Done!

There's a current commercial for Target on TV, showing different people getting their holiday preparations finished. I can almost join that group, after I wrap the girls' presents and deliver some cookies that were part of the project that started this week. So now I can...pay some bills, take some pictures, knit some projects. Oh, it never ends!

Another thing - I need to get back to real training. Unfortunately, we had a major snowstorm today, so that means I can't go on the streets (I could, but I would be spending most of the time avoiding falling on my butt three-quarters of the time). So it's time to hit the treadmill. Like right now.

Time off...so time for everything else (maybe)

Off of work for the next two weeks, so I'm hoping to get some writing and photography done. Of course, there is this little thing called the holidays that are upon us, and there is only one week left before Christmas (how did that happen???). So, even with my best intentions, I'm hoping that I can get an article written, another queried or submitted, and to get some photos submitted and accepted to a stock agency.

That's my best Christmas wish... :)

The cookie project

Thank God for my extensive cookbook collection - and for Food Network.com. I wouldn't know what to give to friends and the kids' friends' families for holiday gifts. So that's what I'll be doing about a week from today, getting immersed in sugar, flour and decorations to give something of good cheer. We don't expect anything in return. Really, that's not the point of the holidays. It just gives me satisfaction knowing I can put my cooking skills to good use.

A snowy start to December

Blowing snow blankets my view of the outside, so much that I cannot see the mountains situated a mere quarter mile away. Winter is here with a vengeance. Of course, it's not a snow day for my school district. There would have to be 8-10 inches more of the white stuff and about 10-15 degrees colder for them to even consider doing that.

But my monkey mind says "I wanna stay home!" That's also the California girl in me, the one who never had to deal with snow until I moved here nearly ten years ago. So it's off to work I go in a few hours here.

I'm getting back on track here with writing and photography, so I feel I can forgive myself for the black hole that was October and November. It would just be nice to hibernated for the day and not have to go outside... :)

October and November were a blur...

Too many thing going on, and of course not enough time. That's how it's been these past two months, mostly having to do with my regular work. Also training for this marathon, which I may finish, but I'm seriously thinking of not doing again for the massive amounts of time the training takes up. I've neglected my travel writing and photography, but I'm hoping now that I've gained some equilibrium, that will be back on track now.

A big indicator of this craziness: we went to LA this past week, and not once did I sit down and write. I only took pictures once, and they weren't even that interesting. So I need to re-establish my priorities. Here we go...

Still sick...and a big step forward

Home today - no work, except for my writing and photography. And no one home either - R is off today and hanging out with friends. I have to somehow make a semi-miraculous recovery and take J to her soccer tournament game tonight, and N and their stepsister. Yikes, I hope I don't get pneumonia being out there tonight. I really just have to get them there, then I can go home. Their dad (X man) is picking them up.

But I did inch closer to my marathon commitment this morning. I finally registered for the Rock n Roll Arizona. Double yikes - first marathon, hopefully not my last. As late as last night, I was dithering about whether I should do this one, Austin, Napa Valley or another Arizona race called the Lost Dutchman Marathon, even though we already booked the flight to Phoenix in January and reserved the hotel in Scottsdale. But because of cost and logistics, I finally settled on this one. I think it'll be a good first-time one, even though there's a six-mile out and back on the SAME road. And it's not even a nice looking one.

Crazy? Sure.

Muddling through

For the last four days, I've been battling a cold. Needless to say, my marathon training has come to a screeching halt. Yeah, I know that I could probably keep running, do an easy 30 minute jaunt, but I'm really trying to get at least back to normal breathing and energy levels, and not feel like I've been it by an 18-wheeler.

I've been debating or not to go to work. Today especially, since I do not have any kids I need to see and I'm sorely tempted to keep writing and querying my travel articles. I also need to critique a friend's article, which initially looked really good. So much to do, not quite 100% healthy enough to do it all.

Oh well...keep plugging anyway. That's what I tell my kids when they're not feeling well but aren't running a fever. Kind of sad, I know - we have to keep pushing onward and keep moving. Wouldn't it just be nice to take a real breather and have the time to get completely healthy?

Crazy in the heat

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I am currently training for a marathon. Even though I've attempted this nutty goal before, illness or injury always prevented me from going further and making it. I've now run three half-marathons, and will be running the Denver Rock n Roll half in two weeks. I debated on whether or not to run it, but it came down to a friend calling and telling me that she and her 12-year-old son would be doing it. So will I now, apparently. The nice thing is, I know what to expect from it. Getting through it, though, will be another matter.

So far, so good with the training. I'd probably be doing better if I was with a group, but I'm kind of afraid to run with others. You'd never guess from the way my body is built, but I'm a slug. Slower than a turtle or a penguin. When I run, I barely move - but I really love running. It makes me feel invincible when I've run six miles, and now I've done that on a regular basis.

The aim is to make the Arizona Rock n Roll marathon in January, MLK weekend. I don't mind going to Arizona, since I lived there for two years going to grad school. And despite its crazy conservative reputation, I really enjoy some things about the place. Besides, we will be sick of winter by that point, and it'll be good to be in warm sun. Even if I'm going to ruin it by running, then slogging through 26.2 miles.

Awesome weekend

Although I'm missing my kids something fierce, last weekend in Snowmass/Aspen was awesome, and R and I had fun. As with Beaver Creek, I wish I could go back there when the snow falls and ski, but I'm not sure when that will be.

Here are some photos of our time there...

Maroon Bells (of course, the weather didn't cooperate the day we went)








And the Snowmass Balloon Festival

We'd definitely like to return!

Off to Snowmass tomorrow

First post in a while...I really wanted to get something written in San Francisco when we were there over Labor Day weekend, but it was crazy busy (isn't everything?).

Plus, I got injured on my long run, so much to the point that I went to Kaiser on Labor Day (thanks, $100 after hours co-pay), only to find out that I didn't break my left hand. Also scraped up my knee - as usual - and bruised my shoulder. My hand did swell up enough that I couldn't fit my wedding rings on until yesterday, ten days after the fact. But I'm finally on the mend.

So R and I are leaving for Snowmass Village tomorrow, just west of Aspen. I'm there to take pictures and hopefully get an article or two from it. Since I've never been there, I'm really excited to be going.

Hope I'll be posting in a few days here...

Thoughts on semi-vegetarianism

If I could, I'd probably be a vegetarian. Not a vegan - l love dairy products too much. And I do need the occasional egg meal every now and then. But there is a problem...I love bacon too much. And my kids and husband could never become veggie, even if I paid them. And finally, if an In-N-Out Burger came to Colorado, well - let's just say, I couldn't be vegetarian for very long.

But I really try to eat vegetarian when I can. I think I've generally lost my taste for meat, especially beef and pork, any red meat. Poultry is still my go-to protein, and I'll have fish on occasion, even though I'm not big on seafood.

Maybe my full conversion won't happen until the girls leave for college, and R needs to improve his diet. 'Til then...

Happy (belated) birthday, my sweet girl!

Even though it was three days ago, my oldest J had her 10th birthday. And her first day as a fifth grader, and mine as the psych at my school for the new year. Thus, we have a bit of a delay with wishes, and with this new entry in general.

She's gone from this...
















...to this.

And she's simply amazing, in every way! Have a wonderful year, sweetie!

Gaining ground

Now that the work school year has officially begun, I will inevitably have less time to devote to writing and photography. So yesterday was time to get things done. Getting photos submitted, finishing my next NYIP unit (I'm now officially halfway through - yay!), finishing up my first travel writing submission, and starting work on the second. So things are happening. Now I'm feeling a lot better.

Here's the photo I submitted to a holiday-themed stock photo challenge:

I just wanted to do something different, although I could've probably done something more traditional. It's probably too dark, but if that's the lesson I've learned from it, so be it.

It's been extremely warm here in Denver, and I don't really want to do much in the way of knitting. I think I've actually for the time being lost my knitting mojo. I do a little here and there everyday, but nothing that makes tremendous progress. And to think, I started this as a knitting blog at one time! But once the weather becomes a little chilled, that's when I'll start stitching again.

Time is running out...

So, I officially have one and a half days left until my summer vacation comes to its official end. In the time between June 2nd and today, I traveled to Florida, the Caribbean (which I still pronounce care-i-BE-an, not CUH-ri-be-an, like most people say), Colorado Springs, Durango and Chicago. I've probably covered more ground in terms of places than any other time in my life.

But I still need to find a home for all the ideas in my head and the articles I've written and the pictures I've taken. I'm not really afraid of rejection now, and I don't want to make excuses. But now a good chunk of my time will be taken with the job that pays the bills, not the work the feeds the soul. So I need to make a greater mental commitment than ever to say, "I'm going to be published by the end of the year, and I'm going to make some money from my photography".

It's the kind of thing I'll need to hang up on an index card and read it every day. I'm going to do just that.

Windy City recap

It's been about a week since my Chicago trip, and I would certainly want to go back there sometime. Of course, whenever I'm in these workshops, I never get to see really anything. But the day before, I did rent a bike for a couple of hours and took some pictures:
















It wasn't ever really windy, just hot and humid. And man, it was expensive! Normally I like to rent a car, but with $55 daily parking at the hotel and even some of the surrounding lots, that was out of the question. I didn't even get to ride the El train, nor have Chicago-style pizza. Wherever I went to, there was at least a 1 1/2 hour wait.

But it was a good place to run - very flat and low elevation. My ego got a boost when I went I was able to pass more than a few people on the lakefront trail. Yay for altitude training!

In Chicago

Well, I've made it, and I don't have a lot of time to write here. The workshop starts in 15 minutes.

After getting in at 10:30 local time, I got to the hotel and checked in (lucky I could do that - thought I'd have to wait until 3 and maybe would have to lug around my suitcase). Rick Bayless's restaurants were just four blocks away, so I had an awesome lunch in the bar at Frontera Grill. Excellent stuff - I had enchiladas with braised vegetables and cheese. Probably the most flavorful enchiladas I've had in a while.

Later, I rented a bike and headed to the lakeshore area, pedaling up and down Lake Michigan. Since I don't have a car, that turned out to be a smart way to get around.

Pictures to come, as always!

Crossroads

So I have roughly two weeks before I return to my real-world job of school psych. As enjoyable as the work can be, I would still like to be a work-at-home writer and photographer. R is very encouraging, but he always will add a dash of reality by saying, "a lot of people want to work at home doing (fill in the blank)"

I sometimes think I need all this uninterrupted quiet time during the summer because it seems to guarantee that I can get these lofty goals accomplished. But I don't want to think all I'm doing is busy-work. Any step that moves me forward is important, but now I think some of these should be purposeful movement. Such as tomorrow, write a query to one of these places I'm targeting, rather than keep reading the submission guidelines. Write up some photo ideas that aren't in the stock sites, and take those pictures. Keep progressing with the profit website.

Now it's kick in the pants time. And almost time to go to Chicago. I'm hoping I can do an entry or two from there!

Make something happen

Now that I've tried to submit to stock agencies (without success, so I'm in a bit of a holding pattern and trying to study the sites), it's time to query travel pubs or websites to see if I can something accepted. I'll be off to Chicago next week, and hopefully what I'll be doing there -a writers workshop - is taking that step and having it go somewhere.

I have a few articles, so I can get things going right away. But just like with the photos, I'm afraid of rejection (who isn't??). I just need to get it done, hard as it is.

So, I may be writing here on Monday. After that, though, it's on to the Windy City. We'll see if I can blog and take pictures from there.

Running (sort of) strong

This morning, our Lab Zena and I went up to Chautauqua in Boulder. It's a beautiful place, but I've never felt that I could run there because it's all uphill - or really, up-mountain. But now that I'm in a little better shape than I've been before, it wasn't so bad.

Until I had to stop, which was more than a few times :( Those inclines were much steeper than I thought and the temperature was much hotter than I like it, but somehow I made it to the top. Of course, I rejoiced in the descent. Oh, how mistaken I was.

Going down the mountain was almost as tough as going up. The grade was so steep, I had to traverse and almost bound instead of run, so I wouldn't slide headfirst onto the rock-strewn path. But all in all, it was fun and very much worth it. What I couldn't do for the past eight years living in altitude, I finally can do - with a few breaks along the way.

Our new home - in 10 years?

We were down in Durango this weekend - actually, the last four days. R went to college down that way, at Ft. Lewis, and really enjoyed his time there. We'd gone down there once before, when he ran his first (and so far, only) marathon. This time, we met up with his family for a mini-reunion. All of us went on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad - R, his mom and I went up and did the round trip, and the rest of the family went rafting, then took the return trip with us.

Here's what some of it looked like...



On our way, we also went over Wolf Creek Pass, where I scared the living daylights out of R's mom. But I think my risk was worth it.






Someday, when the kids are at college and R's parents are gone, we may try to find a place here. Personally I'd also like to live in San Francisco or the Sonoma wine country, but that's my ultimate goal. We'll see if it comes true.

Website purgatory

So I finished my long-delayed website for my writing and photography. Here it is!

And not to denigrate GoDaddy too much (after all, they are providing full service for my domain, web design and most importantly, hosting), but it was a pain in the butt.

I spent most of the day trying to do the writing and layout, uploading the pictures, and just trying to get the darn thing off the ground. For some reason, it kept timing out, and every time it did, it would basically kick me off the website. Of course, I will still have to fine-tune the whole thing, since it's very basic, but now at least I have something to show people and to refer editors to.

Tomorrow we head off to Durango, so of course I'll be looking for things to write about and pictures to take. So I'll probably post next Monday. See ya then!

The Springs

Last weekend, we traveled down to Colorado Springs. Some friends lent us their passes to the LPGA US Open at the Broadmoor and encountered way too much in the way of thundertstorms. The girls, getting easily freaked out by these kinds, begged us to leave early. So we didn't get to see much of the tournament. But we at least got to stay at our friend's place in Manitou Springs, with this jaw-dropping view (which you can't see that well because it's sunrise.



The next day, R headed back to the Broadmoor to watch more the tournament, while the girls and I went to Cheyenne Mountain. Here they get to feed some budgies



And feed some giraffes (and I mean, really up close and personal). All in all, Cheyenne Mountain has more to offer than one think it would. I highly recommend going there if you have children who love zoos.

How ironic...

Here I'm writing in this blog more than ever, but I'm not getting any traffic and therefore, no readers. Now that I've discontinued the knitting aspect of this and expanded it, I'm not quite finding the audience. But I'm hooked - I'm not giving this up, because I know eventually, I will get that audience. Just keep plugging away.

Cooking and food are another thing I want to write about here. I love to eat - that's why I also have to exercise like a demon. And lately, I've tried to be more vegetarian - not something that's easy to do, especially when three out of the four people in my family are not inclined to do that. I also love desserts and sweets, beer, wine and cheese, and breads. All foods that are certainly not the healthiest, but I love them nonetheless.

Right now, I'm trying to learn more about wine - a fascinating subject and yet so esoteric to me. It's something that I'd like to learn a lot about, but I still don't have a good grasp on it.

Camping pics

So, I just thought I'd add some pictures about our recent camping adventure. Even though it was only one day out, we found a nice spot next to a rushing, high-level creek just below Red Cone Pass near Bailey. This was at sunset...



We also went on a very small part of the Colorado Trail, a 420+ mile route stretching from outside Denver to Durango. R talks about going on his bike someday and riding the entire length of it. Personally, I'd love to see him do it, but I just don't know if he could handle it.





Because of the snow and all the precipitation, wildflowers blanketed the ground everywhere - including the state flower, the columbine...






Next week, it's on to Durango. Later on, I'll be writing about our little weekend jaunt to Colorado Springs (really, Manitou Springs, which is just five miles west). I didn't realize this before, but we're doing a lot of traveling around this summer! :)

Horsing Around

Continuing with the cruise...

We went to St. Maarten as part of the last stop on the cruise. Here, we thought we were being clever and rented a Jeep. But as it turned out, we had limited time and sometimes didn't know where to go (traffic circles can be such as pain in you-know-where). So once we found this Seaside Nature Park - right next to an oil refinery/power plant, ick - they had a mix up with our reservations, and we ended up waiting 1 1/2 hours to get on the horses. You can imagine how gumpy the girls (and I) were.

Once we got on, though, it was quite enjoyable, even with the industrial structure at our backs...



Another "must-do" on St. Maarten is Maho Beach. Here, just yards away from the main landing runway of the island's airport, people can watch - and feel - jumbo jets going overhead, despite ear-splitting noise and find sand stinging their faces.



Of course, there are some foolish individuals who try to REALLY experience what jet wash feels like. We didn't see anyone doing that, but I guess enough people attempt to do just that. Hence the government warning...



The last thing we attempted was to go to the French side of the island and the town of Marigot. But since we couldn't find parking, we just headed back to the port and to the ship.

Lesson learned - when you're on a cruise and have very limited time, take a tour instead!

More about the cruise...

So as I tried to write yesterday, J and N really enjoyed their time on Freedom of the Seas. Case in point...


When we set sail, they had a Dreamworks party with the "Madagascar" and "Shrek" characters. The girls couldn't help themselves and joined the party.

And yet another...



N took part in a circus parade and was a tiger. She also was part of a pirate parade. Personally, I think she enjoyed the massive attention she got from crowds.

We also took an awesome snorkel charter to a cove with sea turtles. Of course, N really enjoyed that trip. And because we took a leisurely sail from St. Thomas, it was fun for all of us

Cruising (not just for old foggeys)

We had a lot of fun on this ship, Freedom of the Seas...

I think both R and I thought that being a cruise would be too limiting, regimented and not conducive to exploring. But we discovered it's really what you make of it. Even though we only saw a couple of shows, one movie and some karaoke (watched, not participated), it was good enough. Being lazy on a lounge chair by the pool was what we needed, even though there were 3,000+ others on board just about doing that same thing.

Camping

R and I went camping up near Bailey this weekend. You'd think after coming back from a cruise last weekend, we'd want to stick around. But he said that he wanted to take the trailer out, even if it was just for one night. As usual, I got devoured by mosquitos and God knows what other biting insects are out in the Rocky Mountain forests, but overall, it was a good experience.

We found a nice creekside opening that surprisingly, no one else had claimed on this holiday weekend, except some guys from Denver who were dirt-biking for the day and left later in the afternoon. The next day, we drove up to the Colorado Trail and went for a two-hour hike. All in all, a great way to spend a Saturday.

Again, pictures will follow... :)

Finally back from vacation

So...I didn't get to blog on our trip like I wanted to. Even in the few days we spent in Florida (with free wi-fi access), time didn't seem to cooperate with me.

I will say that we had a fantastic vacation! Cruising is something we'll likely do again, and the girls really enjoyed their time on it, too. So did R's parents. But I think next time, we'll either go to Alaska or Europe. While I do want to visit other places in the Caribbean, it's time to see other places in the world.

Now that we've gotten laundry and our carpet cleaning out of the way, pictures and my travel log are definitely forthcoming! Stay tuned....

Knit one, two, three

Not too long of a post today...I need to get a lot of stuff done between now and the next 24 hours before we take off for Orlando. I need to figure out what I want to take. Now I have to think about what I'd like to take for knitting.

This blog used to be a strictly knitting and fiber-arts related one. I decided to move away from that, but I still knit. I am getting projects done Unfortunately, I've been terrible about documenting my knitting endeavors, but my aim is to get that remedied when we return on the 26th. My Ravelry page will look completely different when I'm done with it.

Maybe I'll write from the airport tomorrow morning, or when we get into Florida. I'm on a roll now! :)

This must be some kind of record...

So...I don't know if I've ever written four blog entries four straight days. Must be something in my water. :)

Right now, I'm just getting ready for my vacation. Highly uncharacteristic of me, but I'm the last one to pack. Maybe I'm a little intimidated with having to get 10 days of clothes ready, and 7 of those days mean we can't do any laundry - unless we want to shell out $25 a bag for Royal Caribbean to do it. No thanks.

I'm also trying to figure out what to do with my articles. I've written about 5-6 of them that, with a little polish, could be ready for submission to a website, maybe a publication. Now I just have to find the right ones - that's the tough part. There are so many out there, and I guess I fear that anything I've written is not suitable for any of them. I also have to think about what to submit to stock agencies, too. I've applied to Fotolia, Dreamstime and Shutterstock, but haven't submitted anything. There's also Bigstock Photo and iStockphoto (this one I did submit stuff, and got rejected).

Those are my somewhat modest goals for the summer: have my photos accepted for stock and have an article published. Also finish my NYIP course, which I have to do by September.

Who said my summer wasn't full??

It's a living...for a few months

I'm pretty lucky during the summer. Since I've worked for school districts, I've had the last 12 summers off and have enjoyed every one of them. The one problem I've had was to find something that I can do during those 2 1/2 months. I've tried coaching, copywriting, graphic design and fiction. None of these things have really panned out.

So I'm still trying to find that golden ticket, the thing (or things) I can do where I won't feel massively guilty about taking time off. I think I've found them now.

Travel writing is something I never thought about doing. The travel part, of course, is something I love. But unlike copywriting, it's something I can believe in and really enjoy. The income potential is rather slim, but that's not the point. I'm pretty good at writing, and have actually written about 4-5 short articles as well as one 1,000 word one. I can foresee doing more of this in the future. But having it replace my current career? Probably not. Still, I find it a blast.

Another interest that is growing into something more is photography. I first took it up in 1985, with an old-school SLR camera, which I still have. But rather than try to do something artistic, I'll probably try to do more travel/editorial and stock work for now. I thought about photographing people, but the thought of setting up an indoor studio is kind of "meh" to me right now. Still, I'm learning more about it, really re-learning all over again. But like the writing, I'm very psyched about it.

Here we go...hopefully, I'll something to show for it by the end of August, before I head back to school. :) In the meantime, here's a few samples of what I've done with my photography

Evergreen Lake


Niki at Red Rocks Amphitheater


And Coit Tower in San Francisco

Time for all the things I need to do

I realized that part of the reason why it's been hard for me to keep up this blog is because it's relatively difficult to upload photos the way I want to. Photography is one of those things that I'm including in this blog, along with travel, writing (and travel writing), knitting, cooking and being a parent. I'm trying to do a lot of things during my time off this summer. Here's the laundry list:

- Apply to microstock agencies
- Get an article published somewhere
- Establish a for-profit website
- Possibly become an online editor for family travel
- Finish a photography course

Some people wonder why I put J and N in summer camps while I'm off. I've never been able to answer that question in a satisfactory manner, until now. As you can see from the list, there's a lot to get done these next few months, and even then our vacation is going to inevitably get in the way of that.

Still, it's hard to stay too much away from these sweeties...

Wow, it's been WAAAAY too long!!!

Still here, still alive.... :)

My regular work this year was in a word, nutty. As a result, I have really neglected this blog, and my intention is to not do so this summer. I have plenty to still do - writing and photography in particular, and also learning about web copywriting (things that I'm hoping will provide some supplemental income over these next few months).

And yes, I'm still knitting, trying to get about ten projects done at once...eek

Another thing is trying to stay in shape for our upcoming vacation next week. We are going on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, heading to the Bahamas, St Thomas and St. Maarten. I can't describe the excitement I'm feeling, Everyone is going - kids, in-laws and of course hubby.

I'll try to see if I can blog from the ship, but it may cost us quite a bit. I'll at least get an entry or two off in Florida, before we set sail.

Until the next time...(which won't be in 10 months!)