Day 62 of Gratefulness: Happy

Tonight I got to share the movie Happy with a group of friends. It is a movie that really gets you thinking about what makes you happy and what being happy can do for your life. There are some real eye-opening movies that are out or coming out now that get you thinking. I think so many of us are tired of the struggle and know that there is something better out there for us all. We all deserve to be happy but what does that mean- to be happy? I love these movies, sharing them with others and inspiring people to change.

Day 61 of Gratefulness: Kevin Abernathy

I need to give a shout out to Kevin today as he was willing to ski hard with me today in order to get closer to my goal in vertical feet for a fundraising challenge I am participating in. The joy of it was his excitement each time we got on the lift to see where our vertical feet was at. There was one run we did like 8 times because we could gain 1600 vertical feet each time and we could complete the loop in like 8 – 10 minutes. We were flying but it felt great to have wings for the few minutes we did. Plus it was just great to reconnect, let go of the past and move on to something bigger and better.

Day 60 of Gratefulness: The Mountains

There is this one point as you drive west on I-70 from Denver where you hit this beautiful view of the mountains. Today on my drive to Breckenridge I felt this sense of love for the mountains, for their beauty, for their power and for the fact that I was about to going ripping down one of them. The mountains have always brought me such joy and there is much to be admired by them. I feel lucky to live in a place where I can view their beauty almost every day.

Day 59 of Gratefulness: Dog toys

I love when I walk into my room and Bella has pulled out several toys and they are spread across the room. It brings me a lot of joy since I know it brings her so much joy. I know that she loved these toys, she smiled at them, she played to her hearts content with them and she even got tired with them. I know it makes her happy and that makes me happy.

Day 58 of Gratefulness: Master Mind Group

I have been participating in a Master Mind group now for about 2 months and I am always surprised how much I get out of it as well as how much I can give to others and give to myself through the process. The beauty of this group is the level of respect for each other, the space you feel to be totally who you are without judgment and to really open up to the essence of you and be supported by it. I truly appreciate what each of them brings to the group as well as their determination to make a difference in their lives and the lives of others.

Day 57 of Gratefulness: Elie

I found a gem when I met Elie at a Crave event about a month ago. Today we spent close to three hours walking around Cap Hill and Uptown hanging posters for the Denver Ultra Dash. Between our conversation and the warm weather it was a fun three hours. The greatest thing about Elie is her eagerness to learn about nonprofit events and to put the work into it. She is also honest about what she knows and what her strength are as well as confident with who she is. I am excited to work with her more and watch her develop her skills

Day 56 of Gratefulness: wireless

Again another beautiful day here in Colorado and I spent a good two hours working from the dog run and Bella and Iggy (neighbors dog) played. I brought the card table out and sat there plugging away at the many projects that I needed to accomplish. It was so nice to sit outside and still be able to work thanks to wireless internet. I am so thankful for this simple technology and the happiness it brought to my life today.

Day 55 of Gratefulness: My Cruiser

We have been experiencing rather warm 70 degree days here in Colorado so this morning I decided to break out the old cruiser and bike from meeting to meeting, within reason of course. It was so freeing to be out on my bike and to just cruise down streets. I did not have to worry about finding a parking space, which took a lot of ease off of me and I did not burn any gas in the process. Instead I burned calories and built muscle. My cruiser makes me so happy!!!

Day 54 of Gratefulness: CJ

Today I took off for the mountains to hit slopes. It was a beautiful day, actually felt like a spring day but I decided that I needed to be out there and that I was going to enjoy the conditions anyway. I know, who complains about a spring day but when you want to ski you kind of look down on the warmer weather. My plan was to stay close to the bottom, as I just wanted to get in a ton of vertical feet since I am raising money per 1,000 vertical feet I ski. Once I got there though I decided to move up the mountain, as it was crowded. Spring break has started and people were piling in by the busloads from every part of the country. I headed toward the top and on one of the rides I met CJ. CJ is a local who has been around for so many years that he actually helped name some of the trails on the mountain. I told him what I was doing in terms of raising money and he took over as my personal tour guide. It was great- we went to places with great snow and places that were leg burners but I was grateful all the same. I even got in over 17,000 vertical feet towards my goal. Reaching 200,000 by the end of the season might just happen.

Day 53 of Gratefulness: A good book

I am always thankful for a good book. One that keeps you engaged, where you never want to put it down and you are sad when it ends. It feels great to relax and become so absorbed into the story. To watch how it unfolds, to want to read so fast because you are anxious to know what happens, to be so drawn into it that you do not realize 3 hours has gone by and it is now 2:00 am- that is a good book.