Best. New. Year's. Day. Ever!

I'm not sure I can remember a Jan. 1 in my life that has been as perfect as today has been!

I spent nearly all day today with two of my closest friends ~ definitely two of my longest friendships ~ and their 3 month old daughter, Arabella. I haven't seen them since the day after the baby was born and even though I forgot the gifts I purchased months ago, she and I had a great time getting to know each other. She's an amazingly tough little girl. At 3 months she's holding her head up and darn close to standing. We watched the winter classic game, had pizza, and I talked for several hours...sometimes you forget how nice it is to just to talk to friends. And now I'm enjoying my new electric blanket and writing my new blog!

I can't think of anything in the world I would have preferred to do to ring in a new year!

So, on to the resolutions ~ there are 23 of them...approximately. I tend to overdo it when it comes to list-making. Some are not for public consumption, I think most of us have resolutions that are a little too internal for sharing.

As I mentioned in my previous post, these resolutions are recycled from last year.I'm not going to list them all, but I'll refer to the majority of them from time to time.

I hope to read nearly every book I own this year. I have a book-buying problem. I love buying and owning books. I love being surrounded by them. I love stacking them on my night stand and having one perched on the edge of my bed within reach. The problem is that I've become so busy in recent years it's become more difficult to finish my beloved books. My new theory is that I can directly relate the increased stress in my life to the decreased number of finished books in my life. Many of my resolutions are geared toward relieving stress. So, I have a list of every book I own and before I allow myself to purchase another book, I'm going to finish the books I already own. Given how cheap...er frugal...I am in every other area of my life, it always amazes me how much I'm willing to spend at Barnes and Noble or Amazon!

I have a movie list. I don't watch a lot of movies and I rarely get a chance to go to the theater. Last year, I made a list of all of the movies I always hear people talking about that I've never seen and that I'd like to see. Most of my movie list is made up of classics ~ Schindler's List, Psycho, Citizen Kane, and The Way We Were are among the titles I was able to cross off the list last year.

I'd like to visit each museum in the general Pittsburgh region. I love art and I don't go often enough. I'd really like to get to the Carnegie museums of art and history this year. I would like company for these visits, but be warned...it takes me a very long time to adequately savor each piece before moving on.

I'd like to go no more than 14 days without spending an hour in a hot bubble bath with a glass of pinot noir and soft jazz music. It probably sounds ridiculous that I need to schedule relaxation, but try being a newspaper editor and get back to me ;)

I'd like to go bowling at least three times this year.

I'd like to finish my articles portfolio. This will be a huge task and will take a good bit of time/organization.

I would like to make sure that I visit my out-of-town friends every other month. Tex and Ber one month, Chris and Anna the next month. I plan to visit Japan and my best friend M. I'd also like to make sure that I get to visit Jason, Mandy and Arabella at least every other month. I don't want to let too much time pass between visiting those who mean so much to me.

I would like to visit my grandmother on a regular basis and work on the "Between you and me, Grandma" journal I gave her for Christmas. These journals are amazing. You give it to someone you love and they can either answer the questions and return it to you, or you can do what we're going to do and work on it together. I'll get to learn things about her that I might never have considered asking. My grandfather and I worked on a "Grandpa" journal for most of this year. We didn't get a chance to finish it. My grandma and I will definitely finish our project. Check out these journals, I defy you to click away without thinking about picking up one or nine for the ones you love ~ www.sanddunebooks.com.

I'd like to finish the book I'm writing by the end of the year.

I'd like to be living in a house I own in time for my March 4 birthday. What a gift that would be!

Just reading through all of these lists makes my eyes a little droopy so I am off to sleep!

~kll