The Weekend Experiment

Ok, so I've taken a break from blogging...a very loooong break actually. 2009 was kind of a difficult year on my health and dealing with a chronic illness kind of zapped some energy and a little bit of the zest for life out of me. Thankfully I am starting to feel a little better even though I seem to be catching a good dose of cabin fever.

Last fall I was talking to my roommate about all the fun things I've been wanting to do but always put off because I don't think I can take time off work or I haven't saved the money or I feel too tired, or, or, or...I am not always the best planner so it is easy to find an excuse to put things off. I'd often decide to do something and write it down on the calendar but when it came time to following through I usually decided to put it off again. To be honest I've allowed myself to get in a bit of a rut. Being in a rut is hard but getting out of it is sometimes harder. So I've devised a plan to try and extricate myself from becoming boring. Hence "The Weekend Experiment." This year I am going to plan to do something outside of my house or try something new every weekend. I think it will be a good creative challenge to help me get over some of the complacency I've been feeling and become reinvested in the world around me. 2010 is a new year, heralding the start of a new decade and I just so happen to have just turned 30. What better time to try something new? I'm a little excited to see where this takes me and hope you enjoy it too!

Tired?

Ever felt this tired before? I found this picture online and it totally made me laugh. Too bad I really do feel that way sometimes. This past week I've decided to revisit my New Years Resolutions. I once had a friend who said they like to make them in the spring anyway because that is when the world is starting to become alive again. It just seems natural to start over and begin anew when the ground outside is beginning to thaw out and new growth starts to shoot up among the diminishing patches of snow.
For weeks I have been talking to my roommate about how I need to get back into my old running routine. Well things finally came to a head when I stepped on the scale last week. I turned to her and said this is the last week that I will weigh xxx lbs! This is the last week I will continue wearing my least favorite pair of jeans because nothing else fits! This is the last week I will let excuses keep me from getting the exercise that I need. So I began running again on Thursday. Sometimes it is better for me to start mid week when I am feeling motivated rather than waiting for my nonexistent 'Monday morning self discipline' to jump up and pull me out of bed at 6:00 a.m. Thankfully I moved to a new area that is adjacent to four miles of back road farm land. Running on a crisp cool back country road facing a field that seems to blot out the distant houses and meet up with old Mt Timp itself is very rewarding. However, I wasn't prepared for the pain that awaited me. I have attempted to be a runner for a long time and I am familiar with the sting of cold air on complacent lungs but up until last year I wasn't so well acquainted with the 'now-you're-getting-older-joint-pain' that accompanied it. I suppose that I have been ignoring all the signs that point to the fact that my body is now nearing that closely looming number '30' and I can't just jump up and run three miles like I used to. How do sixty year old women run marathons? How does that white haired man power up Timp every summer running the whole way, no less?
Once, when I was on a group date hiking the Y on a clear dark night we delivered ourselves heaving onto that big concrete slab. The other girl sucked in a few heavy sighs and spit out the words "Getting in shape is a brat!" If only I could remind myself that when it seems like an OK idea to slack off a little when I finally have worked back up to my optimal fitness level. That quote along with a few other friendly reminders are now are taped at eye level next to my bed. My freshman English teacher worded it a little differently when she said "things get harder before they get easier." For some reason that quote has really stuck with me. So as I pounded 4 miles of pavement this morning at the protest of every joint, muscle, and sinew from my waist down I kept repeating that phrase like a mantra: "Things get harder before they get easier, things get harder before they get easier...but the good news is that someday they do get easier..." and I'm 8 miles closer to that day than I was last week.

Life's little detours

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from a recent trip up Provo Canyon. A couple of weeks ago me and my room mate, Eileen, spent a sunny afternoon strolling through the woods. Snowshoeing has always provided us with an opportunity to sort life out and gain a new perspective on things. Sometimes it is good for me to get out in the snow and see how beautiful it can be so i will stop thinking about how cold and irritating it is. Well this trip was successful. I again felt rejuvenated and happy for a few hours while playing in the snow. Of course, that didn't transfer over to the next morning when I had to scrape my windows...

Hutchison Girls Make a Comeback

Growing up I was the only girl among 6 boys. My Dad only has one sister and she has only one daughter. Boys, it would seem, tend to run in the Hutchison genes...if that is at all possible. A few years ago my brothers started getting married, settling down, and having kids. At first it seemed that we were destined to keep adding boys and more boys to the family but the girls have finally caught up. I now have four nieces and four nephews. Mark's wife evened out the balance when she delivered Elenoa on December 4th at 2:12 am. She is a little chunk at 8 lbs 6 oz and 19inches long. I think her facial features look a lot like her mom but her expressions look more like her dad, especially when she wrinkles up her forehead or her nose...she looks just like Mark when she does that. It is so cute!

Quilting Fun?

Recently I finished a baby quilt for my brother Mark and his wife Lani who are expecting a baby any time between now and the end of the month. It turned into a more elaborate project than I intended but now that it's done I'm happy with how it turned out. I learned how to machine quilt from an online tutorial. Since I don't especially care for hand quilting I thought this would be a fairly easy alternative and allow me greater freedom in the finished design of the quilt. 10 hours and five needles later I decided that it wasn't necessarily easier, though I'd hate to think how long it would have taken me to finish all of that by hand.

Favorite Quotes

Recently I've been collecting a smattering of my favorite quotes 'cause lets face it...we could all use an encouraging word now and again. Below are some of mine...Feel free to post some of yours. I would love to read them!

No ray of sunlight is ever lost, but the green which it awakes into existence needs time to sprout.
And it is not always granted unto the sower to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith.
-Albert Schweitzer


Black is beauty in its deepest form,
The darkest cloud in a thunderstorm.
Think of what starlight
And lamplight would lack
Diamonds and fireflies
If they couldn't lean against Black...
-Mary O'Neill

Miracles do not always need to happen all at once

What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well...
-Antoine de Saint Exupery

When we love, we always strive to become better than we are.
-Paulo Coelho

Time is purple
Just before night
When most people
Turn on the light--
But if you don't it's
A beautiful sight.
-Mary O'Neill

Let us have integrity and not write checks with our tongues which our conduct cannot cash.
-Elder Neal A Maxwell

I heard John Taylor preach in the Tabernacle one of the most heavenly discourses ever spoken, upon the principle of Jesus Christ being in man a well of living water. If people will live to the light they have, and to every manifestation from God, they will arrive at such a state of perfection that God will dwell in them a well of everlasting life—a fountain of living water that will dispense life wherever they go. Whatever they do, every act, thought, and word will be full of life, and they will grow into eternal lives in the kingdoms of our God. It is your privilege to so live that you are constantly filled with the light of revelation, that Jesus Christ may be within you as a fountain of living water continually springing forth and yielding life eternal
-Brigham Young

Every beautiful moment in my life has also been imperfect and everything that has been painful has brought me to a better understanding of what beauty and truth truly are

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-Nelson Mandela

Love, patience, and meekness can be just as contagious as rudeness and crudeness.
-Elder Maxwell

Under Construction

So I finally figured out how to customize the background on my blog but I'm still playing around with the text. Sorry it is so small and hard to read right now...Improvements coming soon...Hopefully...