New Year's Eve

M and I along with our friends Chris and Tanya went out to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse on New Year's Eve.  M and I went there last year as well and it's become our thing to go out to dinner on New Year's each year, AKA, we're getting old. 

Our reservation was at 6 pm, which gave us a couple of hours to eat and enjoy the company before T&C had to pick up their son Asher and before Tanya had to work overnight at HCMC.  I'm sure she saw a lot that night.

Dinner for me started with the chopped salad, followed by filet mignon and potatoes au gratin.  Everything was fantastic as it is always is there and everyone else agreed as well.  No desserts for any of us as we were too full.

After dinner, we headed back to our house with T&C with just enough time for Chris to have a quick beer.  M and I got in our comfy clothes, turned on the music, plugged in the Christmas tree, I mixed a drink while M cracked a beer and we parked ourselves on the couch for the night.  

I didn't drink very much at all.  I didn't even finish two mixed drinks and M had a few beers and we had a glass of champagne at midnight.  We did have the best beer in the world though.  No, really, it was rated as the best beer in the world.  The monks in Belgium brew it and there are only 60,000 cases available worldwide and the US had it's first chance at it this year.  It was fun to taste an incredibly rare beer.  It wasn't my style but I thought the beer was very complex.

Do you like my shirt?  Have you heard of Smokin' Jay?  It's about Jay Cutler, the Bears' quarterback.  I was introduced to this website by a coworker and I love this website so much that M bought me this shirt as a joke for Christmas.  I hope you understand the humor in it otherwise I don't want to be your friend. And don't stop at the first page...there's tons of smokin' photos.

Back to New Year's...I fell asleep on the couch probably around 2 am and then went up to bed around 3 am.  The good news is I had no hangover the next morning.  That's a pretty good way to start out 2013, isn't it?

Taking a picture of Frank through 3D glasses

What did you do for New Year's? 

New Years Resolutions - 2013

Here are my resolutions from last year.  How did I do?

Blog Makeover:  SUCCESS.  I changed my blog layout in 2012 to one that I enjoyed for the year.  I have already changed my layout for 2013 as I get bored with it and need to change it every now and then.

Health:  SUCCESS.  I accomplished a lot in the eating department and how good I eat.  I did eat unhealthy at times during the year, particularly when my dad was sick and taking care of myself wasn't a priority from me.  My eating lifestyle has changed quite a bit.  While I don't consider myself a full-blown vegan, I do enjoy a mostly vegan lifestyle.  I started exercising in the Spring and going to Zumba multiple times a week but then again, when my dad got sick, I didn't care about myself anymore.  I have since started going back to the gym since December 3rd.

Not Weigh Myself:  FAIL.  I'm too curious and it's always been an obsession.  I think it always will be.

Facebook:  FAIL.  I was supposed to be more interactive on FB but I'm going to give myself a fail on that one.  I guess I don't enjoy FB that much.  So much drama, bragging, bitching, politics that I choose not to participate much.

See a Broadway Play:  FAIL.  I failed on purpose on this one.  There were a couple of plays in May/June but I didn't have much interest after all.  It wasn't until December that the next Broadway play I had interest in was here and with the holidays and a very short run, it was too hard to make the commitment.

Birthday Cards:  SEMI-FAIL.  I started off good and you'll see there's a theme going on.  When my dad got sick, I probably didn't even realize when someone's birthday was.

Dinners with my Sister:  FAIL.  I'm going to give her the blame for this one.  We did make it out a couple of times without kids or partners though.

Organization: SUCCESS.  I love organization and while I have a lot of stuff, I'll always be organized and constantly getting rid of stuff and organizing some more.

What are my resolutions for 2013?

• Go to Chicago.  It's ridiculous that I haven't been there in over 9 years considering how much I like that city and how close it is.  
• Take an out-of-state road trip.  The longest road trip I've ever been on is to the Black Hills in South Dakota.  I want to take a road trip or equal or longer length.  This will be pending on M's PTO schedule.
• Spend more time with my nephews Keith and Colton.  Keith is at a fun age right now to interact with and Colton is getting older where he's starting to talk more.  
• Try not to be a backseat driver.  This one will be really hard and I really think I'm helping the driver and it does come from a good place but apparently I'm not helping.  I know this because M seemed to want to punch me in the face recently while in the car and it's not the first time it's happened.  Sorry, M. 
• Introduce my mom to new things.  I can only do as much as she wants to do but I'm hoping she'll get to experience some new adventures this year.
• Get engaged.  I know I have no control over this one but I feel like it's now time that I care about it more than I have before.  
• Take care of myself in every.which.way.

I wish you all a wonderful 2013. 

2012 - Year in Photos

2012 is behind us.  I'm happy about that.  It was a sad, sad year which unfortunately for me, all the bad that happened outweighed the good. I'm ready to move forward though into what can only be a better year.  Before I do so, here is 2012 in just 12 photos.  I have one theme this year in each photo:  FAMILY.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

New Year's Resolutions- 2012

I'm finally getting a chance to write down my resolutions.  Here we go...

• Blog Makeover:  I've hated the look of my blog for a very long time and I only do enough changes to satisfy me for about a minute but I don't really enjoy updating it anymore.  I need find to a better, more permanent solution to make it aesthetically pleasing to everyone.
• Health:  Always a generic statement for me but because it encompasses so much, I prefer to keep it that way.  I've been mostly eating a certain way since last September and I'd like to continue with that lifestyle with a few planned cheats here and there.  I NEED to exercise.  I hate it but I have to suck it up and just do it.  
• Not Weigh Myself:  That's right, you heard me.  After I just posted about how I want to continue to eat right and exercise, the plan is not to weigh myself.  Why?  Because me stepping on the scale equates to more unhappiness than bliss.  I want to be happy.  Just because I don't want to weigh myself doesn't mean I get a pass to slack off.  As long as I'm doing what I should be doing to attain healthy goals, I will be content.  This will probably be the hardest resolution I make, therefore I will peek in periodically to see where I'm at.  Periodically = Maybe quarterly.  This is something different for me considering that I weigh every.single.day.
• Facebook:  I'm mostly that voyeur who peeks in on Facebook and says Happy Birthday to you if I happen to get on there on your birthday.  Since it is social media, I've decided I want to be more social on there.  Look for more status's, likes and comments from me this year.  
• See a Broadway Play:  I'd like to see a Broadway play here in Minneapolis this year.  I've seen at least a couple but it's been so long and I've passed on many I've wanted to see before.  This is the year.  Now I'm sure I need to find a partner to come with me because I'm not sure Michael will be on board with this.
• Birthday Cards: I've already screwed up a little on this one since there's a few birthdays the first week of January that I know of (I did send one for my grandpa though!) but I'm hoping to send out birthday cards to everyone I have an address for and know their birthday.  Maybe you'll get one from me this year.  If you don't, please try and not to cry.  It's nothing personal.  
• Dinners with my Sister:  Jamie and I have made this pact before but have not carried through with it.  We said it again and it's our goal to go out to dinner with each other one time per month.  No kids or partners, just sisters.  
• Organization!:  I love to be organized and I love the actual act of organizing.  I did a purge of personal items on January 2nd and I'll be dropping them off at Savers soon.  My computer/craft room/closet (I know, weird) is looking the best and cleanest it's been since I've lived here.   I also already organized my Gmail account and all the emails I've saved since 2006.  That was a great feeling to be completely organized with labels and deleting all emails I don't need anymore.  M and I also went through a closet/cubby space under the stairs and got rid of a bunch of stuff, mostly because it's going to become a beer cellar for him but nonetheless, it's still getting rid of junk!  Now I just need M to get going on his stuff with a lot of help from me.  

Did you make any resolutions this year?  Have you broken them yet?  

Year In Review- 2011

Here's a Year in Review of 2011 with one just photo from each month.  No explanations or captions, just photos from events that stood out this year.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Last Year's Resolutions

Before I can write about this year's resolutions, let's check in how I did for last year's resolutions.

• Be healthy.  This is my resolution every day and I'm always conscious about it, whether I am living healthy or not on that very day.  This is a big generalization so here are some examples of what I'd like to do within this resolution.

1. Eat less processed foods
2. Cook and eat more at home
3. Get more calcium
4. Eat organic when I feel necessary and can afford it
5. Exercise more
6. Meditate

UPDATE: I succeeded on number 1 and 2 but that's about it, however I KNOW my insides and numbers like cholesterol and triglycerides and blood pressure are lower. I lost 14 lbs from Sept-Dec with just some eating changes. Grade: C+

• Floss my teeth.  I had this as a resolution two years ago and I did fantastic and then I stopped doing it regularly.  I've picked this habit up again late this year but I still want to try and do it every time I brush my teeth.  I don't know why so many people can't stick to flossing their teeth.  Do you floss?  Actually I know why it's not just an easy task.  It's because I had braces and I still have a permanent retainer cemented to the bottom front six teeth and in order to floss those teeth, I have to use a plastic thingamajig that threads the floss and then you feed it through your bottom front teeth and then floss underneath the retainer. Not a big deal but just one extra step when it's already hard enough to pull out the floss.  I must floss somewhat often though because my cat is conditioned to the sound of me pulling out the floss.  He comes right up onto the bathroom sink and watches me floss because afterwards he knows he gets to play with the floss.  

UPDATE: I started off great for months, then quit, started up again and then quit.  Grade: C-

• Write hand written notes and letters.  The art and appeal of sitting down and actually writing a note or letter and sending/giving it to someone is disappearing. Maybe you'll be one of the people I send letters to this year.  I'll probably go to a store like Bibelot, Electric Fetus or Patina and pick up some unique or eclectic note cards or stationary.  I hate even responding to emails or texts but I think I can do this one.

UPDATE: I did write letters to people but especially sent more handmade cards.  Grade: A-

• Get a facial.  I've never had one and have always wanted one and I will buy myself one because I feel like I deserve it. I also want to get two pedicures this year and get my eyebrows waxed more often, at least four times this year and hopefully I can just pluck in between visits and be consistent instead of having eyebrows that resemble caterpillars. 

UPDATE: I did not get a facial but I did get one pedicure and one eyebrow waxing.  Grade: D

• Buy fresh flowers.  I read a blog of a girl who made a resolution last year to purchase fresh flowers on a weekly basis.  She accomplished her goal except for a couple of weeks throughout the year.  I would not be able to have such pretty bouquets of flowers at my house because my cats are too curious and then either eat and chew on the flowers or just knock down the vase so it will have to be at my desk at work. I'd like to do this at least once a month.

UPDATE: I never bought fresh flowers for my desk.  Grade: F

• Continually organizing the house and personal items. I'm good at this but I think I still have way too much stuff.  I don't want to go as far as committing to be a minimalist but I think I want to steer towards that idea.  M and I were successful already this year by going through one of our rooms in the house and going through some of M's old clothing and items.  In just an hour's worth of time, we were able to fill three large lawn bags full of clothes and items which two of the bags we brought to the Goodwill on New Year's Day and one of the bags is going to Plato's closet to drop off and try and get some money for all the name brand clothes M had.  We're both excited to go through the rest of the house in the same manner and get rid of stuff we don't use or need.  I did get a good start on my own items last year by putting them in my sister's garage sale.  I now know that I do not miss any of that stuff, nor am I afraid to hold onto stuff just for the sake of keeping it.  We probably sound like hoarders or pack rats but we're really not.  I'm a very organized person and M just isn't good at getting rid of stuff because he doesn't make it a priority.  

UPDATE:  I am constantly organizing and getting rid of stuff.  Grade: A

• Read more books.  I enjoy reading but I don't do enough research to find out who's a good author or what books are popular right now.  I would like to read some of the classic books as I can't even think of one classic book I've read in my life.  I've read mostly non-fiction over the last handful of years and I want to stray away from that and read more fiction. 

UPDATE:  I did read more books this year than probably I've read in any other year but I'd still love to read more.  Grade: A

• Blog more.  I enjoy blogging but I don't always have the time.  I want my blog to not only document my life and the daily activities but I also want to write more and discuss topics and just write about things...and hopefully you'll comment on those things.

UPDATE: I did blog more than I have in any other year.  Grade: A

• Focus on debt.  I have debt like most people but I would like to focus on it more.  I had made some good headway with paying down some credit cards in 2010 but I had some unexpected out of pocket medical bills this summer as well as some car trouble so it negated some of my financial progress. I will do a 2011 budget and stick to it the best I can. 

UPDATE:  Oh, I focused on debt alright...like racking up more of it.  Bad me.  I'm a little more in debt than last year but considering how much I did pay down, that's not good.  Grade: D

• Be the best person I can be. I don't know how many of you consider yourself a good person but I consider myself to be a very good person.  I volunteer my time and money to different causes, I donate blood regularly, I'm a good friend, sister, daughter, employee and partner but there is always room for improvement for all of us.  We can all be better and we should strive to do so. 

UPDATE: I do toot my own horn on this one because I really do feel like I'm a good person and am very generous and thoughtful to others.  Grade: A-

So as you can see, I wasn't very successful, however that won't stop me from having resolutions for this year. Stay tuned.

Words of Advice for the New Year

We are on the cusp of 2012 and I hope you appreciate every breathing living day you will have this new year.  I want to share the following list with you.  It was in Whole Living magazine this month and I thought it would be perfect for the new year, which brings another new start, another chapter of life and another set of memories.

1. Warm your Soul:  Savor a hot drink.
2. Be aware of the difference between anticipating and living.  Joy is rooted in the present.
3. Let go of perfection:  The most delicious moments are often the messiest.
4. Living better doesn't always mean trying harder.  Ease up.
5. Avoid getting trapped in someone else's story.  Be the author of your own life.
6. Forgiveness isn't about them, it's about you.
7. Make something, anything, from scratch.
8. You can remember good times without losing yourself in nostalgia.
9. The best gifts let someone you know how much you love, not how much you spent.  
10. Rest is not a luxury, it's a necessity.

Enjoy ringing in the new year tonight.  Be safe and talk to you again next year!

New Year's Resolutions

Are you the type of person who makes resolutions each new year or you think they're silly because no one ever can stick to them?  I am a new year's resolutions girl, but I'm not sure I like the word resolution.  That doesn't mean that I always succeed with them but I like to do them because I like the mindset I have when there are goals I want to accomplish.  I also like to see them written down right in front of my face.

Here are some of my New Year's Resolutions for this year.  Some are more serious than others and if I don't accomplish everything on this list, I'm not going to be hurt about it.

• Be healthy.  This is my resolution every day and I'm always conscious about it, whether I am living healthy or not on that very day.  This is a big generalization so here are some examples of what I'd like to do within this resolution.

1. Eat less processed foods
2. Cook and eat more at home
3. Get more calcium
4. Eat organic when I feel necessary and can afford it
5. Exercise more
6. Meditate

• Floss my teeth.  I had this as a resolution two years ago and I did fantastic and then I stopped doing it regularly.  I've picked this habit up again late this year but I still want to try and do it every time I brush my teeth.  I don't know why so many people can't stick to flossing their teeth.  Do you floss?  Actually I know why it's not just an easy task.  It's because I had braces and I still have a permanent retainer cemented to the bottom front six teeth and in order to floss those teeth, I have to use a plastic thingamajig that threads the floss and then you feed it through your bottom front teeth and then floss underneath the retainer. Not a big deal but just one extra step when it's already hard enough to pull out the floss.  I must floss somewhat often though because my cat is conditioned to the sound of me pulling out the floss.  He comes right up onto the bathroom sink and watches me floss because afterwards he knows he gets to play with the floss.  

• Write hand written notes and letters.  The art and appeal of sitting down and actually writing a note or letter and sending/giving it to someone is disappearing. Maybe you'll be one of the people I send letters to this year.  I'll probably go to a store like Bibelot, Electric Fetus or Patina and pick up some unique or eclectic note cards or stationary.  I hate even responding to emails or texts but I think I can do this one.

• Get a facial.  I've never had one and have always wanted one and I will buy myself one because I feel like I deserve it. I also want to get two pedicures this year and get my eyebrows waxed more often, at least four times this year and hopefully I can just pluck in between visits and be consistent instead of having eyebrows that resemble caterpillars. 

• Buy fresh flowers.  I read a blog of a girl who made a resolution last year to purchase fresh flowers on a weekly basis.  She accomplished her goal except for a couple of weeks throughout the year.  I would not be able to have such pretty bouquets of flowers at my house because my cats are too curious and then either eat and chew on the flowers or just knock down the vase so it will have to be at my desk at work. I'd like to do this at least once a month.

• Continually organizing the house and personal items. I'm good at this but I think I still have way too much stuff.  I don't want to go as far as committing to be a minimalist but I think I want to steer towards that idea.  M and I were successful already this year by going through one of our rooms in the house and going through some of M's old clothing and items.  In just an hour's worth of time, we were able to fill three large lawn bags full of clothes and items which two of the bags we brought to the Goodwill on New Year's Day and one of the bags is going to Plato's closet to drop off and try and get some money for all the name brand clothes M had.  We're both excited to go through the rest of the house in the same manner and get rid of stuff we don't use or need.  I did get a good start on my own items last year by putting them in my sister's garage sale.  I now know that I do not miss any of that stuff, nor am I afraid to hold onto stuff just for the sake of keeping it.  We probably sound like hoarders or pack rats but we're really not.  I'm a very organized person and M just isn't good at getting rid of stuff because he doesn't make it a priority.  

• Read more books.  I enjoy reading but I don't do enough research to find out who's a good author or what books are popular right now.  I would like to read some of the classic books as I can't even think of one classic book I've read in my life.  I've read mostly non-fiction over the last handful of years and I want to stray away from that and read more fiction. 

• Blog more.  I enjoy blogging but I don't always have the time.  I want my blog to not only document my life and the daily activities but I also want to write more and discuss topics and just write about things...and hopefully you'll comment on those things.

• Focus on debt.  I have debt like most people but I would like to focus on it more.  I had made some good headway with paying down some credit cards in 2010 but I had some unexpected out of pocket medical bills this summer as well as some car trouble so it negated some of my financial progress. I will do a 2011 budget and stick to it the best I can. 

• Be the best person I can be. I don't know how many of you consider yourself a good person but I consider myself to be a very good person.  I volunteer my time and money to different causes, I donate blood regularly, I'm a good friend, sister, daughter, employee and partner but there is always room for improvement for all of us.  We can all be better and we should strive to do so. 

Resolutions don't have to unrealistic or extreme but if you want to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, do it! And don't let anyone discourage you from doing so. Resolutions are supposed to be serious and fun at the same time.  Did you make any New Year's Resolutions this year?

Happy 2011!

Happy New Year!  How did you ring in 2011?  I hate to keep saying that I'm sick but I still am so that took a toll on our New Year's Eve activities somewhat.  All week I just kept saying that I just hope I'm better so I can enjoy a nice New Year's Eve at home with my honeybear.  And Friday was the best day I've had in a week, however I was far from being 100%.

I had to work during the day but M had the day off so he went grocery shopping for some food for the night.  M rarely shops for both of us and I left it completely up to him to get what he wanted and everything he picked out was perfect to celebrate.  He bought a bunch of appetizer-type foods and we just cooked and ate them as we felt hungry throughout the night.

Our evening started around 6:30 pm when we started to clean up the house, especially the disaster of a kitchen we had.  Because I was sick all week and did nothing, all the baking and food prep I did for Christmas still had it's presence in the form of massive amounts of dirty dishes.  After about an hour and a half in the kitchen, it looked great. M tidied up the living room and back room and helped me with the kitchen too.  All while we were cleaning, we were listening to music, a playlist that M made for us.

The playlist M made for us to listen to that night consisted of about 135 songs, all of which we downloaded in 2010.  We are music freaks so downloading at least 1200 songs a year is commonplace.  M prepares a playlist each month of roughly 100 songs and we listen to it collectively and individually for the whole month before moving onto the next month's round of music.  So M took our favorite 10 or so songs from each month, which at times was a daunting task and made a best of 2010 playlist that we listened to non-stop from 6:30 pm to almost 2 am.  I was hoping to just stay up until midnight so I was happy that we were able to finish it from beginning to end and reminisce about the songs he choose.  Many times our memories take us to a certain place in time when we have the most distinct memory of a certain song, whether it be on our Florida trip last January/February, in Duluth in June for the MS150 or just a specific place on the St. Croix river we remember being at when we heard that song.

While we listened, we ate, talked, laughed, cried (ok, I did), drank orange juice, split a Miller Lite, watched Dick Clark's Rockin' NYE with the sound off and rang in 2011 germ-free style with a fist bump and a hug.

2010 in review was a good year in some aspects and not-so-good in others.  The good was that we attended multiple weddings for our families, celebrated life with a new nephew that was born in addition to three more second cousins, no deaths in our families, went to Florida on vacation, started a new position at work, having a wonderful partner and being healthy enough to enjoy life in general.  The bad was being too busy to fit in our annual canoe trip, the Vikings, cancelling our annual Vikings road game to Boston, and some private matters M and I and some of our family members have had to deal with since September and will be dealing with heavily in 2011.

I was going to list some resolutions within this post but I feel like I want to do it in a separate writing so that will be soon.

I hope you all had a fantastic New Year's Eve celebration and started 2011 on the right foot.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Everyone! I hope you had a great 2009 and I hope that 2010 is even better. I wish good health for you and your family and nothing but the best all year long.

I have become a slacker when it comes to blogging but I am really going to try and keep up with writing and posting pictures about all my activities in a timely manner. That is my resolution to you this year. So even though I've been extinct for a few weeks, I still have been busy. Not wanting to bring many of my 2009 activities and writings into 2010, I have spent a lot of time catching up on all my posts since basically Thanksgiving and posted them all for December 31st so please scroll down and look at all of them, which there are 11 of them!

So what did you do for New Year's? M and I spent our sixth NYE together. We have always stayed home for New Year's including eating dinner, drinking, dancing, TV, music, etc. but we started our night going to dinner. We had an early dinner at Flame in Roseville. We started off with a drink, a flavored martini for me and a beer for M. We had a couple of appetizers (1/2 off!) including Caprese, which I love. We also had the filet mignon with bearnaise sauce and potatoes and finished off with Creme Brulee, which neither of us really ate because we were stuffed. It was a beautiful dinner with my honey.






After dinner, we went home with a trip to the liquor store first. We lit candles and turned up the music. M made a playlist of all our favorite songs from 2009 for us to listen to. I drank flavored UV Pink Lemonade and Seven UP and M drank Basil Hayden's, a whiskey bourbon with ginger ale. We also took a couple 99 Bananas shots with a kiwi strawberry vitamin water chaser. :) We finished up with a cheap champagne that has been in our fridge since last NYE! I made it to midnight...til 1:35 am actually, before falling asleep. M made it about an hour longer and we went up to bed and woke up with amazingly strong headaches. We are not young anymore! We nursed our hangovers with water, ibuprofen and cheese and crackers. After a long day of recovery and me getting out of bed for the second time around 5 pm, I was ready to go and became very productive, considering. M and I each have a room for ourselves, other than our bedroom. I organized my room and consolidated all that I could. That was my resolution last year and it will be again this year. I have been going through my stuff throughout the whole year and getting rid of any excess that I don't need. I already have a garbage bag full of clothes that I will get rid of in a garage sale later this year. It feels good to be clean and organized. We finished the night watching two movies, All About Steve (skip it) and 500 Days of Summer. (watch it)

Saturday we bummed around and went to Noodles and Company for lunch and just drove around. We ended the night with another movie, The Knowing, which was pretty decent.

A very cold St. Paul skyline

It was cold all weekend and I ended up jumping M's car three times in two days. The temperatures have been as cold as 18 degrees below zero. With temperatures like that, tailgating for Sunday's Vikings game is limited. We got down there much later than normal and stayed in the car for a little bit before walking to the dome. While it we were COLD outside, the Vikings were on FIRE inside. The Vikes slaughtered the Giants, 44-7. It was such a fun game to watch with my excitement, for Vikings fans anyways. When the score was 24-0, I said to M that the score would be 41-0. Put on your Vikings thinking cap...Does the score 41-0 ring a bell to you? That is what the score was for the Giants/Vikings game in 2001 for the NFC Championship game, except the Giants beat us. Well after a few more Vikings scores, the score was 41-0 and then 44-0 and finally 44-7. With that win and Philly's loss to Dallas, the Vikings secured a 1st round bye in the playoffs! The Vikes don't play until Sunday, January 17th at home against either Dallas, Arizona or yes, Green Bay. In order for us not to play Green Bay, Dallas loses to Philly and Arizona loses to Green Bay. So Vikings fans, your two favorite teams this coming weekend are Dallas and Arizona if you want to knock the Packers out and avoid having to beat them for the third time this year. Yikes.

So again, remember to look at all my posts for December 31st. I'll get better at blogging, you get better at leaving comments. Happy New Year!

2009- The Year of Consolidation

It's 2009 and while I have a few simple resolutions, this year will be the year of consolidation.  I have acquired many things over the years and while I consider myself an organized person and not a pack rat, I just have too much stuff.  I don't need 118 necklaces (yes, that's how many I really have), lots of earrings and bracelets, 3 closets full of clothes, too many shoes and purses and lip gloss/stick!  I love make up and being a girly-girl but I have 70 tubes of lip gloss, lipstick, lip palettes or small purse sized lip gloss!  I won't even talk about the eye make up I have, which I won't be getting rid of.  I need to keep some things!  

I have been slowly going through my stuff and getting rid of it.  That means giving it all away.  I don't want any money for anything.  I have BAGS of clothes, shoes and purses ready to picked up by the Lupus Foundation.  I will be giving other stuff to my sister who probably needs the stuff less than I do....she really is a pack rat! 

One other thing I am going through is the greeting cards I have received from people over the years.  I believe I have every type of card that was ever given to me for any and every occasion since I was 8 years old.  You should see the plastic bin that I keep them all in.  I am incredibly sentimental and I cannot throw a card away.  But I think that now is the time.  I will keep many of them but throw away more.  Aauugghh!  It's hard for me even to type that!  

Do you guys keep stuff like me?  Do you acquire things over and over again in excess?  If so, what do you have?   Do you guys keep or throw your greeting cards?  

What's your new year's resolution(s)?  Here are a few of my others:

• Stay Healthy.  It's generic but that's how I want to keep it.  It's about being healthy in all aspects of my life.  That includes physical and mental health.  One specific goal is to floss my teeth more to the point where my gums don't bleed anymore.  :)
  
• Maintain my relationships with friends.  Life can get the best of us and we become too busy to see each other.  I don't see everyone as often as I would like but I know we are all trying our best to see each other.  I'm happy I have multiple dates on the calendar with some of my friends already.
• Spend more time with my nephew.  While I love seeing him, I don't always get to see him as much as I'd like.  He's at the age now (5) where it's a little easier for a person who has never had a child of her own to be around him and be with him in public without incident.  I have some plans for him and I (and probably Michael too) already.
• Be the best girlfriend I can to Michael.  Michael and I get along great most of the time but there's always room for improvement for everyone.  I am going to try to be the best I can in our relationship, even when it gets a little sour at times.  

Happy New Year to you all.  I wish you nothing but health and happiness for the year.  If you have that, most other things fall into place.