Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's 2010. Where did 2009 go?? Wasn't it just yesterday that we were all freaking out about y2k? Looks like everything worked out ok? :-)

2009 was quite a year. Not the best year, but a pretty good one. I learned a LOT. Like a ton! About myself, about other people, about what I want in life, about the sort of person I am and the sort of person I want to be. I am looking forward to 2010. I feel like I am on a good trajectory and there are a lot of new things on the horizon for 2010. I don't think I am going to be still much in the new year and this makes me very very happy.

For as long as I can remember I've written New Year's resolutions. I actually put a lot of thought into them and try to hold myself accountable to each and every one. I guess there is a purpose to all my type A behaviors . . . I already wrote out my resolutions in my journal but I think there are few that I'd like to publicly hold myself accountable to, so voila! My 2010 resolutions:

- See a movie at the movie theater once a month (or more). In SoCal I used to go to the movies all the time. Everybody does. There's a ton to pick from and a million movie theaters. I got out of the habit here because I've been living in an area with a real crap selection of theaters and movies. In 2009 I think I maybe saw 5 or 6 movies at the theater. Very sad, considering how much I love the whole movie theater experience. I think I can manage a movie a month. I've already seen my January one - Up in the Air.

- Deal with my hair in a pro-active way. I am getting older and the grey hairs are sprouting with a vengeance. I am doing myself no favors by pulling them all out. Soon I will be bald. I think I would make a good redhead; this is the year to find out.

- I would like to learn to cook an awesome Asian noodle/vegetable soup. I've never made soup before. Actually that's not true but I think most people would disagree that cutting up tofu and pouring boiling water over it is soup. I would also like to work on mastering gluten-free baking. I don't need to know everything there is to know about it because from what I understand it's a lot of experimenting and trial and error. I miss baking. I am taking a gluten-free cooking class in March so I'm hoping to get some tips on all the flours.

- Not spend any money for two weeks. I am sure this will become a reality as soon as I start grad school in the fall but I would like to purposefully not spend any money for a specific period of time, other than on the essentials - shelter, basic food items (no treats), utility bills. I suspect that I will find that I spend more than I think and with this huge debt I've just acquired I need to re-learn some habits.

- Find joy. I made a horrifying discovery this summer that I have never truly felt joy. This bothers me. I would like to let myself be in the moment for at least a few seconds to simply be happy.

- Go to yoga more often. It's the only night of the week that I sleep well and I feel immensely more calm after I've gone. There's a yoga studio around the corner from my new place and I am sure there are countless others closer than the studio I've been going.

- Stop collecting people. Enough with the unhealthy, one-sided relationships, friends and lovers both. I do not need to be friends with Miss Bitchface so I need to stop trying.

I set a bunch of other resolutions in my journal (yup, I keep a paper journal too) but those are more private, but I think these are pretty good ones.

Happy 2010!!