Eastern Skiing

I never thought I would go skiing on the east coast. We always joked that we could cross-country ski using the down hill slopes here on the east coast. I was a complete snob and felt that there was no way for the dinky eastern hills to even come close to the western mountains. Well, I'm here to say that I was wrong (well, kind of.) Let me back up a bit.

A friend in another office at Mason goes cross-country skiing at a place in western Maryland called Deep Creek that is basically directly south of Pittsburgh. We were talking about skiing in January and I said we should go some time. (I was thinking maybe next year.) Well, she jumped at the chance and I didn't feel like I could take it back. So I looked over my school obligations and picked this past weekend to go. It's a good thing too because I have A LOT going on in the next few weeks--basically every night. Ahhh!
Anyway, a long story short we went to Wisp. Below is a picture of the slopes. Some of them were pretty steep. Now I will say that the runs seemed a bit short, but they also went down the other side of the hill as well. They seemed pretty extensive.



Cathy drove us up to the top of the hill. Here we are under the sky lift that is going over our head. I totally laughed! People who stay in these houses can just take their skis and start from here. They do have to have a lift pass to get back up though. :)

This is a wider shot showing the lift over the road.
There wasn't enough snow for us cross-country skiers. We were really disappointed. I'm demonstrating how I would look if I were skiing. :) We took a walk around to see if there was enough snow anywhere, but there wasn't. It was also super expensive here. It would have cost me $35.00. Ridiculous!!!
Cathy and I at Wisp. We drove up Friday night and then headed to the slopes the next morning.

The scenery totally reminded me of Pennsylvania. Of course we were very close to PA. It was a really pretty drive.

We drove through a town called Accident. How funny is that! It made me really curious why they named the town Accident and why they don't change the name. You have to tell people you are from Accident. It seems a bit strange!

I loved Wisp's logo. It looked like a snowflake. We went inside to see if there was any good shopping. I SO wanted hot chocolate, but I refrained. Someday...

We headed over to a town called Oakland (in Maryland), to their ice sculpture festival. They had these beautiful ice sculptures set up all over the little town. We walked about and saw them and shopped. Yea for shopping!!! I found some really cute shoes for $5.00. What a deal!


They even had the Eiffel Tower. Yea for Paris! :)They call me the queen at work. Here I am on my own ice throne. :)

They had a little bowling alley set up. They were using cantaloupes as the bowling ball. :)


They had created an ice fort for kids. The little kid in front had just gone down the slide. Fun stuff! We just loved that they made these things for the kids to play on.

Cathy and I had a great weekend. It was so nice to get away and not even think about school for about fifteen hours. Heaven! I really want to go back in the summer as the little towns were so charming and I would love to play in the lake. Ski-Dos here I come. :)

Over Quota

My email system at work (which is also my school email) only allows us so much space. If you get close to going over every time you try to send out an email it warns you that you are almost over quota. When I got back from my vacations and surgery I found that I was living in over quota land. It is really frustrating when you have 650 emails that you need to look at and every time you try to reply or click on an email it gives you this warning. Well I decided I better go through the email or I would go crazy.

The most wonderful thing happened all because I was over quota. I found several friends emails whomI hadn't talk to in years. I shot them a quick email to see if it was still their address. Many of them emailed back and now we are talking back and forth. It is so wonderful! I love it when you can pick up where you left off and just move forward. I am so grateful for my friends! They keep me motivated, make me laugh, make me feel good about me, and help me want to be a better person. Friends are the best!

Cirque Eloize Nebbia: The Magic Fog

Last week I went to Cirque Eloize's Nebbia: The Magic Fog. WOW! It is so amazing what people can do with their bodies. Ok, so really fit, well trained, muscular people can do with their bodies. :) A few years ago I went to a production called "Rain." It was so much fun! At the end it actually rained on the stage and the performers played in it. I left the production feeling absolutely joyful. I wanted to see it again. When I got the tickets for Cirqure Eloize, I didn't realize it was the same production company. I was so excited when one of the guys, that I recognized from Rain, came out on the stage. They kind of create a story, theme, or idea. I'm not exactly sure what this one was, but it was still very entertaining and amazing to watch. They sprinkle in a lot of humor and just make the show so enjoyable. It totally made me want to see Rain again. :)

Gratitude and Choices

The other day I spoke with a friend who has chosen to live in a way she knows is not good for her and has very serious consequences. I have chosen to live my life a certain way and sometimes it seems like a burden or that I'm not having as much fun. Talking to my friend and reflecting on her choices really made me grateful for the choices I have made in the way I live my life. It may not always seem like I am having as much fun or experiencing everything, but I can be at peace within myself knowing that I am happy and am very blessed.

synapses

You know usually my synapses (or 'on switch') starts firing up once I'm in my spin/exercise classes in the morning. By the time I leave the gym I have a plan for the day and am thinking of all the things I need to do. Well today the 'on switch' has never been turned on. (Personally I would like to have an off switch because then I could sleep better without all the things I need to do running through my brain and keeping me from sleeping.)
I told a friend of mine that it's like I am in second gear and can't shift to third. I had all these great plans for the day, but it's almost like I don't have the brain power to accomplish them. Oh how I want some chocolate. I think that would get my synapses working. However, I am still on the only meat and veggies way of eating (the name diet makes it sound so much worse) and I will not give in! I will just have a low key day and not get much done. :)

Happy February

I was updating my blog with posts I had held as drafts. I was hoping they would appear at the top because when I open my blog the first thing I see is my hurt ear. Yuck! I decided I better write a quick blog just to get the picture to move down. :) I'm at work needing to do many many many things. I have decided to catch up on a few things including emails. It was snowing (ok just flurries) this morning. It was so pretty. I would much prefer to be in a warm climate, but since I'm not, I enjoy the snow flurries. :)

School has started again so of course my stress level has reved up. Night before last I woke up at 2:00 am and could not go back to sleep. My brain just would not turn off. I stayed in bed for an hour and then just gave up. The good part is that I was able to catch up on some of my readings for class. I am going to be learning about Second Life this semester. I don't know much about it so I'm really excited to get a better idea of what it is and how to use it.

I went to a friends house to help her pack for a cruise. She is just so adorable and she makes me laugh. I was thinking how interesting people are. We often see things so much differently. For example, she is bringing a lot of jewelry. When I travel I only take what I am wearing on my person- nothing else. I only take things that if they were stolen I wouldn't be too sad about losing. That works for me, but for others it's just part of them to change jewelry or clothes or whatever. One way isn't better than the other. It's what we are comfortable with. This past year in my many travels I have only brought a carry on and it has really helped me minimize what I take. I am looking forward to more travels after school is done.

Ear Operation

I have debated whether to post my post-operation pictures or not. I decided I would (but only one), but if anyone is way grossed out and wishes I would remove it please comment. I had what is called a Tympanoplasty which is basically grafting a new ear drum. The surgeon goes behind the ear and takes muscle from that area and graphs it into where the ear drum is supposed to go. I was sick for about a week and a half. My mom came out to take care of me. Thanks mom!!! I'm basically better. The ear is still healing so I can't really hear out of it, but I do think it's improving. I don't hear my blood rushing in it as loudly as I did before. That's good news.:) I get to go back to my spin classes at they gym tomorrow so I'm really happy. :)
Thanks for all the calls and emails. They were greatly appreciated! Thanks to those who brought flowers. They totally made everything better!

Washington Monument

I have lived in this area for eight and a half years and I have never been up in the Washington Monument. So this was the day. It was a nice cold day, but clear. Mom, Julie and I took the stairs oh I mean the elevator up :). They had the stairs closed because of some flooding problems. My mom said the last time she went up was during the Vietnam War.
While you wait for the elevator to take you down they have this small museum area to learn more about the monument.

This is a view of the capitol from the Washington Monument.