Living with Intention

Gosh, it has been a long time since I've written anything!  So much has happened in the past few weeks... My oldest daughter turned 4 just before Christmas and she continues to amaze me with her ability to wear pink from head to toe.  Although, technically, she is wearing purple on her toes, not pink.  I finally relented and painted her toe nails for the first time ever last week -- a sparkly purple color -- and I caught her licking her toes later that same day as she thought they might taste as good as they looked.

it appears my younger daughter is following in her sister's (pink) footsteps...

a very excited (one-eyed) birthday girl

The day after my daughter's birthday, we began the Christmas celebration with a house full of friends and family.  We hosted everyone at our house for three nights in a row and I was more exhausted at the end of it than I have ever been at any point during marathon training.  My in-laws were staying with us and my poor mother-in-law ended up doing a huge amount of the cooking and cleaning for me.  She worked until she was (literally) sick and boarded the plane home with a fever.  I only hope she will not be scared from any future visits!  I love you, mom, and couldn't have done it without you!!

my mother-in-law...a.k.a. the woman who saved Christmas for me

most of the rest of us

Christmas was followed by a week of vacation in a snowy winter wonderland with all the peeps pictured above.  Had so much fun skiing, sledding, running on snowy trails, playing poker, soaking in the hot tub and just being together.

and, yes, apparently you have to hold your arms up when happy

On the second to last night of vacation, 2012 quietly slipped into the history books as a new year began.  (It was especially quiet for me.  I climbed into bed with my girls at 10pm in order to get them to go to sleep...of course, it was me who fell asleep first and woke up to a new day and new year!)

The upside to going to bed early (and sober) on NYE is that you get to start the year off feeling rested, refreshed and ready for all the day (and year) has to offer.  I celebrated with a snowy 10 mile run in 10 degree weather.  It was cold out but the sun was blindingly beautiful and caused snowflakes to sparkle and dance with each passing breeze.

Although I've never been big on resolutions, I do always feel a new year brings with it all kinds of possibilities.  My head was full of those possibilities as I was silently crunching through the snow that morning.  I returned from my run full of hope, full of happiness and full of love.  Love for my friends, my family, my life and even myself.

Without a doubt, there are a lot of areas of my life where I could do better...from being a better parent and wife to being more generous with my time and resources to being more compassionate and forgiving.  The list is long, for sure.  But instead of making an actual list of resolutions, I like to take the positive energy that I get from life (and, often, from running) and focus on living each day to the best of my ability.

Living with intention.

Maybe that's the easy way out.  If I don't make a list, I can't fail to achieve anything, right?

But I like the challenge of waking up every day and trying to be the best that I can be that day.  Many days I will mess up.  I will yell at my kids or hold a grudge or disappoint a friend or tell a lie or quit in the middle of a difficult run.  I'm sure there will never be a perfect day.  The beautiful thing, however, is that tomorrow is always a new day and tomorrow I can begin again in my quest to become the best version of myself.  And best of all, when you live the best version of yourself, you inspire others to do the same.

Do you make resolutions?  

- Kristen