Whenever someone asks me how things are in my life I always say "Oh, same-old same-old!" because it's true. [Let me make it abundantly clear that I love my life and I'm very happy with it. I'm not a terribly ambitious person or one that seeks out adventure and excitement so I'm fine with how things are.] I've heard myself saying that phrase a lot in the last few weeks as I've caught up with various friends and, happy as I am, hearing that phrase in contrast with all the different things going on in friends' lives could make anyone a little bit envious.
Yesterday I found my mind wandering down such a path when suddenly I was struck with something. Gratitude. For the cool things I'm doing in my own life but, more prominently, for all of these wonderful friends I have that are doing such fantastic things. I mean, it kind of hit me how amazing it is to have the friends I have doing the things they do. Even within my fairly small group of friends I know people who are involved in a surprisingly wide variety of fields. The range of their interests has broadened and blessed my own life. I do not personally have an interest in or aptitude for the scientific disciplines but I have several friends and a sister who have found their passion there. I have several friends who are deeply involved in widely different areas of the liberal arts and their creativity and discipline inspires and amazes me.
I generally don't consider myself to be a terribly interesting person [seriously, why do any of you read these posts? you can't be that bored] so it's occurred to me what an incredible blessing it is to have so many talented and beautiful women in my life that I can consult with and learn from. So often I make lists of things and situations that I am thankful for and it's great to recognize those blessings but this season I am profoundly and overwhelmingly grateful for the people that make my life as rich as it is.
So thank you. Thank you mom, and Carrigan, Emily, Michelle, and Becca, Chelsea and Katelyn, all my wonderful sisters-in-law, Irene, Karen, Natalie, and everyone else that I can't possibly list. Just because you're not named doesn't mean I'm not thinking of you and you are all still contractually obligated to answer the phone if I ever have daughters that are interested in what you do :P
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Thursday, November 12, 2015
sunlight and scarves
I think I need a sunlamp.Once I have a humidifier, that definitely takes top priority here. But after that. Sunlamp.
I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it many times again in the future: I'm just not a winter person. Snow is beautiful and so are icicles, etc, but I barely manage the desert air during the rest of the year and winter kicks it up to an inhuman notch. Basically, I am never not itchy during winter. But back to the sunlamp idea. I always get sucked into the appeal of the end of daylight saving. I mean, kind of having an extra hour of sleep for a day or two? Sign me up! Ultimately, though, I feel robbed because after a week or so it's still dark in the morning anyway and it's dark way earlier in the evening. This means that, if there's sunlight on a given day I'm exposed to about 15 minutes of it, at most, on my way to work. Now, I generally don't spend much time in the sun regardless of season but I really notice how much that little difference in exposure makes when I get next to none in winter. Ever heard of seasonal depression? It's a real thing.
There's been an ongoing conversation this week about scarves, namely how, at least here in Utah, scarves are worn more for fashion than function, especially for men. This is something that completely boggles my brain, having grown up in New York where scarves are a matter of life and death in winter. I suppose winters here may not be considered as severe [Tim just barely started wearing a jacket to work yesterday. I, however, graduated to my sweatshirt-and-pea-coat combo last week.] but there are definitely those who would benefit from using scarves. The problem some men run into, though, is that if you're a guy here wearing a scarf there's a 95% probability that:
A: You're a hipster.
B: The scarf is a flimsy piece of fabric that doesn't do anything to keep you warm.
C: Both. Probably both.
Now, there is a significant hipster population here, especially around Orem/Provo with all the college kids but that doesn't mean that every guy is on the hipster train and some, like my husband, would not be caught dead being mistaken for one. What to do? I suppose there are a lot of guys that just "man-up" and power through the cold weather and brutal wind-chill but I'm a big believer in being comfortable when you can and scarves are the fastest way to improve your body-heat retention. So I'm on the look-out for "manly" scarves. Tim probably won't need one because he's a personal space-heater but I feel ethically obligated to develop a knowledge-base for any other men out there who want to better maintain their body temperature without looking like someone dressed them for an Urban Outfitters catalog.
One of my favorite things about winter here, though, is the way the sunsets get reflected off of the mountains, especially when they're properly covered in snow. For a landscape that can become so dull and desolate this time of year those sunsets are a dazzling blast of color that you really don't see anywhere else. Maybe I'll get some decent pictures of it this year.
I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it many times again in the future: I'm just not a winter person. Snow is beautiful and so are icicles, etc, but I barely manage the desert air during the rest of the year and winter kicks it up to an inhuman notch. Basically, I am never not itchy during winter. But back to the sunlamp idea. I always get sucked into the appeal of the end of daylight saving. I mean, kind of having an extra hour of sleep for a day or two? Sign me up! Ultimately, though, I feel robbed because after a week or so it's still dark in the morning anyway and it's dark way earlier in the evening. This means that, if there's sunlight on a given day I'm exposed to about 15 minutes of it, at most, on my way to work. Now, I generally don't spend much time in the sun regardless of season but I really notice how much that little difference in exposure makes when I get next to none in winter. Ever heard of seasonal depression? It's a real thing.
There's been an ongoing conversation this week about scarves, namely how, at least here in Utah, scarves are worn more for fashion than function, especially for men. This is something that completely boggles my brain, having grown up in New York where scarves are a matter of life and death in winter. I suppose winters here may not be considered as severe [Tim just barely started wearing a jacket to work yesterday. I, however, graduated to my sweatshirt-and-pea-coat combo last week.] but there are definitely those who would benefit from using scarves. The problem some men run into, though, is that if you're a guy here wearing a scarf there's a 95% probability that:
A: You're a hipster.
B: The scarf is a flimsy piece of fabric that doesn't do anything to keep you warm.
C: Both. Probably both.
Now, there is a significant hipster population here, especially around Orem/Provo with all the college kids but that doesn't mean that every guy is on the hipster train and some, like my husband, would not be caught dead being mistaken for one. What to do? I suppose there are a lot of guys that just "man-up" and power through the cold weather and brutal wind-chill but I'm a big believer in being comfortable when you can and scarves are the fastest way to improve your body-heat retention. So I'm on the look-out for "manly" scarves. Tim probably won't need one because he's a personal space-heater but I feel ethically obligated to develop a knowledge-base for any other men out there who want to better maintain their body temperature without looking like someone dressed them for an Urban Outfitters catalog.
One of my favorite things about winter here, though, is the way the sunsets get reflected off of the mountains, especially when they're properly covered in snow. For a landscape that can become so dull and desolate this time of year those sunsets are a dazzling blast of color that you really don't see anywhere else. Maybe I'll get some decent pictures of it this year.
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