A Humble Look At Life

This is just so deeply simple.  I love it.

Picture of the Day

I was planning to do a weekly photo challenge in 2012 on this here blog.  I had started looking for pictures to fill each of the requirements, and saved them on my external hard drive; the one that died.  I'm now somewhat over the fact that I lost so much, so I decided I'm ready to start over with this challenge.  I won't necessarily do the challenges in the order that they're listed, nor on a definite schedule, but it will motivate me to use this space more often.*

So without further ado, I bring you

PHOTO CHALLENGE #1

"A picture of yourself with 15 facts"

Eiffel Tower; Paris, France - Oct 2012

1. I value honesty above all other attributes in a person
2. My favorite color has always been purple
3. I haven't been in love with somebody in probably 5 or 6 years
4. I have 4 nephews and 3 nieces. I've been an aunt since I was 14 years old
5. I always need to be working towards some sort of goal; it keeps me focused and feeling like I have a purpose
6. I feel anxious if my home is messy for too long
7. I LOVE the feeling I get when crossing a finish line. It's what keeps me signing up for races
8. I still sleep with my baby blanket
9. I own my house
10. There is rarely a time (we're talking days) that I don't have a book to read
11. I am the 4th child of 5 in my family
12. I have a strong desire to travel & explore
13. My daily life thrives on routine, but I really enjoy being spontaneous
14. I find it very hard to trust someone again after they have lost my trust
15. Being with my family gives me such GREAT joy

*When visiting home very briefly this month, my dad had mentioned how he missed being regularly filled in on his children's lives.  We used to write weekly emails to each other when my younger brother was on his church mission. Once he came back, we stopped.  We also all had blogs that we used to update fairly regularly.  That also has stopped for all of us.  So, in an effort to give my newly retired dad something to fill his days with, I hope to update this blog more frequently.  :)

Recap

I've slacked on the blogging.  I had plans to document each of my races in 2012, but didn't get past the first 2 I had in March, due to life suddenly getting crazy.  In May, I had my friend move in to my spare bedroom that I use as my office for a few months, so I didn't access my laptop regularly once May hit.  Then, when I felt a desire to update with a few posts, I found my external harddrive crashed, which held EVERY SINGLE digital image of my life.  And countless scanned-in photos.  It was really, really sad.  It also meant I lost all my race photos.  THEN, my laptop crashed, too.

It is safe to say that 2012 was one of the most stressful years for many different reasons. Emotionally, mentally, physically, financially -- it was really, really tough.  But luckily, with the really low lows, there were some wonderfully awesome highs.

I hope to be able to do another year-long recap of races like I did in 2011, but it will be slow coming.  I completed 14 running races and 6 triathlons in 2012.  It was a lot of fun, a lot of stress, a lot of scatter-brained MLE, and also ended up being a lot of money.  2013 will be a much scaled-back race schedule for me, as I try to find a balance in all the life aspects I listed above.

I'd like to blog regularly again, but that's not necessarily a goal of mine, as I have no desire to start feeling guilty over lack of posts if I'm not able to.

I'll probably start with some simple posts, akin to my "Picture of the Day" posts.  Those are easy, quick, simple and fun.

For now, that's it from me.