been living in  an Under Armor hoodie and pair of sweatpants that one of the groomsmen from the wedding sent me for Christmas. (The hubby got a similar pair.) He said it was to preserve my marriage because otherwise I'd leave Maine once it got cold. Haha! Of course I may need to buy a second set so I can disagree when the hubby accuses me of wearing the same thing every day. :)
In honor of the cold snap, I have a nice, warming meal planned this evening. It's based on a recipe for pasta with sausage, tomatoes, and mushrooms from Smitten Kitchen (it's the last recipe on the page) but I'm planning to add some chopped carrots and white beans to the mix to make it a bit healthier and to ensure that I'll have plenty of leftover sauce to freeze.

In other news our NYE party went really well. I ended up serving meringues, baked brie, rotel dip, red pepper jelly dip, smoked salmon deviled eggs, bacon wrapped water chestnuts, chicken salad bites, and a chocolate tart with cinnamon and cayenne, a biscoff cookie crust (ganache loosely based on this recipe and crust loosely based on this one), and Kahlua whipped cream.
For drinks we went with Poinsettia cocktails, Moscow Mules, and Sazeracs.

What are you go-to cold weather coping mechanisms?

Resolute

Well, 2011 is almost over. It's been a pretty stellar year. I ran a marathon, discovered that I love to camp, got married (!), went to Spain, moved to Maine, climbed a mountain, and, this Christmas, saw the desert for the first time (visiting my in-laws in Arizona). 2011 is going to be hard to top!
I'm looking forward to the new year with a sense of gratitude for all my wonderful memories from 2011, and a sense of hope that 2012 will prove to be lovely as well.
Of course, I have a few resolutions:
First, to make the most of the time I have. I think that I waste time in a lot of ways. I sit around watching movies I don't even like. I goof off way too much on the internet. I waste time and energy hating the way I look. I get mad about stupid things and waste time holding onto that anger when I should just let it go. So my first and biggest resolution is to live my life with more intention and to gently remind myself of this goal when I stray off course.
Secondly, I resolve to write fiction (in novel, short story, or play form) or poetry at least 4 days a week. I have several stories floating around in my head and I need to get them down. I'd love to write another novel but that seems restrictive, given that at least one of the stories is in play form. Mind you, it's completely ripping Wes Anderson off in tone so I doubt it will see the light of day, but that's not why I'm resolving to write. I'm always afraid to tell the stories I imagine because I think people will recognize themselves in them and be offended if they ever happen to read them or on the off chance that I were to be published. So I'm telling myself that no one has to see what I write and repeating it over and over until the day when pigs fly and I miraculously stop caring what other people think. I just hate that I have neglected my writing for so long because it's something that I've always loved to do- I've just become too self conscious to let myself do it. I'd like to remedy that this year.
Finally, my last resolution is a carry over from 2010- I resolve to go to the dentist in 2012. I finally met my other 2010 resolution to go to the eye Dr. this year, so there's hope yet.

What are your resolutions this year?

Party Planning

Sadly, the Hubby and I won't be able to host a Christmas party this year. Fortunately, we're having a New Year's Eve Party instead! (The biggest problem, of course, is that the majority of my serving platters are Christmas themed...)

Here's what I'm considering for my menu:
A few favorites from years past: Rotel Dip (I've taken to calling this Cardiology Dip b/c it's sure to keep your Cardiologist in business!), Cranberry and Blue Cheese Stuffed Endives, Meringues, Fig and Prosciutto Crostini, and Baked Brie.
And a few new ideas: Chicken Salad Bites (serving my favorite recipe on crackers or toast), Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs (time to actually use my egg tray!), Ice Box Cream Cakes, and Crack Dip (a favorite from my friend Jon's mom- it's mainly Cheddar and Red Pepper Jelly)

Of course, there's also the drink menu to consider.
New Year's Eve obviously calls for a Champagne Cocktail. I'm debating between the classic, a bellini, my favorite: the Poinsettia Cocktail, or just Champagne + Vanilla Vodka garnished with a strawberry.  I also think Martha's Champagne Punch looks divine.
I think that we should definitely revisit the Brandied Port (recipe for this and lots of other tasty holiday beverages in this post) and Brandy Milk Punch. But I'm still on the lookout for more drink recipes. The Bittercup sounds like something the hubby would LOVE but I tend to hate Campari.
I'm also going to offer some sparkling lemonade for a non-alchoholic option this year.

So, two questions today:
1) Which champagne drink should I serve?
2) What's your favorite NYE cocktail? I need ideas!

Chowder

The hubby and I are heading down to Boston this evening to meet up with our friends who now live in D.C. One thing I'm really thankful for is that I've been able to keep in touch with my dear friends despite moving so far away.  I'm so excited to see them!

On Challenges

This weekend my flight from New Orleans to Portland got diverted to Boston at 1am. After a day of flying, I was, unsurprisingly, exhausted and miserable, sitting on the plane waiting to go into the airport, bracing myself to haggle with airline employees, wondering if I'd be forced to find and pay for a hotel room at such a late hour, and dreading the early morning flight that was sure to come the next day. It sucked. But, as I've done many times in the past year, I composed myself with this thought "You can handle this. You ran a marathon and that was much harder than this!"
 My marathon helped me drive for three days straight when I moved to Maine. It helped me climb Katahdin. It's been there through numerous travel days spent sprinting through airports desperately trying to make my flights. This accomplishment has given me a wellspring of strength and confidence to draw on whenever things get tough.
My marathon isn't the only challenge I've met that makes me feel this way. Climbing Katahdin and writing a novel (during NANOWRIMO a few years ago) give me similar feelings of strength and accomplishment. And it's not about being really good at something or having fun the entire time.  My marathon time wasn't that fast, Katahdin isn't that high of a peak, and my novel is terrible. Writing my novel was at times tedious and frustrating, Katahdin was exhausting, painful, and sometimes scary, and parts of my marathon were incredibly painful.  The reason that these experiences are important to me is that I chose to do something that I  knew would be really hard and I stuck with it until the end. From that I gained a better awareness of my own capabilities and the confidence that comes with toughing something out.
I've had to endure bad situations in my life in the past (high school, grad school, divorce...) and I am definitely proud of how strong I had to be to get through those times. But I have so many negative emotions tied up with those experiences that it's not a good idea for me to give myself a pep talk that goes "You can do this! This isn't nearly as bad as being bullied in high school!" If I thought about stuff like that when I was already tired and miserable, I'd probably just start crying.
But having ready examples of times when I faced challenges head on and came out smiling makes all the difference. This is one of the many reasons I love to challenge myself. I'm thankful for my lousy flight this weekend because it reminded me of this benefit of choosing to challenge myself. Now I just need to decide what my next challenge will be!