I woke up groggy today, thanks to taking antihistamines far too late at night to be anything but annoying, but sleeping in the car, drinking a lot of coffee, and laughing a lot at work have all helped to melt away the benadryl-haze, and now, in the wee hours of Thursday morning, I find myself pleasantly tired, and ready for some kind of change.

It's as if something clicked in the back of my brain, and has tricked me into thinking it's all downhill from here, and I can stop pedalling and just coast for a while. Not that coasting is something to aspire to – it's NOT – but once in a while, I think it's okay to just breathe and…be…without any specific plan.

Except, not having a plan is sort of my plan, at least for a while.

Also, with Holidailies nearly over, I'm thinking of new blog designs, and maybe a new title. We shall see.

Lauren Weisburger

Everyone Worth Knowing was exactly what I needed to read in during December. I'd been on a book hiatus, not reading much of anything new for a couple of weeks, and then I'd started a new job, and needed light reading to pass the time during lunch (I'm determined NOT to get in the habit of expensive restaurant lunches), so when I saw that Lauren Weisberger (author of The Devil Wears Prada) had a new book out, I HAD to have it.

I was not disappointed. Targetting the PR industry instead of the publishing this industry, this time, Weisberger gives us quirky characters who could be people we actually know, too much coffee, and just enough trendy brand- and name- dropping to make even a soccer mom feel like she's in the know.

I'm sending my copy off to a friend, and I can't wait to hear what he thinks of it.

Permalink at Zenitopia.com

And we will sing, we will sing at the turning of the year
Knowing, knowing … We are a short time here
And so we’ll sing, yes we’ll sing at the turning of the year
At the dancing, spinning, turning of the year
from “At the Turning of the Year,” words and music by Anne Hill

Two days into 2006, and I feel like I'm getting back into tune, despite the disturbing weather we've been having. As I emailed to a friend earlier this evening, I feel like even though I'm still out of balance, I'm approaching center, and things are clicking into place.

While I've never been one to make resolutions – the only one I've ever kept is to do one productive thing every day – I am willing to make adjustments and refinements. My schedule no longer meshes with the hobby-business nature of the local Curves, for example, but there will be a gym in the new office building, and I intend to use it. I'm also slowly convincing myself to become a morning person, both because it will give me time to take the dogs out before getting ready for work (and they're antsy from the unseasonably warm weather, and unsettled from my sudden disappearance as the universal constant of their day), and because the cool of the morning has always been a good writing time for me. So, while I'm not resolving to do anything specific, I am fine-tuning my days, and trying not to give in to sleeping late on weekends, as it just makes Monday mornings that much more dreadful.

I've noticed that being back in corporate America has boosted my energy, a little. I'm tired at the end of the day, but not to the point where I can't function, and I find that I'm singing more, around the house, in the shower, in the car. I'm sure it's driving Fuzzy nuts, though, because, largely thanks to the fact that the Cinemarks are playing the soundtrack to Wicked before all their movies, the song “Popular” is stuck in my head.

Tonight, we came home to a new episode of Surface, and had a pleasant hour on the couch with the dogs while we ate dinner and indulged in bad television. (I'm still mourning the cancellation of Threshold, so I was a little bitter about this episode even existing, but it wasn't a rerun, and therefore worth watching.)

Tomorrow? I'm hoping to get to work a little early to do some follow up calls, and then do four new files instead of merely three. I'm more comfortable with the software now, at least.

As to the rest of the year, well, I have plans that involve new furniture, new floors, a gardener, treos for both of us, and a new laptop each…we'll see how the order gets rearranged. We're going to Mexico in March, and I'm hoping to host Christmas for at least SOME of the family this year. Whatever happens, though, there will be a soundtrack in my head, keeping me in tune.

Last night, despite my tendency to be extremely shy around large groups of strangers, we went to a New Year's Eve party hosted by friends we met through Ms. Eclectic, and there was much laughter, and some really nice merlot, and these mini pecan-pie tart things that were seriously addictive. I'm glad I went, even though I had a bad reaction to the eyebrow waxing earlier yesterday, and my eyelids felt raw and puffy.

Today, we slept through church, and beyond, finally waking around 12:30, at which point Fuzzy went upstairs to kill scary animated creatures, and I began a marathon of laundry, not that we were horribly behind on it, but for some reason towels never seem to get washed til we're completely out of washcloths. Also, I used Dryel for the first time on my three angora sweaters that have been a staple of my winter wardrobe, and it seemed to work just fine. It's not cheap, but it's still half the price of actual trips to the dry-cleaner, and since it seems the black angora sweater is going to be one of those garments that gets stained every time I wear it, this is a good thing.

I've spent the time NOT spent folding laundry indulging in the Monk marathon on USA, because, really, what's a holiday weekend without vast amounts of mindless television. I hadn't seen the Christmas episode, or the Jason Alexander episode before, and I'm usually multitasking while watching this, so even the episodes I HAVE seen are somewhat entertaining. Chalk it up to the talents of Tony Shalhoub I guess.

It's nearing eleven at night, now, and the laundry's almost done, and we've just had a dinner of meatloaf and cranberry sauce (I had defrosted an emergency bag of cranberries for a Christmas party I ended up being too sick too attend, and HAD to use them.), and I'm almost done with my first novel of the year, a V.I. Warshawski novel called Fire Sale. Sara Paretsky's been a favorite author of mine for longer than I've been married, and it's nice to revisit her version of Chicago.

The commercial break has ended, and I'm about to watch Mr. Monk solve the crime now, so I'll end this with a wish that your new year be peaceful and prosperous, and full of pleasant surprises.

Permalink at MissMeliss.com