friday's fablious 5.

1. the big tree of lights that has gone up right outside our apartment window (well, not right outside, but in perfect view)

2. christmas carols on the wings of the wind on frosty mornings (and in the classroom while i make all manner of chrissy goodness with the kiddos!) (please note that the frosty mornings themselves are not so crash hot these days - i'm looking forward to some ozzie sun!!)

3. ski trips with friends. too much fun.

4. crossing things off the big list (43 things)

5. new jewellery! some most desirable earrings that i won from gwynnie. b that arrived in the mail this week - wow!! they're fablious because the gorgeous, and because they're hearts (yes!) AND because they're made out of recycled fine silver! i know!! i don't have a photo of them (yet), but check out her lovely website and drool over some of her pieces!!

hump-day heart

for more hearts, go here

reindeer games

i couldn't resist sharing - how much do you love these??

the day i almost ruined josh's secret birthday ski trip suprise

remember the time i booked all the bus tickets for mud fest, then i was late getting to the station so everyone missed the bus and we had to get a taxi to the beach which was, like, two and a half hours away and cost us, like, 250,000 won?? yep.

remember the time we went skiing for josh's birthday and i was in charge of booking the bus again, so i did and when we got to the station we were at the wrong exit, and when we got to the right exit we learned that we were actually at the wrong station so we missed the bus again and had to get taxi's again... sigh...

i guess i'm not going to be in charge of the bus tickets anymore...

***************

we stood there, in the cold, as 8.30 and then 9.00 came and went. we thought about staying in town for the night and getting on the 5.30 bus the following morning, but we had booked and paid for accommodation already - and we really wanted to go. my first attempt at securing us a taxi to take us resulted in the driver shaking his hand at me and winding up the window in my face. but brent had more luck and within a few minutes we had guitars + packs + bodies jammed into a couple of cars and we were on the way.

given that we had people to meet early the next day - not to mention skiing to do - we should have had a slow relaxing evening and early night. but once the guitars + drums came out, and the bourbon was poured there was really no going back - everyone loves a good sing-a-long!

on saturday, though i was surprisingly hang-overless, i was incredibly nervous about a day on the slopes. it wasn't just because i hadn't been on snow in 15 years, or because i knew that my 30 year old body probably wasn't going to do all the same things that my 15 year old body had done, but because i really wanted to try snowboarding. and most everyone else was a pretty high level. i really didn't want to be holding anyone back - but i didn't want to be alone for the first few runs either!! luckily for me, lovely em and quinn and adam gave me a few pointers and followed me down the bunny slope for my first run... and, more luck, eam was a first time skiier so we stuck together on an easy run, giving us a chance to find our snow legs while everyone else took the gondola to the peak.

turns out i love snow boarding. really!! i thought that i'd only last a few runds - that i'd get cold, or that my knees would start to hurt, or that i'd just fall down so much that i didn't want to continue. but when the time came to return our gear i could have kept right going!! and i was adamant about getting up the next morning for another go before heading home in the afternoon...

i was pleasantly surprised by snowboarding korea. it was the beginning of the season and not all the runs were open, but chair lift lines weren't painfully long and the runs weren't overly crowded. on the beginner slope where we found our feet, everyone seemed very well mannered and well organised. unsteady beginners kept themselves off to the sides, and everyone who was using a bit more pace was well able to control themselves. i never felt overwhelmed or unsafe - two emotions i was pretty much counting on! we were warned about doing the gondola run - it had been quite busy at one point, and the icy patches were causing a lot of falls. this combined with a range of abilities on the slope resulted in quite a stressful experience. but by the time eam and i got up there they were about to close the run so it was a bit quieter. and even the icy patches weren't enough to put me off. it would have been a little tough to tackle it earlier in the day, but the view was glorious and the challenge welcome!

weekend highlights:

* lots of love and hugs
* sunshine on the slopes and blue sky all day
* view from the top of the gondola - wow
* spending more time with the lovely emily and meeting her lovely fiance
* guitars and sing-a-longs (especially jeremy's little suprise - i knew he could sing, no idea he could play!)




things i want to do next time:
* spend more time on the slopes
* soak in the hot tubs at the end of the day - i hear they're devine
* take my camera outside for some action shots!!

completion ritual for 2009

http://www.superherodesigns.com/journal/ posed some thought provoking questions in an exercise aimed at saying goodbye to 2009. and since i'm a big fan of ritual, i thought i'd have a little think about it and say goodbye to 2009 mondo beyondo style.

1. What do you want to acknowledge yourself for in regard to 2009?
i would like to acknowledge myself for all the steps i've taken in my creative life this year. deciding to self publish my first children's book (and actually doing it)... writing and starting the artwork for my second book... designing my very own website... and all the fun fun artmaking has continued in my very own artroom (cheers)

2. What is there to grieve about 2009?
i don't think i've quite mastered the whole "balance" thing within this new creative live... putting energy into my creative ventures (even the business side of things) has produced guilt feelings at times. i haven't taken full pleasure from everything because of this - instead, i've often felt that everything has been a bit half-assed. but, i'm new at this, so i forgive myself.

3. What else do you need to say about the year to declare it complete?
i can't let 2009 go without expressing deep deep gratitude for everything that has entered my path this year...

i declare 2009 complete!

2010 is my year of balance and abundance!

ok... now it's your turn...

friday's fablious five

1. making christmas books with my class while snow falls in big fat flakes outside the window.

2. indigo skies and glowing sunrises.

3. dinners with friends.

4. my box of books finally arriving at Little Country School House (breathing a sigh of relief!)

5. turning our children into our parents.

what does 30 look like?

my friend brent had a beard. not a goatee, or anything in between, but a real beard. it was short and neatly trimmed, but still it was a beard. and it was lovely. and one day i looked at him and i thought, holy crap, i must be a grown up - my friend has a beard.

***************

it didn't occur to me that i might have a quiet freak out as my thirtieth birthday approached. i thought i was done with that at 25. 25 was my scary age. it was at 25 that i accepted that my life was not going to unfold as i thought. it was at 25 that i accepted that things have a way of taking on their own energy and sometimes all we can do is let go and roll with it. and it was at 25 that i accepted that all the things i thought i would have done by 25 were... well... not going to get done.

and after that i felt a quiet confidence. a knowing. a comfortability in myself and my understanding that all that was, was ok. that i was ok. that i didn't need to be anything else, anyone else, or anywhere else. that everything was as it was supposed to be.

what the hell happened? really??

you would think that with another 5 years of learning and growing under my belt that i might now feel even more confident. that my acceptance of myself and my life may have increased. that i might be more comfortable. well, i'm not. let me assure you, i most certainly am not any of these things.

instead i find myself looking towards my birthday and wondering what i've done with my life that is of any note. of any consequence. of any help to anyone. i wonder why the list of things i want to do is still soooo much longer than the list of things i've accomplished. and i feel a hint of panic when i find myself wondering when i'm going to find time to do anything - let alone everything, which is, let's face it, what i want to do - EVERYTHING!

sigh...

it may sound dramatic, but today, that's where i'm at. everyone is growing up. and growing beards. and i'm left wondering - when did this all happen? when??

***************

brent shaved his beard the other day. but in a few weeks i'm still going to be 30...

do i have to be a grown up?