New Year, New You

Welcome to a new year! You've done it! You survived another year of life, no matter how difficult it seemed at times. Normally I am not one to set goals at the New Year because I don't like to set myself up for failure. Rather, I usually choose a theme for the year and that has served me well. 

A few years ago my theme was YES. I decided to say yes to new opportunities and stretch out of my comfort zone. It was a fun year full of activities I normally wouldn't have done. I managed to arrange a meeting with one of my favorite bloggers who happened to live in the same city as me. I was surprised that it could be that easy to make a real life friend who had previously only been a virtual stranger. My favorite activity though, by far, was the trapeze class I took. It was such a marvelous time and if it hadn't been so expensive per class, I probably would have continued. 

My theme this year is HOPE. I'm looking forward to this year and I do have a lot of hope going into it. The past few months have been a great time of personal and spiritual development and I look forward to seeing where it leads in 2018 and beyond. I am hopeful already and the new year is off to a fun start. 

Now, I am branching out this year and stating some goals that I do hope to start this year even if they aren't accomplished successfully. I spent the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018 watching The Great British Baking Show and have been inspired to start baking. I don't expect to become a master baker by any means, but I hope to be able to bake some of our family's favorite baked goods plus a few other things. 

Baking List

• Croissants
• Baguettes
• Macarons
• A beautiful, simple celebration cake

I am looking forward to my baking journey and I will add to this short list as I go. 

Something I learned over the past few months is how much I crave inspiration and how I can thrive once inspiration has struck. Baking is only one example, but it's a great one. The physical act of creating something from basic ingredients is satisfying and the seemingly endless ways of combining flour, eggs, and sugar into bread or cakes or pastries or biscuits, etcetera is baffling. The list goes on and on. It's bonkers! I love how baking can provide a family legacy and you can feed your family physically as well as create precious memories of spending time in the kitchen with your babies at your feet or attached to you via baby carrier or however you do it and get it done. It's very appealing to my heart right now. 

Another goal is to figure out how to change the picture on my blog. Although the picture of the cat is very nice, I do not own a cat and it seems rather misleading as well as completely random. I'll figure it out eventually, but until then, please enjoy the cat. If you have tips on how to make my blog better, please leave a comment on how I can improve the look and ideas for topics. I don't know what I'm doing yet, so any tips are helpful at this juncture. 

Happy New Year!! What are your goals for the New Year? Do you have any traditions?