Academy Memory Book is Back Up

I'm sorry the link went down, but here it is, and its in the side bar as well: Get your copy of the Memory Book from National Academy! Follow this link to browse the first 15 pages of this 64 page book! This book is priced at Blurb Books Cost, I haven't added an "author fee", geeze, were broke enough!

psia national ...

snowbird, utah

By 2008

Book Preview

How Much Snow Will We Get This Year?

Visit the Climate Prediction Center as obsessively as you can, and maybe you'll tame your jones for the snow until December!

What the heck is going on?

Thanks, you guys, for all the well wishes! A brief update: on Tuesday, I had some deep work done on my neck and back, and should have gone home and laid on ice. Instead, because I was feeling so good, I got a bunch done, and then went up to Bridger Bowl to say HI to the ski school and have dinner, do paperwork, etc.

It was snowing on the way up, we were running late, the room was crowded and noisy, full of people I haven't seen all summer, and it was really fun to see everyone and say hi, and catch up.

I noticed that I was having some trouble focusing on conversations during dinner, and I was really challenged by the paperwork I had to fill out, two things that had eased in the last five days, when I've been feeling really good, and excited to go down to Aspen and finally SKI!

During the presentation, I was holding a beautiful baby, watching a slideshow, and giggling with friends whom I haven't seen in a while. The room was hot, and I began to feel an immense amount of pain in my neck where the main site of my injury from my car accident is, and the sensation of pressure in my brain increased.

I went downstairs and laid down on the cold tile floor of the bathroom, because I knew I was going to pass out. When all was said and done, I was cold, clammy sweaty, and a bit freaked out. Angela came down and we left a bit early, and on the way down the canyon, my arms went numb, and I felt like I was going to throw up. All I wanted was to be still and get my head on some ice pronto.

Angela and I decided that a quick trip to the ER would be in order, so we went in. I laid on the triage desk while Ange held an ice pack to my head, and I got checked in. somehow, I ended up on a gourney in a room, and finally, finally, got an IV, into which they pumped an anti-vertigo med, valium, depacote and an anti nausiant. All the while, Anglea was making calls and taking care of me. She ended up staying until 11:45 at night, when Liat, my little sister, came to the ER and took over.

I had a new CAT scan, and it was clean, there is no bleed. The care in the ER was amazing, even though they were slammed busy. My pain in my head and neck stayed high, even through theese big gun pain killers, and today, Tiffany and Elaine, two friends from massage school, left school and came out to watch my kids (who were home sick from school), and take me to my MRI appointment.

We are currently waiting for results (and I have a copy, so I can post pics as soon as I get on a PC and can get them open!), but my gut feeling is that everything is fine. I think I overstimulated myself on a long day after deep work on my neck and that what my nervous system needed that day was rest.

Thanks for all your love and concern, and I'll keep you posted!

Happy Birthday, Cindy!!

Thanks for adding sparkle and life to everything you do. I think you are pretty amazing, and I'm grateful to have you in my life!

Finding your path... an answer to Anonymous

I just received this comment on my blog:

"So, this might seem a little out of the blue, and possibly totally inappropriate, but what happened to the Kate of all your other old blogs? You are without doubt driven and successful and amazing at remaking yourself and at inspiring others, but I miss the Kate that posted about books and art and recipes for pie, plus those little stories about you and your family. So entertaining and well written. You almost seem like a completely different person these days."

And it was interesting to read, because I have been thinking about writing a post on just this topic.

The short answer is, I'm glad you liked my old blogs, about my family and my life at home. If other readers are curious, you can check here, these are the blogs I was writing before I began skiing:

A Good Book and a Piece of Pie
Unsuspected Depth
Bodice Buster
Adventures in Sculpture Building

And the long answer, what happened to the old Kate? Well, I'm right here. But over time, I've grown. I've been searching for a long time for the thing that makes me happy in my life, for "my path".

I have, in the past, put my head down and pushed through a couple of things I thought were interesting and might lead to some form of success. The problem was my definition of success. I was a competitive figure skater, a relatively successful actress, an artist, a writer, I was interested in being a caterer and writing cookbooks, I love being a mom, I enjoyed making and keeping house. I owned a rock climbing gym, and a cloth diaper making business. To all of these endeavors, I applied myself as wholly as I could, believing that to "make it" one must fully commit and push through whatever obstacle stands in your way.

Interestingly enough, in the pursuit of "success", even as a mom, I lost myself. The truth is, I do miss making art, its in me, its a huge part of what I love. But I couldn't support myself doing it, the creation and installation of my pieces was hugely taxing on my family's finances, and on my marriage. I know that Art will still be there in six, or ten, or twenty years, and I'm glad to be able to make the occasional painting or sculpture along my current journey.

Almost six years ago, I began a long journey which has landed me here, where I am today. Today, I feel that I am on "my path", finally. I feel at home, comfortable, confident, and valued. I see my path unfolding before me, and I'm grateful to have found it.

The thing that sparked the change was my pregnancy with Bodhi. I came to realize during my pregnancy that I needed to keep my children safe from a person who had been in my life for 26 years, and who was very, very poisonous. This person was abusive to me and other people that I love, daily. Emotionally, physically, sexually. And I came to a place where I could not let that happen to my kids.

The day I was brave enough, I cut that person, my step father, out of my life forever. The process of removing him completely and beginning down the path of healing took four years. During that time, Tom and I were struggling to be successfully with our climbing company, I was in school, and we had two kids. I was trying to stick with a life long love of art, and force my path through on that front, no matter the difficulties or consequences.

Also during this time, we had four or five people at a time living with us, all of whom were going through similar issues. I was happy to have people around me, I was beginning to feel like I could create a family that felt right to me. But I was still suffering from a lot of emotional trauma from my past experiences, including being diagnosed with PTSD from the abuse I had suffered since I was 6. I was still a victim, and had yet to turn the corner to survivor.

Also during that time, I was fortunate enough to read a book called The Courage to Heal 4e: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse 20th Anniversary Edition
, an incredible book that took me through the first steps toward freedom for myself and safety for my kids, which was paramount.

When we lost our business to our landlord, and my studio burnt to the ground in the same year, just weeks before my first solo show at the Metro Gallery in Los Angeles, I left school. Tom and I were shell shocked at what had happened, and our terrific friends Jen and Steve were living in Montana. We fled to their home and found solace and family with them. From terrible adversity, we found some peace, and moved here, to what seemed like paradise.

For the first year, we lived a bit like emotional refugees from the traumatic experiences we'd been through, and I was grateful for the time to bond together as an insular family. I was in therapy, learning how to draw boundaries, how to protect myself, how to be a good role model for my kids, and trying to figure out what it meant to suddenly be a stay at home mom in Montana with no career, having shot my art career in the foot when Tom and I made the choice that moving to a beautiful, small, rural place like Bozeman was more important for our family than me making it as an artist in LA.

But over time, I felt lost. I wrote about what I was doing, which was reading a lot of books and cooking and keeping house and raising my kids, all of which I enjoy doing, but I didn't feel like I was on my path. I felt lonely a lot of the time, and I was constantly asking myself if this was the rest of my life, could I live like this?

The period of time in which I was writing about books and recipes, and trying to make contemporary public art in Bozeman (which is a very artistic and supportive community), I felt lost. I have always been a competitive athlete, and I missed the things that had been important to me in my life before kids: hiking, trekking, adventuring, climbing, being outside and moving around in the mountains.

I felt that I had given up on an essential part of me. I was fortunate enough to meet Dave Evans at Bridger Bowl when I was taking Ethan up for ski lessons when he was five. I was given an opportunity to ski, and to teach.

Over the course of the next very confusing year, I came to see that I had been denying myself something that is fundamentally important to me. While I was spending a lot of time at home, and doing the best job I could keeping house and making food, I was sad. And lonely. And very lost. I had given up on living a life that felt like it had purpose, and had resigned myself to a life as "mom" only.

Don't get me wrong, I think that being a mother is a huge and important job. And it is certainly a job that leaves an impact. But I was not honoring myself by having that be my defining role. Wife and Mother to the exclusion of all else was not fulfilling me. And I felt guilt about that. I felt like it aught to be enough.

But when I started skiing, I found Kate again. I found the fun side of me, the side I had been denying for years while protecting myself from my abuser, while caring for others who were abused, while trying to make a home that fit the standard I had set.

What I didn't realize was that in trying to meet some fictional ideal of house and home, I had lost who I was.

Turning the corner was hard. I went back to therapy and worked hard on learning how to know what a boundary was, how to care for myself, how to let go of old ideas about myself and "success" that were installed by my past family history.

During that time, I took myself back. I found joy, I became stronger, I began to honor what and who I really am, rather than trying to fit into a mold that makes sense to other people. I struggled to stop worrying about what other people would think, and just be who I naturally was.

During this process, I lost some friends, and that was very difficult. But I also knew that I was a happier, healthier person, and a better wife and mom for making the decision to stay with me, to honor my voice, to be who I am, and not who a committee thinks I aught to be.

An interesting thing happened when I started to honor my inner voice. All the experiences from my past coalesced into a path that easily unfolded in front of me. I have been a coach in one form or another for the last 18 years or so, in skating, tennis, boxing, rock climbing, and now skiing.

I had lived with a variety of people for whom I was friend and counselor, and had educated myself on their conditions, as well as my own, and helped them move in the direction of health and therapy. I worked closely with a therapist who advised me on their conditions and directed me to appropriate reading material.

Pulling from my own experience with performance anxiety in life and on the ice, from my experience in acting, writing, and coaching, HardHead Coaching coalesced in front of me. People were interested in a focused way to achieve their dreams, and all the past experiences I had suddenly gelled into a coaching system that seems flexible enough to meet the individual needs of each client, and to be broadly applied to a ski school or a group.

Because I am coaching skiing, now, and you can't coach skiing from a lawn chair (unless you are Cal Cantrell, I've heard), I had the opportunity to become, once again, at 36, an athlete in training.

With all of these things gelling, my healing and commitment to the safety and security of my family, my own commitment to training my body and mind, and opportunities to coach others, my path suddenly appeared before me.

And mentors, coaches and teachers were everywhere. The resistance here is minimal, the support is enormous. I am hugely indebted to Bridger Bowl, Dave Evans, Mike Hickey and Josh Spuhler. If it wasn't for them, I would not have found this enormously satisfying culmination of past experiences, focused down into a specific goal.

I know a lot of people who are searching for their path, for the thing that makes them feel like there is meaning in their lives, and I have to say that I think it begins with honoring who you are and learning to love and care for yourself, so that you can then love and care for others.

And then comes the scary part, doing what you know is right for you, regardless of what other people wish you would do. Some people in my life wanted me to get an MBA, some had strong feelings about me acting, some about me making sculpture, some about me NOT painting... there always seemed to be a battery of people with very strong opinions about where I should spend my time and energy. But when I began to honor me, I began for the first time to hear these ideas as ideas that belonged to other people, rather than edicts on how not to let other people down. And I began to be able to stick solidly with something that is important to me, and tell people who think otherwise, thank you for your opinion, which I am happy to listen to, but I'll not set aside my dreams or goals for another person's convenience ever again.

I know that to some people, who met me when I was pregnant, and didn't know the person who was a stage manager, actress, figure skater, etc, that this shift from staying at home and cooking to traveling all over the country and coaching may seem abrupt and strange.

But the truth is, in those years, while I was happily caring for my kids, I came to a place when they became a certain age that begged me to pull some focus back to me. I know that not all moms agree with the choices I have made, and that's okay. I think we all have our path, and I know that the path I am on is the right one for me. I feel balance there, that I am bonded to my kids, a good and close parent, and also honoring the things in my life that make me feel alive.

My quest for the Demo Team started out as just that: a physiological experiment: could it be done? Could I train my body, at 36 to become a good enough skier that I could do what I love most, coach at a high level in a new sport?

Now, the Demo Team seems to me like a logical step on a career path that I love. I can't wait to continue developing my coaching system, and watching it change and mutate as I meet more people and learn more. I draw from all my past experiences to do the job I love, and therefore, I am grateful for each of them. I know that I went through the things I went through to prepare me to be here, where I am today, on my path, heading in a direction that feels positive, with purpose. Teaching on the team would be a great job and an honor, and if it seems like the right step in four years when my tryout is, I will be as prepared as I can be to meet that challenge.

So, Anonymous, to answer your question: I'm sorry that you miss the "old" Kate, but she's right here. The only difference is, now I honor my inner voice and follow my intuition, which has led me to friendships, adventures and closeness with my kids that I could only have imagined before.

Thank you for your comment, and for being brave to post it, it is just that kind of honesty that honors you, and its hard to tell a friend that you wish they were different. Thank you for reading, and for commenting!

I Have National Teams Tryouts Video!

Thanks to Ben Roberts, and Chris Kastner, I have an hour and 15 min of video on DVD from the National Alpine Teams Tryouts this year, if you'd like a copy, send $5 and a SASE to:

Kate Howe
National Teams Video
628 Starling Dr
Bozeman, MT
59718

I got my ass handed to me in Yoga yesterday... Welcome to the Team, Tiffany!

I finally made it to Yoga. I've been meaning and meaning to go, for about four years, now. When we lived in Pasadena, pre-kids, I had a pretty good practice, about three times a week. There seemed always to be a reason not to go, which is silly, because I know it does so much for my body, mind, and spirit. I always feel better after Yoga.

So, on Saturday Morning, I headed down to Down to Earth Yoga at the Emmerson Cultural Center in Bozeman, and of course, I had done everything I could to miss class, I slept badly the night before, I had a hangover from the fabulous Equinox party Friday, I dilly-dallied on my computer, I know you aren't supposed to enter class late...

At the last minute I sucked up my courage, parked my car and snuck into class. Tiffany Mylott was teaching, she's also a massage therapy student at Health Works Institute, and the class was AWESOME.

Do you know that feeling when you haven't been skiing in years and years, and then you go out and ski ALL DAY because its so much fun, and then you get back to wherever you are staying and you are CRIPPLED and want to DIE?

Tiffany did that to me in an hour and a half. It was awesome. I am so freakin' sore I can't believe it. Of course, Tiffany didn't really do that to me, I did that to me. SO - if you are in Bozeman, take a can of food with you and go to her class, it rocks, it's only $7 with a can of food for the food drive, and if you haven't done Yoga in a while, well, PACE YOURSELF! Tiffany also does private classes, email me at katehowe at mac dot com if you are interested, and I'll pass it along.

Its a beautiful, deep, compassionate practice taught by a woman who knows what she's doing. In fact, it was so great, I asked Tiff if she would join my team as my Yoga instructor to make my core and legs stronger and to help me get my balance back, and she has agreed! So welcome to the team, Tiffany, thanks for joining!!

On the way to the movies.

Taking the kids to see Madagascar!

It Becomes What You Use it For

On Friday, in Anatomy class, we learned about Wolff's Law, which states: "It becomes what you use it for.". Wolff was talking about what happens when muscle attachments pull on bone. When you look at a skelleton of an active adult, there are bony landmarks all over it. Those bony landmarks are where muscles attach via their tendonous connections.

Wolff hypothesized that those bony landmarks exist BECAUSE of the muscle pulling on the bone where it attaches. And thus, it becomes what you use it for.

Since Aubrey, our Physio/Path teacher at HealthWorks told us this, I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. It reminds me of the childrens book A House Is a House for Me

This cyclical statement has become, to me, a proof and a mantra. It becomes what you use it for. Lets start easy: think of all the types of athletes you know, or saw in the Olympics: swimmers have a certian type of body, generally, long, lean, big backs, low body fat. Triathletes have another type, stringy, with "runners" legs. Cyclists are huge on the bottom and small on the top. Surfers are relatively balanced top to bottom, and can withstand more body fat without impacting their sport, in fact, it may be helpful as an insulating layer.

What if we moved that idea to the intention for the way we live our life? It becomes what we use it for. My heart becomes open when I use it for compassion, especially when I want to judge. My faith in myself becomes larger when I choose to believe in myself, especially when I want to give up.

There are times in life when we come up against judgment. Self judgment, as most of you know, is the bane of your athletic existence, I spend a lot of time in my coaching practice finding ways to get the athlete to set aside judgment and give themselves permission to do the thing they are there to do, without apology. What if you knew that you become what you use it for? If you want to be an excellent skier, go skiing.

If you want to be an excellent mom, hug your children. If you want to be free from the internal judgment, practice an hour free from judgment. If you are a person who likes to beat themselves up for being lazy, or someone who can be hyper critical of yourself because you didn't do something that seems easy (WHY do I always run out of dish soap before I buy more? Stupid, make a list, geeze, other people are able to act like adults and get their soap. Why can't I?)

You are, in that moment, becoming what you are using your mind for: a vessel for self-loathing and hatred. This becomes the power, this removes your power. You become a channel, a conduit, for negative thought.

What if in the hour in which you practiced setting aside judgment, you became what you were using it for? You might find space, just a little, to take a breath. There might be room in there to make a different choice.

For four years, I have intended to get back to Yoga class. Today, I went, because I want my body to become the thing I use it for.

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States!

WE DID IT! McCain's concession speech was great! It's the most human I've seen him.

I voted!

We voted and as we came outside, it had started snowing! It's a good omen! Go Obama!

Voting at the court house!

Here's the line!

Julie the volunteer with all the food for the crowd!

Waiting in line for three hours at the courthouse!

Ethan and Bodhi watch you tube on the ipod touch while tom waits in the three hour line at the court house. Volunteers are feeding people for free!

My Best Friend Is Voting For McCain, and I Still Love Her.

Our good friends were over the other night, and we had some interesting conversation. Oddly enough, we are just as different as day and night from them; yet our deep friendship remains intact and beautiful.

I am, to boil it down, a Buddhist, who eats organic vegetarian food, and is voting for Obama. I am a working mom whose kids are in public school. She is a Christian Scientist who eats organic meat which a friend of hers hunts, and is voting for McCain. She is a stay at home mom who is homeschooling.

One of the things I love the most about our friendship is that we are open to learning from each other even though we are so very very different. I have been to church with her, and really enjoyed the experience, because it was an opportunity for me to learn more about this person whom I love, and what matters to her. Her church was welcoming and open and interesting. She listens to me wax rhapsodic on the benefits of Vapassana meditation, because being here now i is something that is important to me and gives her a similar opportunity.

We are careful not to judge each other, although sometimes its hard for both of us. I am a fan of Palin's amazing political savvy in the Politician Game, but I don't think she's qualified to run the country. My friend says she technically has more executive experience than the other candidates, and off we go!

The political discussion was careful, and had it not happened at the end of Bodhi's birthday party when my mind was fried, it probably could have gotten VERY interesting.

In the end, the point is this: you have the right to choose the person you feel represents you. The person YOU feel can care for this country and steer it in the right direction. In the end, this is YOUR choice, and there should be no judgment. There can be healthy argument, and good, intelligent conversation, because the choice YOU MAKE should be informed.

I believe you shouldn't go to church (or not) because your parents did (or did not), I believe you should go (or not) because you've made a choice, after having studied, continuing to learn about and have decided is a meaningful, positive choice in your life.

Voting is the same. The booth is private. It doesn't matter where you were raised or who your neighbor is voting for. It doesn't matter if you have a McCain sticker on your car, if your heart feels its not the right choice, you can choose a different candidate. There are plenty on the Ballot. (Okay, to be fair, and vice-versa).

But make your voice heard, get out there and say what you feel is right for you!

GO VOTE!

Read it from the begining!

Here it is, the first post. April 17, 2007. I had just started teaching that January after about 35 days on skis as a kid. I hadn't been on snow in a decade, and for a decade before that, I'd been on a snowboard. (Very poorly, I might add. Missy Cashman saw me on a board once at the end of this season and she was like WOAH! Lady, you are OLD SCHOOL! Thanks a LOT, Missy. That's still not quite as bad as Andy Docken yelling "Hey, Kate, the 80's called, they want their turns back!" from the lift in Mammoth...)

I thought that skiing and snowboarding were things that to get better at, you just had to work on getting less scared. The concept of a normal human being able to hone a skill that could make something really steep very fun to ski on wasn't even on my radar. It is for this reason, amongst others, that I'm really really grateful to PSIA and the people in it.

It started with Josh Spuhler, who looked at me on my first clinic and said, "Wow, Kate, you are kind of a race car!"

I grinned back, "Yeah, I know!" (I was proud.)

"No, I mean, every time I look behind me, you are gaining on me!" he added.

"Yeah, I know, I like to go fast!" I said, still kinda super proud.

"Um, but... well, that's not necessarily a GOOD thing, Kate."

?? What ??

"Here is my question: could you go slower if I asked you to?"

"Sure." I said. Confident.

LET THE EDUCATION OF KATE BEGIN. Thanks, Josh. I will never ever forget my very first lesson on turn shape. I have a funny feeling we're gonna be RIGHT back there again this season!

Fun Fact: stuff that's posted dated earlier than that are just linked pages to other pertinent information...

I get about five hits a week from folks looking for the beginning of the story, so here it is, knock yourselves out, and thanks for reading!

Permission to Train (and this is my 600th post!)

First off, holy CRAP, I can't believe I've written 600 posts! Thanks for sticking in there with me on my journey, guys! Its been quite the adventure, and we still have how many days to go? (1275, give or take a few for any of you who are counting...)

One of my coaching clients, Jonathan, is training to go to Kona and compete in the Iron Man in five years. Its quite the goal, but then again, he's quite a guy.

We had a meeting last week, and because he wrote about it, I get to share it with you! We spoke a bit about giving yourself permission to act unapologetically for the things that you do for yourself that are healthy for you and in the interest and puruit of your goals (as long as they aren't hurting or taking from other people). It was a grea session, and Jonathan wrote a cool post about it from his perspective, which you can find here.

Keep on truckin' Jonathan, I love how open you are to these big challenges, and I'm not even talking about the race, I'm talking about what it takes to even begin to think about getting there.

Getting Lost on the M trail is easier than it looks...

Today, I went for a hike with my friend Elaine from massage therapy school. We hiked up the M, taking our time, and decided when we got to the ridge just to trundle on up to the top of the second little peak there.

Since I had all my appointments on Thursday, I've been feeling much MUCH better, Friday was an incredible day, Saturday was harder, as I had a lot of errands to run for Bodhi's birthday, so the day got harder and harder, then 14 five year olds and their parents came over for a couple of hours, which was fun but exceptionally overwhelming. (photos coming soon)

I spent most of the party internally coaching myself through the chaos... one of the things that I used to be pretty good at which I am really struggling with now is keeping a train of thought when there is a lot of noise or interruption. That, of course, never EVER happens when you have 14 five year olds running through the house.

Cassy, babysitter of doom and another friend from Massage Therapy, came to the party and was lovely enough to run to my rescue, hiding skelleton pieces, playing games with the girls, and handing out spiked cider (with pomegranete liquour and cogniac! wheee!) to the adults.

Our good friends the Hustons stayed after, and Mama Jen cleaned up my entire kitchen while I sat in the playroom trying to get my mind to be still.

This morning, I woke up with an even worse headache (I've had one since the accident, but it has really intensified lately), and I found myself wishing wishing for a day of therapy appointments, because I want to feel good again!

I met Elaine out at the M in the morning, as I said, and we hiked up to the second peak, I think its about 7 or 8 miles round trip. It was GREAT to get out there on a long long hike, to be way up high and watch the rain moving across the valley.

My balance is still totally whacked, which makes me worried, I lost my balance several times on my way up the trail, and had some LOVELY vertigo once we were standing on the top, which never happens to me on rock. On the way back down, I had the odd experience of thinking that we had turned down off the ridge and were heading down the main M trail, when we came out of a clearing and I realized that we were just NOW at the end of the ridge and turning down the trail. This kind of disorientation is bizarre to say the least. We hiked on again for a while, and I had that lost feeling one more time before we got to the fork that takes you down the steep way or over to the M itself. I recognized the fork and from there on felt fine, but definately felt my body on the way down.

The stress and distress of feeling lost on such familiar terrain was something I had to breathe through and actively let go, I could feel the physical manifestations trying to take over, with my headache increasing like crazy and my body getting tight and tense. When we got back to the car, my legs were shaking, and I felt like crawling in the back of my truck and just laying there. I wanted to curl up in a ball and rock and cry for a few minutes, but I hugged Elaine, and tried to breathe through it, let it go into the wind, found the feeling of some raindrops on my face, which made me sane enough to get to the Daily Coffee Bar on Rousse, where I thought, perhaps, a latte might help.

I've been off caffiene completely for a week now, so I thought it might kill the headache, no luck there, but being in the Daily made me feel warm and loved and well fed, and on I went to home, where Tom had spent the day cleaning after the party.

I went into the playroom (after medicating and then counting the minutes for the meds to kick in) and then embarked on the most therapeutic thing I can do: a transformer rebuild.

The transformers had been trashed by the kids at the party, so Ethan and Bodhi and I systematically sorted the parts by color and type, and slowly rebuilt them all. My speech therapist says this is a great activity, and it was terrific. I sort of Rain Man'd out in the corner and just worked on Transformers for a few hours, and then felt much better.

I've had to coach myself through every activity this evening, answering emails and working on scheduling, but I got through it all. I have my first midterm tomorrow, but I am going to prepare for it by going to bed early and hoping for a passing grade, I'm afraid of putting any more stress on my brain tonight!

Written up in 32 Degrees Magazine

Thanks for the great write up, Uncle Random! I'm in a ski magazine! YAY! Click on the picture to get a large size you can actually READ.

Happy Birthday, Stacey!

Thanks for all you encouragement and your friendship! I miss you! xoxo K