Monthly Archives: December 2006

This year was considerably better than 2005. No hurricanes or other major natural disasters, no deaths in the family, no illnesses, financial crises or marital strife.

Over the last year, Clinton and I achieved a tremendous amount as a couple. To name just a few things:

• We chose to move from a drafty Chapel Hill house to a great apartment in Durham with lots of amenities and a convenient location, which has made us very happy;
• we excelled at our jobs;
• we adopted a puppy;
• we made our mental health a priority;
• we decided to stop eating red meat (and for Clinton, any meat at all);
• we located and joined a very fulfilling spiritual community; and
• we succeeded in our first year of marriage!

I think one of Clinton’s biggest personal accomplishments of 2006 was taking the huge and scary step of starting college again after an 11-year sabbatical.

The two actions I took over the year that benefitted me the most personally were:
1) joining the local running group and 2) hiring a housekeeping service. The former resulted in my improved physical and mental health and led me to run my first half marathon. The latter was one product of some very important personal epiphanies I had this year, which resulted in translating many intentions into actions.

My New Year’s resolutions for 2007 are many, but here are some which I think are the most important. I plan to:

• Practice unconditional love. By this I mean assuming people’s good will; being open to their strengths and weaknesses; and accepting imperfect people.
• Do half as much twice as well. Meaning saying no to tasks or invitations that do not suit me, those for which I do not have time, and those which I do not enjoy. It also means dropping commitments whenever I take on a new one.
• Say what I want. Being assertive, meaning positive, specific and direct. This also translates into looking out for my needs and ultimately taking care of myself.

Best wishes to you and your families for 2007!

Returned to Durham on Saturday night after a week visiting family in Washington state. Clinton couldn’t come because he had papers to write and finals to study for. Here are some awesome pictures from time spent hanging out with Grandma and also skiing with Grandpa, if want to check them out.

Didn’t end up with any good pictures of my side trip to Seattle. It was really good to be back there, though. I miss the laidback-coffee-sipping-urban-Northwest lifestyle, not to mention my brother who I only get to see once a year or so. Clinton and I are now fantasizing about moving to Portland so we can ride mass transit and climb mountains and participate in other Northwest-y type activities. Maybe I’ll quit my job and go back to being a barista like in the old days, where my biggest responsibilities were merely to make sure the customers’ milk was steamed to just the right temperature, and to restock the sugar and clean the grounds off the counter at the end of the day. (sigh)

Backseat smooch

Originally uploaded by crystalandclinton.

Thought I’d post this one for old time’s sake, as Clinton and I recently had our 1-year anniversary. I love this picture from our wedding “getaway car” last year – makes me so happy.