Okay the reality is that I need more water, fruit, fiber and vegetables in my diet. And while I know this is true all year round, it takes a resolution for me to make myself do it. Past history shows it still only lasts for a month before I fall back into my unhealthy ways.

Oh well, maybe this year will be different.

So here are my 2011 New Year's Resolutions....

1. Eat healthier (as in drink more water and add more fruit and vegetables to the mix)
   
2. Get more cardio (I'm even thinking that I will try Zumba again, even though I could not be worse at following someone else's dance steps or at keeping the beat)

Think Elaine on Seinfeld...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_DF2Af3LM?fs=1]

...only at a faster pace.

      3. And oh yeah, I still need to organize those digital photos.

While I could add a lot more things to the list, I think this is where I will leave it. Somehow three things seem easier to accomplish than an entire list.

So what is your New Year's Resolution?

That's the beauty of a new year right? You get to start anew. When the holidays are over I usually begin my reflection on the year just passed, and start thinking about what I want to accomplish in the one to come. My re-evaulation time.

So this year, I got smart. I saved our list of resolutions from last New Year's (2010) so I would have something to measure myself against.

My first one was to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. And believe it or not, I did it! It took nearly the whole year, but by gosh I finally did it. It was an Oprah Ah-Ha moment back in November when on a webinar about social media I stumbled into, I realized this is it! This is me. This is what I have been waiting for. This is want I want to be when I grow up.

A social media strategist.

It has been quite an energizer to have found a positive direction for my work life to move in. And the bonus is that it incorporates my years of experience and knowledge in paper, and yet it adds something in to challenge me. Best of both worlds.

I loved the "going back to school", even if it was of the online and not classroom variety. My mind became a sponge for this new information. It gave me a purpose. A reason to look forward to the day. It made me feel alive again.

And maybe more importantly, valuable, current, productive. Oh how I love New Year's resolutions.

My second resolution was to approach everything in 2010 with an open heart. I think I did that as well. As a result I endured some major emotions as my oldest graduated from high school and went off to college. Ouch. But I got through it. I no longer cry when I think of the whole process, that has to be progress, right?

And I tried some new things, took a community ed class (kind of out of the blue) and made a new and important friend. Open hearts are awesome, they lead you in their own directions.

The third resolution will remain on my list for 2011. And that is/was to organize my digital photos. Yipes. With computers going on the fritz all the time around our house it is no small task to keep those photos around, let alone organized. So, it will remain a goal to accomplish this year.

And now to think about what else I shall attempt in 2011. I think I will ponder this as I take a walk in the woods today.....clearing my mind of the clutter and allowing the resolutions to find their way to me.

Happy New Year, world.

During my holiday break the tv was on....now I normally have no time for tv. This happened to be The View. Victoria Beckham was showing off her fashion line.

Okay first, she said something like, "It really is so hard to be a mum." Right....with your million (or is it billion) dollar income and slew of nannies and assistants, it must be tough.

Whatever...

Then we moved on to her fashion line, designed to celebrate a woman's curves. Um, have you seen her lately. She has NO curves....so how do you design clothes to fit women with curves if you don't have any yourself? 

Let me just say this does not instill any confidence in me.

Whatever...

Then I got to see the first design. Hmmm, nice color.  Not the type of dress I would choose for a person with curves though. 

And what the heck is that?

There is not a zipper all the way up the back, right? How is that even possible?

She is rambling on about how you can zip it all the way down for daytime wear and make it sexier for night time.

All I can think of is... so I would need help to get my dress on and off?  As in... I cannot put this on by myself?  What are you thinking Victoria?

Oh wait...that's right. She is surrounded by nannies and assistants (and paparazzi), how would she know us common folk don't always have help around to zip us?

Okay.. I think I need to turn off the tv and take a walk now. Enough is enough.

This is what I wanted, right? To be useful, busy, and effective again at work. And now I wonder "what was I thinking?". Usually the holidays and the weeks preceeding the holidays are slow times for me at work. I almost always have the luxury of taking a late lunch to cruise into the mall or a store to do my Christmas shopping in relative peace.

Well, it has been a very busy last few weeks, and there has been little (or no time) for a dash to the store here or there. So now I am wondering, geez, what was I thinking? And how can it possibly be that Christmas is next week?

I lay awake at night thinking of all the things I still need to accomplish (oh and did I mention that I actually scaled back the list this year), and making a mental list of what I need to do the next day. Except that I wake up the next morning and cannot remember one thing on that list, just that I had a BIG one to accomplish at 3 am.

So it's like this, my husband said this to me yesterday morning... I think it's time to clear up some disc space, reboot, reinstall. (And he wasn't talking about our computer.) He was talking about me. Maybe he is right. Maybe I just need to breathe. To slow down, to scale back a little, and remember to enjoy.

Breathe....In through the nose, out through the nose.....

I can do it. Yeah, I can totally do this.

From L to R: The Big Star Lake Scott's & Mike

I was looking through my photos this morning.  This one jumped out at me. Made me miss summer and the water and all our BSL friends.

Now don't get me wrong, I love, love, love  a white Christmas and a snowy New Year's.

But... there's something very appealing about sitting around on a hot summer day and deciding....it's time for handstands in the lake.

P.S. Nice legs guys.

Why is it that people get cranky and mean around the holidays?

In all honesty I need to include myself in that category, well at least in years past, anyway.

Maybe it is the overwhelming amount of things to be "done" that makes everyone a little quicker to anger than normal, a little more impatient. Or the sense that the year is ending and there is so little time to accomplish what we set out to do at the beginning of the fresh new year.

Whatever the reason, I am purposefully trying something different this year. I am trying to see if me having a different attitude while shopping and interacting with people around this busy time of year will help my attitude as well.

And so far it is working. The first time I went out it was on a Sunday and I had a BIG list to accomplish, but I was not in a BIG hurry. Nor did I have to find everything on my list. I just wanted to begin to move my holiday shopping in a forward direction.

I was at Kohl's when I saw an older lady holding one of those long hook things and looking up at a rack of sweaters. She looked like she needed help. And rather than make her wait for a Kohl's employee, who sometimes seem non-existent when you really need them, I offered to assist. (I kind of like the challenge of using those long hooky things anyway.)

At first she thought I was an employee and asked for an XL sweater. As I began my attempt at reading the tags, way up over my head, she noticed that I was just another shopper. She was a bit embarrased and tried to send me on my merry shopping way, but I refused and said I was happy to help.  After a little more effort,  I found her size, and got it down for her.

She was so thankful. As I started to walk away she said.... Thank you for being so nice. I will make sure to pay it forward.

I practically stopped in my tracks. How cool! I wasn't even thinking along those lines. It just seemed the right thing to do at the time.

The fact that my kindness might possibly be paid forward became icing on the cake.

Maybe there is something to this....all I know is,  I am going to keep it going. The attitude, the smile, the kindness...

It is way more fun to be happy than crabby, especially at this time of year.

Try it.

Inspiring words. Life changing words.

  As I sat across the table at lunch earlier this week with an old friend....and when I say old friend, I don't mean age wise, I mean someone who over the last 20 years I have seen on and off --sometimes with gaps of years between visits.  And yet when we are together, I feel like no time has passed. We are still the same people, deep down, that met and bonded 20 years ago when we worked together in our twenties.

We were having a rather involved discussion and she said those words. Spoken not for the first time obviously....but when I heard them this time they totally rang true. And I thought to myself  "Yeah, it is".

And I am so glad that right now my life is just where I want it to be. No regrets, no wish-I-would-haves, no if onlys. I feel solid. Like if something happened to me tomorrow I could be proud of  the life I have lived and of the person I have become. It is kind of a load off my shoulders realization.

Oh I still get a few thoughts about wishing I would have never done that, or why didn't I ever do this or I should have treated that person better....but most of them are little things. On the big things, I am solid.

And I honestly believe that those mistakes and missteps I took along the path of life were necessary to make me the person I am today.

As imperfect as anyone. But perfectly me.

I have been waiting for this feeling for a long, long time.

Hello, Terri.

I ask for one thing from my boys around Thanksgiving every year...their cooperation for the annual Christmas picture. I never get it. Only moments before this shot was taken, there was fighting. As a result it is almost like a joke when I send out my card, because Christmasy is usually NOT what I was feeling when the family Christmas picture was taken. There are usually tears (from me) involved! Thankfully this year was not as bad as usual... at least everyone is looking at the camera--and Mitch is not making a goofy face.

The way I see it there are two schools of thought on Christmas pictures. Some people, like us, send yearly pictures of our whole family. Some people only send pictures of their kids. I hate that. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love to get pictures of everyone's children, but what I really like to see is current pictures of our friends, too. Many of the folks we exchange Christmas cards with we have not actually "seen" since college. And it is safe to assume that everyone has changed since then, yes "gasp", they've grown older and grayer and maybe a little heavier. But so have we. So c'mon! Show us your beautiful children, but be brave and show us YOU as well. Please....

Most of my life is spent with the "boys", so it is a pleasure to spend time with the girls in my family. And that is some wonderful company! Hope your Thanksgiving was was as fabulous as mine.

Ahhh. Thanksgiving. What do you enjoy most about it? The traditions, the hustle and bustle, the time off? For me it is all about being together and being home. Because I am a homebody at heart I look forward to several days in a row of just being here. Of not having to go out of the house, unless I want to.  Of  having the house filled with people and laughter, games and good food.

It does not seem like a year went by since the pictures we took last year. And yet it does. A lot has changed...and because I am person who likes things status quo...a lot has not. Sadie's gone. She's in Texas now, having Thanksgiving with her mom and brother. I will miss her. A lot. Last year was even more special for me because I got to experience our family traditions through her eyes. It made me realize that even though everyone complains about the pictures I take and the trek to go cut down our Christmas tree immediately after Thanksgiving, there is something special about them, too.

For me, Thanksgiving signifies the beginning of the end, the countdown to Christmas and the end of the year. In a way, kind of like the calm before the storm. I use it as a time of reflection to count my blessings and figure out what is truly important to me.

This year I am thankful for my family, yoga and the awesome power we all have within us to take charge of our lives. 

What are you thankful for?

Wish I would have thought of this. What an inspired idea. Add your comments to the link, but first think about what you are truly thankful for in 2010. If your year has been anything like mine, there is so much to appreciate. Life is good.

Once all the responses are collected, they will be sent to the Guiness Book of World Records. Tell the world what you are thankful for. Let your voice be heard.

http://www.appreciate-it.com/

Make a change. Even if it is just in your little world. Go for it. You'll feel so much better!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" -Gandhi

I'm thinking I was almost a complainer......one of those people on the edge of unhappy who gripes and gripes but never does anything to change things. Until I had an epiphany. What a cool word that is. Dictionary.com says it is a sudden, intuitive perception or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple or commonplace occurrence or experience.  

It didn't occur to me that this is what happened to me until I was reading a meditation from Daily OM in last week's yoga class.  I read, "Complaining is a person's way of acknowledging that they are not happy with the way things are.  So transforming complaining into something useful is a twofold process that begins with turning our critical eye to look at things we can actually do something about, and then taking positive action." So in a nutshell,  stop complaining and do something about it.

As I said the words in my yoga class, I realized that is what I had just done at my workplace.

 

And it was life changing.

I had been feeling useless, stagnant, outdated, almost resentful about my job and although I hadn't started complaining to the world around me (mostly just to my husband) I was about ready to spew.  And then suddenly,  I made a spur of the moment decision that changed my life. I followed my instinct....remember that $800 class I signed up for, (see earlier blog post....Jumping in Without A life Jacket), an online social media marketing certification class? The one my husband said "no" to doing, two seconds after I clicked the sign up now button?

Well I knew it was something I needed to do. I clicked that button and I was confident I was doing the right thing.  But would my company believe in me? Would my husband?

Turns out they did. I prepared a memo to my company asking that they let me head up their social media marketing effort, and asked them to pay for my class. They agreed. No arguments and without many questions. I cannot tell you how good I felt doing something to change my course...

 

I'd like to think that I recognized a problem, and was offering them a solution. I channeled a negative habit into a creative process, and used my energy to change the world, well, at least my world, in a positive way. So if you find yourself complaining, don't beat yourself up. Instead figure out what is bothering you and dare to make a change.

It's empowering, and uplifting and it just might change your life and the lives of those around you.

I love yoga.

I love it so much I decided to become a certified instructor without really knowing why I wanted to get certified. Once, near the end of a yoga class with my husband, I leaned over and said, I'm taking the instructor class to get certified. Without hesitation, he said okay. Now, I'm pretty sure if he had asked me that question, I would have said something like..."well how much is it, and what are you ever going to do with it?" But he didn't. He just nodded. How I love his faith in me.

Turns out, I had a plan all along, I just didn't know it. A year after taking the instructor's class through Yogafit, I got my certificate and realized that I really wanted to teach. I called GR Parks and Rec one afternoon last Spring on a whim. Funny thing, they needed an instructor because someone had just quit. So I signed up, and a week later, I was in front of a class. Fate?

I was scared to death that first day. I made so many mistakes, I even forgot what pyramid pose was called. But by the end of the Spring session, I was feeling a bit more comfortable. Summer came and went and I signed up to teach again this Fall. Two classes back to back on Monday nights. Eeek! I wondered if I could handle that. Turns out it has been the best experience for me.

That is why tonight is bittersweet for me. It marks the completion of another 10 week session teaching yoga through GR Parks & Rec. It's over....already. Just like a 55 minute class--it goes by so fast. I arrive, with big plans of what I want my class to accomplish that night, and then I look up at the clock, and it's time for Shavashana. Where did the time go?

I guess in a way, it is like life. Like parenting. You begin the journey, scared to death, on the day you take your baby home from the hospital ...and then, next thing you know--- they are going off to college. All I can say is, make sure you have fun along the way. Cuz it sure goes by fast. Bittersweet.

Life...it's like that.

Throughout my life I have been asked this question and I have never had an answer. Some people immediately have their "hero" in mind. For me it has always been more of a bits and pieces thing. I admire "this" in a certain person and I learned "that" from someone else. But it occurred to me recently that I do have role models.

It is the women who have come before me in my family, my Grandmas. Nana, my mom's mom, was the traditional wife, mother, and homemaker.

She rarely ventured out, choosing instead to spend her time at their house and at their trailer near Holland. She knitted, she sewed, she cooked, she crafted so many things, yet she never even learned to drive. You could always count on Nana to be there for you. In my 3 1/2 years away at college, before cell phones or the internet, she sent me a letter a week to remind me that she was thinking of me. How I looked forward to receiving that mail and to her sweet writing about nothing (and everything), and the couple of dollars she slipped in there for me to get a treat! I am like her in more ways than I ever imagined. I too, rarely travel, spending my time between my house and my cottage. I craft, I cook and I send a text a day to remind my son at college that I am thinking of him.

And then there was my Grandma Eva, my dad's mom, who was the fun loving, adventurous, life-is-a-party Grandma.

I'll never forget one time she was babysitting my sister and I, and we drove up to the Dairy Queen for a treat. Although I had not yet learned to drive, I was pretty sure that riding with two wheels on the curb, and two wheels on the street, was not the proper way to do it! Watch out mailboxes. It was always an adventure with her. She made people laugh, lots of times at her as much as with her. She raised two outdoorsy boys, and hunted and fished right along with them. Talk about being a cool mom.

If you had asked me when I was a young working mother with two boys, a home and a husband to care for,  if I thought we shared any of the same personality traits, I'd have answered heck no. But as I grow older I  realize now that I am definitely a mix of the two role models. From my Nana I got my love of home, family, and my need to make sure that people feel comfortable and cared for in my presence. From my Grandma Eva, I got the "life is a party, enjoy every minute", and oh-by-the-way just because I am the party hostess, don't think I won't be joining in the fun, attitude. From them, whether I ever realized it or not, I became the
person I am today. Both of my Grandmas have been gone for years, but somehow they stay in my thoughts. I miss them. And I aspire to someday be the role models for my grandchildren that they were for me.

Who is your role model?

All my life I have admired those people who give back to their community by volunteering. While I streaked at break neck speed through years of my endless "to do" lists, I envied those who gave back. I have often said throughout my life that I have no real talent. And I meant it. I don't sing, or dance, or play a musical instrument. I can't knit or sew. I clean, I cook, I pack, I shop, I plan...not exactly what I would consider give backable talents.

But this week I learned something about myself. Gilda's Club has workshops for their members, and I volunteered to lead one on journal making and decorating. I recruited my mom, and my Aunt Lo to come along and help. What a fantastic experience. As I watched the group of women, each with their own unique life story and situation, work together to create their journals, I discovered that maybe I do have a talent. It might not be the big kind, the kind that gets you up on stage or that even gets you noticed, but the kind that you can use anywhere at anytime. The gift of hostessing. I like to make people happy and comfortable. To put them at ease. To have them leave feeling happy they came. I am by nature, a true hostess.

Maybe all these years it wasn't that I lacked talent or time, I just needed to hone my skills. I know one thing for sure, look-out-world the volunteer in me is here to stay. I can't wait to do it again.

...but the fact that he called while driving is not even the surprising part. Unfortunately. But that is another story. There was some really loud talking going on in the background and I could barely understand him. What is that?, I asked. His answer: Oh, sorry that is the radio....I was listening to NPR. Oh, okay, I say. Wait....WHAT?????? Who are you and what have you done with my son?

He is 16 people. Sixteen, and on his way to GR Crew practice. What in the world is he doing listening to NPR? With the exception of the few days after 911, I have never even listed to NPR. Oh my gosh, there is hope for him yet, he's turning into his father.

But have you ever been late to work because dog tried to eat you? Okay well it wasn't that dramatic, but I was held up at school, stuck inside the building, while a giant dog ran around loose outside knocking over the trash can and jumping at the door. Truth. And, by giant dog, I mean...giant dog. Not knowing much about dogs (did I mention that my son is planning to be a veterinarian but we've never owned a pet of any kind), I do know this much...the dog was huge and black, kinda scary and walked funny. Someone said it looked like a rottweiler & pit bull mix. Needless to say I wasn't going to attempt the walk out to my car, just in case he was also an angry dog. I've only had stitches twice in my life, one time from a black lab that wasn't very friendly. I remember hearing that dogs can smell fear (or was that bears), so no way was I going to be able to pretend it didn't scare me. I stayed put, and watched from the safety of the lobby until the police, GRPS security and the animal control guys arrived. Turns out he wasn't an angry dog, just a really big, really curious, scary looking one. I am still glad I stayed inside....and I was late for work because of a dog.

Okay, I think I have gone off the deep end.

I just spent $800 for an online Social Media Magic University class and certification. I did not even ask my company if they would pay for it (yet)---I just felt like I needed to sign up---omg, I hope this is a sign of what I should be doing, and not a sign that I am going nuts. Seconds after I clicked the sign up NOW button, my husband sent an answer to my text asking him if it was okay if I did it.  He responded "No". Oops.

I got home today and had four new answering machine messages--how exciting! And then even before I got to listen to them, I got another phone call. A kid. He's asking if I am going to vote tomorrow. "Of course". Do you know the polls are open from 7 am to 8 pm he asks me?  "Yeah".  He continues on, will you be voting in the morning or afternoon? "Who cares, I want to say?" But I'm too polite, I answer him because he sounds kinda young and nervous.

And then he reads off his paper in a robotic voice...I'd like to thank you for answering, for your time and I'd like to thank you for voting. I giggle. It sounds so silly. Polite, but yet kinda ridiculous. Okay sure, you are welcome kid. Now stop already...

Are there really people out there unaware of the fact that we vote tomorrow? Or people who won't exercise their right to vote? Come on folks, stop your complaining and do something!

Vote. Make your voice heard.

Oh yeah, those exciting messages on the machine? All political. All recorded. All impersonal. Seriously? Leave me alone, please.... I hate politics and political ads, I'd even go so far as to say that I am not a political person. But voting...well that is pretty much a no brainer.