Hello 2013 :) Let's make strides.

Well, I woke up on the very first day of January, 2013 to a very sore throat and some very excellent news: the (safe & sound) birth of a beautiful new baby to two dear friends of mine. I figure that this is a pretty fitting way to start the new year - life is chock full of joyful and not so joyful moments, after all. :)

I am not great about making resolutions. The best I have ever done with one was the year I gave up potato chips. I only cheated once (and actually, they were tortilla chips so I'm still not sure if that counts) and I think I did achieve some personal growth in the not eating junkfood arena. But generally speaking, it seems like resolutions seem to fade. It's so easy to be gung-ho about something for a few weeks, only to eventually slide back into normalcy, feeling only a small twinge of regret at the passing thought of the new beginning you promised yourself. And so, I'm not sure that I will resolve to do anything. I will; however, make strides to do one large, general thing: live simpler. This will manifest itself in a few different ways:

I will strive to read you every day, pretty pink book.

• Cut down on the sheer amount of stuff crap that is around.
• This means: throwing away old magazines and anything that has no purpose lying about, filing important paperwork and throwing away the rest, donating clothing that I no longer wear, etc.
• Be More Organized
• This means: having a place for things that are important, opening all my mail (why am I soooo bad about this?!), keeping areas like drawers, pantries and medicine cabinets neater, etc.
• Not Being Afraid to Spend Money (when I need to)
• This means: remembering that it is okay to replace your bag when you've had it for four years and the straps are fraying, okay to buy new face cream when it stops squirting (instead of cutting the bottle in half and using what wouldn't squeeze out for a week or two), etc.
• Reading the Simple Abundance book every day
• My mom bought this book for all three of us last year, and for some reason I didn't read it. This year, I will attempt to take ten minutes a day to read each entry, for 365 days. (In case you're wondering, this book is made up of daily essays that "show you how your daily life can be an expression of your authentic self.")

So here's to a new year! Follow along, and I might just reveal authentic tidbits! :)

P.S.- The combination of Theraflu, Emergen-C, the essential oil Thieves, vitamin C tablets, tea and freshly squeezed orange/grapefruit juice was pretty effective cold medicine in case you get what seems to be going around!