happy new year!

i don’t believe in new year’s resolutions. it’s similar to my feelings regarding diets: they don’t last. they set you up to fail. they are not usually easy. or fun. but i do like the idea of a clean slate. a fresh start. a new beginning. (or at least a shiny new calendar.)

and according to this fun “experiment” in the uk, i am right. people don’t keep resolutions. which is why i made a list for this year that is everything a resolution isn’t….easy, fun, and with a high chance for success. here are my top 20+10 for 2010…

30 things i will not fail to accomplish this year:

· kiss my husband (passionately) every day…and yes, phone kisses are acceptable when necessary
· call my best friend molly more often than i did in 2009
· only sit outside at restaurants, the one exception being snow. or possibly golf-ball sized hail.
· go to galveston once a month
· eat healthy foods. (this includes my promise to never again use spray butter!)
· read 5 books (in their entirety)
· complete a triathlon
· go to at least 1 conference/workshop/retreat, preferably on the topic of writing/creating
· take one fabulous trip (or perhaps a fabulous staycation)
· do one thing that scares me*
· celebrate the 2-yr anniversary of my last cigarette
· laugh out loud
· substantially reduce my debt
· continue the “year of discovery”
· volunteer with teens at bo’s place
· make connections with inspirational bloggers
· feel generally calm and peaceful
· swim
· learn a poem
· cook dinner more often
· paint with my sister
· participate in ARToberFEST
· take a mountain bike trip to Austin
· buy a “REAL” camera
· stop feeling guilty about being a bad housewife
· hire molly maids when necessary (to accomplish the above)
· make my own clothes – or modify, alter, funkify the ones i never wear
· limit new purchases
· play with children (or just ride the swings)
· live an authentic life

*this may include: singing in public, speaking Spanish with my mother-in-law, submitting a query to a big publication, moving into a tiny apartment, talking to my dad about his political-email-forwarding habit, etc.

what will you succeed in accomplishing this year?