Many years ago, during a difficult period in life, my mother gave to me a book called Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude.  In this book, I was provided an inspirational quote and free space to record what I was grateful for that day.  At that time I scoffed at the book’s significance and the power of gratitude so I put it aside and never did anything with it.  Lo an behold — as I was unpacking and cataloging my books this past week I found that journal and was struck by how grateful I truly am for what I have.  Though the book still isn’t likely one that I’ll record my thoughts in daily I thought I would share with you some of what gave me an abundance of gratitude for the year 2009:

1. Family – Sure we bicker and disagree and meddle in each other’s lives but I’m so very grateful to have the love and support of my parents, brother, sister and niece.  They’ve picked me up after some extremely difficult times in my life and though make recovery difficult at times they are truly the best and most important thing in my life.
2. Health – I almost loath saying it for fear of jinxing 2010 but I had a fairly decent year health wise in 2009.  I’m super grateful that I did not have any recurrences of major illnesses I had in 2008 (I’m talking to you pneumonia!). As part of that I’m beyond grateful to have the most fabulous team of medical professionals. It’s important to be able to trust in your care and I quite literally trust my team (and yes, it is a team of at least 10) with my life.
3. Wealth – Man am I grateful to have a job! I’ve been very fortunate this year that in a fairly significant transition for my company (moving from one physical location that was 2 miles from my home to a new corporate headquarters an hour away) that my employer thought enough of my contributions to provide me with a very generous telecommuting situation. Had that not happened I would not have been able to remain and I would have had to find something new in a fairly unstable economy.
4. Friends – I have the best friends in the world and the full extent of my gratitude for them can’t be expressed properly. They’ve listened to me cry, complain and rail against many people, places and things. Let me tell you, that is no easy task!
5. Entertainment – Go books, television, and movies! I’m so grateful to you for providing me an escape from the constant wheel turning of my mind.  I’m an obsessor, yes I am, so when something happens I go to you first to take my mind off of it all. Thank you!
6. Blogging – Though it’s only been just about 7 months since I started my blog I can’t express enough how grateful I am for having the experiences it brings into my life. I’ve met wonderful friends, enjoyed the generosity of strangers, and networked with fabulous industry professionals who have all enriched my life in a way that I can’t quite express to the fullest.  Thank you for embracing me and including me in wonderful events and initiatives I’m quite humbled by (and yes I’ll say it again, grateful to) you all.

I’m sure I’ve missed something or someone but this post is getting far too long as it is so I’ll end it here.  I’ve never been an extremely positive person by nature and I’m way too superstitious to make new year resolutions, but, as part of my personal goals for 2010 I hope to be a bit more half-full than half-empty. As part of that, even though I likely still won’t use that journal haha, I hope to better show my gratitude to the world around me.

Thank you my friends! May you have a healthy, wealthy, and successful 2010 to be grateful for!

While many people are out freezing their patoots off getting the once in a lifetime experience watching the ball drop in Times Square, getting their drink on in some random bar, or being otherwise jovially festive I’ll be ringing in 2010 in a much more reserved way.  Thanks to two different fantabulous initiatives being hosted by Kristen of Bookworming in the 21st Century I’ll be curling up with a good book when the clock strikes twelve and a new decade is ushered in.

I’ll start by Reading Into the New Year — taking the opportunity to do what we book bloggers love to do most.  Stick our nose in a book.  Only this time I’ll be doing so as the year moves from 2009 to 2010.  Doesn’t matter if I start the minute before the chimes start ringing as long as I’m reading on that 12 marks the spot.

Then for the remainder of the weekend I’ll be participating in the New Year Read-a-Thon — starting at 5pm on December 31st and running through 10 pm on January 3rd I’m encouraged to read as much or as little as I want.  It’s a set your own goal type of situation where you don’t necessarily have to read a certain number of hours in a row or even in a day.  Just do what you want when you want.  So my goal will be to read at least 24 hours out of the three days with the hope that I’ll be able to do even more if possible.

I’ll update this post intermittently through the weekend to keep you all appraised of my status.  Because it will have already run through my feed any changes I make won’t be reflected in any reader so if you’re interested feel free to mark this post and check in.

This looks like an absolutely great and fitting way to ring in the new year so if you’re interested I encourage any and all to join me!

Saturday, January 2
Read Justine Larbalestier’s Liar
Started Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak

Man Twitter is a dangerous place isn’t it?

Today I was chatting with Amanda of The Zen Leaf and Rebecca of Lost in Books about a fitness challenge that Amanda had been doing.  What is this challenge you ask?  Well for a change it’s not about reading, this challenge is about fitness.  Now, I’d actually already heard of this challenge through both Beth Beth Fish Reads and Dawn of She is Too Fond of Books as they are either participating or plan to.  So without further ado, this post stands as my official kick off/sign up post for the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge.

As I’ve mentioned before I have lupus and my rheumatologist has really been pushing me to be more active but because of my special circumstances I have to do so in a low impact way. What makes me so excited about this challenge (outside of the support from fellow book bloggers participating) is that yoga will be able to be counted towards the overall tally.   15 minutes of activity a day counts as a mile so if I get into the regimen my doctor has outlined then I should hopefully be able to get fit and strengthen my immune system.

The challenge runs from January 1st to March 31st and asks that participants “travel” 100 miles total over that time.  I’ll be tracking my progress here on the blog so you can see how I’m doing (or not, haha).  Oh and if you’re interested in joining up check out the link above. It looks like a great way to make a healthy choice.

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Update #1 – January 10, 2010

So, I’m off to a bad start.  Week one brought with it diagnosis of a hideous sinus infection, and unexpected death in the family, and  an inability to overcome my tremendous ability to procrastinate.  I did, however, make the effort to go to Best Buy and purchase a Wii and WiiFit Plus. Sadly, they were out of stock of the latter so I’ll have to go the online route which means it’ll be a few days until I actually get it. So all this to say that I did ZERO miles this week. But hope to make up for it by doubling up on miles in the weeks to come.  Today I’m going to pull out the sheets my physical therapist gave me that demonstrate my stretching exercises.  That should give me a good 15 minutes of exercise a day until I get the WiiFit.

I’m super excited to announce my participation in a newly formed online book club that’s going to be starting in January.   Born of Twitter conversation, as most things these days are, The Classic Reads Book Club is the wonderful creation of Jen at Devourer of Books, BethF of Beth Fish Reads, Heather of The Capricious Reader, Trish of Hey Lady Whatcha’ Readin?, myself and a host of other wonderful bloggers.   We’ll be reading and discussing a classic book each quarter of the year and have the first two of 2010 scheduled — 1st quarter East of Eden by John Steinbeck then 2nd quarter A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

Discussion questions will be based on specific sections of the book and will likely be posted 1-2 weeks prior to the beginning of conversations.  The club intends to space the read-a-long and discussion over the full quarter to accommodate all participants busy schedules.   Further information about where discussions will take place will be available on the Classic Reads Book Club blog linked above.  Preliminary start dates for the first quarter discussion of East of Eden is as follows:

• January 25th – discussion of Section 1 (Ch 1-11)
• February 8th –  discussion of Section 2 (Ch 12-22)
• February 22nd – discussion of Section 3 (Ch 23-33)
• March 8th – discussion of Section 4 (Ch 34–end)

Ongoing discussion (and news about the club) can also be found on Twitter using the hashtag #classicreads so please join us there as we continue to be chatty and bookish.

Sounds like loads of fun right?  Helps with reading diversity right?  Gives us good stuff towards all our challenges right?  Well then what are you waiting for?  Join the Classic Reads Book Club!

**peeks in sheepishly**

I’m a horrible gift receiver.  My Book Blogger Holiday Swap present arrived just prior to my move and I’ve been unable to announce it’s awesomeness until now.  I could make all sorts of excuses like, the books were packed away (which they were until I got to that box today) or that I got busy with said move and then the holidays (which is also quite true) but that just diminishes the value of the wonderful gift I was lucky to get and the fabulous blogger that sent it.

So I beg Martha from Reviews by Martha’s Bookshelf to forgive me for my tardiness.  I am super grateful for the fantabulous gift she sent me!

Thank you Martha! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I hope that you had a wonderful holiday and please know that I am excited and grateful for the gift you sent.