My favorite part of Christmas is the moment (usually on New Years Day) immediately after the tree has come down and the ornaments and decorations are packed away. The house is clean. It’s free of the clutter and chaos of the holidays. It feels new and somehow brighter. There’s the sense of possibility. Ahhhh, I can breathe a little better just thinking about it. All that new, clean freshness usually puts me in a resolution-making kind of mood. And yes, I’m well aware that 80%

I recently had lunch with an old friend (we’ll call her Rachel). I hadn’t her seen in a long time – life, jobs, family… you know, but Rachel was always one of my favorite people. She’s ballsy, a bit brash, funny as hell, and at the center of it all, kind and caring. Rachel’s had a rough go of it for the past two years. First, there was a painful divorce. Then there was a period of extraordinary turmoil at her work, followed by her termination. Ouch. Been there, done that. On