Life, so far

Dearest friends, hope that you're doing well and enjoying January.  Life is going great here.  My husband has been busy applying for jobs, studying for the bar exam, examining his thoughts on life, and playing music.  Together, with our band, we just recorded our first song, "Work".  Can't wait till we have a complete CD of songs, so we can share them with our friends.

Graphics class just started, and the assignments are fun, but hard.  We have a new project at work too, which is pretty exciting.  I've been trying to jog more, and prepare for the 10k Boulder Boulder and 5k Oatmeal Run.  I am feeling pretty silly working up to 5k (3.1 miles) and 10k (6.2 miles) when a co-worker told me he was running a marathon (26 miles) this weekend and was preparing for the Ironman in Nice, France, which is swimming, 1200 miles of biking, and 26 miles of running all in the same day.  That sound brutal, but I admire people who are in good enough shape to do that!

We just took a trip to Newport Beach and Joshua Tree National Park in California.  The beach was beautiful and relaxing.  Joshua Tree National Park was beautiful in a different way, as deserts usually are, because of its unique rock formations and plant life, and lovely night skies and sunsets.  Joshua Tree kind of transformed my outlook on life, and it is hard to describe how.  Being immersed in another culture always does that, and in this case it was rock-climber culture.  We spent the time there with four friends, two who we met for the first time, and they taught me a lot.  They were very loving people and were filled with joy for life and the mountains, who willingly and smilingly offered us all they had.  Climber culture seems that way in general - people are very upbeat and friendly.  I'm not sure I'll ever be a good climber since I don't have good upper-body strength, but certainly the experience motivated me to be in better shape, to take more risks in life and try new things out, and to be a kinder person to my friends and others.