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Happy New Year! I enjoyed my two-week break, but was also itching to “get back.” It’s been quite warm in Chicago over the weekend, giving us a taste of spring, before we’re thrust back into the reality that winter still has a loooong way to go around here.

My resolution for 2007 was “To do my best every day.” (Totally copped from Real Simple; I know.) And while I believe that may be the best resolution to make, in reality, I lost focus without structured goals. For 2008, I’m back with the traditional list. I’m sharing them here in hopes that it will keep me on track.

1. Stop yelling Sounds simple, no? Well, I am the type of person who yells without realizing it. Often for benign reasons. Yelling has its place, i.e. “Watch out for that car!” (and I’m really not trying to eliminate that type of yelling), but for communicating my frustration, not so much. This is definitely going to take some time to achieve, because the first step is simply becoming aware of my voice.
2. Re-learn French In college, I toyed with a minor in French, until I enrolled in a class where the instructor spoke rapid-fire French, and only rapid-fire French, and I couldn’t understand a thing, and became totally frustrated (not to mention that I felt completely inadequate). Yes, I should have stuck it out, and I probably would have learned a lot, but I dropped the class, and the idea of minoring. I have been downloading podcasts from the French Ecole on iTunes, and so far am through lesson eight, of 30 listed lessons. We’ll see where this goes, but as I am eager to visit Paris, it can’t hurt.
3. Continue learning Spencerian script This was a side resolution in 2007, and went nowhere. I tried writing script on my Christmas tags, and decided I needed to get back to it. Practice makes better, and so far, it’s looking better – not good; better. My biggest problem is that my handwriting is naturally linear, and the script is so rounded, so I’m fighting instinct all the way.
4. Learn two new camera settings Pure laziness. I have a beautiful Nikon D40 (that my husband encouraged me to buy last winter) and spend hours on Flickr admiring others photographs, yet I think that I will learn how to use my camera simply by studying photographs. Not so. I’m going to get out the manual, and learn at least two new things. This I’d like to achieve before February 29.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more holiday reporting, plus this week I’ll share the first Hall of Fame entry! See you then. Have a great Monday.

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