I had a fantastic conversation with a good friend of mine over holiday break about New Year’s resolutions.  It’s really easy this time of year, especially while still healing from your Christmas/New Years food coma and a week-long hangover, to make ultimatums for yourself.  “I am going to — every day!” “I am giving up—!” “I am taking —‘s number out of my phone and will never speak to them again!  Raarr!!”  This isn’t particularly fair to yourself.   If there is something you have been meaning to tackle, physically or emotionally, one night of champagne and yelling doesn’t always do it.  But the idea and the goal is more than enough.  So my New Year’s resolution is to take all the things I would like to do…and let go of the idea that they will all get done.  Nonetheless, here are a bunch of them: (Many of these are inspired by recent events or people…so thanks!)

First: Run into the ocean when I get the chance:

This is  a picture of three of my friends on New Year’s Day running into the probably 40 degree ocean water.  They crazy.  But I have SO much respect for them.  Though I was a great photographer/towel holder, I would have preferred to run in with them.  Not saying I regret it, but my hope for the New Year is that the “oh fuck it” part of my brain turns up and I am much more likely take part in things you only have a few chances to do.  All my polar bear friends are alive and well, with one more thing checked off their bucket list.  Here’s to you Christina, Dave, and Amanda!

Second: New Year!  New Oven!

After many weeks of nagging and a strongly worded letter I was very proud of, our landlord replaced our pointless oven.  Between this and Ben getting me a super fancy cookie sheet for Christmas (woohoo!), I am taking it as a sign to stretch my baking/cooking muscles again.  The crazy fall really only lead to reheating trader joe’s precooked meals and mixing beans with rice.  I’m not knocking rice and beans but cooking brings me a lot of joy, and it sure is a lot healthier.  Which brings me to my part 2 of this resolution: stop getting sick!  I was sick with two different illnesses over this break.  Not okay, immune system.  Hopefully any successful recipes will end up on here or on my pinterest site! http://pinterest.com/ginnybosch/  (this is still a work in progress)

Third: Leave work at work

I am in the arts, 25 years old, and the economy blows, so I have the super fun time of working three jobs for slightly less that someone makes with one job.  I am very lucky that my part-time jobs are no longer soul sucking.  I do however, have the habit of clinging so tightly onto my balancing act of a schedule, that my nerves are frayed by the end of the week.  So my goal, even higher on the list than my other two, is to let go a bit.  Between stalled trains, spacey coworkers, and that whole “there are 24 hours in a day” business, I came more than close to pulling my hair out in the fall.   But when I took a step back, I usually realized it was the universe telling me that even if I am 5 minutes late, run out of popsicle sticks in class, or lose a check in the mail, the world doesn’t actually end.  If the world ends on December 21st because I run out of craft supplies, then fine, I jinxed it.  But something tells me it’ll be okay.  On top of that, thinking about the possibility of everything going awry before I even leave the house, just adds up to me being a big pile of crazy.  And so, when I’m not working, I’m not thinking about work either.  So there!

So friends, here’s to a new year!  2012 has a nice ring to it.  Thank you all for reading and please keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming post on vision boards.  Christina and I are making some in a few days and I can’t wait to share!  Much love and I hope everyone had a safe, fun, and fabulous New Year.

PS:    If you’re looking to makeover your finances this year, check out Learnvest.com.  This site has literally saved my bank account.  It’s geared towards women and really built for people with normal incomes.  I couldn’t recommend it more.