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Ah! 2009 is finally here. Did you have an awesome New Year's Day? Guess what I did...rested. That's right. I slept late, then spent the rest of the day watching TV and reading. I loved it! I haven't taken enough "Me Days" in my life. One of my must-dos for 2009 is take more me-days...don't be afraid to not work every once in a while.

2008 was a pretty good year. I mean, nothing overly exciting happened - besides my 5 week trip to Cuernavaca (Mexico) in June/July...my 1st real summer vacation since I started working in 1992. Still, nothing horrible happened either. Now, it's time to leave 2008 where it belongs - in the past - and move forward. Every year, or almost every year, my family comes up with a motivational slogan to live by. This year's slogan is: It's Our Time in 2009! Why? Because we feel that God's about to do some awesome things for our family. He's already started putting things in place for us. And the best thing is we're doing it together (did I mention that we're a close-knit family).

About 5 years ago, my parents started a business called Weakly Family Ministries, that, as the name suggests, focuses on bettering the family. They started out with marriage counseling, pre-marital counseling, family counseling, mentoring, etc. Now, WeaFam is expanding. They're looking into officially moving into an office building (they'd been counseling in our garage-turned-office). Also, now, WeaFam includes the AYM Enrichment Program, which is my sister's & my business (also looking for our own space), along with the urban wear store my brother wants to open, my children & teens novels that will published, and my other brother's poetry/spoken word books that will also be published (if you're a Houstonian, check out Freez.Eturnal's performances at clubs around Houston...my brother is a talented spoken word artist). So you see, God has given each and every one of us a talent to use to help others (and glorify Him, of course) and we're about to do our thang in 2009. IT'S OUR TIME IN 2009!

I leave you with a few of my 2009 goals:

• Complete Who's Got Tha Moves
• Begin/Plan novel #3 (not sure of title, but I do know what it's about)
• Move into own home (my sis & I are starting our journey of becoming home-owning roomies)
• Start journey to become debt-free & financially stable
• Complete my dissertation by June 1st (which means, I'll become Dr. Weakly & have my degree by July/August if all goes well, but I won't actually walk across the stage til January 2010)
• Become more confident in my Spanish (I'm basically a chicken when it comes to speaking Spanish...I know it, just too scared to speak it. I'm getting better, though, thanks to my sis, who speaks fluent Spanish)
• Concentrate on making AYM my full time job
• Go to more conferences for writers and entrepreneur since I am both
• Travel more
• Work on crossing more things off my list of things to do by the time I'm 35 (I've only gotten a chance to cross one off, while I'm working on about 3 others...my list is about 60 items long)
• Take better care of myself physically, mentally, and spiritually

Also, I've added more to this blog:

• Inspirational Sundays: I'll post anything that can be seen as inspirational, whether it be my own inspirational writing (like what I do on my myspace blog) or inspirational stories I've read online or heard about.
• Tickle-Me Tuesdays: This day is reserved for stories, pictures, jokes, or comic strips that'll make you laugh. We all should enjoy a good laugh every once in a while, right?
• Random Thoughts Thursday: Same as last year
• Fitness Fridays: My sis and I have started our journey to a healthier us last month. On Fridays, I'll chronicle my journey by posting any weight loss success, success in lowering my high blood pressure, great workouts, trials, triumphs, etc.

Last week, I went to the doctor for my physical and well-woman exam (VERY uncomfortable, btw). I'd scheduled the appointment because both sides of my family have a history of cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes. I wanted to make sure that all was right in my health world. The last time I went to the doctor, I was told that I had borderline high blood pressure. This summer, I came to the conclusion that I might've gone from borderline to actual high blood pressure. I'd been experiencing some of the same problems that my parents (who both have HPB) have: constant headaches (I don't just get headaches...I get migraines), swollen feet, etc.

It turns out that, unfortunately, I was right. I have HPB now. ARGH! So, now, I have medicine, thankfully just one, that I have to take everyday, which sucks 'cause I'm horrible at taking medicine. I had to write a note to myself on my dry erase board (yeah, I'm a nerd...I have a "to do" board in my room) to remind me to take the medicine. I've never liked taking medicine.

The good thing is, with exercise and good eating habits, I can lower my blood pressure. I've been exercising pretty faithfully since June. I've been watching what I eat since August. I have fallen off the wagon, so to speak, every once in a while, but I've gotten back on. Overall, I've lost 11 pounds. Yay me! My sister and I have really buckled down this month and have been doing well. We've either walked 2+ miles, played volleyball in front of the house, or had 45 minutes to an hour of Dance Dance Revolution, which, btw, is an awesome form of cardio. We've added strength training in between our workout days. My original goal was to lose a few pounds for our Puerto Rico trip, but, now I've added lower my blood pressure. As far as eating in concerned, the problem isn't that I eat too much, it's that I don't eat enough. I usually only eat dinner because I don't make the time to eat breakfast or lunch. This is bad because I usually get cravings and end up eating junk food. So, now, I'm working on eating 5 times a day - breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 2 snack times in between.

I guess if I blog about my journey, it'll hold me accountable. I'm supposed to have a checkup in November to see if my blood pressure has gone down. So, my BP was 155 over 113 (I know...horribly high). My prayer is that I can lower it some by my next appointment. Also, my goal in June was to lose at least 30 pounds by the end of this year (I'm not even going to say how much I weigh). I'm now at 11 pounds down and 19 to go. Can I do it? Will keep you updated!

It's hard to concentrate on work with a typhoon tracking you down and threatening to smash your house in. Presently anticipated at 9 AM tomorrow morning. So back to work.