I’m not a big fan of resolutions. When I have made them, I have typically broken them right away. It’s just not the way I enact change in my life.

That said, I do like to reflect on the past and think about areas of my life that I’d like to change or keep moving forward. This year I think I’m in a much better place than I was last year (I thought I was in a good place last year, but it turns out that it wasn’t so positive after all). I’m happy with what I’m doing and the seeds that were planted over the past 12 or so months have had time to take root. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s nice to know that I’ve got something to work with.

This year, I have a few things I’d like to accomplish. I’m going to put them out there to help give myself some accountability. I guess you could count them as resolutions. For me, they’re just a To Do list for the year.

1. Market myself and my skills in a more cohesive and long-term way.
2. Continue to blog (ideally with more regularity).
3. Work on my branding, including collateral materials.
4. Take the next step in terms of building up a regular client base.
5. Create a vision statement.

The last item on my list is really important for me this year. Having a non-profit background, I know that having a mission or vision statement can help keep you on track. When it comes time to pursue various opportunities, you can use your vision statement to decide if it’s a good match. It’s a wonderful way to keep other people from distracting you, but also to prioritize time and resources.

So there you have it. Here’s to a happy, healthy and successful 2010 to all!

So, I’ve been coping with a mysterious case of hives for more than 6 months. They started small and I didn’t realize what they were. Over the past two months, the hives have gotten increasingly worse until the point where I wasn’t sleeping, barely working and stumbling through my job as a parent. Not good. Hives lasting more than 6 months are called chronic hives and, apparently, usually go undiagnosed. What? Yeah. Roughly 85% of people with chronic lives just have to suck it up.

My allergist ran a bunch of tests to rule out other underlying conditions. Contrary to popular belief, hives do not equal allergic reaction. At least, not in the typical understanding of the phrase. Could be hepatitis, liver disease, lupus, thyroid… and the list goes on. Anyway, tests for everything (including a WIDE variety of allergens) were negative. Good news and bad news. I’m glad to not have a nasty diagnosis, but also want to get rid of the hives, you know? So, after patiently trying a variety of pharmaceutical combinations to no avail, I called my allergist and insisted that it was time to pull out the big guns. He agreed and put me on a round of prednisone. In case you are lucky enough to not know, prednisone is a particularly nasty miracle drug that basically tells your immune system to take a little vacation. Great for removing hives, bad for keep you healthy.

The prednisone worked. I was blissfully hive-free for almost a week. As it wore off, I got a few hives, but nothing too bad, and I came down with a rotten cold. Better than hives. Until Friday.

Friday I decided to bake some cookies. And, since Bug is outgrowing his egg allergy, I made them with eggs. Easy recipe, by the way: box of cake mix, 2C of Cool Whip, 1 egg. Bake for 15 minutes at 350. Anyhow, I ate one of the cookies. They were ok. And then, after I put the second batch in the oven, I licked the spoon and – bam! My lip swelled up. And then my eye started to swell. I took some Benadryl as any mom-of-a-food-allergy-kid would do and then the side of my face started to swell. So… what’s that? Egg? Weird preservative? Beta carotene? Who knows.

A few days later, back to hives (they were pretty bad that night, but they’re still lurking around) and it’s all a fun mystery. I’ll be calling the allergist again tomorrow…

I recently canceled my trip to the Type-A Mom conference in Asheville, NC. I was really looking forward to it as a way to re-connect with some of the fabulous ladies I met a BlogHer. I booked it while still on a BlogHer high, but over the next few weeks I was asked to speak at another conference and to do some workshops out of town and my fall schedule started to look a bit overwhelming.

I started trying to justify my trip to Type-A as a networking opportunity, but in the back of my mind a little guilty voice was telling me that I really didn’t NEED to go. So, as Big Guy started to look a bit more anxious about how long I was going to be away this fall, I considered canceling the trip. Canceling my flight (and re-depositing my frequent flier miles) wasn’t cheap and I knew I’d probably have to just eat the registration fee. I finally accepted the trip as a special treat for myself and let it go.

As the conference grew closer, I started to feel more stressed about the money, the time, and the travel. And then, I got a sign. As I was confirming my flight less than a week before my departure, I realized I had booked it into the wrong airport. This is unheard of, by the way. I have traveled literally around the world and have never booked a flight into the wrong airport. Perhaps my subconscious was sending me a message. Or maybe my kids have finally destroyed my mind, but whatever… I scrambled to find a ride from the airport, as my anxiety grew and grew.

Finally, when my entire family came down with colds (and Bug was on a nebulizer for asthma) and I was trying to put together some important articles for my site on About.com, I gave in and canceled the trip. It was hard to do, even though I had no doubt that it was the best choice for me. I was sad to miss my new friends and to miss out on what I knew would be a good experience, but I also knew that something had to give.

Instead of heading to Asheville (or to NY, where there was another conference I wanted to attend), I rented a beautiful house on a lake and took some time for a writer’s retreat. It was less expensive than either trip and meant that I was close enough to home if anyone needed me. I also had time to get some work done and reflect on where I am in my life.

I have been watching my fellow bloggers get caught up in frenzy of opportunities. Trips and speaking engagements and freebies and this and that. It’s seductive to be courted like that by PR companies, and it’s hard to say no and possibly miss a fantastic experience, but I have had a wake-up call this week. I don’t want to become a media whore (I’m sure this is going to draw some interesting search engine traffic to my site!) or a pseudo-blog celebrity. I don’t want all of my opportunities to come from being a mom who blogs a lot. Instead, I want to be recognized for my writing and speaking talent, for my creativity and for my other areas of expertise. The good news is that some of that has already started to happen. Now I just need to nurture it.

I’m not sure what this means for me going forward, but I want to make sure that I remember what my long-term goals are and to make sure that I hold on to those opportunities that move me in the right direction. And I need to let go of those that don’t contribute to my future dreams or that aren’t right for me “right now.”

In the meantime, I did miss all of my fantastic ladies at Type A Mom and I hope to see you all soon!

I am a firm believer that you have to remove all of the negative forces in your life to make room for the really good stuff. It’s not some weird metaphysical thing, either. It’s simple. If you’re wasting energy on negative things, you don’t have it to reach for the positive things. And, if you’re wasting energy on negative people and feelings, you don’t have room for the wonderful people and friendships.

For the past way-too-many months, I have been dealing with negative energy in my life. In the meantime, I was chasing a dream that wasn’t really what I wanted. I got caught up in the hype or what-have-you and was prancing down the wrong path. It wasn’t a bad path, but it also wasn’t the path I wanted to be focused on.

So, in the past few weeks, the negativity is gone and everything has aligned in my life. We got some really amazing news from Big Guy’s family and I’ve had some great opportunities. I’ve also made some lovely new friends. Every once and awhile you need a reminder to get back on track so I’m feeling very thankful about that.