Right now, I can see my breath.  My fingers are little slivers of ice.  I’ve got the dog in my lap for warmth as I try to work and not concentrate on how cold it is in my house.

Our heater broke yesterday and the repairman can’t come until today, so we spent a chilly day and evening shivering away.  I’ve told my daughter that we’re spending 24 hours learning what it’s like to go without heat which is a sad reality for many people in America.  “I don’t like this game,” she responded this morning.

I can’t say I do either, but I’m so grateful we have the choice of how high to turn on our heat and that we only have to suffer one day without.  What a lesson in compassion for others.  Plus, I’ve never seen our daughter quite so anxious to go to school just to get warm!

Girls with Sole is the vision of Q104 Listener and Mom Liz Ferro of Rocky River. The non-profit organization uses fitness and wellness to empower the minds, bodies and souls of girls who have experienced abuse. Liz herself is a survivor and now mom to two beautiful kids and a triathlete!

Athletics helped her survive and thrive and now she wants Girls with Sole to offer the same to other young girls.

I was honored to act as Mistress of Ceremonies for their first big fundraiser on Sunday.  It was held at the Busy Broad Boutique in Lakewood.  Awesome place!  Participants enjoyed a beautiful tea, fashion show, and speakers.

Liz has wasted no time in providing programming to area girls.  She’s already partnered with the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center and Fitworks .  If her cause speaks to you in any way, I urge you to offer your support!  Again, her website is www.girlswithsole.org.

Here’s a taste of what you missed!

Here I am with Glam Girl - Liz Ferro!

Check out that leg!

The setting was beautiful! In addition to the bar, people sat at small tables throughout the gallery. It was really a special day.

Last fall, on the same day the stock market fell to what would become the first of many record lows, I was climbing to record personal heights.  On the same day the world tempted me to live in fear that I was going to lose it all, I felt richer than I ever have.  On the day this picture was taken, I made a decision that changed the course of my life.

If you’re anything like me, making decisions based out fear is a very easy thing to do - especially in today’s economy. Worry, anxiety, and “what ifs” have been familiar companions of mine in the past.  Better to be safe than sorry, I reasoned.  Except that I found myself sorry for the times when I had played it too safe.  In September 2008, I took a trip that would change all that and taught me a thing or two about climbing hills.

I joined a week long bike tour of Vermont expertly designed by Bike Vermont.  We would tour Middlebury and Otter Creek Valley during the day and stay at lovely inns at night.

The first fear I faced was going alone.  Schedules prevented everyone I asked to join me, including my husband.  As I was fretting over what to do, my 9-year-old daughter finally asked, “Why can’t you go alone?”  I couldn’t produce a reason that didn’t sound like a lame excuse.  It turns out there was nothing to fear as the three other married couples and two cousins on my tour welcomed me without hesitation.

Challenge number two:  I wasn’t what you’d call a biker.  Beyond the casual spins around the FLAT neighborhood, I had never really traveled far by bike.  Now I had thirty days to start training for hills and covering up to 30 miles per day.  The upside was purchasing biking shorts and realizing they can plump up your behind in a way that makes your stomach look really flat in comparison!

My fears were put at ease once I met Wally and Eric, our trusty tour guides.  Each morning our group would gather and go over the biking route, then we’d head off at our own pace - no matter how slow.  Wally and Eric took turns either biking behind us, no faster than the slowest biker, or driving the van to meet us at check points.  Knowing that help was just around the corner gave me all the confidence I needed.

On the third day of our tour, my new-found confidence was put to the test.  That’s when our map for the day included the Brandon Gap Option.  “This is one of the very few passes over the top of the Green Mountain range,” read our tour material.  It also warned, “The ride requires that you be a reasonably strong biker since the first half is almost all uphill and the last 1.2 miles of the climb are steep.”

Note that this was an option.  We didn’t have to do it, only if you wanted the challenge and the view.  This was a no-brainer for me.  I didn’t consider myself a “reasonably strong biker,” so there was no way I was headed up a 5.1 mile hill.  I was so sure of my decision until everyone kept talking about it all morning, “Are you going?  It’s supposed to be amazing at the top.”  At first I was afraid I wouldn’t make it, now I was afraid of what I’d be missing if I didn’t try.

Our guides offered sage advice on how to approach hills.  “No hill is one hundred percent straight up,” said Eric.  “There are always little pockets of flatness where you can rest.”  Then he joked, “When in doubt, keep your head down.  It always looks flat that way.” I was reminded of other metaphorical hills I had faced in my life.  When I had looked too far ahead, the hills appeared impossible to conquer.

“The key is to just keep your feet moving in a circular motion.  There’s no rush.  You have all the time in the world.  Just keep moving,” said Wally.

Finally decision time came.  Either I was going to make the turn to head up toward the Brandon Gap, or keep on going straight.  I turned, along with four others.  It took me 1.5 hours to make it up that hill.  At times I moved so slowly that I nearly tipped over.  But, I didn’t.  I just kept moving.  And I made it!

But, it turned out I wasn’t done yet.  To get to the amazing view, we had to hike another mile through the Green Mountain National Forest - you guessed it - straight up.  This time, I didn’t hesitate.  My legs were trembling with overuse, yet I had never felt more alive.  After another 30 minutes of climbing - three of us had reached the promised view:

 The ride down was much faster than the other direction!  Little did I know the stock market was tumbling just as fast that day.  Everything I thought I had invested in for a secure future was at question.  All the money I had put away out of fear of not living well in my retirement had been cut in half, just like that.  I didn’t care.

Before biking the Brandon Gap, I would have let that news shake me to the core.  I would have been filled with worry about a dark and gloomy future.  Yet, that day, on the top of the hill I decided to never again let fear guide my decisions.  I had experienced pure joy and money had nothing to do with it.  I had pushed myself further than I thought I could.  And, let me tell you:  the view is amazing!

If you’d like to check it out for yourself, contact Bike Vermont by visiting www.BikeVermont.com or call 800-257-2226.

I’ve joined a new club.  I’m now the parent of a kid in the double-digits and I think I’m going to like it just fine.  We survived the sleepover party with 13 girls and now that I have that behind me, I get to explore being a mom to a maturing daughter.

Many have warned me how challenging the coming years will be (not might, will). I don’t share their pessimism.  As a counselor, I have the privilege of hearing from the opposing side - teens themselves.  Beneath all the bravado, and for some, unfortunate choices, I hear kids who just want to be loved.  They want their parents to tell them what they’re doing right instead of only receiving corrections and lectures.  I haven’t met a kid yet who has not admitted to wanting parental approval.   I find this very reassuring.  I certainly don’t have all the right answers, but I know I have love to give.

So, let’s call the next parenting phase, “Great Expectations.” I can’t wait to dive into the first chapter.

I attended the Q104 Bridal Fair this weekend as my daughter was modeling a couple of junior bridesmaid dresses.  The last bridal fair I attended was nearly 18 years ago when I was engaged.  Even then, the whole process was overwhelming.

I had actually attended very few weddings by the time I was engaged at 27 - maybe two.  My mom was left in a vegetative state from a stroke when I was 12, and I had few women in my family.  So growing up thinking about weddings was not on my radar screen.  I didn’t have a clue about what I wanted, nor did I care too much.  When I saw all the choices available to brides and I just couldn’t believe anyone had thought so much about things like table settings, flowers, and invitation fonts.

It was interesting for me to watch the brides-to-be get involved in yesterday’s show.  They were taking meticulous notes, sampling cake, and entering drawings.  There were so many choices available.  The thing I’ve found about choices though, the more there are, the more difficult it seems to be to make a decision.  This is not just my observation though, researchers have found that most of freeze up when there are too many options (read The Paradox of Choice).  We become filled with anxiety about making the wrong choice, so we do nothing.  (Many people stopped investing in their company’s 401-K because they had so many options, they couldn’t decided on the best one, so they did nothing.)

You can see this in action with our children.  Offer 2-3 choices, and decisions come fast and easy.  Pile on the options and kids hem and haw while life passes them by.  (Fill out any college applications lately?).  Present me with a dinner menu with 27 entrees and it will take me a long time to order.  Give me three entrees - I’m good in five minutes or less.  I’m not surprised I was able to plan my wedding so quickly.  Had I not been saved by ignorance, who knows how much anxiety I would have experienced?

There’s beauty in simplicity.  Life was easier without so many TV channels.  There’s a lot more time for living when you’re not bogged down with so options on how to do it.