It's that time of year again. Time to make resolutions.
Here are some of mine. I personally think it's important to pick resolutions you can actually accomplish so you don't spend the rest of the year hating yourself because you didn't learn Italian or climb Mt. Fuji.

I resolve to:
1. Pack lighter on my next trip. I don't know what possesses me to think I need to bring every pair of shoes I own and my entire personal library, but it tends to weigh things down. It might not be too bad to wheel it to the curb at the airport, but it takes me 15 minutes just to load it in the car. And it usually involves words my neighbors don't need to hear.

2. Go to bed earlier more often. This is hard in the winter because as we all know by now I stay up to watch four different news channels to catch the weather. I wish I could be like Martha Stewart and survive on four hours of sleep then pop out of bed with this burning desire to make a torte, but I'm not.

3. Take my multi-vitamins. Why is it so hard? And why must they make them the size of a small tomato? Remember baby aspirin? Now those were fun to take. Not only were they all tiny and dissolvey, but they tasted like oranges! Yum!

4. Check my email less. I think I have a disease. When I'm writing, I tell myself I check it every hour. It ends up being every 15 minutes. It just gets in the way and distracts me from what I really need to be --

5. Read People magazine more. This will be easy because I got a super cool subscription for Christmas! Now I will be so on top of the important things in this world like what's new with the Jolie-Pitts, what Suri Cruise is wearing, and which football star Jessica Simpson is taking home to meet grandma. Let's face it, the Middle East will always be full of turmoil. That's a constant, so why get updates? But reading about Hollywood? Now there's some time well spent. Unless you plan on going on Jeopardy. Then you'll wish you had gotten a Newsweek subscription for Christmas. (You will, but I still won't.)

6. Watch more TV. This past year television and I pretty much parted ways. My old shows were off (Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls), Grey's stunk, and I just didn't have time to invest in anything new. But I need to reconnect with my long lost friend. I will start by dedicating some time every week when American Idol comes back on. During that time, I resolve that all work will cease, and I will give Simon, Randy, Paula, and Seacrest my all. And I want to check into that show Pushing Daisies. It's about a guy who touches people and they come back to life. So he brings his dead girlfriend back to life, but if he touches her again then she'll keel over for the final time. My ninth graders told me when the characters kiss they hold a piece of Saran Wrap between them. I told my students they should try that. So far no one has taken my challenge. It would sure cut down on the flu outbreaks at school though.

Have a great New Year. Hope we all have a fabulous 2008. I'd love to hear your resolutions. And I guess if you don't have any of your own, you could copy mine. They are pretty great. And fairly low maintenance. In fact, I feel like a winner already!