So I'm on vacation until January 2, 2007.

And I woke up with bronchitis.

I sat with my feet propped up last night, drinking a French 75 while Mike prepared an amazing birthday dinner for me. The new Burpee catalog had arrived, so I thumbed through and thought about planting next year's garden. Thinking about what we tried to grow this year, what worked and what didn't, and what we'd like to change next time around somehow led into thinking about the other things I want to accomplish in the year ahead.

I think I'm going to pass on doing an uberlist for the coming year. Life threw me a couple of whoppers this year, and while I know that the point of the uberlist is not to cross off each item, I feel a little stress and guilt over the fact that there are so few things I can check off for 2006.

What I want to do instead is to focus on a few important things in a more general sense. I want 2007 to be about wellness and balance.

I want to get our financial house in order, get an accountant and continue to pay off past debts, while building a solid foundation for our future. I don't ever want something like an unexpected illness - for us or the cats - to throw us into such a tailspin it takes months to recover from it.

My health has taken a beating this year. The combination of too much stress and anxiety, and the fact that I have coped with it poorly, has left me feeling bruised and exhausted, mentally and physically. If I am to do the things I would like to do, if I am to be more fully present for my husband, our family and friends, I need to do a better job of nurturing myself. I've made some small changes over the past year which have become habits, and have made a positive difference for me, but I've got more work to do. The trick will be allowing myself to take things a step or a day at a time, and not to get frustrated or overwhelmed by any lack of immediate results or swift progress. I need to be more patient with myself and others.

So that's it. My personal goal for 2007 is to take positive, proactive steps with respect to financial, physical and emotional wellness in the coming year. If I can do those things, I'm fairly certain I will feel that I've had a successful year.

Dear [?]

Thank you very much for the iTunes gift certificate.

We didn't hang lights this year, didn't send cards, and right now I'm feeling more exhausted than jolly.

BUT.

We have a beautiful tree, healthy cats, the most wonderful friends and family anyone could hope for, and each other. And that is really all that matters.

Wishing all of you exactly what you want this holiday season.

Yes, my head is wedged quite firmly up my behind these days.

I apologize to those of you to whom I have not returned phone calls, emails, etc. I am finding it difficult to keep track of everything and am frankly just barely holding my shit together.