Loving Colorado winters

Tuesday afternoon I gazed out my office window, shocked at the huge snowflakes falling purposefully towards the parking lot - and my car - below. I then looked down at my shoes -- cute brown flats that I had thrown on over my bare feet that morning and hoped the flurry would be extraordinarily short-lived.

I left the office very late that night. I was glad that I had my long winter coat and scarf, but that didn't help the tops of my feet from getting chilled from the wind. As I got close to my car, the fluffy snow began to cling to my pants cuffs, brushing against my feet with every mincing step I took. I gratefully sank into my driver's seat, only then considering how the car was covered in nearly three inches of snow and I wouldn't be going anywhere until all the snow was brushed off, so I steeled my resolve and headed back into the night with one glove and my snow scraper, cursing the capricious nature of Colorado winters.

Thursday Thirteen: Lincoln's birthday edition

1. I have been obsessed with Abraham Lincoln for as long as I can remember.
2. I was frustrated as a first-grader because one of my Lincoln story books had his mother's name wrong.
3. I dressed up as Abraham Lincoln for our "Night of the Notables" in fourth grade.
4. For that event, I also created a diorama of Lincoln's assassination using flexible baseball action figures for President Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Major Rathbone, his fiance Clara Harris & John Wilkes Booth.
5. When I was in eighth grade I got a shirt with a giant penny on the front of it.
6. I made a hairclip to match by hot-gluing pennies to a plain barrette.
7. I just got rid of that hairclip when I moved last year, but I still have the shirt.
8. As a Senior Girl Scout I had the amazing opportunity to spend ten days in Gettysburg with fifty other Girl Scouts who were equally as obsessed as I was.
9. We recreated Pickett's Charge during part of our time on the battlefield and spent time in the cemetery at Gettysburg.
10. We took a day trip to D.C. where we visited the White House, Ford's Theater & the Peterson Boarding House, as well as Arlington Cemetery.
11. I once inadvertently spent an entire Saturday in bed watching books about Lincoln on CSPAN's Book TV -- the first time I'd ever watched that channel.
12. Last year I went out of my way to take 10 minutes to speedwalk through the Lincoln Bicentennial travelling exhibit between meetings and heading to the airport because I was afraid I wouldn't get another chance -- and then got to see it at a leisurely pace this summer when it was in Denver during the DNC.
13. Happy 200th birthday President Lincoln!

Why I love working with engineers

Love Letter to Yourself

I found this fascinating quote today:

The other thing I’m going to do is write me a letter. A love letter. Seriously. You know the old saying that you need to love yourself before others will love you (or something like that). Here I am, coming off a long, long relationship where I thought I loved another person - and I thought he loved me. To be honest, losing that love has shaken my whole concept of love; what it really is, how you get it and how you give it.Debbie Harris, Coffee For One, Feb 2009

Her questions about love really resonated with me. I feel very comfortable with unconditional familial love but, when it comes to romantic love, I find myself less confident to express what it is and how to give it.

Debbie goes on to ask what you would write in a love letter to yourself? I find it a very thought provoking exercise. Visit her blog to comment, or leave your ideas here.