New Year’s Resolutions Can Be Kept!

Monday is here again and today I’m singing a happy tune because I learned something this weekend: New Year’s resolutions are actually easy to keep. Let’s not focus on the fact that we’re still in the single digits days of 2012. You see, I didn’t make a list of resolutions I wanted to check off, one-by-one, but rather a list of things I wanted to keep in mind each day. So far, I’m proud of how I’ve started the year.

I tried something challenging in the kitchen. Saturday night I decided I wanted to put myself to the cocktail test and mix up some exciting drinks. You might not consider this to be a kitchen challenge, but my bartending skills are pretty horrendous. I’m a confident cook, but I would make a terrible bartender. I don’t look very good in a tank top and I’m slow as snail. While I can’t do much to fill out a Hooters uniform, I can improve my mixing skills so we picked up some fresh mangos and limes and I attempted mango margaritas. Success. Delicious success. I was feeling good after the first (likely from the tequila) so I went back to the kitchen and substituted the fresh mango for pomegranate juice. And last night I mixed up a pomegranate martini, which I liked even better. I used a measuring cup to get the portions correct (my “eyeballing it” technique never really worked) and I topped off each cocktail with a splash of sparkling water. (You can use champagne, too.) The fizz gave each drink a special little kick.

I did not slip into sweats right away. Look at me. Wearing my new purple shirt, drinking my homemade mango margarita, feeling real good about 2012.

I made a new friend. My friend Wendy has friends all over and whenever one lands in a city near me, she puts us in touch. Well, recently her friend moved from Chicago to New Haven for a job and was looking to meet some new people as well. We met for brunch on Saturday at The Study. We traded stories over delicious cocktails (slightly better than my homemade ones, for sure,) and found we have a lot in common.

I was a better wife. Keith had been really focused on his next real estate project and this weekend I jumped in to help him out. We looked up a few houses for sale in nice neighborhoods and plugged the addresses into our GPS. The weather was beautiful and there was the promise of ice cream after, but I really wanted to show Keith that I support and encourage his interests.

Not bad, huh?


How are you doing with your new year’s goals and resolutions?