2010 Resolutions

Every year we take a trip to New Jersey for the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. In addition to being a chance to spend time with family and friends, the trip is also an opportunity for G and I to have some actual conversations during the drives there and back. Over the years we've had some pretty deep heart-to-hearts while driving down 84 or cruising the Merrit Parkway - including one "discussion" about whether or not our (still in the future) kids would get to eat ice cream on a regular basis. (I was doing my damnedest to convince him that ice cream was healthier than "obvious junk food" - kind of like the Catholic "fish is not meat" thing) Most of the times these discussion occur in Connecticut because by the time we get to the New Jersey Turnpike I'm no longer capable of coherent thought due to all the damn traffic.

In recent years we've used the time to do a little reflection on the past year and talk about what we'd like to accomplish in the new one. In an attempt to capture them somewhere - and hold myself accountable - I thought I'd post my own personal 2010 resolutions. I'll let G put his up here on his own time if he's so inclined. OK so here we go.

• Change my last name. I've been meaning to do this - really - but it's just never a "good time". I always thought I would do it during maternity leave. Well now I've had two 6-month leaves and it hasn't happened yet. I also thought I'd do it when my passport expired... ummm... nope. So that's it - this year I will do it. I'm going to wait until after our trip to Canada in April though. Spring would also be a better time to haul the kids on the T to downtown Boston.
  
  
• Learn a new skill. Now that I'm no longer in school I take all this satisfaction from learning something new. A few years back I learned to drive a manual transmission and felt like a total star. And while, yes, I've picked up some new skills since having children - it hasn't been quite the same. So this year I'm going to either take guitar or sewing lessons. Both are things I've done before (so I have both a guitar and a sewing machine) - but it's been a long time and I am at best rusty. I'm guessing sewing will win out - but we shall see.
  
  
• Simplify domestic chores. I'm one of those people who makes everyday things harder just for the fun of it. But lately G and I feel like we are buried under an avalanche of work around the house. We're drowning in laundry, dishes, clutter, etc. Even the things that I used to find "fun" (playing around with household budges in personal finance software) feels like drudgery. So time to take charge of that. The first step has been getting over my silly nuerosis that plastic can never ever go in the dishwasher. I am putting plastic in the dishwasher - and we are running it as often as possible.
  
  
• Take charge of my gmail inbox. Seriously - I want that sucker down to 50 messages or less - at all times. I made progress in that direction last year, but then Quinn was born and my Dad got sick and the email went crazy and I'm back above 200. I will tame this beast. Maybe something like this would help. Anyone else have a favorite solution to the email mountain?
  
  
• Write more blog posts than last year. I managed to squeeze out 60 posts in 2009 and 59 in 2008. So the trend is good - and I've got an average of more than one per week! But I tend to do it kind of sporadically and in bunches. This year I'd like to get better at posting a little more regularly. Now that G and I have our photo-management/sharing mostly worked out it *should* be easier. Hopefully the "simplifying household tasks" bit will leave me with more time to post!
  

OK that's all I can remember right now - but I'd be pretty psyched if I got through those - so we'll leave it at that!
Happy 2010 everyone! And in the spirit of that final resolution I do have an number of posts cooking from the holidays and our New Jersey trip. They should be coming soon-ish... I hope....