Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I know, it’s a day late, but what the heck. We had a nice New Years Eve, went down to First Night Santa Cruz and saw Zun Zun and the Taiko Drummers (who were, if anything, better than ever this year!). We came home and hung out. Some of us made it to midnight… some of us didn’t:

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I was hanging out trying to work on the Irish Hiking Scarf yesterday. Making good progress, the thing is now 37 inches long and I’ve just about finished my second skein, so I’m about 2/3 done (I intend it to be a little over 60 inches):

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I’ve been working on my resolutions for the year. Like I said, I don’t like ‘lose 10 pounds’ or anything like that because you can lose it in January, gain it back in February, and have accomplished precisely nothing.

I will do my very best this year to:

– Run in a race before June

– Knit a sweater for me (maybe Blaze (but not in orange)

– Turn all these balls of cotton yarn in to dishcloths from the Dishcloth Boutique

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– Eat out for dinner no more than once a week

– Take the time to buy and prepare relatively healthful food for myself and my family

– Attend at least 3 martial arts classes a week

– Go back to pre-planning at least 48 hours ahead anything that causes me stress (girl scouts, get-togethers, anything where my tummy wrenches when I think about it)

– Move myself closer to zen mastery

My big plan is to take control of my life back away from the demons of chaos. I had a very stressful year, and much of that stress was due to me overcommitting to things, both in work and in the rest of my life. My new mantra will be “I can only do what I can do” which is still a lot, and the quality of my life is much better when I don’t try to be superwoman.

Femail Creations, one of my favorite catalogs, is having a special deal on one of their plaques which is very apropos to my goals for the year. For every one they sell, they’ll donate $5 to the Red Cross tsunami relief fund. The image is linked to the catalog entry:

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That’s my big resolution for this year. Find the time. Make the time. And of course… be the change I want to see in the world.