New Growth in 2011

One really wouldn’t be able to tell how excited and motivated I feel about 2011 by looking at me today. With holiday time off from work it has been permanent jammie mode around here. But that doesn’t mean I’ve been unproductive. Jammies just happen to be the preferred clothing for productivity, or so it seems.

We’ve cleaned out our back bedroom which has been sitting full of boxes since we moved into our house last February. It is now a place where I can take pictures, and should we have more than two guests, he or she can actually sleep in there without fear that a giant spider may climb out of a box and swallow them alive. Kentucky spiders are huge, by the way.

We took advantage of the warm weather and took down all of the Christmas decorations, organizing our storage tubs and storage space in the process. I even went through my piles of magazine recipes, categorized them and created a binder.

I know. We’re really on top of our game around here.

So even though I look like a lazy bum today, I’m feeling rather organized and inspired to start off this new year. Of course we can set goals any time, but there is just something about the beginning of a new calendar year that makes things seem fresh, new and motivating. And I have to admit that starting it on the day 1.11.11 makes it that much more interesting.

2010 was a good year even though there were times I felt as though I was simply sitting and watching it pass me by. That has a lot to do with readjusting to the US. This was our first full year back in the States and the adjustment was much more exhausting and emotional than I thought it would be.

Despite that, we got our house. I ran my first half marathon and authored my first book which will publish this March. I gardened, learned how to can and began a new job in September. In December, we topped off our year by rescuing a new pug, Dixie. She and Macy Mae are slowly, but surely becoming best buds.

In 2009, I really rocked my resolutions (or goals, whatever you prefer to call them.). However, in 2010 I barely remember what I set out to do. Life seemed to take over and I went with the flow. In 2011, I’m ready to get back on track so that this time next year I can check off all that I had hoped to accomplish.

It feels like a year of new growth to me, and in honor of it I’m doing a little growing of my own in our back room which is now clean and spacious. This summer I bought two dwarf Meyer Lemon trees that are doing quite well. Now they have their own private space in the sunshine. Hopefully in a couple years, I’ll have some lemons to show for my efforts.

My brother gave us a small AeroGarden as a house warming gift this past spring. Since it was just about garden time when we got it, I decided not to take advantage of it until winter. Now I’ve got basil, chives and thyme that I hope will sprout any day now.

With all the growing going on in our back room, I think I need to plan for a little growing myself this year. My main priority when it comes to blogging this year will be less stress. I got really concerned, and honestly, stressed out when I started my job back in September. I had less time to cook exciting food and when I did, I had no light to take photographs. When our weekends were busy with races or travel, I couldn’t even catch up with posts then. I had trouble keeping up with my own blog, and those I once loved to read on a daily basis.

This year I’m not going to let it get to me so much. If I have a busy week, there may not be a post, but some other weeks there may be 4 or 5. I’m finding that I need to relax the pressures I put on myself so that I can continue to enjoy my favorite hobby.

In addition to that, here are a few other things I plan to do in 2011. How about you? Care to share your goals for the New Year?

If 2010 was the year of running, 2011 will be the year of yoga. I plan to do yoga at least once per week, preferably more, and deepen my knowledge.

But I won’t be giving up running. In 2011, my goal is to run at least two half marathons.

Weight lifting is one thing that has fallen to the wayside when it comes to my fitness program. I will be incorporating a lot more of that this year as well.

I will focus more on ethnic cooking. I’ve tried to do this in the past, but seem to constantly fall back on the standards. I really want to challenge myself with Indian, German and Thai cooking from finding the ingredients to perfecting my results.

In addition, I will focus on utilizing all the great cookbooks I have. In 2010, I tried to make a lot of recipes from other food bloggers. This year I really need to explore all the great resources I have in print.

I want to learn to knit in 2011. Please still act surprised when you get your scarf for Christmas next year.

I want to begin to learn German. This is something I plan to focus more on in the summer and fall.

I will submit to one writing and one photography contest this year. I have no plans of winning, but I think identifying some contests and submitting will help me challenge myself to keep learning when it comes to my writing and photography.

I will recommit to my Flickr 365 projects for food and everyday living. I sizzled out about July/August in 2010, but I really enjoyed doing it and looking back so we are going to give it another go.

Finally, I’ll revisit my goals in April and October to see how this year is stacking up.

Happy 2011!