Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi friends and visitors!

Just wanted to wish everyone who reads my blog a Merry Christmas or any other holiday that you celebrate. As we're going into Christmas and finishing up 2008, after all the holiday buzz is over it's pretty common to start thinking about resolutions. At least this is true of me. Honestly, I don't remember what my resolutions were last year. But this year I have done more to go offline, to reach out beyond my computer and my own web real estate, such as:

• Connect with more Charlotteans and expand my network here
  
• Wrote my first guest post for Business Pundit
• Joined Brazen Careerist community
• Participated in StartUp Weekend and started a company with complete strangers
  
• Started a 20's and 30's group at my church
• Occasionally help contribute to CLTBlog.com
  
• Gotten more involved with my company (joining committees, taking on extra responsibilities, etc.)
  

It's kind of cool to see my network expand and how far I've come in a year. I have no idea how but someone I got named 1 of 50 top business blogs as well. So from doing all this, here's some of the things I've learned in 2008:

• Sometimes ya just gotta let go and have fun with it. Twitter is not always serious business.
  
• Not everything is always what it seems at first.
• It's ok to hit "Mark all is read" on your Google Reader and walk away from the computer.
  
• Memes might be annoying but they're still really fun.
  
• I will always be a Browns fan.
  
• While I absolutely love the ocean, I have fallen in love with North Carolina mountains.
  
• You can accomplish just about anything with a little creativity.
• Social media is still just a tool, just one means of communicating.
• It's amazing what one or two after-hour networking events can do for you if you just show up, listen and be genuine.
  

And I gotta give out random link love because I absolutely love this interview by Brett Borders with Wayne Sutton. Wayne is an awesome guy and I'm glad to have met him, so just read it already, ok?

In other news, I just updated my blogroll so be sure to scroll down and check it out. I added a lot of people I've been reading, just never got around to updating the thing. There are some really smart folks there (much smarter than me) and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy their blogs and information. So here's thanks to a most excellent 2008 and a cheers to a even greater 2009!

P.S., Have a cookie before you go: