OHHHH NINE!

Farewell 2008, I will not miss you for I am looking forward to another year...a better year!

I asked DH this morning what his New Year's Resolution will be. He said to "do more art". I think that's a good one, he draws and paints well and hasn't done it in years. Maybe I'll add that one to my list as well...something we can do together. :)

I suppose I could make a list like I usually do and it would sound much like most people's resolutions...eat better, excercise more, get up earlier, save money...blah blah blah. The fact of the matter is, that every year I keep making and breaking the same resolutions. I have some successes, some failures...but in general writing the same things down every year is starting to lose it's meaning. I know I need to do those things and why should I need New Year's day to remind me? Once, a couple of years ago I had a "mantra" instead of the usual giant list of resolutions. Though there was truly only a few weeks of thinking about that mantra every day, I still found it to be more effective in general then the big list.

Resolutions are hard to keep. A year's time frame is a long time for the human mind...research shows that habits are more often made and broken in about a months time.

With all this in mind, below are my "New Year's" resolutions...

1. Be less hasty. I need to slow down! I try to do everything at once...I rush impatiently through things, whether they be menial tasks or supposedly enjoyable hobbies. Consequently I am either dissapointed with the results or I don't enjoy things I should. I resolve to try and take more time and care when doing things, and be less focused on wanting results and wanting them yesterday!

2. Be a tourist in my own town. I love to travel. It's been a couple of years now since we've done any traveling and I am missing it terribly. I long for new vistas, new cultures, magical places (like the lovely Vernazza, pictured in my header...on the west coast of Italy). On our travels both abroad and in the USA, we have noticed that when people ask where we are from and we say the SF Bay Area, we often get comments like "OH! I've always wanted to visit San Francisco...you are so lucky to live there!". People come from all over to visit the bay area, and California. We have some of the most beautiful scenery, richest culture, and greatest diversity of anywhere in the world. I resolve to take better advantage of where we live and seek out adventures in my home town/state with the appreciative eyes of a visitor.

3. Make monthly resolutions. I think I'll have more success trying to build better habits on a monthly basis. Every month I resolve to think of a couple of small things that I can work on every day that month to improve the quality of life for me and my family and to be a better person in general. Build good habits, break bad ones! I strongly believe that small steps count. You cannot walk a mile without first taking a single step.

That said...my my January resolutions are:

1. Drink two more glasses of water every day then I do now. I am freakin' thirsty, already!
2. Buy or make a scrap pail for the kitchen and start using it!! We need to start composting our food scraps (or at the very least putting them in the green can instead of the trash).
3. Decide on and prepare what I am wearing to work the evening before. Frequently in the morning I waste time and get stressed out because I can't find the socks I want, or the shirt I was thinking about wearing is wrinkled and I don't have time to iron it etc. I think, especially considering the upcoming change in my office attire, that if I prepare thoroughly the night before that it will save me alot of time and stress in the mornings and allow for a better start to my day.

Happy New Year to you all! May you carry all the positive experiences from 2008 with you forever in your hearts, and may you cast off all the negative experiences from this past year and never look back.

Best!