Cheers to the New Year and another chance for us to get it right.~Oprah Winfrey

So, pretty much like most people I have a variety of feelings regarding the New Year...what do I want to do, what do I want to change, what do I want to try...not to mention all the thoughts of "shoulda, coulda, woulda"...but I figure habits are not so easy to change...but it's worth the trying...and new things help to give you additional depth...so it's always good to try something new...so like most people I resolve to change, to try, to do, to be etc. etc. etc. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't...but it's in the trying that I have found change, in the change that I have found hope.

At the least, I find the New Year a great time for introspection and reflection. More than anything I try to remember the things that I've done well and the things that I have learned, things that have helped me to be a better human as I spin through the universe on this planet, not just the things that I've failed at or the things that I've disappointed myself with.

Some things I'd like to see in 2009 for myself, and not necessarily all new things, but some a continuation of where I am already:

1. reading with as much vigor and diversity as I have in the past few years...
2. stretch out artistically, I've stimied a bit here...
3. plant a full vegetable garden and do home canning...
4. volunteer more in my community...
5. exercise 6 days a week, instead of just 2...
6. be on time to church, regularly, because I want to be on time, not because I "should"...
7. find a new job that I love...
8. be loving and kind and patient with my friends and family--which I already try to do, so no sense in not just continuing that into the new year...
9. become proficient on the harp...
10. brush up on my piano playing skills...
11. sing in the church choir...
12. bake bread regularly for my family...

I'm sure there are others...and now that my brain is strolling down this lane, I'm getting pretty excited for the New Year and all the potential that it holds.