According to my 2008 resolutions, I only really accomplished three: Bought a new camera and lens. Made sure not to watch Beaches ever again because it makes me cry too hard. And my three-month stint not being single featured a trip to Vegas. However, a total of 30 pounds I have yet to shed.

Here is 2008's failed list again, just to recap.

1. Never watch Beaches again. (Check)

2. Here’s the most common of all: Lose a total of 30 pounds by next year. Since I’ve already lost five, I’ve got 25 more to go. I wouldn’t mind a few more inches lost, of course, along the way. (See the blog post about my thyroid...I have an Oprah excuse...)

3. Get over the things I can’t change. (Wavered a lot on this one)

4. Travel. No excuses of money, time or if I can get people to join me. (Fortunately who joined me is no longer joining me, so to speak)

5. Get my dream lens…at all costs. A new camera won't hurt either. (Check and check)

So what's in store for 2009?

 

 

 

 

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Did everyone have a nice Christmas?
I did my usual: Drove to Arlington, grubbed down on my mother's dressing that I'm sure I've told you about before back during Thanksgiving and chilled out.
My parents and I don't really do an extravagant Christmas celebration anymore.
Being an only child, I reaped the benefits of not having to share my parents' pocketbooks growing up. We had wonderful Christmases. I remember swimming in wrapping paper and the coolest presents. I never wanted for anything. But I'm 30 now - soon to be 31.

We have all outgrown the decadence of indulgence and now just enjoy each other's company, along with some great homemade goodies my mother is gracious enough to prepare every year. Besides, according to my father, I get Christmas year-round. Like I said, I am an only child!

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I don't know why, but when I first started working here with neighborsgo over three years ago, I came in with the belief that EVERYONE loved the idea of being a journalist. While in college working for the University of Texas at Arlington's The Shorthorn, I remember friends of mine thinking it was a pretty cool gig. Heck, even while I was in middle school me and my counterparts thought writing was this art form that only the people who "really got it" had the privilege to conquer. Yes. Maybe we were just nerds.

I came to that conclusion today when John B. Hood Middle School staff was kind enough to invite me to Career Day. I spoke to five classes and I can count on three fingers how many students even cared about journalism. Most of them wanted to be doctors, rappers, football players...some all three. Many of them just didn't answer the question when I asked what they wanted to be when they grew up...I just waited for one of them to say, "Well, not a journalist!"

Faith Johnson's class of eighth-graders were quite attentive, even though they didn't really care about journalism. They humored me by taking notes. Either that or it was the assignment Ms. Johnson gave that I found out about later.

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Last night I skipped out on a birthday party because I feared there was going to be ice on the road. Imagine my dismay when I realized I missed out for nothing because the stuff we got yesterday was child's play! But it did give me the opportunity to enjoy my first fire in my first house.
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Long gone are the days of facsimile and snail mail.

We are moving faster and faster in today’s world of social-networking (neighborsgo included) and keeping up to date with each other with a number of sources — Facebook, Twitter … and of course, neighborsgo.com. I find all of it exciting, and it harkens back to a time when I first discovered flash drives. I grew up with floppies just like many of you. I always thought they were old fashioned, but that was the way of the world in those days.

I also remember picking up a camera for the first time. I loved pulling the lever back to advance the film. Loved the sound. Remember that? Well, a few days ago I kind of wished I was back to the days of waiting for my photos to develop.

Historic Mesquite, Inc. hosted its 13th Annual Dinner Under the Cedars event last month, and neighborsgo.com was honored to be media sponsor this year. Mesquite Symphony Guild members Andrea Bain and Cindy Boone invited me to sit at their table and we chatted for a while. And of course, as those of you who see me out and about know, I took lots of photos with my D300.

However, when I got ready to submit them for our newspaper, I couldn’t find them on my memory card. That was a super busy month, and I must have cleared that card a million times to make room for more images. In doing so, I believe I may have deleted those shots from the dinner. Luckily, Boone and Charlene Orr, Historic Mesquite, Inc. executive director, submitted the photo you see on this page.

Next time I’ll just remember that even though technology is your friend, you are still the one responsible for pushing the buttons.

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I have this thing about dressing.

I should clarify that I mean the kind you eat and not the kind you do. My fascination with dressing is so ridiculous that I see each and every day leading up to the holidays as just one more day closer to my mother’s most wonderful side dish.

If you really think about it, dressing isn’t much of anything — some spices, bread and celery, but can I just tell you my mother’s is so good at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner that I drive about 35 minutes the next day just for more of the leftovers. Really, I do.

She usually packs a nice helping for me to take home, but the day after Thanksgiving I eat it all. This year I drove to Arlington from Dallas just for some more. 

“You drove all the way here just for some dressing?” my father asked, looking puzzled.

I just gave him a nod as I gobbled up the golden good stuff.

“Your mother wasn’t even going to fix dressing this year,” he said. “I told her, ‘You can’t have turkey without dressing!’ But she was worried about your stomach.”

Because of a recent illness, I’ve had some trouble with my tummy and my mother was apparently afraid to cook dressing this year. I don’t understand why. Haven’t heard any breaking news updates of holiday dressing wreaking havoc on gastritis sufferers.

“Just don’t pig out, Jenice,” she said with a concerned look as I kept shoveling forkfuls.

Then she said, “You are going to have to learn how to make this for yourself one day.”

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Sometimes traffic is a good thing. If there wasn’t traffic backed up at Carroll today going west on Interstate 30, I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet Will Smith.

The morning started off with it’s usual flubs: A botched protein shake, a glass I broke on my way out of the house and forgetting like a billion things.

Then off I went on my way to work. I heard there was traffic but I thought I was just going to miss it by the time I got toward the thick of it. But no. There I was, stuck.

However by the time I reached the office I noticed Will Smith’s tour bus parked outside of The Dallas Morning News building. The bus had his face plastered all around it and the title of his current movie: Seven Pounds. I knew yesterday he was going to be around but I didn't really think I would EVER get the chance to see him.

I quickly called my boss, Oscar Martinez and asked if I could camp out and wait for Big Will. So in a hurry, I parked, grabbed everything out of my car, including a camera, broke yet ANOTHER glass and headed on down to man my position.

I chatted with the bus driver who shared my love of Harley Davidson motorcycles. Oh, and I may have uttered something sad like, “Oh! I didn’t know he was in the building…I’m just a lowly community editor…” I was really pulling at the heart strings I’m sure.

Anyway, he tells me that Will would be heading out the door I was standing near so there I stood. Part of me wondered if I should have just gone in, but luckily I didn’t. Not even 30 minutes later, there HE was. He pointed at me and was heading my direction. He was so nice and in fact he waited for someone to take the photo you see above. I got to hug him and shake his hand. He was quite the gentleman.

SIDE NOTE: There was a videographer out there prior to Will's big exit who boarded the bus. Then I noticed said videographer was on the phone, and looking at me. I was just hoping he didn't think I was some stalker or something while I was waiting for Will to come out. Not many people were by that door. So I would like to believe that maybe Will actually wanted to make sure he found that ONE crazy fan who would plaster him all over Facebook.

Mission accomplished.

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When I bought my recent car, a zippy Toyota Yaris which gets pretty good gas mileage being that it’s the size of the end of a pencil eraser, I noticed one thing that was going to be a real problem for me.

The gas gauge wasn’t the traditional needle I was used to but rather a series of little bars that when the tank goes to “E,” would blink until filled. This means I could no longer rely on that little stammering of gas that is still in the tank when it goes to “E” and I couldn’t just squeak by a day without filling it. I know that is the worst thing you can do to your car but between the past gas-price hike and the fact that I get so busy I even forget where I’m even going once I’m in the driver’s seat, filling the tank was an afterthought. Yes, all you are shaking your head at me but I’m just being truthful here. And given that I knew that I could no longer rely on that red needle, I still managed to goof up several times and waited too long to fill the tank. However, none of these incidents resulted in my car completely dying; I was lucky.

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OK. So I've always been a fan of Blues Traveler. But I have to admit, I've never been to a show. So when I saw John Popper at Frankie's in Uptown on election night, I was star struck but didn't really know much about Blues Traveler's latest album. However, after chatting for a little while, Popper said "Write your name down" so I could get into their show at House of Blues the next night.

I grabbed a matchbook and wrote it down. And because I'm way too curious, I decided I would head out to HOB last night to really see if my name was on the list...and sure enough it was. Along with backstage stickers! 

But like I said, fan -- but not really aware of the new stuff. I've always heard BT puts on a great show and last night was no different. He played the old standard, "Run Around" of course but some of the new songs were cool too. I'm definitely going to get the CD.

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