I just uploaded a bunch of candid, unedited photos from our week in Cabo.  As a sudden snow squall swirls around the house this afternoon, it’s nice to think of being on the beach in Mexico with a bunch of terrific friends to celebrate Brad’s birthday together.

N.B.  Attendees are welcome to request the removal of any unflattering or incriminating photos.  I’ve already removed mine!

I spent from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. today at the Flatirons Crossing Mall with my terrific niece, nephew, and sister enjoying the after-Christmas sales and doing some back-to-school shopping in the nearly empty mall.  I bought some fun things for myself, too (love love love my new Converse high tops that have fuzzy cheetah-patterned fabric); but mostly enjoyed getting to spend time with Morgan and Drew.  It’s amazing how funny and wise 15 and 16 year old people can be.

I am a lotion and potion queen, and have maybe 17 different shampoos in the shower at any given time.  Today I actually read the bottle of conditoner that I was using, and found this great quote:

Too often we are conditioned to believe that splendor comes from only the big events or the rollercoaster rides; yet the truest splendor is often ignited by the tiny spark of a child’s innocent smile, by laughing with friends, or by the daily ritual of falling in love over and over again with the same person.  Discover your splendor in the reality of what is simple, what is pure, and what is real.

This is a Philosophy product — appropriately named, with a very nice typeface on the product.

It’s a good way to start the day —

And somehow an entire year just passed, second following second, as time seems wont to do — except that this year we had an entire extra second because of the pesky rotation of the Earth, which both speeds and slows, but has slowed significantly in the last billion years or so.  I think I was sleeping peacefully when the leap second happened last night and the atomic clock was once again aligned; but I could have been thinking about entropy or time’s arrow or unsolved problems in physics or the complexity of the Hindu calendar.

I had a great New Year’s Day, which included a long walk with Brad and Kenai, yoga and meditation, a party at our great friends Howard and Elizabeth’s house with lots of other great friends, and a quiet television-free evening at home.  I’m not much of a New Year’s resolution person, but I am going to try to hunker down and focus on the two things I’ve been talking talk about doing for the past several years:   getting fit and finishing my novel.  I’m good at honoring commitments to family and friends and organizations; but this year I’m going to work on honoring my commitments to myself.  I’m going to try to write a daily blog post, like my blogging idol, Halley Suitt.  I’m going to read more and write more and move my ass around more and try to do less of the things that I know aren’t really good for me (watching television, buying more shoes, sorting my email Inbox into complex categories but not actually responding to any of the email).  I’m going to try to keep it simple, keep my health, keep having fun, and keep learning and growing.  I hope the same for all of you..

“Nothing is so fatal to character as half-finished tasks.”  David Lloyd George

Today is my younger sister’s birthday, which is always a special day.  She and Stacy and I went to lunch at Bloom and had a delicious meal, including Stacy’s wonderful orange amaretto creme brulee, and then had a mini shopping spree at Yankee Candle and the Coach store.  Best gift of all, of course, is Stacy being out of the hospital and doing well and being our patient sherpa (those candles are heavy!) and witty companion today.  Happy birthday!

had a successful diverticulitis surgery yesterday and is recuperating at University of Colorado Hospital in Denver.  Sometimes I feel like I’m playing a zero sum game that keeps one loved person in the hospital at all times..

Today is the anniversary of the death of John Lennon. 

Woke up around 2:30 this morning and haven’t been able to fall back asleep because today Brad and I and 20 of our friends and family are taking off for Brad’s Birthday Bash week at the Palmilla Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on the tip of the Baja Peninsula, where the weather this week is supposed to be just about perfect.  We’re having a barbeque on the beach tonight, and fancy dinner at the Charlie Trotter restaurant "C" for birthday dinner on Thursday, and spa and tennis and sand and sun and plenty of tequila.  I’m very excited to celebrate Brad’s 40th birthday!

Brad and I watched The War Room the other night, which reminded me of a moment we shared in New York City during the New York City marathon weekend.  We were in the Sony Plaza Public Space Starbucks Saturday morning getting some caffeine for me before driving the marathon route with Matt and Mariquita Blumberg so Brad could know what he would be seeing mile by mile on Sunday.  I was waiting for my non-fat grande mocha, no whip cream to be prepared when I recognized James Carville in line.  He was wearing space age running shoes and looked like he could easily run the marathon himself.  He chatted in his distinctive southern accent with another woman waiting for her beverage.  His drink that day was, in fact, a quad shot vanilla latte.  With caffeine.

I did an extra coordinated move just now that’s worth sharing.  I was getting sad and lonely working in my hotel room all by myself all day yesterday, so Brad kindly arranged with Fred Wilson for me to work in Union Square Ventures’ offices today, which was awfully kind.  They have a magnificent painting in their reception area by Daniel Kohn and open airy offices.  One quirky thing is that the restrooms are located outside their offices in a hallway and require a key to enter.  Their front door has a keypad entry and a doorbell and is always locked, which feels either very New York or very post-9/11, or both.  Today was their annual meeting in the afternoon, which everyone was attending except me. 

You see what’s about to happen?

Yup.  I went to the restroom and propped their back door open with a Sports Illustrated magazine, which managed to slip down and leave me locked out of their empty offices.  No cellphone, no wallet, no magic code for the keypad, certainly no key for the door; just nice clean hands. 

Smooth.

I went down to the lobby and the security guard who had no ability to let me into the office did let me use his phone to call Brad (a long distance call) and Brad, being my knight in shining armor, somehow arranged to have a building superintendant come and let me in.  Thanks, Brad.