So it's the morning of New Year's Eve and I thought this would be the perfect time to go over some of my resolutions for the upcoming year.

Usually I am not very good at keeping my resolutions, but this year I am going to try my hardest to stick to them.   This past year has been so hectic, and if 2009 proves to be anything like to 2008, I'm going to have to put forth even more of an effort to keep these!  My resolutions are the following...

1. Be more punctual.
2. Make more time for myself.
3. Read at least one new book a month.
4. Learn a foreign language (I hear the best way to do so is by submerging yourself entirely and definitely getting Rosetta Stone! haha).

Last but certainly not least, my fifth and most important resolution is to visit three of the seven continents and contribute in a charitable way. I've been doing a lot of charity this holiday season and seeing children smile is addictive. : )

What are some of your guys' New Year's resolutions??

So here is a picture of one of my closets ~ I know it looks like a complete train wreck but I tore it apart for a good cause haha.  I actually went through all of my closets and gathered tons of clothes, shoes, hats, scarves etc. and gave all of it to charity.  I really hope that they make someone's christmas =)!

Merry almost Christmas!!!

Well sort of. Earlier this week I attended the Firefighter Cancer Support Network's first annual Together We Can 2008 Gala Dinner. It's such an amazing organization! The FCSN helps support firefighters and their families who are diagnosed with any form of cancer.

During the evening there was a silent auction and a live auction. I helped hand out items to the winners while Jay Leno and Rick Chambers did the auctioning. It was a lot of fun, especially because I knew we were helping others. :)

Check out all the photos in the gallery. My family took a bunch!

I had the opportunity to surprise my high school language arts teacher, Ms. Petitt on Thursday with a huge box of office supplies courtesy of Office Max and their A Day Made Better campaign. She was SHOCKED and so happy!! We even gave her a new leather desk chair and digital camera!

It was so great going back to my old school and giving back to someone who has inspired so many -- including me! Ms. Petitt was one of my favorite teachers so it was a great feeling to see the look on her face as we brought in balloons and cake to celebrate with her whole class.

I found out that Office Max surprised over 1300 teachers this week in schools all over the country, and I feel very honored to be part of such a cool program!

I want to shine some light on an extremely important, not to mention incredibly overlooked issue that most of us don't even think twice about! Ending the tragedy of homeless animals...

It means a lot to me because I grew up in a home where my mother couldn't pass up a hurt or abandoned animal. We were always nursing some furry creature back to health. On our mission to find a happy home for a kitten we found abandoned and badly injured in the desert, we inspired my Aunt Connie's intense passion for feral cats! Haha! That may sound silly but twelve years later my aunt still has her kitty named Dakota. She also has about twenty other stray kitties all over town she provides food and water for.

I've always admired my mother's compassion for stray animals, yet I'm very allergic to cats (there is actually a funny deleted scene on The Hills Season Three DVD where my younger sister Casey and I shave Lauren's cat to try and help my allergies!).

I was inspired by my aunt's own selfless ambition and I wanted to do something to help! My aunt turned me onto an amazing organization called Clinico. It's based in Los Angeles, but God knows we need these all over the world.

My aunt actually used to set up opossum traps to catch feral cats around her office and bring them into the vet. She'd pay out of her own pocket (around $250 per kitty!) to have them spayed/neutered because she felt so terrible about their living conditions. Then came the Clinico organization and she was excited to be able to continue her efforts in helping put a stop to this tragedy without going broke! It's an awesome way to greatly reduce the number of unwanted cats and dogs, preventing shelter overpopulation and the euthanization of helpless animals!

Just to give an example, on their website they state, "In 2005, Los Angeles animal shelters took in 203,629 dogs and cats. Of that number, 98,241 were euthanized."

Clinico not only provides a high quality clinic to spay/neuter, but if you guys have pets they also offer flea medication, rabies shots (only $8) and all kinds of incredibly low cost services. I know I can't go to an animal shelter without wanting to take home every cute dog/cat I see and save them, so this is a way I feel we can all help out. Even if you can't donate, you can take care of your own furry best friend for a lot less money than your regular vet!

You can take the money you save and get a male cat neutered. With the price of gas these days if you rode a bike whenever possible (while getting some good exercise) you would be preventing thousands of homeless cats and dogs!

Please check out their website and help spread the word. If you don't think that this issue effects you, think again. You will find tons of convincing facts on Clinico.org!