Welcome to 2012

The first day of a new year is time for reflections and resolutions, and while I have never been a big believer in the latter, I do participate in quite a lot of the former.  In my mind, my post about 2011 was long and profound...which is why I should, perhaps, leave it for another day.  Today I am not feeling long and profound, just sleepy and happy, and that should suffice for now.

Honey and I greeted this first day of 2012 with a smile because the day greeted us with sunshine. This is rather unusual for the Pacific Northwest at this time of year and very odd when compared to our recent weather.  Even more strange was that it felt cool, like the end of September, not cold like the beginning of January.  We decided to go for a walk, a long walk to help Lotus stretch her legs and to explore a bit of an historic trail now that we have a nice camera.

Trolley Trail

It was a perfect day for a walk and as we walked we discussed plans for the day, which of course, because today is January 1, involved a bit of talking about plans for the new year.  I shared how I haven't been able to find my word for the year yet.  Last year was all about living with intention, something that still needs a bit of work on my part (I was very mindful about how I was not always intentional -- funny how that works, isn't it?).  But I can't just pick the same word for 2012, can I?  So if intention is not my word, what is?  I don't know, but this month I'm on a quest to discover it.

Part of the quest will involve me being more intentional about what I am doing.  This month I want to blog every day (a habit I dropped last year), participate in the 30 Day Photography Challenge and 31 Days to a Better Photograph, since we now have a nice camera and I want to know how to use it.

We're blurry! And I need longer arms!

I love decluttering and organizing, so when I saw that a lovely lady put together a 2012 Declutter Calendar with a simple task for every day of the year, of course I decided to jump on that bandwagon.  Cleaner, more organized, happier me, here I come!

More plans for the year?

• Finish The Artist's Way and blog about it.
• Read Science of the Mind and find someone with whom I can talk to about it.
• Read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and consider participation in a book club.
• Write notes and letters more often.
• Decide how much time and effort to put into relationships and what kind of relationships I want.
• Find a doggy day care where Lotus feels comfortable so that I don't have to rely on unreliable family when I want or need to go out of town.
• Craft more.
• Blog more.
• Spend less.
• Produce income.
• Improve my gardening and canning process.
• Take classes that increase my self awareness.
• Learn a new skill.
• Figure out what I want to do for a career.
• Journal daily.

Most importantly, perhaps, find a goal for the year.  I need to think about who I am and where I want to be and how I am going to get there.  It looks like January will be a busy month.