Duly Noted

On our honeymoon two years ago, Mike and I christened our handheld video camera "small wonder."  We took it with us on our adventures along the Pacific Coastal Trail to the local bakery to the backyard to capture our wild turkey and bobcat sitings.  Documenting daily wonders truly reminds me that there rests an orb of deep joy within every moment.   Today I want to document a wondrous moment.  This moment is not even close to the most wondrous moment as of late, but a small wonder of its own right.  Months ago, I signed up for one of my favorite trail races, a half marathon race called the Surly Trail Loppet.  I have run this race a few times, each time breaking last year's record.  This year, I was not expecting to break any records since I decided to run the 5k instead of my usual half marathon.  For good reason- I am going to be a mama!  (The most wondrous of wondrous small wonder!)    I actually only starte...

This list mostly speaks for itself.  I tried to keep this list short and focused on a few small changes and goals that will hopefully make a big impact.  Quality over quantity, folks.  I am going to adopt that as my 2012 motto.  Some of you, dear readers, may be alarmed that I included buying matching underwear on my blog, but everyone wears underwear, right?  So, it might as well be cute.  My thinking is that if one buys a set a month, one would have nearly two weeks worth of matching underwear by the end of the year!  That's just fabulous.  Now, I'll be honest; I was apprehensive about mentioning this resolution on Duly Noted, BUT after sharing this resolution with several female friends and all of whom except ONE immediately decided that they too would make this a resolution, I felt confident that my readership would understand that this goal is not about being seductive...it's about self-love.  (Duly note: the ONE friend who did not...

Duly note the following: 1. two TWO cozy sweaters. 2. Duffy!  He's cute but I prefer my own bearded wonderboy. 3. bonne maman jam collection. 4. oversized straw market bag. 5. having a critical distance.  I wonder how a small Minnesota cabin would fare.  Thank Lucy Chadwick for your take on the good life.

This race actually happened BEFORE the monster dash half marathon.  It was a really unique race for a number of reasons.  First off, the race was organized by a Macalester student (a Somali student who graduated from Minneapolis South High School) with support from American Refugee Committee (an organization I feel a special connection to thanks to my inspiring good friend who enacts her passion for refugee rights everyday at ARC). Appropriately, the race was a 5k run/walk to raise money for hunger relief in Somalia.  Local organizations and high schools were involved so I saw many a familiar face at the start line on the windy Sunday October morning. Joan and I decided to run a couple warm up miles over to the University of Minnesota flats on east river parkway.  The course was gorgeous; it covered trails and floating walkways along the river road that I had never run on before.  Judging from the relatively small number of racers (350 as compared to the t...

These images spoke to me and I cut and pasted them into my scrapbook a few months ago.  I think its the forest green, the tableclothed picnic table, and the utility sink that sealed the deal for me.  I wonder how this cabin would hold up in Minnesota winters.  It would definitely need a wood burning stove and a giant pile of fire wood.  I think Mike would be pretty excited about an ax and a flannel.  Or at least I would be. http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/le-shack/

A reminder that beauty can happen anywhere.