It's great to be back in the swing of life, despite the cold that has been hurting my head for the last three days. The last two days have been quite fruitful and wonderful. Here are some highlights:

• Met yesterday with a great lawyer who's passionate about serving small, local businesses. Will likely create a long-term relationship with the business alliance, and I'm thrilled by who he is. (I had to hide the tears welling up in my eyes when he was talking. And most people would think he's dull, or serious, or too quiet.)
  
• I got word yesterday that I was admitted to the non-profit leadership program I applied for. w00t! I'll be more connected with the area's non-profit community and get more training and development, as well as a mentor/coach. You should have seen my happy dance.
  
• I've gotten some great feedback from people in my tribe who have actually looked at my web site and asked some great questions about where I stand on certain issues. It gives me a little confidence that who I am and what I believe in may actually resonate with others in the community. I'll know early next month if I will be the new legislator for the district.
  
• I was inspired while traveling in British Columbia to use my tea pots more. So this afternoon, I threw a tea party. Yay to the fabulous women in my life who attended - Anne, Adrienne, Eva and Glenda. It was fun to dress up like a velvet gypsy, and serve homemade scones and battenberg cake (with blue instead of pink squares) Very much looking forward to the next tea party. (and yay for A, who helped in constructing the yummy cake and who made a great appearance for the last part of the evening)
  
• Speaking of baked things, I received an amazing kitchenaid mixer for christmas from A's mom, Loree. It was a completely decadent and unnecessary gift, and something I have always wanted. I am amazed by the capacity of this thing - it's the professional series, so it's about twice the size of the traditional kitchenaids. So far, I've made gingerbread men, banana-chocolate chip bread, chocolate chip cookies, scones and battenberg cake. Looking forward to perfecting the pie crust recipe for the pie shop I will open one day (when I have more time for things ??)
  
• And speaking of cooking, Glenda received a cuisinart food processor from Schuler for the holidays, and I used it for the first time tonight. There's a yummy vegetable/lentil soup brewing on the stove right now. I have never had access to so many amazing kitchen appliances, and am quite ... awed. The cuisinart chopped / sliced the veggies I needed in a fraction of the time it would have taken by hand. Of course, that seems to be part of the point, but I've always been suspicious that kitchen appliances would really take more time and energy to use than they're worth. Perhaps that isn't true with all of them.
  
  
• Other random good things are afoot - my time with A has been very loving lately. We had a great trip, and I'm extremely grateful for him in my life. Our house has been scheming about awesome landscaping and greywater recycling plans. The road trip was refreshing and filled with lots of nurturing connections with loving and generous people. It was so nice to come home, and to have it filled with people like Mike and Glenda. And to spend a little time with J, who is so supportive and loving.
  

I can't believe how good my life is.

Today has turned out to be much more pleasant than how it began. Today I bought our own version of Settlers of Catan (with the Cities and Knights expansion), and A and I played a two-person version of the basic Settlers game, and put the rest of the game together in preparation for our game playing tomorrow night. I also made a very yummy potato leek soup for dinner, and posted the recipie to my cooking journal. Head on over if you haven't seen it yet.

I awoke to the fresh smell of rain, and it continued to rain for the rest of the day. Quite a relief from the 90 degree temperatures of yeseterday. I love when I don't have to water the garden; when everything gets soaked nicely. The plants are doing well; I've lost several sunflower seedlings, a tomatillo plant, and cucumber and broccoli plants to the hail storms, but everything else is looking quite cool. I will take photos soon and post them to my flickr account.

Work has been busy, which is nice. Creating more things around SourceTree Commons and the geek retreat we're hosting next month. Trying to figure out what to do for the foundation that makes sense. Made a proposal to my director today; we'll see in the coming weeks how it turns out. They are such good people, and have been so great with me...it would be cool to continue working with them, if it worked for all of us.

We just passed what would have been my 7-year wedding anniversary. Such a surreal thought - it seems like so long ago, as part of a completely different life than what I currently have. I suppose it was.

Ah, before I forget. Yesterday I got to spend the morning with Jasper, who is still the most adorable and wonderful person I know. How can one person be so amazing? I would do anything for that boy, and I hope we get to spend many more years playing together. I don't think he'll ever know how good it is for my heart and soul to be around him.

I love the feeling of looking forward to my future - tomorrow, next week, next month. Everything is so unknown...but I have a very good life, with many very good people that I am blessed to know.