Resolutions for 2011

I love this time of year. It combines so many of my favorite things -- writing lists, looking forward, making plans.

I've compiled my newest set of New Years Resolutions. For the year 2011. Never thought it would come.

2011 has always been this far off, imaginary time. The year I graduate from college. Those four digits have been on applications and resumes (and even a red baseball cap gathering dust in my closet) for the last three years, always distant and abstract. But now it's here and it's real and it's kinda freaking me out.

And because the make-up of the next year is hazy at best, my resolutions are also fairly vague. They'll solidify as we creep into the new decade, I'm sure.

I hope.

I mean, right?

Anyway, here, my friends, are my resolutions for the new year (and in part, the new decade).

My Ritzy Christmas Wish List

What if you were walking along one day, minding your own beeswax and leading a simple life, when all the sudden the phone rings and it's your mom telling you that a close relative has suddenly inherited a billion dollars and, being so fond of you, wants to get you a few things for Christmas? 

My friend, will you be ready when that moment comes?

Well, today it occurred to me that I might not be ready for that moment either. I thought, here I am, over two decades old, and I still don't have a good answer for the classic question, "What would you do with a million/billion/gazillion dollars?" 

Then I started feeling really unprepared. I hate feeling unprepared.

So I decided to draft a Christmas list for exactly that kind of occasion. Just in case. You never know what might happen. The world is full of surprises.

My Ritzy Christmas Wish List

Ridiculously nice, expensive car -- maybe with doors that open vertically?

A Canon or Nikon DSLR -- Soooooo pretty!

An iPhone-- with my data plan prepaid

for forever.

A dress by Dior, s'il vous plait!

I think I could enjoy owning a villa in Tuscany.

And maybe a townhouse in Manhattan...

... complete with an elegant library packed with books.

In a good bookroom, you feel in some 

way that you are absorbing the wisdom 

contained in all the books - through 

your skin, without even opening them.

- Mark Twain