This Year...

Happy New Year, everyone!  It's been a super busy time of the year.  December has been filled with holiday hecticness, ranging from get-togethers with friends who were home for Christmas, celebrating in Chicago and Iowa with my family, and last-minute gift shopping.  I was also lucky enough to squeeze in a work trip to Toronto, a fabulous city that I hadn't visited since college.

And so here we are in 2013.  Crazy, isn't it?  With the arrival of the new year comes the requisite (and oft dreaded) New Year's resolutions.  There are the typical, somewhat lofty goals.  You know...  I'll exercise every day, eat less junk food, try to get 8 hours of sleep...  There are also ones that are a little more attainable (and immediate).  Mine would be to simply get rid of stuff.  I still have not made much progress with the Cloffice, and it would be so nice to start buying a couple new pieces for the room.  But, that can't happen til all the piles of crap get sorted and tossed.

So, resolution numero uno is to try really hard to make the Cloffice a pleasant room - something that might actually resemble my daydreamy ideas about it from this earlier post.  We'll see.

I also took a look at my New Years 2012 post and copied over my "old" list.  Here it is, with a 370-day later update:

* GET RID OF STUFF! (For those who know me well, this is much easier said than done) - Well, this is ongoing.  And still at the top of the list.  Sigh.

* Learn French and take more Spanish classes (I was a German major in college, and I love languages) - I did learn some basic French!  It came in handy when we spent an amazing week in Paris.

* Get back to NYC this year (hmm, shouldn't be hard to do this ;) - Also done!  And as awesome as ever, with jaunts to Brooklyn this time around.

* Attempt to eat healthier (hmm, shouldn't be so hard to do this, but it is... ) - Yeah.  Um.  Ongoing.  Just give me the bacon and bourbon already.

* Take some muay thai classes (I used to do kickboxing classes at various gyms and miss the kicking and hitting!) - This hasn't happened yet.  Buying a spin bike has replaced the classes, not so much because I don't want to punch something, but the search for a muay thai place near work or home continues.

* Take voice lessons (OK, so I actually started lessons in December, so I can check this one off the list, at least in terms of having started it) - In fact, I had about 6 voice lessons total and really liked them.  Need to resume.  Til then, I will punish my friends with karaoke.

* Continue to make this blog better! - Oh man, I fell off the wagon this winter, didn't I?  My bad.  Will definitely work on making this more frequent, informative, and fun.

What about you?  What are you determined to do this year?  Maybe you've promised yourself to cut down the TV time by an hour each day?  Exercise a couple times a week (hey, if I can do this I'll be happy)?  Finally take up sailing lessons this summer?  Cut down on shopping?  Cut down on Facebook?

Let me know what's at the top of your to-do list.  It might help motivate me to get busy.  And as much as I'd like to count "I just cleaned the bathroom this morning from top to bottom,"...  well, I could probably do better :)

Here's wishing you a wonderful new year! 



P.S.  I tried to add an image to spiff up this post, but Blogger isn't cooperating today :)