New Year Glitches and Fog
For New Year's Eve, I enjoyed a quiet evening at home.
The Facebook memories feature reminds me that I didn't always enjoy nights at home. Photos of champagne, late-night street cart food in downtown Toronto, shivering in mini-skirts in negative temperatures, and feeling shitty the next day.
No thanks! Give me my tickets to the couch and PJ’s PUH-LEASE.
A year ago today, January 6, 2024, was the last time I had a drink. I had to look up the date in a photo I took. I didn't stop on January 1 for a few reasons — I don't do resolutions (I'm always working toward goals), I had a bottle of wine to use up, and I was starting a 3-month candida cleanse mid-January.
That first sentence… “the last time I had a drink,” feels very uncomfortable to write. I never considered myself a “drunk” or an alcoholic. This is also why the term “sober” doesn’t really come out of my mouth. The opposite of sober is drunk, and I was not that. Alcoholics don’t drink but want to, right? I don’t drink, and I don’t want to. So what does that make me?
If you have better terminology, I’m all ears. I’ll write about this more this year.
This NYE, my youngest was out at a sleepover, and my son, husband, and I tried a new game (What Do You Meme?) It was boring. I think I would have had more fun if I could have written my own meme captions. Apparently, I was the only one who thought so. I actually think this is a great practice to use to warm up your writing muscles, and I will definitely play with this in the writing community during our live co-writing sessions. I discovered this website where you can create your own memes — great writing warmup!
Instead, my husband taught us how to play Rummy 500.
AND I made it to midnight, which hasn't been the case for many years, and after watching an unmemorable movie, we tuned into the Times Square ball drop. I watched performers who I'd never heard of, and when Mickey Guyton singing Imagine by John Lennon wrapped up, with ninety seconds to go, the TV feed froze.
Womp.
Oh well… our neighborhood has a giant 7-acre pool and waterpark situation, where they throw a lot of parties, including a New Year's one. Which we attended the first year we lived here. The fireworks displays are always great. The best part — we can skip the noisy crowds and watch from our backyard.
We ventured out to watch the fireworks, me in my PJs, but it was so foggy that all we could see were flashes of light all around us. The sky looked like it did in the middle of Hurricane Milton. Florida loves its fireworks, so they were being set off all over the neighborhood.
A combination of fog and fireworks smoke clouded the air but didn't dampen the sound. Blue (our cuddly pitbull mix) hid under a blanket all night once we cajoled him out of the bathroom, while Winston (our 180-lb mastiff) didn't have a care in the world. The same dog that's afraid of the dark, his shadow, and golf carts.
The frozen TV and fog made me laugh.
It was a perfect reminder to look inward to celebrate.
And, if we're feeling murky about New Year resolutions — we're best to hold off until Aries season in March, also spring in the northern hemisphere, to set intentions for the year and get out there. If you're feeling them now — by all means, go for it.
Just tune out the noise — both external and internal that you need to hit all your 2025 intentions by the second week in January, okay?
After the first full week back at my desk in January, I busted out my new week-at-a-glance planner, and by Monday afternoon, it was FULL of plans. Half of them were plans that move the needle on my business and writing. The other half was client work.
I was overly ambitious going into the first full week of 2025. Reminding myself that it’s still winter, I stayed focused until about 5 pm most afternoons. I then fully unplugged for family things, really cozy dinners like tomato soup and vegan grilled cheese on sourdough, and reading in bed. It was the perfect balance of pushing but not to the point of exhaustion.
Launching this blog was one of the “move the needle” tasks. I’ve been blogging over at The Intuitive Writing School since 2012. It started as a food blog, then life as a working mom, and now, it’s all about writing over there. I really craved space for more of my voice to come through. Yes, it comes through in everything I write about writing, but writing a memoir taught me how incredibly healing and fulfilling it is to have the space to share personal stories.
I look forward to sharing more of them with you here.
