Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My dad emigrated from Ireland to the U.S. in the 1950's. He was one of 13 children, so we have numerous relatives in Ireland, as well as England, Australia and even Malaysia. I have about 75 first cousins on his side of the family alone.

St. Patrick's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. Oddly enough, my dad had never heard of corned beef and cabbage as a traditional St. Paddy's Day meal until he came to the states.

When my kids were little, we had fun with the holiday, dying their apple juice green and serving other "green" foods. We also made Leprechaun traps the day before and left them out, only to find little footprints leading away from the trap. Somehow, they always escaped, but they often left a gold coin or two behind.

What fun we had with a bottle of green food color and an old shoebox and some string. It really is the simple things in life that are the best!

Happy New Year!

It's New year's Eve and I hope each and every one of you has a safe, fun and memorable celebration.

Sometimes we make beginning a new year very hard on ourselves. We pledge to make numerous changes in our lives, to lose those extra pounds, to get that promotion, to take that trip we've been planning for years. We swear that this year will be different than the rest, better than before. It doesn't matter that we've made these promises to ourselves for years now; somehow we believe that this year will be different.

And yet somehow it isn't. Why is that? Because:

1) We have too many goals. Change is hard, so trying to change multiple facets of your life all at once is extremely difficult. Prioritize your goals and work on one or two at a time. The others will keep for another day.

2) Our goals are unreasonable. I don't care how much you love horses, if you are a 6 foot tall, 250lb. man, you are not going to be a jockey. Don't give up on your dreams, simply put aside unattainable goals and work on those you have a real chance of achieving.

3) We don't have a plan of action to achieve our goals. You need to map out a plan for reaching your goals on a day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month schedule, with firm dates for reaching your goals and milestones to mark your progress.

This year I plan to put these three steps into action. This year I will succeed, because I will follow a plan for focusing my energy on accomplishing what I need to do in order to reach my goals.

May you reach your goals in 2009! Happy New Year!