a new year and life lists.

Can it really be true that we're already into February of a year? It seems I've been avoiding this space, but for no particular reason. Before I knew it, Thanksgiving was here and then Christmas and now a new year. But I've been constructing journal entries so much in my mind..

Early December, I spent a weekend on Whidbey Island- now an annual solo mini vacay, a time to recharge my batteries, reflect on the past year, and think about the upcoming one. Maybe it was finally taking that trip I'd dreamed about for years, but I've been thinking a lot about life lists. I've started to finally actually put pen to paper (er, fingers to keyboard) on the life list, and I continue to percolate on what else should be included. I've also spent some time thinking about how I'd like to shape my year and what I'd like it to look like. There are definitely things I'd like to accomplish- geeky things like organizing my photos and recipes that fit with my task-oriented personality; or make a more concerted effort to eat vegetarian at least 4 days a week; larger goals of figuring out a space where I can volunteer and share my passion for the kitchen and garden; or just plain fun things like taking a trapeze class and getting out there hiking again.

One of the kitchen related goals I'd like to do this year is make better use of the enormous cookbook collection that I have. I've got this exercise I do whenever I add a new cookbook to my collection: on the inside cover, I have a post it note with the recipes and corresponding page numbers of what I need to make first, the recipes that really moved me to buy the book. I'm thinking I should take that a step further and choose a cookbook of the month, and have a goal of making at least 3 new recipes from the chosen cookbook each month. Maybe I will also be inspired to share them here.

Regardless, I will try to be a better scribe here..