Welcome 2012

{inspiration from here}

Hello, 2012! Are you ready for this one? I am oddly, happily ready.

And are you already totally inundated with resolution lists? Uh oh, spoiler alert – mine’s below!

I happen to be the annoyingly cheerful type who loves a new year. I love that it’s a fresh start. It’s the perfect time to make lists, which I do many times a day anyway. To get ready for 2012, I’ve made lists of big goals, little goals, projects, and traits I want to focus on.

Last year, I made three big-ish goals and I loved thinking about them all year as a guide for moving forward. They were to stop swearing completely, to finish the book I was writing, and to write 52 letters. I totally aced the first one, and made a bunch of progress on the second one. I didn’t write many letters, but I wrote a lot of postcards!

All in all, I feel good about 2011′s goals. Not perfect, but progress. In 2011, I know I grew, changed, adapted and was *mostly* calm and relaxed about new and unplanned things that came down the track.

So for 2012, I’m ready to keep improving. Here are the big (and totally do-able) goals I have for 2012.

1. Commit to one day a week without technology and screens. We’ve picked Tuesdays and we’re affectionately calling it Turn Off Tuesday. And by we, I mean me. Michael’s going along with it because he knows what’s good for him!

2. Learn to use my DSLR. I took photography in college, but apparently most of the basics evaporated out of my brain in the last six years. So, back to square one. I am bound and determined to take better photos this year and not totally rely on luck like I did last year!

3. Compost more. I love that in Dublin, we have a compost bin that gets collected every few weeks. Since we moved into our current apartment, we haven’t had a good solution for getting the compost from the kitchen to the bin outside (down the hallway, through the front room and out two sets of doors – oh, and a big reach over a huge motorcycle to open the bin!) without making a mess. We brainstormed a few ideas and hopefully we’ll find a system that works.

4. Eliminate pre-made sauces. This may sound like a totally odd goal, but it occurred to me that I am well able to make the few pre-made sauces I use from scratch. Bring on homemade spaghetti sauce and lots of fresh curries. I’ll share recipes as I go.

5. Document each day with a photo and a paragraph. I’ve never been a chick with a diary, but I want to remember the little things and the big things this year. I opened a private online journal using Penzu, and it lets you add a photo to each entry. I’m going to start with a photo and a paragraph for all of January, and see how I like it.

Are you making any resolutions or lists? I’d love to hear what you’re hoping for 2012! If you’re looking for inspiration, I really liked this list and this one. And this article made me want to change the world. Full stop.