Haircut

I've written before about my ridiculously long hair, and I had planned to cut it once I started my new job but, when I made those plans, I didn't yet know that I wouldn't start work until the end of February. I wanted to usher in my new career with new hair, a la Carrie Bradshaw, but then I just couldn't take it anymore! 

Now we are saying that I am ushering in the new year with new hair. I think that's probably just as good, don't you?

The stylist, who is such a gem, cut off 11 inches! I am donating it to Locks of Love with the hope that it will help someone feel happy & beautiful, which is exactly how my new hair makes me feel!

charity: water

One of the areas I would like to focus on in 2011 is being more generous with what I've been given, whether this means finding space in my budget for charitable donations or even just picking up extra shifts at the cat shelter in my spare time. One organization I've read a lot about lately, charity: water, is certainly deserving of such generosity.

When I found out that $20 is enough to provide clean water to someone in Africa for 20 years, I knew I wanted to be part of something that awesome. It is pretty powerful to think that $20, which doesn't actually buy a whole lot in my life, can be put to such miraculous use in other lives. charity: water is an organization that uses 100% of its public donations to fund water projects, which is really important to me in a charity.

I think it's a pretty worthy cause that has helped me start my year off with the right focus.


Happy Tuesday, friends!

2011 Goals

via thxthxthx

I've heard that some people like to have a word to focus their year upon, and this year I would love for my word to be kindness. Do you remember that old Jewel song Hands? It contains a lyric that always gives me pause: "in the end, only kindness matters." Now, I don't know what Jewel meant by "the end". She could have been thinking as simply as "at the end of the day" or as scary as "judgment day" but, to me, the "in the end" just means when you strip away all the stuff that just doesn't count. Years later, when I think of situations in my life, the clothes I was wearing, the boy I was dating, the number of calories I had eaten, those things most assuredly don't matter. The way I treated the people around me? That matters. Kindness matters.

One of my dad's many catch phrases is "be kind". It would always bother me so much when he said that to my brother & me. To me, "be kind" was a lazy way of lecturing, of parenting. Now that I'm older, I see that my dad didn't need {or want} a lecture to get his point across. He needed merely two words..."be kind." As I undertake this project of kindness, I'm sure I'll hear his voice in my mind often; those two simple words that are the best lesson he ever gave me.

A reason I've chosen kindness as my focus this year is that I've been told a lot that I come across as a cold person, not a mean person, just cold. That might have to do with my mantra of "no unnecessary touch" {what can I say, I'm not a hugger} and my blunt attitude. But, I really need to work on that. A moment of discomfort for me might be worth the comfort I can give someone who needs a hug so much that they seek it from my arms. A few years ago, my mom gave me a hug and, as I squirmed away, she said, "I thought you might need it." Finally fully out of her embrace, I told her matter-of-factly that I didn't, in fact, need it. She grabbed me again and whispered, "Maybe I do." You guys, I need to hug my mom more.

I'm an ambitious lady, so of course my 2011 goals include eating right, exercising, reading more, investing wisely, being a good cat mommy, etc. But the area I could really use work in is being kind.

Loosely what this means is...
*showing more affection
*locking up the negatives in my head, until they just go away
*donating my time & money more liberally
*giving Noah more reasons to love me
*smiling more

I'm pretty psyched about 2011.