Bring on 2010!

I must admit that I was not at all sad to see the calendar turn to 2010.

On New Year's Eve, Chris and I went downtown to partake in First Night Boston - the biggest First Night celebration in the country - featuring many music & arts events that take place throughout the city. We started off the evening with a quick dinner at the Middle East, a restaurant in Cambridge near Chris's office where we hoped to find falafel and chicken schwarma that rivals Mim's in St. Paul. We struck out - it wasn't even close. Still haven't found any middle eastern food that is nearly as good as Mim's. We then headed to the Boston Public Library where we listened to a set by a jazz group called the Either/Orchestra, then off to the Berklee Performing Arts Center to listen to kick-ass clarinetist Anat Cohen - she and her band were great! After the performance, we picked up our car in Cambridge and made it back to our house by about 11:30pm, in plenty of time to crack open a bottle of lovely champagne (especially for a $13 bottle) and toast the New Year.

New Year's Eve was a really fun end to 2009, a year that I have very mixed feelings about. I don't even like to think about the first several months of the year, but I will for just a moment...I left my job in mid-January since Chris's anticipated start date at his new position in Cambridge was late January, but unfortunate circumstances led to 3 long months of unemployment in Minnesota for me as Chris worked to finish up his PhD and we awaited our move to Boston. My sister is reflecting about 2009 month by month in her own blog and referred to me in her January entry as "unemployed by choice" in January. It certainly didn't feel that way. On the up side, I got to spend time with my sister and my nephews, all of whom I love dearly, but I was also profoundly uncomfortable with my situation and felt like a complete idiot for leaving my job before we had a moving date 100% confirmed. So for three months I felt like a loser, trying to laugh it off and save face in front of everyone who wondered why we were still in Minnesota. Ugh. It sucked. If it wasn't for my supportive family, loving husband, and the discovery of The Tudors, I may have wandered off into the frigid Minnesota winter and never returned.

Our move to Boston in mid-April was a refreshing new start after the challenging winter. I was still unemployed and struggling to find a 'real' job, but I had a whole new city to explore, Chris liked his new job, and we could actually spend time together since Chris wasn't constantly working on his thesis. As much as it was an improvement from my last few months in Minnesota, it was challenging to be unemployed, and I really missed my family and friends back in Minnesota. I kept busy with applying for numerous jobs, volunteering a bit for the Audubon Society, playing tennis with Chris, reading, working out, baking/cooking, and random house projects like staining our bedside tables. I was disappointed that my feeble attempt at container gardening turned out poorly due to a relentlessly rainy June, but the summer brightened up enough in July that I got as tan as I've been in years - one of the perks of unemployment, I suppose.

It really wasn't until I got a long-awaited job offer at the start of August that 2009 really started clicking for me. My job is interesting, and I've learned a ton in the past 4+ months. It's been stressful at times, but I'm learning how to calm myself and take things in stride. "Stay calm and carry on" is my new mantra. Chris and I moved to a wonderful apartment in October near to my office, and I love it. I bought a bike in November and can bike to work when the weather isn't as wintry as it is right now. I have a little reading room on the 3rd floor where I can relax with a good book whenever I want to. We have a sizable kitchen with a new stove (and a dishwasher for the first time in 4 years!). And we also have plenty of room should we expand from 2 to 3 (or 4 with my genes). Life feels pretty good.

As the calendar turns to 2010, I have a few goals/resolutions, and I feel that posting them to my blog will help motivate me to actually stick to them! One of my resolutions is too personal to post (as if I'm not already divulging too much), but here goes the rest:

1) Be a better listener. Sometimes I get too caught up in my own world that I fail to really listen closely to others. I need to focus on the person I'm communicating with and not get distracted as easily.

2) Learn something new. I'm going to sign up for a 13-week community ed. class on energy auditing. From Feb-May on Tuesday nights from 6-9pm I'll be in the classroom. It's a bit pricey, but I want to learn more about energy systems since this will help me at work and may help me in the future if I pursue part-time work in the energy industry after we have children. I've stretched my brain a lot in the past months while learning the ins and outs of my job, but I think this will be an extra, fun challenge.

3) Be physically & mentally fit. I have slacked off on my physical fitness over the past few months. My new bike helped the cause for a few weeks, but I'm finding my toes and fingers just can't handle biking in the cold weather. I haven't actually gained weight (surprising, given the number of cookies I've eaten in the past month), but I just don't feel as good when I'm not working out regularly. I also find myself getting unreasonably anxious from time to time. So to help me both physically and mentally, I'm going to take a yoga class that starts this Wednesday continues through the winter. By the time it wraps up in the spring, I can be back on my bike again.

4) Cook, bake and eat well. I think my diet is quite good, at least most of the time, but I want to be sure to continue focusing on eating well. Two changes I want to make are to: 1) cut back on my meat consumption and 2) eat more vegetables. It's convenient that these pretty much go hand in hand. With all that I now know about factory farming in America, the meat industry is particularly messed up, and I can't in good conscious get really excited about great meat deals in the supermarket anymore. So I'm going to work to purchase more meat that's produced in a responsible way - which may include doing a meat CSA - and since most of the meat we buy now is not produced responsibly, I can at least cut back on my consumption. And this will leave more room for vegetables! I eat lots of fruit, but I always find it a bit harder to incorporate a lot of vegetables into my diet. I think the key will be finding more interesting ways to prepare them. This goal/resolution includes having fun in the kitchen with Chris and on my own - continuing to experiment with new recipes, ingredients, and cooking and baking techniques. Oh, and this also includes creating a fairly substantial vegetable garden this summer.

And with that, here ends my long, long first post of 2010. Chris and I will be off to a nice dinner out tonight as our Christmas present to each other and are enjoying a very nice, relaxing (and snowy) weekend. Happy New Year to all!