Happy new year!

New year, new slate.

We aren’t big new years people and it was pretty cold here on Monday, so we stayed in and had a few people over for a lowkey evening. I wore my new favorite pair of flannel pajamas because by god it was cold and I wanted to be comfortable (and I’m lame). We drank pink fizzy stuff (pretty foul) and tried not to be too upset by the way that Dick Clark looked and sounded on TV. I give him props for insisting on coming back but found myself hoping that he’d make it through the broadcast without collapsing on camera because he didn’t look so good.

The trip to Florida was GREAT—exactly what we needed. We slept and relaxed and went to the beach every day. The sun was amazing and healing and wonderful. Usually I’m very ready to come back home after we go down there but this time I wasn’t so eager. Now that we’re here, though, it’s good to be home. The cats almost had a cow when we got back. They are so spoiled by Lunchboy working from home that they take our extended absence as a personal insult. Fuzzballs!

Somehow I got caught up on everything over the break. We polished off season 5 of The Shield on Netflix, got through a backlog of stuff on the DVR, saw 5 movies, and read a pile of books. We cleaned out our closets and dresser and gave a huge garbage bag full of stuff to Goodwill. I got back on my mat more consistently than I had in the previous three months. My favorite teacher from LA is doing a workshop in Boston next week and I’m both excited and a little scared because I’m not super strong at the moment. Can I make it through his class? I’ll guess I’ll see. Oh, and last week we finally used the day spa gift certificates that Carmen gave us as a wedding present and got a couples massage at this place in Brookline Village. One of the massage beds had water in it, like a water bed. It sloshed the entire time and made me giggle, but there were people getting colonics in the next room and that was not as funny. The massage was amazing, though, so thank you again!

One of my resolutions for 2008 was to start volunteering again and to find a creative outlet that doesn’t involve writing. I’m convinced that 90% of the weird anxious energy I dealt with last year had to do with the fact that I didn’t have a project or something of my own to focus on. So Monday I signed up for an orientation session with Boston Cares and also for a pottery class at a studio near our house. I took classes there about 10 years ago, the results of which are still lurking in corners at my friend’s houses. It felt nice to make things for other people—and just to MAKE something tangible. I’m excited to give it another shot. When spring comes, I want to get more involved in the beach cleanups around here again. It may not solve the problem of what people dump into the ocean but at least it feels like I can make a tiny difference in what stays in the water and on the beaches.

Anyhoo. I made a couple of other resolutions that I will keep to myself for now just because I’m not sure if I can live up to them, but it felt good to make a list of things to grow toward.