friday quotation

...and a picture to match it...thank you Curly Girl Design.

Here's to the courage to follow wherever my journey may lead...and to you, too!
P.S. Happy birthday to my mom...who has taken me on many a grand adventure. Here's to many more, Mom! XOXO

winter in Austin

It's in the 30s in the morning and the mid-70s by the afternoon. It's gray one day and bright sunshiney the next. It's a season of dressing in layers so that you can shed most of them by the afternoon only to start relayering as the sun sets. This is one of the reasons that we live in Austin. Not for the endless days of summer but for these mild winters. Although I do expect a frigid cold snap in February. It always happens that way. And I rather enjoy it!
But today, I was grateful for the sun and the warmth, with just a touch of winter chill...both while I was running and while I was hiking. Grateful for completing a run longer than I've done in a year (I wasn't sure I still had it in me). Grateful for time to clean my office (I wasn't sure I'd ever see that desk again!). And most grateful for Anne's annual birthday hike. On a 'new-to-me' trail behind the Austin Nature Reserve. With kids. And other friends. And laughter and sunshine. And this cool sculpture with a brilliant blue sky as the backdrop. Just another winter day in Austin.

friday quotation

Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere wholeheartedly, one-directionally, without regret or reservation. ~W.H. Sheldon

why I go to the MLK March

I have realized that I do some things out of habit, some things out of obligation, some things for no good reason, some things just because I can, some things out of pure joy...and some things become pure joy even if they originate someplace else.
I've been going to the MLK March in Austin for more years than I can count on one hand at this point. I admit that the first few times I went because my friends were going and because I thought it was a "good" thing to do. Now I go because each year I am moved and inspired by it. Each year something stands out to me and this year it was a speaker's reminder of the courage of Martin Luther King, Jr. The courage to stand up for what he believed to be right. The courage to put one's own life at risk. The courage to go against the societal norms. The courage to live a life from his heart...the life that he believed he should live. I admire MLK, Jr. for his compassion, his leadership, his vision, his faith, his words, for his love of all mankind...and for his courage. So I guess I go to the MLK March each year to be reminded of all of those things. To have the courage to live a life for others, for myself, and for the world that might bring about more peace, unity, and compassion.
As my shirt said that day, maybe it's time to re-think things. Thanks, MLK, Jr., for giving us so many reasons to stop and think about the world that you helped create for us.

football

I'm fairly sure that I've never written a post about football before. And that's because while I like it and really enjoy being at a game and/or watching a game on TV, I can't recite stats to you or even name many players (okay, to my credit, I know a few!). Every once in a while I play in the football pool at school and on an even more rare occasion I win. Which gets under the skin of my colleagues - and with good reason. You see, I usually choose my teams by the team colors or the city they are in or the mascot or if it's a college where many of our students or any of my friends or family members have attended. Correct. I don't look at stats or pay attention to the predictions about the match-up. So when I win, it's pure luck. I get it, it's sort of obnoxious. With that as the backdrop for my football following, I must say that there are two teams that I always choose as the victors since they are the only two teams that I really follow at all - the 49ers and the Saints. Why? Well, the Saints are from New Orleans which is my hometown and Drew Brees (an SAS alum and and all-around great guy) plays for them and he's simply amazing and, as I said, just a good person. And the 49ers because growing up in the Bay Area they were our hometown team. Joe Montana. Jerry Rice. Bill Walsh. Those were household names and when I saw Joe and Jennifer (Montana) at Stanford Shopping Center I thought that was so cool.
So today was particularly challenging as the Saints and the 49ers were playing one another! In some ways, I suppose it was a win-win situation for me. And, yet, I felt like I had to choose a team to cheer for. But how could I? Well, my compromise was this wish: let Drew Brees have a great game AND let the 49ers win.
My friends laughed and reminded me that the two might be mutually exclusive and I said, "Well, a girl can dream."
And sometimes a girl's dreams...even football dreams...come true! Like today!
The game was AMAZING. Seriously. I didn't know it was possible to have that many touchdowns in the last 2 minutes of a game. I didn't know that you could see the heart of the players so tangibly on the field. I didn't know that I could practically stop breathing and have to force myself not to cover my eyes during a game. But that was my experience on Saturday afternoon/evening. I hope each player feels good about what he did on that field today. I'm not sure I've ever seen such determination or heart. It was incredible...literally breath-taking. And although I love the Saints, the 49ers proved to me that I will always feel a particular loyalty to them as my first team...glad they are on the upswing again as it just makes cheering for them a bit more fun! Congrats boys!

friday quotation

In the end...
we only regret the chances we didn't take,
the relationships we were afraid to have,
and the decisions we waited too long to make.

really trying to focus on this in 2012...it's a lofty challenge for me!

happy epiphany!

The season of light! Of revelation! I'm ready! (I know, technically, Epiphany was two days ago but I'm just now writing about it...)
The more I learn about this season, the more I think that the things that I associate with it are a bit curious. After all, it's the time when (according to tales of old) the magi came to visit baby Jesus. How many magi? We don't really know. Songs tell us it was three (Kings of Orient, that is). Some versions of the story mention three gifts (gold, frankincense, and myrrh) so maybe we assume that each gift came from a different person. Bottom line, there is a lot of mystery around the season. And yet, we've come to use the term (and think of the term) 'epiphany' as something that becomes known to us. Something that is revealed to us. See...kind of odd, right? In the season with a story with so many unanswered questions, things are revealed to us? Maybe that's actually the point. That we can find things in the darkness. That things can be revealed even while mystery remains. For me, it's the season where I remember to let light in. In the form of love and possibilities. In the form of change and trust in the unknown. In the form of trying new things and walking into the darkness...on the other side of which I know there to be light. And before I get there, knowing that I have just enough light for the journey...if I take it step by step. (So contrary to my nature sometimes!)
This weekend held many little slivers of light for me: a run, some yoga (including 5 minutes of inversions! A headstand against the wall for me), time with friends, Salt Lick (yum! protein quota for the week?!), sleep, football, bragging about SAS, cooking/baking, cleaning, time outside in the glorious weather, reading, and sitting. Yes, I do love just sitting. (That might be a revelation for you!)
So as we travel through this season, may your season of light be just that - LIGHT! Revealing, freeing, reminding us of trust and comfort even in the dark of winter. It's the season that makes me want to say "yes, I believe!" (In what? In SO many things.)

friday quotation

"When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability. To be alive is to be vulnerable."
~ Madeleine L'Engle

welcome 2012!

As so often happen to me, just as I'm trying to articulate something in my own words, I get a springboard from someone else to get that process started. It's so funny that I was suggesting that my outlook/goal/mantra for 2012...one of defining or re-defining myself...might be sort of messy. Any sort of revamp is. Whether it be re-writing a paper, renovating a house, or even just rearranging a kitchen cabinet. There's an element of unrest, possibly complete turmoil, before things are put back in order again. I sort of imagine that this is what the beginning of 2012 will be like for me. Why would one take that on...walking into the mess? Well, because it's time. It's time for me to take a look at the space that I live in (literally and figuratively) and make sure it still suits me. It's time for me to take a look at how I approach my work and my free time and make sure that I'm living it all to the fullest. It's time for me to take a look at my relationships and see if they are they best that they can be...and that I'm giving them my best...and that I have the relationships I want. Why is it time? I don't really know, but I just feel like it is! No time like the present? And as if to pave the way for me, to reassure me that the messiness that might be ahead is okay, a friend posted this last night:
"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something! So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. Whatever it is you're scared of doing, do it. Make your mistakes, next year and forever." (Neil Gaiman)
I also love what Neil had to say on previous New Year's: "May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art - write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself" and "I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind."
What beautiful sentiments. All of them. And so, in giving credit to others, but in stealing a few ideas for my 2012 wishes/resolutions as I seek to (re-)define myself I will seek to:
- love boldly
- be kind...to others and to myself
- read more books
- see more movies
- take more adventures (big and small)
- be the best me that I can be, but always be me (authentically me)
- let my work and my words and my actions and my living space and my activities and my relationships reflect me
- make mistakes...but mostly, take risks that matter even if they end in mistakes...and then learn from them
- try new things (in every way imaginable from new recipes to new exercise to new hobbies to new ways of being in relationships to new work ethics)
- let go of things from the past that are holding me back (relationships, mindsets, memories, fears...)
- laugh freely...especially at myself
- honor silence (in myself and in others) and the time that it takes for life to reveal itself, for decisions to be made, for hearts to find their way
- think about what else I can give to the world (to those whom I know and love and to those who are strangers) so as not to let any gifts be wasted
- welcome whatever the universe brings as I/we press on (this is the part of re-defining that acknowledges that it's not all about me or up to me and that there is a greater plan for me...thankfully!)...and somewhere along the way, expect a miracle (or two)
Here's to a mistake-ridden, love-filled, rewarding and soul-searching 2012 for all...and, as Dean said today in yoga, "let 2011 go..." So freeing.