So this is when I hold myself accountable, perhaps? How many people actually look deeply at the list and make judgements? This will most likely be my first.
 
2010 Resolutions:
Health:

• I want to lose 100lbs and weigh under 220 by December 31st.  I didn't even come close to this number; however I did actually lose weight.  I'm at 31 pounds loss since July 1st when I started a program.  The biggest win--I'm still with the program!
• I resolve to go to the gym at least twice a week and on Saturdays.  Yeah, this didn't happen at all.  The month of August I was great about the gym, until I realized that going to the gym was costing my body too many calories and it was refusing to lose weight even while on a strict eating plan. 
• My goal is to go to the gym at least four times a week. Ditto
• I want to be more stringent on brushing my teeth after lunch!  The fact I keep a toothbrush at work is about as successful as I got with this.
• I'm limiting myself to 1 fast food meal during the week.  This is getting even more difficult since I am leaving late from work and I feel like i'm literally starving halfway home.
• I want to cook at least two dinners a week. This is something Im actually somewhat successful with because of the supplements.  I will up this for next year.
• Friday lunch and Saturdays are my bad days - (if I'm good on Saturday though, I can be bad on Sunday)  This got better once I joined the program, but is slowly getting worse and worse.
• I have to remember that going out to eat doesn't mean I have to be bad!  Actually, I am somewhat better with this!
• I will make my lunch Monday through Thursday!  The program helps a lot with this, but I need to keep up with choosing to eat what I bring.
• I will treat myself to spa sessions on an as needed basis. Well, as needed was a very strong need, and I only treated myself once to a Brazilian Blowout, which is the most awesome hair treatment in the world, even if it does have formaldehyde in it.
• I will learn to write all this down!! And keep it organized!!  I started out totally awesome in July, and when I changed jobs, it went away.  I need to get back into the habit again.

Education/Cultural:

• I want to go to at least 2 lectures or seminars this year. Nope.
• I want to read more: I'm going to strive for 50 books this year50bookchallenge.  Not even close--but I did read a lot of Stargate, so that was awesome.
• I will complete Les Miserables this year (there are exactly 365 chapters in the book.).  Didn't even start it.
• I will go to at least 2 performances of fine arts this year. Yes!  I did a chamber music piece, saw Romeo and Juliet Ballet, and two BSO performances!
• I will complete the Rosetta Stone Spanish Course I recieved for Christmas!.  Didn't even load it this year.

Organization:

• I will strive to keep my house clean!!  Better, but there are moments its uncontrollable.  like now.
• I will do laundry more than once a week! Same
• My car-It will be clean! HA!!!!

Financial:

• I will continue to have great credit. Well Done!
• I will become as debt free as possible (and put extra payments on my mortgage!). No extra payments on my Mortgage, but I haven't been late on anything, and for a while I was very concerned about possible unemployment.
• I will put money away for my retirement. Started my 401k at my new job!

Employment:

• Get and keep a well paying job; I've got a job with a contract that ends in May. I hope to keep myself fully employed all year. I managed to stay off the Unemployment rolls, and outside of a short waiting for my start date, I was employed all year long!
• Keep my current salary range! YES!  I DID!!

In short, healthwise, I've made much more improvement in my body than I have done in years.  The goals I set in place would have helped me go further, but the movement is strong, and these are great goals for next year.  As for organization, living on one's own makes all the responsibilities in the house yours and yours alone, so needless to say i'm highly looking forward to a significant other who might possibly do my laundry for me?  Educational isn't nearly as far along as I'd like, but on the other hand, I've actually been working a lot, and I've taken on two new volunteer roles with my HOA and my Condo Association.  But I can actually get through Les Mis sometime.  I will!!  As to money, I'm holding my own, and this upcoming year with the stability of a permanent job will help everything further.  As to employment, I've landed a successful, somewhat well paying position that is intended to be permanent, which will allow me to plant a few more foundations and settle in.  Not to mention I'm settled in a much higher pay range than I was in September of 2008.  Its awesome.

I really didn't keep count of how many books I actually completed, but this is one of the few, if not the only one I've had the opportunity to complete cover to cover.

"Eat, Pray, Love" is a non-fiction account of Elizabeth Gilbert, who spends a year trying to get to understand herself and find inner peace, first by learning to enjoy life in Italy, then by visiting an Ashram in India, and then spending four months learning from a Balinese medicine man.

Generally the new fad of non-fiction life stories is not my cup of tea, and for the first 36 chapters, I wanted to continuously put the book down as it was little more than wining and pouting as she is eating her way up three sizes, and all I can think about is, "oh hey, pasta sounds really good right now." But as we move out of the selfish phase of the book and into the more reflective sections of India and Bali, I came to appreciate that Elizabeth's insight to faith, religion, and the world around us meshed well with my existing modified Catholic view point, especially the following thoughts:

"Evolution of religious thinking does involve a fair bit of cherry-picking. You take whatever works from wherever you can find it, and you keep moving toward the light. The Hopi Indians thought that the world's religions each contained one spiritual threatd, and that these threads are always seeking each other, wanting to join. When all the threads are finally woven together they will form a rope that will pull us out of this dark cycle of history and into the next realm."

"In 1954, Pope Pius XI, of all people, sent some Vatican delegates on a trip to Libya with these written instructions: 'DO NOT think that you are going among Infidels. Muslims attain salvation, too. The ways of Providence are infinite.' But doesn't that make sense? That the infinit would be, indeed... infinite? That even the most holy amongst us would only be able to see the scattered pieces of the eternal picture at any given time? And that maybe if we could collect those pieces and compare them, a story about God would be gint o emerge that resembles and includes everyone? And isn't our individual longing for transcendence all just part of this larger human search for divinity? Don't we each have the right to not stop seeking until we get as close to the source of wonder as possible? Even if it means coming to India and kissing trees in the moonlight for a while? That's me in the corner, in other words. That's me in the spotlight. Choosing my religion."

It wasn't until nearly the end of the India section, when she really spouting off philosophy of religion that I started to really grip at the book, to want to keep reading, but once she expressed exactly how I've felt for years, I knew I'd make it through the rest of the book.

Ms. Gilbert is very well educated, and one of the main aspects I liked was that she brought in facts and information one might not necessarily put together on the spot, such as the Hopi Indians in the middle of a Yoga Ashram in the actual India. She also gives a well versed description of the environment around her, not just as Thoreau in "Walden" where he gives a physical description, but she describes the society in whole, and relates to the average everyday American who might be throwing themselves into the foreign world.

All in all, despite the fact that I generally dislike this genre, which is of course all the rage, I agreed with the author's viewpoints towards the middle and the end, and finally began to enjoy reading this book. I think the memoir genre could learn a lot about her writing style and technique to keep the reader engaged, and to move into a variety of topics, not just a recounting of a tale. I find it a bit conceited that Elizabeth pre-sold the book for the money to make this journey, as she fully expected this hit best-seller to really just write itself if she traveled as she expected, but the payoff worked, and while I would never call her a story-teller, as really this is not a journey with plot and action, her introspection was well applied and painstakingly forced into action, and for that, I applaud her.