01.01.07: Home, At Last

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy 2007!

I won't spend a lot of time stating the obvious... While 2006 went very quickly, it was the year that seemed like it was never going to end. It reaffirmed my lesson of resilience and perseverance and reminded me I need to have faith in the end goal.

I'm going to recap and kick-off the year, section by section, so be warned, it's going to be a long post. Ready?

2007 weekend updates: We flew back to the mouse house neighborhood for the weekend. Our neighbors were having a New Year's Eve party and we wanted to count down with them. We landed just ahead of a quick but intense snowstorm. We ran a couple of errands before the party. We dropped off some business school recommendations, picked up some shot glasses, loaded up on caffeine and got some take-out sushi to kick-off the evening. The party was a ton of fun, as to be expected, and we toasted in the new year with some of our closest friends. We also had a chance to meet the new owner of the mouse house, he came over for the party. Sunday, we went over to Trixie's for brunch, but didn't stay long. By 1:30, we had our plants loaded into the car, and we made the long drive over to the mouse pad. Officially, as of this moment, everything we own is in one location. Wow!

baby... maybe: Apparently, the next lunar year is the year of the Golden Pig. It's an event that occurs every 600 years and is apparently going to result in a mini baby boom in the Far East. So far, no news news on this horizon for Mr. mouse and me. Although I might write more one day about this Golden Pig phenomena, if I end up researching it.

blogs - news - technology trends: We've got both computers and our wireless network up and running. The TV is still in the box, low on the priority list. I love my blog. That about sums up technology trends for us.

clutter diet: You'll see a lot of posts in this section this upcoming year. We have a lot less space for storage in the mouse pad. And, we've gotten a lot of low grade stuff we need to get rid of. Basically, we're combining 3+ households into one. We've got the staging+remnants from the first house, we've got the mouse house, we've got staging from the mouse house, we've got miscellanea Mr. mouse picked up to get by in the old apartment and we've got mouse pad stuff. My head is spinning from the amount of stuff we have. For example, neither of us drink coffee, we have four coffee makers. We don't squeeze fresh juice, we have two juicers. The list is endless. On top of redundancy, remember, we have less storage space. And, I never took a hard stance on tossing things. This year, this will be a top priority for me.

eating out: Although we're going to try and eat in often, I've made the commitment to post restaurant reviews here.

food: This was a spot for me to post food items I was discovering through Weight Watchers. It's been on the back burner for the last couple of months as my Tuesday posts have been regular updates. Not sure if I'm discovering a bunch of new food or if I've settled into a new lifestyle. This might be another section of the blog that evolves.

infrastructure: OK. What gives? I can't access blogger from my computer. It works fine from Mr. mouse's. Very annoyed. Will need to figure this out.

life in general: Top on my Top 3 is transitioning. I've got a long list. In no particular order, there's job, house, wellness, financial planning, commuting, eating with Mr. mouse, lunch routine at work, living with Mr. mouse, gym routine, work schedule, sleep routine, car, driving in the new city, learning roads, finding service providers, pilates, etc. Wish me luck.

money matters: Now that Mr. mouse and I have some discretionary cash flow, we need to think about how best to invest it. Also, now that we've got some time, I want to seriously think about who we should be using as a financial adviser. And, we're putting plans together to refinance the mouse pad. We want to take the check from selling the mouse house and use it to lower our monthly mortgage payments. By my math, that makes my income 100% discretionary, taking a lot of pressure off me if the new job doesn't work out.

mouse pad: Mr. mouse wants to dive into a kitchen remodel. But, I've got some more practical considerations before we begin tearing the place apart. I'd like to finish unpacking and get the place to a livable state. Then, in my opinion, we need to fix the roof leaks, overhaul Mr. mouse's car, and figure out a mysterious bed creak which is most annoying.

Top 3: I could go back and look at what my Top 3 was, if I wanted to be consistent and accurate. But, I won't, not today. Today, I feel like looking forward and not being totally concerned about being connected to the past. My Top 3. Well, wellness is still on my list. Transitioning. That's on my mind. And, the house refinance. I think that's a good list for now.

wellness: To say this is going well is a huge understatement. If you had asked me last Jan 1, I would have never thought I could be where I am now, in one short year. Sometime this next year, most probably, I will hit whatever is to be my "goal weight". Then, I'll focus on other aspects of health and wellness. For now, my focus is on finding a routine and on getting back to the gym. Between my heart, quitting work (thus losing access to the gym) and the holidays, it's been close to two months since I've had a decent work-out. Time to ease back into it.

work: So far, so good. Five days under my belt, so still in honeymoon phase. Will write as relevant things come up. If I say nothing, assume it's all good.

archive - career hunting: I guess it went quickly. Wow.

archive - mouse house: This was a big focus of 2006. And, it feels good to have it behind us. I'll miss the community and the convenience. But, I'm excited to be together with Mr. mouse. I'm glad this chapter is closed.

archive - old work: Four and a half years... Longer than any other company I've been with. Still a great company with a great future. I learned a lot about work and about myself. The work being done on women's leadership is an amazing component of old work. If Mr. mouse had found a job in the area, we'd be happy at the mouse house and at old work. That's okay. Last year was a tough year, and I'm glad to be in a new environment.

archive - transitions: A temporary area to write about the transition from old work to work. Ten days that went very quickly. Without the blog, I'd probably forget them. Now, they're captured for me to revisit.

archive - vacation 2006: Now that we're not spending every weekend working on the mouse house AND we live together so time alone is less of an issue, we'll be doing a lot more traveling. High on my list is going back to visit my grandfather. That'll probably be this spring. And, we'll see a lot of our friends on short weekend trips. And, once we settle in and take a breather, we'll plan a vacation for 2007.

Still with me? Well, I've got to go and scrounge some dinner with Mr. mouse. Hope you're as excited about the new year as I am.


Cheers!
mouse