it's not even New Year's yet!

i am so excited about this New Year's! 2009 was a real let down for me... at least the first half of it, anyway. the second half was pretty awesome. during the first half i was stuck working at a school with a person i couldn't stand... an abusive person who took advantage of me. it did a real number on me, too - i was functioning over my stress limit for months, i didn't have the mental energy to do much of anything after work - for months... even a good way into the summer. the de-stress and recovery took a lot longer than i really ever imagined it would... a good 6 months to be exact.

i finally FINALLY feel like ME again. I'm painting and doing my own artwork again - not nearly as much as i was able to while I was a full time art student, of course, but enough to keep me feeling like a happy and active artist. i'm cooking and baking again! i've got the energy now to enjoy my new home (and finally feel like decorating the place!)... i guess i never quit drinking wine, but i feel like i'm more actively enjoying it, since i'm planning a wine party tonight, and a wine tour early this year, and hopefully more wine events w/ my friends and family throughout the year...

which brings me to my New Year's resolutions... I know it's not even New Year's yet, but i just can't wait to kick this stupid year out of my life... so i'm ready to set some resolutions NOW!

• here's the obvious one - i want to lose weight. i've already lost 15 lbs, and i'm set and ready to lose more! (i gained weight while working with that abusive witch early this year... i want to kick the memory of her out for good too, and that means losing the rest of the weight she caused me to gain... and hopefully more on top of that too. i DID gain weight during grad school, and on my honeymoon too... i'd love to just get rid of all of it!... and if i can lose weight between Thanksgiving and Christmas, i can probably do anything!

• I want to spend more time with my favorite people - which means Champagne Thursdays with Hillary, and monthly dinners (or whatever) with my UW artist friends. I want to get my mom out of the house and doing fun social things too!

• I want to do monthly movie nights. Only one person showed up for my foreign movie nite - but i didn't even care... the point was, i was making time to do something i love... who cares if i'm doing it all by myself? it's probably more fun that way anyway, than trying to get people to do it with me who will end up hating it and having a terrible time.... if people want to join me, the more the merrier - but this one is about the ritual and enjoyment of making time to do the stuff i love... anything more than that is just going to be icing on the cake (and everybody knows my favorite part of the cake is the icing) ;)

• I want to host more game nites too! We had a fun game nite with Mike's sister's family, I think we had my parents over for one, and we had one or two at friends' houses too... they're just fun, and i suppose it probably fits under the spending more time with my favorite people section... but these are my resolutions, so i'm going to organize them how i want!

• I want to pay attention and spend more time at SAM. I always love going there, and I just don't feel like I go enough... and since I did ONE art walk in 2009, i'm going to set the goal of doing at least 2 art walks in 2010. it's realistic... and hopefully i'll do more than that too. we'll see.

• I go to my weight watchers meetings on Tuesdays, and they started giving out this little weekly Zine thingy that features a recipe in it each week - and so far (with the exception of this week's, since this week's was a cocktail!!) i've made each one on the Tuesday i got it... so i want to do recipe surprise on Tuesdays. I love being adventurous with food, and so far that has been a great way to keep mixing it up and trying new things!

• I also plan to return to doing Yoga this year! I'm already signed up to do Doga (Yoga for dogs and people!!) for 4 weeks starting toward the end of January. I found a neat looking studio sorta nearby for regular yoga too, that I would really like to start going to. I have always loved yoga, and I think it will feel like one more step toward being my normal, balanced, and happy self again!

• I also love reading the classics (among other things), and i haven't read one in ages... so i want to choose one and read it this year too. I'll read other stuff too, of course (among the other stuff i'm working on the Harry Potter series, and got as far as buying Twilight, and i'm halfway through the Friday Night Knitting Club for Alyssa's Book Club Lite)... but i'm going to do at least one classic novel this year too.
  

I might add to this list between now and New Year's... but that's a good working list of the things I want to do in 2010!