Final Test of the Year

So, another end of year is upon us. And it seems every year, those of us getting-older-but-not-quite-old people comment on just how fast the past 365 have flown.

Poof...

Just like the older-than-us people told us when we were still young and spry. They were probably the same age then that we are now. And those of us with kids likely tell them just how quickly the years fly by.

That's the real circle of life.

Regardless, 2018 is almost here and I'm in full-on planning mode for career development next year. One thing I'm considering is reviving this 10 year experiment and getting my blog back on a regular posting schedule. Maybe 3-5 times a week. Maybe shorter than I sometimes write. Posting is still a great way to connect with readers and familiars alike. And I honestly miss it. Miss doing the writing over here.

For starters, things are a lot looser over here than writing books. And I love that I can share all the parts of life and business in one place. One that's all mine.

Of course, writing that many posts in a year is a challenge without a solid plan. One I can stick to and feel inspired to write while still providing some kind of entertainment for the people who read this blog. There aren't many but I love you all and appreciate the support.

2018 is also gearing up as another 3 book year. Can't say I'm sad about that! Book 4 in both Shaw McLeary Mystery and California Dreamin' Series plus another guide for new authors to help improve their own writing efforts.

My 8 month projection calendar is chock full of writing days, marketing needs, and minute details of all things book release. Oh, and at some point next year my sister and I will start working on some bits for books we plan to write together. Definitely can't wait for that.

The one thing I didn't factor in over those 8 months is a single vacation day.

No rest for the self employed.

So, because I want to get this blog back on a regular schedule, I'm using the phone app to write this post. I figured it was worth another try to see if it works for my needs as a word-based blogger. Wouldn't be a bad thing to post on the fly or write up a post if I'm on the road. Seems good so far. I guess all that's left to test is the posting.

Which I'll do as soon as I wish everyone a very happy, safe, and festive end to your year as well as oodles of prosperity in the New Year!

Back to work on Tuesday.

I might be the only person in the world looking forward to going back to work.

The Opposite of Blue

What’s the opposite of feeling blue? There is no color equivalent to describe a happy emotion, is there? Not really. Not in the simplest of sentences.

For example, ‘I’m blue.’ is pretty much a full sentence. Two tiny little words and people know just how you feel – depressed, melancholy, forlorn, like the world has killed your inner child piece-by-piece for a full year.

But, say ‘I’m’ with any other color and it just doesn’t work to convey happiness. Red, orange, yellow, green, purple, brown, black, white, grey, mauve, chartreuse, hell even pink. None of them are happy colors on their own. Not like the word blue conveys sadness.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this over the past few days as even more of the heroes/celebrities/path-blazers of my generation have been snatched out of this plane of existence. All of us social media peeps can’t avoid the outcry, the memes, the articles that detail every blue detail of the past 365 days.

Silver lining? At least it wasn’t a leap year. Oh, wait…

366 days for the waves of ice cold water to slam into all of our brains. All but numbing us to the constant barrage of names thrown at us this year. Names we will never again hear used in present tense.

Zsa Zsa Gabor, John Glenn, Prince, Carrie Fisher, George Michael, Glen Frey, Patty Duke, Harper Lee, Alan Rickman, Gordie Howe, Alan Thicke.

That list is just off the top of my head too, if you want a complete listing of all the amazing souls the world lost this past year you can check out this link, seems pretty comprehensive. Albeit way too long for my liking.

Awards season this year is sure to be a hoot as they spend a half hour per show honoring the fallen. In fact, this year has been so bad, some guy actually started a fund-me type account to order protection for Betty White. 2016 only has 3 days and about 14 hours left.

This year has been a true roller coaster in many ways. Since January, the world beyond my problems not only lost all those people but there was a year-long political campaign fueled by so much vitriol and hate that I almost guarantee anyone reading this who is on social media unfollowed and/or got rid of people they never expected to care that much about.

Views, primarily political made an appearance over here (and here, and here, and in 3 other places) this year. I wouldn’t think of that as strange except the last political related post I wrote before this year was in November of 2012.

And that post was the first since 2008. Yeah, this space isn’t usually a place I discuss world issues unless those issues are directly related to pop culture. (Like every fucking celebrity in the world passing away in a year, for example.)

This election got lost in the blurry lines between culture and pop culture. And, yes, those concepts used to be two different things. Not anymore.

And as if that wasn’t enough, radical people with issues and differing viewpoints on how to be a human, did some scary and shocking shit in a night club in Florida, in the streets of Dallas, TX, and in other countries. Many other countries like Belgium, France, Turkey, Germany.

We killed a gorilla to public outcry and tried to find an alligator like A Cry in the Dark was set at the Grand Floridian.

We watched enormous earthquakes impact Italy, Ecuador. An unconscionable hurricane hit Haiti and the United States.

By the time I got the news that Carrie Fisher had died it felt like emotional and mental whiplash. I just want to lie down now and take a big old nap from all this world shit until 2016 is over.

Because this year was supposed to be fucking awesome. The native people protected their sacred land and water. We had the first ever female nominated for President. Weed became legal in some way shape or form in all but 1 state that had it on the ballot this year. We had the Olympics. The Cubs won the World Series for goodness sake.

On a personal level, this year was pretty awesome. In fact, many super things happened.

I got to see my oldest friend and soul sister who traveled out here to visit us for a few days.

Matt turned 40.

We were fortunate enough to spend time with family we rarely see, as well as some people we saw a lot this year (another bright spot!).

My in-laws moved back to town.

We traveled to a beautiful tropical destination for a literal once-in-a-lifetime trip.

I got to celebrate my birthday in California at a Billy Galewood show.

We finished our final major renovation.

I released three books.

See? All awesome things.

So in 2017 I’ve decided to be more about the day-to-day wonderfulness, the personal victories and beautiful moments like the list right there. Because I’m done with the heaping pile of smelly trash that 2016 tried to become. Moving along. This is all behind us now.

Next year I’m going to be the opposite of blue.

Orange you glad?

Hmm, I agree, that’s weak. I’ll work on it. Next year.

• • • • • • • • • • •
In addition to this drivel I also write books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Learn more on my author page.

Last Chance

Yesterday it occurred to me that I only posted eight times this entire year. Wow. As compared to 2009 when I somehow managed to write an entire 50k+ word novel (first draft) and post 125 blogs, it makes me wonder: how, exactly, did I spend my year?

And this is truly one of my favorite holidays. Because, not only is it perfectly appropriate to wax about that kind of stuff, most people allow a pass when a person goes on and on about their big goals and dreams for the fresh new year ahead.

Scrolling through Facebook this morning I came across a couple friends who posted this question list. I thought about it and as most of you fine folks who have been reading my blog for a while know by now, I’m a sucker for a good call-and-answer post.

What can I say? They appeal to my lazy side because someone else already did half the work.

And today feels like a good time to both be lazy and get in one final hurrah for 2015.

So here goes nothing.

Three names I go by (strangely, it was difficult coming up with the third one because after almost 17 years together I just realized my husband doesn’t even have a pet name for me. Well, at least not one he tells me to my face.).

1. Jenn

2. Flynn-Shon

3. Sweetie

Three places I have lived (wait, just 3? This would be a LONG list otherwise…)

1. Bahstin

2. LINY

3. PHX AZ

Three places I have worked (yet again, another potentially LONG list. But we were just talking about this last night so I’m going with the three I mentioned during our trip down memory lane.).

1. Victoria’s Secret

2. DMR

3. CHA

Three things I love to watch (this will be at least partially seasonally appropriate just because it’s that time of year).

1. Hallmark Christmas movies (#nojudgement)

2. Movies I know by heart (The Goonies, The Princess Bride, The Ref, Love Actually, etc.)

3. My friends make drunken fools of themselves (just kidding. No I’m not. Yes I am.)

Three places I have been (again, I have talked about travel before, and again, and even one more time but those were all in the good old U.S. of A. So here’s three of my favorite international trips).

1. Amsterdam

2. Toronto

3. Ireland

Three things I love to eat (why are we only allowed to say three? Oh, right, because nobody wants to hear anybody ramble on for a week about the food they eat. Cool. I’ll keep it short and simple.)

1. Blue cheese stuffed celery

2. Cheesecake with cherries

3. Scalloped potatoes

Three people I think will respond (I assume this is where you were supposed to tag people on Facebook to guilt them into filling out this stupid shit on their own wall, hence, filling up our newsfeeds with loads of posts nobody will ever read. Sorry, you get the extended version on my blog. Ignore at will!)

1. Her

2. Him

3. Those people

Three favorite drinks (not water) <-- (yes that was written in when I copied the quiz but fuck that, I refuse to let anyone tell me what I can and can’t say so suck it internet list writer people!).

1. Water

2. Coffee (made with water)

3. Peppermint tea (made with water!)

Three things I am looking forward to (in 2016 and beyond).

1. Reading more.

2. Writing more.

3. Laughing and loving as often as I can.

As usual, most of the things I look forward to in 2016 revolve around bettering myself and/or my career. I’m not calling any of these things resolutions, just goals to strive towards.

Whatever your goals for the clean slate known as the New Year, I hope you make the most of what you already have inside yourself and work towards all of them.

A little every day might not seem like much when you’re in the thick of it, but 366 days from now I bet you’ll be amazed at just how much you did accomplish in 2016!

Make it a safe and festive night everyone!

• • • • • • • • • • • 
Like short fiction? Get a brand new story every month (one you won't see anywhere else!) when you sign up for my newsletter Facts & Fiction. Make 2016 better. Do it now.

I Resolve to Blah Blah Blah

Why is it that we look to the first day of a new calendar year to kick-start actually living our lives? But instead of looking forward to the promise of that new year, why do we spend hours looking back over the year we’re still living in to qualify the things we plan to do in the new year?

Resolutions are supposed to be about making changes while moving forward. Seems pretty impossible to do while facing the other way right?

It’s like we need to see what great times we had, or mistakes we made, and then we resolve to either fix or do more of that shit starting on January 1. But what’s the point right? I mean all we’re doing is looking at what we used to do; thinking about what could have been.

Not what is.

I’m guilty of doing it too. Especially this year.

But I truly think the people who “fail at resolutions” don’t really fail. They just weren’t facing the right direction.

So this upcoming year I’m facing the future, not the past.

I fully intend to take this year by the balls and make it my bitch.

Or something like that.

The definition of resolution in the case of New Year’s is “firmness of purpose or intent.”

But I’m not getting hung up in the meaning of the word, the definition as purported by millions, if not billions, of people worldwide.

Because as far as I’m concerned the calendar year isn’t really a crucial part of the plans I have, other than it being a gentle guide for the things I plan to do.

See, for me this upcoming year isn’t about resolving to do anything.

I will set goals.

Because goals challenge me. They make me try harder. They make me focus, get down to work, and then get down to celebrating when I achieve them.

And I don’t care if I achieve all of them within the tight restrictions of January 1 – December 31. I’m setting my goals and working to achieve them, so if they come to fruition this year then great! If not, that doesn’t mean I give up. It means I keep trying no matter what the date says.

As we all know goals can change mid-stream. They’re fluid, flexible and always evolving in order to get you to the best version of yourself you can dream up and go after.

New Year’s resolutions come with a built in pass/fail mechanism. You either do the thing or you don’t.

Bleh. How limiting is that?

I have four goals I want to tackle this year:

Release new books (yes, multiple).

Learn to cook (meals that aren’t boring).

Read more (books specifically).

Be more active (watching less and doing more).

Yup. That’s it.

Because if I can set out on a course to do all of those things then all the other stuff I might think about in terms of resolutions will just fall into place.

Eating healthy, exercising, getting my career on track, traveling, saving money, or anything else I could dream up that I’d love to change about myself, I’m simply striving to be a better version of me in 2015.

But I’m not going to consider the whole year a failure if I take 3 days off from writing or veg out in front of the television occasionally either.

I’ve always got the next day to get back on track. There’s no point in looking at a little misguided step as a fail. Like I said, facing backwards doesn’t help me achieve my goals.

So as my vacation comes to an end, and a brand new calendar year gets started, I’m looking forward to doing my best to achieve all the goals I’ve got laid out in front of me.

Have a safe and festive New Year everyone!

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Another Year Over...

When I created our cards this year my main focus was to share a little bit of everything we did throughout the year. I didn't want Christmas card specific, more of an overview instead of just holiday. And man, did we ever have a busy 2013!

Some other people made it onto the card - we were in two weddings (1 each, Matt and me), had family and friends in town multiple times, traveled, started some home renovation and even waited so long for a table at a restaurant the baby occupying it started to grow a beard. Or something like that.

2013 started out great, we celebrated the New Year with some friends and had a nice quiet night with food, fun and a champagne toast. In February my aunt came to visit and we found ourselves at a Coyotes game in our short sleeves. Gotta love Phoenix!

Spring brought more fun stuff. In March we went to a spring training game where I got to see Terry Francona coaching the Indians and Matt got to enjoy his favorite sport in a cool ballpark. April was jam packed (a trip to Cali for Matt's birthday, touring Jobing.com Arena, The Run for Boston initiative, the Bruins made the playoffs...) but the biggest event was D&D flying across the country to get married at The Grand Canyon. It was amazing, a perfect spot for a wedding. A perfect wedding for a perfect couple! In May Matt's mom came out to visit and the three of us plus my mom went up to Sedona to explore and take pictures.

June was a milestone for me - I got to celebrate my 40th birthday! What a surprise it was for me too. After seeing a movie and hanging out all day with my mom & Wendy we came back to the house to find a back yard full of friends from Phoenix and Tucson and then I heard a voice...my first roomie, Keith, was somewhere in my house. His voice was coming through a speaker. And then he announced there was a surprise guest. My aunt Sue walked out my backdoor. I lost it. It was too much! So much love, so many people showed up to share my special day I couldn't have asked for a better fortieth birthday if I tried. Matt pulled it off...complete with graffiti and all.

July was pretty slim, we mostly just hung out in the pool all month, but Wendy came up a bunch of weekends while dealing with an out of order air conditioner. We all got to spend the weekend of her birthday together as well. And enter bearded baby.

The end of summer brought the beginning of us tearing apart the house - tile up, fireplace and wall down. That was about all we did in August. It's still going but getting closer to done.

In September we saw the Tucson Botanical Gardens and we did the Walk to End Alzheimer's. Plus we spent a good chunk of time in California. For our anniversary in September we went to see Dave Matthews Band in Chula Vista. Never a bad time at a Dave show - I danced my ass off all night long.

In October we headed out to another wedding when my sister's close friends got hitched right on the beach in Laguna at sunset. Ah-mazing! October also saw me increase my client list and start making a real income which was awesome. And we had all our drain plumbing replaced, which wasn't as awesome but certainly makes it more functional around here now.

Matt rounded out the year of weddings in November when he stood as a groomsman for one of his oldest friends. We were on a plane and back on the east coast in Washington D.C. for that one. Met so many amazing people, made some new friends and even got to spend some time with family while we were in the Maryland neck of the woods.  Matt & Wendy's boyfriend both went ice skating for the first time and Wendy & I both got on skates for the first time in the better part of a decade. That was fun! Having Thanksgiving with my mom, Matt, my in-laws and my Step-MIL's daughter and family was so much fun and a great way to end November.

December so far has been a great month for bringing closure to another calendar year. Between home improvement store shopping and installation of flooring and a brand new guest bath we've seen tons of Christmas lights, taken a trip to Tucson and I've helped my mom prep and paint her house.

By the time January 1, 2014 rolls in we'll have also been to another hockey game and toasted with a rendition of the Boston Pops on TV.

I had a great year, so much fun, family, friends, food, travel and adventure its hard to believe it all squeezed onto a tiny 4" x 8" Christmas card. But the back really says it all about 2013:

I can't wait to see what 2014 brings! Have a safe, festive and Happy New Year everyone!

• • • • • • • • • • •
Content Marketing Strategist and Blogger for hire, Jenn has over 12 years of freelancing experience. Let her write your next webpage, blog post, article or newsletter. Get in touch with her today info [at] copywritethat [dot] com

Measuring a Summer’s Day

Tangerine, my favorite Led Zeppelin song of all time, comes to mind at this very moment because it just so happens I’m eating a fruit of the same name. At this time of year they’re everywhere in mesh shaped nylon baggies so no matter what store I find myself in, if I’m perusing the produce department, a bag of these juicy little balls of happiness are definitely coming home with me.

Some folks could probably have named this post Oh My Darlin’ but to me tangerines just make the world a little juicier than a Clementine. Maybe it’s because of Page’s stunningly simple lyrics full of complex visuals (if you know the song this should make perfect sense), or the delivery of those words through Plant’s haunting reflective tone, or maybe its that Jones & Bonham come in at the exact right moment to bring stability to the growing legs of the well timed guitar solo. Maybe the reason I love it is because it isn’t perfect but it’s out there to be loved anyway.

Or maybe I love the song so much because it reminds me of a nostalgic love so strong it could never be forgotten, and the person it holds in the palm of its hand was that very thing to me.

Innocent and stupid and new, ready to grab the world by the scruff of the collar and drag it along behind us as we blazed a trail. But at some point I realized he wasn’t with me anymore so I looked back to try to find him but he had mysteriously disappeared. Then I spent so long watching behind me for where he had gone that I missed the fact that life fell out of my hands and passed me ages ago.

If only things could stay so simple as Bonham’s back beat. But they rarely do, if ever. So at this time of year I find myself reflecting voraciously, as if it was an activity I’d never done before and may never get to do again.

It always starts out with the year that has just flown by in the blink of an eye and all the things I remember about it, and then it spirals into a trip down the cobble stones of memory lane.

Of course this year was struck with tragedies of massive proportions that would be hard to ignore, like earthquakes and oil spills. But it was also filled with amazing things of beauty like a close friend having a healthy baby girl or seeing a double rainbow in upstate New York.

In the past year:
♥ a good friend moved back to the area
♥ I completed the edits on my first novel and started shopping it
♥ continued to play drums every week
♥ went to countless shows (including finally seeing Bushwalla live on his own, Seth Glier, DMB, BNL and Jason [of course])
♥ one of my favorite actors died (Haim)
♥ saw my sister on her coast
♥ spent time with friends and family (on the other coast and mine)
♥ finished helping to clean out my grandparent’s place
♥ watched the final season of a long favorite television show (Lost)
♥ took on a few paint jobs
♥ walked to support Alzheimer's research
♥ spent tons of time laughing & joking with Matt (in the car and at home)
♥ went fishing (and actually caught some!) with old friends
♥ witnessed the kids in my life get even smarter as they became another year older
♥ saw a couple Sox games live at Fenway & a few Bruins games live at the Garden
♥ dealt with a flood in our basement
♥ experienced a summer full of hot sunshine (bliss!)
♥ started an extreme exercise program (P90x - bring it!)
♥ joined a Book Club
♥ signed a lease for a second year in the same place (call Ripley’s!)
♥ drank with the local townies at the Jersey shore
♥ sold a few things at a craft fair
♥ wrote most of my second novel
♥ kicked Matt’s butt repeatedly in Scrabble
♥ and so many other awesome things I couldn’t begin to list more

Well I could but would any of you read a day by day accounting of my lame-ass life? Probably not.

As I spent the last year getting healthy in mind, body and soul it started becoming more clear that my life is longing for another grab it by the balls and have at it adventure. I know there’s still a couple weeks left this year so I don’t completely rule it out for happening in 2010 but it just feels like 2011 is calling to me from the future. That next year is where the great escapade will be found.

Become a published novelist? Celebrate ten years married? Get my body back in shape? Quit smoking? Something else? The world is open, and so am I, to the possibilities that exist. Bring on the adventure 2011, even if that adventure is wrapped in a moving truck traveling 3500 miles across this great country to the Valley of the Sun!

Someday I will no doubt look back on that journey and think about me and Matt taking it together.

“Does [s]he still remember times like these?...And I do.”

State of Mind

I am a total sucker for New Year’s Eve. As a night person, it’s the one holiday where I am strongly encouraged to be myself and with the shopping over and done with, a belly still full of yummy holiday goodness and a focus on love and friendship, it really is a night that’s tough to beat. It is a firm belief of mine that the following year will be loosely shaped by what is going on at midnight.

As a young kid, grammar school age, my mom used to throw a pretty rockin New Year’s Eve party every year. Her friends and some family would come over and celebrate with food and champagne. There was always a slurry rendition of Auld Lang Sine as the clock ticked over, though no one really knew more than the first verse, and most years my sister and I were allowed to stay up to midnight if we made it that late. I recall one year that landed on a Saturday and SNL was on. This parody commercial came on where kids in snowman sweaters were calling home to tell their parents they loved them while sitting on grandpa’s lap beside the Christmas tree, when suddenly grandpa grabbed the phone and demanded a ransom and I couldn’t stop laughing. It’s pretty likely that is the year my warped sense of humor was shaped.

When I was a teenager I used to cry just about every year when the clock turned over. I guess I found it hard to say goodbye and my friends would laugh as it occurred every single year. One year a small group of us got all dressed up and went out for a nice Italian dinner in Lexington center. I was experiencing my typical melancholy and picked up the grated cheese to shake onto my ravioli. The entire top came with it onto my plate, sauce splashed all over my white sweater and the four of us didn’t stop laughing all night. I figure that’s the year I learned that I would never be one of those women who can wear a white outfit and not spill something on it.

As I grew and my mom stopped having her party I began venturing out to spend the night with friends in the city. Quite a few years were spent downtown watching drunken vagrants wander the icy cold streets as we made our way to the edge of the Harbor to check out midnight fireworks. That was a lot more fun the year S brought a couple of her cutest college boys back home and we all drank champagne in the middle of the street to keep warm. I had no idea one of them had brought a bottle in his backpack but as the fireworks began he popped the cork and if I do recall we swilled right out of the bottle. That was the year I stopped crying at midnight.

A whole bunch of years later, after a particularly life altering break up, I decided to spend the holiday in a completely different state with a friend that I rarely saw on that night. I headed off for North Carolina just after the Christmas holiday and planned to spend close to fourteen days there before a new job began in January. It was the famed Y2K and none of us could have cared less if the power went out at midnight. We spent the early part of the night drinking at what I affectionately called the senior center watching all the 55+ peeps dance with each other as my friend’s aunt sang. Collectively we decided to watch the ball drop so we raced back to a friend’s apartment, sparked a bowl, held our breath for one second at midnight and laughed off the silly tech fear as nothing happened. Regardless of the mind altering drugs, that was the year I gained a whole bunch of life perspective.

Almost every year since, with the exception of one year we were at my sister’s through the holidays, we have spent with S&B. Most years we head out for dinner, have a great meal, a couple drinks and laughs big enough to fill an entire room. Then we end up back at one or the other of our places, pop champagne, watch the ball drop, hug and kiss our respective other half, knock back the glass full of bubbly and end up asleep well before 12:30. When Matt and I were living in New York we still made our way back to the Boston area to see them on New Year’s because to us it was really important to spend the holiday with people we care about, and to follow with tradition as well. Those were the years I learned what real, true friendship is and how it can grow stronger over time into a bond more like family.

For many reasons, those friendships included, I have remained in the northeast my entire life, but anyone who knows me understands that my heart belongs in southern California. My soul too, so I left both of them behind in order to collect them when I end up there for good. Soon. This was an entirely new experience for me as we spent the holidays in the Palm Springs area with Matt’s dad and step mom, who we rarely see as it is, and as long as I have been around, never on Christmas or New Year’s. S-MIL was pushing hardcore for us to move out there, we even toured a couple model homes and explored neighborhoods we might consider living in. There are past mistakes, messiness and issues that need to be addressed and fixed before we could go, not to mention a couple building blocks that need to be securely mortared in for us to build a life on out there, but we are both ready to make the change.

This was the year I learned how excited I am to watch our lives become everything we want them to be and more.

The Little Things Count the Most, Always

The end of another calendar year draws near and it always causes me great nostalgia for just about everything from friends, new and old, family, living and passed on, and places, those I have been to and those I intend to see in the upcoming year. Aside from my birthday New Year’s Eve is my all time favorite holiday and the night is always memorable; the fact that most years I shed a little tear for the passing of the calendar is purely tied to my heavily reminiscent personality.

My mom used to have a big party every New Year’s Eve, the house was filled with her friends and it was the one night we were allowed to stay up late if we could make it; my earliest memories of Saturday Night Live are attached to one of those parties. One year, back in high school, four of us from the gymnastics team decided to get dressed up and go out for Italian food and when I went to shake cheese on my ravioli, the top came off, which prompted all of us to laugh the entire night. Another year, my best friend had some of her college friends come up to party and we all got hammered on champagne right in the middle of the street at the Boston Harbor as we watched the fireworks with about 200,000 other people. As the clock ticked over to the highly hyped Y2K I gained some geographical space in North Carolina with a friend, her husband, sisters and other family and as soon as the lights did not actually go out forever we all passed a joint around.

As I get ready to celebrate moving nine years into the new millennium, things in my life have changed dramatically but one thing remains the same -- I never spend New Year’s Eve with people I do not love. If the year to come is a reflection of the way we rang it in then I certainly want to be with the people I love, doing exactly what I want to be doing at that moment. In recent years, with the exception of a very blurry memory of a visit to my sister’s a couple years ago, Matt and I have generally spent the evening with S & B; we have dinner, chill at their place, pop champagne at midnight, hug all and kiss our respective other half and end up falling asleep at approximately ten after twelve. With them having four month old babies this year, who knows if any of us will even make it to see the clock tick over.

This past year was up and down, back and forth but so many shades of grey in many areas of my life so I have been thinking back to New Year’s Eve last year and trying to remember how I spent the time as we rang in 2008. The four of us toasted to change and growing families as well as friendship and bonds that will never be broken. This got me thinking about new people in my life, how giving and kind they all are and how so many things can change from one year to the next.

Over the past year I have met some amazing people through blogging and even though we are all very different people when it comes to age, gender, rearing, religion or writing style the common thread is that we all enjoy supporting one another’s achievements. I have met two wonderful gals outside of our little virtual world, Trayce and Bridgete, and I suspect that everyone else is just as fantastic as these two gals because, frankly, I do not surround myself with people who suck. (Yes, I stole that line from my sister but it is rare she finds time to read my blog anyway so it is likely she will never know it. And if you do, thanks Wendy.)

One new friend, Rose, was so generous recently and sent me this beautiful Christmas ornament that she hand painted just because, what a thoughtful gift! I do not have a tree so it is dangling from my candle holder instead.

Ginger was kind enough to mail me a box of henna hair color after I mentioned thinking about giving it a try (I am still a chicken right now but someday…).

I do not know what the future holds but I do know that this coming year is sure to be full of great times and adventures, family, best friends, writing, selling, new friends, creativity and exploration but most of all a heaping pile of gratitude for how far I have already come. Ringing in 2009 in two short days I plan to toast to new adventures and amazing success for everyone I know and love. Have a safe and happy New Year everyone.