Cottage Monkey Tassel

That's right, you read correctly. What you see pictured before you was officially dubbed by the manufacturer a "Cottage Monkey Tassel". How did it come to reside in my kitchen you say? Funny you should ask. When Megan and I go to TJ Maxx we always end up playing a retail version of "would you rather" where one of us picks two ugly, ridiculous, and generally undesirable items for sale and asks the other which they'd rather purchase. The item chosen is discarded and the more repulsive item stays in the game to be compared to another object. Thus, by the process of elimination, we find the most hideous item in the store. Last week Megan and Curtis were left unsupervised at TJ Maxx. They took the "would you rather" game one step further to the actual check out stand, resulting in the useless and repugnant ornament you see above. It now has a permanent place on a random hook next to the stove at the cottage. I had no choice. It was the only sensible place to put it since it is a Cottage Monkey Tassel... right?

One Memory

One Spring/Summer my sister, Karin, and I ran around the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC almost every Saturday. It was a short run, but we loved it. (After we got over the wheezing and cramping, of course.) Here's to the good old days of Remedial PE!

Colorless World

Contrary to what you may be thinking from the title, this is not a social commentary on race. It is more an environmental commentary on trees. For those of you familiar with the Wasatch Front, you will understand what I mean when I say we are experiencing the usual January inversion. For those of you unfamiliar with the Wasatch Front let me explain: the inversion is when cooler air close to the earth's surface is trapped in a valley by warmer air high above the earth's surface. Consequently, it plunges the residents of said valley into a swirling grey vortex of frozen pollution for days or weeks at a time. The sun sometimes doesn't even penetrate the haze and the temperatures are always below freezing. The only, (and I mean that quite literally), upside to this real life throwback to a black-and-white movie is how the pollution fog freezes in a beautiful crystallized layer to every little twig and blade of grass exposed to the moisture. When the sun fails to burn through the haze the crystal casing builds layer upon layer until the trees look fuzzy with the whiteness. This presents a singular opportunity for me. Those of you familiar with Megan's blog may know that I have an affinity for photographing trees. Nothing professional, mind you, but for some reason I get a kick out of trees in all their seasons and putting them in colorful splendor on my computer wallpaper. Below are some photos I took of the aforementioned inversion effects. They don't do justice to the complete void of color created by this little trick of nature, but I like them, and thus force them upon you to enjoy as well...

Word

I enter into (and often fail at) goals all year long, so New Year's resolutions have been nothing spectacular in the past. This year, I have a new approach. I got this idea from my friend, Katie, who got it from somewhere else, so it's been around. Instead of outlining a list of goals, she picks one word that she applies to everything in her life throughout the year from projects to relationships to how she spends her free time. I like this approach for three reasons:

1. One word, so it's easy to remember.

2. Broadly applicable, so it has a good chance of improving at least one aspect of my life.

3. And an ambiguous, arbitrary measurement of success, so the possibility of complete failure to improve is minimal.

Sounds like my kind of resolution. The word of 2010 is... get ready... Perspective. (insert symbols crashing and fireworks here) For the last eleven days it has proven to be an appropriate choice and a handy reminder to have floating around my head. I find that I actually think about it a lot and believe it to be the most effective New Year's technique yet. It still has to be proven in the long run, but I'm optimistic. So, what's your word of 2010?