A Resolution to Stick With... or Fail. Whatever

The last few days up to the New Year were filled with much moping and bitter disappointment for me, upon discovering that I only completed one of my twelve New Year's resolutions for 2010 (Resolution #3 - Step out of my comfort zone and join a writing critique group - check!).

And though I almost completed a few of my other eleven goals, overall, I failed. Hard. And this year, I had planned on setting goals - write every day, that would have been by biggest resolution - but then I decided I wasn't going to fail again, because I'm tired of hating myself because of it.

Therefore, NO RESOLUTIONS FOR ME!

Which made me feel even more like a failure because I'm admitting to myself that I can't even set the goals I want for fear I'll pants out of them.

-Enter more moping and bitter disappointment-

AND THEN I got an email from the fantabulous Heather Kelly and Jon Arntson, two of my writing buddies, and I discovered that I was making the wrong kind of resolution in the wrong kind of way. Setting ambitious goals, and then having no one to hold me accountable is hard. Setting those goals and then failing makes me feel icky. But setting a goal along with my friends, having comrades to hold me accountable, AND having a plan for success even upon failure is exactly what I need.

Their plan is simple:

1. PICK A WRITING RESOLUTION. ANY WRITING RESOLUTION.

Mine is to write/revise every day.

2. PICK A CHARITY DEAR TO YOUR HEART.

Mine is going to be First Book - an organization to provide books to children, shelters, schools and daycare centers in need (click the link if you haven't heard of this fantastic charity!)

3. EACH AND EVERY TIME THAT YOU DON'T MEET YOUR RESOLUTION, DONATE TO YOUR CHARITY.

I'm starting with a $20 donation, and every day I don't hit my goal, I'm donating $1 to my charity. It only takes $2 to provide a book to a child that doesn't have one - so two days of failing to hit my goal means one book to a child in need.

4. BLOG ABOUT YOUR RESOLUTION AND CHARITY, AND CHECK OUT THE OTHER WRITERS ROCKING RESOLUTION 2011

Heather is keeping a long list of other participants and their awesome goals and charities over at her blog and all other writers are invited to join in any time! Just email Heather at hegkelly at gmail dot com with a link to your post about your Resolution 2011, or with any questions.

And now I have a resolution to stick with. Or fail. Whatever. I'm pretty happy about either!

Thanks, Jon and Heather!

xoxo,

Out With A Snip - In With a Pan of Cinnamon Rolls

Remember this post? And this one? And this one? And this one? You know, the multiple times my kids have CUT THEIR OWN HAIR and I took their kiddie scissors away, and then gave them back and they cut their hair again...

Well, after 1.5 years of being scissor-free, I decided the girls were big enough to have their kiddie scissors back.

And within 48 hours...

Did she seriously think I wouldn't notice??

So 2010 went out with a SNIP! and a whole lot of tears because Annelie's punishment for cutting her hair was a trip to the salon to have the rest of her hair chopped (she's been growing it out to be as long as Rapunzel's)

As soon as she learned that her hair was going, Annelie ran into Gracie's room, crawled into Gracie's bed, covered herself up with blankets and pillows and proceed to bawl her eyes out for forty-five minutes.

Then she climbed out of bed and off to the salon we went.

Annelie spent the entire time cracking up everyone in the salon by calling out things like, "I look FUNKY!" and "My hair is FREAKY!" and the more everyone laughed, the more fun she had. And her stylist, a young guy with wild spiky hair and a knowledge of all things Disney Princess, made her feel like royalty as he snipped and brushed and clipped and laughed at everything Annelie said.

And when Annelie left the salon, she felt like a million bucks.

"Today was the best day, Mom," she ended up saying to me before bedtime. Then she revised her statement - "Well, not the whole day. I still wish my hair was like Rapunzel's"

But she's happy with her hair, and happy is a great way to end 2010 and HOPEFULLY the hair cutting will finally come to an end. As the scissors are once again locked up, I'm optimistic.

And how did 2011 begin in the Hopkins household?

With a pan of hot and gooey cinnamon rolls (thanks, Pilsbury for making baking easy for the baking-challenged. My kids think I'm the best baker ever)

Equipped with crowns and goofy smiles, 2011, we're ready for ya!

Happy New Year, everyone!

xoxo,

Getting Ready to Partaaaaaay!

This is what I woke up to today. Willie, the family German Shepherd, getting ready to ring in the new year with his usual exuberance, donning a crown fit for the King of the New Year, made by Gracie.

Hannah, too, her crown made by Annelie (and I think stuck on with double stick tape - sorry, Hannah.)

Our three cats all have crowns, too, but I interfered with the partaaaay plans and forced the kids to decorate their dolls instead.

Besides, Little Orphan Ollie is already all partaaaaay'd out.

Happy New Year, from me to you, folks! Hope 2011 is the best year EVER!

xoxo,

Friday Flashback: Santa Baby

Santa was looking a little questionable the year I sat on his lap for the traditional Santa/Kid lap sit photo. I'm sure he didn't even smell like Santa, but like beef and cheese instead. And he looks about as thrilled to be there as my brother and I do.

We've only taken Gracie to sit on Santa's lap once, when she was about 16 months old. It didn't go well. As it turned out, my kid was the terrified-of-Santa kid who screamed and screamed and screamed.

But the Santa at the mall in Austin (who looked EXACTLY LIKE SANTA, seriously!) was a pro, and while Gracie was distracted by bell jingling elves, he walked behind her chair and a little bit of Christmas magic was captured in this photo.

Aw, she was so cute when she was a toddler.

We have yet to take Annelie to see Santa, other than the "SANTA! HEY SANTA!" she shouted as his float rolled by us at the Christmas parade. But she did get a personalized video email from him this year (I'm addicted to the Portable North Pole, come Christmastime) and when he told her that she needed to stop her tantrums, she nodded and told him, "okay."

And for the last week and a half, we've been tantrum-free. That's the magic of Santa for ya.

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Have a flashback of your own to share? Head over to Tia's blog and join in the fun!

For all you Christmas celebrators out there - MERRY CHRISTMAS TOMORROW!

For everyone else - HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT SATURDAY TOMORROW!

xoxo,

More Ho Ho Holiday Crafting With Kids

'Tis the season for holiday crafting, and me and the girls, especially three-year-old Annelie, have finally gotten into the holiday crafting spirit.

After tracing Annelie's hands onto some brown floral paper and cutting it out, along with some other shapes, Annelie made a collage portrait of Rudolph (and yes, we did sing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer the entire time we were crafting)

Anything involving glue and/or glitter is just the thing to bring cheer to all... and if you put the glue in a little cup and let your preschool-aged kiddo paint it on, the clean up is pretty quick and easy, as painting glue onto a project is a lot cleaner than squeezing the glue onto a project (you know what kids are like with a squeeze tube of glue, right? Frightening)

For the deer head, I just free hand cut out shapes from card stock and let Annelie do all the assembling. She did awesomely. I was expecting wonkier eyes and ears coming out of the side of the face, but my kiddo wow'd me by making the reindeer look like a reindeer and not a Christmas monster.

Cute. But the best part is, of course, her signature.

That's right. E L I N N E A

Hey, at least she got the letters right!

This collage was made for me by both of my girls.

Scrapbook paper for the trees and snowflake background, white card stock for the snow. And that is me standing next to a snowman, if you can't tell. Gracie did my portrait and Annelie made the snowman and together we assembled and glued.

A cute and easy family collaboration!

And last - a little unplanned graffiti art, compliments of my darling three-year-old.

I'm supposed to be mad, because we have a "ART AND STICKERS ON PAPER ONLY" rule, which I enforce in a militant style (and I can be scary, let me just say)...

But I had to snap a photo when Annelie wasn't looking because her happy-faced mermaid is pretty darned cute, even if it is on our kitchen table and NOT ON PAPER.

Do my kids seriously think I won't notice this stuff?

Anyway, happy holiday crafting to you and you and you!

xoxo,

On Getting Engaged

Six years ago today, I said 'I do' to the love of my life.

No, I didn't have a mutant body with huge boobs and linebacker shoulders when it happened. And no, we didn't get married on the beach. The above picture is one of those souvenir photos which we had taken as a joke when we went to Vegas back in our dating days. The week before we got engaged, to be exact.

Will and I didn't plan on getting engaged, it just sort of happened. (That's how most things are when it comes to the two of us - ever since the night we sat next to each other in the Dublin airport and ended up two smitten kittens.) But we'd been happy together in the UK for four months and miserable during the two months between the end of my study abroad program and when he could visit me in America. We just missed each other too much.

When he came out to visit me, we both thought, Well, this is it. We'll either get married or break up. The long distance and expense of traveling between England and America every time we wanted to see each other was just too expensive and hard. We had the above picture taken while in Vegas, and though I think I look a little bit like a transvestite in the picture, we just thought it fit.

Ten minutes after taking the picture, we went looking for rings...

And found the perfect one.

Well let me just say, that scared the daylights out of both of us. We were young, still in college, living in separate countries, and to be honest, we didn't really know each other very well. Will and I are both impulsive and neither of us takes marriage vows lightly... so we hurriedly left the shop.

The next week, he was due to fly back to England and we didn't have a single doubt in our heads. My roommate and I threw a party on his last night in town, and after a few gulps of liquid courage for both of us, he got on his knee (yes, he really did!) and proposed.

(I'll never forget that this song was playing in the next room. I don't actually remember the words he said as he proposed, but I do remember the background music my roommate had playing, haha)



Of course I said yes. Our friends at the party must have thought we were a little bit crazy when we made the WE'RE GETTING MARRIED! announcement.

Taking Will to the airport the next morning, watching him leave, was one of the hardest things I've ever done - much like saying goodbye after my study abroad program ended. Will and I didn't see each other until a few months later, when he said goodbye to his home and flew back to mine, wedding suit in hand...

and the rest is history!

Happy anniversary to you, Will! I'm glad we're both impulsive and crazy, because these last six years have been amazing, and I look forward to a hundred more!

xoxo,

Friday Flashback: No, Marisa, There Isn't a Santa Claus

Me and Santa. I was in 6th grade.
That isn't a smile of happiness on my face, but of humiliation
because my family made me sit on his lap
at a company party when I fancied myself an almost-grown-up.

How old were you when you were told that...

Santa...

isn't...

real?

Wanna know how old I was?

Seventeen.

Here's how it all went down.

Setting: Grocery store bustling with families doing their last minute holiday shopping. Me, with my mother, pushing shopping cart past displays of holiday gift baskets, all featuring St. Nick's jolly grin and joyful elves. Mom's eyes are moving over displays, then over at me, then back to displays, then back to me.

MOM: Marisa? You know how you get presents from Santa every year....

ME [warily]: Yeah.

MOM: Well you know that... well... that it's really...

ME [eyes darting around busy store, packed with families]: Mom, quiet! There are children here!

MOM [looking slightly anxious]: But you know it's me, right?

ME [wondering if she picked a public place to tell me so I wouldn't cause a scene, like a bad break up, or something]: Of course I know it's you. I'm seventeen!

MOM [relieved]: Oh. You've never said anything.

ME: Of course I've never said anything! Santa always brings the best presents!

MOM: Oh. [looking slightly anxious again]: So then... you know about the Easter Bunny, too?


Yeah, I knew about the Easter Bunny. But did I still get Easter baskets? You betcha. Good ones, too. I'm not sure when I figured it all out - the Santa thing. The Easter Bunny. Tooth Fairy. I know I was still in elementary school. Probably about seven or so.

But OF COURSE I never said anything! Santa gave the BEST presents!

So, what about you? What's your story?

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Have a flashback of your own to share? Head over to Tia's blog and join in the flashback fun!

Happy Friday, folks! Hope you all have been having a mighty fine holiday season so far!

xoxo,