List Time

1. Corinne is sweet and lovely. I've only recently begun reading her blog; my mom sent me the link when Corrine posted about her (lovely) family's trip to Walden Pond. I was hooked from there. Anyone who would purposely go to Walden is one awesome person. (At least in my book. Although I think that should go for everyone's book, too.) And now I have to check in on her daily. Her words are always thoughtful and thought provoking. Her picture capture so much. And she makes me smile. And when Hubby and I (eventually) take our trip to Walden, we'll take her up on her offer to show us around!

2. Corinne gifted me with The Lemonade Stand Award this morning. The Lemonade Stand Award is meant to be given to those who show great attitude and gratitude. I'm not sure I fit that bill (at least not all the time), but I've never gotten a "blog award" and I'm honored she thought enough of me to send this my way.

3. I am now to pass The Lemonade Stand Award on to other bloggers who I feel show great attitude and gratitude. So Lyndsay and In the Fast Lane, this one's for you! Here are the rules:
- Pass the award onto 10 bloggers ( or, you know, however many you want)
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.
(There's also a logo you can put on your site or in the post, but I couldn't make it work because I am very, very technologically advanced. But you can steal it here, too.)

4. Lyndsay is awesome. There are very few others who know and love the beauty and brilliance that is Michael Stipe. She's had such a year, and handled it with such grace and such a great attitude (I envy her that!). And she has this gift for "finding joy in the little things."

5. Oh, Fast Lane, you may never know how much you helped me out in the midst of all the knee madness last spring. I will be forever grateful for that. Who else gets up by 4:00 in the morning to do silly things. Like run. (That would be no one that I know) So, so often your posts have me nodding in agreement. Any time you need a running partner, let me know. (You know, as long as you don't want to go too fast. I'm not so fast anymore. =^) )

6. I read Going Bovine by Libba Bray. I was very excited for it, as she also wrote the Gemma Doyle trilogy which I LOVE. (Since I, apparently, love a good smutty teen book.) But, um, yeah, I kind struggled getting in to it. Almost stopped reading it. But I'm glad I kept with it, because once you figure out where it's headed and what's actually going on, it's really hard to put it down. The main character has Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (hence the title). That's all I'll say, though. (Except that it can NOT go on my shelf at work. But it's totally okay for "grown-ups.")

7. Hubby finished the editing of his first novel on January 1. I haven't read it since he finished the initial writing, so I'm really happy to get started on that tonight. I know the story rocks (which is why he asked me to read it first - because I have this thing where I can't lie, and if it didn't rock, I would have told him the truth. I'm so glad it really is really good! I did not want to have to say it wasn't!) but I'm very excited to see it all polished up and such.

8. If anyone knows of a good literary agent or people interested in publishing really good stories by first time novelists, um, let me know.

9. I hooked up this old tv/vcr combo deal that I have in the basement. I've found that watching movies or tv shows makes the elliptical a little easier to take for long periods of time (In elliptical speak, a really long time is more than 15 minutes. Then it's just boring.). Because, even though I LOVE my music, it's not quite enough to make being stuck on a machine in the basement much fun. So this morning I watched an old episode of While You Were Out (Do you remember that show? Andrew Dan-Jumbo? Yeah. I loved that show.). Made the whole experience much easier to take.

10. I found out yesterday that I can read while on the elliptical. I can prop the book up on this little ledge thing and just go. I had to do my mid-week long run indoors last night, and, for the first time ever while "running" indoors, I totally lost track of time. (As opposed to watching the seconds tick slowly by, which is what I'd usually do.) It was pretty awesome.

11. I am quite grateful to have the elliptical because it's very cold and very snowy and very slick right now. Especially when it gets dark.

12. I cannot wait to run outside this weekend when it's light outside, which I will do regardless of how cold or snowy it is, because I've been stuck inside all week.

13. Other things are happening, too, but they deserve their own posts, so I'll talk about them later.

14. I didn't want to end on 13 (being relatively superstitious and all) so I'll just say that oatmeal might be the perfect food. It's warm and creamy and sweet-tasting. It's quick and easy to make. It travels well (make it in a mug and you can totally eat it in the car). It fills you up. There are, like, a bagillion different flavors to choose from (even though I tend to stick with the same few over and over again; maple... cinnamon... yum.). And it's good for you. I love oatmeal.