Ice Skating! Pics

Here are the pics from Ice Skating! on New Year's Day. Have you noticed that I can't really write "Ice Skating!" without putting an exclamation point behind it? There's something to that... hahaha!

Best Friends!

You know, it's hard to get a non-action (a.k.a., non-blurry) shot when you're out on an ice rink...

Cloe's first time on the ice - she said "I only want to go with my friend Amy Kingston!" Thankfully, Stacey went with us for back-up... just in case!

Rob and Dan... looking spiffy! They tried out some pretty fancy tricks on the ice.

Kennedy and Kaela, watching from the sidelines and acting as the unofficial photographers.

Good times! Until the fall that came shortly after this pic... but even that was pretty fun, I must admit!

Megan and I... check out the speed!






Megan and Brian taking a well-deserved break...

Lights... Camera... What Comes Next?

Imagine me, sitting in front of a not-so-interesting episode of Battlestar Galactica...

Now imagine a bolt of inspiration from out of the blue... ice skating!

That pretty much sums up last Sunday afternoon for me. And it's not too uncommon in my world.

You see, I have this gift of being struck with inspiration on a regular basis... and it usually comes at the least expected moments and takes the least expected forms.

But here's where this particular idea took a different path - I actually followed through on it!

So often, I get a really exciting idea and I play it out in my head for days. "Ooooh... I could do this... or that... or maybe it would be fun to..." Well, you get the idea. And don't get me wrong, having a fantastic, inspiring, and active life in my head is great fun - and it's pretty safe and easy, too! I don't have to venture out in the rain, I don't have to expend much energy, it's completely free, and I don't have to risk any kind of social rejection. It's also lonely...

So this week I invented the possibility of action... being in action, inspiring others to action, having my actions make a difference in the world. When an inspiring thought appears in my mind, I'm committed to translating it into action right away!

So when "Ice skating!" popped into my head Sunday, I got on the net and changed my Facebook status. "Amy wants to ice skate this week. Anyone interested?" A few people showed interest, so I created an event invitation and sent it out.

And when I was thinking about the event and "Hot chocolate!" popped into my head, I started calling around to find a hot water dispenser. The result? A local Starbucks donated a huge carafe filled with hot water... for free!

And when the thought "Snacks!" showed up, I mentioned it to a few friends and we ended up with so much food it barely fit on the table!

The result: This afternoon, seventeen fantastic people from my community joined me at the Lloyd Center Ice Rink and we had a blast! We welcomed in 2009... we ate up lots of leftover munchies from last night's New Year's Eve parties... we fell, and we laughed about it... we met new people... we ice skated!

And tonight, I'm going dancing. Now THAT'S what I call action!

The Christmas Spirit...

A friend recently posted this video on her Facebook page and it inspired me to try something different this year. I'm going to make most of my holiday gifts for friends and family, or I'm going to recycle things that I already have and would love to share with others around me. In addition, I'm going to match the money I spend on gifts, supplies for making gifts, wrapping, and shipping by donating to charities that make a difference in the world.

Of course, this adventure has required me to get started early, and here's what I've already noticed:

1. I love being artistic, but it's something I often fail to make time for in my day-to-day life. Making gifts for other people has given me an amazing reason to be artistic, rather than coming home and plopping down in front of a computer game or book. So it has been a real gift to myself, too.

2. Making a promise to match my holiday spending with charitable giving is forcing me to be creative and think about every dollar I spend. I'm doing things like making my wrapping paper out of materials I already have in order to save money. And that's a good thing... because rampant consumerism is definitely NOT a good thing. (If you're not sure why I say that, check out www.storyofstuff.org)

3. For the first time in years, holiday gifts mean something to me. You see, I've already logged hours of time making gifts, and I've spent each of those hours thinking about the people I love... reminiscing about our times together... trying to envision what they would enjoy the most. That's what Christmas is really about. It's a lot more work than clicking the "buy" button at some Internet shopping site, but it's been so worth it to me.

4. I haven't had to survive the obnoxious crowds, super-sappy holiday music, long lines, and "buy, buy, buy" messages that bombard people in malls and stores these days. Which means I get to decide what Christmas is about for me, rather than letting pop culture decide for me. And I've got more time for making those gifts... do you see the cycle?

5. I get to honor my friends and family AND make a difference in the world through charitable giving. That gives me warm fuzzy feelings inside.

So if you're reading this, here's my request: take a few minutes to watch the video and decide how YOU'RE going to make a difference this year. Maybe it will be something small... that's okay. It all starts with small acts of kindness.

And please know that you'll be getting something relatively small or hand-made from me... and that I don't expect anything expensive or extravagant from you, either. Your love and friendship is enough... everything else is just a bonus!