Here Comes Christmas

I couldn't be more excited for Christmas this year. For some reason, regardless of the cold weather, decorated store fronts, carols streaming on every radio station, and the absurd bombarding of online sales filling my inbox, it doesn't quite feel like the season. Nonetheless, I still cannot wait.

Perhaps it's because this year has been such a significant year for change. I feel like a completely different person than I was this time in 2009, yet I'm not. I'm still me. I'm still the girl who likes to come home after work and cook. I'm still the girl who looks forward to running in the morning before taking on the day. I'm still the girl who gets butterflies on Sunday evenings and settles them with honey tea. While I'm still that girl... I haven't hardly been doing those things. Literally time is just not on my side these past few months.

Well, my friends, that is all about to change over the next 10 days. I'll be in Lambertville and will have nothing on my mind but cranking out homemade pasta, hiking through vast fields, running along the river, and loving every second of my family and friends. I may actually write! I may actually be able to sit at a coffee shop and work on some sort of a transcript for some kind of a book! I may actually be able to whip up some butternut squash ravioli filling and make cookies with Eliot! I may actually be able to spend an entire day making a 3 course meal for my parents!

This is going to be good, this is going to be really good.

And yes, I will post before New Years to reflect on 2011. It's not time to say goodbye to a year that has taught me so much, so I'm going to squeeze every last second out of it.

All in a year...

December 1st marks my one year anniversary of living on my own. It has been a year filled with trials, tribulations, change, consistency, love, laughter, tears, fears, rough tides and peaceful waters.

I find myself sitting here this Wednesday morning, mid week, at a cross roads. My mind is racing in unnecessary directions yet I have focus. My career is taking the center stage right now and it's not about making a million dollars, but about doing what I love. Cooking, writing, learning - I feel like a forever-student, and that isn't a bad thing.

I'm planning trips, mapping out my book (children's books, perhaps!!), meeting new people, listening to inspiring music, reading motivational literature, hell I'm even dancing! Moving... just keep on moving because eventually all of this will settle down, which will be fine. For now, however, I have no intention of stopping or taking a moment for granted. Everyone in my life and every experience, good or bad, is a blessing.