New Year, New You

Is it just me or does every local news, morning news and afternoon talk show have a segment called "New Year, New You." Can't we come up with something more creative? I can't really think of anything off the top of my head, but then again, I am not paid to come up with these sort of things. Anyway, all this New Year, New You stuff got me thinking....

I am NOT good at resolutions. I feel it is mainly because I am not really good at keeping up with anything. The fact this blog has been going for almost two years is a miraculous feat in and of itself. And I realize I am not always the most frequent blogger. But I try. Really dear, loyal readers, I do. I have about 15 posts started that I have yet to finish and hit "publish." Maybe I should work on finishing those....

But finishing unfinished blog posts is not really what I had in mind when I relflected on 2009 and thought about my goals and hopes and dreams for twentyten. I will say my main goal is work related, but I try to keep work life and social/home life separate (although I am not really good at this) so I am going to keep those work-related goals to myself. Instead I thought you all would be super excited to hear about my other goals and hopes and dreams. And you can all laugh and point when I fall on my face and fail miserably at them. But maybe by putting them out here I might be a teensy bit more accountable. There are only a couple of them, as over-achievement doesn't really flatter me, so here goes:

Numero Uno: Read. And not just "fluff." Read non-fiction, read historical fiction. Read the classics. Read the books I was supposed to read in high school but due to my underachievments of not enrolling in honors English, I never read. I have decided that the series-style, chick lit books aren't all that bad, so I am allowing myself to mix them in with my reading regimen. I have started a little list over here ---->
to keep track of my progress. I even got a library card and have been putting my tax dollars to work. So far, I have read one non-fiction, one chick lit and one historical fiction that was so gruesome I couldn't sleep for two days. But I loved it. And now I have a favorite new author. Seriously. If you are into film noir or lit(?)noir, I highly recommend James Ellroy's books.

Nombre Deux: Adopt a vegan lifestyle for 30 days. Wait, what? What did I just agree to?!? Oh people, we are on day 5 of this experiment and I am truly not sure why I thought this was a good idea. It all stemmed from reading In Defense of Food and then I got the book 30 Days to Becoming a Vegan. I can confidently say that this will not be a permanent lifestyle change. But. It is a great step at jump starting healthier eating habits and attempting to reduce my carbon footprint and encouraging me to be creative in the kitchen. It is a step-by-step process so we are now red meat-free and next week we get rid of poultry and fish/shellfish and then dairy and then eggs.

Yesterday we did a raw fruits and veggies "cleanse"....I survived, but let's just say I set my alarm to promptly wake up at 6 this morning so I could devour some zucchini bread I made the day before last. And yes, you did read "we" in those previous sentences. My loving husband has begrudgingly agreed to go along with this. One) because he does not cook so he is forced to eat what I am eating and two) he loves beating me in challenges and I think he thinks I will falter and he will succeed. I am convinced I can beat him on this one though. It would be a first, but I am determined!

Aaannnnddd, that's it. Those are my two hopes and dreams and goals for twentyten. A belated Happy New Year (New You) to you all.