Curious & Beautiful 2009

By sending out the email for creating the action list for 2009, I got amazing responses from friends, family, and colleagues! Many people want to learn a new language but don't have the time, some want to learn a new instruments but have little motivation, and most people want to be fit and healthy but have not been serious about it. After receiving some of the emails, I realized that we have been making excuses to not do the things that we really want to do and this is a great opportunity to share the actions that we would like to take and form a partnership in taking these actions!

Mariola gave me a great idea to create a theme for my 2009 actions - so I am stealing her idea! The theme that I would like to create is being curious and beautiful for 2009! Being curious means experiencing new things, people, and my own boundaries, and being beautiful means being physically fit, mentally peaceful, and challenged intellectually which means beautiful inside and out! How do I achieve being curious and beautiful? Here are some things that I would like to have, be completed, and experienced by the end of 2009 that are inspiring and fun for me!

1. I would like to complete at least one piano lesson and learn how to read music notes again by the end of 2009. After I shared this with friends, I found three other friends that are interested in the same thing and two of them will sign up to a piano course in Sacramento with me. Andrew is the third person that is interested in learning piano, so we bought each other the exact same electric piano for Christmas!!! Learning piano will be part of my beautification process!

2. I would like to be able to run 10K by next Thanksgiving! I will start training for the 10K in Januray so I can join the Thanksgiving run in Sacramento. I am sure this is the best way to get into shape physically and will be a great challenge for my mind! (I can't even run a mile without stopping right now so this one will be very interesting... )

3. I would like to attend at least 5 concerts, Broadway shows, and/or drama by the end of 2009. I have always enjoyed going to these events, committing to do it 5 times this year will make me very happy! It will be awesome!

4. I would also like to cook at least 3 times out of a week and avoid coffee and carbonated drinks completely! Home cooked meals have always been my favorite but I just need to invest more time in making that happen for our household!!! Besides, most of my friends are great cooks, finding excuses to learn a few impressive dishes will be a lot of fun!

5. I also would like to start golfing again. Jim bought me some really nice clubs after the old ones were stolen. I would like to play at least 10 games in 2009! This will be an easy one to find partners!

6. There are about 10-15 books in our house that I started reading but never finished in the last two years and I would like to complete reading all of them. I would also like to learn and familiarize myself with the Great Depression by utilizing library resources! I will post reviews on the books when I complete each one.

7. This last one will be the hardest one to keep. I would like to quit being late for appointments, meetings, classes, and parties so that I am not wasting other people's time.

By sharing these actions that I am taking, it places these thoughts and wishes into reality for me. I am now accountable for my words! I am excited that I have found friends as partners for my 2009 actions through sharing. Hopefully I can help to pair up other people's interests and goals for the upcoming year! It's going to be a busy year but I am looking forward to my curious and beautiful 2009!

Creating 2009

Many of you have received the letter that I sent out two weeks ago and I have gotten great responses. Here's the letter if you haven't had the opportunity to look at it.

Dear friends and family,
I am writing to invite you to play a game with me for 2009! I had a roller coaster ride in 2008 and I am looking forward to a great and awakened 2009! You know how the New Year's resolution hardly ever come true for most of us? So this year, instead of making a wish list that doesn't come true, I want to put a list together that's called 2009 action list!

I am inviting you to write down something that you would like to do or have happen in 2009. It cannot be something that you know that you can accomplish but it has to be a list of things that you will enjoy doing that will also take your commitment. By commitment I mean it is not going to be "reasoned" out of existence due to your circumstances. For example, if you are committed to quit smoking, you are quitting and there's no ifs, ands, and buts! that kind of commitment! it can't be a maybe tomorrow, maybe next week thing. So, this is going to be a list of actions that you are committed in doing in 2009. You list it out and we support each other in making the list happen! You'll need to be specific and have a timeline attached to each action,taking a foreign language - you'll have to say which language and when you are going to register for the course.be healthy - you will have to specify how and what actions you are going to take. Cook for yourself at least three times a week instead of once a week. Exercise two times a week instead of two times a month, etc.be there for your spouse/significant other/family - You'll put down how many additional days or hours you will commit to being with them instead of just declaring the action.

I will post these commitments on my blog without the names and we can support each other in making these happen for 2009! Please email me the list of actions by the end of next week, put some thoughts into it and I look forward to see your list of actions! I will share mine on the blog. I love you and have a very Merry X'mas and very Happy New Year!

Anny

Reflecting on 2008

I started 2008 with a list of New Year's resolutions on our refrigerator, not knowing how they are going to get accomplished and if these 'empty wishes' will ever come true by the end of the year. Little did I know, 2008 was going to be the ride of my life!

Early into the first month of January, I got the most annoying but life changing email of my life and the email was from Gina to 'encourage' me to register for the Landmark Forum. You have to know some background to understand why the email was annoying... My sister, Angela, has invited me to take this course called the Landmark Forum for at least five years! I resisted, turned her down, argued with her, made fun of her until she talked about the course less at a tolerable level. The first week of January 2008, there it was, Gina's email to 'bug' me to do the Landmark Forum and I just couldn't believe it!!! The strange thing was that Gina's email was genuine, loving, interesting, and kind of amazing but I registered for the course right away not because the nature of the email but the determination: "I will have to get these two women off my back to have a peaceful 2008!" This is how I started the most amazing journey of my life in 2008. (Note: I registered for the Landmark Forum because I don't want to hear another word about landmark! so friends and family, to shut me up about landmark, you'll just have to sign up for the course!)

Needless to say, I saw a lot of things for myself out of the Landmark Forum, and I also see that my motto "I don't need help, I can do it myself" was the very reason that I did not register for the course and my "independence" showed up in every aspect of my life. Through the landmark forum, I saw that I was weary of failure so I stopped taking actions, I was concerned about breaking my heart so I stopped loving, and I was not living the life that inspired me because I didn't think I could. After seeing those constraints that I have placed on myself, I realized why my life was going the way it was...

In 2008, the biggest challenged that I faced was taking myself on. I observed my thoughts, practiced not being so reasonable and cynical, battled my emotions, and ignored a lot of my own running commentaries that stopped me from taking actions in my life. I had the best and worst kind of experiences of my life this year but I experienced them and I was fully aware that they were just experiences. I tasted successes and failures and was fully present to that these were just results of the 'games' that I chose to play and actions that I took. I saw my own strengths and shortcomings and I embraced and loved them knowing that they have defined who I was and I get to choose who I want to become. My 2008 was the most awakened and exciting year out of the past 32 that I have lived because I chose to live life and gave myself permission to have my heart broken everyday with everyone. Hiding behind the walls that I built for myself just isn't good enough for me anymore!

This past year was an exciting roller coaster ride of living life fully! I had many triumphs over my past and circumstances and I feel alive and energized! 2009 will be another wild ride, so get on it with me and let's scream and enjoy this trip. After all, there is only one life and only one 2009!

Thank you for all of your encouragement and support this year! I wish all of you a merry Christmas and happy New Year!

A Thankful Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving is one of the most amazing one that I have ever had. Jim and I ran for the Sacramento "run to feed the hungry" race on Thanksgiving morning, entertained our friends over the weekend, and spend some quality time with one another to celebrate our 4th anniversary.

It has been five years since I last saw Andrew. He drove up from LA on Thanksgiving day to visit and spend the long weekend with us. After the morning race, Jim and I rushed home to prepare the Thanksgiving meal for our only guest. The dinner included a citrus rosemary salted turkey, sauteed beans seasoned with garlic, good old mashed potatoes and the August West pinot noir and D cubed zinfandel. The food was very traditional but the conversations were exceptional. The boys talked about the financial market, recent regulations, European and Asian history, real estate, politics, race and gender, and the most important topic - the food and the wines. I have always enjoyed talking to Andrew and Jim, but listening to their conversations was even better! At the end of the evening, we finished two bottles of wine, a Cuban cigar, and almost completely devoured the 14 pound turkey!

We woke up in the middle of the night to take Andrew to the Folsom outlet mall for his first mid-night black Friday shopping excursion and slept in until the afternoon on Friday. Before we hit the pillows again, we had more conversations, more drinks, and tons more food. Andrew woke up the next morning completely stuffed for the entire weekend.

Saturday was our 4th anniversary. I picked John up from the train station as he arrived from San Francisco. John and I got tons of groceries as John prepared to cook for our 4th anniversary dinner with friends! The cooking process was long but the food turned out to be extraordinary!!! We had two appetizers, a salad, an entree, a bottle of Richard Perry syrah, and topped off by the best desert ever! We talked, shared, listened, ate, drank, laughed, and ate some more... The evening ended with more talking, sharing, laughters and many cups of organic coffee!

Andrew and John left on Sunday morning to return to their cities. Jim and I said our goodbyes and spent the rest of the day by ourselves. Jim and I both felt that this was one of the most intimate Thanksgivings that we have had in Sacramento because of the generosity, openness, and love that our friends shared with us. This Thanksgiving was definitely one of the most memorable. For this, we are truly grateful!