New year and new day

You'd think I would learn.

After all of the new planners, new purses, new notebooks, new organizers, new lists, new plans, new projects, new "leaves", you think I would learn, a leopard doesn't change its spots...

Does it?

A very wise friend of mine once said, "We reinvent ourselves every day." I like the optimism in that; I like the possibilities that are inherent in that statement. To that end, one should embrace not "New Years resolutions" but "New Day Resolutions."

But still, New Year's IS all about the hope, the changes, the possibilities. So while I'm not going to say "I resolve to do these things", I am going to say "This is what I'd like to make happen in the year ahead." And then maybe, day by day, I will reinvent myself.

(Although, I have to say, I do rather like myself and my life. I'd like to think I don't suck too much.)

And so, let's crack open a bottle of champagne and contemplate our navels, our lives, our new days, our new years!
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Health and Beauty:

• "Get skinnier than Jim" (in other words, my eldest sister and I have to see our biological father this summer. The man is a scrawny--and boringly healthy-- little...fellow...and both of us weigh more than he does. He already views himself as superior; we don't wish to give him any more ammo.)
• Establish a solid, consistent beauty routine.
• Vitamins, medications, and water. 'Nuff said.
• Look into getting serious work done on my sinuses. It might be time for surgery.

Creativity

• Do the Artist's Way, goddammit
• Blog at least three times a week
• Finish "Home Front"
• Write a piece on Indiana
• Finish the Indiana and wedding scrapbooks
• Take an acrylics class
  

Finances

• Stick to the budget
  
• Pay off that (thankfully wee) bit of credit card debt
• Have enough money set aside to pay off the car in March 2o12
• Do the "envelope system" for indulgent purchases
  

Family and Friends

• Say less, more
• Cultivate friendship with Missi
• Call grandparents at least twice a week
• Solidify Indiana relationships
• Be mindful of my position as a wife to Himself (basically, he's becoming much more of a public figure, which means I am along for the ride. And it's a very small town.)
  
• Be more supportive and patient with Himself

Professional

• Again, say less, more
• Keep the desk nice and tidy
• Cultivate more patience and tact
• Seize moments of leadership as they arise

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Well, I'm about to be on to my second glass of champagne e. And I lift it up to all of us--may 2011 be the year of re-invention!

Thankful Thursdays, Part 2

There are some moments that you just want to be seared onto your brain, to be stowed away, safely, in your memory, untouched by time or forgetting. Tonight offered me one of those moments.

Through my entire worklife, I have been blessed with a number of jobs that I enjoyed, that provided me with a swarm of caring colleagues, tolerant supervisors, and helpful mentors. Time and time again, I've landed on my feet and gone to work happy, looking forward to the day. My current job has followed the same pattern. I jokingly call one of my bosses "mom" from time to time, the guy that sits across from my cubicle is my "little brother" (he's a week younger than me), and my team of reference librarians (all of whom are at least 30 years older than me) I view as a host of amused, kind aunts and uncles. They've nurtured me, taught me, encouraged me, held me in check, I daresay from time to time protected me. We're a team.

Once a month, we have a meeting at work, and go out for dinner afterward. Tonight, we went to a local Mexican restaurant, where we knocked back some margaritas, swapped gossip about libraries in the region, ate, and listened to a rather loud mariachi band. The music and singing were a little annoying at first (especially when you're trying to hear your former boss tell your current boss who just got a major position elsewhere in the county), but once the margaritas cast their spell, the music brought in its own magic.

At one point, the band moved over to us and began leading a bawdy song with a chorus that
went :

Guacamole!
Guacamole!
We were making guac-a-mole all night long!

I looked around at my "mom" and my aunties, all of them smiling, singing, warm in the low light of the restaurant, their faces so beloved and familiar to me, and I thought my heart would break of happiness. The moment was priceless, beautiful--fleeting.

But it's imprinted here, and in my brain, and it will be one that I shall not let go.

Thankful Thursdays

This Thursday, I am tickled pink by:

1. Working on Saturdays, so that I can have the following Friday off...which means that Thursday is my end of the week. Cheers for long weekends!

2. A husband who doesn't mind my sinus-induced, horrifically nasty morning breath. Seriously, folks, it's foul. I taste it. My cat Maggie waddles up to me and tries to stick her head in my mouth. And Himself simply chuckles and compares it to either a dead starfish or the Salton Sea. (Go to the Salton Sea and you'll know what I mean.)

3. Friends. That's right, you read it correctly. You know, that 10-season show that defined my generation, symbolized the hope and prosperity of the 1990s, and brought us lots of cheesy pop culture goodness. I LOVE that show. Four years ago, back when I first moved to California, I was a very green librarian and constantly questioning the wisdom of moving and feeling frustrated by my job and terribly homesick. I'd go to my boyfriend the Cyborg's house, and obtuse though he was about my feelings and needs (he was called The Cyborg for a reason) he knew enough to plunk me down in front of the television, pour me a glass of wine, pop in Friends, and two hours later I'd be as right as rain. These days, I just watch it in front of the exercise bike as I am huffing and puffing away, but it still helps get the job done!

4. Not giving a toss that most people find my love for Friends to be incredibly bourgeois.

5. Finally...Adirondack Alcohol inks. I haven't figured out what else to do with them, but I tell you what, couple 'em up with Martha Stewart glitter and you can craft some really freaking lovely ornaments!

The Words that Go Unsaid

Well, I feel like a tool. I recently just fell for the oldest blogging trick in the book.

I still read blogs avidly--the blogs of people I know, and homemaking and crafting and scrapbooking blogs, mostly. And I read all about these ladies' lives, and I think "My god, how lucky they are! How happy they are! Look at their beautifully cooked meals/cute kids/orderly homes/lovely craft projects!"

You see where this is going. Hello, inferiority complex!

I think it gets worse when it's someone I know. For example, a friend of mine from the Indiana days is a newlywed, and an avid (and skilled) cook/blogger/crafter. She writes beautiful and uplifting things about her life, right down to her faith, and I simultaneously admire and envy her. AND she lives back East, where there are four seasons.

Purely by accident, I imed her today on google chat. And we got to talking and catching up--and that's when I realized I had fallen for it. I remarked on her blog, and how charmed her life seemed, and her response?

"Well I only write things that are happy."

D'oh! Of course! It's a blog! My sister, who has been blogging since 2001, has a cardinal rule: "Only post the good stuff." Funny that, I thought this was a trait unique to my sister. Apparently not! And if my sister and my friend only blog the good stuff, well, I bet the same is true for a lot of other ladies out there.

I suppose I could do that (I suppose I will do that). The ugly fact about it is, I have a tendency to focus on my blue devils and ignore the awesome stuff in my life--so nothing ever gets posted these days. I'm going to try to get back into the groove with blogging, even if it's only to talk about the awesome stuff in my life and focus on that and make all you readers (at this point, just my afore-mentioned friend, sister, and the omnipresent Indiana stalker) embrace your inner inferiority complex!

Ha. Maybe not so much. At least not intentionally.

But talking with my friend was immensely reassuring--she copped to the 9.5 million fights a week she and her husband have (they are still happy, incredibly so), and unintentionally reminded me that that is fairly normal. And that's the lesson of the day...

There's a lot that people don't tell you about being married.

And there's a lot that I still don't know about being married.

But I'm learning.

Not sure that that's what I'll be posting, but expect some good content in the near future!