Now It's Time To Say Goodbye...

And here we are...we find ourselves at a cross roads...that moment between years...the last day of 2010. The end of a year, the end of a decade...a time to take stock, count blessings, reflect on what has happened and what we have learned. A time to say goodbye and wax nostalgic...

A time to look ahead, to make plans, establish goals, set dreams. A fresh start, the beginning of a whole new year, a whole new decade, a whole new opportunity to take life, once again, by the hand and lead it where we want it to go...

In reality, it's just another night, just another day...

But we humans are a sentimental bunch, aren't we? So, for us...it is all that and so much more...so full of the chance to try again, do right the wrongs, and to push harder with those things we're proud of.

So, as we leave 2010 behind (a year, that I must admit has been so very good to me), and enter 2011 (a year, that I hope and pray will only bring me more of what I already have)...let's count our blessings, and have fun, and be safe.

Year In Review - Concerts

This year, I attended A LOT of concerts. I love live music, and try to attend a few concerts each year, but this year, I outdid myself. It was a very good year for live music!

1.I started off the year, almost immediately, by winning a pair of concert tickets on Twitter (from Livenation) to see SafetySuit and Parachute. I had just discovered Safetysuit when Livenation Tweeted the ticket giveaway, so imagine my delight when I won the tickets. I wasn’t at all familiar with parachute, though I later realized I actually knew a few of their songs. The concert, in a small club venue, was fantastic! Both groups were great, but Safetysuit really blew me away, and I became a fan.

2. Very shortly after winning the above tickets, I also won tickets to see Timbaland at the House Of Blues in Boston (another Twitter contest, I started off the year on a lucky streak). Unfortunately, I can’t really tell you these tickets were worth the price of admission (yes, they were free)…the concert was horrible. Quite easily the worst concert I’ve ever been to, and that’s saying a lot. The opening act, Honor Society, however, were pretty good.

My review of both the above concerts is here.

3. After that concert left such a bad taste in my mouth, I knew I’d have to somehow find a way to revive my love for live music. Unfortunately, I had a while to wait, but in June, I flew to Pittsburgh to meet up with a friend and spend a few days with her, and to attend the Lifehouse/Daughtry concert.

Opening up for the two bands was another band I’d never heard of before: “Cavo”…I fell in love immediately, and have since become a big fan. Lifehouse, of course, stole the show as far as I’m concerned, but my love for them knows no bounds. Daughtry were good, but I felt that the acoustics in the building or something was off…I could barely hear Chris Daughtry’s voice over the guitars and drums. I was a bit disappointed. Still, overall, the concert was totally worth the trip (as was my time with my friend, of course).

4. When the summer began, so did my rash of concert going. I found myself taking FULL advantage of LiveNation’s $10 summer and snatched up a few concert tickets for that crazy low price. In the same week in August, I attended three concerts. The first of these was Rihanna's "Last Girl On Earth" tour with Ke$ha. All I can say about this particular concert is that I'm glad I only paid $10 for the tickets, and that we arrived just in time to miss most of Ke$ha's set. I think that girl is a train wreck, and had no desire to see her perform...the little bit we did see just re-affirmed my decision.

Rihanna, on the other hand, put on a great show....when she finally decided to grace us with her presence, that is. The fact that we had to wait over an hour and a half between Ke$ha's set and when Rihanna finally took the stage was simply unacceptable to me...Still, the show itself was entertaining...

5. A few nights before Rihanna's show, however, I attended what would become one of my two favorite concerts of the year...John Mayer. I did a full review of that concert here, so I won't repeat myself, except to say that I LOVED IT!

6. And a few nights later, I attended another fantastic concert. Maroon 5:

(another $10 show, which, let me tell you, I would have paid full price for this show). The show was fantastic, full energy, and one of those concerts that make you realize what makes live music so great! Plus...Adam Levine:

Sigh...

7. And finally, in October, I attended what was to be (and I knew would be) my favorite concert of the year...Kris Allen and Lifehouse. I'd gotten a small taste of lifehouse earlier in the year at the Daughtry concert, but it only served to ignite my desire to see them headlining...so when they announced a headlining tour, I knew I would most definitely be going to see them. The first time I saw lifehouse live was back in 2006. I hardly knew who they were then, but fell immediately in love. I said then, and I say again now, that they are without question, the BEST live band out there. (Here's my review of the concert in 2006). The concert in October did not disappoint. Firstly, I must give Kris Allen props. The American Idol winner was also a great live performer...he was funny, and charismatic, and extremely talented. And when lifehouse took the stage, I was lost in their world for 90 minutes of pure talent (along with some of their own humor and charm). And also, Jason Wade?

Sigh...

So, as you can see, it was a good year in live music, with only one major, and one minor disappointment.

I'm not sure how I can top this year in concerts...but if I can finagle some tickets to the New Kids/BackStreet Boys concert in 2011, that might be a start...;-)

Goals for 2011

Last year, I posted my “Goals for 2010”. I’ve decided that New Year’s Resolutions are silly, nobody sticks to them anyway, but I like the idea of setting “GOALS” that can be achieved, or at the very least, worked on.

What follows is my list from last year, and my…um…progress if you will:

1. Finish that novel – WELL…let’s be honest here…I’m pretty sure I didn’t touch “that” novel ONCE all year…okay, maybe once, or twice…but yeah…Not so much with the finishing…

2. Stay Healthy – DONE and DONE! I’ve managed to maintain my weight all year, staying within a 3 pound difference every time I weighed in. I didn’t manage to lose the “last 5 lbs” I’m determined to shed, but in all honesty, I didn’t really try all that hard. My focus this year was on maintaining, and on eating better. I did really well with the eating better until the last few months of the year…but, even then, I maintained the weight because of working out. Speaking of working out, I think I surpassed all my expectations this year. Not only did I stick to a pretty regular 3 to 4 day a week work-out schedule, but I can safely say I officially became a “runner” this year. I ran my first 5k on Thanksgiving morning with a time of 31:33, and I have {{GULP}} signed up for a 5k on New Year’s Day…

3. Put God ahead of everything – I’m going to check this one off as a success. It’s a work in progress, my faith, but I feel that this year I grew by leaps and bounds, and found myself centered in God in all things. I have a long way to go, a lot to learn, plenty of changes still to make, but I believe this year God WAS ahead of everything, within everything, above everything and scattered throughout everything I said or did…

4. De-Clutter – I am also going to check this one off as a success. In fact, with the exception of the few items still sitting on my home office floor, waiting for a destination (donation center, friends who may want them, dumpster I can’t carry them too because they are too heavy), I’m done. I literally went through EVERY SINGLE thing I own, and de-cluttered my house. Of course, there’s still certain things I need to go through in stricter detail (my books, my paperwork, cd’s, etc.) but the big stuff is done.

5. Fall In Love – Well, this one was long shot. After all, it’s hard to set a goal that isn’t solely dependent on you. It takes two to fall in love, and I am only one. I could have fallen in love this year…I was open to it. I opened up my heart, let down my defenses, put myself out there. I mean, for goodness sake, I even asked someone out on a RUNNING date. But alas, it was not to be. There’s always next year…

Speaking of next year…it is time for my Goals for 2011…

Goals for 2011

1. WRITE. I’m not even going to attempt to fool myself into thinking I can “finish that novel”…but I’m going to set a goal for myself that I WRITE. That I spend some quality time with my novel, with my characters, with my brand new netbook purchased solely for that purpose. Included in this writing goal is also my blog, and a few other writing projects I have in the works…

2. Run a 10K. Yep, I did that…I put that out there. Because well…why not? After all, I thought running in general was an impossibility for me, and then, in 2010, I ran my first 5k. I’m starting off the year, quite literally, running a 5k on New Year’s Day…so a big goal for 2011 is to run, run, run…all year run, build up my stamina, increase my pace, and run a 10k. I’m shooting for the Turkey Trot I did as a 5k in 2010…there’s a 10k option, so…why not?

3. Continue to stay healthy. Going along with the 10K goal is my goal to keep working out regularly, and to work on my diet. By diet I don’t mean “lose weight crash diet”, I mean daily eating habits. I need to change my lazy habits of just grabbing whatever is handy, which leads me to poor choices sometimes. I need to plan meals, and educate myself better on what I should be eating, and what I should not…

4. Find a church. I have faith. I have an amazing faith family, friends, community. I have regular faith sharing meetings with friends, where we worship and we pray and we share. But I don’t have a church. I won’t get into all the details behind why I can’t go to the church that has been my church for decades…let’s just say that the priest and the services don’t give me the nutrition my faith requires and leave it at that. But this means I am without a place to worship on Sundays. Sometimes, during the week, I will attend lunch time services at a church within walking distance from my work. Once a month I attend a church service in Boston on Friday night geared toward young adults (20’s and 30’s) which I LOVE. But I have yet to find a place where I feel welcome and fulfilled on Sunday mornings. And I need to. I want to. I must.

5. Do something new every month. I’ve been thinking about this a lot, because I’ve been doing a little bit of this the last few months. Doing things I’ve never thought I could do. Doing things I just have never gotten around to doing. Trying new things, or experiencing things everyone seems to have done, but I for some reason, have not. This includes silly things such as watching movies that are “Classics” but I’ve never seen (A Charlie Brown Christmas, for example, which I watched for the first time ever the other night), to more serious tasks (such as that 10k), to everything in between…ice skating, skiing perhaps, flying a kite…the possibilities are endless.

6. Travel to Europe. Okay, so this one is a bit of a cheat, because I have a trip to Portugal pretty much planned in October. I have friends from here getting married there, and a group of us are planning on traveling together to their wedding. But my goal is to turn this trip into a lengthier stay, and hopping over to Spain, France, England, Italy…pretty much any other country I can make it to on the airfare across the ocean. Now I just need to find a willing travel companion, and…well…the funds.

7. Be more charitable. This doesn’t necessarily mean financially, although that too. But I’m thinking more along the lines of trying to live the talk…do more for others, give of my time, be more a part of this world we live in, in a giving, unselfish, charitable way.

8. Spend more time with my little sister. She turns 18 this coming year, and I feel that with our busy schedules, we don’t spend as much time together as we used to. It’s perfectly understandable, but I have to make more of an effort to be present in her world. I’m the constant she needs, the positive influence she has, and I have to remember that and make more of an effort.

9. Cook more. As I said in a post last week, I don't cook often, but I plan to do that more this year, in fact, I plan to attempt a new recipe once a week...

10. Fall In Love. What? Eventually this is going to happen. I’m going to add to this one this year…fall in love with someone who will love me back. Date more. Continue to be open, and trust that the right one will come along…and have fun in the process.

So there you go…what are your goals for 2011?

Popinjay - Humble

This week's Popinjay prompt is "Humble". I chose to go with the definition of the word as a verb:

Humble: To lower in condition, importance or dignity; to destroy the independence, power, or will of; to make meek.

Well, what perfect timing this is...because I can't think of anything that can humble an entire community so quickly as mother nature. Today the East Coast of the United States was hit with a great blizzard. As far as blizzards in Massachusetts go, they (being the news media) tell us this is one of the biggest we've had in years. Pretty much everything shut down. Cancellations were announced last night for business and plans alike. Folks were asked to stay off the roads. Many people lost power. There has been flooding, fires, downed trees, and the like.


Us mere mortals are left to huddle up in the warmth of our homes, and watch as nature takes over for a little while:

Humbled:

Be sure to stop by Michelle's for more "humbling" posts...

Julie & Julia and Karina

The other night I watched "Julie & Julia" for the first time.

I loved the movie, it was sweet, and funny, and a joy to watch. I enjoyed Amy Adams and Meryl Streep immensely in their roles (of Julie Powell and Julia Child respectively), and perhaps even more so, enjoyed Chris Messina and Stanley Tucci as their husbands. The story (a true story) was cute, and it was just an all around feel good movie that I am so glad I finally watched.

But this is not a movie review. (Even though I think you should definitely check it out if you haven't already).

No, this post is about me. Or more specifically about the fact that I simply do not cook.

I can cook. Whenever I decide to whip something up, I can pretty much go for it, and feel secure in the knowledge that it will come out tasting pretty great.

I thank my mother for this. I've inherited her ability to just "create" in the kitchen. I can throw a bunch of random ingredients together, without recipe and measuring spoons, and make an honest to goodness meal out of them.

That being said, I don't cook. Not often anyway.

I live alone, and let's be honest, the inspiration of cooking for one isn't really all that great. Plus, I live a pretty busy, hectic life, so the truth is, I'm not home to eat dinner most nights, and on the nights I am, I want something quick and easy. Not some elaborate meal.

Unfortunately, what that means is that most nights, I end up cooking from packages...processed foods...not the healthiest options, for sure.

Watching this movie, however, made me think that I should, at the very least, have a few "recipes" that I'm familiar with, a few things that I can have as my "go to's" that don't come from a package of some sort, that include fresh ingredients.

Now, don't go thinking I'm going to embark on some crazy challenge of Julie & Julia proportions...cooking my way through some lengthy cookbook in a year. That is SO NOT happening.

However, I've been inspired...so, I'm challenging myself to go through my MANY cookbooks (because, for someone who doesn't cook, I have an obsession with buying cookbooks), and every week cooking from one of the recipes in one of those books.

That's my challenge to myself...to cook more, by committing to cooking ONE meal from fresh ingredients, from a cookbook recipe, once a week, starting in January...

I should be able to do that, right? (GULP)...Right...