Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!

It's been an amazing year, I am excited beyond words (well, maybe not!) about what the future holds! I am thankful for my health, my beautiful family, my wonderful friends, and my amazing job that takes me into gorgeous mountains and interacting with good people who are deeply passionate, caring of their neighbors, and actively making a difference in their community. Thank you to all of you, I appreciate the knowledge, viewpoints, opinions, and ideas that you bring and look forward to learning more!

Have a safe and joyous celebration tonight!

Some fun and educational stories for you for the holiday season:
www.livescience.com/17688-years-hidden-weaknesses.html
The New Year's Resolution We Should Be Making
Stephanie Pappas
30 December 2011

We all know that popular New Year's resolutions involve dieting, exercise and the nixing of bad habits. But what if we could fix things we didn't even know were wrong with us?

In our best New Year's fashion, we asked social scientists to tell us what they see as the worst hidden weaknesses of humans — and whether there's anything we can do to overcome them. Their responses suggest that this year, we should all resolve to see things from others' perspectives.

lifehacker.com/5872232/top-10-easy+to+ke...ns-for-this-new-year
Top 10 Easy-to-Keep Resolutions for This New Year
By Whitson Gordon
Dec 31, 2011

We've shared a number of tips on how to make lasting resolutions during the new year, but if you're at a loss for good resolutions this year, here are some good ones that are surprisingly easy to keep.

www.myhealthnewsdaily.com/2048-years-res...changing-habits.html
Wrong Resolutions: 5 Tips for Finally Changing Your Habits
Dec 27, 2011 | 8:23 AM ET | Maureen Salamon

But laudable as it may be, setting specific goals isn't the way to go, experts say. For a better shot at succeeding, we need instead to change our habits – defined as recurrent, often unconscious patterns of behavior that we frequently repeat.

"It's definitely better to create what I call process goals, rather than outcome goals," said Art Markman, a professor of psychology and marketing at University of Texas at Austin and author of the upcoming book, "Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys to Solve Problems, Innovate and Get Things Done" (Penguin Group, 2012.

www.marcandangel.com/2011/12/11/30-thing...p-doing-to-yourself/
30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself
December 11th, 2011
by Marc

www.livescience.com/17661-champagne-facts-infographic.html
Champagne Facts for the New Year (Infographic)
by Ross Toro
29 December 2011

There's lots more than alcohol and New Year cheer inside your flute of champagne. Bubble-y science abounds.

For instance, scientists have found that to get the most fizz out of your champagne, you should hold the glass at an angle while you fill it, rather than pouring the champagne straight down.

And those bubbles do more than pop in your mouth. Research reported in the fall of 2009 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, revealed the 10 million or so bubbles that pop from a glass of the sparkling wine carry loads of aromatic molecules that ultimately spray into the air right under your nose.

lifehacker.com/5871932/how-to-survive-th...ils-of-new-years-eve
How to Survive the Perils of New Year’s Eve
By Whitson Gordon
Dec 29, 2011
Here are a few things you can do now to stay safe and sane this New Year's:
Install a "Find My Phone" App Just In Case
Hail a Cab or Find a Hotel, Wherever You Are
Get a Traffic-Aware Navigation App to Avoid Drunk Drivers
Get Rid of That Hangover on January 1st

In short: drink water, eat breakfast, and try to stay away from coffee, more alcohol, and painkillers like you may have been taught.

www.livescience.com/17680-hangover-cures-holiday-partier.html
Start the New Year Clearheaded: Tips to Avoid Hangovers
Jennifer Welsh
Date: 30 December 2011

if you do indulge in the bubbly this weekend, here are some scientific tips to avoid a miserable New Year's day.

Research into hangover cures has shown there are only a few true-blue tricks, including drinking water and taking vitamins. But researchers are making headway into understanding how alcohol, and its resulting hangover, affect our brains and bodies.

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