So. On of our new things to TRY this past week was all about focusing on experiences instead of stuff. For Christmas, instead of yet more Legos, Nathan and I got the boys (and us) tickets to Mythbusters Live at the Budweiser Event Center. (The boys have LOVED Mythbusters for years and have watched pretty much every episode from all ten seasons.) The show was Thursday night. It was awesome! Here are the boys next to our seats just before the show started:

We had pretty good seats right on the floor...could see Adam and Jamie like this:

We watched as they involved audience members in fun experiments, answered audience questions and shared behind-the-scenes stories. Stuff like this:

 
Yup. Had a blast! (Micah declared it better than The Nutcracker and the Ringling Bros/Barnum & Bailey Circus combined, lol...so you know it must have been fabulous, because he loved both those other things plenty!) 

Some numbers for you...

337  I ran 337 miles in 2011! Yes, I know that may not be a lot to some of you...but, for someone who ran ZERO miles the previous 20 years or so and only started running in April and kinda didn't run much in December, that's pretty good, don't you think? :)

500  That's the number of miles I'm aiming to run in 2012. Totally doable, right?

13.1  That's the number of miles in the half marathon I signed up for. Yup. Really. (Molly, stop laughing at me and reminding me about how adamant I was last summer that I did NOT want to run a half marathon, lol.) But, after two 5Ks and a 10K, I feel like it's a good goal...and I work better with goals. ;) Made myself a training plan and everything because I'm a lover of lists and that works for me. 

2  As in a pair. Bought myself a pair of new running shoes and have been TRYing them out with my new training plan as the thing I TRY'd out last week. 

20  The cost of peace of mind. Ordered the shoe version of RoadID and it came last weekend. I feel better. If you don't have one, you should get one. Great product!

So, that's that. :)

Even though I'm behind on other posts, I'm going to skip ahead and post this one. :) 

So. As many of you know, I've been choosing "one little word" of the year for the last five years. This year's no different and my word feels perfect. Here's how it picked me...

2011 was pretty darn good. Managed to accomplish many of the goals I set for myself, establish new, healthier habits and continue homeschooling and raising three happy boys. Along the road, I realized that I’d had it in me all along (specifically things like the ability to actually run, lol)…all I’d had to do was TRY. So. For 2012, my word is TRY. I’m hoping to TRY something new at least every week. I know I won’t excel at everything I TRY. That’s awesome. The point is to TRY…to focus on experiences rather than things…to push beyond my comfort zone…to be present and willing…to TRY. Who knows what else I’ll learn…

You may notice that I've done a layout about my word most of the years. In 2009, I let my Lists of Me album be my documentation. For last year, I collected all those weekly quotes and made them into a book. For 2012...I'm inspired by the Take Twelve project that many are tackling this year and am going to do my own version...Try Twelve. I'll (hopefully) make at least one layout each month showcasing 12 things I tried that month. (Yes, yes, I know I said I'll try something new at least every week...I figure the "bigger" things might be about that frequent but am actually striving to find even a little something new every day...so, finding 12 from the entire month should still work, right? Right.) 

Also, in case you're cool like me, lol...I just ordered this ring with "TRY" stamped on it to wear throughout the year as a reminder. :) Yay!