It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change-Charles Darwin

This past weekend, I had several days off from work--and all to myself. It was a holiday weekend that I would have never thought I'd be spending on my own. If you would have asked me a year ago what I'd be doing, I would have known the exact answer. However, life likes to throw us curve balls and mixes things up every once in a while. Thus, my holiday weekend was not at all what I expected or planned.  When people asked me what I did, I was hesitant to answer. It was kind of letdown. A disappointing weekend that I had taken off from work. Many friends had to re-arrange scheduled plans, and I found myself re-routing my agenda each day. Those of you who know me, know that I'm not very great at "change of plans". However, in the words of a great friend, I decided to "ease up and slow my roll". I took the weekend as it came. I treated myself nicely. I baked. Cleaned. Wrote. Read. Walked. Smiled at kids on the street. Took pictures. Had tea. Put up my own Christmas tree. Looked through old pictures. Took myself to movies, the Christmas market, the store. Laughed out loud. All in all, I just lived. I survived. I had wanted to just forget this past weekend and try to forget Thanksgiving 2010. But, I realized, I want to remember it. I want to remember that I'm alive. I'm surviving. Life isn't always ideal, but I want to remember how strong I am. How strong we all are. We continue to survive and make it through each day. Life keeps giving us exactly what we can handle and we get through it. I'd like to believe that next year I'll be in that  place in my life that I want to be, but even stronger. The two pictures included are from the same street, one from last year, and one from this year that I took today. A year ago, I took a picture because it was my favorite block during the Winter. Interestingly enough, I live on that very block today....