Welcome, 2012!

Happy Monday to ya!  I'm typing from a little local coffee shop, and relishing the "me" time.  Frank doesn't start classes again until next week, so some days this week we're taking turns with the babe and enjoying a little alone time.  Today is his day with EB, and they're at home playing.  We're both the type of people who really cherish having time alone, to recharge. 

As I mentioned on Saturday, we stayed in with a friend to ring in the new year.  I loved every low-key minute of it!  The most exciting part of the evening is when we all jumped the second the new year struck.  Frank told us it was good luck to be mid-air when the new year begins, and we all got a good laugh out of it.  I'm afraid I don't have a pic of that second to share, but here's a pretty bokeh-ey shot of our bubbly:

Sunday we enjoyed Hop-n John and Collards.  I won't pretend to love collards, but we made up a batch of Frank's Grandmother's Red Sauce to serve over them, and that makes them quite palatable.  It's a simple recipe of tomatoes, bell pepper, vinegar and sugar, cooked down then blended.  I also don't cook the collards for as long as most southerner's do.  I like my greens to be green (not brown). 

Surprisingly we had leftover prosecco, and served it up in mimosas.  Yum.

The hope is that the black-eyed peas will bring good luck, the pork sausage will bring progress, and the collards will bring wealth.  Here's to that!

I've been enjoying reading everyone's posts about the new year:  resolutions, new beginnings, goal lists, fresh starts.  It's getting me excited to freshen things up in my life a bit.  I'm starting with my work space.  Our living room is long and narrow, and the couch sits quite a bit away from the back wall, to create a more intimate sitting area (this old pic will give you an idea). 

Our Christmas tree sat just to the left of the couch, making it difficult to access that area for the last month.

It turned into quite a dumping ground/hiding place for random junk.

I'm constantly shifting furniture around, and now that I've taken the tree down, I'm cleaning and clearing out stuff.  This little area will become my "office."  That was the original use for the space, and it worked pretty well.  Now that I've started this blog, I'm on my laptop more, and typing on the couch from my lap isn't the best for my posture.  So, having a desk space will be nice.  I'll post a pic soon of the new space. 

A few of my goals for this year (and beyond):
- Replace my evening glass (or two, since I'm being honest here) of wine with hot tea
- Drink lots more water
- Make healthier food choices in general (after many years of trial, I now know that diets don't work (for me) but I would like to eat more healthfully)
- Start the process of re-enrolling in school for design
- Work on living more in the present
- Try to enjoy what I have (rather than wanting more)

I leave you with a favorite quote that I was reminded of over on Kate's blog this morning:

source

Do you guys have any resolutions or goals?  I'd love to hear them!

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