It’s Never Too Early
I have never been one to procrastinate.
For example, I never incur late fees because I always pay my bills several days early. I am also not that person who searches for the perfect gift on Christmas Eve because my gifts are usually wrapped and ready to go by December 15. I always have breakfast, lunch, and dinner ideas at my fingertips, and several snacks readily available for Maya in order to avoid a potential meltdown. I keep barf bags for Maya in every car. I have emergency kits, flashlights, water, and extra batteries stashed around our house in case of an emergency. And I started my New Year’s detox in November.
Is there such a thing as a person to procrastinates too little? If so, I believe I am one.
Because I like to live my life in an organized and scheduled way, people occasionally comment that I am too uptight. I try not to take offense to this and explain that I am not uptight, but rather, a type “A” personality. My brother (who is also a type “A” or in his case, a type “A+”) and I often discuss how we have difficulty overlooking those with a “fly by the seat of my pants” mentality. Consequently my brother and I both lack a bit in the friendship department. Goes with the territory I guess. To be honest though, I don’t really mind not having friends if they thrive on disorder because I just can’t live my life that way.
Anyway, moving on the point of this post….I have been thinking, for a while now, about my goals for 2010. Instead of waiting until New Year’s Eve to finish them up, I figured why not today? No procrastination here! So here they are, in no particular order.
1. I want to explore a possible career change. While I do enjoy working in entertainment finance, my first love is obviously books. I could read all day, every day. Fiction, non-fiction, magazines, newspapers, blogs – just give me some words and I am a happy person. But since I don’t think anyone would pay me to read all day, every day, I would love for my career to be somehow related to reading and my goal in 2010 is to figure out how to make that happen.
2. I want to get something published. My long-term goals include a novel that I have been working on and a book of short stories that I want to start working on. In 2010, however, my short-term goal is to write at least one article and get it published, ideally in a magazine or newspaper.
3. I want to work on my patience. One of my biggest weaknesses has always been my lack of patience. Even when I am not in a rush I find myself in a rush! I don’t understand why I can’t just relax and let things roll off my back (this includes those people with the aforementioned “fly by the seat of my pants” syndrome) and I am hoping that in 2010 I can make some progress on this.
4. I want to be a better mother. When I compare Maya to other kids, I realize what a good girl she really is. She rarely misbehaves and she is a happy, loving kid 98% of the time. I want to do more things with her, one-on-one, so that we can improve our relationship. I want to be able to give her my undivided attention for longer stretches of time. In 2010 I want Maya and I to be closer.
5. I want to get better at yoga. Thanks to a problematic knee I had to drastically cut back on my running. So per my doctor’s advice, I began doing yoga instead in January of this year. Initially I was really scared that not doing massive amounts of cardio would make the scale go up. But instead my appetite decreased and my weight did too. I have made a lot of progress this year with my yoga, not only in strength and flexibility, but also mentally. Whereas I never used to be able to do downward dog without a million things flying through my mind, I have been able to quiet my thoughts for a few minutes at a time now. In 2010 I want to get even better. And maybe even master a crow pose or two.
6. I want to do more for others. This year I was able to make some progress on this goal by not only donating money but my time too. I was even able to involve Maya in some of the charitable causes we took part in, and I would love to be able to do more of the same in 2010.
That about sums it up, for now at least.
So according to The Secret, if I put these things down on paper (or on a blog) and believe they could actually happen then the universe will make sure they do. While I don’t think The Secret has a ton of substance to it (after all, what book/movie/product/idea doesn’t turn to gold when Oprah touches it?) I do think that having concrete goals is one step closer to reaching them. I’m looking forward to tackling these next year.
What are your goals for 2010 and beyond?
Book Review – Don’t You Forget About Me
Don’t You Forget About Me
by Jancee Dunn
Do you remember your high school years? If so, were you one of the popular crowd or one of the smart kids? Were you a cheerleader or did you play in the band? Did you blaze new trends? Or did you do your very best to blend in with the crowd? If you could revisit that time in your life, would you? These are the themes in this very funny and relatable book.
If you are anything like me you try your very best to block out any and all memories of high school. Those four years were quite possibly the four worst years of my life. Could I have been any nerdier? Could I have been any more awkward looking? I was too tall, too thin, my hair was (is) uncontrollable, I had braces, and absolutely no self-confidence. While I had friends I can’t say that any of them were really good friends. We were just a bunch of girls who sat together at lunch so we didn’t have to sit alone. Safety in numbers, right? And after graduation – one of the best days of my life – we parted ways without ever really looking back.
In Jancee Dunn’s Don’t You Forget About Me, protagonist Lillian Curtis happily “hurtles backward” into her high school years after being blindsided by her husband’s request for a divorce. Unlike me and probably most of the rest of the world, Lillian recalls her teen years as some of her happiest and is quickly agreeable to turning back the clock. So at 38-years-old Lillian takes a leave of absence from her job as a producer in New York City to return to her parent’s home in New Jersey to lick her wounds and reassess her life choices. Her return also happens to coincide with her twenty-year high school reunion.
Upon her return to New Jersey, Lillian reverts back into her former life of being on the cusp of her friends’ popular clique. She drives too fast, blasts mixed tapes of 80’s songs, reads old notes she saved in her dresser drawer, and betrays her non-popular friend Dawn (again). She also falls back into an old relationship with ex-boyfriend Christian, and allows him to once again call all the shots in their relationship.
Initially Lillian was not a very likeable character. One would assume that a 38-year-old TV producer would know a whole lot more about how to treat people. But unlike a Mean Girl character Lillian didn’t mean to be a horrible person. The problem was that in her efforts to be more appealing to her friends and ex-boyfriend, she was rather harsh to those she deemed at the low-end of the totem pole. Having been at the bottom of that pole at one point in my life, my heart went out to Dawn and to some of the other characters that Lillian treated quite terribly (I won’t go into more detail because I don’t want to give too much away). I was glad that at one point in the book Dawn found the courage to stand up for herself. One could say I was living vicariously through Dawn instead of through Lillian, as I’m sure the author would prefer!
After some deep discussion with her older sister Ginny, and revelations of forgotten memories, Lillian becomes much more relatable and finally likeable. She realizes her past didn’t exactly play out the way she thought it had. She realizes that some things just aren’t worth going back to. She also realizes that while being a grown up is hard, it is a much better alternative to the horrible process of trying to be someone you aren’t.
The verdict? I loved this book and finished it in just a couple of days. The references to the 80’s were spot on and reminded me of my own teen years. Remember John Hughes’ movies? What about Wham! and tape recorders? Do you also recall trying to fit in at any cost? Do you remember spending an insane amount of time worrying about what everyone thought of you? This book is sort of a bittersweet look back at things I loved (could count them on one hand) and hated most about high school, which I’m sure many others can relate to. I highly recommend this book for a good laugh and maybe some not-so-good reminders of the past. I look forward to reading the author’s other books as well.
Is there anyone else out there who would sooner shave their head than relive those tedious years?
Disinfecting!
Is it Sunday night already? I am happy to say that this weekend was action packed!
It all started with an early school pick-up on Friday and a trip to Ali’s office for Santa Day. Unfortunately it seemed like everyone else in the city decided to hop on the 405 freeway as well. After more than an hour of hellish traffic we finally exited the freeway but poor Maya couldn’t hold out any longer and you guessed it, she threw up.
Here she is minutes before clutching her requisite barf bag. Lucky for you I decided against taking an “after” picture.
The truth is that I was too busy concentrating on not throwing up myself to snap any photos. I don’t care if the barf belongs to my kid, it doesn’t make me any less nauseous.
Luckily Maya made a quick recovery and here she was minutes later:
Yes she was eating a cookie and cake too. I almost threw up again just watching her.
Santa Day was successful. I guess the long trek was worth it because she scored some sweet Hello Kitty stuff:
Maya spent the night with my sister-in-law which was great because Ali and I were able to visit one of my favorite places: Paul Martin. It was excellent (I had the same swordfish as last time) but then both Ali and I started feeling a bit under the weather so we headed home and watched Julie and Julia on Pay Per View instead of going to a movie. The movie was really good although I thought the ending could have been a little better.
Saturday dawned with us both still feeling kind of sick so we hung around the house until we had to pick Maya up. I think she suitably exhausted my sister-in-law who probably decided against having kids after Maya’s visit. After leaving my sister-in-law to recover, we decided to trek to Santa Monica to battle the crazy crowds.
We hit Old Navy who was having a phenomenal sale. Maya even found all the siblings she’s been asking for:
After buying half the store for a whopping $50 we went on to have dinner at P.F. Chang’s. I’m not usually a fan but kudos to you P.F. Chang’s for having a gluten-free menu. Your salmon wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever had but knowing that I wasn’t going to feel sick afterwards? Totally made it taste better! We were a bit puzzled by the fact that even with a reservation we had to wait for a table but I guess you can’t win them all.
Today, bright and early, we headed to Knott’s Berry Farm. Everything was going swimmingly well…we arrived in 40 minutes with no car sickness, parking was a breeze, and the park was fairly empty. We went on a flying bus:
Felt sorry for some of the park employees:
Rode some horses:
And watched a giant dog skate quite elegantly:
But then massive crowds starting descending on the park and things got a bit hectic, even a bit scary if you will. I think even Snoopy seemed a bit surprised at some of his clientele.
So around 4pm we called it a day, came home, and disinfected. Or at least we tried. Soap can only do so much!
Yay for Monday tomorrow. Double yay that Maya has school tomorrow! Good night all.
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 