2011 Highlights.... Part 2

Last week I started listing the highlights of last year. I got thru June, so now I pick through  the end of the year.
 
 

July: D & I went to Eleven Mile Canyon. I had never been before. It was an incredible day! We drove all the way upto the dam, stopping a couple times to take photos. We didn't get in the water, (though there were plenty of people doing that). On the way home we took some back roads.It was fun to explore, to get out and do something new.

 
August: One of the coolest things D and I did last year was to plant a massive garden at my parents' house. We got tons of veggies from it - tomatoes, squash, pumpkins and carrots. One afternoon I happened to be there and found someone else enjoying our hard work!

September: D and I took a long weekend and went to the Sand Dunes. 2011 feels like a year of things I have never done. It was time first time camping (we had a trailer), my first time to the Sand Dunes. I loved the Dunes, every time you looked at them they appeared different. I want to go back sometime when I can really appreciate the stars - I forgot what they look like without the city lights.

October:  We traveled to CA for a weekend. While we were there D showed me tide pooling. Growing up in the mountains I had no idea what it was. It was incredible to see the ecosystem change because of the tide coming in and going out. I got some amazing photos, but really love this one of the starfish.







November: We took a road trip to Reno to empty out a storage unit. I got to go to Salt Lake City - another first. The salt on the side of the road from the lake is everywhere - making it appear almost like an alien planet. I never realized how massive Salt Lake actually is. We had another adventure when our U-Haul broke on the way back - the wheel broke clear free of the axle while we were doing 60 on the interstate. Fortunately everyone was okay.

December: The end of the year came too fast and brought joys all its own. I got to cut down a Christmas tree with D, something I have not done since I was a little girl. We decorated it in my apartment and began a series of traditions together. Over the course of the month I came to see how I am attaching my life to D's - and that was both humbling and exciting.




Now, onto 2012 and all the adventures to come!

2011 Highlights... Part I

2011 was a big year for a lot of reasons. I changed jobs, found love, launched an NGO, moved. Through it all there were a lot of memories I wanted to hold onto. Below are just a few highlights

January: The Rose Parade with my love. I got to meet his family and see the parade. We sat close to the end, four rows from the street. Amazing!







 

February: for Valentines' Day D took me snowshoeing. I've never been. It was incredible. We were some of the only people out there and had a great time. After we ate a yummy lunch he had packed of grilled sausage, tomato, basic and mozzarella appetizers, and hot chocolate with Kahlua. 

March: My parents built an addition on their home for my grandfather. It was interesting to see the process from start to finish, from a hole in the ground to a home. I cannot imagine "finished products" very well. I do better with pictures and samples, so to watch it all - the floor, walls, support, paint, carpet, fixtures, etc. get added was fun.  

April: I traveled to Buena Vista for a long weekend. It was a pivotal time in the year and in my life. The time gave me the confidence to leave my job, to pursue what I wanted. It was a turning point in healing from Rwanda (and before) and coming to realize I cannot please other people all the time. Eventually I have to be true to myself and through that might find a way of connecting back with God. 






May: For mommy's day we took her mini golfing. She won by a decided margin. I stink at mini golf, but it was enjoyable to do something nice for my parents.

June: D and I traveled to Keystone for the weekend. While we were there, we happened upon a kayaking competition. Unsure what was to come we sat down and took it in. 

What we saw was nothing short of remarkable

(and this is by far not even close to the best run of the afternoon).

2011 in Review

via Google

 


enjoy.

Days like this...

Some days are hard. Some days it seems you struggle just to get through. Some days are one silent defeat after another.

Some days just suck.

Life seems to cycle. It goes from being dynamic highs to feeling like I am trudging through the mud. It's hard; I feel beat down. I want to stay inside, beneath the covers and cry.

There is nominal comfort in the knowledge that things cannot stay this way. In the moment, in the muck, when all I can feel is anger and my short tempered flaring and increasing isolation, that is of little comfort.

What is going on? I feel alone and scared and exhausted. There was no catalyst. Nothing "happened." I am just having a bad week and for now that needs to be enough.

So I am trying to stay small, to stay out of people's way, to be detached. It's not your fault things are this way and I won't take it out on you.

It's days like this I think of Rwanda, of being on that hillside and watching the sunset and wondering if life could not always be so simple. 

enjoy the view.

Day Five: Enjoy the View.

So I cheated, this is from a few years ago when my dear friend and I went tree cutting together. I love the image and use it to symbolize this time of year.

Day Six: Some small delight today.

 
Going through boxes of Christmas decorations I came across these figurines that belong to my boyfriend. In the joining of traditions, new ones develop, but there are stories and history in the ones brought into our relationship.

Reframing the Season

Day Two:  Reframing the Season

I wanted to get the Christmas tree up before taking this shot. This is my first year getting a real tree for myself. Before it's always been with my family or a fake one my parents gave me. This tree symbolizes reframing Christmas traditions and making traditions all my own

Day Four: The Key
(What helps you to slow down, take a deep breath and enjoy the moment? Capture it!)

The first thing I thought of was a Christmas light when I read this challenge. Even now, after a hectic day, I came home, plugged in the tree and took a moment. It reminds me to breathe, to release, to let go and just be. I can look at the beauty of the tree and just take a moment. Somehow in what happens around it - family, laughter, forgetting what happens outside this time - I find reality and for a moment, stability.  

Picture the Holidays

I am doing a project called Picture the Holidays this year with Paper Coterie. Each day a different image in the countdown to Christmas.

Day One was gratitude:

I am grateful for the gift of learning and how, even when we least suspect it, we can learn something new. I was in CA and learned about tide pools, something I never knew about being that I am live in the mountains!

Day Three was love - focus on love. Feel it. Be it. Capture it. Share it:

So I chose to be literal - it is all about love, taken on a shoot with the boy no less :-)

(Day two is coming!)