Well hello! It's a whole new year, one I'm super excited about and I wanted to wish you (and myself) a wonderful and crazy time. To welcome that craziness, I am going to jump about in today's post from friends to books to cold water. So to begin, this is how I rang in the new year:
I was all gung-ho about doing a polar bear dip on new years day. I saw a blurb about it a few weeks ago, and since have been mesmerized! All that is involved is a short jog (some walk) into freezing cold water on new years day. It haunted my thoughts and so after looking one up in my area I was ready to sign-up.
I was excited, by god was I excited!
As things tend to go when your excited, I realized I was about to go on my cycle and so decided that I would attempt the dip shortly after midnight on Jan 1st. That way I would have myself and whomever accompanied me to laugh at my attempt.
I can't begin to fully describe the thoughts that were going through my head! After-all I am the person who wears 2 pairs of socks (the wool ones), always has a scarf on, and likes to sleep under a blanket and comforter. In other words I am not great with the cold, my feet certainly don't like it, and my hands seem to somewhat submit to it by imitating the temperature outside as soon as I am out and about. So why do it and did I think it was a good idea after?
In short, I am beyond super glad I did it, and have decided that I will do this every year. I think everyone should do it, and if you are planning on doing it you should look up your local chapter. The group (if one exists...if not create one) usually asks for a donation and everything collected goes to a chosen charity. All in all you get a goo deed, and awesome way to ring in the new year, and an exhilarating feeling on the first day that is starting off your 12 month year. I cannot recommend it enough.
I've also read it's very very very healthy for you, just be sure to wear some sort of footwear as rocks are sharp and sometimes there is ice on the shore. So just do it, and tell me after!
Now on to a few thoughts on friends and the new year.
I was extremely lucky to ring in the new year with some very dear friends. I got to dance my heart out for 1.5 hrs and didn't drink much, but enough to enjoy my dancing while sober. I had to make some hard choices, and as it happened they didn't seem all that hard as things pretty much found their natural spot. It was only after the fact that I realized some important notes. They are the following.
If someone in your life is always negative, and they don't want to change: they will probably never change, not for you that is. So just accept it, and drop them. No point in trying to make the river run north when its clearly wanting to go south.
Also, communication is important!; communicate up to a point. Although I had a great new years eve with an amazing group of friends. I was sadly not there when a different great group of friends was celebrating. IN most cases this wouldn't be a problem, and for a majority of the group it wasn't, but there was one person and that one person was bitter. I gave communication a go and wished ______ a good year and happy celebrations, but to no end. So in short I tried my best and when it didn't work I moved on.
In many ways in a short 24 hours (end of 2010...start of 2011). I got over my fear of cold water, decided to 'f*ck it and just do it!', and concluded that I have some amazing friends while learning to let some feelings go and accept losses. It was a crazy 24 hrs and I wouldn't of had it any other way.
That craziness didn't exactly last, but my resolve has, which brings me to Judy Blume.
When I was a teenager (by golly that was such a long time ago) I worked at Chapters-Indigo store. In case you don't know what that is, it's a chain of bookstores owned by a very interesting lady who always had impeccable taste in books, even if I didn't share it. Either way, I was usually stuck in the Children's/Teen/Sexuality/New-Age/Sciences section. I never really minded, except the children of course, I minded them!
I would go to work and look though books, being an avid reader I usually worked for 75% of my shift and spent the other 25% flipping through books I wanted to get. I always came across Judy Blume, or at least I was the last person to come across her, as every mother would push her daughter to get "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret.", and after that initial purchase the girls would often come back for other books. Having grown-up both in Canada and Poland, I sorta missed the traditional pre-teen books and went straight to adult English literature. So every shift I would secretly covet owning a Judy Blume book, but just never get around to getting one.
This all changed today! I was walking though a store shopping for lace and frilly undies and spotted A Judy Blume book, and as my luck would have it specifically the famed Margaret book. I snatched it up (at 50% off too) and quickly drove home to start reading it.
I'm glad most of the people beside me thought I was probably speeding to get to work or perhaps some important meeting, and not that I was excited about finding that piece of missing pre-teen life in Blume's writing I've heard so much about. Its a short 150 pages so I read through it in just over an hour, and what's my verdict?
It was good! It wasn't life changing, but I imagine if I was 11 and questioning being normal this book would of been so perfect. It was amazing, but I remember being like Margaret. Almost exactly like her, well actually I had lots of boobage happening so maybe not exactly but I could identify with feeling weird and wanting to be the 'other' girl. Simply put, I wish I could of read that book when I was younger ,it would of really spoken to me. Now I get it, and I wish a whole generation of younger girls that title for their 10th birthday. I know if I meet any I will gift mine away.
That's all my wisdom for 2011 (thus far). Wishing you a happy day hence forth with lots of Judy Blume.
