all that's past is prologue...

Alright, here I go... 1) Learn to knit. 2) Write 100 paper letters to various people in my life, telling them something I really like about them. 3) Pay more attention to the communities in which I live and work — notice details and changes. 4) Actively promote and advance my friends — connect them with people, ideas, and opportunities. 5) Renovate the new house we just bought (this is kind of a no-brainer, since the city has a timeline on it and since my MIL is moving up to move into it in 6 months) and two continued from last year: 6) Exercise more, eat better. 7) Have (at least) one friend/couple/whatever that we don't see enough over for dinner a month. (I may even throw in the challenge to cooke something from my friend Robin's cookbook for that meal!) Two I would like but are harder to measure: 8) Be more creative — make more things. Maybe quantify by "Make one new thing a month." 9) Make our home a more comfortable, relaxing place to be. -- Ok, off in ...

Ok, there was one thing I didn't mention in my post yesterday because I didn't want to jinx anything for the closing today... ...we bought another house! It all started in the fall, when I was trying to demonstrate to someone what good deals there were in foreclosures in Saint Paul right now. I went to Edina Realty's website, and there was a house, tucked just behind the state capitol, and looking in pretty good shape, for $7,500. A few days later, on the way to visit my mom's grave, I convinced Patrick to drive past it. We were pretty impressed by the neighborhood — it's charming, close by, and within walking distance to the new light rail. It's in an area I really had not paid much attention to before, kind of where Frogtown and the North End meet. We called our long-suffering realtor, who took us through it and was also pretty impressed (though he reports his colleagues asked "Where do you find these people?" "Well, the last house I showed them...

A few weeks back my Facebook statuses got everyone all excited because I posted about "things falling into place." No, we didn't buy the house we were lusting after on Summit, basically because we already love the two houses we already have and are having a hard time choosing between them! But a lot of other things have been coming together: - I picked up two more ongoing clients, which I am really excited about. - ALL THREE organizational development proposals to MRAC that I was on board for got funded — add those to my standing clients and to several other projects, and I will be a busy girl! - Meanwhile, Patrick is on course with his next book, and was selected to chair a major conference. - We were able to rent out the Summit house to a very charming gentleman for the Christmas holidays, and thanks to the Blessings, purchased some great cork flooring to redo the sunroom. - Our daycare schedule changed, and while it originally looked like it would be a major issu...

Huh, looking back I realize I really LIKE my resolutions from last year... 1. House: 3 big projects - finish cleaning and organizing basement - well, we're maybe halfway there... - finish bedroom - finished and wonderful! - repaint the exterior and re-do the front porch - done, and we love it! 2. Friends - Have one friend/couple that we don't ordinarily see over for dinner a month - hands down my/our most successful 2011 resolution. Lots of fun and great to reconnect with people (and connect them with others). 3. Health - Start exercising more and eating more healthily — MIL's stroke was a big wake-up call for this. - mixed, I do now attend pilates 1x a week and work out on the exercise bike, but not enough 4. Technology - Some year-end notice for my strange little blog made me realize I need to be more intentional about it. - mixed, there's more to do but I feel pretty good about it. - Tech in general — I'm tired of Patrick, the techie, having control o...

This morning, as we went to school, Beatrix and I were talking about how nice Daddy was. She then ruminated that "I'm not always very nice to daddy," and when I asked her how replied "I kick him, I tell him the sun [her morning nightlight] is on when it's not..." We then discussed all the people she was nice to, Daddy and Mommy and Clara and Grandma Tisch ... "And Grandma Mary Lou. Remember when we thought that Grandma Mary Lou was dead but she's not? That was funny." So then we had the whole dead discussion again — happy Monday before Christmas... When I picked her up tonight, she was having trouble finding her various mittens. We found one, in a bag that suspiciously held one of her teacher gifts she was giving out today — travel mugs filled with chocolate candies. Only this one had a mug — and a lot of candy wrappers. When pressed on this, Beatrix concocted an elaborate story about how Teacher Kelli didn't like chocolate or peanut butter...

We're in the process of switching, from Big Bank (US Bank) to small bank (Anchor). The move was actually not politically instigated — it was because of other issues — but it correlates nicely with the Occupy Your Bank Account movement, and falls within the reasons. I have a small trust, left to me by my mother, which I will not be able to access for some time. The trust was put in the control of US Bank, where it had been invested since my mother inherited it. When it was first transferred, there were a number of issues, many of which I blamed on the law firm that handled my mother's will (and they were certainly far from blameless.) But, over the years, there have been any number of slip-ups by USB. i would not hear from them for ages — and then would call with a question, only to find that my trust manager had apparently disappeared into thin air. They would take me out to lunch, assuring me I was in the top 1% of their clientele, and then not return my calls. Then they would...

A few weeks back, I posted a sad post about things my mom missed out on. Tonight, I am thinking about all the things she DID do, which are many! - She loved traveling and travelled to hundreds of places, all around the world (many of which we went to together). She took me on my first trip, driving to New Orleans, when I was not even 4. We stayed at the Olivier House, ate at fancy restaurants, and walked down Bourbon Street where I looked through the doors at the "fancy ladies." - Among those trips, she went through the Panama Canal, stayed in Morocco when the king was visiting, went to her favorite places like Hawaii and Thailand numerous times, brought babies back from Korea, kissed the Blarney Stone one Christmas, went on her own to Brazil (in the early 1970s!), swam with the dolphins, and climbed through rice paddies in the Philippines. - As well as trips with me, she went on several trips with friends, experiencing exotic places and the fun of just hanging out. - She...