A lot of people in the world partied hard last night. Our family’s version of New Year’s partying is pretty tame compared to the versions that get shown in the media. We invite extended family, have lots of food potluck style, play games like Bananagrams, Chinese Checkers, Flux, Blink, and Smallworld. There is usually way too much food for everyone to eat, the drinks are soda pop or water (last night, just water because no one brought soda).

Personally, I was ready to say happy new year and go to sleep at 10:00 p.m. For some reason that’s the time my brain and body shut down and holiday celebrations don’t come with a special over-ride button. Still, I managed to stay up for the count-down. We got to bed at around 1:00 or 1:30 (the advantage of having the party at your house is no drive home in the freezing weather).

As usual, I woke up at 5:30 a.m. but tried to ignore that fact and went back to sleep. I slept until about 7:30 a.m. when reality slammed into my world with a stabbing migraine. hello world 😦 what a way to start the new year. After three ibuprofen and a slight easing of the pain, I think I might be able to face 2012.

My goals this year are probably similar to other peoples’, but I have a good thing going for me; in the past I have actually accomplished some of the goals I’ve set. This gives me hope and strength as I plan what I will do this year. It has been 14 years exactly since I quit eating refined sugar. I’d have to say that was one of the best decisions I have ever made. This year I’m using the Green Smoothie Girl’s 12 Steps to Whole Foods as part of my “purge the Chinese pollution along with all the other crud my body has accumulated over a lifetime” efforts. A lot of the steps she outlines in the whole foods program I already do or partially do, so maybe some of the changes will feel pretty smooth to me.

Along with the dietary adjustments, I look forward to having/learning a more effective exercise program. As soon as the physical therapist gives his okay, I’ll be on the hunt for a personal trainer to help me learn the world of aerobic and anaerobic exercise and how to balance it all out to create a strong body. I like to work and move my body and enjoy the way it feels as I get stronger. I look forward to once again feeling the thrill of doing something physically challenging every day, it makes me feel like I’m winning. Every day I exercise or do something hard is a winning feel to me.

I tend to “over-goal” at New Years and I’ll bet other people do to. That’s probably the big reason why so many people lose sight of what they hope to accomplish long before March even arrives. These are my “Two Biggies” this year. I have other hopes and adventures to try, but they come after the “Two Biggies”.

Here are some of the things I hope to do and plan to take steps in accomplishing:

Violin lessons – I’ve really missed this and obviously need the help of a teacher to learn this. I just can’t let that violin sit in the corner unused and unloved. I’ve also learned how important it is for me to have the opportunity to create something every day. Again, it helps me feel like I’m winning.

Spanish lessons – I haven’t decided how this is going to be “packaged for delivery” to me yet, but being bilingual is IMPORTANT. It helps bring more opportunities to be kind to others and to make new friends. It’s a situation where everybody wins.

As I said, I tend to go overboard with my New Years’ plans, and I have several others that I won’t tell people about. I don’t stress over having so many great ideas, I just focus on the one or two really-most-important and the other things seem to fall into place.

I overheard Mr. Hot Stuff watching this short video about moving forward into a new year. I thought it was worth thinking about so I’m sharing it with you:

The medicine seems to be working now and I think I can face this New Year’s Day with the actual hope of enjoying it now. Breakfast time.

winner-winner, chicken dinner 🙂