New Years Resolutions
I feel fresh and hopeful with this new year! Welcome, 2010. Along with the rest of the world, I'm going to put together some resolutions! I'm also going to try to break them up into manageable tiny goals, so it doesn't seem so overwhelming.

Resolutions are as follow:

1. Begin to learn Spanish.
It is hugely frustrating not being able to speak Spanish when I work, as many of my parents and my little guys are Spanish-speaking only. It's an enormous hurtle in terms of developing rapport and also makes meetings and therapy more clunky, more time-consuming and less seamless since it requires finding translation. This is especially tough when I'm so pressed for time during work and parent meetings need to be as efficient as possible in order for me to see my kids. I rue the fact that I chose French to study in middle school, high school and college because while I'm not good or even passable by any extent, I can get ideas across in pidgin form when I need to. Not so with Spanish.

SO: I've already signed up for a Groupon deal for beginning Spanish classes in the neighborhood. It looks like it'll be one night a week. It'll at least give me tools to use Spanish for simple sentence forms and vocabulary concepts with my Spanish-speaking pre-schoolers. I feel more hopeful already!

*As an aside: I always think about the Spanish-speaking families and how limiting it must feel for them as well to not speak English. There are many places that have bilingual services, but many places that do not. I remember living in Beijing and being stressed all the time as a non-speaker of Mandarin: riding the bus, ordering food from a street stall, trying to figure out where I need to go. I was only there a year. I couldn't imagine feeling that way for the foreseeable future.

2. Eat clean, Lost weight.
So trite, but so true. Especially after the cream/butter/oil fest that was my winter vacation so far (let us not discuss the Indian food buffet followed by Robin's homemade cream of asparagus soup heavy on the cream and butter that occurred on my last day at my parents'). I want fiber and freshness! And I want to fit comfortably into this one pair of pants that used to be very comfortable and now I can barely button them up! I want my muffin top to go away, please!

How to accomplish: My goal is to lose 2 pounds per month. I think this will be doable. If I lose more, great. This way, though, I can keep my expectations reasonable.

I'll continue to work out regularly, but what I've learned is that working out alone does me no goddamn good in terms of weight loss, although it does wonders for stress management and general well-being.

3. Update this blog more regularly
It's been too easy to use Facebook, but it limited my use of this blog as a sorta journal. I miss that journal. I want to return to that.

4. Listen to more music, watch less TV.
I love TV, I do. Sometimes the trashier, the better. But, TV as background noise is no good. Pandora now streams on our Roku box, which is pretty nifty, so I've been listening to my M.Ward station when I clean or cook or do errands around our place. And this is pretty relaxing! And it makes the time seem a little less rushed! I need more of this.

I'm not going to lie and say there isn't a "Biggest Loser" marathon going on right now, though.

And lastly...
5. Be grateful for family and friends and health. Also trite, but I realize how lucky I am to have good parents; brothers who are well-adjusted and whom I love; a coterie of smart, funny, and diverse friends that includes girlfriends who I could call at 3 in the morning if I needed to; and or course an awesomely cute and funny husband who appreciates the absurdity in life and who loves our kitties almost as much as I do.

Oh yes, and also be grateful to have a job. It drives me insane sometimes with the paperwork and other sundry things, but ultimately I really enjoy working with the kids and that is what it is about.