New Years Resolutions

In light of the fact that it's now 2009, I feel it is more than appropriate to discuss the age old question: "What is your resolution this year?"

Essentially a resolution is something we want to change, right? Or something we really want to stick with for once... I'm pretty sure that from age 14-22 I resolved to lose 40 pounds by February. Always good to set realistic goals. Not this year- we are DONE with that. But before we talk about resolutions, I would like to mention that I almost didn't MAKE it to the New Year, thanks to the good ol Northeast and it's ability to snow like a mofo. I, of course, am from Maine and therefore always decide that I have some sort of an upper hand against Mother Nature. I'm like a rebellious teenager.
"Dear Mother Nature,
Screw you and your crazy snow. Sure, you just laid 2 feet of it on the ground. Yes, my windshield wipers suck. No, I don't enjoy black ice. But here I am, in my car, driving to New Hampshire. Ya, kiss it.
Love, Mariah"
ANNNNNNNND Then I spin out on 293, drive straight across three lanes of traffic while trying (and failing) to overcorrect and land in a ditch on the side of the road. That's like Mother Nature's sick way of grounding me for sneaking out.
But, I remained very calm. For those of you who know me, that might seem like a huge lie. Actually, though, I decided there was no sense in freaking out. So I MacGyvered my way out by slowly going into drive then reverse over and over and over again and then punching it out back onto the road. I mean really, that's all I kept saying in my head: "What would MacGyver do?" I might get a WWMD bracelet now.

RESOLUTION 1? Lose my Maine ego. Also, get new windshield wipers. Be kinder to Mother Nature. Maybe perform some ritual with pine cones every night where I do an interpretive dance around a ring of them on my floor.

And now that we have resolution 1 out there, we may as well keep rolling....

RESOLUTION 2: Work on the Totes.Awk Production company and its first Totes.Awes CD. F'in Magee, you and I have both sold our souls to the non-profit world so the sooner we hammer out a one hit wonder, the sooner we get to be selective about the wine at restaurants. We won't actually have to say, "Umm, you know, whatever's cheapest."

RESOLUTION 3: Eat more chocolate. It releases incredible endorphins and endorphins make us happy. Who doesn't want to be happy? I embraced this resolution seriously on Sunday night where over the course of 24 hours I ate an entire box of Oreos. Then from Monday to yesterday when I ate an entire bag of Hershey kisses. Mmmm....

RESOLUTION 4: Meditate more and read more Buddhist philosophy. It makes my heart happy and can really put things in perspective during the wildest of times.

RESOLUTION 5: Stop holding back. Release passion to the wind with all people at all time... if I want to dance? Dance. Sing? Sing. Hug and kiss and laugh? Hug and kiss and laugh. Yell and get mad? Yell and get mad. No more trying to come off as the sweet, agreeable one. Sweet and agreeable is BORING. No, this does not mean I am going to fly off the handle and start jumping people or throwing things. But it does mean that when I have a strong opinion, I'm going to express it and when I love, I am going to let people know. And oh- if there is actually a restaurant I want to go to or a movie I want to see? No more, "Whatever you want to do is fine." We are changing things up this year. We are giving more depth to our character- the depth that is already there but needs to be released.

RESOLUTION 6: Listen to my heart instead of everone else's opinion. There is a reason why we all live in different bodies. We all have different minds, different needs, different wants. The only person who you truly need to level with at the end of every day is yourself. So do what is right for you. If you make a mistake along the way? So be it. Mistakes give us personality and a better understanding of ourselves. And sometimes really funny stories to tell after the fact.

RESOLUTION 7: Learn how to pop lock and drop it.

RESOLUTION 8: Save more money so I can a) buy bridesmaids dresses for this summer and b) maybe go on an awesome trip someday. LIKE the World Cup in 2014.

RESOLUTION 9: Embrace imperfection, mine and everyone else's. Stop feeling entitled to a life without flaw. It is flawed. It always has been, it always will be.

RESOLUTION 10: And this is the final one for now.............wake up every morning with the knowledge that today is a new day and you can choose to be happy or sad. Then get out of bed, put on a smile, and rock the world.


Happy 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

XOXO