Today I reconnected with a friend that I hadn’t spoken with in awhile.  It was so nice to laugh with her and reminisce and talk.  Truly, she is an amazing lady.

Talking with my pal made me realize that I was desperately missing something in my life. Something essential. Something that has left a void in me.

I desperately miss my running.

You see, this pal was with me when I ran my first marathon.  We trained for months together and became very, very close friends.

Our conversation made me realize what I was missing at this point in my life.  I am missing the breeze in my hair. The steady sound of feet on the pavement. I am missing the daydreams.  The goal setting. I even miss the speed work. (Which is weird because nobody misses speed work.)

When I run I feel like a warrior.  I feel strong.  Running makes me feel like I am more than just a mother. More than just a suburban housewife. More than just a business woman.  When I run I feel like, well, like nothing short of  a badass.

It is a passion that most can’t understand or relate to.  I know.  But it makes me feel ALIVE. And I had forgotten that passion.  At least, I thought I did.

Chatting on the phone today with my pal brought it all back to me and put a fire in my belly.  So I laced up my shoes, threw in my headphones and rocked out on the treadmill.  The experience was exhilarating and totally reminded me of a quote I once saw:

“The longer I run, the smaller my problems become…”

Everyone has passions.  Though not the same in size or scope, our passions are what make us come alive.  They are gifts given to us that make us unique and special.  Have you reconnected with your passions lately?

Did you know that I have been blogging at this site for just shy of a year now? I can’t tell you how happy I am that I finally bit the bullet (via being hit over the head with a virtual baseball bat by my pal Lance @ Daily Actor) and began my own blog journey instead of just blogging for others.  Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy blogging at other sites, I am just happy to experience the freedom of being my own “editor in chief” here at Hip As I Wanna Be.

And I must say, I have learned a ton in the past year!  Wow. Just WOW. There is just so much to take in and experience that at times I have been overwhelmed to the point of being paralyzed.

But I have made a decision here recently.  I’m going to follow my passion and give myself permission to blog about my interests, my challenges and my heart.  Does that sound ridiculous?  And fundamentally “obvious?”  Of course, it does.  Sometimes we get so caught up in what we “should do” that we over think it and ignore what we “want to do.”  Get my meaning?

Keeping that in mind, I have set myself up a new editorial calendar. You can find me blogging more regularly on these topics:

Monday – mojo, passion, inspiration, faith, positivity

Tuesday – girly, glam day

Wednesday – wordy, witty Wednesday or WOW Wednesday – words of wisdom

Thursday – on blogging, being a working mom

Friday – fitness

Saturday – family, kid stuff, personal

Sunday – contests (if applicable), FUNday, or random

Vlog one day a week. (Gah! Did I just say that out loud?)

MY NEW INSPIRATION WORDS:  moxie, fun, fearless, fabulous, girly, glamorous… Did I mention FUN?  I think we could all use a little more fun these days, couldn’t we?  Especially in blogging.

Hope you come back and visit!

So this is what my front yard looks like right now. (8:30am)  And it is still snowing and snowing and snowing.  I’ll do the follow up Vlog to this tomorrow as promised.

So we are literally STUCK HERE. Nowhere to go. Luckily, we still have power at this point.  I have heard some of my Twitter pals up the road are dealing with outages already.

That would be awful.  (And what if the Internet connection went out?  GAH! THE HORROR!)

So I am going to use this opportunity to tackle two projects – my blog redesign (yippie!) and to write the copy for my new businesses website.  (Which I fully plan to share with you once it is up!)

And can I just say that I have the coolest neighbors in the world?  We are hoping to have a snow party later on today.  We’re hoping to build ourselves an ice bar in the cul-de-sac.  How awesome is that?

I feel like my children are obsessed with me dying. Actually, scratch that. I feel like my children are obsessed with the the way in which I want to die.  Or maybe they are just curious?  Or maybe they need psychological help?  Or maybe they are plotting something?

It seems like every time I turn around they are asking me bizarre random questions about my  untimely demise.  It usually goes something like this:

BOYS:  So, mom.  Would you rather die from a shark attack at sea,  be thrown into a vat of lava or fall into a pit of snakes?

ME:  Err…. none?

BOYS:  C’mon, mom. You have to choose something!

ME:  Okay, then. I guess lava because it is quicker.

BOYS:  Would you rather be eaten by a dinosaur or killed by a Jedi lightsabor?

ME:  I don’t know. Why?

BOYS:  JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION, MOM!

ME:  Dinosaur.

BOYS:  How about a million killer bee stings?  Or a giant wall of fire?

ME:  Oh for heaven’s sake!

BOYS:  What?

This kind of thing happens all the time.  They think up the most ridiculous situations and give me a preference between the two.  Which makes me wonder….  Are they plotting against me? Am I in danger, here?

The next time I say no to iCarly on a school night should I look over my shoulder for a dinosaur or a swarm of killer bees?

Or is it all some kind of pre-pubescent male mommy mind trick?

Call me crazy but I am beginning to feel like perhaps we should seek family counseling.

It seems that I am all about strolling down memory lane these days.

I got a call from my old college roommate yesterday and it totally got me reminiscing.  And you know what? I figured out that I learned a very valuable lesson from her, albeit by mistake.

A little back story: I was blessed to live with three amazing  gals in college and we did everything together.  It was the perfect arrangement.

So one night, my roomies Katharine, Zoe, Jenny and I went to a party together.  It was the usual kind of party with the usual kind of people on the usual kind of college night.  And yeah, we had fun.

The next day I overheard Katharine on the phone with a pal talking about the “amazing”  and “wonderful” party she had attended and how it was “incredibly” fun.  Zoe and I just looked at each other joked about how we might not have been at the same party because that was NOT how we remembered it. At all.

Carrying the joke a bit further, I proposed that perhaps the difference between our life and Katharine’s was simply a series of better adjectives.

And you know what?  It was true.

And it IS STILL true for all of us. Think about that for a moment… your  life is essentially how  you describe it. So, what words are you using? Are they empowering? Positive?  Or are they defeating?

Now that I think about it, Katharine was always having tremendous experiences.  Nothing seemed to be insurmountable for her. (Except, for some reason, her finance class.)

There was a lesson in there for me. I have carried it with me and applied it to my life ever since.

And you know what? I’ve found that my life is nothing short of FABULOUS!

It is that time of year again.  A time for reflection. A time of anticipation. A time of renewal.

I don’t know about you, but I am a sucker for the New Year.  I just adore the feeling of a clean slate and unlimited possibilities!

So, with that in mind, I wanted to put together some guidelines to help you prepare for a successful year ahead:

Dream big. Set the bar high for yourself! Yeah, the easier stuff is simple to achieve but why settle for the small dreams?  If you succeed, you will feel amazing and let’s face it – if you fall short you will still end up exceeding your expectations!

Chart a course. Make a plan. How can you get where you want to be going without a map?  It doesn’t make sense to have huge expectations and nary a plan to achieve what you want.  Be realistic.  It just isn’t going to happen if you don’t take some time to plan out your action steps.

Work at it. There is no such thing as an “overnight success.”  Work at your goals every single day, even if only for a couple of minutes.

Modify. Don’t get discouraged!  If something doesn’t work, be open and flexible.

“Nearly every glamorous, wealthy, successful career woman you might envy now started out as some kind of schlep.” - Helen Gurley Brown (Author, publisher and business woman)

“He who demands little gets it.” - Ellen Glasgow (Pulitzer prize winning novelist)

“Believe that you can, but plan.  It will not fall in your lap.” – Antonia Novello (first female surgeon general of the United States.)

While skipping around the internet the other day I came across a wonderful post about creating 10 goals for 2010.  Don’t ask me where I came across it (I am so ADD that way), only know that it made an impact on me.

I’ve already started on my list.

Does this type of thing interest you?  Could you benefit from creating this type of list?@N00/2182366965/">

I personally like the idea.  Not too many to overload me but just enough to keep me busy and focused.

If you put together a list like this on your blog or IRL, please let me know.  I’d love to support you in your goals.  I am a firm believer in accountability and motivating others to achieve their best.

When you think about it – 10 is totally do-able, no matter what your life circumstances.  So get motivated!