A New Year - What That Means To Me

A new year is a fresh start, a beginning. A new year is the continuation of a dream, the next step in a journey. A new year is the end of old, no longer productive thought and action, a time to take stock and redirect our efforts.

I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions. If I want to lose weight or finish a project I've learned the hard way that a list scribbled on a scrap of paper doesn't get me far. Before long I misplace the list and life goes on as before in my normal half-organized, half-spontaneous way of living.

What works better for me is taking a moment to reflect and regroup. Finally in my fourth decade, I'm getting it right. My children are constant sources of joy and amazement. I cry tears of pride each time I witness their accomplishments - the lightning fast run into the end zone for the first touchdown of the game - The look on my son's face as he breaks a board with a flying sidekick - Notes picked out on the piano and finally the melody of a song from my child who's teaching herself to play - Discussing ambitions for college, possibly music school in Los Angeles and daydreaming of the summer afternoon when my oldest walks across the stage to receive his diploma - The sheer terror and joy of watching my baby scale a 30-foot rock wall at the climbing gym.

2007 became the year of personal accomplishment and growth. My career is on track and I'm working on my next book. My personal life is awesome thanks to the love of an incredible man. LifePrints, which started on a whim, has become a source of daily inspiration and joy. I've made some incredible new friends who share my ambitions toward writing and changing the world one person at a time.

Through the posts I've written, I've learned so much about the resilience of the human spirit and the goodness of the human heart. Each day, I'm more convinced that we will solve the problems facing our world. We are capable. If each of us step up, speak up, and act up...things will change for the better.

I hope to have more this year of what I had last. I hope for you to find a way to your dreams. I hope for the world that suffering ends and true living, instead of just surviving, begins across our planet.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

New York Wedding Ring - Do It Yourself Love

I'll never forget walking into my friend's jewelry shop and asking him to make a special wedding ring for my soon to be husband. John and I had known each other since elementary school. His father was the only jeweler who designed and made the custom pieces. He was sort of famous in my little home town. Now I stood in John's shop looking at original designs and molds inherited from his father. We settled on a premade band that he would alter to match my engagement ring. The process was exhilarating. I felt involved in the creative process. I wanted Todd to have something special.

He did the same for me. He spent most of a day with a prestigious Atlanta jeweler staring at stones under a microscope. It had to be the right one in the perfect setting. He'd waited until his mid-thirties to buy an engagement ring...big step! It deserved intense contemplation. I deserved his full attention to detail.

I'm sharing these memories because this morning I discovered a way to take that exhilaration one step further. Metallurgist and jeweler, Sam Abbay at New York Wedding Ring, teaches couples how to make their own wedding and commitment rings from raw materials. The couples design and create their rings from start to finish. With Sam's guidance they hammer and love their rings into being. I can't think of anything more romantic.

In today's fast paced society we are so disconnected from everything - our loved ones by distance, our food delivered in serving sized packaging, love found on a website that tests compatibility for us, and wedding packages premade to order at the most popular resorts. We don't feel or process our lives nearly enough.

What could be more visceral than touching raw metal, heating it to it's melting point and shaping it into a gift that will be worn for a lifetime, a symbol of all you hold in your heart of this special person? Perfect or slightly blemished from inexperience, the rings essence is truly in your hands. I wish I could recapture this moment in my life. I do it again this way.

It's not cheap and it does take time and effort. There are only two locations to have this experience (New York and San Francisco) with Sam. Those are the drawbacks. The upside is the offer of cultured diamonds and gold alternatives that are just as beautiful and more durable. The ultimate upside is giving from your heart a handmade, tangible symbol of love.

I'm gushing, apparently I need a boost today...and concentrating on the expression of commitment and love is a good way to accomplish it. Browse the New York Wedding Ring website for gorgeous photos of handcrafted rings, happy couples excited to start their lives together, and cool snapshots of the entire process.