Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone! I'm not much for New Year's resolutions, but as I pause to reflect on past years and the new year ahead, here are a few things that come to mind.

• Smile more.
• Laugh first at ourselves instead of laughing at others (unless they are comedians).
• Say please, thank you and excuse me - manners y'all.
• Hold doors for others, especially folks with mobility issues.
• Don't be so easily offended, not everyone is out to get you.
• Do things without being asked or told, it will be appreciated.

In other words, just be nice. It doesn't cost anything, and everyone reaps the benefits.

Now back to the real purpose of the internet...puppies and kittens!

Welcome to 2020! Many blessings to you and yours this coming year.

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Welcoming the New Year

It is New Year's Day, 2016, and the world is still turning. The sun came up this morning long before I crawled out of bed. Last night we rang in the New Year with friends, bubbly and New Year's Crackers (also known as Christmas Crackers). We toasted, we hugged and we closed the chapter on 2015.

Now we look forward to a new year. The world is not a perfect place, nor are there perfect people, but I still believe it is a good place, filled with good people. I shall be counting my blessings for all the goodness in my life.

This is also a leap year, so we have one more day of winter...or another day to be grateful for - however you choose to look at it.

May each of you be richly blessed this year with health, happiness and peace.





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Out With The Old

And In With The New

Image Source: openclipart.org

Another year has run it's course, and we struggled rolled with the punches.  Was it a bad year?  Not entirely, but it was difficult at times.

Here are a few highlights of 2014:

Winter and Spring passed with barely a nod since hubby spent much of the first half of the year traveling for his job.  We did have a good snow storm and a bad ice storm complete with power outage.

On the home front, I continued with the routine chores and looking after the cats.  Part of those chores included yard work, which resulted with me doing a face plant into the neighbors wooden fence.  Let me tell you that smarted and left me with an awesome shiner. Amazingly, other than the bruised face, there wasn't another scratch on me.

We helped a good friend celebrate her 80th birthday.  She was certainly surprised when she was escorted to a dinner with 15 of her closest friends.

We traveled to Pennsylvania to visit Ashley and her family.  That was a week filled with fun, laughter and shared friendship.  We went to an amusement park, took a steam train ride and found a lovely small town zoo in which to meander about.

Insert more business travel.  Sigh!

In October we made our nearly-annual trek to Madeira Beach (St. Petersburg, FL).  There we ate copious amounts of seafood, went fishing at Ft. DeSoto, and took a dolphin watch cruise. My favorite non-seafood meal was DeLosa's pizza eaten on our balcony at sunset.

November brought the devastating loss of Dood at age 14.  He was always the healthiest of our cats, so his brief illness and subsequent passing a little more than a year after Rosie really rocked our world.

There are always holiday memories, whether we want to remember them or not.  I choose to remember them...even when one of them is of my feet going out from under me on the dance floor at a Christmas party.  That it was our wine club Christmas party is irrelevant, right? Sorry, no pictures or video. 

Now we have a new year before us.  May it be filled with hope and joy, laughter and friendship, love and peace!  Welcome to 2015.

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Getting Started in the New Year

With the new day comes new strength 

and new beginnings. - Eleanor Roosevelt

Welcome to 2014.  A new year, new adventures, new beginnings and new memories.  Do you make resolutions?  Do you start hitting the gym, begin diets, make a bucket list?  Do you suffer the disappointment of not keeping your resolutions, your diet stalls and you end up as a couch potato by the time the Super Bowl rolls around?

The new year is a good time to begin afresh, but the best of intentions fail when you try to implement too much change at once, at least this has been my experience.  

So I don't make resolutions for the new year.  Instead I set goals and continually strive to eat better, exercise more, stay positive, be nicer, be more organized (stay organized) and a whole host of other things.

Every time I fall off the wagon, I pick myself up, brush the dust off and remind myself that I can do this.

Here are some tips on how to start small and accomplish your goals (not resolutions).

• Pick one or two things that you think you can do regularly. If you don't exercise, try walking for 15 minutes every day.  If you do work out, add a class, increase a weight, time or distance.  

• Instead of a full blown diet, choose a healthy snack such as yogurt or nuts over candy and chips or water over sugared beverages.

• Skip the numbers.  Forget the holiday statistics.  Don't focus on your weight in pounds.  Let your body be your guide.  You will know when things are working for you.  

• Get organized one project at a time.  Change is overwhelming so don't decide to do a major overhaul in January and find yourself afloat in chaos come Spring.  Make a list. Compartmentalize each project so that you start and finish one before moving on to another.  This will keep your house in order and your sanity intact.

• Try something new.  This can be anything from creative arts to taking a cooking class, learning a foreign language, travel or volunteering.  Find your passion and embrace it.

• Relax.  This is something many of us need to work on.  We think if we are relaxing, i.e. "doing nothing" that we are wasting time, not being productive or just lazy.  Not true. Relaxation allows you to restore your balance, reduce stress and increase focus when you return to your activities.

Remember, starting small doesn't mean thinking small.  Whatever you dream, you can do.

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year!