'Tis the Season...

I am loving this holiday! I am really enjoying having some down time. It does feel like it is the first real holiday in over a year. This time last year my dad was around, but our Christmas was so bitter sweet and fraught with fears for what was to come, as well as the bitter realisation that it was our last Christmas with my dad.

This year I finally feel that I have emerged from a tunnel and I am enjoying life again. I have loved having the luxury of time to do all the things that I love: to write and read, to swim and run, to walk the dogs and chat with Duncan about nothing and everything. To cook and bake, to go for coffee with friends... Oh the luxury of time!

Things I have really enjoyed:

1. Having my morning coffee/tea brought to me in bed, and staying in said bed, reading and writing until I feel ready to get up (which is usually around 9.30)

2. Having some time to finally tidy up the house and sort out my study/spare room. It is currently housing a lovely dog we are looking after while her family are in the States, but once her box is gone, my study will be tidier and an even better space to work from.

3. Having time to write this blog, but also to start my other (work-related blog). Check it out here: http://educatingtheable.blogspot.com/

4. Earl Grey

5. Leisurely walks with the dogs, without worrying about daylight. Usually the dogs have to be walked/exercised after work, which makes a tight turn-around. At the moment we can walk them anytime... even in the middle of the day. Very pleased with that!

6. Seeing friends and people I have not seen/spoken to in ages.

7. Swimming during the daytime. Which, in essence, means not having to fight for a lane or a shower with 20 7year olds.

8. Catching up with essential (and "purely for enjoyment") reading.

9. Making some nice food.

10. Eating some nice food.

Hope you are all enjoying the festive season. From the B household: Happy Holidays!

Something to live by...

My new something-to-live-by is this: "You can do anything you want, but you cannot do everything." Simple and succinct, as truth usually is.

I blatantly stole the phrase from Karnazes' book 50/50 (http://www.ultramarathonman.com/but it spoke to me so loudly at the time when I read it and its relevance on my own life has been proven pretty much every day since.

Few of us have the luxury of time. I know that both D and I try to cram so much into our day that often other things suffer. In the last few months I repeatedly started the day with a to-do list of 10+ items, only to have achieved 5 by the end of it. The problem is, and it is obvious, we cannot do everything. There are only 24 hours in a day and, if like me you love your bed, 8 of those are spent in bed. And, if like me you have a full time job, the other 8 you are at work. I won't go into the mathematics of time management - I am sure there are people out there (yes, you with children, jobs and training for IM's) who are far better qualified to give you the low down on how to juggle. No, this post is about the realisation that oftentimes, less is more.

I had a long hard think about it and I did put down my priorities. When you write it down in black and white, it is so much clearer. And life is now less stressful. Occasionally, and to some, my existence might seem ascetic, but it is just the way I like it! I prefer to take the dogs out for a run, than to go out for coffee. I would rather spend my Saturday morning writing, than ironing. And if not drying my hair with a hair dryer gives me 20 mins more in the pool... easy choice!

New member of the family Hardy (remember the puppies from the mountain -she is the sole survivor!) enjoying a well-earned rest after her first ever run on the mountain with the big boys, pictured below.