Snow Day!

Usually at this time of year, I'm over the snow fall in town... if it snows in the mountains- great!  But I'm usually over the snow in town.

This year is different.  Apart from a dusting back in early November, we haven't had a drop of snow.  The skiing is crap, and "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas..." well I'm actually dreaming of a white snow hill, since Christmas has already come and gone with not even a drop (sad).

This morning the sunset was bright red as I drove my husband to work, and I told him my mom's old saying from her days living on a ship... "Red skies at night, sailor's delight.  Red skies in the morning, sailor's take warning."

Bikers in Boise just don't seem to mind.

And now as I look out the window the snow if finally falling:

Let's hope this keeps up all day and we can go skiing next weekend!  I'm dying to hit the slopes.  I've been told the Pray for Snow Parties here in Boise are turning into riots with all the lack of that fluffy white stuff (wink). Our poor local mountain, Bogus Basin hasn't even been able to open its doors yet, and people are starting to lose their jobs because of it.

Let's just hope it snows and snows and snows!  Cross your fingers!

"Lately Lily," I'm so inspired...

This evening I came across one of the most inventive blogs I've ever seen, so I just had to share it with you... have you been to Lately Lily yet?  Thank you to Gabrielle Blair over at Design Mom for pointing me to it.

Meet Lily

I have to admit, I actually think this website is so cool, I'm a little bit jealous that it's not mine.  I've always wanted to be a world traveler, flitting from one amazing destination to the next, and toting my little family along with me... Living out of trunks, and only staying in destinations for a maximum of 6 months to a year... homeschooling our would-be children and all the while learning every language from every destination fluently.  Doesn't it sound awfully romantic and dreamy?!

This picture reminds me of my niece Kitty

  Although, in reality, to do that you either have to have gobs of money, or really cool job with like National Geographic or something similar like Lily's parents do.  And now that I have Ulcerative Colitis, that kind of puts a damper on my big plans as well... but things can change!  In the mean time, I'm going to continue to read Lately Lily, live vicariously through her, and be utterly inspired.

Decisions, decisions...

These days, as I'm sure you can imagine if you read some of my previous posts , the conversation at our house tends to focus around one thing:  children.  Do we adopt?  Do we find a surrogate?  Do we wait and see how my health improves (I can tell you already that this is my least favorite... I'm craving a baby!)?  No matter what we do its a huge life changing decision.

To help further facilitate the decision making process and in an attempt to be as open with each other (and ourselves) as possible. David and I have decided to individually create a list of pros and cons for each possible decision, and then in just over one week (specifically, Saturday, January 14th) we will discuss our lists over dinner, and officially make our decision on which plan we will pursue.

There are a lot of variables and potential problems in each scenario, not to mention costs, but with each option comes a plethora of different wonderful rewards as well.  We figure this time of individual contemplation gives us a chance to really flush out our thoughts, feelings, and desires, before making the final decision together.  There will be a lot of soul searching and prayer involved in our decision, and I am certain we will make the right one for our family, together.

I'm actually very excited about this... Did I already tell you, we're starting a family together!?!!

12 Things

I recently read this great article about happiness that I wanted to share with you all.  Specifically, the article discusses what happy people do differently than unhappy people.  


The article, by Jacob Sokol talks about a study by this psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky which pinpointed 12 specific things that happy people do differently to increase their happiness.  Being that its the start of the New Year, I thought I'd go through the list, and try my hardest to make this the happiest year I've ever had by putting the techniques into action... and I thought sharing it might inspire some of you too!

Pure happiness... Kitty and Gee-ma, best friends forever.

Below is the list.  How many of these 12 points do you practice on a daily basis?  How many of the pitfalls do you get stuck in?  I can already see a few that I need to work on toward making my life happier, but I'll start with the first one: Expressing gratitude.


Thank you to all of my faithful readers for joining me on my Kookoobirdies journey.  I've really enjoyed my part in it, and I hope you've enjoyed following along!  It this were a toast, I would tell you all to raise your glass and toast to a happy, healthy year ahead for everyone!  Please stay tuned... and thank you!    

12 Things

Express gratitude. – When you appreciate what you have, what you have appreciates in value.  Kinda cool right?  So basically, being grateful for the goodness that is already evident in your life will bring you a deeper sense of happiness.  And that’s without having to go out and buy anything.  It makes sense.  We’re gonna have a hard time ever being happy if we aren’t thankful for what we already have.

Cultivate optimism. – Winners have the ability to manufacture their own optimism.  No matter what the situation, the successful diva is the chick who will always find a way to put an optimistic spin on it.  She knows failure only as an opportunity to grow and learn a new lesson from life.  People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times.

Avoid over-thinking and social comparison. – Comparing yourself to someone else can be poisonous.  If we’re somehow ‘better’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, it gives us an unhealthy sense of superiority.  Our ego inflates – KABOOM – our inner Kanye West comes out!  If we’re ‘worse’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, we usually discredit the hard work that we’ve done and dismiss all the progress that we’ve made.  What I’ve found is that the majority of the time this type of social comparison doesn’t stem from a healthy place.  If you feel called to compare yourself to something, compare yourself to an earlier version of yourself.

Practice acts of kindness. – Performing an act of kindness releases serotonin in your brain.  (Serotonin is a substance that has TREMENDOUS health benefits, including making us feel more blissful.)  Selflessly helping someone is a super powerful way to feel good inside.  What’s even cooler about this kindness kick is that not only will you feel better, but so will people watching the act of kindness.  How extraordinary is that?  Bystanders will be blessed with a release of serotonin just by watching what’s going on.  A side note is that the job of most anti-depressants is to release more serotonin.  Move over Pfizer, kindness is kicking ass and taking names.

Nurture social relationships. – The happiest people on the planet are the ones who have deep, meaningful relationships.  Did you know studies show that people’s mortality rates are DOUBLED when they’re lonely?  WHOA!  There’s a warm fuzzy feeling that comes from having an active circle of good friends who you can share your experiences with.  We feel connected and a part of something more meaningful than our lonesome existence.

Develop strategies for coping. – How you respond to the ‘craptastic’ moments is what shapes your character.  Sometimes crap happens – it’s inevitable.  Forrest Gump knows the deal.  It can be hard to come up with creative solutions in the moment when manure is making its way up toward the fan.  It helps to have healthy strategies for coping pre-rehearsed, on-call, and in your arsenal at your disposal.

Learn to forgive. – Harboring feelings of hatred is horrible for your well-being.  You see, your mind doesn’t know the difference between past and present emotion.  When you ‘hate’ someone, and you’re continuously thinking about it, those negative emotions are eating away at your immune system.  You put yourself in a state of suckerism (technical term) and it stays with you throughout your day.

Increase flow experiences. – Flow is a state in which it feels like time stands still.  It’s when you’re so focused on what you’re doing that you become one with the task.  Action and awareness are merged.  You’re not hungry, sleepy, or emotional.  You’re just completely engaged in the activity that you’re doing.  Nothing is distracting you or competing for your focus.

Savor life’s joys. – Deep happiness cannot exist without slowing down to enjoy the joy.  It’s easy in a world of wild stimuli and omnipresent movement to forget to embrace life’s enjoyable experiences.  When we neglect to appreciate, we rob the moment of its magic.  It’s the simple things in life that can be the most rewarding if we remember to fully experience them.

Commit to your goals. – Being wholeheartedly dedicated to doing something comes fully-equipped with an ineffable force.  Magical things start happening when we commit ourselves to doing whatever it takes to get somewhere.  When you’re fully committed to doing something, you have no choice but to do that thing.  Counter-intuitively, having no option – where you can’t change your mind – subconsciously makes humans happier because they know part of their purpose.

Practice spirituality. – When we practice spirituality or religion, we recognize that life is bigger than us.  We surrender the silly idea that we are the mightiest thing ever.  It enables us to connect to the source of all creation and embrace a connectedness with everything that exists.  Some of the most accomplished people I know feel that they’re here doing work they’re “called to do.”

Take care of your body. – Taking care of your body is crucial to being the happiest person you can be.  If you don’t have your physical energy in good shape, then your mental energy (your focus), your emotional energy (your feelings), and your spiritual energy (your purpose) will all be negatively affected.  Did you know that studies conducted on people who were clinically depressed showed that consistent exercise raises happiness levels just as much as Zoloft?  Not only that, but here’s the double whammy… Six months later, the people who participated in exercise were less likely to relapse because they had a higher sense of self-accomplishment and self-worth.

Adopt A New Beginning

Last night, David and I took part in an information seminar at one of the local adoption agencies, A New Beginning, here in Boise.  WOW!  I'm almost at a loss for words... only, its me, so not really.

It is hard to put into words exactly how excited I am to be a mom, and I think David is going to be the most amazing father- so much so that there aren't enough words in the English language to describe it!  I love that adoption is on the table for us now, although, I'm not going to pretend that the element of the unknown also makes me a bit nervous.

I think I'd be more comfortable if a stork could just drop a healthy little baby boy or girl off on our doorstep in a basket and say to us, "This is your child," and we could be done with it. Fortunately for the children involved in that scenario, that's not how it happens, if it was there would be a lot children in homes that didn't deserve them.

The experience at the agency information seminar was definitely a good one, albeit somewhat foreign to me.  A New Beginning is a very thorough agency which David and I both liked.  They ask a lot of their potential parents, insisting they attend seminars, classes and support groups, before, during and after the adoption, which we think is a positive thing for everyone involved, especially the kids.

Surprisingly, although the idea of adopting is exciting to me, sitting there, I suddenly felt somewhat overwhelmed by the process of it.  I'm sure the programs the agency have in place would be helpful in alleviating those feelings.  But I was so sure of what we were doing going into the seminar, that I was not prepared to feel that way after the information session.

When the woman leading the seminar asked if anyone had questions I was, of course, the first person to speak up, and I kept going until David whispered to me to let other people have a chance to ask questions too (smile), but I ended up getting in a few additional questions before the end because questions just kept popping up and I could help myself (wink)!  What can I say... I wanted to make sure my questions got asked before they slipped my mind!

There are many different types of adoption, however, The Domestic Infant Adoption Program was really the only program that David and I were comfortable pursuing before we went into the session, and that was re-affirmed while we were there.  We figure, if we can't physically create the child ourselves, we'd at least want to be there from the first second we're allowed to bond and give the child all of our love.

Also, what the information session made me realize, at least after sleeping on it, was that I think if we can find a way to afford it, I'd prefer surrogacy over adoption for the simple element of control you have over the process.  God, I sound like a control freak!  But with such a huge decision in our lives, I feel like wanting some control isn't such a bad thing.

It's not because I would love an adopted child any less than a child we created, but because of all the variables involved in adoption that make the uncertainty almost overwhelming.  However, I also know that I can safely say that if I was given a baby tomorrow, any baby, I would love it as my own and be no less happy than if I gave birth to it myself.  

Such a quandary.  I think that I am going to have to do some serious soul searching and prayer before we continue on this journey.  All children are a gift.  I just want to make surely sure we are going in the right direction before we move ahead...  

Falling off the wagon... and jumping right back on again

How was your New Year's Eve?  Ours was great.  We went to this fabulous Indian restaurant here in Boise called Taj Mahal.  It may have been the best Indian food I've ever had... and I love me some good Indian Food!  The only thing is, I fell of the wagon.  The SCD wagon that is.

I did so well over Thanksgiving and Christmas (especially with all the helpful and delicious SCD foods my mother-in-law made for me), I thought I was in the clear.  But alas, its amazing what fresh spicy shrimp coconut curry served with freshly made naan bread and rice will do to a person.  We savored every last bite.  It was heaven!  And combined with the interesting conversation we struck up with the father and son (both named Richard) and the next table and the conversation we had with the owner of the restaurant, Sohail, we had the most delightful night we could have imagined.

I've been paying the price for my bad eating habits ever since, however.  Although I'm not back in a serious UC flare, I have been a bit more uncomfortable (bloated and gurgly), and I've been getting up again in the night.  And I am having to start over with my perfect eating record from scratch.

It was surprisingly easy to jump back into my Specific Carbohydrate Diet rhythm immediately the next day, and I've been good ever since.  Man, even though I knowingly ate the "illegal" foods, I'm pretty bummed that my food cravings overcame my willpower.  I thought I was stronger than that.  I was getting really down on myself about it yesterday.

My nutritionist told me to look at it as a growing pain or a bump in the road, and not to get too worked up about it, it happens to the best of us... so that's what I've decided to do.  I can certainly say, no one is perfect, especially me.

Have you had times in your life where temptation got the best of you?  How did you handle it?  I'd love to hear from you!

Rabbit Rabbit!

Happy New Year!

May 2012 be your best year yet!