Unexpected Picture

What I notice about this picture, next to all those annoying red numbers, is the Oklahoma sunset. I am a sunset enthusiast and when I moved to Colorado I was excited to see the sun set behind the Rockies. The crazy things about mountains is that the sun just disappears, one minute it is there the next it isn’t, there are no oranges, reds, yellows & colors you only see exiting the sky in the evening. There are a lot of things I still miss about Oklahoma but the sunsets are certainly the top of the list.

Now to the point of this picture and post…those annoying red numbers. I am the queen of OCD, my icebox, pantry, bathroom supplies, movies, etc. are all alphabetized and those things which can’t be alphabetized or don’t make sense to be alphabetized are in color sequence, i.e my closets. All of this is relevant I promise. For as long as I can remember I have been a checklist, organizer, everything in order type of gal. My mother frequently tells stories of finding me organizing store shelves as a toddler, or putting all the crayons in color order in the crayon box. You see this thread of OCD has been with me since birth and although it has faded over the years it is still there. So those annoying red numbers, typically they annoy the $#^! out of me. The minute one pops on my phone it is almost immediately taken care of. What I notice when I look at this picture next to the amazing Oklahoma sunset is the massive amount of red numbers and how this over organized, checklist completer, OCD fanatic just doesn’t seem to care about those little red numbers right now. You see when something far more important happens in your life the small things just don’t seem to matter any longer. Ever since the death of Scott’s dad I have found myself in this state of not caring about the things that don’t fill my cup. Those things that do fill my cup, Christ, family, friends, intellect, and triathlons, seems to have taken a much higher priority in my life over the past couple of weeks. Do I care about work, I care about doing a good job but I don’t care about being the rockstar of the office; do I care about health, I care a great deal about living a healthy and happy life but I don’t need to be at the gym every night or eat a salad every meal; and do I care about those little red numbers, I do care about the people that reside behind them, but I don’t care that they reside on my phone screen and add a sense of clutter. Life is short, live in the moment, love unconditionally, be kinder than you feel, and for heaven sake don’t worry about the little red numbers in your life.

2015 Highlights

As 2015 drew to an end, my life was rather crazy, there was a trip to NYC, the day after I got home I was diagnosed with the flu & an eye infection, a week later Scott's father passed. Needeless to say, sending out my New Years cards was not at the top of my "Must Do" list. The good thing with New Years cards rather than Christmas is, I have a bit more time to send. In years past I have written a sarcastic, adventure filled, Christmas letter to accompany my Christmas card, this year I took a simple approach to the holidays, my Christmas letter was no different. This year my letter highlighted my adventures, accomplishments, travels, races...heck, let me just share it with you.

2015 Highlights Jan: I started grad school, pursuing a Masters in Psychology. I may or may not be tired all the time and wondering how I did this college thing just a few short years ago, you know when I was 18. Feb: I turned another year older and my body likes to remind me daily I am definitely no longer 18. March: I took a week and a half off of from the daily hustle and bustle and hopped on a jet plane to Siesta Key, FL. Time was spent on the beach, running at sea level and navigating around the happiest place on Earth visiting Mickey and all his friends. April: I found my way back to Oklahoma for a triathlon. It was the rainiest, muddiest, scariest and best triathlon I have competed in. Floundering around in water and riding a metal bike in lightening is not for the faint of heart, especially when that heart is deathly afraid of lightening. May: I joined a team of DaVita co-workers and ran the Colfax marathon relay and then could not walk for a week. June: I competed in my sixth triathlon of the year and set a personal best. July: I volunteered at IronMan Boulder. I have many amazing memories from that day but the best is having the honor of placing a medal around the neck of a team of tandem triathletes who crossed the finish lines right before the midnight cut off. A tandem triathlon team consists of two athletes, one athlete swims, bikes and runs 140.6 miles while pulling and pushing a handicap teammate…truly awe inspiring as you hear the announcer say “You are an IronMan!” Aug: Mamma came to visit. We hiked, we cooked, we shopped, we talked, we explored, we had a blast! Sept: I joined the Rodan and Fields family by starting my own business as a skin care consultant. I love every bit of the journey, most importantly how my customers have found the skin of their youth…we are aging backwards ya’ll!! (Please check out my website, my business grows mainly by word of mouth so I included a business card for you to share). Oct: My DaVita team went on a retreat to the famous Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs where we had a ball spending time together and I learned how to do archery. You will be proud to know I didn’t poke and eye out, but rather hit the target with every shot. Nov: I was lucky enough to head back to Oklahoma for a second time during the year to spend time with family and watch the OSU football team win a hard fought battle against TCU. Dec: I traveled to NYC for the first time in my 36 years. We saw the World Trade Center museum, a show on Broadway, my brother, Rockefeller Center, amazing displays of holiday creativity in the store windows and had some incredible food.

Happy 2016!!

Welcome 2016

For as long as I can remember New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July have been my favorite holidays. These two days are not about gifts and they have not yet become so commercialized that they have lost their meaning…for me they are about family, friends, fireworks, and fun. This year, New Year’s Eve had a different feel, a sort of heaviness, and much more was going through my mind than the normal number of races I am going to complete in the new year, the healthy food I was going to eat, or the amount of exercise I was going to do per week. This year, instead, I relished in the time spent with Scott and his family, the memories shared, the quite night at home watching football and occasionally flipping over to watch the festivities from Time Square. This year was different for a number of reasons, but the main reason being the passing of Scott’s father on Tuesday Dec. 29 and the great sense of loss was very preset for me last night. This morning I woke up with a feeling of emptiness, sadness and not quite ready for the change from 15 to 16. For some reason the change of the year made the realization of death that much more evident to me and I was not ready to succumb to reality. So today I am not planning my race schedule, I am not grocery shopping differently, and when I get to the gym to train is when I get to the gym to train. This year my hope is that I focus on those things that are far more important than a PR, climbing the corporate ladder, the number on the scale, getting a 4.0 in grad school, or how many laps I complete during each training swim. I hope that this time next year I can say I lived 2016 with abandon, less worry and more kindness, less stress and more compassion, less time spent at the office and the gym and more time spent with family and friends. I hope I worship more, travel more, read more, and visit my family more. This year I am not making any resolutions instead I am hoping, hoping that I can live life on my terms. Cheers to 2015 a year that had its share of accomplishments, disappointments, laughter and pain and welcome 2016!