Seriously? It's almost May!

And now it starts snowing?  What?  Where was this a few months ago?

Ok, I will hush now because we desperately needed this snow storm.  And, we need about 10 more just like it to come through and fill our lakes and reservoirs.  I'm pretty sure that won't happen though.

Saturday morning I was woken up by the sound of banging coming from our basement.  I rolled over to wake Mike up and realized he wasn't there.  A few more loud bangs and I realized he was downstairs getting his skis out of storage... stripping the thick coat of wax off... the same wax he just put on because we thought winter was over.

We have 2 entrances to our basement.  One from inside the house: you have to drop a set of attic steps and climb down a ladder (not the easiest route).  A there's an entrance from outside.  The racket that woke me up that morning was because Mike was choosing route #1... to enter the basement from inside.  I couldn't figure out why he chose this option, compared to the easier option of just going outside, until I got out of bed and opened the bedroom curtains.  There was a solid 10 inches of snow on the ground... maybe close to a foot in some areas.

He headed off to ski and I stayed home and relaxed.  I did yoga.  I read.  I worked out.  I went for a walk.  I ran a few errands.  I basically did whatever I wanted.  It was nice.  And even though it's almost May and I'm more excited about mountain biking and paddleboarding than skiing right now, it was actually pretty nice to see the snow falling.

WHAT'S BETTER THAN YOGA ON A DAY LIKE THIS?

ZATER - DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST!

LIKE A KID ON A SNOW DAY!  HE JUST RAN BACK AND FORTH.

SUCH A BEAUTIFUL LAKE... EVEN WHEN IT'S CLOUDY. 

STILL SNOWING OVER THERE

STILL SNOWING OVER THERE TOO 

I really shouldn't be surprised to have a snowstorm in April.  Even last year we got almost 8 inches in one storm in May.  To my fellow North Carolinian's, you aren't the only ones with crazy weather.  Even out here we use the heat in the mornings and the AC in the afternoons (in the car... we don't have AC in our house... we don't need it... it's too nice).  

Tomorrow the weather should turn warm again.  Most of our snow is already gone.  What's left will be gone after tomorrow.  It was nice to see it, and I would love to see more of it actually. 

 Next weekend we are hoping to have some camping and mountain biking adventures so stay tuned! 

Prone to Wander

This phrase has appeared to me a couple of times this week (and it's only Monday).  A sign?  Probably.

It was first mentioned yesterday during the church sermon.  And later I read the same phrase in a yoga passage (I am reading a book of daily essays re: yoga/meditation).  We are prone to wander.  We wander away from God but He always accepts us back.  It's easy to wander away from Him when life is going smoothly... and then we go crying back to him when we hit a bump in the road.  This has been especially true in my life.  I am so blessed that I was raised in a Christian household.  I'm happy that I was taught to have faith in a God who is bigger than me.  Around my college years I turned away from that faith.  I didn't do anything bad.  I wasn't a little hellion.  I just didn't practice my faith.  I only prayed when I desperately needed an A on a test, but I hadn't studied.  Or I prayed that I would make enough money at my commission based job to be able to buy a new outfit to wear to the club on Friday night.  Yep.  Seriously.  That was the extent of my praying.

Occasionally I would pray for forgiveness of my sins, but that was usually when my stress level had skyrocketed and I was desperate for someone to relieve me of it.  (Please note: I have always had a pretty easy life... I came from a loving home... got a good education, etc.  I had nothing to be stressed over at the time, but I couldn't understand that.  I have never handled stress particularly well).

At some point I reached a point in my life where I wanted to know God again.  I wanted a relationship with God.  I wanted to understand why so many people believe in Him, and why so many others don't.  So, I started reading the Bible.  I got really into it.  The more I read, the more I learned, and the more I wanted to keep reading.  But, I hid this from my husband.  I would read while he was at work, and then hide my Bible in my dresser drawer under other items like I hadn't touched it in years.  I was seriously embarrassed to be reading the Bible.  Seems ridiculous now but at the time it was legitimately embarrassing to me.  At some point I started praying that I wouldn't be embarrassed by it anymore... and then, I wasn't.  I started leaving it out in the open.  I started reading it right in front of him.  And guess what?  He didn't make fun of me!  Imagine that.  (Apparently that's what I thought would happen before if I read the Bible in front of him... I must have thought he would point and laugh at me, calling me a dork or a loser in an obnoxious voice like the little bullies from A Christmas Story).

Anyway, now I am growing in my comfort zone.  I continue to go through periods of spiritual ignorance where I try to handle things on my own, denying my need for intervention from a higher power.  I went through one of those periods recently.  I stopped reading the Bible each morning... I also stopped working out... and I stopped eating healthy too!  I started sitting on the couch, watching LOTS of tv, making excuses to avoid mountain bike rides or skiing.  Before I knew it, I was 150 lbs... only 5 lbs less than the heaviest I have ever been in my life.  To some, it may not sound like much and let's face it: I'm not morbidly obese.  But, on my 5'3" frame, anything over 135 lbs starts to show and can't be hid with baggy clothes.  It's also more about the way I feel than the way I look.  At 150 lbs I'm not comfortable in my skin.  My clothes aren't comfortable anymore and I refuse to buy a new wardrobe.  I feel sluggish.  Things are just harder when I'm at my heaviest.  And things hurt more.  My back hurts.  My knees hurt.  I don't like to hurt.

Most depressing of all, I don't feel like myself.  Inside I know that I am a hiker.  A paddleboarder.  A runner.  A mountain biker.  A skier.  I LOVE being active.  There is no better feeling in the world than lying in bed at the end of a LONG day outside, completely exhausted and totally ecstatic with all that you saw and did that day.  I like feeling strong.  I like feeling that I can handle any adventure that comes my way.  But I also like donuts.  And icecream.  And all you can eat sushi.

I like LOVE to travel.  If I could wander the world and never have to settle down, I totally would.  My ideal life would be to see a new place every. single. day.  Why?  Because when I see new places it's easy to appreciate how awesome God is.  I suspect that even an atheist would stand in wonder at the beauty of Lake Tahoe and find it hard not to give some credit to a higher power for this beautiful planet.  Travel makes me appreciate the world and all the people living in it.  Staying in one place makes me feel jaded.

But, I'm learning to love staying in one place (admittedly, that one place is still relatively new and exciting to me).  I'm learning to focus on my inside instead of my outside.  Since moving to Tahoe I have learned more about myself than I had in the 27 previous years combined.  I have learned that our true nature is spiritual and that's what we need to focus on to be happy (not wealth or beauty).  I've learned that spiritual ignorance leads to other afflictions like desire and greed and perfectionism.
I've lost the balance in my life.  And it all began when I became spiritually ignorant (again). It will likely happen again at some point, but now that I'm aware of my #1 priority in life, the odds are in my favor.  I no longer care if I'm 150 lbs. or 130 lbs.  I don't care what size my pants are.  I don't care that my teeth aren't perfectly straight even though I wore braces for 6 years (yep... 6 long years... after which I refused to wear my retainer as was instructed by my orthodontist until the point that my retainer no longer fit... totally my fault... sorry mom and dad).  All I care about from this moment forward is that I keep my life in balance.  The rest will fall into place.

And... I apologize for the long post but I had this revelation tonight and I knew that I needed to write it all down for that day when I inevitably get "off track" again.  I will come back to this post and re-read it... quickly getting myself back "on track" before my life falls out of balance again!    

Home Sweet Home

I'm equally split down the middle in regards to what feels like "home" to me right now.  I must say: North Carolina will always be home!  More specifically, my lovely small town of Wendell will always be the place I refer to as "where I'm from."  But, I have to give Tahoe some credit too!  The Sierra's welcomed us and made us feel comfortable immediately.  As much as I LOVED visiting NC recently, I also really LOVED coming back to Tahoe.

Since it's been a while since I've posted (again)... here's a glimpse at what life was like in Tahoe a few weeks ago.

 Mike and I went mountain biking (actually, he went mountain biking... I felt like I just took my bike on a nice long hike) up Cold Creek Trail.  It ends at an awesome meadow with a beautiful creek running through it and snow dusted mountains all around it.  

It's not a super easy trail.  There are some difficult sections.  So, we made a day of it and packed our hammocks and some sandwiches.  It was a pretty nice nap.  

Our modes of relaxation and our modes of transportation. 

I do NOT hate it here.  

 It's amazing that the trails are almost completely snow free.  We should still be skiing!  But, it's been an awful winter here this year.  Here's a look at Stagecoach run at Heavenly Ski Resort... 

... that's a lot of dirt mixed in with that snow.  And see that brown patch in the upper/middle part of the trail?  That's ALL dirt.  So sad. 

The past week we spent in North Carolina.  It was nice to be home and especially nice to see our families over Easter!  I miss spending holidays with my family for sure.  Mike and I packed our clothes for church and I was excited revisit my little old church... the place where Mike and I were married.  

But, my nephew and niece convinced us to skip church... on Easter... and just stay home and play.  I'm so glad we did.  I had the best time just playing with them.  I got to go for a run with my brother and sister-in-law who I never get to see and spend time with.  It was awesome!  It really couldn't have been a better day.  We had lunch and played outside.  Absolutely perfect.  I miss them SO much.  I desperately wish we lived closer.  They are growing WAY too fast and I feel like they are at such a fun age right now.  

Later that day Mike and I headed to good ol' Whitsett, NC to check on our townhouse.  We were SO pleasantly surprised to see that our previous tenants left the place SPOTLESS!  They were awesome and we will miss them as renters but, we wish them well in their future adventures.  

We spent a couple of days doing some maintenance things around the house and showing it to a few prospective tenants.  We saw several friends while we were there and in a lot of ways, it was really nice to be "home" again.  We had great friends who cooked us a WONDERFUL dinner so we didn't have to eat out every single meal.  We sat around the fire pit and caught up on each other's lives.  

Speaking of eating out... we ate a LOT of fast food that week!  Welcome back to North Carolina, the land of deliciously fried food.  It's nice to be back in Tahoe if for no other reason than we are at our home where our pots and pans are and where we can cook ourselves some healthy meals!

Anyway, we realized during the week that everyone who was interested in the house did not want it furnished... and we had left behind some of our furniture for our previous tenants to rent.  So, we decided to put it on Craigslist and Mike also posted it to the Alamance County Garage Sale group on facebook.  I was nervous we wouldn't be able to sell it all.  

Here's what we had to get rid of:

... and we had a full set of patio furniture to get rid of.  

We sold ALL of it in less than 2 hours!  And the people who bought it came and picked it all up!  It was amazing!  Whew... that's one less stress!

We did attempt a day trip to the beach but that didn't go as planned.  Oh well.  Next time! 

We had a wonderful time at home. We spent the last part of the week visiting Mike's family and catching up.   We visited LOTS of friends and family in the short week but, we still didn't get to see everyone.  I'm sorry if we missed you this time, but we hope to see some of you next time!  Until then, come visit us in Tahoe!!!