Dixie cups and Irish Dancing.

What a weekend! A bit of a roller coaster, but in comparison, this year has started off way better than last. Maybe the fresh decade is bringing about a fresh sense of purpose and motivation? Potentially.

Lessons learned during NYE weekend:
1. free champagne served out of a dixie cup is just as good.
2. ringing in the new year with all of the worst (yet undeniably sing-able) music you can think of is a GREAT idea.
3. at 3 am, any pizza available will be deemed 'vegetarian' as long as I don't look too hard at it.
4. texting and/or calling an old crush after midnight is not ALWAYS a bad idea... (although, typically it is.)
5. I'm not as much of a Wii Tennis champ as I thought I was
6. I am however, a much better Irish dancer than I thought I was (see above photos)
7. shiny black leggings are always a good idea
8. rhodamine on the lips is always a good idea also
9. No matter how much control I think I have over my emotions, seeing photos posted of Gaylord and Candy all over NYC (OUR city) for New Years is fairly devastating. ***Note: I hate Twitter, FLickr, etc. - or at least I hate Gaylord on Twitter, FLickr, etc. No amount of unfollowing and blocking can keep anything from being public. Doh.
10. I have had some of my favorite times with these two girls, but no matter how much I wish it, I can't bring them to Chicago with me. Sadness. :(

So I still hate the idea of making a New Years resolution, BUT I do believe in making goals for the next year. So here goes:
1. let go and let life surprise me - stop planning and forcing and let it all happen
2. call my distant friends more often
3. write more
4. practice patience
5. trust my own judgement
6. try worrying less about things I can't control
7. trust my journey
8. keep running
9. keep breathing deeply
10. smile more
11. being open-minded - towards people, situations, changes, myself
12. say goodbye to the past but recognize lessons learned

The past 4 months have been some of the worst of my life. I feel like I skidded crashing into the end of the year like an out of control biker. The good news is that 2010 was the tree that stopped it all and now I'm ready to get up and brush off and start again. My parents may see these failures as a sign of weakness or immaturity, but I'm just doing the best I can. No, I'm not following the traditional path of College, career, husband, family. My path looks different and I have to learn to accept that despite their clear disgust with my choices. Sure, maybe I have a pattern of making changes every couple of years, but maybe that's just me! I'm really ready for my family to stop criticizing and start embracing the fact that maybe this is just who I am and it looks different than they expected. I am a passionate person and I am capable of so many things, what if it is just my journey in life to make frequent changes and moves. Maybe I'm just not meant to settle in one place forever. The beauty of life is that I get to make choices about my own life just as they all did about theirs.

I am welcoming 2010 with open arms and a fresh perspective on life.