Happy Friday!

Things that made me happy recently:

leaving work early to get a mani/pedi (complete with complementary boxed white wine)

seeing a guy in a suit running through a parking lot and jumping up to ride the shopping cart with his kids laughing hysterically

winning my fantasy football league! $500 and bragging rights!

an upcoming trip to see the Rockstar and the mutts

seeing the countries of the world unite to provide assistance to the people of Haiti

(maybe it's not fast enough, and maybe it's not perfect, but at the most basic level, people want the same things. they want to be happy, to be good people and to help others.)

Out with the aughts, in with the tens

Normally, the new year jump-starts me. I make lists, I get invigorated. This year? Not so much. I am not sure what the problem is, but I just can't get motivated. (I can't even get my new years post out before mid month - yeesh!)

I have always been interested in many many things. As a kid my answer to "What do you want to be when you grow up?" changed at least every month. I come from a family of nerds and voracious readers, so I was never at a loss for subject material or projects. One year in elementary school I got the award for reading the most books over the summer.

As I got older, not much has changed. I still jump in and out of things pretty often. I am a certainly a dilettante. I have piles of half finished projects, unread or half-read books on a hundred different subjects. Sometimes it wears me out just thinking of all the things that I want to learn, try or experience before I leave this planet.

Therein lies part of the problem. I spend a lot more time thinking than I do doing.

Last March I made a list. I have a bad habit of losing interest in things quickly. My follow-through is not nearly as great as my start. I worked hard to come up a well rounded list that contained items that would be beneficial and fun and keep me interested and engaged. So in lieu of resolutions, I will continue to work on my list. I have been making progress, but it's hard to believe that 9 months have gone by.

So for 2010, my words are action and focus. I want to spend a lot more time out conquering and a lot less time holding down the fort. I need to focus on being present in each moment and making the most of every day. On making day-to-day life easier by reducing clutter and establishing some routines. I am not supposed to spend all my time and energy tending my stuff, so I won't. 2010 . . . here I come!

By the way . . . what do we call this decade? The tens? The teens? The tweens?

And on the eighth day . . .

Growing up in Texas, you really can't help being a football fan. It is unavoidable. It doesn't matter who - high school, college, pro. Hell, they even managed to sell out arena football games in this state!

The Dallas Cowboys were the team of choice in our household. I can remember learning the details of football from my Dad during the glory years of the late seventies and early eighties. Roger Staubach, Drew Pearson, Ed Too-Tall Jones (recently spotted on a Geico commercial), way too many of my childhood photos wearing my favorite t-shirt: And on the eighth day, God created the Dallas Cowboys. (Hello parents? Didn't you hear of laundry day? Or maybe a haircut that didn't involve a bowl?)

Growing up, I was told I could be anything I wanted to be when I grew up. I believed it. So I wanted to be a pilot, a doctor and a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. A woman can have it all, right?

The cowboys enjoyed another high period during my college years. Good times all around. Then, it all went wrong. For a long time. We went through coaches faster than most people go through socks, had quarterbacks old enough to be my grandpa, our owner had more plastic surgery than Joan Rivers, and we had this:

But finally, after 13 LONG years, the ship has been righted, at least for today. We finally have a playoff win! Now, this may mess up my vacation plans, but . . . . Go Cowboys!