12|30|2009
rules = resolutions.
{photo courtesy of color_line}
My personal, non-negotiable rules for a smashing 2010:
- rule #1: Completely eradicate high-fructose corn syrup, MSG, & anything partially hydrogenated from your diet.
- rule #2: Figure out what to do with Ask Apricot to expand it more; otherwise… destroy it. [Please take a moment to read my very heartfelt post at Ask Apricot, & tell me how to keep it going.]
- rule #3: Do Wii Fit workouts regularly; otherwise… go on hikes with Jonathan once a week.
- rule #4: See your local blogger friends more often, & not just for special occasions.
- rule #5: Appreciate wine. Learn to accept the fact that wine is NOT your forté, in taste & in preference.
- rule #6: Have more sex.
- rule #7: Seek photography as more than a fuck-around hobby. Perhaps take a class at the college.
- rule #8: Read more books, watch less news.
- rule #9: Master the art (& elegance) of wearing red lipstick on a weekly basis.
- rule #10: Get a real job (find a real purpose); otherwise… stop brooding about being a housewife.
- rule #11: Shave your head, & broadcast it on this blog.***
- rule #12: Get two more tattoos; one in dedication to your mother & the other to your sister.
- rule #13: Shop at thrift stores for clothes more than you buy at major retail stores.
- rule #14: Be more patient & understanding with Jonathan; stop trying to change him, & appreciate him.
- rule #15: Take more vacations. Go on a road-trip.
- rule #16: Spend less time caring [see: obsessing] about what you’re wearing daily.
*** Maybe.
————
Typically, my new year’s festivities are quiet & comfortable (although I truly wish I could go to a real New Year’s Eve party & celebrate rambunctiously). Jonathan & I will no doubt be donning our pajamas for most of the day, watching movies, playing video games, & lousing about the house, while snacking too much. As the hours slowly creep toward midnight, we’ll do our damnedest to try to stay awake. There will be no hats, no horns, no confetti, & no firecrackers, because we procrastinated & they’re all sold out by now. But we’ll shout a celebratory “WOO!” at the top of our lungs outside our windows, & perhaps improvise by banging pots & pans together. & then… we’ll retire to bed to sleep off the excitement.
The next day — January 1st — will be spent stranded at home, because the dreaded, obnoxious Rose Parade will be taking place for six hours a few blocks away from our apartment. The roads will be closed off, traffic will be backed up, & there will be a clusterfuck of people on every street corner… all because they want to sit in the cold to see 30 ft. piñatas drive past them at 2mph. (Some have even started to camp out on the sidewalks to get the perfect seats.) I’d rather die than be caught up in that mess, so I’ll stay indoors, watch a bit of the parade on television (only to see if anything exciting happens, like a float crumbles to the ground mid-flight, or catches fire), & then thank the stars I am away from all the ruckus.
(Am I the only one who thinks parades are über lame? They absolutely bore me to tears. Or maybe I’m just a grouch.)
With every start of the new year, I go into cleaning hyperdrive. I think it’s bad luck to start the new year with the previous years’ dirt. So I’ll be doing laundry, washing the bed linens, washing my hair, dusting, cleaning out my closet, taking a bath, shaving my legs, taking off old nail polish, etc. Not even Sofie is safe from this superstition. She will be getting a bath, as well. This blog might even undergo some changes, however small.
happy new year to you; here’s hoping for a smashing 2010.
on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 3:26 pm:
nice resolutions! i need to come up with some for my own! :)
great blog.
http://tealshocked.wordpress.com
on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 3:59 pm:
My New Year’s will be quiet too. My brother booked me a massage tomorrow morning as a Xmas gift so I’ll be getting all of 2009’s stress knots taken care of. Then I’m going to cook risotto, drink champagne, and ring in 2010 with Elliott. This sounds right to me. And I hear ya about Pasadena. I hate the New Year’s mess.
on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 4:19 pm:
I loathe a parade. if hating parades makes one a grouch, then we’ll be grouches together!
your NYE plans sound quite similar to what mine are going to be (and usually are) except I’ll be banging pots and pans with my two nieces :) and I’ve done the going out thing on NYE in the past and people are ten times MORE OBNOXIOUS on that night than any other. It’s best to be all nice and cozy in your own home.
happy new year’s darling!
on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 4:29 pm:
great rules, though I think it’s good to be flexible because sometimes if you’re too strict (non-negotiable) it can backfire.
I’m considering shaving my head too! but probably in 10 years, actually.
happy early new year :)
on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 4:41 pm:
Haha, I thought I was the only one who had that clean compulsion! I typically spend like two hours just grooming myself on New Year’s Eve. I’m usually the total opposite of OCD too, it’s weird.
The resolutions sound pretty good. Especially number six.
on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 6:22 pm:
I can’t start with a dirty ____ either. I’m glad I’m not the only one like that. ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND if dudeguy and I have a small fete, you two are more than welcome to come by…if for nothing else than to get outside of your house before the worst of the clusterfuck begins.
I need to get my aims and intentions ready for the new year. I think putting them on paper somewhere I can see them should help. Thank you for the unintentional reminder. =D
on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 8:48 pm:
Happy New Years!
I think your resolutions are great & totally practical.
Enjoy!
on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 12:03 am:
Happy New Year!
on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 4:40 am:
Lovely resolutions. And parades are definitely super boring. Happy New Year!
on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 9:53 am:
Here in the deep South there is a superstition (superstition? in the South? HA!) that one must wash all laundry by Dec 31, leaving nothing dirty, or risk bad luck in the New Year.
Pleasant to follow just to start fresh.
Another is that all Christmas Decorations must be taken down and put away before Jan 1 or bad luck is sure to follow. But then, some Christian denominations encourage making the most of the season by leaving the decorations up until Epiphany, which is on/around Jan 8. Need to double check that date. Quandry for a Southern Presbyterian.
Then, of course, there’s the “eat your collards and Hoppin’ John, or else….”
Happy New Year! Happy New Decade!
PS- My vote: don’t shave your head- why mess with fabulousness? And, yes to the thrift stores! A thrift store in an upper middle class/affluent neighborhood is a gold mine for an indidualist like yourself!
on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 11:17 am:
This sounds like a delightful list, and I too find parades dreadfully dull. We’re not doing anything exciting tonight either, but I’m content to play Scrabble with the in-laws–next year will be so different!
on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 12:00 pm:
Awesome..thanks for sharing your life so candidly. Your eve and New Year day’s sound very similar to mine..lot’s of cleaning, preparing and chilling . My husband, daughter and self have been on a cleaning marathon. Happy 2010 – thanks for the awesome blog.
on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 12:17 pm:
I’ll be stealing Rule #9 from you if that’s ok.
on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 12:26 pm:
I love your list of resolutions. Your diatribe about being stranded in Pasadena made me howl; I remember fondly my few years cursing that parade. Now I live in Hollywood and curse all movie premieres. May your 2010 fulfill– no, exceed your expectations. And let this serve as an open invitation for you to come by for some tea. Happy New Year!
on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 1:19 pm:
Happy New Year, Ev’Yan! Your goals are inspiring, just as you are. xo
on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 1:59 pm:
FOLLOW THOSE RULES & you’ll get more than just a smashing New Year! x
on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 2:41 pm:
I have the SAME New Year’s superstitions! I have to have everything clean and well-maintained by midnight. My New Year has to start off that way so that the rest of the year will be that way. I also put change on my windowsills, which is something my Mom used to have us do when we were little. It’s for good fortune or something.
Speaking of wine, will I see you at Lani’s birthday party?
on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 9:16 pm:
I love the layout, its very indieish, reminds me of the urbanoutfitters website :P
on Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 2:33 am:
nice resolutions, hope you keep at them! hehe
on Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 5:23 am:
aw, i hope someday to be a local blog friend :) maybe.. but, in the mean time Happy New Year!!
on Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 5:31 am:
Happy New year!
on Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 2:01 pm:
Hey apricot tea,
i wish you all the best for the new year & i hope you can follow your rules 2010!
My year started so bad it can just get better…
happy new year!
on Saturday, January 2nd, 2010 at 4:42 pm:
i really should look into 6, 13, 13, & 15. love the blog. :)
on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 2:15 am:
I agree with you about rule number 3 and 6! ;)
You’re amazing, Ev’yan!! Happy New Year!
on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 12:22 pm:
[...] Ev’Yan’s non-negotiable rules for a smashing [...]
on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 5:27 pm:
I HATE parades. Everything about them. Yet I ALWAYS find myself watching them. This New Years Day was the worst – everyone was SO energetic and annoying, while I laid half dead on my couch because of too many Kir Royales…. ugh. Good luck with your rules lady!!!
on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 10:59 pm:
I was really happy to find a real job because I’d never had one before and I felt like I didn’t know what life was like just you know living with a boyfriend but technically I did run a business so I was self employed. I wish I’d never gotten a real job now because I’ve grown to hate it. I’m trying to start up another home business.
on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 9:26 am:
Agreed with more vacations, photography, and blogger meet-ups!
Best of luck with Ask Apricot. It is a phenomenal effort and a very unique blog. I would love to see more guest writers–maybe that would take off some of the pressure.
Happy 2010!
on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 10:45 am:
Very inspiring goals. Thanks for sharing! I’m with you on #9.
on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 12:55 pm:
Dudette. These “rules” are so, SO much better than “resolutions”. Hahaha!
on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 8:21 pm:
I pretty much love all of them. Will you share your road to no corn syrup and MSG with us? I’d be curious to hear how that goes and any suggestions and guidelines you have for us who are interested in doing the same thing but find it too overwhelming!
Can’t wait to see what the next two tattoo designs are!
on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 11:42 am:
[...] I’m combining my 2010 rule #13 of shopping mostly at thrift stores, as well as my never ceasing feeling of “OH MY GOD, [...]
on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 5:41 pm:
I soooooo want a Wii in my life. I played the Dance Revolution game at a friend’s house on a regular Wii which is exercise enough for me. I had a great time with it though.