I've Got Your New Year's Advice Right Here

It's New Year Day and everyone's thinking about ways they can improve. Luckily, the internet has been chock full insight all day long.

1. F. Scott Fitzgerald has some oddly deep advice for his daughter about what to worry about in the coming year.

2. Hunter S. Thompson boils it all down to two things: floating or swimming.

3. Virginia Woolf pipes in -- as the voice of the ladies? -- about the creative benefits of keeping diary.

4. Losing weight seems like a daunting task, but it will seem less so once you read Mama Laughlin.

Two years ago she was fifty pounds overweight. She is now a lean and mean vision and training for a fitness competition. Her story is inspiring on its own, but also fascinating since she's a married, working mother with two little boys. And she gets it done.

Her Instagram is great for daily updates and before and after photos.

5. This morning's fitness instructor reminded the class that abs are made in the kitchen. There's a lot of junk in processed foods, and even in foods that seem healthy, that will sabotage even the best laid fitness plans. Subscribe to the Food Babe's updates and sort it all out.

6. Randy Pausch's Last Lecture never gets old. You can watch the hour long version or the truncated, 11-minute long Oprah show version.

7. Don't even think about getting into a new relationship in 2014 without reading Alain de Botton's book, On Love: A Novel. It puts everything romance related into serious perspective.

8. If you like your New Year to start with heavy guitars, might I suggest "The New Year" by Death Cab For Cutie?

The Resolutions Cometh...

Source: marian16rox.tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

That's Jazz: An Outlook For 2012

About a year or so ago I went to a Columbia Alumni event at Jazz At Lincoln Center. One of the speakers was a jazz studies professor named Christopher Washburne. Jazz studies is a required course for Columbia undergrads, and one exercise he gave his students was to walk home a different way every day, even if it was just one block out of the way.

"That's jazz," Professor Washburne said. "Even changing things up a little gives you a whole new perspective."

Over the past year I always kept that in the back of my head. If I wanted to go to the same dumpling place for lunch, I would turn and head south instead. Sure, I could hop on the treadmill, but what about trying that Boot Camp class?

It's a New Year and everyone's making resolutions to lose weight, get their finances in order, etc. Those are big overhauls that will all likely peter out in two weeks. Instead, I like the That's Jazz approach: small changes, often improvised, that can change your day, or at least your frame of mind. Anyone who understands music knows what a difference a grace note can make. 2012, perhaps, could be the year of the grace note.

And Now For Some Resolutions!

It's a New Year, so it's time to make some resolutions!

1. Be More Social. Having a baby took up a lot of time time and energy in 2009. It's time, though, to get back onto the social scene and behave like an adult. That means cocktail parties, brunches, maybe even a clambake or two.

2. Be More Useful Around the House. I don't cook. I don't clean the cat box. I am, however, completely anal about the laundry -- no one touches it except me. In 2010 I should expand my domestic repertoire, as long as it doesn't involve cooking or handling cat litter.

3. Physical Fitness is a Priority Here's the thing about baby weight: it's hard to lose not because you put so much on, but because it goes places where you didn't have fat before. My arms and upper body look great. The rest could use some work. The only way to get rid of fat is to burn it off, and so a-running I must go. I have no interest in being a fat bottomed girl, even if they do, apparently, make the rockin' world go 'round.

4. Writing! And for goodness sake, could I finally finish that novel I've been noodling around with since 2005?

Happy New Year! It's Time For Some Resolutions!

Now that the forced good time that is New Year's Eve has passed, it's time to look ahead to the New Year.

1. I plan to be more social. Specifically, I would like to brunch more. I feel like I don't brunch properly anymore.

2. I plan to the run the 10-mile Junior League Mother's Day Race.

3. I would like to be a better skiier. And by better, I would like to learn how to. I have not been skiing since high school, but I loved it. Time to hit the slopes again.

4. I have to do something about my apartment. I need a new one!

5. And as usual, more writing and less resting on my laurels.


Finally, not to get all Krazy Kat Lady on you, but I think that if you can, you should take in a homeless animal in 2008. There are a lot of pets that need good homes and even a studio apartment in Manhattan is a better place for a cat or dog than a cage in a noisy shelter. Adult animals are also just as great as kittens and puppies. I just took in Peppe and he's five years old.

Check out PetFinder.com and search by breed, animal, or location.