Monday, January 28, 2008

This Morning

Early this morning, my grandpa passed away.

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Highs and Lows this week

Lows:
We have already hit some bumps in the road with our conference planning at work. Hopefully next week will be better.

Heath Ledger died. He was my age, and most of us believe that our age is too young to die. Twenty-eight is too young to die. There were so many more movie roles out there for him, and he had a young daughter.

My grandfather has an aggressive tumor in his pancreas. It is more aggressive than the doctors originally thought. In his weakened state at age 84, there are not things that the doctors can do to stop it. They are making him comfortable and Hospice has been called in. My comfort is that I got to spend some quality time with him during my Christmas trip to Ohio. We had good conversations. Sometimes it is hard being 1200 some miles away from my family, but my parents, brother, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all there for him (and each other).

Highs (onto to the happier things):
I had a good annual review at work. I have found a job that is a really good fit for me.

We had a good annual review with our financial advisor. I love how technology connects people across long distances. My father-in-law has a good financial advisor in Indiana. Through email, faxes, phone calls, and occasional in-person meetings, we are also able to use her services while living in Texas.

My wonderful husband cleaned and organized the garage today.

I got to catch up with my good friend Wendy.

I exercised six straight days this week. I think that exercising over my lunch hour will work for me. By working on a college campus, I am fortunate to have a nice gym within walking distance from my office. I went to a cycling class on Friday, which was surprisingly fun. I ate well (overall) this week. I have made soda an "occasional indulgence" instead of a daily thing.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

This Week...

I am making time to walk thirty minutes a day. The You Docs are really big on this. I can do walking. (The everyday part is the challenge.) I am going to the gym on my lunch hour to walk thirty minutes. Today was my first day and I have told myself that I have to go this entire week to decide if it works for me. So far, so good.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Challenge

Since purchasing my first issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine, I have read Ali Edwards's blog. I like her scrapbooking style and she posts a variety of interesting things on her blog. For the last couple of years, she has encouraged people to choose a word for the year. It is a good alternative to resolutions, since resolutions can be so quickly forgotten. My words for 2008 is CHALLENGE. I see some positive challenges coming my way this year and I want to challenge myself to make positive changes in my life.

I am co-chairing a one-day conference for academic advisors in September. I do not foresee any free time at work between now and September, but this is an awesome opportunity.

I am challenging myself to be healthy. As I have posted in the past, I have tried a variety of diets and ways to lose weight. I will be all excited about the plan for a while, but then I lose steam. I am striving for consistency instead of the all-or-nothing approach. I am working to follow what I learned from reading You on a Diet, but I am not following a super-strict diet. I am still challenged to fit exercise in my life. I have discovered that my favorite activity at this time is walking around my neighborhood.

The change I have made this year is giving up soda. (That's pop for all of you in Ohio:) I drank too much diet soda. I have not had any soda in over a week now. I drink more water and green tea. (and an occasional ice tea) I did not think I could completely cut out caffeine, so I switched to green tea, which has about one-third the caffeine of soda.

To drink more water, I bought a Brita pitcher. I found a coupon here. I am little behind on the Brita bandwagon and I now see what the hype was about when they came out. I don't like the hard water here and now it tastes much better.

I hope that everyone is having a good start to 2008!

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Trip to Ohio

We had a good trip to Ohio for Christmas and New Years. We were able to see lots of family and friends. Jenni, Nate, and Matt all made it back for the holidays. (Matt came farther than us; he lives in Oakland, CA.) We visited some of our favorite local restaurants: Skyline Chili (for John) and Marion's Pizza (for Sara). We visited Brendan's apartment, which is quite nice for a "first apartment." Our friends Karee and Sara had a heathy baby girl on December 31, and we were able to visit them that day. It started snowing on January 1, and it was time to go back to San Antonio. (It is currently 75 degrees here in case you were wondering.) After spending time with Paddy, my parents' Beagle, Frida looks so small!

We are settling back into our routine here. We went Downtown today to Shilo's for lunch and to see the river drained at the Riverwalk. Now that we've been back a couple of days, I guess I should go finish unpacking... Then tonight I am going to scrapbook with some friends.

Here are some pictures that I took: