Re: Loving It

This is what I was doing three weeks ago exactly, the day I broke my ankle. I’m just now writing about it because I was super bummed before and didn’t want to think about it. 

The morning started out so well. Intelligentsia coffee and a nice, long drive.

We stopped at the New Glarus Brewery, which was really fun and worth the trip, I think. 

We did a tasting - so good.

The downtown is designed to look like a Swiss village. We walked around and shopped a bit.

We stayed here:

We ate here:

We bowled here:

And then we made the fatal decision to grab ice cream.

It was on the walk back to our hotel (we were soooo close to being in for the night) that I started acting like a 10-year-old and broke my stupid bone. Right there - on that path. (I snapped this photo on our way out of town after a trip to the emergency room and a fitful night of sleep in a hotel bed.)

Boo. It still makes me cringe to think about it. But what’s done is done. And New Glarus is a pretty sweet little town, break or no break. It’s a fun day trip from Chicago, for sure. 

I love New Year’s resolutions. Love them. And I’m basically the best person I know at keeping them. When I was 10, I gave up candy and pop for the entire 12 months - no kidding.

Last year I failed because I made too many - I thought I’d do one for each of several different aspects of my life (professional, personal, physical, etc.), and it was just too many things to keep track of. So by tomorrow night I need to have decided on ONE resolution for 2012. Here’s what I’m mulling over: 

- “Do less, but do it better.” More of a mantra for the year than an actual, specific resolution.

- Something work/productivity focused. I’m now halfway through my third year of grad school, and it’s time to nail this time management thing. I’m feeling unfocused these days. 

- A different resolution every month depending on what I need at the time. These could be general resolutions or work-specific ones. 

Just some things I’m thinking about…We shall see.

Christmas was calm and quiet for me. It was nice, actually. Having this broken ankle meant I did a lot more sitting and watching and relaxing than usual. It’s always a struggle for me around the holidays - I want to do everything and sometimes end up feeling like I’m checking items off a to-do list without fully enjoying each activity. You can imagine how not being able to walk kind of erased that problem.

Also, I think in our house we’re going to start celebrating Christmas until Epiphany. The drop-off from the 25th to the 26th is just too sharp. Bums me out. Hopefully by January 6th I’ll be good and tired of the music and decorations and lights and our tree.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the last couple of days:

Kelly’s addictive peanut butter chocolate pretzel cookies:

My grandparents’ perfect Christmas house:

My feet and my family:

My grandparents’ Christmas tree:

My in-laws’ dog fast asleep in front of the fire:

I just worked out! For the first time since I got hurt. I sat on a chair and watched Hulu and did some light lifting. And I feel awesome. Maybe in a month I’ll have super buff arms.

(By the way…if you’re looking for an image of strong arms to potentially include in a blog post and, after a few unsuccessful searches, think maybe you should type “yoga buff” into Google Images, don’t. It’s not the “buff” you think.)

- I have been quite the elf. A couple of days ago I wrapped all of our presents, and today I spent two hours signing, folding, stuffing, sealing, and stamping our Christmas newsletters. Kevin just sets me up at a work station before he goes to work and I have at it, holiday music playing, all the Christmas lights in our house turned on.

- Last night we booked spring break flights to my favorite, favorite place. Now every time I start feeling sorry for myself I’ll imagine running on the beach in March. I’ll get there.  

- It’s my mom’s birthday today, and tomorrow I head to Indiana to celebrate with her. 

- The days only get longer from here. 

- I purchased very, very discounted tickets to the Goodman for the rest of their season. That and our Steppenwolf subscription are going to make Sunday nights de facto theater evenings around here.  

- I’m starting to feel like a human being again. My ankle doesn’t hurt as much, I can get around on crutches better now, and I have a plan to be productive until this gigantic inconvenience is over.