Hello, and welcome to February! I am now one entire month into my Year-To-The-Splits adventure, and I just wanted to share the pics I’ve taken so far, [almost] every day, and the progress that I seem to be making.

I know that it’s a marathon and not a sprint, but I gotta say . . . I’m feeling pretty good about this!

1 down, 11 more to go. Here’s how it’s gone so far:

One month down, and quite a bit of real progress, I’d say. I wonder if I’ll keep up the pace, or if things will slow the lower I go? Maybe this initial push was the easy part? I have no idea. Because, ya know, I’ve never done this before!

And what about you guys? How are you all keeping up with your New Year’s intentions?

Happy Monday, and have a great week!

♥ ♥ ♥

I’m also thrilled to share that a few Bonzai readers will be joining in the year-to-the-splits adventure. Yay! Just like the ol’ Monday Monthly Mission days. So welcome along, and thanks for joining in the fun. ♥

On top of that, I’ve even managed to entice some of my real-life friends, as well as my dad’s best friend and business partner. Huzzah! So if you, like us, have always wanted to be able to do the splits but never could – it’s not too late to hop on board! (And take daily pics if you want, too)

Here are my first few dailies. I actually feel like I’m already making progress:

Today is my first day back at school for the winter quarter, I’m already feeling busy busy and a little bit behind. Oi.

I hope your Monday is a good one, and if it’s your first day back after the holidays (or even if it isn’t), I hope you’re feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, and ready to take 2015 by storm. BONZAI!

♥ ♥ ♥

Last year’s post, 2013 Sucked And Was Awesome: An Essay, was especially long and, I think, especially good. Raw. And can you believe it was only one year ago that I introduced all of you to Jeremy? Time flies, man.

The theme of 2014 for me was “Making Magick.”

And 2013 was the year of “Keep Going.”

2012 was “You Only Get One Shot.”

2011 (gawd that seems so long ago) was “Quality Over Quantity.”

And on and on, so it’s gone.

And now? 2015? I don’t even know . . . but maybe I just don’t want to take things quite so seriously, anymore?

Because 2014 was bananas.

In two thousand and fourteen, I started graduate school. I began a Master’s program in ecology and evolution, and it has proven . . . difficult. Which was to be expected.

In 2014 I was asked to write a grant, something I had never done and quite literally had no idea how to do. But I did it, fumbled and faked my way through it, and I did it.

And in 2014 that grant was granted, and we were fully funded. And I was asked to take the lead in executing this massive plan that we had laid out in said grant. Which is still underway. (And I’m still fumbling and faking my way through it, but hey! So far so good.)

Perhaps craziest of all, in 2014 I started teaching. Public speaking, literally my number one fear, has now become, like, what I do. Like, on a regular basis. Like, for money.

And even crazier is that apparently, I’m pretty good at it.

In 2014 I lost a friend to addiction. It’s not something I wrote about here on this blog, mostly because at the time it was just too painful. And I didn’t understand it. It was the first time death had really touched my inner circle of friends, and it took me a long time to process. It took me to very dark places.

2014 had a lot of dark places.

This is the year I really opened my heart back up to politics, which may sound a silly thing to say, but politics really is a heart game for me. It’s not an intellectual pursuit, but an emotional one. And it’s one I was very involved in – right up until Waits was born, at which point I had to withdraw. But 2014, with a misogynistic madman opening fire on my school, and Ferguson and Eric Garner and Tamir Rice and so many others (god, so many others), and what I perceive to be a shifting social consciousness in a very real way, on a very massive scale, and with many, many painful moments yet to come . . . well, I am politically engaged once again. For better or for worse.

And 2014 was the year that Jeremy quit his job, and struck out on his own, to pursue his dream. The year we opened Still. We joke that some day, when we’re old and successful we’ll be able to look back and say, “Remember back in 2014 when Waits was 4 years old and I was in the middle of grad school, and we were both broke as a joke, and you decided to up and quit your job and open a store in a 6-week period? We must have been CRAZY!”

“Man, thank goodness it all worked out in the end . . .”

That’s what we’ll look back and say. I know it. And it’ll be awesome.

On a different note, in 2014 I realized that I have completely let go of any and all baggage I ever carried around food. 2014 has seen no “Great Grand Diet Trials”, no need for nervous tweaking of meal plans, no late night Internetting for some profound nutritional insight. In truth, my entire relationship with food – and by extension, my perception of health and wellness – has completely transformed from where it was way back when I started this blog (and from where it is for most “healthy living” bloggers, I think). And that’s something I’ve meant to write about for a very long time.

Maybe 2015 will finally be the year I do that.

Maybe.

In all, it just feels like 2014, and if I’m being honest, 2013 and 2012 and most of 2011 too, were just so terribly heavy. And I’m really just so over it. I’m done with heavy.

So listen up, 2015. I know that I still have to finish school, and pass the exit exam, and then graduate, and then land the job. And Jeremy has to keep working, without rest, making Still come to life and grow and succeed. And Waits has to transition from preschool into kindergarten and begin a whole new phase of his magnificent little life.

But listen.

All I really want from you is just one thing, okay? No lofty ambitions or heavy intentions. No heavy anything.

I just want to do the splits.

That’s my 2015 intention! And I’ll take a photo every day (or almost every day) to chart my progress. And by New Years Day 2016 I hope to be able to do the splits.

That’s all.

Just fun, and silly. Light-hearted.

That’s all I want.

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OUT THERE!!! May the New Year bring you whatever it is that YOU want, be it big and heavy or silly and light, abstract or discreet, deliciously sinful or perfectly practical, and anything anywhere in between.

As always, thank you for joining me on this journey, and for sharing little pieces of your beautiful selves here on these pages. And I hope to see you ’round the Internets!

♥ ♥ ♥

PS – I’ll be toasting to 2015 with this song, which pretty much sums it all up:





My new resolution is to be
someone who does not take everything so seriously
I want to laugh and joke and have a smoke
and have a good time
and join an institution that will fuel my mind
whoever said ignorance, oh it was bliss
well, there’s something there
that I declare they surely missed
’cause in the days and modern ways
you’ll get passed by
try to have some fun
I always want to take it in stride

And then I looked back in there
how did we get there?
the water was foggy
but I didn’t really care
’cause stagnancy makes me drown
and I really want to live