Fire and Ice

Let's play this game again : here's a recent photo of Jessica (aged 1): And here is one of me, roughly the same age: So who does she look like now? Shall we consider this game over?

Last January I signed up for the Disneyland Half Marathon which takes place in September. I was very well organized: I booked the race , the flights and even a place to stay . I’ve told all my friends and am hoping that at least some of them can join me that weekend. I’ve even had thoughts as to what I’ll be wearing on the day! However, there is one thing I haven’t done. I haven’t been for a run in MONTHS. Sure, I’ve been to dance classes, dabbled in cross training, even messed around with weights. But no real running outside, for any considerable length of time. How do I expect to complete a half marathon in 24 short weeks if I don’t train? Thing is, I tried to start training in January. But the weather was awful (cold, snow, ice) so there was no chance of doing it outside. I have also been incredibly busy at work so fitting in a gym visit at lunchtime wasn’t really working out. Then I got a really terrible cold that meant I could barely breathe and THEN I went a...

As part of my D esign Thinking course , I had to take photos of objects I like and then submit them to the Online Design Studio. They are intended to act as practice for taking and uploading photos which I already have lots of experience on… but I still took a while to do it. Why? I just couldn’t decide on only 3 objects to photograph! In the end the three things I chose probably say a lot about me, so I thought it would be fun to share them with you and explain my choices further. The first object that I chose was a Smart car. I chose this pretty quickly because it is something that has always made me smile. I used to own one and even though I have nothing against the car I have now, if I could I would go back to my Smart in a second. The second object took a bit longer to pick. I was looking around the kitchen for inspiration and considered my blender (which I love but not THAT much), my slow cooker (which is great but let’s not get carried away) and finally settled on ...

It’s been a little while, so shall we continue our travels around World Showcase ? We’ve already visited Italy , Japan , France and Norway . In honor of the upcoming Winter Olympics, today our little tour will stop in our neighbor to the North – Canada . When I was living in Florida I had a US work permit and part of the rules of that permit were that after 6 months I had to leave the US and get it renewed. Most of my fellow cast members would take that opportunity to go home for a few days back to Mexico , get the required stamp and return to work. But there was a little group of us that thought that was a bit predictable so we decided to go to Canada instead. We took 4 days off work and flew off to chilly Quebec . Chilly? Actually, it was more than chilly but actually literally freezing. We had the bright idea to fly there at the end of January – possibly the coldest time to go. Bearing in mind that at the time I was living in sunny Florida , the weather was an absolut...

Remember that course that I blogged about a while ago? Well, I signed up. I am now the proud owner of my very own U101 box and am on the initial part of what I hope is a journey of discovery. Already I am very impressed with the way the course is presented, the use of technologies like videos and podcasts, and the cool software we can download to share our work with other students. The forums are already buzzing and officially the course hasn't even started! The course materials box has caused quite a stir among the students and there are even reports of some students going out and buying some of the items in the box (like masking tape, metal ruler, pencil, etc) so that they don't have to use the ones provided as they are so pretty... I bet some of those students are also scrapbookers and want to have some U101 stash to stroke :) It's quite exciting to be on a course for its first presentation and I will try and blog about my experiences as I progress. My only worry right ...

A couple of years ago I made a New Year’s resolution that I actually stuck to . That statement is so rare, so amazing that I am going to write it again: I made a New Year’s resolution that I actually stuck to . How many people can say that? In fact, to this day this remains my ONE resolution that I even remembered a few months down the line, never mind actually stuck to. I am thinking about this as I think about resolutions for this year. Last year I was too busy trying to remain graceful about being 9 months pregnant so resolutions and all that stuff kinda passed me by. Then the baby came and my resolution was probably to survive life with a newborn without resorting to alcohol. So this year I should make a resolution and I’m going with what worked for me. My resolution for 2010 is to log a total of 1000 km running. It sounds like a lot but I should be able to do it as I’m signing up for another one of those life-changing long distance races. I will be attempting to (m...

Very cool wordle created from the words on this blog: Never thought the word 'sentences' would be so large... (created on wordle.net )