hello 2014

this is one of my favorite times of the year. we're all looking forward and ready to scrub away the past. we're ready to refresh and restart. clear the pages. move on without the burdens of the past year hunched on our shoulders, breathing in our ears, dragging ... ... ...

we set resolutions, knowing they won't be kept and we draw up goals, knowing they'll turn into fait wishing. we see so much promise and potential and hope for the coming year. we become unified with the belief that this ... this year will be it. it will be better. we will be better.

i'm over 2013. it was a good year. scratch that ... great year. travel, family, friends, food (a wee bit too much perhaps). but we're good. we're done. odd numbers unsettle me. let's push on to 1 - 4 and see where we land.

this year, i'm going to scratch the resolutions. we'll save the goals for another round. those wishes and dreams that creep up at night and hang over my head in the morning ... they'll still be there. hovering. but this year, i want to think narrow. i want to structure my year with a word. i want to focus.

focus on my family. my husband. my brother. my parents. my in-laws. i want to continue to nurture those relationships. the holidays were filled with family this year (well, 2013) and helped me realize just how fortunate i am to have such love so close. i want to carry that reminder with me.

focus on my friends. i love, love, love these kids. just last night my pa mentioned how amazing my friends are. it still amazes me that these fantastic people are in my life. we joke. we laugh. we eat. we talk. we dance. we whine. we cry. we share.

focus on my work. i'm going into 2014 with a big question mark over this slot of my life. my current job will end in six months and then who knows. there's a new business model bubbling in the works that could actually become something ... but who knows. lou's work is on the up-and-up with leaves a wee bit of wiggle room for me. how amazing to find myself in such a position. i want to focus on enjoying the next six months. i wan to focus on creating a new work-home for the later six months.

focus on me. you knew this was coming, didn't you? me. me. me. here's where i could say i want to focus on my eating - more veggies, less chocolate. more protein, less carbs.  i could say i want to focus on exercising more, use that la fitness membership i'm paying for. i could say i want to focus on my sleeping behaviors and maybe this year actually achieve some balance. i could say i want to focus on my wardrobe, updating those "pilled" sweaters i keep scrunched in the back shelves. but i'm not. deep down in side i want to lay on the couch and read smutty books about vampires. i want to sneak slices of my ice cream birthday cake that's calling from the basement freezer. i want to stay up too late talking with lucas and watching terrible netflix shows. i want to focus on me being happy. that i can get behind.

alright 2014 ... i'm totes ready.