A very warm welcome to 2010.

I am not sad that 2009 is over. Though there were many great points to it, it was overall a very difficult year. We moved twice, seemed to face no end to our home-selling woes, worried deeply about the state of our credit, felt defeated in many ways, and trudged through the whiniest stage of our 3-year-old.

When I was sitting in my bed, under my down comforter with book in hand, the new year rang itself in and I said "sayonara." And when I say sayonara, I don't just mean goodbye; I mean good-riddance.

2010, being not only a new year but a new decade, gives me a lot of hope. We are nearly settled in our cozy 2-bedroom lower-level duplex, we are getting our budget in order, and we no longer own a home that we aren't living in (huzzah!). I know things could have been much worse, but I feel that the future can only get better.

Personally, I intend to make the following my mantra:
*care more *laugh more *pray more *create more *worry less

Certain 'resolutions' have been swimming around my head. Last year I resolved to send out real (paper) birthday cards to people, and I don't believe I sent out one. I went to Target this morning and bought a handful of birthday cards to help me with the same resolution this year.

My friend Summer suggested we create a small resolution for each month of the year. This way it's not so broad, and we are more likely to keep them. I think it's a good idea.

12 resolutions, 1 mantra. We'll see how it goes.