Over Eager!

Every year on New Year's Eve, I try to say a prayer of thanks for the year before, and then set some goals (btw, goals are wholly distinct from resolutions, I'm sure you understand.) Last week, I was cleaning out the file cabinet where I've hoarded my papers, projects and related anxiety from higher education for the last decade, and I found a list of said goals from 2001. Much of this list made me laugh, a couple of items reminded me of my failures (running shoes? a half-marathon? really?) but lots of it was done, and that made me smile, and encouraged me to give myself a bit of a break on the self-deprecating tip.

I thought I would start another list, here, so that you all can keep me honest:

I would like to build a pizza oven in my backyard like Angela's friend in Kansas City did. Then, I would like to have you all over for homemade pizzas;

I would like to get one of those big metal tubs that you see in Southern Living, which I'm pretty sure is just an old metal bathtub (yet, somehow, looks un-used and never rusty in the magazine pictures) to fill with beer and soda when you come over for above-listed pizza parties;

I would like to learn to put my hair up in those funky up-do's that look effortless but surely are not;

I would like to find, purchase and cultivate a wardrobe of clothing that does not entirely come from Old Navy, and wear pants that don't have a button missing;

I would then like my friends to explain my look as "classic and timeless."

I would like to be kinder to my husband when he isn't in the mood for chips and salsa;

I would like to understand how someone can't like chips and salsa;

I would like to continue loving cheese, but set a higher standard of quality for the cheeses I consume (smoked gouda? you bet! velveeta? rarely. American cheese slices? Let them go.)

I would like to hand write letters more often, professing my love for you all, that are well-written enough that you will keep them to use as bookmarks, etc...