The most wonderful day of the year..

Today was St. Patrick's day (or, more accurately, St. Guinness day as my dear friend calls it), which is in my opinion one of the best days of the year. It's the perfect holiday if you think about it: The whole day revolves around good food, good music and tasty drinks without the obligations of gift-giving, religious observation or making the rounds to passive-aggressive family members. If only every holiday were like this.

Since I didn't go out or get intoxicated with friends (this year...) I made a batch of beef stew for dinner and two beautiful loaves of Soda bread. True to my nature, I didn't take photos, but I *will* share the recipe, which I advise you to make since it is pure amazingness.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a pan with butter and then lightly coat it in flour.

Dry ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into very tiny cubes

Wet ingredients:
1 egg
1 3/4 cups buttermilk

Combine all dry ingredients into one bowl. Mix egg and buttermilk together in separate bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and kneed until a ball is formed. place in pan, slice an 'x' into the top, and pop it in the oven for 25-35 minutes. Let it cool and bask in the glory of the soda bread. If you have a jar of blueberry preserves lying around, use it. Your life will never be the same (it will immediately improve).

Droppy McDropperson

I have dropped everything today. A plate of eggs, a knife, and just now, my computer. Blame it on muscle tone or the solar storm, but I've been an awful klutz all day. Maybe a good nights sleep will help me out on this one.

Real Adults.

Facebook has become a depressing place as of late. Between the wedding plans, baby announcements and party pictures, I've grudgingly come to accept that my friends and I are evolving into real adults at an alarming rate. I'm happy for everyone, don't get me wrong, but I feel like I've missed something. I was 12, 15... and now I'm close to 21. I must have blinked somewhere, though I can't pinpoint it. Does it ever slow down, or will it be a whirlwind until I'm finally sitting in a rocking chair, telling my grandchildren about the year 2012? I've decided that I'm going to do my best to enjoy it as much as possible, even if Father Time won't yield to my demands.

Hello, I'm a bad blogger.

Alright, let's be honest here.. I suck at this. Blogging just doesn't seem to be my thing. I've never been good at keeping a written record of anything, hence the numerous five-page long diaries taking up space in the draws of my cabin bed. I get super excited to start a new project and then it flat lines- I do this with most things. I'll write when I have something interesting to say, but I can't promise much. Sorry.

Lackluster lundi.

I've had a rough few days. I've been anxious, depressed and all around a big ball of anti-fun. I can't really explain why I get like this now and then, but it's always a drag because one part of my mind can't be bothered while another part is yelling to just get up and go. There's a good chance it can be attributed to a mix of the weather, the pile of paperwork I wake up to every morning and my habit of playing armchair psychologist even when I could use one myself. I've felt detached from everything, even as I do it. It's like I'm watching everything through a pair of foggy binoculars. Luckily, I think I'm on the downside and should be able to get myself back together soon- if I look close enough I can see a pattern emerge every time I feel adrift like I do. It'll go away and come back again, just as always, but I suppose that's how it's supposed to be.

Toothy woes.

A while ago I was told I have a rare tooth problem, where a few of my teeth formed in the wrong positions before growing in. Most of them have worked themselves out, but there is one particular on the upper right part of my mouth where it hasn't. Currently, I have two canine teeth in a row, with no bicuspid where there should be one. I was told I'd need dental surgery to pull one of the canine's and get the bicuspid which was lodged above the rest of my teeth. Recently though, the tooth began to move down and now I have a turf war in my mouth (oh, the jokes that could be made...). I tell you this, because despite the fact that I'm 20 years old, and I *should* have been done with this years ago, I keep wiggling it like I'm 8 again, and it's a really weird feeling which has distracted me for a while. It snags on everything, so naturally I've been trying everything to get rid of it once and for all. Biting apples, chewing gum, brushing it obsessively, etc. I'm almost tempted to let my brother tie it to a doorknob like he's been begging me to do.

Too bad the tooth fairy doesn't make house calls for adults.. could've scored big with this one.

Spring ahead.

I am finally all caught up on my work (soon to be flogged down by more this weekend), so today I went out to a local clothing shop with my mom for some light browsing, not intending to get anything. While there, we found some really cute clothes, and I wound up getting a pair of spring-length sweatpants, a tank top and a cute floral skirt. When we got home, I flipped on the weather channel and learned that apparently, we are in for cold weather and a little snow tonight. Oh, that's right... it's still February. I guess I jumped ahead of myself there.

Looking at a long week.

I can't believe the amount of work that has piled up this past week. A few days ago my to-do list was down to just a few run of the mill things I do every week (homework, reading, etc.) but suddenly I've got a list at-least half a page long. My list-writing habit may be the end of me after this one.

Pinteresting!

Has anyone heard of the website Pinterest.com? If not, it's an interesting site where there are thousands of photos that can be 'pinned' to a virtual board where they are saved. It sounds a bit strange, but honestly, it's quickly becoming one of my favorite websites ever. There are photos which link to articles and tutorials about just about everything. This site plays to people's inner voyeurism, so naturally more and more people are flocking to it. I was lucky enough to get an invite, which is the only way to sign up (anyone who wants one just has to comment with an email address) and I've been browsing around the last few days. I've become a bit addicted though, so I think I'll have to limit how long I allow myself on there from now on. Whoops. What's great about it is that it allows you to explore pretty much any topic, be it crafts, design, fashion, cooking, etc. I've already compiled a long list, or board, of things I'd like to make which I'll have to add to yet another of my ever-expanding lists of things I'd like to try out. Might have to consolidate those...

On the downturn.

Sorry I've been absent so long. The last few days have been full of sneezing, body aches and whining about how cold I was under 238948734 blankets. It's flu season here and it hit me pretty hard. In the past 48 hours, I have slept, literally, atleast 24. For someone who typically doesn't sleep well, that is a huge deal for me. During my waking hours, I've been attempting to have something slightly resembling conversations with my equally-ill mother which have gone something like this:
Mom: "I feel like shit".
Me: "mmhmm"
*five minutes later*
Me: "I feel like shit"
Mom: "me too..."

Everything still hurts, but it should be subsiding soon. Hopefully.

ARGH!

Sorry I haven't been here the last few days- I'm sick. Typically, the winter doesn't take such a toll on me, but for some reason I've been down for the count this week. As of now, I have a fever, chills, aches, and all the other beautiful symptoms that go along with cold-like-illnesses. I haven't felt this bad since I had Swine Flu in 2009. Lovely.

Sincere Appologies.

Apparently there's a virus going around lately. Naturally I wound up with it. Sorry for yet another lag in posts- I promise I'll do a better job of it when I'm feeling a bit better.

Grease (not the lightning variety).

Here's a word to the wise: don't get hot pork grease on your face. It hurts like a bastard.
I did this today while breaking up some pulled pork. The grease shot up and landed on my chin, right cheek and right eyelid. Now my face hurts (go ahead, the joke is already set up...).
I'm going to put a cool cloth on my face and hope I don't wake up with blisters this time, though I think that's wishful thinking.

Celebration of Solitude (Official Name Pending).

I love holidays.
I'll find pretty much any reason to celebrate anything, and I like to go as far as I can with it. I spend months planning out Thanksgiving and Christmas, and will even go so far as to wear green, plan a special meal and blast irish music in the days leading up to St. Patrics day. The only holiday I am continuously underwhelmed by is Valentine's day (don't worry, the irony is not lost on me). I am not one of those people who typically thinks it's sweet to see the happy couples rubbing my face in the fact that they're paired up while I'm all by my lonesome. I'm not jealous, but I always feel a bit left out. There's no day to celebrate the single life, so from now on, I think I'll begin celebrating it myself. I'm aiming for sometime in June since I've always thought of it as the loneliest month of the year for it's lack of celebration. There's no reason single people should be completely excluded just because the greeting card companies haven't found a way to profit from them. I haven't come up with a date yet, but I will.
I'll even make cupcakes.

Aww, schucks!

100 views! I've had this blog for just over a month, and already hit the triple digits. That is seriously cool.
Thanks guys!

Jinxed.

If you haven't heard already, the New York Giants won the 2012 Superbowl. I was only half-watching the game, until the very last few minutes. The game is divided into four quarters of 15 minutes each, and there is a halftime between the second and third quarters. The very beginning of the game saw the New York Giants winning, which distressed my brother slightly, seeing as he is very much a Patriots fan. Luckily for him, they were able to gain a lead before halftime, and even maintained it almost to the very end.

We were watching the last few minutes of the game when the Giants jumped ahead yet again with the ball in their possession.

At about 1 minute and 4 seconds, my mother says "Oh don't worry- the Patriots are going to win".

At about one minute and two seconds, they scored the touchdown they needed to finally surpass the Patriots.

The look on my brothers face was priceless, and he spent the remainder of the night giving my mother the evil eye and shaking his head mournfully. Why, oh why, would you say that? Especially a minute before the game is to end...

Super Bowl 46 (I think).

The Superbowl will be played later today. For those of you who don't follow American football- lucky you. Despite the fact that it is only *technically* an hour long, it lasts forever due to all the time outs. This years game is between the New York Giants and New England Patriots, which will break the monotony a little since they have a fair number of hot guys between them. I haven't decided which team I'll root for since I simply don't care, but I'm leaning more towards the Giants to annoy my brother, who is a devoted Patriots fan.

Either way, may the best team win! Now bring on the funny commercials!

No Shadows Please.

Happy Groundhog Day Everyone!

It's a semi-ridiculous made up holiday, but it's a North American tradition for anyone who is unaware. The story goes that if, when the groundhog comes up from his burrough, he sees a shadow, winter will last for another six weeks. There's no scientific credence to this logic, but it's entertaining to see mayors of cities around the nation exclaiming over a small ground-dwelling creature every February. This year, I'm hoping winter will whisk away without much of a fuss, because while I truly adore cold and snow, I don't want to spend the next few weeks freezing my tush off. Since our furnace went out last week, we've been doing more than enough of that, so for the first time in my life I honestly hope winter ends soon.

Though, on the bright side, if Mr. Groundhog predicts a rambling winter, it'll give me more of an opportunity to make nice warm batches of bread before the heat makes baking unbearable. There's always an upside I suppose.

M-O-U-S-E.

There's a mouse in this house.
We live in the country, so I'm not surprised, but every once in a while I can hear it.
The scurrying is getting to me. The fact that I've been outsmarted by a mouse is even worse.
We had two in the past six months- they creep in through open doors and basement windows- but this is too much for me. I don't like mice, even when they've been dubbed with cute names like Nikolai, Malachi and Ron. I don't want to hurt it, but I'm running out of ways to catch it.
I'm pretty sure humans are supposed to outsmart mice, not the other way around.

Today, I'm weary and tired.

Have you ever found yourself suddenly, unexpectedly anxious? Every once in a while I will be overwhelmed by panic, as if the walls are closing in and I can feel my heart trying to escape my chest, and then as soon as it began, it's gone. It is exhausting.

Quiz Mastery.

My brother and I are currently embroiled in a sporcle war (taking a re-fueling break at the moment) and I just whooped his tush in the quiz "can you name the countries of Europe?" The quiz gives 8 minutes to name the 47 European nations, including micro nations. He scored 29/47 by the time it ran out. I got all of them with 4:46 minutes left to spare- boo ya!

Now for more quiz-sparring. Huzzah!

Deja Vu.

Today was spent researching colleges. Again. I've now done this just about ever few months for the last four months. At this point, I truly feel like I've become a professional college researcher. Maybe I should skip college all together and just become a college finder for others... Fingers crossed, this will be the last time I have to search for a school to get an undergraduate degree though. This is just getting ridiculous.

Just in Time.

I have a strange affinity for completing assignments within minutes of them being due. In high school, I used to refer to my Advanced Placement classes as an education in Advanced Procrastination. Last semester I didn't begin my term papers or final projects until the day I had to hand them in. I can't tell you why I'm such a terrible procrastinator, but for some reason it seems to work for me. One of these days this habit will bite me in the ass, but until then, I'm going to keep testing the limits. Tonight, I began an assignment at 11:03PM, knowing it was due at midnight. I've known about it for well over a week, and it's for my international business class which I really do enjoy. Seeing as it was the first homework assignment, most people would try to give themselves the most possible time so they made a good impression. Obviously, I'm not most people... I waited as long as possible, knowing that this professor expects highly detailed responses from his students. I answered the questions as quickly (though effectively) as possible, and was able to submit the properly spaced, spell-checked assignment at 11:57. Now, I don't wish to boast about what I perceive to be a major win, but I'd just like to say one thing: Fuck yeah! That is a new personal record considering the length and quality of the work. I just love to race against the clock like that. I know it's foolish and I'm bound to loose to father time, but for the moment, I have to bask in the glory of success. It really is the small things in life...

Merci Beacoup.

I'm sorry I've been absent the last two days. I was suddenly hit with an onslaught of homework and other things to occupy my time. I will keep up with this to the best of my ability, and hopefully with more interesting posts. Thanks for hanging in there.

Simply Said.

Tired. Cold. Must sleep. Tomorrow will bring more adventures.

Birds of a Feather.

Today I woke up to a lovely, yet insufficient-to-cancel-my-class dusting of snow. When I arrived, we were given a basic run through of what the class would entail. The instructor seems very nice and I believe we'll have a good semester. Since it's a social psychology class, we'll be doing a fair amount of social activities within the class and as projects. The first of them was an ice-breaker which involved these loud rubber chickens that squawk. The object of the game was to learn each others names through repeatedly tossing these chickens both forward and backwards around the circle, proving the name "flipping the bird" rather appropriate (the alternate name is "Choking the chicken", of course). It wasn't a terribly useful game, but I did learn one thing: I can not throw. I hit one of my classmates in the head four times. Whoops.

Yes, this was the highlight of my day. No, I'm not proud.

On another avian-related note: If people who are in in love are called "Love Birds", shouldn't couples who fight be called "Angry Birds?" Bahaha.

No, I'm not particularly proud of that either.

Homework Time.

I did my first homework assignment of the new semester this afternoon, and it actually feels kind of good. I'm only taking four online classes this semester, as opposed to six last time, so I'm going to hold myself to higher standards as far as keeping myself on track with handing in assignments and such. Tomorrow we're in for our first decent snow of the winter (about 4-7 inches in total) so this may mean my once-a-month class will be cancelled. Whoops. I guess mother nature would prefer I use my talents to shovel rather than studying tomorrow. Seems like a good plan to me (assuming I don't have to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn to find out).

Censorship in America.

Since all of my readers are in Europe, I don't know how many of you have heard of this hot-topic. Tomorrow the U.S. government is set to decide whether or not to pass the SOPA and PIPA acts. In short, these acts were proposed to protect anyone who creates anything from copy write infringement. While I applaud the idea that individual's content should be protected, there is a major problem with the way the government plan on going about it. Anyone who dares to use an image or something they found on the internet may be reported to authorities, and if someone has ten strikes in a period of six months, they can risk a prison sentence of up to five years. Now, I've always tried to cite images and information, but who hasn't grabbed the first Google search result they could find to use in a project or presentation? Even blogs and small business websites may be subject to these laws, making it more difficult to share ideas and contribute on a larger scale. Of course I've signed the petitions against it and written my representatives as asked. I've even tried to raise awareness of this using social media as many are doing today, but I'm a bit concerned about how much impact any of this will really have. This is all a very scary concept for someone who was brought up to believe the government couldn't impose their will on private lives for the sake of it. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but this whole situation has a distinct "Big Brother is Watching" undertone to it which is a little difficult to grasp. I'm not hard-pressed to imagine that if these bills do in fact pass, it will only be the beginning of real censorship in America unlike anything we've ever seen.

London Love.

I've been watching the Travel channel sporadically throughout the day, because as anyone who knows me knows, I have a serious case of wander lust. I want to see and do everything I can. There is literally a list tucked safely in my email inbox that is chock-full of all the adventures I've planned. Barely a country will be unvisited if I get my way- see the northern lights in Iceland, experience Holi in India, go zorbing through New Zealand, fly fish in Mongolia...I want to do it all. To do this, I will have to begin now, which is why I'm trying to plan a visit to London before this years Olympic games cause the cost of plane fare to skyrocket. This should be a bit of a challenge, but there's no time like the present to begin my adventures, so I'm excited. I don't have a specifically ordered list of which countries I will visit, though I know I'd love England to be the first. I'm an unapologetic anglophile in almost every sense of the word (mock me if you must, but I enjoy every second of it), and can't wait to see London in person. The furthest I've ever been is New Hampshire, and I've yet to see an airport, let alone sit on a plane, so if I could make a trip abroad happen this year, that would absolutely be a welcome change of pace. Especially to London.

Nom Nom Nom

This evening I decided I'd make my favorite homemade stir-fry thing. I honestly don't know what to call it, but it's tasty. I put on some brown rice on the stove to cook while I sliced up some carrots, onions, garlic and broccoli. I put a little oil in the pan and turned up the heat to medium high. When it was warm enough, I added the onions and garlic. After they started to brown, I added the carrots and broccoli with some onion powder, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano (all by sight based on what appeals to you). I also added a hefty spoonful of minced garlic because it adds a really nice nutty taste (and most importantly because I'm a not-so-secret garlic lover). Then I threw in about a tablespoon of cubed butter around the pan and just let it cook until the broccoli florets began to brown a bit and the carrots were tender. Then I added the cooked rice and voila! You can add some cheddar or Parmesan cheese to it, but it can certainly hold it's own without it. This is so good that I have made this at least once a week for the past month or so. I promise I'll take some photos next time- it's pretty as well as tasty.

Pain in the eye.

Hello all. Yesterday I woke up feeling positive that I had caught pink eye for the first time. My brother had some friends over last weekend, and they had their germ riddled hands all over everything. My right eyelid would only open half way, and a dark bruise like mark is on the inside of the upper eyelid. As the day went on, my eye improved, and I figured I had just bruised it. I've been able to open my eye about 80% of the way today, though now the inside corner of my left eye had begun to hurt with mild pressure. I have no idea why, but it's really getting on my nerves. Oi veigh. I hope everyone else is having a better night than I am.

Prison Time.

Has anyone seen the show Beyond Scared Straight? This show introduces at-risk teenagers and young adults to the realities of prison. Most of these teenagers are insolent and arrogant, while deluding themselves into thinking they're 'hard'. When they're brought into the prison and shown what life is really like behind bars, their faces are absolutely hysterical. Of course some of them try to keep up their tough exterior, but a surprising proportion of them look like they want to run home to their mommy. I don't know what will become of them in the long run, but this program seems like an incredible second chance for many of these kids. Now, I could never imagine being in that position, mainly because I was raised by the daughter of a correction officer who has no tolerance for misbehavior like that, but I imagine if I were in that position and being offered a second chance, I'd do everything I could to take it. What baffles me most is the complete lack of interest in most of these kids. I understand bad childhoods and situations can lead people astray, though I'll never understand the stagnant emotions that lead them to simply not care about their futures. Whatever their reasons, I do hope they will one day get back on track, and until then, I will be entertained by their prisoner-induced-fear.

Snow Day.

Today I woke up to a beautiful layer of snow. It isn't deep, but it's beautiful. The sky is this beautiful grey color and illuminates everything in a completely unique-to-snowy-days way. I don't even mind shoveling our driveway (ok, I mind a little, but it's stupid-long. At about 100 feet, it gets ridiculous after a while). We haven't gotten a lot of snow so far, but hopefully we'll see a few feet soon. For now I'll procrastinate the shoveling and heavy-ish labor until someone can keep me company out there. Bring on the hot tea and movies!

Wrong.

As of today I am 20 years, 5 months and 16 days old. However, I was asked by my brothers friends mother which grade I am in. She was referring to High School, because apparently I didn't look much older than the fourteen year old boys playing with legos a few rooms away. Now, I'm not all that surprised that she couldn't guess my age since most people seem to struggle to do so, though the astonished face when I share my real age is becoming a bit mundane. For almost all of my childhood I looked a good few years older than my classmates, to the point that my mother once had to bring my birth certificate with her to prove to a nasty movie theater attendant that I was, in fact, just nine years old, opposed to "at least fifteen" as she had argued. It seems however my visual appearance has regressed somewhat, seeing as the last time I went to the dentist, one of the very kind nurses asked if I wanted my mom to come hold my hand. I'll have to see what I can do to make myself look my age, because as flattering as it may be later on, right now it's a a giant pain in the ass.

Attempting Tabbouleh.

Today I made a dish I recently found online. It's called Tabbouleh (though I couldn't tell you how to pronounce it). It consists of bulgur wheat or couscous mixed with an array of fresh herbs such as basil, mint and green onions. I added a bit of tomato and dressed it with a lemon and olive oil mix. It was surprisingly tasty and is completely adjustable to taste depending on personal preference. It's also somewhat healthy, so it's a nice way of breaking up the monotony. I think next time I'll add more veggies and leave out a bit of the grain factor, since I wasn't crazy about the texture.

And thus begins the recipe portion of this blog, though I'm doubtful it'll be a common factor.However, I promise next time I'll take photos, because it's a really pretty salad.

So Many Ideas.

I have so many ideas running through my head at every moment of the day. It's surprising how much one person can think during mundane tasks. In the time it took me to brush my teeth this morning, I mentally planned out a trip to Iceland and considered creating my own business. The problem is that no matter how many lists I write, or mental commitments I make, all of my grand ideas roll around in one jumbled mess. I never used to be as scatter brained as I feel I've become. Don't get me wrong- I still keep commitments and stay on top of my responsibilities, but in the past year or so I've begun to really understand the many opportunities open to me, and I can't help but to become excited about the possibilities. This may have something to do with the fact I have no idea what to do with my life. For years it was mapped out, and then I changed the plans. Now I have pro/con lists littering my bedroom floor for almost any career I can think of. I know I have plenty of time to really decide (and on the other hand, I'm rapidly approaching the point at which I won't be able to say that anymore) but the limitlessness of my ideas an incredible feeling. Should I become a 9-5 pencil pusher, or should I learn how to make shoes? Admittedly, I'm not particularly fond of either route, but it's the process that counts...

Thoughts on Acting

After watching the gag reels of the Big Bang Theory- which is, I should say, my favorite show- I wonder if I'd be able to cut it as an actress. I've never been all that interested in acting in general, but it doesn't strike me as being all that difficult. Of course given my history with stage production (a different story for a different time), I should cut my losses now and never think of it again. I doubt I'd ever be involved with any sort of acting, but it just seems as if it wouldn't be a hard skill to master to some extent.
Maybe one day I'll give it another a try and report my personal findings.

Mind Boggled.

Last night I tossed and turned all evening. I had strange dreams throughout my bouts of broken sleep. The most notable consisting of sitting in my bathroom with two friends of mine while we watched an orange miniature alligator eat my shoe.

Can anyone explain this? Do I hate my shoes and want them to be eaten, or do my orange mind-alligators simply have a taste for rubber soles? I won't even ask for opinions about the bathroom setting... I don't think I care to know.



Psychoanalysis can begin...... NOW.

Bedtime Stories

Last night I found myself freezing cold, despite being under a couple of cozy blankets. My body was achy and I was ready to hit the hay (just as I am now incidentally). Before I did however, I decided I'd do some light reading through a book I recently received for Christmas called "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" by Alison Weir.
Now, anyone who knows me knows I enjoy most historical based literature, especially Tudor history, so this book is right up my alley. Thus far I'm roughly 160 pages into it, and just getting into the nitty-gritty details of the Anne Boleyn saga. The writing is fluid and paints a perfect mental image for me, which is quite a feat in itself. After learning the author has a similar book about the heirs to the Tudor throne called "The Children of Henry VIII", I've already caught myself considering breaking one of my New Years Resolutions (don't look at me like that).

Now I'm going to see how much I can polish off before falling asleep. Hopefully this time I can manage to strategically place the book in a way that won't cause me to wake up to a cameo of King Henry VIII. That's not the first face I recommend seeing in the morning.

Finders Keepers!

Sometimes I really hate technology, but today I'm actually quite fond.

This morning I decided to drum up some extra money for my travel fund by selling the old text books that are piling up around the house. Considering I've shelled out hundreds of dollars on them in the past few years, I figured I might try to get a little something back. While I was online, I decided to check my pay-pal account and realized I had a few bucks just sitting there since the last time I sold something in August 2010. Admittedly, it wasn't much, but it's just like finding $5 in the pocket of an old pair of jeans- it's a really awesome feeling.

Admittedly, it's not "technology" that provided the found money, but my previous forgetfulness, but hey, it still made my day.

It's the little things in life...

A Brand New Year.

Hello.
Today is January 2nd, 2012. While I'm sad that the Christmas decorations are down, and the music has reverted back to being terrible, I'm also excited for the promise of a new start January holds. Every year presents an opportunity to see your life through a fresh set of eyes, which is incredibly appealing if you think about it. This year I have decided to set some goals for myself. While I'm not typically prone to making (or keeping) New Years Resolutions, I'm feeling optimistic about this years batch.

So far I've settled on these goals, though the list may change over time. (Who says resolutions can only be set on New Years day?)

-Develop a healthier relationship with food. I am not going to use food as a source of comfort, punishment, or guilt.
-Travel to another country. Preferably England, but Canada if I have to.
-Exercise for 30 minutes a day, increasing increments by 5 minutes a day until I have reached 1 hour. Then maintain.
-Read the books I have in my book closet before embarking on any more. (Exception being any books gifted to me for any reason, and of course, text books).
Do atleast one craft project a week.
-Learn to sew on a sewing machine.
-Learn to play one song on keyboard.
-Volunteer atleast three times.

I suppose time will tell just how many of these stick.