Embrace the Winter Season!

Oh I know, technically it's Spring and you are totally sick of the snow and cold but it's time to embrace what's in front of you and start loving the snow.   Once upon a time I too HATED everything to do with winter and I dreamt of moving to a warmer climate and the only thing that stopped me was the thought of not being close to my family.  Below you will discover how I learned to love our weather:

FIND AN ACTIVITY YOU LOVE:

Here's a list of the activities I LOVE:

• Downhill and cross country skiing
• Snowshoeing
• Ice Skating
• Sledding with the kids
• Making snowmen

And here's other winter activities to consider:

• Snowboarding
• Ice hockey
• Ice fishing
• Snowmobiling
• Dog sledding

Ice Skating!

**One tip - when you return home from an outdoor activity I can feel frozen to the bone.  I've found the best way to warm up is to take a HOT bath or turn on my heated mattress pad and jump into my warm bed with a book.   Works every single time.


Next:  BOOK A WINTER GET-AWAY

Even if you can't afford a luxurious warm vacation this year, even a stay at a motel close and affordable can be a great way to break up winter.  But, of course ideally having a warm place to dream about when it's 10 below and you are stuck inside is incredibly helpful for me.

Enjoying the Florida Sun - NICE!

ENJOY INDOOR ACTIVITIES GUILT FREE

In the summer you wouldn't catch me dead watching a movie, playing cards or reading a book inside.  But when it's bitter outside and dark at 5:30 p.m. you have no reason to feel guilty about curling up on the couch with a blanket and watching a movie and sometimes there's nothing better.  (BTW, I watched Perks of a Wallflower this weekend and LOVED it).

THINK OF THE ENVIRONMENT

When someone complains about all the snow and cold, I always say, "well think about how great this will be for our farmers," and I've never met anyone who could disagree with that statement.  In fact right after I blogged about my concern for reducing our carbon footprint, we had a blizzard and the snow stuck - how great is that?

IN SUMMARY

Sounds simple doesn't it? I know for my own life I needed to fully engage with winter or I'd end up spending 30% of my life not happy with Wisconsin and that's not a great way to live. What do you do to help you enjoy winter? 

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

Bi-Monthly Book Reviews

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!  Below you will find my bi-monthly book list and brief reviews with 5 stars being the best.

BOOK REVIEWS

When She Woke, Hilary Jordan - 5 stars
I found this to be a RIVETING, creative novel based on the book The Scarlet Letter.

Getting Past Your Past:  EDMR (which stands for Eye Desensitization Movement and Reprocessing) by Francine Shapiro - 2 stars
EDMR is something that I've been working on personally.  The whole concept is extremely complicated and someday I'll share my experience.  This book does a decent job explaining the process.

Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosney - 5 stars
I LOVED this book about the French involvement in the concentration camps of World War II - great book.

12 Tribes of Hattie, by Ayana Mathis - 3 stars
This is Oprah's Book Club current pick, but the book focuses on 12 different characters and I really wanted to know more about each one so I felt a bit frustrated but the book was well worth my time.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon - 4 stars
This is our book club pick for March and I thoroughly enjoyed this book about a female entrepreneur and her family in Kabul, Afghanistan.  I feel like I learned more about the Afghan culture and it was non-violent as compared to 10,000 Splendid Suns and the Kite Runner (amazing books btw).

MY NEXT READ:

Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - I'm excited to delve into this novel.

Thank-you to Lit Lovers for the adorable cartoon

My St. Patrick's Day was full of house chores and a great ski with my friend Colleen.  How was your St. Patrick's Day?  What book do you recommend?  If I had to pick a book from above I'd pick Sarah's Key first with When She Woke as a close second.

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

P.S. - I heard Gail Francis speak this week about her adventurous hike along the entire Pacific Crest Trail (California to Canada) and her presentation was amazing and inspiring - she's writing a book too.  I bring this up because I want to remind you about the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed which I still highly recommend if you haven't read it yet.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Oh how times have changed!   Once upon a time St. Patrick's Day meant green beer and Irish car bombs but now St. Patrick's Day is filled with leprechaun traps, cookies and jello and I'm oddly perfectly content.

So, to celebrate St. Pat's Day we started with lime jello - I simply made jello, and colored the marshmallows and whip cream with food coloring.  Delicious!

St. Patty's Day Jello in my grandma's dishes

Later we made these cookie ice cream sandwiches with green filling (peppermint ice cream)- they were a hit!!!

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich on my Grandma's plate

 

 

 

My kids are such BELIEVERS and I love it.  Gus has placed many leprechaun traps around our property hoping to catch a leprechaun tonight!!

 

I'm trying to catch up on some reading and I rented the movie "Perks of Being a Wallflower" I hope to find time to watch.  Sounds like a pretty awesome night to me.  What are you doing for St. Patrick's Day?

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Kristin

 

 

Back to the Blog

A month off from my blog seems to be just what the doctor ordered.  I was feeling incredibly pinched for time and eliminating my blogging habit for a month freed me up a bit!

Two pictures sum up the last month:

Birkie #3 Complete

My 3rd Birkie went very well.  At the half way point I was on track to have a PB, but it didn't end that way because of the super soft snow conditions.  I was skiing through about one foot of mashed potato type snow up almost every hill.  My left thigh cramped but honestly I felt FANTASTIC all day and I had fun.  What more could I ask for?

And finally, our trip to Florida was absolutely magical.  Throughout the week I remember feeling so full of love and happiness that I thought my heart could burst.

I guess that's why I need to start planning next year's vacation - the kids are growing up way too fast!!

FAMILY MEAL PLANNING

I haven't been cooking anything out of the ordinary since we implemented Family Meal Planning..  I can not begin to tell you how much this has simplified my life - wow.   My first full day back from Florida I fell ill (I blame the 7 days of crappy food) and I went to bed after work at 6 p.m.  Chad had to run into Hayward to pick up Graham from a ski field trip so Gus and Greta (age 8 and 7) were left to fend for themselves for 40 minutes because I was knocked out cold.  When Chad came home Gus and Greta made a complete supper on their own from beginning to end by following the meal plan - how awesome is that?

HOUSE ORGANIZATION PROJECT

My 2013 house organization project is also simplifying my life - nothing better than everything having a spot for everything.  For March I'm focusing on our living room, entry way hallway and finances.   I've been investing in various clear containers, labeling everything and trying to organize by categories - I love it!

FUTURE BLOGS

Sometimes I believe I need to change my blog name since cooking in the moment doesn't really fit anymore.  In fact my highest read blogs are consistently about books, working out, and organizing.  Isn't that funny?    So, I'll be blogging on those topics until the garden starts to produce.   

What has been keeping you busy?  What do you think I should re-name my blog?

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

50K in 50 Days Final Update

THE LAST OF MY 50K in 50 DAYS TRAINING

On Friday I completed my final long-slow-distance ski from Cable to Hayward from sun up to sun down (literally) and I finished in one piece - barely.  Yes, I was completely exhausted (more than I ever remember being) but after I sat down for about an hour I felt back to normal and even felt great that night and the next day.  While there's no chance I'll be setting a PR this year, I know that slowly but surely I will be able to ski up Main Street of Hayward to all the cheering fans.  Really, there's no better feeling than that last 1/4 mile of cheering fans along Main Street and realizing you just accomplished something pretty freaking amazing - something I never thought possible in my life.

PICTURE JOURNAL OF MY 45K SKI DAY:


MORNING - CABLE

 

MID-DAY - SEELEY

 

AFTERNOON - HAYWARD

Wow, what a killer  Unfortunately, because of our weird weather I have not been out as much as I would like so the 45K was one the most difficult things I've ever done, but I did it and I'll be ready to go in 2 weeks.  My skis have not been giving me much glide so I'm going to have them re-evaluated tomorrow just to make sure my equipment is not slowing me down.


MY WORKOUT SCHEDULE:

I've been attending SPIN class, a total killer yoga class (OMG, can you say hard),  and skiing which is a pretty great mix of activities.  After this race is done I'll be so ready to start running and biking again.


MY BLOG LIFE:

In case you've noticed, I have suddenly not had as much time for my blog.  Work has turned all-consuming which I'm hoping will get better soon. 

I'm looking forward to a vacation in sunny Florida where I plan to completely try and relax for a week so I can come back with a little more balance.  And as for my blog, I have quite a few rough drafts that I can't quite get to publish for whatever reason.  So, I'm taking a blog break and I hope to be back with inspiration sooner rather than later.

Are you taking a Spring / Winter vacation?  I absolutely can't wait to lay in the sun.
What's your fitness goal?  I love signing up for a challenge because it forces me to get out and train.

Thanks to all of you who have read and commented on my blog.  I'm forever grateful.

Kristin