Marching Onward

As 2010 draws to an end, I've been seeing things everywhere that attempt to wrap up, rehash and rank the year's events.

"The Best of 2010"
"The Worst of 2010"
"Highlights of 2010"
"A Year In Review"

A lot has transpired in the last 12 months; the Rangers went to the World Series, oil spewed into the Gulf for way too long, Lost finally ended...the world was graced with Antoine Dodson's brilliance. It's really too much to try to sum up, so I'll leave it to the experts. Therefore, I will choose to look forward.

So here's what I'm doing, in no particular order:

• I'm reading My Life In France by Julia Child and dreaming about a summer rendezvous in Paris.
• I'm also brushing up on my classroom French, you know...for the same reason.
• I'm registered for a hot yoga class with work friends to make winter a little less bitter.
• I'm taking an adult spring break trip with 10 of the craziest people I know and seriously considering snowboarding the Breckenridge slopes.
• I'm starting a tumblr. in hopes that the casual and simplified blog/twitter hybrid will be updated more than once a quarter, as is currently the case over here.
  
• I'm going to set spontaneous goals for myself. (Did I mention that I ran a half marathon this year?!)

Most importantly, I'm going to channel the gumption and confidence of Elizabeth Bennett. I just re-read Pride & Prejudice, a personal fave of mine, and like all classics tend to do, I learned something new from it this go-round.

"The fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of officious attention. You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking and looking, and thinking for your approbation alone. I roused, and interested you, because I was so unlike them." - EB

Be genuine. Be unique. Be what the Lord has called you to be.

Cheers to a wonderful 2011!

Total Eclipse of the Heart

Or total eclipse of the moon. I stayed up last night to see the lunar eclipse in all its glory. It was pretty strange and kind of incredible; not sure I've ever felt so small. In my own personal experience of the eclipse, I envisioned the song from Fievel Goes West as the perfect soundtrack, but this version is pretty dramatic too.

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.