The mind is on to new things and New Years!

So now that Christmas is over and I don't have things like gift lists, and decorating, and wrapping and baking to distract me at 6 a.m. when I'd rather be sleeping, my mind has found its way to a new topic to mull during the wee morning hours; the new year and what I want to do with it!

(As an aside, I so wish I could just stop my brain from churning so much...this morning when it started going, I starting yapping away to Scott in bed until he turned over and said, "Lisa, if you don't stop talking my brain is going to start thinking about all of the things you are talking about and then we'll both be awake and one of us might as well get some sleep right now!" Well, you can't really argue with that...I think I wake up sometimes and I want to chat, chat, chat because it's so much better then allowing the chatter to just go on in my head...so alas, my few blog readers, you can hear my chatter!)

So here is where my thoughts are about my resolutions...the thoughts haven't finished baking yet, so to speak, so they're a little globby and not yet firmed, but beginning to take shape (sorry for the bad metaphor, but I seem to have an affinity for them!):

- There will be NO resolutions about my body shape, circumference, or weight this year! I'm doing the best that I can with what I have at this point in my life, and though I hope to be a little lighter by the end of 2010, I'm making no resolutions to do so.

-Learn to paint. I've always been an artistic person in the sense that I have a nagging desire, that prompts me often, to want to create. I have yet to find my "art" so to speak-- I think that is part of my resolution this year, but at the very least I am making it a goal to find and take a painting class and to see where it goes and what it brings me to.

-Establish a concrete part-time writing/editing/or publishing gig of some sort. As I mentioned before, I can't imagine someone else taking care of my little girlies everyday, but to quote from a conversation with another mommy friend, I feel a bit like a "caged bird" sometimes! I know that might sound odd, but being a stay at home mom has always been and will likely continue to be a conflicting dynamic for me. I've come to peace with the fact that there will always be a slight tension there...a pulling between wanting the girls to be raised in their home and trying to quiet the me that LOVES to create, to connect, to collaborate with others on life. So, my hope is, to find a good fit; a job that allows me to utilize the parts of the brain that I am still paying tuition money for having wanted to expand, but also allows a good balance of time at home with Ava and Ella.

-Run a 10k and run it well. I haven't run a 10k in a couple of years (since being preggo, and having babies) and I'd love to do a couple of them this year. I LOVE races. Mostly because I love the vast groupings of people, from all ages and stages and walks of life, moving in energy together. I love that I'm never first and never last, but pulled along somewhere in the middle and happy to be there. My sister is trying to get me to commit to a 1/2 marathon... we'll see.

-Publish a couple of newspaper/magazine articles. This one may be the most vague. Since we moved back to Buffalo I've been trying to find a writing outlet, and with the craziness of life it has been hard (moving, setting up a new house, taking care of the kids, holidays...). I'm happiest when I'm researching, writing and then getting to see the work in print...I pray that God blesses me with an opportunity to do that this year.

-Become more organized! I need to expand on this, but will leave it at that for now...

-Floss more. I'm not going to commit to everyday, because, while I won't admit to how poor of a flosser I am, we'll just say that if I started flossing 2x per week, we'd be making incredible progress!

-Reach outside of myself to meet the needs of someone else. Neighbors, friends, siblings...not sure who, or when, or how, but I do feel that God calls us to bless and encourage and help in the lives of others and when we become to self-absorbed, things get pretty ugly. I don't want to be self-absorbed. God, lead the way and I will try to be a better listener.

That's it for now. I'll expand on these more as I progress.

Would love to hear from others-- what are you going to do this year?!