Happy New Year!

It's 2012. The year of the move. The year of change. January will be huge for us. I start my graduate program through Southern New Hampshire University, we move, Leonard starts at San Francisco State, and somewhere in there I start at a new restaurant. A month where starting a graduate program is the least stressful part of the equation.

But, if you'll forgive a little melancholy dear readers, today is a bit difficult for me. We were supposed to be on the road. Right now. I was supposed to be well past the grapevine, on the stretch of the 5 that is nothing but fields and cows. Our shiny new city apartment should have been waiting for me. Instead our move date was pushed back two weeks, and while this is definitely a good thing (seriously, what was I thinking wanting to move during the holidays), it still manages to sting a little bit.

For the next two weeks, we're on borrowed time. We're going to pack, and we're going to visit with friends. I'm going to work a little longer, which I know my restaurant is grateful for. But I also have to fight the blues.

As some of you know, I'm fairly good with dates. At one point in my life, I could tell you exactly what I was doing a year ago to the day. My inability to do this now has less to do with my memory, and more to do with the fact that my life is a bit more mundane than it was when I was 20. And happier, Lord am I happier. So every day that I'm down here, a part of me will wonder what alternate reality Maile is doing in San Francisco. It this the day she was going to start working? Did she just discover an amazing used bookstore? Is she just sitting with Mowgli, just looking out the window?

In other news, I'd like to puff up my feathers and share that I did pretty well with my resolutions for 2011. Not as great as I'd like, but I throughout the year I made active strides toward them all. I did have a great workout plan in the earlier half of the year. I did find a job outside of the restaurant industry. I did declutter my life, and I was accepted to a graduate program.

2012? Aside from learning San Francisco, I only have two resolutions. One is the standard, get back to the gym. The other is a little more personal. I'm going to write a book.

I'm getting to December 21st with at least one item crossed off my bucket list.