Ringing in the new year

Friends, I am very excited to ring in the new year. I love making new year's resolutions. For a while, I used to make the same one every year. Last year, I decided that that particular goal (to stop "chomping at the bit" and appreciate things more in the moment) is really just going to be an "always" thing, so I made a bunch of small goals to chip away at over the course of the year. I wrote them in the back of my planner and checked in with them every once in a while. They were:

1) Watch less TV. By this I meant "mindless" TV, where I just turn on any old show to zone out. I did pretty well with this in '09 by phasing out The Learning Channel almost entirely. And now we're getting rid of cable and moving to an Apple TV/Roku combo, so I think I'll still be good for 2010.

2) Don't overtip. Was part of a "save money" concept. I'm a rampant overtipper. Still am. Utterly failed at this one. Not going to make a second attempt. Oh well.

3) Keep "adultifying" wardrobe. Major success with this one. Gave many bags of good but teenager-y clothes to the Salvation Army. I even studied some blogs and sites like Polyvore for outfit ideas and bought a few new things that fit well and that I'll get a lot of use out of. I think I'll keep this one up in 2010.

4) Be more open to sad or scary TV/movies. I know, number one was watch less TV, right? Well, that was about mindless TV, and a lot of stuff that I might actually find to be really good art takes a lot out of me, so sometimes I just avoid it (life can be sad and scary enough!) and go for the lighter stuff. I tried this a *bit*, I did make it all the way through Buffy (which is scarier than my usual fare). Still haven't watched The Wire.

5) Take in less celebrity gossip/superficial stuff. Hugely successful. I don't buy gossip rags. (I'm not even sure how I started doing that—I was never into that stuff and then once I was out of the academic bubble I got addicted or something.) I hardly ever go on people.com. I couldn't tell you a thing currently about who's pregnant or breaking up or dangerously losing weight. YESSS.

So far, the 2010 goals are:

1) Save more money. I got a small raise this year and want to start socking more away.

2) Take my vitamins. This is so easy. Why don't I actually do it?

3) Do my own creative projects. Creative energy was an unexpected wedding perk. Gotta ride that out.

4) Don't overbook myself. Ties in with the creative project thing. I have to choose my projects carefully and realistically consider how much time they'll take. Learned my lesson on that this year.

Do you have any resolutions for 2010?

Winter love

I'm not hating winter yet. Maybe because it's early still, or maybe because I own a bigass coat and waterproof boots. I'm craving some time away in a cabin or something, with the warmth and smoky smell of a woodstove and some acoustic guitar in the background. I'm falling in love with everything; men, women, toddlers, cups of coffee, granite buildings, pieces of music, my husband eating a big bowl of soup. Everything seems crisp and clear and irrepressibly lovely.

This could all be the cold medicine talking, I guess. Forgive me for being so moony :)

Undercover eating

OK, so I'm a little late on this one, but when I get crazy busy, it takes me a while to finish reading my New Yorker issues!

I am a big fan of eating, and living in NYC and watching a bunch of Top Chef over the past couple of years has really peaked my interest in trying out different "good" restaurants. The Michelin guide is generally considered the be-all, end-all source of restaurant recommendations...except, it seems, in NYC, where Michelin has failed to recognize local staples such as Craft (drool).

So who decides which restaurants make Michelin's cut? (In other words, who's *not* drooling over Craft?) Until now, we've never known. For the first time, in an effort to gain ground among the New York "foodie" crowd, Michelin has allowed one of their restaurant inspectors to participate in an interview. The inspector remains anonymous, but this is a fascinating read! Inspectors must always maintain their anonymity. They're undercover food detectives!

As one famous for her bafflingly disparate (high/low) tastes (yes, I drool over Craft, but revisit my posts on Teddy Grahams and Campbell's green bean casserole if you must), I don't think I would ever be very good at a job like this. But all your fancy meals paid for...a bit tempting, eh?

Thanksgiving at home

Since we've been traveling so much this fall (what with the wedding and all), Chris and I decided to stay put for Thanksgiving and host Chris's little bro for dinner. The elements of our awesome day:

Flowers.

Apples.

More flowers.

Munchies.

Cat in a box.

Turkey.

Gravy.

Veggies (and homemade cranberry sauce contributed by my awesome co-worker!)

Vegetarian plate (thank you, Quorn!). Including regular beans and green bean casserole (because sometimes stuff baked with a can of soup and fried onions rocks).

Dishwashers.

Efficiency.

Beatles Rock Band.

And to top it off, tea, dessert (flourless chocolate cake), and an old movie: The Seven Year Itch.

Hope everyone had a terrific turkey day!

Running my days

During the early stages of wedding planning, I was talking with my mom about scheduling some time to meet with caterers. I whipped out my trusty Day Runner and she exclaimed "You still have that thing?"

Yes, I do. Mom bought it for me on a back-to-school Staples run one year, and I never looked back. This must have been after the ordinance enforcing mandatory use of school-issued "agendas" was lifted, but I can't pin down the exact year.

Long after they stopped selling 6-ring generic planner refills at our local Wal-Mart, I continued using this thing. I order refills every year online.

For one year after college, I stopped using it. I figured, "Hey, I don't have any homework, right?" I felt lost. I get so much more done if I write it down longhand. That makes it real. That means I will do it. And that means I get to scribble it into oblivion once it is done:

There are few things more satisfying than scribbling out to-dos. Now, my mom is right. This thing is old. This thing is so old that plaid has come back into fashion. The cat recently chewed on the little closure strap (check the close-up of his teeth marks below). And, I'll be honest, the cloth cover smells a little bit funny. (I've tried Febreeze.)

It's no secret that I love to keep stuff until I've run it into the ground. Sometimes I just get attached to things that make me feel like me. I've been considering getting a new planner, but they seem so slick and sterile. They scream "I am an organized professional!" This one...well, let's just say I've taken to calling this one my "serial killer notebook."

For if I got a new planner, would it take kindly to my cutting up and punching holes in prints of artwork that I like?

Or to my scribblings of sights I see or things I hear? (Recent favorite: Teenage girl describing a disliked schoolmate as having the look of "an angry snowball." I am so using that.)

Would a new planner sneer at the ridiculous way in which I do math?

This little book is home to all kinds of scraps of me. Nutty scribblings, big ideas, concert ticket stubs, business cards, bar recommendations, books to read, and a beautiful piece written for me by a poet friend years ago, which I whip out whenever I'm feeling down on myself.

Last year, one of my Christmas presents from Chris was a set of colorful monthly divider tabs featuring pictures of the cat and cute little notes.

I think I'll be hanging on to this book a little while yet...

5 coolest words in the English language

I am loving "desiderium" (an ardent desire or wish; a longing, properly for a thing once possessed and now missed; a sense of loss).

Check out the rest here!

Do you have any favorite words? I've always loved "ineffable".

Recent musings

"I'm trying to find me a better way
to get from the things I do to the things I should."
–Counting Crows

It's no mistake that I've been listening to the Counting Crows for about 15 years. I can always find something in their lyrics that speaks to me, no matter what I'm going through.