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Monday, December 30, 2013

My Fav Year 2013

I have mentioned that I lived in England for a few years.  This Christmas, in a fit of nostalgia, I sat down and watched the Queen's annual Christmas message, in which she meditated on the past year and set the tone for the new year.  New Year's is always a time for reflection and resolution.  If the Queen can do it, so can the Mermaid.

I try to keep my "real" life and this blog separated, but since it's the end of the year, I hope you'll indulge my Mermaid musings.

At the beginning of this year, I sat down to devise a resolution for 2013 -- something I could stick to.  At that point, I had had major surgery in 2011 and 2012, I was feeling out of shape, and I felt like my knee would never stop aching.  Honestly, I just wanted to get through the year without having knee surgery.  Rather than resolving to exercise or diet, I came up with the "Moment of Fav" (which I've shared with my Facebook friends throughout this year).  Without losing my trademark cynicism, I resolved to find and savor a moment of "Favvulosity" every day in 2013.  No, I haven't forgotten how to spell -- Fav is like "Fab," only better.  Every day, no matter how tired or grumpy or cranky I might be, I found one thing that made me smile (basically, I took time to reflect on how great my life really is).  For the first time, I stuck to my resolution.

I looked back through all my Moments of Fav from 2013 and there are definitely some themes:

- Starting this blog and watching it grow (over 3300 views as of year end)
- Savoring time with family and friends
- Making time to take care of myself
- Cooking for my friends and family
- Celebrating my friends' accomplishments (and my own)
- Enjoying a play, movie, book or TV show
- Food p*rn
- The relief of the completion of repairs to my parents' Sandy-damaged house
- Enjoying my cats 


- Reconnecting with old friends (and surviving my milestone college reunion)
- Celebrating those who triumph over adversity 
- The random things you see on the NY subway


- Enjoying a good cuppa 
- Travelling
- Making jam
- Taking the time to enjoy a beautiful sunny day (or a snowstorm)

The big moment of Fav as the year ends is that my friend Miss C is on the mend after taking a nasty spill over her bike handlebars last Friday -- very grateful that she was wearing a bike helmet (and very thankful for the daily updates from her hubby GKH).

I think there is something to this positivity -- by being more positive, I actually started taking better care of myself, eating better, exercising, etc.  Without sounding like a Weight Watchers ad, I can see the physical results so far:

Last year 


Last Month
Same favvulous me, fewer chins, and my knees and back are less achy.  I'm happier and more "present", and I'm enjoying the journey.

For 2014, I am still working on my resolutions -- I am going to discontinue the daily Moment of Fav, but I will note occasional Moments of Fav when the mood strikes me.  I will make sure life continues to be favvulous (and I have a few new water adventures in the works for 2014).

Happy New Year!

-MM


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