Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year at approximately 10:45. You can call us fuddy-duddy’s if you please, or you can listen (read) my excuse. We decided to “kick it up a notch”, as Emeril would say…by adding a balloon drop to the annual NYE party. In my head, it would be a magical moment. Everyone would gather around. The kids would be the official string pullers, and the balloons would drop. All would kiss. You get the point…What I forgot to think about was the fact that all children under the age of 10…and some adults…turn in to grumpy gorillas at exactly 9 o’clock. We had planned all along to celebrate with the Eastern Time Zone, but at 10:45, we made the executive decision that it was close enough. How accurate are the clocks in New York anyway? And with that, a new tradition was born. Maybe by the time the boys are all in high school, we will let them stay up until midnight.

After the streamers were thrown…after the kiddos were laid to rest…after the party poopers hit the road… Mark and Tiffany (the only people who stayed for slumber party) introduced us to our newest addiction…the Wii.

Sure, I had heard about the Wii before then. I had heard about all the crazy people sleeping in line and stalking Wal-Mart employees to get the not-even-new-to-market-game. And I thought they were just that. Crazy! Until I played my first match of Tennis…it was love at first serve. I was good, and I was hooked. I am being a bit dramatic, but trust me…it is so freaking FUN! The first day back to work, I locked myself in a conference room with the purpose of calling every Game Stop in a 50 mile radius…some would just start laughing when I would ask if they had any in stock. “Uhhhh…NOOO…,” they’d chuckle. As if to say, if you really want a Wii, bring your sleeping bag up here and sleep in the parking lot for the next two days until the UPS truck comes again. It’s like the associates are trained to be vague. Supposedly the retailers have NO IDEA when the next shipment will be. Many of them can’t even remember when the last shipment was. But I was determined to keep moving forward. Several calls into my search, I was told they do have *some* in stock. “How many,” I asked. “I can’t say,” she replied. Goofy high-school associate is making this more of a game than it really needs to be. So not only are quantities limited…they now are mysterious too?? The only reason I was asking was so that I would know if I needed to jog or sprint…which, truth be told, is really more of the same. But still. So there I was…*sprinting* out of the conference room…*sprinting* down 3 flights of stairs…*sprinting* through the parking garage…anyone who saw me probably thought I was on my way to a medical emergency. Within minutes I was in line at the Game Stop on Parker and Preston praying that the two people in front of me would not take the last two Wii’s. They didn’t! My persistence had paid off. Who ever said a one-track mind was a bad thing?

With the new year came new resolutions…except that they aren’t really new. For the most part, they are the same every year. Eat Better. Work Out. Lose Weight. This year, I tried to put a little twist on it. I have four on my radar…

1) My first resolution is to become a lifetime member in Weight Watchers. I think that means you hit your goal weight and stay at it for six weeks. I don’t know. I just know you get a cool keychain and the meetings are then free. I joined on New Year’s Eve Monday. If that is not dedication that’s says I am ready to get this resolution started before the year even starts – then I don’t know what is!

2) In addition, I want to run a 5K every month through October. Then the turkey trot in November. Then the half marathon in December. This is a cool resolution because it comes with 12 free t-shirts. I am hoping the free t-shirts will somehow convince me that running is fun. Speaking of running, you know those women that you ask how they stay so thin, and they respond “Oh, just keeping up with my 3 year old”…or… “Oh, just chasing my kiddos around.” Well, I can honestly say that strategy doesn’t work for me, since I literally can NOT keep up with Hayden. We went on a jog as a family the other day around the 3 mile trail. After about a mile, Hayden was bored in the stroller, so he got out and ran with Jeff. He ran almost a full 2 miles at my pace or faster. I am not exaggerating. It’s just sad!

3) My third resolution is to do a better job at recognizing how truly blessed I am on a daily basis. I am so lucky to have a steady, reliable job that I seldom risk my life doing. OK, I never risk my life doing it. I realized this as I sat in on the Monday morning conference call at work. During the call, two separate store managers were commended for how well they handled the shootings in their store. One of them was a robbery attempt. One of them was a love triangle gone bad. Neither of the stories made CNN.com. I know because I check CNN.com daily as I sit protected in my cozy cubicle in the home office. Note to self…don’t ever sign up to be a store manager.

4) My last resolution is to befriend the coffee lady and be nice to the guy I can’t stand at work. I still haven’t pinpointed what exactly about him drives me nuts…but he does. He makes my skin crawl, and therefore it’s typically my challenge to make him look like an idiot in every meeting…which in reality, is not much of a challenge. Anyway, in 2008, I am going to be nicer to him. I will start with a smile and go from there.

As for the coffee lady. I must make her skin crawl because she addresses every other person in line with a warm, friendly greeting, and then when it comes to me…I can barely get a cracked smile, much less a “Good Morning.” I really think it has a lot to do with the fact that I buy a 96 cent coffee everyday and wait for the 4 cent change. She always seems so put out as she counts out those 4 pennies. But let’s be honest. I am cheap and that is not going to change in 2008 or in any other year…so I am going to have to find another way to win her over.