G'bye, 2008. It's been real!

[kellianne]

2008 Resolutions, in no particular order:

1: To continue with a long winded New York tradition that has been heralded by generations: I will not dress. I will Overdress. This, for me, will be generally understated in any case. I don't think that I really tend towards the garish in my regular fashions. I'd just like to keep this Seattle tradition of "whatever the fuck is comfortable, aka jeans every day" at bay. It's annoying to me when people don't try to look acceptably primped for social occasions. It's also bad for business. When I see a stylist with zits uncovered, I think, "how does this person make any money selling beauty when they look like my morning hangover?"

I'd like to add that this does not mean that I will over dress for outdoorsy occasions. Unless, that is, you include mascara and rouge in your "overdressed" category. Ingo suggested to me yesterday that my habit of never leaving the house without a touch of mascara and rouge will end now that I've parked it on the West Coast. I disagree. I've used makeup every day since my first day of high school. I feel self-conscious when I don't look great. I've backpacked for 10 day stretches and still managed to put on mascara every morning. Call it what you will, this is how I roll.

Sure, I still overdress. One thing that I really like about Seattle is that it's completely ok to be a little over the top, bordering on kitschy, whenever you feel like it. Also, Ingo was right. I go makeup free a lot more often now that I live in Seattle. I just don't care all that much when I'm knocking around The Market or riding my bike. I wear an EXTRA SUPER LOT of makeup at work, though, more than I ever would when working in NYC. I find that the people in my industry in Seattle are a lot more balls out with the makeup than the people in my industry in NYC.

Anyhow, was this even a resolution? Who cares? Seems silly. Let's move on, quickly.

2: To hail my arrival in Seattle, I am going to embrace a more environmentally conscious way of life. Specifically, this means that I intend to Abolish, Abhor, and Banish Plastic Bags, Water Bottles, and to-go coffee cups from my day to day life. I realize that this will be difficult, especially in the plastic bag department, and I realize that I will occasionally need to slip up. I am, however, going to try better than my best at changing my habits.

I have done really well with this in 08! I very rarely come home with disposable bags. I admit that I am a little concerned with how the American market has catered to environmental do-gooders by giving us all 1909904 free reinforced bags with their logo all over it. I have so many bags hanging out on top of my fridge for easy marketing that it's a little silly. I'm willing to bet that most of us have more than enough bags to get us through grocery shopping, can we chill with making more? Please?

I also am using the same water bottle that I bought as soon as I made this resolution this year... but I guess I have to admit here that I lost my awesome $16 coffee mug after only a month of using it. I haven't bought another one and am lately opting to (omg) actually make my own coffee and drink it at home. Wonder of wonders.

3: To celebrate my living in a neighborhood where everything is at arm's reach, I am willing to Place a Moratorium on Regular Public Transportation. For 5 years in New York City, I have suffered with a 45 minute long peak time commute. After hours, on all of those nights when I was left stranded and drunk at 4am, I suffered a 1 1/2 hour long commute home if I did not have the $30 cab fare. Granted, I got a lot of reading done during these hours of my life, but I am finished in 2008. I refuse to accept a job, work out at a gym, or practice at a yoga studio that I can not walk to. This does not mean that I will never take a bus or a subway when I need to get from point A to B. It simply means that my regular commute will be on-foot for at least a year.

Oh man, the moratorium ROCKED. A whole year with only taking scanty few subway and bus rides was awesome. I LOVED IT. I love living in a neighborhood where I can walk everywhere. The Pike Place Market, my gym, my work, shopping... everything is right here! I took this resolution so seriously for most of the year that I even refused to bus up and down Capitol Hill. I walked everywhere until I got a bad case of tendonitis stomping up Denny to take dance class, where I practiced jumping. Man, that put me out for a while... so I bought a bike and started riding up and down the hill! Screw those busses! Towards the end of this year, I have been trying to get to know Seattle's bus routes better, which is nice because it means that I don't have to be afraid to hang out with people in far away neighborhoods. The new google features help a lot, as does the iPhone app where the bus' GPS system tells us EXACTLY when the next busses are coming and going from their stop.

I love not having a regular commute, though, and would like to always try to live in a place that makes my life easier, time wise. This probably means that I'm going to be a downtown girl for life.

4: To celebrate my commitments, I plan to Have a Health Year. I want to feel very clear headed and energetic as we prepare for this wedding. Especially the ceremony. I feel as if you can't make a commitment to marriage unless you make a commitment to being as healthy as possible. "Till death do us part" shouldn't come at age 50 with a heart attack. That would suck. Knowing that I am going to marry someone I care so much for is doing amazing things for my health perspective. When you're not doing something entirely for yourself, there's a whole new breadth to the notion of cleaning up your body.

We did a pretty good job at our year of health! I weigh about the same as I did last year before Health Month, but work out 3-5 days a week, so am a good size smaller. I practiced a whole lot of yoga. I took up bike riding and spinning. I ate pretty well. I did drink A LOT of wine, and am looking forward to Health Month to get my drinking back on track. Overall, though, I am feeling fantastic. I love that Buster is practicing yoga with me these days. I think we'll do a repeat in 2009, but bump things up a bit to include yoga retreat vacations that aren't centered around partying.

5: In keeping with my fiance's resolution to rock out co-habitation- I resolve to do the following:
a) Rock out Apartment Therapy
b) Build an Herb Garden this spring
c) Reassert Myself in the Kitchen

a) This apartment looks AWESOME thanks to that book and all the work we did. I love it here!
b) That Herb Garden was pathetic! I demand a do over in 09! At least I learned that it gets HOT on my roof and I need to be out there watering things every single day in the Summer!
c) Oh boy did I ever assert myself in the kitchen! And I continue to do so more and more. I love our kitchen! I love entertaining friends and cooking for my husband. It's lovely.

6: Get Married and do it in as organized and loving a manner possible.

Our wedding was awesome! I could not have wished for it to be any better. Truly. It was a lot of hard work and a lot of money, but everything was completely worth it. Also, I really love being married. We have a superb relationship, thanks in part to a year that we spent working on our resolutions. In fact, it's time to make more resolutions! Let's go!



2009 Resolutions!!!

1: Well, my my my, don't we really need to start living on a budget? Why, yes we do. Thank goodness for the new mint.com iphone app!

2: In a continuation from last year, I will Continue to strive for physical and mental endurance. This pretty much means keeping up with the health regimen that I've established during the last year. Again, I want to see my yoga practice bumped up to the next level. I also want to keep on with all the spinning/ weight training that I've been enjoying, especially now that I can't walk as much due to the crazy tendonitis.

3: Cook even more. Figure out more scripted meal planning, making sure that every ingredient is used. This is also in keeping with my budget resolution.

4: I still need to get my foot taken care of, though I'm not sure what this means anymore. All I know is that my foot is both better and worse than it was a year ago. Acupuncture helps a lot... but I have this funny grape sized protrusion on the inside of my ankle that makes me go hmmmmm. I really need to see a good doctor. I have names, I just need to make appointments!

5: I really need to start a worm compost. I have huge guilty pangs every time I toss out compost-able items. If I am serious about starting a roof garden (to be watered every day) this year, I will use the heck out of a worm compost! It will also ultimately help with the budget, if I'm going to grow things that we will actually eat. I was wicked jealous of Samantha's tomatoes this year, and need to grow my own! I might possibly volunteer at Tilth this year to learn a thing or two about container gardening.

6: I'm going to keep up with my secret resolutions as well. One of them you will know about very very soon. The other you will know about... eventually. Actually, the second resolution might not even take place this year. But then again, it just might! Both of these resolutions are super great and I can't wait to make announcements about them as soon as I make them into reality.

8: Work on my portfolio. Do some shoots with some folks. Figure out this business in Seattle a little bit better.

8: Strive to be the hottest, smartest, craftiest, most loving wife to my hot, smart, crafty, loving husband. Enough said.


Bam! 2009! Let's do this!

Comments

[buster.livejournal.com]

I think our resolutions will work very well together... cooking, eating, exercising, saving, recycling, working, appreciating, practicing. They all have something in common even if I can't quite put my finger on it.

[kellianne.livejournal.com]

oh you've got yr fingers all over it.

[skamille.livejournal.com]

Hmm re: 6 combined w/ 1...
I forgot it was you that had the no plastic bags resolution last year. Such a good influence you were!

I tried to set up mint.com but it is being a pain in the ass for me. I suspect my finances are too complicated for it =( Also I have the damnedest time keeping up with my passwords for all those accounts...

[kellianne.livejournal.com]

You definitely have to finagle mint a bit. It doesn't automatically know how to categorize all the purchases you make, and so you often have to reorder things in your record. I would be completely frustrated by it if I didn't have a wonderful husband who is actually good at sitting still and doing something in front of a computer while I do something that is actually interesting to me, like cook dinner. We are fortunate in this respect.

I have one password for everything that gets changed every so often. It's the only way to remember. Geez.

My budget mantra has lately been, "Buy nothing but food you are going to cook." This was IMPOSSIBLE to keep up in NYC. I never cook in that town.

[billetdoux.livejournal.com]

Actually, a dude at my work gave me a better, more secure idea for a password system.

Pick a password word or something, then modify it by using the name of the website. For example, make your password X3F*, where the * changes for every website - to the second letter in the site's name, for example

[explode.livejournal.com]

this is awesome.

[kellianne.livejournal.com]

It's funny to me, because it's all doable and where my priorities are headed, anyhow. I'm almost thinking that I should add a resolution that is difficult and outside of my lifestyle.

[explode.livejournal.com]

I don't necessarily think so unless you really want to - it's more about figuring out how you want to live and then working to that?

[interimlover.livejournal.com]

If I needed any more confirmation that you and Buster are a perfect match, this was it :)

Here's to a killer 2009!

[kellianne.livejournal.com]

Yes, he and I are complementary pages out of the same big book.

09 is gonna be the best year yet!!!