I don't have to look out the window to know what's going on - the wind is roaring and Roxy the dog is not campaigning for a walk. It must be really cold! I've got my chamomile tea and my computer - that's my afternoon.

People tend to be hard on themselves when it comes to exercise during the month of January. They say things like, "This year, I'm going to kick my butt into shape!" It's painful for me to see unnecessary torture, like in The Biggest Loser TV show when they have severely overweight contestants run, sprint and race. The excessive weight is abusive to the knee, hip and ankle joints - doing more harm than good physically. Then there is the mental strife which could scar them for eternity. (I know it's sensationalized for TV too, but you get my point.)

I always make New Year's Resolutions but ironically they have nothing to do with fitness. I think that's because I don't view my fitness life as a chore. To me, exercise isn't always fun, but it always feels good. Things that feel good are easy to do. Maybe that could be your resolution - find feel good fitness this year. (And just watch, those stubborn 10pounds, that work stress and the sometimes grouchy attitude will melt away!)

Have a great year! xo Ellen

Also, she is just too cute:

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/84a186e1c90b9dd6fa3c75894eafc1c3/video/8735682

Catching up on email, I find myself leisurely going over what sites are telling me I should buy. Nevermind the fact that I just deleted the first half of December's news without reading it.

This book sounds very intriguing:

Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente

Four strangers are bound together in adventure, love and occasional sorrow in this parable from Tiptree winner Valente (The Orphan's Tales). The city of Palimpsest exists somewhere outside our reality, accessible only during the sleep that follows sex. The immigrants to Palimpsest, marked forever by the tattoo-like impression of a map on their skin, seek out one another for real-world sexual adventures that function as passports to new otherworldly quarters. In outstandingly beautiful prose, Valente describes grotesque, glamorous creatures sometimes neither human nor animal, alive nor dead, and mortal travelers who pursue poignant personal quests to replace the things (and people) they've lost. Valente's fondness for digression at times makes for a difficult read, and her fable of quest and loneliness is less an engrossing fairy tale and more a meticulous travelogue of a stranger's dream.

And the first pages on Amazon.com are delicious; I wish I could copy and paste some of them: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ref=pe_31480_13853470_as_txt_1/?ASIN=0553385763