Be more perfect

Last year, I had 3 New Year's Resolutions: wear nicer clothes, have more fun with my kids and send birthday cards.

I'd say the results are mixed. Because I don't need to "dress office" for my job and because I'm naturally a very causal person, and because I'm busy and I because I dress for comfort and convenience more than anything... you get the picture... for all these reasons, my daily wardrobe isn't always particularly polished. As a result of my resolution, I wouldn't say I started wearing nicer clothes, but I did start thinking more about the clothes I wear, and spending more time putting myself together.

It may sound completely ridiculous, but through this effort, I discovered the magic of "mom sweat pants." These are soft pants that might as well be pajamas but that look pulled together enough to wear in public! Now I have a comfortable alternative to the usual jeans. Honestly, this is not as depressing as it sounds.

Also, I realized that I'm really just not a spend-a-lot-of -time getting ready for the day kindof person. For all these reasons, I'm going to go ahead and call resolution #1 a success.

Resolution #2, have more fun with my kids, was kindof a weird one. I must have been feeling low when I conceived it because I already have lots of fun with my kids. I didn't really need to be reminded. Sure, I'm frazzled and grouchy sometimes, but in general, we do lots of activities together and make plenty of time for fun. Maybe a year ago I we weren't doing that as much. Maybe the resoultion was so successful that I've forgotten how things even were before. In any case, we're all good now.

The final resolution, send birthday cards, is a total joke. I didn't send a single one. I would love to, but somehow I can't seem to get the card, the correct date, the message and the postage in the same place at the same time early enough to get it into the mail within a reasonable window to get to the intended recipient on or around their actual birthday. Usually, I plan big, miss my window, watch the birthday come and go, and then spend a week feeling bad that I couldn't get it together but knowing that it's too late. Grrr.

I would say that I'll just focus on that as my resolution for 2012 but it seem kindof silly to do a repeat. And I was thinking about resolutions in general. Some people hate them. I don't mind thm at all, but for some reason, this year I can't pick. I want to do them all- which in practical terms means that I'll have none. Resolutions are about being better.

I want to be more organized, more friendly, more fun, more witty, cook more, cook better, have an always clean house, make more money, be more patient, be gentler, be a better friend, work harder, do a better job, dazzle more often, be always on time, be more available, be less distracted, calmer, less afraid, more sure, better prepared.

I want to be more perfect. At everything.

And so my resolution is to chip away at that, little by little. Be a better me, one day at a time.