There is one place that always cheers me up when I’m feeling a bit down. There is one place that makes me forget about all of my insignificant worries. That place is the beach/ocean. I’ve always had a love for the ocean. It is so vast and mysterious. Standing on the beach looking at the ocean reminds me how small I really am. I’ve been really home sick for several weeks, so I decided to take a little day trip to the Atlantic. Even though it was the middle of January the weather was great. It was a pretty mild day with hardly any wind with temps in the low 30′s. We decided to bring the dogs along, because they are actually allowed on the beach during the off season. And as always the dogs were good for many laughs. I used this trip as an opportunity to get new photos of the dogs for my desk at work.
Wynett really enjoyed playing in the water even though it was really cold.
Another reason I really enjoyed the ocean was that it was a small bit of space that wasn’t covered in several feet of snow. Thank heavens for that. The winters in New Hampshire are long, cold, and unforgiving. The beach let me pretend, even for just an hour, that I was some place warmer, kinder, and gentler.
I’m a dork. I am never on the cutting edge of anything. I will never be that person who listens to awesome, cool bands years before they “hit it big” or wears anything trendy. This is why I love award season for the motion picture industry. This is the time of year when someone hand feeds me a list good films and I don’t have to worry about getting dooped into sitting through 2 hours of a complete stink feast. Tonight the Golden Globes are being presented and I now have a list of movies to watch that will last me the next few months.
- Up In The Air
- 500 Days of Summer
- The Hurt Locker
- Inglorious Basterds
- Precious
- The Blind Side
I love films but truth be told, I probably won’t get around to watching all of those movies within the next 12 months. I’m still working on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Wrestler, and Revolutionary Road from last years nominations. Like I said, I’m a dork.
I think my other problem is that when I see a movie that I really enjoy, I would rather watch that movie over and over again than watch a new movie.
In college I was so deep and contemplative. I watched foreign and independent films and always tried to analyze movie plots for their deeper meaning. Now, I just watch movies for the escape. I readily welcome the 2 hours of stress free, thoughtless vegetation.
I went to Canada for Christmas and wrote this, this, and this about my trip. But I forgot to tell you about the one thing that I’ve been raving about ever since the trip, maple taffy. I had never had such a thing and I even hate maple syrup. But for some reason, I really really, really really enjoy maple taffy.
So maple taffy is basically just boiling maple sap beyond the point that it could make syrup (234 degrees Fahrenheit), then pouring it over snow and wrapping it around a popscicle stick.
Doesn’t this picture look like it belongs in an LL Bean catalog? Okay maybe not but anyway, if you remember one of my goals for 2010 is to run in a snow shoe race. But I made that goal before I had actually ever ran in snow shoes. I got some snow shoes (purple – my favorite color) for christmas. I went for a run/hike on my snow shoes for the first time last week. Now I’m thinking what kind of crazy goals did I get myself. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun but incredibly exhausting. Even though it was tiring and awkward, it’s still a goal so I have to go through with it. I may never do another snow shoe race EVER again, but I can at least check it off my list. Besides, it will be great cross training for the next 1/2 marathon I’m training for. Here’s some pictures from our latest snow shoe adventure.
Twitter will make you loose your mind, or at least it’s made me loose mine. So, if you haven’t heard of The Pioneer Woman, get with the program people. The woman not only takes awesome photos, but she has great style, tells a good story, cooks like a dickens, and has red hair. As a red head myself I’ve always had an affinity for empowered and accomplished red haired woman. Let’s face it, I was obsessed with Anne (with an ‘e’) of Green Gables for like the first 23 year of my life. I mean Anne is partly the reason I spell my name with one ‘s’. Cause if you’re going to call me Jes,
would you please be sure to spell it with one ‘s’? …Print out J-E-S-S, it looks absolutely dreadful, but Jes with one ‘s’ is quite distinguished. So, if you only call me Jes with one ‘s’, I’ll try to reconcile myself to not being called Cordelia.
I digress. Back to P-Dub, or Pioneer Woman for those of you less acquainted with her. I recently made Pioneer Woman’s recipe for Potato and Leek pizza. And let me just say it was the most delicious pizza, EVER! I of course had to tweet about the pizza and referenced P-Dub as seen in Exhibit A.
Exhibit A: The Tweet
Moments later I realized that P-Dub herself had replied to my tweet and here’s the proof.
Exhibit B: THE PROOF
She told me “Great Job”. She must know that I am an awesome red head like her that enjoys taking photos, and cooking, and being just down right plain awesome and that together we would rule the universe. Needless to say her tweet lead to this:
Exhibit C: The Result
And then other people started tweeting about how incredibly lucky and awesome my night was:
Exhibit D: The Fame
So now, I’m basically famous. I’ll soon have paparazzi following me around, I’ll be getting free stuff sent to be all because I have red hair and can follow a recipe. Pretty awesome if you ask me.
I have never been one for “New Year Resolutions”. The major reason is because I never keep them. But I think I’ve been “resolving” all wrong. It was a quote by Ellen Goodman that made me realize this. Some typical resolutions are to lose weight, stop smoking, get organized, spend more time with family, etc. But there is an important factor being left out of these resolutions…the “how”. How are you going to loose weight? It would be more effective to resolve to go to the gym at least three times a week for the next year. It’s a measurable goal that is totally obtainable. So that’s why I’m creating a list, “10 Goals for 2010″.
1. Participate in a snowshoe race.
2. Run another half marathon and improve upon my time from last year.
3. Use each Sunday afternoon/evening for grad school studying.
4. Be baptized
5. Read “Catcher in the Rye” and “Franny and Zooey”
6. Say at least one uplifting and encouraging thing to my husband each day.
7. Don’t change my blog url or theme for an entire year.
8. Wash face and brush teeth each night before bed (I’m tired of getting cavities filled.)
9. Enter my photography in at least one contest this year.
10. Once a month treat myself to a “guilt-free” purchase such as a massage or a manicure. (I’m a pretty strict penny pincher but need to accept that I deserve a little pampering and am totally worth it!)
What are your goals for the new year?
We spend January walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of cracks to patched. Maybe this year we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.
- Ellen Goodman
We only spent two full days in Quebec so we didn’t get to see all the sites and sounds of the beautiful city. But we did a “fly-by” walking tour of “Old” Quebec. It was really amazing. Like stepping right into a northern France village. The coolest tid-bit I learned on my trip is that some of the scenes in “Catch Me If You Can” were filmed in the Petit Champlain section of Quebec. You know the scene where Tom Hanks is about to catch Leo Dicaprio’s character. Yeah that’s the one. The scene is set in France but they actually it in Quebec. I thought that was pretty nifty.
So the secret’s out! The best way to spend Christmas day is on the slopes. No crowds, no lines, and no problems. We went skiing at Mont St. Anne up in Quebec for Christmas this year and it was the best decision of the year. We totally lucked out with great weather and perfect snow. But you don’t have to trust me, let the photos speak for themselves.
Posted in Videos on 29. Dec, 2009
This year Mitch and I spent Christmas in Quebec. While there we rode on the toboggan sled just in front of the Chateau Frontenac. It was pretty chilly on the day we rode the toboggan ride so I’m glad we got a video. I missed half of the ride cause it felt like my eyes were being jabbed with a million tiny icicles… or just really cold gusts of wind. The ride was fun and you can tell by my hysterical laughter/screaming.
If you enjoy looking at photos from someone else’s vacation then you are going to love the next few post. You can hardly contain the glee from anticipation, right?
So, you may have be one of the kabillion people I told but if not, me and the husband traveled to Canada, the “REAL” Great White North, for Christmas. We were lucky enough to stay in a beautiful hotel called The Chateau Frontenac. I don’t have enough good words in my vocabulary to express the beauty of this hotel. I think when you travel anywhere there are a few key bits of criteria that make a location worth visiting. The below list is how Quebec measures up:
- Locals: Super friendly and always willing to make me feel comfortable by speaking English
- Food: Delectable
- Cost: A bit pricey but we were in a popular tourist area
- Scenery: Definite French influence, sound structural engineering, continual up keep resulted in clean lines, clean city, and safe atmosphere
- Weather: Cold – But it was December…in Canada
One thing I found interesting about Quebec is that every shop, restaurant, or hotel we entered was heated to to what had to be 70-75 degrees. Every time I would come in from outside I had to start ripping off my layers because it was incredibly warm indoors. Maybe that’s the only way to make it through the long Canadian winters. But then when I was headed outside, I had to pile on the hat, glove liners, mittens, scarves, coats, etc.
Well anyways, Canada rocked. It was a well needed vacation after a very long year of this, this, and this. Thanks again Canada for being super cool.
If you want to see more picture from my vacation click on the thumbnail. These are just from our first night there. I’ll post pictures from day 2 tomorrow. It’s like Christmas all over again!!!
