My Non-Resolution New Year

So it’s a new year…woo, hoo, cheer, yea, ahhh!  Ok, I lie, I’m not reeeeally that excited (clearly, as I’m the last person in blogworld to do a new year’s post.)  It’s not that I don’t love a chance for new beginnings, but since I’m still in school (wasting my life away getting a Ph.D.) the academic calendar is much bigger influence on my life than the yearly calendar.  It’s the break between semesters, the completion of another year of my graduate career, and the inching towards August 2012 that really gets me pumped up.  Nonetheless, New Year’s still gets me excited because it’s a chance to look back and give thanks for a great year, refocus my priorities, and sip a glass of champagne (or two or three).  This year, Matt and I headed to Dallas to celebrate New Year’s with my BFF Jordan and her fiancé (so exciting to type that as they are newly engaged).  We had a blast celebrating their engagement and ringing in the new year (and took more than enough pictures to document) :)

I finally held true on my promise to Matt…if he takes pictures like these, I will post them :)

  Haaaaaappy New Year!

Haha, if this is any indication of what 2010 will be like, it should be full of lots of fun :)

We had so much fun, and were really blessed to share the night with fun people.  (PS: it wasn’t just the four of us, though it might look like that in the pics, lol.  I just didn’t post all 900 from the night, that’s what FB is for, right?) 

In other New Year’s News…a couple of people have asked about my new year’s resolution, and well, I don’t make “resolutions.”  I make “recommitments/focused goals/renewed efforts.”  I realize this is pretty much the same thing as resolutions, but something about that word causes me to break out in hives.  To me, “resolutions” just sound too easy to break, cheat, and fib on.  It’s like the word “diet.”  The  minute I go on a “diet,” I want to eat everything in sight.  I won’t have craved sweet for days, and the minute I go on a “diet” I am grabbing for donuts, bonbons, Twinkies, and cream puffs.  I swear, if I went on a diet that outlawed mashed peas, I’d furiously crave mashed peas.  Not kidding.  So…I don’t make “resolutions,” because then I just want to break them.  So this year, I made one recommitment/focused goal/renewed effort.  And after reading a few blogs, I decided to to with the one phrase theme.  (You know, pick one word or phrase that you want to permeate your life…)  (PS: did I just say permeate?  I have been in grad school too long, and I am a huge dorky nerd.)  Anyway…so my one phrase is…

USE WHAT YOU HAVE.

I have so much…stuff.  So many clothes, clutches, and candles.  So many scarves, skirts, and shoes.  I have a pantry bursting at the seams, I have 850 serving platters/pieces/dishes.  We have a bar stocked full of mixers, festive glassware, and cocktail stirrers.  I have baskets, boxes, and accordion files full of sweet, chic, and thoughtful stationary and cards.  And yet every time I’m at Target, I stop to browse for stationary; every time I’m at the Maxx (me and TJ are like BFFs), I look at candles; and every time I’m even near the mall, I pop into Forvever 21 to look at headbands.  I’m not saying that I’m not going to buy anything new (because let’s face it, that would NEVER happen, and that is what I would consider a “resolution” i.e. totally unrealistic).  I’m just saying that before I buy anything new, I’m going to LOOK at what I have.  Before I run out to buy a black cocktail dress, I’m going to go to the black dress section of my closet (yes, I have a section for that) and actually LOOK at what I already have.  Because last week, I actually bothered to do that, and guess what?  I found a dress that I loved with the tags on!  (Embarrassing.)  Before I go to the grocery store, I’m going to check my pantry and LOOK at what I already have.  Because judging by the 12 bags of Uncle Ben’s Spanish Rice, I’ve never actually bothered to do that.  (Again, embarrassing.)

The goal behind my new “use what you have motto” isn’t necessarily about saving money, clearing up space, or living green (although all 3 play a part), it’s really about not being wasteful and using the things that I LOVE.  The things I picked out with care and attention, the things I blew an entire paycheck on; the things I bought and swore I’d get my use out of.  The things I already have and the things I love.  And if I look really hard and am completely honest with myself, and still don’t see anything, anything at all, that meets those standards, then (and only then) can I venture out to find something new to add to the things I love.  (You probably think I’m creating a loophole in my non-resolution, but when it’s a non-resolution, you don’t need a loophole, because you’re REALISTIC about what you can and can’t do.  And I, by no means, am silly enough to think I won’t find and buy new things to love.  I’m just going to honestly look and pause just one minute before doing so.)

So…now that you’ve heard my renewed commitment/focused goal/non resolution, I wanna know…what’s yours for the new year?