New Year = New You????

(ok, so it's not a NY photo, but it's awesome and a fairly accurate portrayal of our relationship. Also I really like my hair here.)

So it's that time of the year: Top Ten lists, recaps, resolutions. The yule log embers are still glowing, but everyone has moved on.

According to usa.gov these are the most popular New Year's Resolutions:

• Lose Weight
• Manage Debt
• Save Money
• Get a Better Job
• Get Fit
• Get a Better Education
• Drink Less Alcohol
• Quit Smoking Now
• Reduce Stress Overall
• Reduce Stress at Work
• Take a Trip
• Volunteer to Help Others
• Health-e-Cards for Holidays and New Year  

Now, I have no idea about that last one, but the first 12 seem to be believable. A few of them are even on my list of things I just want to do: save more money. Take a trip. Volunteer more. But these all feel like no-brainers.

I would like to live a better, longer, healthier, more fulfilling life.

Way to be vague.

I prefer to look at resolutions as a giant to-do list. Major projects that take more than a weekend or two to master. Things that I can look back at at the end of the year and say "I did that."

So here they are, in no particular order:

1) Give birth.
2) Return my body to pre-baby status. This includes (but is not limited to): losing the weight I've put on. Regaining the tone in my arms that comes from climbing and goes when you lay on the couch and eat milkshakes for the better part of nine months. Regain six-pack. (My boobs are another matter. They'll be in use. I hope.)

3) Re-learn how to shoot manually. And by shoot I mean with this:

That "F" up there by the number 75....that stands for FILM. That's right bitches. I am not part of the DSLR elite. I have a PhD (Push here, dummy) and an SLR. It is the latter which has been neglected. I have the knowledge. I've taken the classes. It's all locked in there somewhere. And I've got an infant coming. Who better to use as a test subject for the learning curve? I'm even tempted to make it a weekly-ish posting here. For the rest of the Luddites.

4) Garden. I got a nice start last spring and then I got knocked up and it all went to hell. I have a diagram of our (rental) property as it exists:

Michael Pollan I am not. But I have aspirations. That's not to scale, by the way. I'm not good with scale.

5) Cook more. From scratch. Learn how to make the things we use daily/weekly from scratch: chicken stock, bread, vinegar.  I also want to allow myself to be more creative in the kitchen. We have all of this bounty and I did not take advantage of it this year. (Morning sickness isn't just for the morning, you know.)

6) Blog more regularly. Here and on my Book Review Blog. After all - what good is a consolidation if you still neglect the blog?

7) Climb. Climb. Climb. Climb. What do I miss the most about being pregnant? Not booze. Not sushi. Not soft cheese or lunch meat. Climbing. Cllllliiiiimmmmmmbbbbbbbiiiiiiinnnnnnngggggg.

Castle rock. That's not even real climbing. I'm in hiking shoes for cripe's sake. But it was fun. And it must happen again. Also, those are my ass jeans. I'll fit into those again...one day....

8) Take Advantage of living in California. Mountains. Beach. Napa. Gold Country. We're here. We should make an effort. The state's motto is EUREKA! I feel that's trying to tell us something.

9) Most dauntingly - especially with the baby: finish the novel. It got shelved when I hit the bed in late May and I never returned to it. Rewrite. Edit. Revise. Submit. In that order. That's an ORDER!

10) Figure out the Gregory line. In the ancestry project. It's the one I don't have. Once I have that I can put the family tree in order. Also - edit all of those photos. I have dozens of family photos and they need editing.

(my great-grandfather is all the way on the right)

So there you have it. My personal Top Ten.

Maybe somewhere in there I'll be able to fit in "take over the world" and "cure cancer" but those might just have to wait until next year...