Life's regrets: Few and far between

Hello all, Happy Friday! Seriously, this week couldn't have ended any sooner. Tomorrow DC and I are traveling with the entire family to Hawai'i for a much needed vacation. DC and I haven't been on vacay since our honeymoon so needless to say we have been counting down the days to some R&R and fun in the sun.

I generally try not to look back and reflect on my life with feelings of regret but lately I've made two realizations about what I want to do differently in 2009. First off, I want to make it a point to take a vacation alone each year with DC. I'm not talking about a three day weekend to Napa but taking a few days off to spend together and enjoy alone without the distractions of everyday life. This seems like such an easy and obvious thing to do but it's been alarmingly difficult for the two of us to even plan weekends to Austin for weddings or trips to see friends. My good friend SP says that in her four years of marriage having an alone trip like that to look forward to has been the glue of their relationship and I wish we had done that this year.

My other major life's regret is petty, nothing significant at all but when I bought my car in 2006 it was a total impulse buy and I should have bought the Prius or Civic I originally wanted. Considering I've lived 28 years having 1 major life regret and 1 minor regret isn't bad.

I haven't fully developed my list of changes and resolutions for 2009 but I'm making a mental list of things I want to work on personally and professionally that will hopefully lead to a greater sense of overall happiness. One thing I'm particularly proud of myself for doing in 2008 is working out a lot. I'll admit this has been more of a Q4 thing but experts say you need to do something consistently for a month to make a habit out it and I think I've done that. I'm looking forward to continuing this in to the new year.

Besides planning on taking a vacay alone with DC I'm going to work a little on my temper. Now don't get me wrong 85% of the time I can keep my cool in situations where I'm frustrated, sad or just plain furious but I've lost it a few times this year and found myself in consequently worse situations after the fact. I'm least proud of the fact that I had a few very undiplomatic words with an executive at work about the layoffs last month. While I of course don't regret what I said I should have used a little more tact and diplomacy. Accosting someone in a packed elevator wasn't the best strategy in trying to get my point across.....

I hope you all have a rgeat weekend. I'll try to post from the islands but if I don't here's to a very happy thanksgiving.