resolved

Photo by Anne Marie Musselman, a Portland photographer. Love.

First of all, thanks so much for your wonderful response to yesterday's maudlin midnight post. I was feeling pre-tty glum, but your encouragement cheered me up considerably, as it always does. So today I thought I'd return with a slightly more positive spin on the New Year. Like I said, I love making resolutions. Remember the week of living resolutely last spring (it was sadly truncated by bike accident #1)? Well, then some of these goals will look mighty familiar. We're all works in progress.

RESOLUTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR (or "New Year's Resolutions"):

1. Drink enough water (64 oz. daily) This has always been and probably will always be on my to-do list, but I continue to get better. Incrementally. Sometimes.

2. Exercise three times a week. My newfound (and totally unexpected) fondness for the gym will hopefully make this doable.

3. Be on time for the important stuff. I tend to be staggeringly early to class and late for just about everything else.

4. Make time for adventures. Part of the reason why Ross and I were excited about moving here was because of the chance to explore new places. Lately, the cold weather has put the kibosh on that plan (warm weather = cheap entertainment; cold weather = expensive). Once it gets warmer I want to resume our hiking/exploring/camping/getting to know DC adventures.

5. Take better notes in my school books. Yes it makes my books messy, and yes, I often blush when I stumble across some forgotten and inane marginalia. But when it's paper time, those scribbled notes (of which I did not make nearly enough last term) are a godsend.

6. Find a summer job that I won't hate. This may be nearly impossible, as nothing could ever, ever compare to the bliss that is the Oregon Zoo, and I'm worried that, in spite of my best intentions, I'll spend the summer thinking of what might have been. But that's why we make resolutions, right? To try to overcome our worst impulses.

7. Make time for hobbies. Ross gave me a knitting book for Christmas, and I've been reteaching myself how to knit (I quasi-learned in college). I'm even halfway through a scarf! This fall I really missed my hobbies. Without NW 23rd, many of our friends, and Portland, Ross and I both kind of forgot to keep up with the things we liked to do. In 2011 I want to make those things a priority (especially for the spouse, who really neglects his interests without prodding)... yoga, cooking, knitting, and maybe even some gardening for me, frisbee and other running-around activities for Ross.

And finally:

8. Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other... well, you know how I feel about you. Happy New Year.