Happy New Year! Happy fantastic-shopping-deals! Happy diet! Happy fresh start on your life, and happy birthday to me. Twenty-Twelve brings so much hope for our country, our community and each of us individually. Each new year offers an excellent opportunity to access the past year and make goals. Resolutions can be broken or forgotten, but goals are always reached. Maybe not 100%, but to some degree we can work toward our goals each year.

Now is the time to get all the things you wanted for Christmas and didn’t get! The shops and businesses in Granbury are beginning the New Year with the lowest prices ever. Life can’t get any better than beautiful fashions, friendly shop-owners and low prices.

Dieting goes with January like ice cream goes with cake. Ooops! I’m sorry I mentioned cake. I decided not to diet ever again. However, in December I started a weight management program—not to be skinny, to be healthy. Since the first of December, I’ve lost about 20 pounds. No pills or weird stuff. There are many new holistic ways to feel great. Good health is a priceless procession.

A great goal for the new year is to find ways to improve your health. Check out the great places to eat in the article about our restaurants and order one of my favorite dishes.

I’ll be celebrating my birthday in January. In the past I’ve mentioned that I choose a Birthday Person each year, someone who has enriched my life. I give them a gift and a letter explaining why they are my birthday person and thanking them for all the things they have done for me. This is one of my favorite rituals. It makes my birthday fun again. Some years I choose more than one person.

January also marks my seventh year as editor of Granbury Showcase Magazine. Having this opportunity to showcase our communities, to make new friends and share stories with all of you has enhanced my life greatly. My birthday people for 2012 include you, my readers. Thank you for spending part of your precious time on earth reading my work. Thank you for the comments you send me and for the stories you share. You have changed my life in ways you will never know. Your love stories, life stories and hopes for the future make me smile.

My other birthday person is someone I met because of the magazine, then grew to love as neighbor in Pecan – Sandi Hamilton. She lifted me up in prayer and encouraged me to “Trust in the Lord with all my heart…” She helped me through a very dark time and I so appreciate her. We never know when simple kindnesses can help lift someone from a miry pit.

We are celebrating our courthouses this month. The courthouses of Hood and Somervell Counties stand as icons to who we are. Take a tour and continue to support restoration of these beautiful buildings. I also hope you enjoy the story about my new friends in the ROMEO Club. These men know how to have fun. I played baseball with them and got a few good hits. That pitcher may be short but he’s tough.

This year we will all decide if we want our country to continue on its current path or go a different direction. We will celebrate our freedom by voting for our leaders. We have plenty of time to decide who can best lead us. We can also choose to be kind and respectful to those that hold different political views, listening carefully and making up our own mind.

Email me at granburyshowcase@yahoo.com. Let me know what you think of the last seven years of Granbury Showcase Magazine and what you want to see in the next seven.

I see signs going up in the windows all over town. Big Sale! Half Off! Ladies start your engines. Happy New Year!

Posted in: Entertainment, From the Editor, Showcase Articles by PrintOne /