You Say You Want a Resolution....

My horoscope is telling me to make a list of resolutions…to “instigate some long overdue changes”…and then go out and have fun tonight!

My hard J from two separate MBTI tests (taken a decade apart) is pushing me to make a resolution list, if only so I can cross things off and feel really great about myself.  Though of course if I don't cross anything off because I haven't done anything then I'm going to feel all bad about myself.  Such a Catch-22 being a J.  (Though a J being a J also means I can include something on the list I’ve already done so I get off on the right foot.)  

Truth is, I'm not really one for resolutions. They seem pointless and like big old expectations that aren't met. Sort of like New Year's itself. (I should mention this is not exactly a holiday I get particularly giddy about, though very happy to have the day off!)

And I really don't like those generic resolutions that make you feel bad about yourself.  None of this nonsense like “lose weight”…. “eat better”… “stress less”… “get organized”.  For one….these are way too vague….way too breakable…and all kind of imply that I’m doing a hell of a lot of things wrong.  Which is not to say I do everything right.  Far from it if you want to know the truth.  

But what I am is a list maker.  An obsessive writer-downer.  I love Post-Its and lined paper and all different color pens to make these lists even better.  Yup.  Cray-cray.  Party of one.  

So, I’m going towards the attainable….the doable….resolving to do things that will bring me some short term or long term happiness.   And while I wouldn’t torture anyone with the full list (and I'm not sure I’m ready to be *quite* that honest here, just yet...but there's a good resolution....resolve to be more honest when I write).  

So here’s some resolutions to get the ball rolling before it drops at midnight:

Make a list of resolutions.

Refinance.  I know.  Snooziest and most boring place to start.  But hello! lowest mortgage rates ever.  (And while this may make me sound frightfully dull this is my mature resolution right at the top.)

Get my money’s worth at the gym.  Membership isn’t free for me.  But if I don’t go it’s like I’m paying for dinner every month, but I never actually go.  Although skipping dinner would also minimize my need to go to the gym.  But I know working out shouldn’t be just about vanity.  But we all know it kind of is.  (And the whole getting healthy/stress relief thing that I also need to work on goes all hand-in-hand here.)

Commit to writing.  The blog (more entires this year than last, and upping it again in 2013).  FWOFB - get back to the NaNo novel I started.  In the notebook.  (Because thank you Lena Dunham for explaining why it’s not a journal.)

Shop my closet.  I have enough clothes. I need to stay out of the stores and shop in the House of Audrey.  My bank account needs the break!

Plan a trip.  A real vacation.  Preferably back on the other side of the Atlantic.  I stayed domestic in 2012 and it made me more than stir crazy.

Make and keep plans for dinners and drinks and nights out with great friends.

Write it down.  I have yet to learn that when I think of a great idea or line or title or anything that even though I think it’s so amazing that there is no way I could possibly forget it, a lot of the time I will.  So, this one is simple….write it down!

And so it goes.  And the list will go on, but for now, time to get the preparations started before the bucket list adventure of New Year’s in Times Square.  Or at least from a vantage point safely above the chaos.  Don’t get me wrong…I like to have fun as much as the next person, but there’s no way I’m standing in a cold crowd for 12 hours in 30-degree weather. 

So I’m starting the New Year with a new adventure.  Happy all around!!!!

(Chosen only because of the word "champagne".  Thought I did love this record when it came out.)