Happy Friday everyone!

Dose of my “Subway Mixing” Playlist

Today’s preview, Erin McCarley- “Rearrange Again”

One of my favorite things about December is when the fresh smell of pine trees start to line the corners of the city blocks. That is when you know that Christmas is officially around the corner. A month later, you can still walk the streets and smell the occasional burst of forst air, but it’s a little different. Instead of being nicely aligned though, you will find trees scattered all over the sidewalks, which doesn’t bring about the same warm happy feelings. I don’t remember the trees being around for as long in previous years, but we’re already in the third week of the month and.. well, they’re still.. everywhere. Guess it’s not such a concrete jungle after all.

Did you make any resolutions this year? How are they going so far? Sometimes I feel like resolutions have become laughable in today’s world simply because people can’t seem to stick to any of them. I get it.. I get it.. we all make these grand resolutions without much plan to actually make them happen. We can’t simply go from 0 to 60 in one day simply because it’s a new year. We may convince ourselves we can.. but how many resolutions have you broken over the years? The truth is, even if we want change and are open to it, it’s hard to actually make permanent changes and are easily deterred at the first sign of failure. That’s why I ask how are they going so far.. because we may be only 17 days into the new year, but I’m sure there are many of you who have already thrown a resolution or two out the window. Just because you’ve fallen down before doesn’t mean you can’t try again though! Fall down 6 times get up 7 right? 

Anyways, my point of the matter is let this year be the one that you better your or someone else’s life even if it’s one small change. It’s easy to get caught up looking at the big picture than looking at several small pictures, but it is truly the little pictures that create the big picture in the end, so don’t get discouraged! This year, I have done just that.. try and make resolutions that aren’t anything that seem all that life-changing, but ones that will keep my life a little bit more on track and push me further. Then again, I guess I shouldn’t label them as not being life-changing because you never really know where different paths will take you right..? ;-)

Here are the resolutions I decided on for this year:

1. Go to one new place a month: This sounds so simple, but now that I have lived in the city for awhile, I often get stuck on doing the tried and true. I want to break out of this by doing at least one new thing a month.
2. Save some money: I’d like to give myself a little credit when it comes to saving, because I’m usually pretty good at staying on budget, which is a task in itself while living in Manhattan. I’m hoping to save a little bit more this year in hopes of getting a better apartment this summer.
3. Enjoy 6 books: I had a terrible realization over the holidays that I haven’t read a book front to back since last summer. Yikes! I guess I do so much reading all day at work that by the time I get home the last thing on my mind in relaxing with a good book.. Which is exactly what I think I could use more of!
4. Further expand volunteering opportunities: I volunteer with an organization called NYC Cares, and recently, I talked my friends into also getting involved so I’m excited to sign up for some more opportunities with some sidekicks.
5. Further expand networking groups/meetups: Over the last year I’ve also started attending a few networking and meetups that take place usually on a monthly basis. They’ve been really useful in networking as well as being educational and I’d love to take advantage of more of these sorts of events!

Now I just need to stay on my plan to make them happen! I’m motivated though so stay tuned!