A New Year.

New Year's Eve has never been much of a big deal to me. Maybe it's because I never seem to get enough champagne to get to the part where counting down from 10 is exciting or the anticipated ride home with drunks on the road isn't quite what it used to be. Either way- I've come to filter all my excitement into New Year's Day.

The first day of the year. That day can set your tone for the entire year, if you'd like it to. I like to go to bed in time to wake up early and do as much as possible on that first day. Since I had to work New Year's Eve as well as New Year's morning, that limited my experience somewhat. So I spent Saturday as my First Day of the New Year by doing all the things I wanted to do.

1) Run on the beach. I usually plan on 3 miles and will sometimes go 5 if the music is really good. Somehow I ended up going 10 miles. This may mean three things:
1) I am in much better shape than I thought.
2) I have waaay too much energy.
3) It's time to strive a little harder. Because I am capeable of exceeding my own expectations.
2) Have a healthy meal. Take my time eating. Perhaps that 10 miles somehow affected my stomach, because I barely got through my chicken and only managed to chug a protien shake and some blueberry yogurt. Later that night I got so hungry I had to pull over and have my friend and I eat our Chinese take-out in my car. It may not be elegant, but DAMN, was it good!
3) Take time for the things that I love. The arts and my friends. Thankfully, I had both. The Getty has a new exhibit I've been wanting to see- I went alone and the silence and peace I felt- well, I've always compared the Getty to the Temple for me. And with the new Baroque Emotions on display, I felt my heart soar. Later, friends joined me for the Observatory, which, ironically, we could not see ANYWHERE, so later spent the evening catching up with good friends and Real Talk. That is, until I fell asleep talking- I believe I started giving directions and comparing relationships to purses. (Blog post to follow. I think I must've been onto something.)

In any case, I look at this New Year and believe that it's grace will have everything to do with how much effort I put into reaching out, looking in and pushing harder.
Happy New Year.