At various times in the past month, I’ve described my new status as retired…..or semi-retired.  The one thing that I’ve been very sure of is that I am taking the summer and fall off.  I need time to regroup and decide how I’m going to spend the next 30 years of my life. 

Let’s face it; unless you are independently wealthy or still live with your parents, most of us generally have too much on our plates. 

Excuses for not exercising become easy when the act of simply opening the pile of mail sitting on the couch for the last week seems like too much of a time burden.

For a good portion of our early years, that was the case for us Tomato owners. It’s a contradiction of sorts; we lived in Fruita and opened a business here because of the biking, and then the biking stopped happening when the business grew.

Spring is in the air. The trees and bushes are blooming. People are out in their yards trimming bushes and trees, and everyone is talking about spring cleaning.   And there is only a little bit of snow in sight on top of the Mesa.  Spring is definitely in the air.  

There is more than one way to be depressed. What comes to mind for many is a lifeless form, wrapped in blankets, curled up on the couch of a darkened living room, blocking out the daytime world. Others conjure up the image of someone drifting zombie-like through their work or school day, as if half asleep. Still for some, it is the memory of a friend or family member, crying uncontrollably over the phone, scared and anxious and lost. For more than a decade, I’ve embodied each of these ideas of what depression looks like and many more. 

I’m a communications specialist. I give media interviews, work with advertisers and from time-to-time, I represent my agency. You’d never guess it when I step in front of a camera or turn into a bulldog if a reporter or writer tries to hassle one of my coworkers for information we can’t legally share, but I am an introvert. I’m a little bit shy. I spend a lot more time conversing in my own head than I do with the world. 

“What are you going to do after you graduate?”

For those of you half way through your college careers with an ever growing anxiety about the future, I am here to tell you, you aren’t alone. I think you already knew that, but it’s a good reminder.

Every one of us wants to be loved. And very few of us think that should be hard! Most of us experience loving acceptance from the day we are born, so what is the hard work about relationships and marriage? Aren’t human beings hardwired to seek and maintain relationships? Yes, but just as we need to have skills to gain employment, we also need certain skills to maintain committed relationships.

I think it’s safe to say most of us have preconceived notions of how our lives will turn out. Some people grow up dreaming of becoming star athletes, others of successful careers, many of making families to call their own. If you’re part of the minority and are unfathomably lucky, you can have all three. The rest of us have to learn to adapt and readjust our expectations and our dreams, which is sometimes easier said than done.

Quitting tobacco is tough. It's really about readiness. When you know, you're done. When you're ready for something different.

Throughout history, from Shakespeare’s pen to modern screenwriters, the ink has flowed freely when it comes to adolescence.

The calendar is filling and it is only December 1.

I was very sad to hear that Ed Ruland died on September 14.  I didn’t know him extremely well or for very long, but he made a lasting impression on me.

My mom died on Oct. 30, 2008. 

I was 19, on the cusp of 20. Just old enough to have a touch of adulthood figured out. Just young enough to have no idea what the hell I was doing yet.

In recent years, there have been many changes to the school lunch program. We have seen the “food pyramid” changed to “my plate.”  Locally, there have been recipe and staff changes.  The most significant change has been the move back to the “good ol’ days” of from-scratch cooking – and it is happening right here in Mesa County D51 schools! 

In July of 2013, my husband Joshua and I heard the words “You have Cancer.” We had been married less than a year.  I don’t remember much after that. Everything was a blur. I just knew in my heart that our lives would never be the same again...