Happy 2007!

Here in California, it's still officially New Year's Day, so I haven't yet broken my resolution to attempt to blog (however briefly) each weekday. I've heard from many who begin their workdays with a visit to Catholic Mom Moments or take a portion of their lunch break to visit this little blog. For you, and for me (because sharing my thoughts here has become therapeutic), I commit to making a better effort to write here most days of the week.

Has your year gotten off to a great start? Had I blogged at the beginning of the day, you might have gotten a laundry list of the Lisa Hendey Resolution List, version 2007.1. (Release of version 2007.2 anticipated around Ash Wednesday, February 21, 2007).

But since I've been so busy today, you get the pared down version of the New Year's post and a report that my 2007 is off to a wonderful start. Like many of you, I've used the occasion of a new calendar year to clarify priorities, to identify areas of focus in my spiritual and personal life that need refinement, and to reflect back on the many wonderful memories of 2006. When I take a peak back at my blog entries from the past year, I'm amazed at all of the fun and growing our family experienced in the past year. For better or for worse, my January 1, 2006 resolution blog post still rings awfully true to me. My goals and hopes haven't changed much from last year - perhaps it's a blessing that I'm optimistic enough to continue to believe that self improvement is worth the effort, no matter how long it may take!

My cheeks are rosy and burning from the cold night air - I just returned from my first long walk of 2007. It looked like it wasn't going to happen, as it was getting late, dark and cold. But I decided to bundle up and head out, and I'm glad I did. It gave me a few quiet moments to thank God for the gift of this day, my family and my life. Another example of "better late than never" and a reminder to me that a missed morning workout doesn't have to mean a skipped day of exercise (and the same relates to morning prayer, scripture reading, laundry duty or whatever else I haven't managed to accomplish at the appointed time).

If you are still contemplating how to make 2007 your best year yet, I would point you to a wonderful column at Catholic Exchange by my favorite Personal Productivity blogger and coach Mike St. Pierre. His cover article entitled "Catholicity and Balance: How to Stress Less and Achieve More" is a fantastic piece of motivation and inspiration. I make Mike's blog a daily stop in my internet travels.

Speaking of traveling, you may want to take a look at a new little web site I'm putting together for our family. I'm a proud new Mac owner, and I've been playing around with my new .mac account and have built a little family site. If you visit, you can see photos from our Christmas celebration and our camping trip to San Diego. That's right, we became the proud owners of an 11 year old 23 foot travel trailer and spent the past five days "camping" (if you can call it that when the campground has cable tv hookups!). After spending five days living together in 180 square feet, we are blessedly all still speaking! It was a great trip with no RV disasters and lots of adventures and fun.

Who knows what tomorrow holds, but if today's any indication, 2007 is going to be my best year yet! Hope yours is off to a great start too!