Since I've been here I haven't felt really homesick. A little here and there, but usually if I go out for a run and look around at how beautiful it is I feel a lot better. Endorphins do wonders I tell you. Even though things are good and I don't miss home too much, there are certainly things I miss. These are the top three I've been missing lately.

1. Skiing
2. Happy Hour
3. Dinner Parties

Ok, so I'm sure you're looking at this and thinking, 'Of all the things to miss...dinner parties? Really?' Well, here's the thing. There are a few things I miss that go without saying: My family, my friends, Moxi, my parent's cooking. Those of course are unnumbered and precede any list of things I ever say I miss, but after all of that come these things. If you put this little list together you can create a really perfect day. Getting up early in the morning to hit the slopes (preferably with a little fresh powder on top of a well-groomed solid pack base), skiing all day, finishing up the day with a little happy hour in the lodge and heading home to freshen up and head out to a dinner party with good friends. How great does that sound? Perfect day, in my opinion.

Don't you think for a second that I'm complaining about getting up to a sun shiny day, sipping coffee while looking out on at lush green hills and palm trees, going out for a run, lunching on a little rice and beans, then relaxing with a book on the porch. Because I'm not. It's just that the grass is always greener...on another continent. I can't count how many winter days I spent in Boise/Spokane looking out at the gray winter day and wishing I could be on a somewhere with palm trees. Now I've got palm trees and I want to be back in freezing temperatures, covered in gor-tex. Oh, man.

None of that changes the fact that I can't wait for a ski day and some good food, drinks and company at the end of it. Don't worry, I'm very content here, but I do miss all of you and I promise to throw a first-rate party when I see you again.