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.

2007 recap: My dad had a sore neck which devolved into nerve problems with led to hospitalization. It took the doctors a long time to figure out what he had wrong. We were all freaked out because my grandmother died of a rare cancer and some of dad's symptoms mimicked her disease.

The doctors finally determined (after CAT, PET, MRI, surgical biopsy) that he had a Staph infection in the bones of his neck. By the time I managed to visit, my dad was released from sleeping at the hospital and just went M-F every day for PT.

I'm happy to report that he was able to start back to work in January and as of now he has almost fully recovered. There's still some weirdness in his hand, but he's able to help mom with Home Improvement stuff. Here he was in 2007 doing yardwork.

This year was mostly a holding year for me as well. The only thing I set out to accomplish was to get off my butt exercise-wise. I manged to finish two triathlons and a 10k run. It's been interesting and challenging. It's hard to find the time to train, and it's also hard when I feel incompetent. I have hard time letting my brain be satisfied with the doing; I'm usually disappointed with how slow I am. I'm working on that.

For 2009 my goals are:

• Change location for my office. I'm tired of the building I'm in. The temperature isn't regulated by me and it's always off - too cold or too hot. The new landlord doesn't give a crap about us. I really want to cut ties with one of the people I work with. At the very least, if I can't cut ties completely I'm going to make it a more favorable situation for me. I have a lot of ideas, hopefully some or all of them will work.
• Finalize logo/card/website. It's time to get a more professional look. I'm half-way there, I just have to stop procrastinating.
• Get out there and date. Maybe with the guy I met on New Year's Eve (probably not) but I need to stop twiddling my thumbs and have at it.
• Change living arrangements. I've been here for too long. I don't like it here, it's making me crazy, and I can't let the really reasonable rent hold me here any longer.
• Compete in 3 or 4 triathlons. I'm only signed up for 1 so far, but I'm about to sign up for the 2nd and I know which one I'd like to do for the 3rd. I might be crazy and add 4th in there, but we'll see.
• Enjoy seeing my parents and hope my family doesn't get too much on my nerves. The last family vacay kind of sucked for me so I hope I can handle this one better or hope everyone else will be better behaved or something.
• Get healthy. I'm going to be seeing an MD who does acupuncture. I really hope it helps.

Hopefully I'll discover motivation strong enough to overcome my procrastinatory impulses.

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.

Um, we have WalMart now? But we have Rainbow Foods, which is a wonderful non-chain store, and I challenge anyone to come up with a prettier place to live. And the wildlife is great. I can sometimes see mountain goats or, in the other direction, whales, from my office windows. And, we have award-winning theater. IJS.

So, in 2008, I got laid off (of a job I'd only had for 4 months, and had moved cross country for). Got completely fucked over by unemployment (so I ended up only getting 1 week of it). Had a girl play a LOT of mind games on me.

Tried to make friends in a new city. Got a new job. Found out my new job would only be lasting but so long. Didn't have to work all that hard at new job, though. Found new girl. Had new girl only last six weeks cause she was kinda useless. Wasn't surprised by that, but was by the short duration and the superuselessness during the breakup. Hmph.

Had mindgames girl be even more eeeeevil once I found new new girl. That bullshit continues, which sucks. New new girl is better, and has now lasted four months.

New friends in new city are getting pretty tight, some of them. Though I could still use a bestie. And sometimes I still want MORE FRIENDS.

The job project is ending in a month, and they still haven't told me what I'll be doing. Which means that even IF they have something, it might totally suck. But even if it's somethign shitty, given this economy, I may have to suck it up. Am not looking forward to either option.

Girl, much as she is fun, is not a long term option either. Would like some forward momentum on that front as well, universe.

So, 2009, can you at the bare minimum try not to suck as much on the job front as 2007 and 2008 did for me? I'd like to not be looking for a job this year, like I did those years, because I was laid off. Please. I'd like to be happy in my job this year, and not looking for a job.

And if you could make other awesome things happen too? (Like, say, the lotto ticket in my back pocket be a winner....heck, while I'm asking...) That'd be sweet, thanks.

[It is a highly enjoyable activity to read this thread.]

• So, in 2008 I think I finally officially feel like a Buffista. That was cemented with attending the F2F in Madison, which was definitely a highlight of my year.

• I added two new countries to my "visited" list in May, Argentina and Chile. Argentina was a tad disappointing (esp. the horrible air pollution in Buenos Aires) and Chile was a lovely surprise.

• For the first time since 2000, I did not get laid off from a job. Well, I suppose the years I was temping/living off scraps/selling everything on ebay (2001-2003) I didn't get laid off, but...Anyway, passing the May 23 mark in 2008 and still employed at the same company was a real feeling of accomplishment.

• My team at work completed 3 major projects nearly simultaneously which was a miracle for such a small group. I am still awed by our efforts and the results.

• Barack Obama's victory gave me a sense of renewed hope. He isn't a miracle worker, and he's going to make some people unhappy all of the time, but he's brilliant and thoughtful and I look forward to the inauguration. More importantly, I look forward to him helping re-shape the U.S.

• I remain grateful for the companionship provided to me by a really good guy. It's sometimes a little daunting, trying to carve out a relationship involving two distinctly independent, stubborn people, but I am not going to take love for granted.

• My cat continues to annoy the crap outta me, and my dog continues to be completely adorable (even if she won't let partygoers touch her!) and perfect for me.

• My cousin Buffy married her lovely fiancee Karen in a gorgeously sweet and intimate ceremony overlooking the Cliff House here in San Francisco, and I was exceptionally pleased that two people who are perfect for each other were allowed to legally unite in marriage. They traveled to California from Lincoln, NE because, at the time, California was more progressive than Nebraska. At the time.

• I don't quite know how to put this, but 2008 was the year that I learned to accept myself and learned to trust others to make of me what they will; it's okay if people friend me on Facebook, take a look at my status announcements, and decide they don't want to be my "friend" after all. That's just an example, but I sincerely appreciate Facebook's sort of forcing me to not compartmentalize my life so much. It's really something to have my Christian camp (where I spent 2.5 months every year from age 10 to 21) friends, my punk friends, Buffistae, high school and uni friends, family, etc ALL on Facebook. A year ago, the idea of it would have terrified me, but I have found that it's actually very freeing to be the same person to everyone. It's a subtle distinction (and sometimes not so subtle!), how we face the world depending on our audience. And not everyone needs to learn this particular lesson, but for me, it's been really affirming. The main thing I realize is that people do really grow up a lot of the time. I find it much easier to not just co-exist but to actually love people, regardless of how far to the right or left they are. Or even if they don't appreciate Arrested Development.

• I hope in 2009 that I will have the chance to deepen existing friendships, both Buffista and non. And I'd love the chance to meet even more of y'all.