Best and Worst 2010 and Tentative Resolutions

A quick review of my personal Bests and Worsts from the past year:

Best

• Two trips to Disneyland - one in April and one in December
• Two cruises to the Western Caribbean during winter months - one in January and one with my family in December
• Five plays - Kiss Me Kate, The Secret Garden, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and the 1940s Radio Hour
• Dream role of a lifetime, in a production where everything miraculously came together - Milly in Seven Brides. I really don't know if any other theatre experience can ever top that one.
• An extraordinary best friend - you know who you are! I don't know what I'd do without you, dearest!
• A new sister-in-law who completely rocks
• Two great new jobs - a temp job and then a permanent one
• Able to touch my toes for the first time in memory... which I cannot do, again, at the moment, but will get back to lickety-split now that I'm recovering from my latest illness!

Worst

• Laid off from a job after over three years
• Sprained wrist persisted for 6 months
• Sick at least 4 months total
• My bathroom scale reports I weigh more than I ever have, including my mission
• The highest number of dates I had with any given guy this year was two.

Except for the first and last items on the "Worst" list, I was grasping at straws a bit there. This really has been a terrific year. I learned a lot about myself while achieving a lot of goals, realizing some of my out-of-reach dreams, forging, growing, and maintaining terrific relationships with family and friends, and I was blessed far more than I could have hoped. I realize that I live a charmed life in many ways. Heavenly Father answered all of my prayers -- usually not in the manner I was expecting and thought I wanted -- but He answered them all and I am very grateful.

Meanwhile, I still have a lot to learn, and more that I want for myself. With that in mind, I have several improvement efforts I'm pondering for 2011:

• Start fleshing out some of my creative writing ideas.
• I kind of want a dog... but due to HOA restrictions I'd have to move first. Maybe I should improv my human-canine relations by playing with dogs more and getting used to them slobbering on me (ew).
• Be less "nice" professionally. I get walked on a lot because I don't want to step on toes. How ironic is that?
• Finish the hookups to and buy a washer and dryer for my condo. Two and-a-half years of dragging my laundry to my mom's house are more than enough.
• A stamp in my passport for Scotland, and possibly some other locations.
• Some hard-core, somehow-still-be-myself flirting with the opposite sex that leads to more than two dates with the same guy...preferably a guy I'm interested in.
• Take a tap class and a Zumba class... and maybe ballet.
• Voice lessons? 
• Attend a session at an LDS Temple at least once a month EVERY month.
• Read more than one non-fiction book this year, not including the Book of Mormon which I'll be reading every day anyway.

So, 2011, good luck living up to 2010. Somehow, I think you can do it! Can't wait to see what this year brings to me, and what I bring to it!

Happy New Year, my darling friends!