When I got home after my aforementioned bike ride I was informed that Muki had chewed through the wire of our answering machine and that the boys were still famished. “I’m off duty,” I said as I tried to whip up something to fuel my poor depleted body. But evening a grueling bike ride up a mountain was not sufficient enough for me to feel the escape I was desperately needing. As Wade and I put our foreheads together amongst the chaos I said,

“You know how I take the kids all the time on weekends to Denver or for a month in Nantucket? Do you think you could find one weekend to go somewhere with the boys and without me?”

“That sounds great in theory but the reality is that the Thursday before we would be leaving you would insist on coming,” Wade replied.

“Don’t think you know me so well. I have been secretly feeling like Mayze again, from Horton Hatches the Egg, and am having evil thoughts of flying the coup only to return when the boys are all grown with manners and an attention span,” I whispered.

Later that night I stole away to my office to see if I could find the reprieve I was looking for, and there it was, not one but three awards and a heart warming email from my wonderful online friends who don’t take me up steep pitches but instead get me down from the precipices I tend to dangle from. I shut my eyes and took in the beauty of it all, this web where I am not just finding love in the places I feel safe in but globally, even in Egypt and India, places I have always wanted to travel to but have not yet found the path to physically take me there.

SuZen, what can I say without making you feel as though we are volleying in a tennis match of compliments. You give me the momentum and confidence I need to keep on chugging away just when I am ready to cash in…okay that is the wrong expression…when I am feeling like a lion out of the jungle or a fish out of water or a duck out of the pond. Thank you Sarah from Mommy Lite Online and CJ from Killing Superwoman for the awards, and Vivianne, thank you for that award that you gave me back in January where I was too overwhelmed to post it. You are all my rocks anchoring me down in this crazy cyberspace pushing me to hang in there and succeed both physically and mentally and I thank you.

I have to say that social networking, albeit very important, is proving to be to time consuming during the summer months and so instead of listing ten new bloggers that I have not mentioned already, I would like to introduce everybody to the wonderful writer’s from my Aspiring Writer’s Group at Mom Bloggers Club. Please stop by to check them all out, we have an incredible writing support group going on.

With these rewards I am asked to share ten things about myself that you might not already know, so here goes:

1) I like my husband, a lot, and like to roll around with him more than the average wife who has been married for eleven years.

2) When small dogs yip at my feet I feel an incredible urge to kick them into left field.

3) When I laugh really hard I start crying…just as hard

4) I buy horses after I drink too many tequila shots

5) I can’t handle my alcohol

6) When the full moon is out, I have no friends

7) I, who detest diets, have just started Isagenix where I will be doing a thirty day nutritional and cleansing health regime and I just might post before and after pictures on my blog. Email me if you care to join me.

I still love the perfume Opium and whenever I smell it I get brought back to my teenager years where I lived in a house under construction in Nantucket and often woke up on the exposed rafters with somebody I didn’t know sleeping precariously next to me.

9) No matter how old I am, I will never stop dancing

10) I am an avid dreamer and in every dream I am meeting new friends at a party.

So there you have it. Stay tuned for photos of 4th of July in Breckenridge. That mountain town rocks. Go to Today’s Capture for a sneak preview.

I’m not going to sugar coat it, I love giving…and receiving… gifts. In this tough economy we all could use more love and gifts but I have to become more creative with my ideas.

In the past month I have received two awards from friends in my social networking world which have brightened up my day. The first, The Circle of Friends Award came from Tara. With this award I need to list five things about myself.

I have been so wrapped up in my children that I have had not one second over the holidays to think about my quirky attributes and what could I tell you that you don’t already know? So, instead I will share with you my New Years Resolutions that are far more revealing:

1. Search for more music. To calm the chaos, I will fix the stereo in our house and build my library, for Brevitt and I are nothing without music.

2. Practice more yoga and dance more. I used to think that I was a laid back person, people always asked me if I was from California. It seems that I have changed into a worrier.

3. Be more organized and focused on the children. No more anger and frustration only humor and patience.

4. Get established as a local travel writer and finish my book.

5. Live life through love and be more tolerant of my mother of whom I adore.

My other award, The Lovely Blog Award, came from my new friend Naomi who is a devoted member of my Aspiring Writers Club on MBC. This is the second time that I have received this award which is making me feel quite lovely at the moment despite my battle with the evil pull of the blue moon  and the freezing days spent with children who refuse to go outside.

In honor of my desire to focus more on the boys, I will not produce a new list but invite you to visit my post written back in October that lists my favorite blogs.

I’ll also leave you with an incredible project called A River Blue. Joseph Arthur and Chandler Griffin became aware of children’s choirs that were being established at IDP (internally -displaced persons) camps in northern Ugunda and set up awareness, fundraising and outreach activities in the US for this organization.

The song that is played on the highlighted link above was sent to the camps for the children to practice and whenever I hear it I get the chills.

Happy Holidays!!!

This is what I love about social networking, yesterday I received a gift from Tania Bugnet who has a blog titled,  Lucky Canuck which has delicious recipes, great giveaways and also very useful information about diabetes since she herself is a type I diabetic.

Thank you Tania for the award!

I would like to pass this award on to the fifteen blogs listed below that I visit for  insight, wisdom and of course laughter, which we all need more of:

1) Erasing The Board

2) Publishing Passion

3) It’s All About Joy

4) Readerwave

5) Lea’s Blogging Life

6) The  Buddhist Conservative

7) Circling The Square

Toddler Craft

9) Sara Spelled Without an H

10) Lori Calabrese

11) Happymaking

12) Folie a deux

13)Petals Yoga

14)Blog Nosh

15)Soule Mama

I hope that you all visit these sites. Have fun reading!