Goodbye year two-oh-oh-seven. Hello me trying to start running. That's my new fitness goal, and I'm taking it very seriously.  After an amazing visit with my new friends at South Sound Running (I'm never buying a running shoe anywhere else), I took the mini-me down to Grassi's Flowers & Gifts and Garden Cafe for a little girl time and tea. Oh, and some lunch. If you consider a little lettuce with your Caesar dressing, then yeah, I took a couple of bites of lunch.

I felt my tummy rumble, paid quickly, and then headed down to the bathroom. Yep, you have to go downstairs, through some piles of stuffed animals, over multiple racks of clothes and through the jungle of a florist area. So don't wait until the last minute if you have to drain the vain whilst at Grassi's.

The bathroom was really charming and way comforting to my over-lactosed-lunch I was now dealing with. My daughter held her nose while I sat and pondered the top 10 things I've learned in the year 2007.

1. Avoid minivans in drive-throughs at all costs. Soccer moms in minivans and Steph DeRosa don't mix, especially when they are filled with undisciplined nose pickers.
2. There is no way on earth, no matter how hard you try, to make a PT Cruiser look appealing. No matter how much fake wood paneling, red flames on the sides or corporate logos on the doors, you look like a total asshole when you drive a PT Cruiser.
3. If you simply spread your legs, put your arms up at shoulder level, then hop up and down and side to side, you can pretty much master any hip-hop dance that is out there.
4. Nobody can hear you when you fart while running on the treadmill. Trust me.
5. My underarm hair grows at an alarmingly fast rate of 1/month.
6. It's possible to get a parking ticket in front of the Grand Cinema for being a couple of inches in the red. City of Tacoma Parking Nazi's! Take your f***ing thirty dollars! F-U! (See actual picture.)
7. the view from on top of the stage at the Gorge Amphitheater is amazing. I'll tell you how I know this later. Get ready to be jealous.
8. Women are bitches. And I'm one of them. There, now you've learned something in the year 2007 as well. Consider it a lesson and a warning.
9. The TNT considers Kevin Freitas more picture worthy in a Soundlife cover story about the Tacoma Beer Society than the actual FOUNDERS of the Tacoma Beer Society. This leads me to believe that Mr. Freitas is somewhat of a picture whore. Hmpf.
10. Money cannot buy you happiness, nor can it buy you the thinking man statue at Wright Park. That thing's not for sale. But I guarantee if you offer any guy at a bar $20 for the shirt off his back, he'll sell it to you. Try it. I dare you.

So I wash my hands, spray the Febreeze (Who the hell puts Febreeze in a bathroom? Get some Glade, people), and resuscitate my daughter. Of all the things I've learned this year, the most important thing is to be thankful for what I have. Well, be thankful for what I have aaaand life is fun when you have a fast car and don't wear panties.

Dare to be daring in 2008!¬" Steph DeRosa