A warm welcome to 2011!

I'm ready to leave behind the ickiness of the last part of 2010. I'm also ready to get my butt in gear with some creative projects. I think that "resolutions" can have a negative impact on us. As westerners we are so caught up in this ego trip of being self critical so it seems like our plans for the new year always involve the cessation of some habit or something we dislike about ourselves. I know for me that can make the new year feel a bit like drudgery or going back to school after being off all summer.

So instead I like to think of these resolutions as being positive goals instead of self induced finger pointing. I am hoping to have another vegetable garden and get a spinning wheel! I am looking to overcome my fears and get on with being creative and making some kind of business out of it, even if I don't make a dime! Instead of berating myself for all of my weird hypocritic dichotomies I'm looking to develop more bodhichitta and to embrace the humanity of this diversity within, to not be ashamed of being human and imperfect or not fitting into the right mold for this or that group of people.

I am also ready to put 2010's knitting behind me. I confess to this terrible thing that happened around the holidays. I was determined to have hand knitted ornaments on my tree this year. Every year knit picks sells these cute ornament kits so this year around November I ordered one and started knitting. Oh, the ornaments are adorable itty bitty sweaters just as sweet as they can be. The thing of it is that I have loathed every moment of knitting the darn things. I should have known better. I am the anti sock knitter. I don't enjoy knitting on teeny tiny needles with teeny tiny yarn and itty bitty tedious details. No way. Give me a sweater with big bulky yarn or a hat and I'm fine. So basically I have spent the holidays knitting these things and not enjoying one minute of it. Sure, I enjoy the way they look on the tree but I would have rather not knitted them myself. Soooo.....I ended up only cranking out four of these things because I never wanted to pick up the project. I'm sitting in my nightgown right now determined to at least finish the last one I started before the new year. I can't wait to clear my end table off which is full of sad half finished knitting I haven't enjoyed. I am ready to start the new year with a fun project, something I WANT to knit that may not even be something I need or of practicality.

Last but not least I am getting my own little camera, a pink one at that. I'm so excited! The reason there are hardly any pictures on the blog is because Riki works so much and just doesn't have the time. It was a little hard convincing him as family photographer that I should start taking more pictures for the blog but it will be nice to be able to just snap a picture of the kids or the weather or something I knitted without waiting to ask him to do it and need it to be all perfect with photoshop (him being photographer and all). So look forward to more pictures in the new year! I think I'll even have Ellery start practicing too so I can be in some pictures.

So have a happy new year! When I get around to getting dressed I'll be setting up to ring in the new year with my own bottle of champagne by myself...kind of like Christmas. Oh well, what can you do, haha?