January 31, 2012

31 Days of Adventure: Day 31 – Aventura

What the past six days have looked like…

Mexico was pretty amazing. More pictures (and video!) coming soon.

I’m still unpacking. While packing.

(Unrelated but also puzzling…how is it already February?)

January 24, 2012

31 Days of Adventure: Day 24 – The Color of Things Lately

Ask and you shall receive.

We made a list of things we wanted in our next living space. The day after, we found that space for rent on Craigslist. We saw the house two days later and got the call that the house was ours soon thereafter.

The universe made our wish manifest quickly.

Although we were content to simply peek in and check things out…

it seems that life wanted us to take a deep breath and crawl forward.

Turns out it’s not as scary as it looks.

Among many piles of boxes, we’re making our way through the tunnel together.

We are headed to Mexico today for a family wedding. I’m pretty sure there won’t be any blogging going on while away. BUT! There will be some adventures to report on when I return.

Salud!

January 15, 2012

31 Days of Adventure: Day 15 – Fun with Food

So I’m totally off track with the daily adventures.

(I know what you’re thinking…Tara, what a surprise! See also the non-daily series: #best09, #reverb10, and the 18 days of the 21-day salute. Ahem.)

Anyway, there was a recent adventure (day 9 maybe?) that involved food, either eating or cooking something new. Since this entire month has been an experiment in letting Eli feed himself, I thought I would share how our son is doing with self-feeding.

Big props for effort.

The tooth helps. He just misses his mouth. Often.

And in the week since this picture was taken, he has another tooth. You can see the tiny beginnings of it up above, if you squint hard. The addition of another tooth brought with it some fussiness but seems to be making Eli extra brave in his eating.

Here’s to trying new food, getting more of it in your mouth and making every meal an adventure!

(Yes, I’m using the Merry Christmas bib in January. I also still have some of my holiday decorations up. Whatever.)

January 7, 2012

31 Days of Adventure: Day 7 – Heighten your awareness

Today’s adventure asked me to focus on engaging my senses. With a Crossfit workout at 7am, my day started with a host of opportunities to do just that.

I felt the cold air against my bare arms as we warmed up by running in the twenty degree weather.

I smelled donuts (serious torture btw) after we hit the halfway point on our run.

I heard my heart pounding and breath increasing after a few minutes of our workout.

I saw the blood on my leg from yet another rope burn. (I spared you the picture this time. You’re welcome.)

And since balance is considered one of the senses (something new I learned today!), I ended my workout with one of these.

This is the first time I’ve actually stayed up in a handstand (sans wall) long enough to have it documented. Hell yes. And this is post-workout.

Consider that shit heightened yo.

January 4, 2012

31 Days of Adventure: Day 4 – Stretch your brain

Technology is an adventure. If you would’ve told me nine years ago, when I first moved to Boulder, that I would one day be working in the tech field and even know a few lines of code, I would’ve asked for some of what you were smoking. You know, because it’s Boulder.

The fact that I’ve worked as tech support for a web conferencing company as well as working at not one, but two, early-stage tech startups is absolutely amazing. I was never the one into computers. And look at me now.

For the most part, I consider myself mostly self-taught when it comes to tech. I’m not afraid to click buttons and figure out how programs work through trial and error. This isn’t always a good thing but I learn from my mistakes.

Beer helps.

a baby, a laptop and a beer

The daily adventure challenged me to learn something new.

I read today about MyPermissions.org, a service that allows you to see all the apps that have access to your different  social media accounts, and decided that I would learn about revoking permission. FB was the surprising winner with how many apps I had granted access to my information. Some of them aren’t around anymore (Social Thing) and some of them I definitely don’t use anymore (Dopplr).

It felt good to revoke permission. An unsubscribe from nonsense and a clean slate, online anyway, for the New Year. I learned about taking the power of my personal information back and I liked it.

The more you know…

January 2, 2012

31 Days of Adventure: Day 2 – Notice the little things

I ran today for the first time in three months. Since this race. (I’m not counting an occasional CrossFit workout; running a 5k or 1600m here and there does not a running practice make.)

It may seem weird, but when you’re in a long term relationship with running like I am, it’s essential to take time off. I’m in my thirteenth year of running and I know that taking breaks from the sport is what keeps me loving it. In fact, during the three months that I wasn’t running, I was reading books about running, watching videos about running and dreaming of running.

Today’s adventure invited me to pause and notice the littlest things.

With this being my first run back, there were many things to notice. I noticed my hips and my foot strike. My hamstrings, my glutes and my ankles. My core, my arms and the feeling of my body moving. The sound of my feet on the path and my breath.

Not to mention, this little thing I noticed…

And then, to top of the day, I had a date night with my husband at a new restaurant.

Another little thing I noticed…

…how in love I still am.

Not too bad for a Monday.

January 1, 2012

31 Days of Adventure: Day 1 – A New Perspective

A new perspective for a new year.

Today’s adventure called for taking a photo of something familiar from a new angle. After an amazing hike on Green Mountain, I came home and took this shot on the back porch.

While I do have a thing for taking self-portraits, I don’t think I’ve ever taken a picture from this angle in my backyard. Normally, it’s all mountain and wild life shots.

I like that I look content and a bit magical.

(Related note: nice static in the hair. Dry much in Colorado?)

Happy New Year friends. May the adventures be plentiful in 2012.