Pbthlpptht, Daniel.

Boston has TJ's in multiple, convenient locations, even!

Taunty taunters. I don't think they are even planning to come to S Florida.

Wow Austin, 2009 really will be an eventful year for you. It is exciting as well as scary. It sounds like you have prepared yourself as well as anyone could. We'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, and kicking you in the butt if you want.

Taunty taunters. I don't think they are even planning to come to S Florida.

This. Except substitute N. Florida. Best we can do is we finally got a Whole Foods and I have a new Fresh Market to look forward to at some point this year.

We have Whole Foods in Boca, but they are pricey. They don't have the awesome selection that TJ's offers either.

Thank you! *hugs* I'm starting my year of change with my first day back from vacation on a Friday. Not!Yay. I'm glad I'm not in the only state TJ has ignored. We do have Whole Foods, but the closest one is 2 1/2 hrs away.

We have Whole Foods and TJs! ::pimps Madison::

We got TJs in Atlanta about 18 months ago. (neener, neener)

Good luck with your very eventful 2009, Austin. Remember that this is a great place for advice and comfort.

We have Whole Foods and TJs!

We have two of each plus some awesome farmers' markets! (I love grocery store one upmanship!)

I keep starting to write about 2008 and getting completely over-whelmed. Maybe I'll start out with the not-so-great things and go from there. Mostly because I like to end things on a positive note.

I haven't managed to do a thing about getting my finances in order or create a budget for myself so that I'm not constantly surprised when I run out of cash for the month. I'm lucky that I have my job, it appears to be fairly secure (as far as one can know those things) and it pays well. Which makes me feel guilty about me not being better at getting my financial shit straight. Related to that is that I have things around my house that seriously need to get fixed that I just can't manage to take care of right now due to money.

I've pretty much failed to effectively train for the marathon I'm doing next weekend. I think I'm mostly okay with that (other things just took priority) and I'm going to try to have fun and just do as much as I can without injuring myself. Of course, not finishing it means that I'm going to really have to do one this year. So I can say I've done it! I'm bullheaded that way.

Also, I've gotten really chubby in the last couple of months. Or chubbier. I blame birth control and beer! I need to get on a better plan this month and stick to it.

My animals are aging but the cats have done pretty well this year. Poor Frank the dog has gotten really old this last year. He's gotten kind of incontinent and I have to carry him down stairs. But he's still getting around and enjoying his food so there's that.

Okay, those are my main gripes with the year for myself. Friends have suffered hardships of various kinds and I'm hoping for a better 2009 for everybody.

As for good things, well, 2008 was a bumper year for babies in my life. I got a new niece and nephew (super cute and awesome of course!!!) and two of my close friends had beautiful baby girls this spring.

I got a gorgeous new kitchen that makes cooking an utter joy! It's so bright and happy and convenient! I love it!!!

Job is not thrilling but is going okay, they seem to like me a lot, and my work nemesis was fired in December.

My band recorded and released our 2nd album and I kinda love it! This is probably our last hurrah and that's something I'm still coming to terms with (I love singing and performing and I don't know what I'll do when the band disbands yet) but it's been a really good run.

The thing that most rocked my world, though, is that, crazily enough, I've seemed to have met the love of my life. I'd pretty much gotten used to the idea that I'd be alone forever but I guess not. He's pretty freaking awesome. Because things can't be easy, I guess, he's also 1/2 way across the country so 2008 has meant a lot of traveling back and forth between here & Chicago and trying to figure out how we're going to be together.

I think that means 2009 has some big, big changes in store for me. I'm kind of freaked out about it right now but cautiously excited too (and really excited in some ways).

Hope you all have beautiful new years.

2008 was kind of a holding-pattern year for me. Good changes in the last few years (new job, lost weight, more exercise) continued, but I didn't really take on any new challenges. I wrote some, mostly fanfiction, and once again failed to work on any original stuff. It's not that I had a bad year, but I didn't really push forward. Maybe it's time to change that.

But in other ways it was a great year, because my family expanded by two: I have a newborn niece and a newborn nephew, and they're both darling.

2009 promises to be more tricky: my job situation is a little uncertain and my aging parents are looking to relocate to the Bay Area. Since I'm the only unmarried local offspring, I suspect I'll be spending a lot of my time and energy dealing with that, which is likely to be stressful and emotionally draining. (Parents shouldn't get old, darn it!)

I'd like to take on more challenges in 2009: get more exercise, do more climbing, maybe do some agility or rally with the dog, get some work done on my house, and actually buckle down and work on the space opera which is composting on my hard drive. And travel, either to Africa or South America, assuming the job situation allows for that.

Best of luck in the New Year to all you Buffistas. You deserve it.